Revival (The Variant Series, Book 1) (30 page)

Grayson was furious. “Now listen here, Dana, you’re talking about a human being, not a weapon. And I hardly see how the Agency can help her any better than I can…”

Their argument continued, but Alex was no longer paying attention.

Why was it that, every time something major happened in her life, Alex always found herself standing on the sidelines while other people fought her battles for her?

As a child, her parents and six others had sacrificed their lives in order to protect her from Masterson.

Every time someone had picked on her at school—every time Jessica, Connor, or anyone else had done anything to hurt her—it had been Cassie to the rescue.

And now, for the last three days, Declan, Nate, Grayson and the others had done everything in their power to keep her safe and out of danger, ending up bruised, battered and then
abducted
by their own government in the process.

But it was all to no avail, because here she was.

In trouble, yet again.

Only this time it was her future in the cross-hairs.

Was she really going to stand idly by while these people decided her fate? Was she really going to let the Agency take her away from everything she’d ever known and everyone she’d ever loved without at lest
trying
to put up a fight?

No.

Alex pulled the gun from her waistband. Raising it toward the sky, she released the safety, pulled the trigger and fired off a round.

Fourteen rifles were aimed in her direction.

The arguing stopped.

She had their attention.

“That is
it
!” Alex hissed, lowering the gun. “I’m no one’s
asset
and I’m sure as hell not the Agency’s
property
. I’m a living, breathing,
thinking
teenage girl who can speak for herself!”

Declan and the others gaped at her. The Director folded her arms across her chest and fixed Alex with a steely glare.

“I know you think you own me, Director, but you don’t. Grayson’s right. I’m a human being, not a weapon for the Agency. Legally you have no claim to me. And if word got out about what you were trying to do here, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t like the results. I have a life, I have a family and I have friends that mean everything to me and I am not
about
to stand by and watch you take all that away. I have no intention of going anywhere with you. I trust Grayson and his family more than I will
ever
trust you
or
your organization. If they’re willing to help me—to keep me safe—then
they
are the ones in whom I will place my trust. Not you.

“And you’re not getting my blood. That one’s non-negotiable. The last thing this world needs is an army of freaks like me. There’s no telling what they might do. Look at the trouble
one
Masterson has caused. Are you really willing to risk the creation of another?

“What I’m saying, Director, is that I will obey your laws and I will follow your rules, but I will
never
be your asset. I have no desire to be turned into a weapon. All I want is to be left in peace.”

Her words were met with a stony silence.

The Director’s eyes had narrowed to slits. “Very well, Ms. Parker,” she said curtly. “We’ll do this on your terms… for now.”

Alex let out a slow breath.

“However,” she continued. “If your burgeoning powers should prove dangerous to the public—or if the Agency should find any reason to doubt Mr. Grayson’s ability to handle your care—then there will be no more room for negotiation. The Agency will at that point become responsible for your…
maintenance
. You will be taken into custody and dealt with accordingly. Have I made myself clear?”

“Crystal,” said Alex, handing the gun to Grayson. “Now if you’ll excuse us, Director. I’m taking my friends and we’re going
home
.”

With that, Alex and the others vanished from the yard.

— 25 —

“O
h, that poor, poor girl.” Cassie lowered her aviator sunglasses and peered over the top of the frames. “What did she do? Go to the spray-on tanning place and request the Oompa Loompa treatment?”

Alex glanced up from the pages of her novel to see who it was that had so captured her friend’s attention.

Miranda Pierce—a sophomore Alex and Cassie had hung out with occasionally before the “incident” in the computer lab—was standing at the edge of a makeshift beach volleyball court in a barely-there, lime-green bikini, flirting shamelessly with Connor and half a dozen guys from the varsity soccer team.

It was the same barely-there, lime-green bikini that Alex had been eyeing in a boardwalk shop earlier on in the week.

It felt like a hundred years ago.

