For just that moment, the connection I always believed in between us thrums to life—but not quite the way I’m used to.
Then Jacob tears his attention away with a sneer and taps a few glossy brochures stacked on the table next to him. “I got a campus map, and I think I’ve worked out the best computer lab to do our research under the radar. We can get started tonight.”
I take another bite, but this one slides down my throat with much less pleasure than the first. I still don’t understand why we’re risking staying here.
As if to punctuate my worry, exuberant voices filter in through the townhouse’s front window as students meander by on the sidewalk outside. When I perk my ears, I catch the faint thump of bass reverberating through the wall between our side and the townhouse attached.
We’re surrounded here—surrounded by people whose intentions and allegiances we don’t know.
“Shouldn’t we keep moving?” I say, tensing instinctively for Jacob’s response. “Or totally lay low for at least a little while, until the guardians’ initial search for us is waning?”
He aims his gaze at me again, but it’s only chilly now. “And where doyousuggest we go?”
I shrug, attempting a casual air. “There’ve got to be lots of places we could disappear to. Someplace in the wilderness where there’d be no one around to notice us. That’s what we always talked about—”
“Before,” he breaks in, his voice sharpening. “Things are different now.”
“We need to find this person,” Dominic puts in. “And the longer we wait, the colder the trail will get.”
Zian grunts. “She might hear that we got out and decide to disappear herself.”
“But what can anyone tell us that matters anyway?” I asked. “We are what we are. We should put everything about the facility and the guardians behind us and make our own—”
“Youdon’t get to decide what we ‘should’ do.” Jacob’s voice is pure ice now. “No surprise that you wouldn’t want us hassling anyone associated with the facility, though.”
I grimace. “That’s not what I’m saying. I don’t see how it’s going to help anything. And the more people see us, the more we’re risking getting caught, no matter how much we try to blend in.”
Andreas scoots a little higher in his armchair. “We need answers. Don’t you trust us that we wouldn’t be digging for them without a very good reason?”
When he puts it like that, I don’t know how to argue. My teeth set on edge for a second before I will myself to relax.
“Whoisthis Ursula woman anyway? She worked in the facility? Why would she be able to tell you more than any other guardian?”
Jacob narrows his eyes at me. “Maybe you could tell us a little about that.”
I frown back at him. “I’ve never heard her name before in my life.”
Jacob considers me and then glances at Andreas. “You could confirm that, couldn’t you? Search her memories for anything related to Ursula.”
Andreas sits all the way up with a twist of his mouth. “Since I only have a very vague sense of who Ursula is, it might not get us anywhere, but I can try.”
I go rigid in my chair, but don’t protest when he fixes his gaze on me. What he sees should only prove my innocence in this one small way.
The shimmer of ruddy light comes into his eyes. He holds his stare for a full minute, not even blinking, the lines of his stunning face softening as he’s absorbed by the search.
Then he drops his gaze. “As far as I can tell, Riva’s never met anyone named Ursula. If she met her without knowing her name, I’m not sure I have a clear enough grasp to pinpoint that.”
He drags in a breath and meets my eyes properly, something like an apology in his tone. “We think Ursula was someone high up in the facility, maybe even at the top at some point. Zian overheard a couple of the guardians who work in the testing area arguing about a change in policies—one of them saying she wouldn’t have approved and the other pointing out that she wasn’t in charge anymore.”
“You don’t need to tell her all that,” Jacob snaps.
“Why not?” Andreas asks. “Even if she somehow went back to the guardians and told them, they already know a hell of a lot more about it than we do. We wouldn’t be revealing anything new.”
Zian looks uncertain. “The less she knows about what we’re doing, the better, don’t you think?”
“How else is she going to pitch in with the investigation?”
Jacob snorts. “You think we’re letting her get involved with our mission? Did you get hit on the head on the way out of the facility?”