Some research papers on Adepts. One looks especially interesting, describing a new research program to use gene therapy to induce mutations using vampire DNA. Taking it makes me feel uneasy but because it's so old, I doubt anyone will miss it. I go and get my backpack so I can take it home with me when Ileave.
Then, I flip through the files in search for something aboutMichel.
Sure enough, there's one and what's most interesting is that he's had two partners over the past ten years that worked at the SCU. The first lasted seven years – a Michelle Joyce. She died on a mission and had a Do Not Resuscitate order on her file, so no one could save her by making her a vampire. The second died less than a year ago, killed as part of the River Man case. Neither of the two Adepts could fight and it was that inability that contributed to theirdeaths.
No wonder they want Adepts who can fight and beat a vampire. Every single Adept that worked for the SCU since its inception has died on the job. I pick through the files, checking each one, numbness fillingme.
Damn. It's like open season onAdepts.
Then, I look for my own file. There's a folder in the drawer with my name on it. The file's new, and there are several images of me dating back to when I was just a child. A shiver goes throughme...
How did they get these? From myfather?
One when I was three and taking my first pianolessons.
One at eight when I was performing at a recital. I played FurElise.
One at nine when I was in a competition for young pianists andwon.
One of me at eleven, after my mother's death when I was at the funeral with my father, who already looked as if he was on the way to the psychward.
One of me when I was taken into protective custody after he crashed and I spent the night on the porch. I'd been mosquito bitten and was sunburned from wandering around in the summer sun without adequate protection, unable to get inside because he'd been on a alcohol and drug bender and never camehome.
One of me in the hospital.What?
There's a tube down my throat as if I'mventilated.
How come I don'tremember?
I barely remember that period of my life. John and Vanessa Barnes, a couple with Council connections had been appointed to take custody of me and become my legal guardians but the Council lost track of me when my file went missing and I was given to another couple not in thesystem.
A whole lot of darkness followed that – a darkness I take pains not toremember.
Attached to the back of the sheet on my background were a few papers stapled together on my mother. She moved to Boston and went to school there, getting a Masters and PhD before joining the Council to work as a researcher. She met and married my father, Sean Hayden, a concert pianist, in1988.
Then a line in a legal document signed by my mother andfather:
"Subject accepted implantation on August 21, 1989 of three enhanced embryos. Two registered to the Council and one for the subject and spouse to raise. In the event only one embryo survives to birth, that surviving child will be property of the Council's Enhanced Adept program, to be turned over to the Council's liaison at three days of age, to be raised by foster parents and trained to become part of theprogram..."
That's the contract Michel referred to that firstnight.
Another report from a hospital where it was found I was the only surviving triplet implanted in my mother's womb. The other two embryos failed to implant, as shown on the ultrasound at sixteenweeks.
I was genetically enhanced… I'd always thought I was a freak of nature and that my skills were a fluke. But I wasmade?
The transfer to the Council's liaison never happened. Before I was even born, my mother ran with my father, disappearing on a transatlantic flight before anyone knew. She only relented once I turned ten and she decided that it was better to prepare me for the life, in case someone found me. That must have been when she met Julien. She returned to Boson and that's when she got themanuscript.
I sit in the chair at Terri's desk, reading over the lost details of my life – the true details and a sense of shock settles over me like a shroud. A bit lightheaded, my limbs feeling numb, I cover my mouth and bite backtears.
Here I am, after everything my parents did to prevent me becoming an Adept, working for theCouncil.
A sound draws my attention away from the file. It's Ed, standing in the doorway. I close the file and put it on the desk in front of me, not meeting hiseyes.
"Eve, what are you doing?" He comes to me and reaches down, picking up thefile.
"Finding out the truth." I stand and turn to face him, my cheeksburning.
He picks up my backpack and removes the file on adepts and examines it for amoment.