Alex tugged at the hem of her tank top, trying to keep the material from riding up high enough for her scar to be visible. While Cassie had been lying stretched-out, working on her tan beside her, Alex had been sitting cross-legged with her back to the water, trying to ignore the rowdy gathering of her former friends partying a short way down the beach.

Now that she’d started watching them, however, she couldn’t seem to look away.

It didn’t help that Miranda’s skin was like some strange orange beacon, mesmerizing in its unnatural brightness.

Poor girl. Alex could sympathize. They both had the sort of fair skin that made sunburns inevitable and a healthy tan almost impossible to achieve. Sometimes, even neon was preferable to pasty. And Alex had seen worse fake tans.

None that immediately sprang to mind.

But, you know.

She was sure they were out there.

Not that Miranda
needed
her sympathy. With that figure, her skin could have been bright purple and she’d still be holding Connor’s attention.

“I don’t know,” said Alex. “It’s not
that
bad. She looks tan… -ish.”

“There is a fine line between
tan
, and looking like you just rolled around in a giant bag of Doritos. And Miranda seems to prefer the nacho cheese variety.”

Alex smiled as she watched their erstwhile friends horsing around and playing volleyball near the pier. They were just close enough that she could hear the sound of their laughter over the crash of waves breaking against the shore.

She sighed, remembering a time, not so very long ago, when it had been
her
standing at the edge of that court where Miranda now stood, surrounded by friends, without a care in the world.

Miranda, she now realized, had become her replacement.

“Do you ever miss them, Cass?”

“Who? Those rejects?” she asked, pushing the aviators back up the bridge of her nose. “No. And after the way they treated you, you shouldn’t either.”

Alex stared down at her hands, wiggling her fingers experimentally, attempting to form a sphere.

Nothing.

Not a single watt.

It was Tuesday—their last day of spring break before school was back in.

Alex had spent every waking moment since Saturday morning avoiding any sort of physical contact with her aunt. After the events leading up to the weekend, she wanted nothing more than to be ability-free for as long as she could make it last. She wanted to feel normal. Even if the sensation could only ever be temporary.

The past few days had been relatively quiet. No contact from the Agency. No unexpected visits from Masterson. And she hadn’t been back to the cabin since she left on Saturday morning.

If anything, her life had taken a turn for the boring.

And Alex couldn’t be happier about it.

“So tell me, G.I. Jane—did you
really
shoot that gun into the air before going all women’s lib on the Director?” asked Cassie, breaking into her thoughts. “Or was that just Aiden trying to liven up the story?”

“I wouldn’t exactly consider standing up for myself an act of female empowerment,” said Alex. “But I’ll admit. Telling her off felt pretty good.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

Alex grinned. “I
might
have shot a gun in the air.”

“Like a boss, I’m sure.”

“Naturally,” she said. “But I still hate the things.”

Actually, she’d be
quite
happy to never see another firearm in person ever—
ever
—again.

“Damn. And here I’d planned to sign you up for an NRA membership as a gift for your birthday next month.” She settled back onto the red blanket, her bronzed skin glistening with sunscreen. “Speaking of which. You still haven’t said how you want to celebrate. I’m thinking we need to go shopping on the Champs Élysées and find you a hot Frenchman. Or maybe we should hit up Hollywood Boulevard, looking for celebrities. Oh, I know! London! You’ve always wanted to go there, right?… What’s with the face? Come on, Lex. My best friend can zap me anywhere on the planet in the blink of an eye. You
know
I’m going to find every way I can to con you into abusing this new power of yours.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Jessica Huffman had joined the group by the pier. Her first act upon arrival had been to pull Connor off to one side. They were currently arguing about something amidst the pylons.

Her aunt wasn’t the only one Alex had been avoiding since her return. She hadn’t spoken to Connor since that late night phone call after Declan took him home.

After two days of Alex refusing to take his calls, he’d resorted to hitting up Cassie for information.

