The Fox Inheritance (30 page)

Jenna brings a bottle of cold water out to me and reports that Kara seems to have recovered from her venting episode. She is doing everything she can to be helpful. Jenna's voice is hopeful, and that fills me with hope too. When she leaves, I attack one last row of rocks. My back aches from lifting the fifty-pound rocks, but it feels cleansing too. I never thought I would say that about such dirty work, and now I wish I had helped my dad and uncles gut our house on Francis Street. Sweat pours down my chest. I stand back and look at the wall. It is straight and sturdy. My dad would have approved.

Maybe it will all work out like Jenna said, if we just give it enough time. I hoist another rock from the pile.

I saw and heard and knew at last ...

I drop the rock and spin around. Kara is a few feet away. She stares at my bare chest and raises her eyebrows.

"I didn't hear you walk up."

She remains silent. Her gaze slowly crawls across my body.

Soon, Locke. Soon.

Soon? What does that mean? I step toward her. "Kara, what are--"

"I just came to tell you that dinner will be ready soon. Jenna says you should come in and clean up. Soon."

She smiles and walks away.

Soon. I finish the last row of rocks, wondering if I have too many loose words floating inside my head, wondering if I am hearing things that aren't even there. BioPerfect? Far from it.

The rest of the evening is calm. Kara helps with dinner and afterward cheerfully offers to do the dishes with Miesha. I even hear them laugh together once. Later she plays a game of tic-tac-toe on the floor with Kayla. Jenna and I watch her, and I think we both feel a loosening in the room, like a net that has been pulled tight over us is finally unknotting.

Soon
. But when I crawl into bed and turn out the light, the word still floats in my head.

Remember this, Locke. Someone has to pay. We deserved more than we got.

And still other words haunt my dreams.

Chapter 73

"Locke!"

Something pounds on my chest. My eyes shoot open to an explosion of light and sound and the tearing away of sheets and blankets. I sit up, my arms out in front of me, ready to defend myself. Jenna's eyes are wild before me. She is yelling. I grab her arms. "
What?
"

"Kayla! She's gone!"

I am stumbling down the hall, trying to pull on my pants as I run to search rooms. We're all yelling, Allys, Miesha, even Dot, as we're in motion. I know it before I even hear the words. Kara is gone too.

Jenna runs out to the porch. I follow on her heels. She yells Kayla's name three times. Every silence between her calls is thunder. Last, she screams Kara's name.
Focus, Locke. Think. Where would Kara go?
We both turn to run down the porch steps, and that's when we see it. Sitting in the rocker at the end of the porch is Kayla's pink bear, a small white envelope propped between its legs. Jenna is sobbing as she races to it and tears it open. Her hand shakes so badly I take it from her so we can read it.

We've gone for an early picnic.

You're invited to come along.

That is, if you can find us.

I hope it doesn't take you 260 years.

Jenna leans over and clutches her stomach, and a strangled moan comes from her throat. The sound is more desolate than anything I've ever heard, and my own knees weaken. But in almost the same moment, she becomes fire racing through the house with me chasing right behind her. She grabs the keys to the truck from a hook in the hallway, and at the same time is shouting orders to Allys.

"Find Bone! Tell him and the others to search the property! And Father Andre! Tell him to watch the station! Miesha, check the greenhouse! Dot, search the road! I just checked on them both an hour ago. They can't be far!"

I grab Jenna by the wrist. "Where are you going?"

She breaks loose and heads for the back door, still barefoot and wearing her thin white nightgown. "The park! The meadow! I don't know! Anywhere they could have a picnic!"

"That's a hundred different places!"

She throws open the back door, and we're halfway to the truck before we even see the black car parked near it and someone standing just a few yards away. He aims a tazegun at us.

"And we didn't even have to knock," Gatsbro says.

Jenna and I both freeze. We hear the footsteps of Miesha and Allys stopping close behind us and their inhaled breaths.

He stares at me. Takes in my whole length. My face, my arms, all the way down to my feet. I know what he's looking for. Damage. How has his product fared? How much will he have to repair to have me showroom ready again? He smiles, pleased, and the hatred inside of me boils. Only Jenna and fear for Kayla keep me from flying through the air at him.

