Emma.
Dawson went to the Doctor and got down on one knee. “What happened?” he asked.
The Doctor struggled to push the words out through his pain. “It … blew up.”
My chest tightened. By “it” he meant Emma.
“When you touched it?”
He gritted his teeth. “I had almost thirty percent done and then I made one cut exposing it, and—” He shook his head. “Boom.”
His face contorted in pain. Then his eyes rolled back, and he slumped over. Just before his head hit the floor, Dawson grabbed him by the shoulders.
“Someone take him.”
“Is he … ?” a guard asked.
“He’s just out,” Dawson said, disgusted. Two guards wheeled in a gurney.
Emma was gone.
I’d never really gotten to know her. I thought we’d have time for that once she moved back into the house with us.
“Everyone get out of here.” Dawson swept his arm over the room. Then he looked at me and pointed. “Except you. And your friends.”
I swallowed hard. It sounded like we were going to be blamed and punished for this horrible outcome.
Enders filed out. The guards came and stood by Michael, Hyden, and me. We traded nervous looks as the room emptied, and it was just us, the guards, and Dawson.
And poor Emma.
Dawson grabbed Hyden’s arm. The pain was obvious. Everything that would just hurt anyone else was excruciating to him.
“Let go of me,” Hyden said.
“You knew this would happen!” Dawson shouted.
“I told you it was risky. That there was an explosive. You didn’t listen,” Hyden said. He motioned to Emma’s body. “She wouldn’t listen.”
“Come on, let him go,” Michael said to Dawson.
“You let it happen to Emma,” I said to Dawson. “It’s your fault more than his. You call the shots around here.”
Dawson released Hyden and came up to me, his face inches from mine. I didn’t step back or look away, just held his gaze as coolly as I could.
“You think I wanted to waste a Metal?” Dawson said. “There are only so many of you. And most of them are kept by one man. His father.” He pointed at Hyden.
I must have made a small involuntary gasp, because Dawson turned to me. “Oh, we know,” Dawson said. “We know everything.”
He stormed out the room and we followed, a guard at our backs. I tried not to give anything away. How much did he really know?
“And we know about your father, Callie,” Dawson called over his shoulder.
“My father?” I said. My heart beat faster.
Dawson stopped and crossed his arms. “Your father also worked in neurochip technology.”
“My father invented the handlite,” I said slowly, not sure where this was going.
“And what did he do after that?” Dawson prompted.
“He didn’t talk about work. The most he’d say was ‘research.’ And then he died, like my mother.”
“He was trying to do what he”—Dawson pointed at Hyden—“and his father were able to do. Create the neurochip for transposition. He specialized in trying to create chips that can communicate with other chips.”
The thought that my father was involved in this chip tech made me dizzy. And Dawson seemed so sure. But Hyden and Michael stared at me like I had kept some huge secret from them all this time.
“And now the two of you are together.” Dawson gestured to Hyden. “Coincidence?” He shook his head. “What exactly are you working on?”
“We’re not working on anything!” I exclaimed. “I didn’t even know about my father.”
Hyden kept quiet. I realized that was probably what I should have been doing. Too late now.
“I just wanted to get the chips out of all of us,” I said.
“Well, after what just happened to Emma, you don’t anymore, do you?” Dawson said. “Kaboom.”
I swallowed hard. I was exhausted. Everything in my body hurt. I hated this. I had no idea who to believe. Who was Dawson really? Maybe he was making all this up to cause some rift between the three of us. Wouldn’t I have known that was what my father did?
I crossed my arms. “My father never said anything to me about this. I was just a kid.”
Dawson stared at me. “You expect me to buy that? You’re no ordinary kid.”
I let out a small laugh. “How do I know you’re not just making this up?”
“You don’t.” Hyden got in Dawson’s face. “We know what your agenda is. You just want the secrets. You’ll say anything to get it.”
“Now you know,” I said, “you can’t take the chips out of us. We’ve told you everything, you’ve tested us backward and forward, so let us go.”