Stunned (The Lucidites Book 2)
Read Stunned (The Lucidites Book 2) Online
Authors: Sarah Noffke
One-Twenty-Six Press.
Stunned
Sarah Noffke
Copyright © 2014 by Sarah Noffke
All rights reserved
Copyeditor: Christine LePorte
Cover Design: Andrei Bat
All rights reserved. This was self-published by Sarah Noffke under One-Twenty-Six Press. No parts of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. If you are seeking permission send inquiry at
www.sarahnoffke.com
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published in the United States by One-Twenty-Six Press
ISBN:
978-0-9862080-3-4
For Lydia.
May all your dreams come true.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
S
ixty-five days. That’s how much longer I’m obligated to physically remain at the Lucidite Institute. I’m thinking of starting to count in hours. For now my consciousness is passing time at a café in Prague.
The rain makes a pitter-patter song on the canopy outside the window. People run into the café, searching for relief from the constant drizzle. They stop once they find refuge, shaking out their water-soaked coats and hats. The barista keeps eyeing each new arrival like they’re a nuisance. No doubt they’re the staff responsible for cleaning the floor later. Watching people is fun, especially when they can’t see me, and especially when I don’t know them—their flaws, their demons, their lies, their injustices.
A guy is chatting up a girl in the corner. She’s being polite, but keeps tucking her nose back in her book. He isn’t getting the hint. He also doesn’t get that he’s too old for her. My guess is he’s married. Probably runs a sham of a business selling forged art to tourists. Cheats on his taxes. Beats his cat.
Even when I don’t know the people, I still find their faults. Or invent them.
I need a vacation.
I laugh. At least I still have my stellar sense of humor. Oh, and my modesty.
Absentmindedly, I twirl the frequency adjuster between my fingers.
Baffled. That’s how I felt when it wasn’t George, but rather Aiden who begged me to wear the adjuster again.
“Why? Why do you care?” I replied when a week ago he asked me to put the frequency adjuster back on.
“Because he can’t concentrate and tune into emotions if you’re not wearing it,” the Head Scientist said. He was all business. No flirtatious looks or heated glances. Just his agenda.
“Well, I’ll be gone soon enough and then I won’t interfere.”
He shook his head. I didn’t know if he was shaking off my plans to escape the Institute or my resistance to comply. “But we need you to wear it
now
,” Aiden pleaded.
“We? Why?” I said, trying to stand my ground.
“Because we’re working on something, and George needs his ability to read emotions to perform adequately,” he said, staring not at me but off in the distance.
“You two are working on something? Together?” I asked in disbelief. “What is it?”
Aiden averted his eyes. I sighed. More secrets. Hooray…
“Look, I can’t tell you,” he said. “It’s confidential. But...Roya, you can trust me.”
I somehow doubt that.
I dissected him with my eyes for a long time. It’s hard to like someone so much and also feel intensely frustrated by them. I love the way Aiden made me feel when we danced at the party. I love when he speaks excitedly about his newest inventions. His passion pulls me to him like a vacuum. But it isn’t enough, because at the end of it all I know he can’t commit to me. He’s always straddling some fence between his career and me. I want to have faith in him, but heartbreakingly…I don’t. Aiden loves his secrets, and sadly I’ve become one of them.
“I’m actually kind of surprised by your behavior,” Aiden said, disappointed. “You know that George suffers a great deal when you’re not wearing the frequency adjuster. It’s torture on him.”
“That was kind of the point,” I said dully.
“Well, your point has been made. Give him a break now.”
“Do you even know why I took off the adjuster in the first place?” I asked, my hands on my hips.
“He said you two had a fight. Whatever the disagreement, don’t hold your power over him. It isn’t fair.”
I was so close to telling him that George had made an ultimatum. One that involved Aiden. I wanted to make him see that I was right and George was wrong. But if I did, then everything would become even more complicated. There was no way to tell Aiden that George professed his love to me without making things uncomfortable.
I’m actually surprised that George agreed to work with Aiden at all. He was pushing me to disclose my true emotions that night because he didn’t know whether I was falling for him or Aiden. The truth is I didn’t know either. I wanted them both, for different reasons. Now I’m furious at both of them. I can’t get a break.
“Please, Roya. Will you do this for me?” Aiden asked, persuasion spiking his voice.
The frequency adjuster sat lonely on a nearby table. Just looking at it made George’s calculating eyes swim into my vision. I had no idea what Aiden and George were up to. Somehow I was interfering. To try to rid myself of some of this drama, I picked up the adjuster and tied it around my neck. A smile spread across Aiden’s face.
“Fine,” I said, tying the necklace in a double knot.
“Roya, you’re always—”
“Save it, Aiden. You got what you wanted,” I said, frustration laden in my tone.
“Well, thank you.”
My eyes drifted to the monitor hanging overhead. Its cascading graphics were morphing in perfect choreography to a Frou Frou song.
“Is there anything else? Any
other
reasons you called me down to your lab?” I asked, hoping my tone didn’t sound too expectant.
A smile tugged on his mouth. “Unfortunately, no. Right now I’ve got to get caught up on some work.”
A curt nod. “Right. See you around.”
That was the last time I’d seen Aiden. A week ago. Too long. Apparently, he had
a lot
of work to catch up on.
My mind shifts back to my current surroundings, shaking off my irritation at Aiden. The tax-evading, animal-abusing adulterer has gotten up to order a few more coffees from the barista. His smug attitude oozes off him and is more repelling than his cologne. I have half a mind to push out a chair suddenly to trip him when he waltzes past my table. If it wasn’t for the Lucidites’ damn laws against such things then I would—with no guilt. The girl is already engrossed back in her book. She’s got to be thinking about how she’s going to handle this guy when he returns, ready to make his next move. Maybe she’s not. Maybe she’s like me—reactionary under romantic tensions.
When I had torn off the adjuster, George disappeared, no doubt dealing with the torture my frequency caused him. On the day I once again tied it around my neck, he plopped down next to me at lunch. His nonchalant attitude was enough to make me want to tear off the adjuster again and throw it in his mashed potatoes. However, when I met his eager gaze, I lost my resolve. It was hard to be furious with him since I knew he was reading my angry emotions and deciding to act friendly despite them. He was obviously trying to mend relations, but I’m North Korea. I don’t want to get along with the rest of the free world. Mostly, I want to be left alone. Fat chance that will happen though.
“Hey,” he said to me, taking a sip of water.
I cut my eyes at him.
“Thanks for putting the frequency adjuster back on,” he said.
Again I didn’t respond verbally. Instead I shot all my disappointment at him. Everything had been intensely emotional since my fight with Zhuang. George was a huge part of that fight. In a way I felt closer to him than I did to Aiden because we were in battle together. Had shared those horrors. However, he pushed me at my weakest moment and demanded more than I was willing to give. If Aiden would have done this then I would have understood, because he was always ignoring boundaries. But George had the ability to recognize my emotional states and therefore know when to back off. We
had
potential, but George couldn’t live in the moment. He had to assert pressure on a relationship which was going along just fine. He had to ruin everything.
The way he chewed his lip made me certain he’d read my emotions. I pushed my plate away, having lost my appetite. “What’s this project that you’re working on with Aiden?” I asked him.
“It’s confidential,” he said in a mechanical voice.
So I had heard.
“I think we both know I can be trusted with confidential information,” I said. “I never leaked a bit of the emotional data you confided in me during our training, did I?”