The MORE Trilogy (93 page)

“What about Tiernan?”

“Evan got a lead on Isaiah,” she replied. “Tiernan’s following up on it.”

“A lead? What kind o—” His call waiting beeped, and Caleb’s pulse quickened when he saw Ava’s name. “I need to call you back. Ava’s on the other line.” He hung up without waiting for a response. “Ava? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper. “I can’t talk long.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m not exactly sure. Somewhere near North Dakota, I think.”

“North Dakota? Ava—”

“I’m fine. I have to meet with Borré tomorrow to find out about my parents.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Caleb, listen.” He heard her moving around, her voice slightly muffled. “I know you’re worried, but I’m all right. I promise you I am. I need to do this.”

Caleb took a deep breath. “I don’t like it.”

“I know you don’t,” she said quietly. “But I don’t have a choice. Not right now. You should go back to New Elysia, and I’ll meet you—”

“Absolutely not!”

“Borré doesn’t want to hurt me,” she said. “In his mind, he wants to help me. I really don’t think I’m in any danger.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said, tightening his fingers on the phone until it creaked. “Have you forgotten what Emma did to you?”

“Of course not,” she said, but it sounded tired, lacking any heat. “But I don’t have a choice, Caleb. I have to get my parents away from him and find out what’s happened to Sophie and Isaiah. This is the only way.”

“It’s not,” he said. “I got word that they have a lead on Isaiah. Tiernan’s on the way to find him right now.”

“Really? Is he okay? Where is he? What about Sophie?”

“I don’t know. But—”

“You should go with Tiernan. If they’ve gotten away, the Rogues will be after them. They might need you to shift them to safety.”

Caleb went back to the window and looked out over the all but deserted parking lot. “But what if you need me?”

“I always need you. You know that.” She sighed, and he pictured her rubbing her forehead. “But there’s nothing you can do for me right now. And if there’s a chance to get Sophie and Isaiah back to safety, we need to help them.”

He tugged at his hair, torn by his desire to be there for her and his understanding that he might be of more use elsewhere. “Are you really all right? Please, tell me the truth.”

“I’m fine, Caleb. Better than I have been in months, actually.”

He heard her moving around, possibly settling on a bed.

“We were right about Borré. He can relieve our symptoms.”

“I don’t like it.”

She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I don’t either, but I really believe he doesn’t want to keep me here against my will. He wants me to come to him willingly, even if he has to use the people I love to do it.”

“But what does he want from you?”

He heard her hesitation, even over the phone.

“I’ll know more tomorrow,” she said. “After I meet with him, I’ll call you to come get me, okay?”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” He thought she was going to hang up, but she said, “Trust me, please?”

Caleb let out a breath and leaned his forehead against the window. “You know I do. Just be careful, okay?”

“I promise.”

Caleb hung up and allowed himself a few minutes to worry about his decision before grabbing his backpack and dialing Tiernan.

“Yeah?”

“Heard you got a lead.”

“Maybe.”

“Thought you could use some backup.”

“Definitely.”

“Text me the coordinates, and I’m on my way.” He hung up and chewed on a couple of R-cubes, washing them down with a gulp of water from the bathroom sink. When his phone buzzed, he glanced at Tiernan’s text, shouldered his backpack, and shifted south, the motel room blurring into a mess of orange and brown before vanishing completely.

“Everything all right?” Emma asked as she closed the hotel room door.

“Dandy.”

Emma sighed and climbed up to sit cross-legged on one of the beds. “I know you don’t believe this, but I really do want to help you.”

Ava couldn’t even bring herself to answer. Instead, she flopped back on her own bed and threw an arm across her eyes.

After a few minutes, Emma asked, “Are you going to do it?”

Ava huffed. “I don’t have much choice, do I?” She rolled onto her side and propped her head on her bent arm. “What I don’t get is why? With the resources at his disposal, Borré shouldn’t even need those codes. Not to mention the fact he has a mole in New Elysia.”

“A mole?” Emma actually looked surprised.

Ava wasn’t sure if that meant they were wrong about Borré having someone near the Council, or if Emma was merely unaware of it. “So why ask for the codes? Is it just to see what kind of hoops I’ll jump through, because—”

“It’s not that,” Emma said quietly. “Although Father demands obedience, obviously.”

“Why, then?”

Emma chewed on her lip, looking away as she thought about her answer. “It’s a show of faith. Father is big on those. He wants you to cut any ties you have to the Council or to the Guardians. By giving him the codes, you’ll become an enemy to the Race. A Rogue. He wants you to rely on him and him alone. It’s the only way he can be certain of your loyalty.”

Ava scoffed. “And how does he know I won’t turn on him?”

“You saw what happens when you do.”

“Just because I can’t attack him doesn’t mean I have to serve him.”

“You can’t betray him—”

“I can do a lot of things.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Emma said shifting on the bed to face her. “Father will know if you lie.”

Ava couldn’t resist the opportunity to learn a little more about Borré. “Is that his gift? He’s a human lie detector?”

“He’s a lot more than that.”

Ava sighed in frustration. “More than what? What is he?”

“He’s a genius. A scientist. He created us.”

“I know that, but he’s Race, right? So what’s his gift? What qualifies him to lead the Rogues, anyway?”

