yesterday.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He held me at arm’s length and stared at me like I was an idiot. Ethan had been fitted with a collar not unlike the security collars used on the Manhattan prisoners. And it looked exactly like the collar that had been used on Andrew last month. “I’m fine, Stretch. Are you all right?”
“Better now.”
“That’s not an answer. Thatcher said you freaked out and ran into the woods. That isn’t like you.” He touched my cheek in such a protective, brotherly way that I wanted to break down again. This was my family now. Nothing in the past mattered.
“I’m just happy to see you,” I said. “We’ve been climbing the walls since yesterday.”
“Me, too, trust me.” A brief flash of fear crossed his face. “How’s Aaron really?”
“Pissed and worried, like I said before, but physically fine. We found him pretty quickly, tied up like a Christmas turkey.”
“Stopping for a body in the road was a stupid idea, huh? When Aaron collapsed . . .”
“He’s perfectly fine, Ethan, I swear. And you’re sure you’re okay? What about that collar?”
He tugged at the metal cinched tight around his neck. “It’s annoying, but it doesn’t hurt. Bethany says it has a built-in shocking mechanism, and if it’s anything like the collars I saw the Recombinant clones use on Andrew and Freddy, I’m not about to test her word.”
“So she’s kept you here with the collar.”
“Basically. Says if I go farther than a half mile from the remote, it will automatically shock me into unconsciousness. How the hell did she even get a collar like this?”
“Did Bethany tell you anything about the man who raised her and Landon?” I asked.
“No.” He scowled. “She didn’t say much beyond a few attempts to flirt with me. Why?”
I summed up Landon’s comments about Uncle. “She couldn’t have gotten that collar on her own, and we know the clones got their collars from their creators. What if Uncle is tied to the Recombinant projects? What if training these kids is somehow part of a larger plan?”
The impact of what I suggested seemed to hit Ethan all at once, because he looked ill. “Then I think we’re in the middle of a bigger plot than any of us imagined.”
“But it doesn’t make sense. Landon and Bethany were raised as thieves, sure, but they use their skills to help people. It’s not like they’re robbing banks and keeping the money.”
“I understand that, believe me. But they’re still committing crimes. Worse, they’re Metas committing crimes, and that’s all the general public will see. Landon and Bethany have motivations, but all this will do is keep driving that wedge between Metas and regular people. And something tells me this damned Uncle or Overseer or whoever knows that.”
“He’s using them,” I said. “This Uncle told Landon that his father abandoned him to go off and murder children in the name of the Banes.”
Ethan pulled a face. “Derek’s not like that.”
“I know, but Landon didn’t. He believed it, and maybe he still does. I bet you Uncle told Bethany something similar about her mother.”
“Do you think Uncle sought out the children of known Banes in order to manipulate their emotions and make them loyal to him?”
“It makes sense. Another fucking fail-safe, just in case everyone’s powers returned. It gives them a ready- made army of superpowered young adults with massive grudges against their absentee parents.”
“How massive, do you think?”
“Well, before we left New Jersey, Landon said he’d had every intention of shooting Thatcher on the spot.”
“Crap.”
“Exactly. He obviously didn’t do it, but that anger and resentment doesn’t just go away. And Landon is powerful. We need him on our side, especially if we’re going to find out if Uncle has any other kids out there doing his dirty work.”
“He won’t help us if we turn them in for robbing those warehouses.”
“Right.”
Ethan heaved a mighty sigh, then ran his fingers through his already mussed red hair. “Why can’t our cases ever be simple? It’s always people possessing other people’s bodies, or fighting clones of our dead parents.”
“Simple is boring, Windy.”
“I would love a little boring. Bring on the boring.”
I laughed at the eager way he said that, grateful he’d managed to make me smile. “Thank you for coming after me.”
“Technically, I think you came after me.” His amusement disappeared, and he gave me a stern look. “Seriously, though, Renee, are you sure you’re all right? You know I can keep a secret if there’s anything you want to talk about.”
“I know that.” But the middle of the woods wasn’t the place to unload my personal pain on him, even if I wanted him to know it. “Rain check?”
“Okay.”
Ethan seemed to have his sense of direction finely tuned, so I let him lead us back to town. “Does Teresa know where you are?” he asked after a few minutes of walking.
“Not exactly. She knows we met Landon in New Jersey, but Landon blindfolded us before he brought us here. I’m not even sure what state we’re in.”
“Pennsylvania.”
“How do you know?”
He gave me a sideways grin. “License plates on the cars.”
The answer was so obvious I actually started laughing. “Guess Landon isn’t as smart as he thinks he is. But I do need to talk to Teresa as soon as possible, to make sure she holds off on giving Landon’s and Bethany’s names to the authorities.”
“Agreed.”
“What if she’s already turned their names over, though?”
“I doubt it. If Teresa believes you’re looking into a legitimate lead, she’ll wait until you report back.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Ditto.”
Because if he was wrong, then we’d just played right into Uncle’s hand. And I’d be damned if I got hustled by the house one round in. This little game was far from over.
Ten
Ten minutes later we emerged from the woods up the road from the platform. I avoided looking at it, too disgusted by its existence to risk another meltdown. Ethan headed for another wooden shack, this one slightly newer than the buildings in town. It was squat and square, more like a shed than a house, with only one window. The front door swung open and Thatcher stepped out into the sunlight, not even hiding his relief.
“Are you all right?” he asked as he came forward. For a split second I thought he might hug me.
“Just needed some air,” I said.
“And a run through the woods?” He gave my scratched forehead a pointed look.
“Well, I was sitting in a car for hours on end. It felt like a good time for some exercise.”
Thatcher scowled, then asked Ethan, “Is she ever serious?”
“Not when her guard is up.”
“Hey,” I said, poking Ethan in the arm. “Shut it, Wind Bag.”
