Plaid Shirt guided the wheel with his left hand. “Careful with my car.”
I looked at him. He smiled, and something about him seemed familiar.
“Hyden?” I asked.
“Yes,” Plaid Shirt said.
It was so weird. “Is that really you?”
“In the flesh. Well, actually, in the borrowed flesh.”
“What do you think you’re doing? You jacked that guy.”
“It’s for his own good. He would have fought us.” He took his hand off the wheel but nodded toward the road. “Focus.”
I climbed the freeway on-ramp. Hyden put his hand on my right arm. But it wasn’t his hand—it was the plaid-shirted guy’s. The whole thing was so weird. I wasn’t even sure I trusted Hyden. How well could you know someone who could be anyone they wanted to be?
“Are you really okay back there?” I craned around to get another look at Hyden’s body in the back.
“Don’t worry.”
“What’s his name?” I asked.
“Who?”
“The guy you’re in.”
Hyden started patting his pockets. He pulled out a wallet and looked at a photo ID of himself.
“Jeremy Stone.” He looked through the wallet. “Not much cash. Either he was one of the donors at the end who didn’t get paid, or he ran through the money.”
“How did you get in Jeremy so fast like that?” I asked.
“Guess.”
I thought it over. “You have a chip in your head.”
“I was the first one. To test my invention.”
His hand remained on my arm, sending its warmth through me. I didn’t want to like it. I refused to like it. But the warmth was undeniable.
“This isn’t so different from your father,” I said. “He wears a mask, and you’re wearing a whole-body mask.”
He stared out the windshield. I suspect he was a bit ashamed. If he wasn’t, he should have been.
“You wouldn’t want to be me, Callie. Can you imagine hating your own body? I’m a prisoner inside it.”
I’d been a real prisoner, inside Institution 37, and it had been the worst time of my life. Much worse than being a squatter. But I had been able to escape.
Could Hyden?
“All the Metals are prisoners,” I said. “Until we can defeat your father.”
CHAPTER NINE
Hyden guessed that Jeremy had not eaten for a while because he soon got very hungry and wanted flash food from a drive-thru. He started to order for just us.
“No!” I shouted at the order machine. “Make that thirty of everything—burgers, fries, and chocolate shakes.” I turned to Hyden. “We can’t just bring back food for ourselves. Food will make them trust us.”
When we drove back to his place, he hesitated before getting out of the SUV. “Listen, I don’t want the Metals to see me in a borrowed body. Too weird.” Then he told me about a private room where I could meet him. We went up separately, me carrying the large bags of food. The Metals were so thrilled to see the food that they didn’t bother to ask why I wasn’t sitting and eating with them.
Hyden’s secret room was about the size of two of our dorm-type rooms, with a bed and a desk.
“So this is where you hide out sometimes,” I said, admiring the decor. “Nice of you to share it with me.”
He pulled a sheet from a shelf and spread it on the floor.
“Picnic?” I asked.
“Why not?”
One wall was covered with an image of a cliff overlooking the ocean, and I could practically feel the brisk spray on my face.
“That’s beautiful,” I said.
“It helps.” He shrugged. “But it’s not the real thing.”
I put the food on the cloth on the floor. He remained standing, so I did too. He moved closer to me than ever before, about a foot away. He put his hands out toward me, palms to the ceiling, in an invitation to touch.
“Callie.”
I placed my hands over his. He closed his eyes, as if he was savoring the sensation.
Finally, he opened his eyes. He gently held my hands, caressing them, then turning his palm until ours matched, in front of us. He slid his fingers down to meet the crooks of mine, and we were grasping each other’s hands.
My heart was beating faster. I unclasped my hands and pulled back.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Jeremy’s face looked puzzled. I had to get used to a whole new set of expressions now that it wasn’t Hyden’s eyes, brows, and mouth.
“It’s too weird,” I said, motioning to his body.
He moved closer to me. “Please.” He touched the back of my hand lightly with his fingers. “Come on. This is the only way I can touch you.”