Vee had been declared missing over the weekend. According to Connor, Jessica hadn’t told anyone about what had happened that day on the dock. Probably a wise decision on Jessica’s part.

Who would have believed her?

Alex had gone by the dock only once since returning home—and had been surprised to discover that Vee’s remains had disappeared. Alex suspected that the Agency had probably had something to do with it. She wondered what, if anything, they would tell her poor family…

Her stomach twisted. Connor had left the group of cheerleaders and varsity athletes and was walking resolutely in their direction.

What did he think he was doing?

Surely he wasn’t coming to talk to her. Here. On the beach. In full view of the who’s-who of Bay View High.

It would be social suicide.

Alex’s phone rang.

She reached into the large straw bag sitting in the sand beside their blanket and fished out her new phone, answering it distractedly.

“Hey, Kenzie,” she said.

“It’s Kenzie?” Cassie leaned toward the phone. “HI KENZIE!”

“Christ,” said a masculine voice on the other end of the line.

“Declan?” asked Alex.

“I think I’m deaf,” he said.

“Yeah, well,” said another voice in the background—Kenzie’s. A scuffling sound traveled over the line and her voice developed an echo. They’d put her on speakerphone. “Serves you right for grabbing the phone, butthead… Just set the phone on the console, Nate.”

“What’s up, guys?” she asked.

Connor had covered half the distance between them and showed no signs of stopping.

“Declan wants to know where you’re at,” said Kenzie.

“Thank you, Kenzie,” said Declan. “I
can
speak for myself, you know.”

“Fine. Then speak.”

“Where are you, Lex?” he repeated.

“Um. I’m at the—”

“What does that moron think he’s doing?” Cassie asked. She’d noticed Connor’s trajectory and now sat propped up on her elbows, watching his progress.

“Dammit, Decks!” Kenzie yelled into the phone. “
Slow down
! And watch the road!”

“Beach,” Alex finished. “I’m at the beach.”

“What does
what
moron think he’s doing?” asked a third voice. It was Aiden’s. “The
road
, Declan! Christ. If I die in this car and you miraculously survive, I’m coming back to haunt your ass.”

“Hey, I was all for letting Nate drive,” said Declan. “Kenzie’s the one who nixed it.”

“Never again,” said Kenzie. “Ever. You should
see
some of the nightmares I’ve been having.”

“Again,” said Nate. “
My driving was excellent
. Us driving off the bridge was
Declan’s
fault. Not mine. He’s the one who dragged his feet with the jump.”

“Same spot as last time?” asked Declan, ignoring his brother.

Last time? The only time Declan had been here with them was the first day they’d met. And she’d only ever noticed him on the boardwalk and the pier. Not on the beach.

And
certainly
not on the supposedly
isolated
strip of beach where Alex had stupidly decided to remove her tank top, thus revealing her scar and leaving her clad in only a string bikini, so that she could work on those stubborn tan lines.

“Wait. You were
there
?” She cringed. “Never mind. Of course you were… No, Declan, we’re closer to the pier this time. Why do you want to know?”

Connor had dropped to one knee in the sand beside their blanket and was grinning at her.

Caught off guard and distracted by the phone conversation, she smiled back at him before she could stop herself.

Cassie sent her a look.

Oops
.

“Hey, Alex, Cassie,” he said. “How’s it going?”

“Don’t go anywhere,” Nate was saying. “We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“But—” she protested.

Too late. The line was dead.

“Did you take a volleyball to the head?” asked Cassie.

“No,” he said, confused. “Why do you ask?”

Cassie sighed. “What do you want, Connor?”

“Just wanted to see how you guys were, is all. After what happened last week… I don’t know.” He looked sadly at Alex, puppy-dog eyes in full effect. “I was worried about you. Wanted to make sure you were doing okay.”

“
We’re
fine.” Cassie leaned to one side in order to look past Connor’s broad shoulders. “But judging from the attention
you’re
getting right now, your social life is about to flat-line.”