Enders(4)

“What do you want?”

I want your full attention. And you will want to give it to me.

A chill ran through my body.

Look to your left and tell me what you see.

“Shops.”

Keep looking.

I turned to my left. “Just … a chocolate shop, a jeweler, a shop that’s closed.”

You’re not looking hard enough. What else?

I took a few steps. “Shoppers. Enders, some with grandchildren, some Starters …”

Yes. Starters. Keep looking.

My eyes scanned the area. He wants me to find some Starter?

“Is this a game of hot and cold?”

More like hot and hot. Only you’ll soon see it is no game.

I stood in the middle of the mall as Starters and Enders had to move around me. He wanted me to see a Starter. There were plenty of them … but which one? Then I saw a girl with long red hair. I knew her.

Reece.

She was the donor my guardian, Lauren, had rented to search for her grandson. I remembered Reece as a friend, but of course that was actually Lauren. The real Reece wouldn’t know me. But there was so much I could tell her.

“Reece,” I called out.

She looked as pretty as ever, in a short print dress and silver pumps with little heels. I dodged the shoppers to get closer to her. She was about ten feet ahead of me when she stopped and turned.

“I’m Callie,” I said as shoppers weaved between us. “You don’t know me. But I know you.”

She gave me the strangest look, an expression I’d never seen on her. The corner of her mouth turned up in a half smile, but it wasn’t a fluid move. It was more—mechanical.

Something was wrong.

She quickly turned and walked off.

“Wait,” I called out.

But she kept going. An Ender walked behind her. I wouldn’t have noticed him, but he had a large silvery tattoo on the side of his neck. The head of some animal. I could barely make it out. A leopard, maybe.

“It was Reece, wasn’t it? You wanted me to see her?”

I can always count on you, Callie.

Did Reece know the leopard-tattooed Ender was following her? I wasn’t sure. She darted into a shop. He moved to the next one and pretended to be interested in the pearl chokers in the window.

I took a step toward the shop.

No. Leave her alone.

She came out moments later and the leopard-tattooed man resumed following her. I kept walking, staying behind, watching them both.

“She’s in danger,” I said to the Old Man.

You’ll see.

A horrible sense of dread washed over me. “Is somebody inside her?”

The body bank had been destroyed. But the Old Man was accessing me. He could have someone inside Reece’s body as well. The idea was putting my stomach in knots. His electronic voice. The leopard tattoo. Reece’s body being used.

I saw the shoe store ahead, past Reece. Tyler and Michael were just entering it.

“Michael!” I shouted across the mall, hoping he could hear me over the shoppers and the music. He was maybe six or seven shops away. He stopped and looked around but didn’t see me. He went inside.

Reece must have heard, though, because she turned and stared at me. I didn’t mean for that to happen. That gave the tattooed man a chance to catch up to her. He said something in her ear, and she shook her head with an unnatural movement. He touched her arm and she—or whoever was inside her—pulled it away.

“What’s going on?” I was frozen there, struggling to solve this dark puzzle. “Tell me.”

Just because you destroyed Prime doesn’t mean you destroyed me. It wasn’t my only facility. I can still access any chip.

Reece backed away from the man and ran toward the shoe store.

And I can turn it into a weapon.

“No,” I said to him, to myself, to anyone around.

Time stopped as I held my breath. It all happened so fast. The crowd around me became a frozen blur as I started to run toward the shop. It felt like running through water— I couldn’t move fast enough.

I was two doors away when, like a bullet, a dark-haired Starter wearing a puffy metallic airjacket came at me. I just got a flash of his face—strong jaw, piercing eyes. He threw himself against me, wrapped his arms around my body, and dragged me backward as fast as he could.

Before I could react, there was a horrible, heart-splitting explosion. It came from where Reece had been standing. As we went sailing through the air, I could only see a blinding white flash.





CHAPTER TWO





Pieces of glass and metal rained down from above, bounced up from below. I was on my back with the Starter squatting over me, acting as a shield, protecting me. I closed my eyes and crossed my arms to cover my face. Some Ender cried out that she’d been hit.

Screams of pain and fear came from all directions, and I couldn’t say for sure that one didn’t come from me. It felt like it lasted forever, but it was probably only seconds.