Inheritance

“I don’t want you to mention her,” Reese interrupted. David looked startled. “I just don’t want to get into it.”

“Sure. I won’t mention her.”

“Thanks.” She ignored the twinge of guilt that rose in her. “So let’s just say we met through debate, we got to know each other, things happened.”

David considered her for a moment. “Right. Things happened. We went through a traumatic experience that revealed the truth about our feelings.” He paused. “It is the truth, isn’t it?”

There was an uncharacteristic note of vulnerability in his voice, and she knew what he was really asking. He wanted to know if she honestly liked him, even after the way she had felt about Amber. They had never discussed it in detail—that would be way too weird—but he knew she had had strong feelings about Amber. For the first time, Reese realized she might have the upper hand in her relationship with David. Before, she had always thought that she was the vulnerable one, because she was the one who froze up and couldn’t deal with her emotions; because David was the guy everybody liked at school, whereas she was just some girl. But whatever had transpired between her and Amber gave her the power to hurt him.

A new tenderness rose in her, and along with it came a sense of responsibility. It made her reach out and put a hand on his knee. “I would never lie to you,” she told him softly. “I can’t, even if I tried.”

He covered her hand with his. Everything was open between them. He could see the truth.

He stood, pulling her to her feet, and when they kissed, it was sweet. Her hands slid around his back, and he was alive beneath her touch, his whole body focused on her, and she trusted him.

CHAPTER 5

Reese knocked on her mom’s door. When she heard her mom’s voice calling, “Come in,” she rubbed her clammy palms against her thighs and went inside. The bedroom was empty, but she heard the sound of running water from the attached bathroom.

“Reese, is that you?”

“Yeah.” Reese closed the bedroom door and headed toward the bathroom. Her mom was washing her face at the sink.

“Your dad said he’d make pancakes this morning.”

It was Sunday morning, and the statement was so ordinary and yet so incredibly unusual—when was the last time her dad had been there to make pancakes?—that Reese temporarily froze.

Her mom turned off the tap and reached for a towel to blot away the water. “Is something wrong?”

“No.” When her mom looked up, Reese looked away. “I wanted to tell you something.”

“What is it?” Her mom straightened and leaned against the edge of the bathroom counter. “You’re scaring me, honey.”

Reese crossed her arms. “It’s nothing bad. I thought you should know—before we do the interview—that David and I are—we’re—we’re together.” Her face felt as hot as a bonfire.

Her mom’s eyebrows rose, and then a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She hung up the towel. “I thought you were.”

“You did?” She didn’t know whether to be relieved or aghast. Was she that transparent?

“Well, I knew you liked him.”

“You did?” Now she was definitely aghast. “When?”

Her mom took out a small jar of moisturizer and began to smooth the lotion over her face. “You’ve had a crush on him for a while, haven’t you?”

Reese sat on the edge of her mom’s bed, still facing the bathroom. “Does everybody know?”

Her mom laughed. “I don’t know about everybody, but I’ve noticed the way you look at him. I have to say, that’s part of the reason I was so surprised about Amber.”

Reese stared down at her lap. “Yeah. That’s over.”

“I thought so,” her mom said softly. “I’m sorry. Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Reese hadn’t thought she would want to, but she found herself recounting, haltingly, how she had discovered that Amber wasn’t simply a girl she met by accident but was connected to Dr. Brand. How Amber had been assigned by the Imria to monitor Reese’s reactions to the adaptation procedure. How their relationship had been in service to this assignment. Even though Amber had apologized and insisted her feelings for Reese had been real, that didn’t change the fact that Amber had known what the Imria had done to Reese. She couldn’t help thinking that if Amber had really cared for her, she would have told her the truth.

“She wants us to talk to the Imria now,” Reese said, scooting back to lean against the headboard as her mom came out of the bathroom. “She says they want to help us, but I don’t trust her.”

“I wouldn’t trust her either,” her mom said. “She lied to you and she doesn’t deserve you.”

The harsh tone in her mom’s voice made Reese wince. Reese had been as cruel as she could to Amber the last time she had seen her, but hearing anger directed at her by someone else made her uncomfortable. “Mom —”

“She’s a very attractive girl, and she knows it. You can’t trust someone like her.”

Reese’s face burned even more.

Her mom sat on the edge of the bed, facing Reese. “She took advantage of you, and if I ever see her trying anything like that again—”

“She won’t. I’m fine, Mom.” Her stomach twisted as she said the words. I’m fine, she told herself. Her mom’s face was hard-edged with a kind of anger Reese couldn’t remember seeing before.

“She’d better not,” her mom said. She ran a hand through her hair, pushing away the damp dark curls from her forehead. “I want you to be careful, that’s all. I know you had strong feelings for her, and even though I think David is a great guy, you’ve barely had time to deal with what happened with Amber. Are you sure you’re ready to date someone else?”

Reese squirmed. “Of course.”

Her mom gave her a look that said she knew Reese was lying. “If he really likes you, he’ll wait until you’re over Amber.”

Reese’s fingers clenched, crumpling the down duvet in her grip. “I’m over her,” she insisted.

Her mom frowned. “Are you?”

Reese looked at the bedroom window to avoid her mom’s gaze. The blinds were half-closed, exposing slivers of the cloud-covered sky. “Yes. I’m over her.”

Her mom reached out and touched Reese’s foot. Reese sensed the beginnings of her mom’s feelings— concern, doubt—and she pulled her foot away. “Honey,” her mom said.

“I can handle it,” Reese snapped.

Her mom didn’t speak for a minute. Reese watched a shadow move across the sky through the blinds and willed her fisted fingers to relax before they tore a hole in the duvet. “Okay,” her mom finally said. “Then do we need to have a talk about safety?”

Embarrassed, she drew her arms around her knees. “No. You gave me the talk when I was twelve. I know how things work.”

“I’m sure you do,” her mom said wryly. “But if you need anything—a trip to the doctor, whatever—come to me first.”

Reese shook her head. “I know. Jeez, are you going to have this talk with me every time I date anyone?”

Her mom laughed and stood up. She went to the window and twisted the stick that controlled the blinds, opening them to the morning light. “Point taken. I won’t push it. And I do really like David—”

“Oh my God, what is that?” Reese cried. She jumped off the bed and ran to join her mom at the window.

Startled, her mom moved out of the way as Reese pulled on the cord to raise the blinds.

The spaceship was moving.