Jenna takes a step toward the truck, and he raises the gun to show he means business. I edge closer to him, and his squadron of goons steps forward, Hari among them. I stop.

"Let her go, Gatsbro. She has nothing to do with this."

"She has everything to do with it now, thanks to you. Though with all of her illegal activities, I'm sure we can work something out. Why don't we all go inside--"

"You can shoot or not," Jenna growls, "but I'm leaving. Now." Jenna makes a move for the truck, but I hold her back. She won't do Kayla any good if she's knocked out by a tazegun, and I know Gatsbro would do it.

"Smart move, my boy. Your BioPerfect is clearly superior to her Bio Gel at assessing precarious situations. You have
me
to thank for that," he says smugly.

I lean close to Jenna and whisper, "Can that tazegun take me down?"

"You and three elephants," she says.

"No whispering now," Gatsbro says. He gestures with the gun. "Inside." His goons spread out like they are casting a net.

I pretend that I'm convincing Jenna to come inside, but I'm eyeing Dot coming down the driveway behind them. She must have gone out the front door. Her sombrero flops on her head. She waits until she has eye contact with me and then nods. She pulls the sombrero from her head and yells, "Hey, the party's over here!"

Gatsbro and his goons startle and turn toward her voice. "Go!" I yell to Jenna as I lunge at Gatsbro. He shoots his tazegun aimlessly, and I hear something shatter, but I'm already pouncing on him, making the weapon fly from his hand. I feel hands on my shoulders, fists in my ribs, my jaw, a free-for-all. I'm not just wrestling with Gatsbro, but with his hired guns too. I feel no pain. I've become exactly what Hari feared. Nothing can stop me. Nothing can keep me from Gatsbro. I hear the truck roar off. I hear Miesha screaming, but I can only see the flash of Gatsbro's eyes, and the fear I see fuels me.

The goons have backed off for some reason, and now it is just me and Gatsbro. He's beneath me, my hands on his throat. It is like I have practiced for this moment for 260 years. His eyes bulge, and I know that with one quick snap I could end it all, but I don't want it to end that easily for him. I keep the pressure steady. I take in his gasps and fear. His hands claw at my arms, but they're no match for my strength.

"Not feeling so powerful now, are you?"

He doesn't answer.

"
Are you?
" I yell and I squeeze his neck tighter.

He gasps and chokes and shakes his head.

"Stop!" Miesha screams. I look up. She's holding the tazegun, aiming it at his goons and keeping them at bay. "Don't do it, Locke! He's not worth it!"

I look back down at Gatsbro. His eyes are pleading. His lips are parted, and his tongue is thick in his mouth. Spit dribbles from the corner and mixes with blood running from his nose. But it is his normally groomed hair flying in chaotic directions and his dusty torn suit that make me pause. He is not a great scientist, not a savior, not anything more than a very small man with small goals. The curtain has been pulled away and along with it any power he had over me. Snapping his neck would be easy. I have the power to do it.

He looks at me, terror glassing over his eyes.

My fingers tighten on his throat. A few seconds become decades of waiting.
How far is too far
--

I let go. "Get out of my life. Stay out of it. Next time I'll kill you." He nods frantically, gasping for breath. I take my knee off his chest and stand. He rolls to the side, coughing and sputtering.

I look at Miesha. Gatsbro is already an afterthought compared with Kayla. "I have to go."

I run without looking back.

"Hurry!" she calls. "Find her! I'll watch them!"

Jenna took the road. I take the forest. Kara is smart. Probably the smartest of all of us. She wants to be found, but she wants to draw the misery out. Where would she go? I stumble over rocks, crisscrossing the creek over and over again, listening for any sound of her voice, looking through thick fingers of trees for any fleeting glimpse of flesh or face. I stop, stone still, and listen for the smallest snap of a twig. Kara was here for days, watching us all. I heard her before I even knew she was here. The plaza? The forest? Where would she ...

I take off running again. I know exactly where she is. It's the perfect, most dangerous place for a picnic. I knew someone had been watching me that day. It was her.

