When Caleb and I imprinted, it was the final straw. He made it his new mission to remake the imprints in his family, regardless of the consequences to the ones involved. He knew their imprints would be broken and faulty, like his was, but it no longer mattered. He was blinded by rage.
Marcus was his first apprentice. He clued him in on everything, about the forced imprint on Ruth, about how he planned to take me and use my blood to set their family free. About how Marcus was going to be the first one to imprint after Sikes figured out how to do it again. He hadn't been a very good scientist.
She laughed and shook her head and spoke out loud. "He was so furious and rage filled when he started it all, he didn't even perform his tests in a constructive way. He had no idea why we imprinted. He long since stopped giving me his blood. The imprint seemed to be a fluke, but we knew better."
"I'm sorry, but you didn't tell me anything so terrible. Why were you so worried about telling me that?"
"The part I was reluctant about, is telling you that Marla gave me her blood. Not just me, but every Watson. Which, in turn means that we all have your blood as well."
"Maggie already figured that out," Caleb dismissed. "There's something else you're not telling us."
"Wait," I said. "If she gave you my blood, I shouldn't be able to read your thoughts."
"I know," she replied. "I'm the only human. I can only guess that is why. But Marla doesn't know that you can. I am, however, bound to her blood as a Watson; something that happened when I imprinted with Sikes that made me under their power. Even though Sikes is not longer here, I have her blood, therefore I have to follow her."
I processed all that with a sigh. Caleb was doing the same behind me, his arms still manacles to keep me from harm. "So what is it that Marla wants?"
"And there's the kicker; I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because she forbade me to. She didn't say anything about telling you my past, but she specifically said not to say anything else about what we're doing here."
"Well at least she's keeping things interesting," Caleb grumbled.
"So, I was right? Everyone who has my blood in them is immune to my ability. But why? That doesn't make any sense to me."
"As I'm sure lots of things don't," she said softly and I remembered the man in the room with us. I glanced at his wrist. His tattoo was a half of a cloud. He wasn't a Watson, for sure. So why was she speaking so freely in front of him?
I turned my gaze to him. He squirmed appropriately and coughed. "I'm Rodrigo, Visionary," he answered my unspoken question and bowed. He looked back up to me and grinned. "Shall I kiss your fingers?"
"Not gonna happen," Caleb said. Whether it was out of jealousy at Rodrigo's blaring thought of how delicate and delicious I looked or because he knew I hated the bowing was unclear. Ok, it was pretty clear. "You can get up now, Mister Gonzales. I'm sure Misses Gonzales wouldn't appreciate your leering at the Visionary."
"You know him?" I asked Caleb.
"Babe," he said sarcastically. "I know everyone. I was born with these people."
"Oh, yeah, that's right."
Rodrigo smiled. "Yes, Caleb was such a rambunctious child," he explained with a heavy accent. "I see he has grown to be quite a rambunctious young man as well."
"You trust him that much?" I ignored him and asked Ruth. "He's not of your clan."
"But," she started, "he is the one who charmed this room so that no one could hear our conversation in here."Charmed the room….something was working in my mind. I gasped when I got her meaning.
"You!" I accused him and pointed my finger. "You charmed my bedroom!"
"I knew who did it," Caleb confessed. I turned to him. He placed his hands on the top of my shoulders. "I knew who did it, I was just mad that the assembly would make him do it."
"Make him…" I pondered. "So he can't say no or they'll think something's up? Is that it?"
"Basically," he answered. "It's not uncommon for them to use our abilities if the situation calls for it."
"Use our abilities," I mused. I turned back to Rodrigo. "Sorry."
"It's alright," Rodrigo interrupted and smiled. "I didn't actually think you'd be happy about it, but I didn't really have much choice. I also thought it would take you a while to realize it…since Caleb was supposed to be in his room last night…and not in yours," he remarked with a quirked brow and a smirk.
I tried not to blush again. "So, you're helping Ruth. Why?"