Emma looked away, and for a moment, Ava doubted she would answer, but she squared her shoulders and turned back, licking her lips before she said quietly, “He uses gifts.”

Ava blinked. “What? What do you mean?”

“Like the Twelve, Father can boost our gifts, make us stronger. But he also can access any gift and use it himself,” she said, the words falling over each other as if she wanted to get them out as quickly as possible. “Not against your will—not ours anyway, the Twelve are too strong. Other Race, though, he can use. And if we allow it—”

Ava digested that for a moment. “So you mean back there at the house, when he hurt me. That was . . . that was you?”

Emma’s cheeks colored as she dropped her gaze to the floor. “Not me . . . I would never hurt you, Ava. But he used my gift, yes. To supplement the protection around himself.”

“Protection?”

“It’s part of our makeup,” Emma said. “It’s not in our design to be able to turn on our creator. If we try to move against him, it’s bad, but he used my gift to make it worse. To make a point.” She swallowed and glanced up before focusing on the carpet. “I’m sorry. I know it’s painful. I know—”

Ava’s mouth dropped open. “He’s done it to you, too, hasn’t he?” When Emma was silent, Ava shook her head. “But how could you let him? Why would you let him do that to you?”

“Because I deserved it!” she shouted. “I was stubborn and disobedient, and I put the whole plan at risk!”

“Emma, no!”

“Stop,” she said, sliding off the bed and grabbing her coat. “You don’t understand. You can’t understand because you’re new to all this.”

“Where are you going?”

She shrugged into her coat. “I’m going to check the perimeter.”

“Emma, wait.” Ava jumped up and grabbed her arm. “You don’t have to do this. We could fight him. You and me. It doesn’t—”

“No, I can’t,” Emma said, yanking her arm away. “And neither can you. The sooner you can face that, the better for us all.” She locked eyes with Ava and reached for the doorknob.

“You should know, Sophie tried to escape,” Emma said, turning to face the door. “She’s being punished, and I can promise you it isn’t pleasant. Not even a little bit.” She looked over her shoulder with tears in her eyes. “That’s what waits for you if you disobey, Ava. That’s what waits for all of us. Can’t you see? None of us has a choice. Not if we want to survive. It’s just the way it is.” She took a deep breath and walked out the door, closing it quietly behind her.

Ava stared at the wood for a long time before she finally stumbled back to the bed and crawled under the covers. It was even longer before she was able to close her eyes and fall asleep.

Chapter 13

Borré’s eyes, so similar to her own, gleamed in the dim light of the room. He sat reclined on a low, tufted settee, his legs crossed, and fingers stroking his lower lip.

This house was newer, furnished, but still not lived in as far as Ava could tell. They’d left the hotel at the break of dawn and driven a few hundred miles to cross the border into Montana, Emma uncharacteristically quiet as she watched Ava when she didn’t think she was paying attention.

Ava
was
paying attention. She just didn’t want to acknowledge her sister, unsure if she should hate her for what she’d done or feel sorry for her. In a lot of ways, Emma was a victim, twisted by Borré’s influence, and a pawn to be used at his whim, and yet, she defended him, loved him, excusing his abuse with heartfelt words and teary eyes. In the end, what choice did she have, really? His hold on her was too great, too strong.

Borré’s gaze flicked subtly to Emma on the other side of the room in a silent signal.

His daughter crossed to slip gracefully to her knees on the plush rug at his feet, her nerves only evident through the slight tremble of her fingertips.

“Have you thought about my offer?” Borré asked with an almost imperceptible arch of his brow.

His offer—interesting way to put it
.

“You say that like I have other options,” Ava replied, trying to swallow the contempt in her voice.

“You always have a choice, my dear.”

“Don’t call me that.”

Borré’s lips twitched. “So stubborn,” he said, shaking his head. “But regardless of your protests, I have a feeling you’ve realized the opportunity before you. It is our time, Ava. You can be a part of it. You’re
meant
to be a part of it.”

A quiet knock sounded at the door, and Emma jumped up to answer it.

A man walked into the room, sallow and faded from head to toe—pale red hair, pale skin, pale green eyes—as though the color saturation on his entire body had been turned down a few notches.

Something about him . . .

Ava realized he’d been there for the Rogue attack at the Colony, but it was more than that. Not his face, but his presence. Something ominous and dark, like a figure from a—

“It was you,” she murmured. “You killed him. I saw you in my dream.”

The man arched a nearly invisible eyebrow but said nothing.

“What is this?” she demanded, a surge of panic and fear forcing her gift to the surface, as she turned on Borré.

The table legs thumped on the floor.

“What’s he doing here?”

“I see you recognize Mr. Bartok. I suspected as much.” Borré smiled and admired his fingernails. “As for his presence, think of it as a show of good faith.”

Ava held back her gift but turned her body to put the wall at her back as she kept her eyes focused on the man. “What do you mean?”

“There’s something you should know, something I suspect you already know,” Borré said as he picked a nonexistent piece of lint from his trouser leg. “Your police friend? What was his name . . . Simpson?”

“Simmons. Nick Simmons.” Saying the name sent a chill down Ava’s spine. She still saw him lying in a pool of blood as if an image from her dream, but, as it turned out, it hadn’t been a dream at all.