The path through the forest seems longer than the first time I went through it.
Hurry, Locke,
and I force my legs to move impossibly faster, leaping over logs, rocks, and wide expanses of the twisting creek. I finally see the light where the forest ends and I stumble out into the clearing. I stare into the distance, past the tilled field, past the long upward slope, to the very top of the hill where the spider still sits but is now raised on its haunches, and there, almost hidden in the spider's shade, is a blue blanket spread over the grass and the silhouette of a figure sitting on it. Kara. My stomach squeezes to a fist. There is no sign of Kayla. Kara is so close to the edge of the hill I'm not sure if I should move, but better that I get there before Jenna.

I'm only halfway up the hill when Kara stands. She's been watching again. For me. She doesn't wave. She doesn't move. She just stands there waiting. I've run only a few more yards when I spot Jenna's truck in the distance, dust billowing out behind it as she races down the dirt road below. She and Allys have figured it out too. I run faster. I know this Kara better than they do. I have--

Never show your weakness
.

The words slam into me. I have. I've shown it all along. To Kara. I worked so hard to hide it from everyone else, but she always knew. Kara, Jenna, and my guilt were my weaknesses, and that knowledge always gave her the advantage over me.

I run until I'm ten yards away, and that's when I notice Kayla, almost hidden by the tall grass, lying on the blanket, motionless. I slow to a walk.
My God, Kara, what have you done?

"She's only sleeping, Locke. Like an angel, don't you think? Isn't that what Jenna calls her? Angel?"

When I'm a few yards away, Kara shifts her body to block me from Kayla. "That's close enough." Her voice is deadly clear. I stop.

I stare at Kayla, her tiny palms and fingers turned upward as if there's no life in them. The only things moving on her limp body are strands of her long black hair tossing in the breeze. I look back at Kara like I'm seeing her for the first time. "What did you do?"

"I only gave her half of what Jenna gave me. It knocks you out amazingly fast."

"She's just a child, Kara." I take a step closer. I can hear Jenna's truck rumbling up the hill.

"And what would I know about a child?" Kara's eyes are lifeless. "Jenna stole that from me." She tilts her head to the side like she's reading my face. "She stole it all. I have nothing."

There is no room for error. Everything in me pulls together to give her what I want her to see. It was always master and student with us. Now I must be the master. I have no choice. "You have me, Kara. You still have me."

"Really?" Her eyes narrow in suspicion, tracing every line of my face. She takes a step closer. "You know all of
her
favorite poems, Locke. Do you remember mine?"

Oh, God. Do I? My head aches. The desperation that made my feet run faster explodes through my brain as I search for every uploaded memory.

"Yes, Kara. I remember them all." I inch closer to her, trying to buy time, looking into her eyes like the whole universe is there, when all I see is a dead wasteland. Our time on the bridge finally flashes through my head, along with every word she ever recited to me. "Cummings. You loved Cummings. Yeats. Whitman." I'm breathless, trying to hide my desperation from her.

She smiles like she's amused. "Whitman." She nods satisfaction. "Then you remember this one?" she whispers. "Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born? I hasten to inform him that it is just as lucky to die, and I know it."

"No, Kara." I shake my head. "That's not what--"

"We never got to say good-bye to anyone, Locke. I'm giving Jenna far more than she gave to us."

"This isn't right, Kara. You know somewhere deep inside of you it's not right."

"Inside?" She stares at me, her pupils pulsating like they're trying to adjust to the light. "Have you seen what's inside of me, Locke? Deep inside all I have is BioPerfect. And one small hole that's waiting for justice."

I hear a door slam. I turn and see Jenna and Allys jumping out of the truck--and in the distance Gatsbro's car racing up the hill too. I pray it's Miesha inside and not him. I'm running out of time.

Kara reaches down and scoops Kayla up in her arms. Her small body flops lifelessly.

"She's beautiful, isn't she? No wonder Jenna loves her so."

Jenna reaches my side, staring at Kayla in Kara's arms, looking at Kara's feet so close to the edge of the cliff. Her lips tremble. She lifts a hand out toward them, but when Kara inches away, she pulls it back in a fist. "Please. My God. Please."