"Because, like her, I know what it's like to be used for her abilities. And I don't want things to stay the same any more than you do, Visionary." He came to me and knelt on one knee, but I wasn't upset. I could tell this was something more than blind worship. "I am willing to help you in any way that you will allow me, but I have to play my part for the assembly as well. We all do. When I heard that the Visionary was here," he smiled brilliantly, "I knew that change was coming. Me, and my family, are happy to be of service to you."
"I understand and I appreciate that. I have no doubt that we'll need all the people that we can get." I turned to Ruth as Rodrigo stood. "Does this mean you're with us, too?"
"I think you know the answer to that," she answered. And I did. She wanted to help, but couldn't. She was bound to Marla's blood and couldn't do anything to go against that, her body wouldn't let her. But she wished us all the best and would help if she could.
"So not everyone is so blindly devoted to the assembly as I originally thought?" I asked no one.
"No," she answered and squeezed my hand, "but they all have their part to play, too."
"I know the feeling," I whispered.
"But Marla isn't what you think. She's a spoiled, selfish child with an ego the size of Delaware, but she's been trained from birth to think that she's better than everyone else, either because they are human and she's above them, or because they aren't a Watson and therefore aren't as good as she is. Sikes brainwashed her just as he did Marcus. She's smart, she's quick thinking, and she's cunning, but she's cocky. She thinks she can't lose. But she's wrong."
I nodded. I had one more question for her. One I knew that Caleb would blow up about if I was right, so I blocked him, but he immediately caught on to me. "What are you doing, Maggie?" he asked me roughly.
I opened back up, looked at Ruth and steeled myself. "I have another question, and I want you to tell me the truth." I felt Caleb's understanding slam into me. He waited with breath held. "Sikes killed Caleb's grandfather in an echo, didn't he? It wasn't a heart attack."
She stared at us silently for a long time and we had our answer. Caleb sighed roughly and I swiftly turned and hugged him to me.
I know what you're thinking. Why did I do that? Why not just let him believe that his grandfather died of natural causes? Because their family needed to know the truth, that's why. I loved them. I loved Caleb's family. They were sweet, they were strong and faithful to one another. They were efficient and hard working, but they weren't upset. They weren't passionate about making change. They couldn’t really be on the same page as the Visionary, and truly be on my side, until they got angry. And knowing that their Champion was murdered was enough to do that.
"I'm sorry," I whispered into his neck. "I'm so sorry."
"I always knew," he said, the anguish marking his voice. "I always knew it was something else. Ah, man, Gran…"
I began to regret my thinking process. Maybe it wasn't worth his family's pain to bring them to the surface of the problem.
"No," Caleb refuted me. "No, they need to know. You're right. We may not have been the problem, but sitting by and knowing something was going on and not doing anything to stop it was bad enough." He sighed his frustration across my face. I pressed my palm to his cheek to draw off some if his anguish. "We've got to tell the family."
"Caleb, maybe you should think about it," I started, but he pressed his thumb over my lips.
"No, you're right," he said and kissed the tip of my nose.
"I'm so sorry about him. I wish there was another way, but I bet your grandpa would have done whatever was necessary to bring them around, huh?"
"You are absolutely right, Visionary." He smiled at my frown. "Don't scowl at me," he said playfully and pulled me closer. He pulled me up by my chin to kiss my lips and then spoke against them. "I love you, baby."
"I love you." I started to go back in for more of those kisses when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Rodrigo was slipping out the door. "Wait. Thank you."
"Don't thank me, just do what needs to be done and don't let them intimidate you. You have everything you need right there with you and within you," he said ominously.
"Ok," I barely voiced, but he was already gone.
"Let's go," Ruth said and pushed me gently with a hand on my elbow. "I don't want Marla suspicious because we're taking too long." I saw the blood vials wrapped gently in her fingers. She followed my line of sight. "I have to," she said."I know." She had to take the blood to Marla. She didn't have a choice. "Don't worry about me, we will figure all of this out." I closed my eyes and tried to focus. "As soon as I figure out where to start."