“So my dark secret is out. ”
“I didn’t know it was a secret. ”
“Not really. Just not something I advertise. ”
In other words, if kids knew he had a chronic illness, they might treat him differently. He had it under control, so there was no reason for anyone to know about it.
“Backup?” Tori said. “You mean he didn’t need that?”
“Apparently not,” I murmured.
Simon looked from her to me, confused, then understanding. “You guys thought…”
“That if you didn’t get your medicine in the next twenty-four hours, you’d be dead?” I said. “Not exactly, but close. You know, the old ‘upping the ante with a fatal disease that needs medication’ twist. Apparently, it still works. ”
“Kind of a letdown, then, huh?”
“No kidding. Here we were, expecting to find you minutes from death. Look at you, not even gasping. ”
“All right, then. Emergency medical situation, take two. ”
He leaped to his feet, staggered, keeled over, then lifted his head weakly.
“Chloe? Is that you?” He coughed. “Do you have my insulin?”
I placed it in his outstretched hand.
“You s
aved my life,” he said. “How can I ever repay you?”
“Undying servitude sounds good. I like my eggs scrambled. ”
He held up a piece of fruit. “Would you settle for a bruised apple?”
I laughed.
“You guys are weird,” Tori said.
Simon sat on the crate beside me. “That’s right. We are totally weird and completely uncool. Your popularity is plummeting just by being near us. So why don’t you—”
“Chloe?” Derek interrupted. “How’s your arm?”
“Her—?” Simon swore under his breath. “Way to keep showing me up. First, food. Now her arm. ” He turned to me. “How is it?”
“Fine. All stitched and bandaged. ”
“We should take a look,” Derek said.
Simon helped me pull off the jacket.
“Is that all you’re wearing?” Derek said. “Where’s your sweater?”
“They didn’t give us a chance to grab anything. I have money. I’ll buy one. ”
“Two,” Simon said. “It’s freezing after the sun goes down. You must have been a Popsicle last night. ”
I shrugged. “I had other things on my mind. ”
“Her aunt and Rae,” Tori said.
“W-we’ll get to that,” I said, as Simon looked at me. “There’s a lot to catch up on. You guys start. ”
Nineteen
“BACK TO THE BEGINNING, then,” Derek said, settling onto his crate. “The last time we saw you, you were running for the warehouse with Rae. Our distraction worked and we got away, but we couldn’t go back for a while, in case they were watching. When we got there, you guys were gone. ”
“Rae convinced me to leave. ” She’d said that when she was alone with Simon, Simon hadn’t mentioned me at all—only worried about his brother. I knew now that wasn’t true—she’d known it would make me feel bad, maybe bad enough to leave with her, and now I was embarrassed that it had worked. “She…said stuff. She got me to leave to get my arm checked by Aunt Lauren, and then…”
I took them through the last two days, step by step, revelation by revelation. When I finally finished, they all sat there, silent, even Tori.
“So Brady and Liz are dead,” Simon said slowly. “And, I guess, that other girl—the one who was shipped out earlier. ”
“Amber,” Tori said. “Her name was Amber. ”
I nodded. “She was on the list. All three of them. ”
Another moment of silence.
“Rae and Aunt Lauren are still there,” I said finally. “I know Rae betrayed us, and my aunt was one of them, but I-I need to get them out. I don’t expect any help with that—”
“No, you’re right,” Simon said. “Rae screwed up, but she sure doesn’t deserve to die for it. ”
“I know we can’t rescue them alone. ” I snuck a look at Derek. When he nodded, I felt a pinch of disappointment, like I’d been hoping he’d say that we could handle it. He was right, of course. We couldn’t.
“Once we find your dad, I want to go back,” I said. “I guess now we know why he took you guys and ran. ”
“Because he decided genetically engineering his son hadn’t been such a bright idea after all?” There was a bitterness in Simon’s voice that surprised me. All this time, I hadn’t thought of that—I’d been too focused on Simon’s father as “the good guy. ” But he’d put his son in the experiment, like all the other parents.
“They tried to do the right thing,” I said, remembering my aunt’s letter. “They thought it would make our lives easier. The Edison Group sold them this dream, and when it started to go wrong, your dad got out. Aunt Lauren tried, too. ” I touched the letter in my pocket. “Just too late. ”
“And then there are those of us whose parents never regretted it,” Tori said. “Whose mothers have turned out to be total evil bitches. But, hey, at least now no one can say I don’t come by it honestly. ” She ripped the last bit of wrapper from her energy bar. “I don’t buy this crap about us being failures, though. They wanted stronger supernaturals. That’s what we are. They just need to teach us how to control it. ”
“You go back and tell them that,” Simon said.
“What about you?” Tori waved at Simon. “Your powers work fine. You didn’t even get counseling at Lyle House. ”
“Simon isn’t on the list. They consider him a success. ”
“Whatever that means. ” Simon shifted on his crate. “The experiment’s so-called successes seem to have weaker powers, but maybe they just haven’t kicked in yet. When they do, we could have the same problems. ”
Tori nodded. “Ticking time bombs. ”
Exactly what the demi-demon had said…
I hadn’t mentioned the demi-demon. An unnecessary complication and a chance for Derek to tell me I’d been stupid even to listen to her. As for what she said, about going back, freeing her? Not something I wanted to consider right now. If we did go back, we’d have Simon’s dad and he’d find a way to stop the Edison Group without freeing any demons.
“My dad will fill in the blanks,” Simon said.
“Great,” Tori said. “We can save Chloe’s aunt and Rae and get all our questions answered…just as soon as you find your missing dad. How’s that going?” She looked at our surroundings. “Not so well, I see. ”