Min was rubbing her forehead. "At this point, I don't trust anything. Certainly not the government. But faking natural disasters? Hacking CNN, Fox News, and all the others, while also putting together clips as believable as disaster movies? It's too much. In fact, I think the opposite is true-everything did happen, and it's all tied to the project. I think Nemesis caused the chaos."
"Now who's reaching?" Tack muttered, but didn't say more.
"Don't forget," Min said quietly, "Sheriff Watson was shot to death right here. That wasn't a hoax."
Tack's jaw tightened. His father had been gunned down, too.
Min sighed in resignation. "So we're nowhere. Right where we started."
"No!" I said, drawing their eyes. A strange feeling was welling inside me. I felt a sudden release of the tension I'd been carrying for days. Hell, years.
I realized my anxiety was gone. Something had shifted. Loosened. I almost laughed with relief, but was too exhilarated. Puzzle pieces were snapping together in my mind. There were blank spaces, sure-holes that would have to be filled-but the big picture suddenly seemed so much clearer.
Project Nemesis had changed the rules we lived by.
I was a centerpiece of that. A crucial element. A keystone.
"No, what?" Tack demanded finally, when I hadn't spoken for several seconds. "You have some miracle plan to deal with Ethan and the rest?"
"We fight them," Min answered automatically, her expression darkening. "We can't let Ethan run things. Not after what he did to you."
"Fight them how?" Tack shuffled his feet in a desultory manner. "Ethan's got the whole class on his side-or afraid of him, which works just as well. I say we pick a good place to hide, then find some way out of the valley. Let that prick have his Kingdom of Morons."
"You really think we can leave?" Min looked as if she'd never considered the idea. "I'm not so sure. Plus, you missed a few things while dead. There's trouble in paradise."
Min began catching Tack up on current events, but I couldn't bring myself to contribute.
All my life, I'd been plagued by fear. Self-doubt. A crushing insecurity. I'd been told these problems were caused by a flaw in my psyche. The deranged conjurings of a broken mind.
But that simply wasn't true.
The murders were real. The resurrections, too.
I wasn't flawed. Or broken. I was being tested.
I cannot die.
Heavy curtains opened inside me, allowing sunlight to pour in.
What was I so afraid of all the time? I wasn't crazy. I'd endured a crucible no one could suffer through unscathed. Frankly, it was a miracle I ever stepped outside my bedroom door. Who could've done better than me?
The murders were obstacles to overcome. I'd survived them all.
My spirit soared as the realizations dog-piled on top of one another.
I can be strong now. No, more than that.
I can be powerful.
"That's another thing," Min was saying. "Who are the other two betas?"
"We need to find out," I said. Though suddenly, I thought I could guess.
"Does it matter?" Tack made a face. "No offense, but if everyone resets now, you betas aren't different from the rest."
My head swiveled. I flashed an almost condescending smile. "We're the most prepared, Tack. Whatever this cycle is, we've been living it for a decade. We need to find the other betas and figure out what they know."
Min shivered. "That shouldn't be a problem, I guess. We can just ask around."
"And give away our advantage?" My tone was incredulous. "No way. We have to keep this secret from everyone until we know how to exploit it."
And it was an advantage, I just knew it. I was special. Chosen. Picked first.
I noticed they were both looking at me funny.
"What do you think is happening, Noah?" Min asked slowly. Tack had crossed his arms, was watching me with interest.
"I don't think the project failed." It was hard to explain, this feeling of purpose that had stolen over me. The answers suddenly felt so obvious, I found them difficult to express. "I think this is what we were prepped for. What our birthdays were leading up to."
"Prepped? That's what you're calling it?" Min's eyes narrowed. She spoke in a quiet but forceful voice. "When I was eight years old, I was pushed off a cliff. At ten, I drowned in a creek. On my twelfth birthday, I was run over. When I turned fourteen, the black-suited man bashed my head in with a rock. He shot me to death on Sunday. I wasn't prepped for anything, Noah. I was terrorized throughout my childhood, and you were, too. Don't forget that."
Her rebuke was like a slap. "No, no! You're right. That's not what I meant." I wasn't explaining this well. "I'm not minimizing what was done. I'm just saying our experiences give us an edge."
"For what?" Min snapped. "Over whom? What are we trying to do, take over the town ourselves?" She took a breath, but the heat didn't dissipate. "I'll be honest, Noah-I don't like what I'm hearing right now. You're starting to sound like Ethan."
I flinched. Bit my tongue. How could she say that?
"We need to work together," Min continued, a bit more calmly. "We should attack this mystery by involving everyone as equals. We need to share information, not build private sand castles."
Irritation sparked-why didn't she understand?-but was swiftly doused by shame.
God, Min was right. What was I talking about? I did sound like Ethan.
Another failure of character. While she aces every test.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me." When that seemed deficient, I added, "It's been a long day."
Her posture softened immediately. "It's okay. We're all under a ton of pressure." She reached out and squeezed my hand.
I thought back to the night before. Remembered her body cradled in mine, our lips inches apart as we slept, sharing the same breaths. Then my face reddened. Tack was watching us closely, his expression guarded.
He doesn't know. And I doubt he can adjust.
I turned away, pretending to stretch. Couldn't help but slightly resent the situation. Min always came to the right conclusion, while I always blew it. We were both betas, but not equals. Faced with the same obstacles, she'd become twice the person I was.
Tack broke the silence. "So what's our next move? I haven't eaten anything today, and I smell like Smokey Bear. I need a shower and a turkey sandwich. After that, we can declare war on Ethantonia."
"I'd think hard before doing that," a voice said.
I spun to face the forest.
Two figures were watching from the shadows.
Both held guns.
46
MIN
Ethan and Sarah walked into the clearing.
"Oh crap." Noah took an involuntary step back.
Tack squinted at the tree line beyond the pair. "They alone?"
"Yes," Ethan answered. Sarah kept pace, watching Noah with a tight frown.
I considered our options, but there weren't any. They had weapons, we didn't.
"We just want to talk," Ethan said, though the gun he was holding signaled the opposite. "That's why we left the others in town."
With a jolt, I realized they didn't seem surprised to see Tack alive.
"You," I breathed. "You're the other betas."
"I felt the same about you." Sarah eyed the two boys beside me. "Which one?"
"Me." Noah's expression was almost prideful. He'd been so weird since we'd found Tack. I didn't understand, but now wasn't the time.
Ethan made a show of stuffing the gun into his belt. "Sarah figured out Min. Took long enough, but we didn't know much about Dr. Lowell until this morning. We had no clue who the last beta was." He winked at Noah. "You didn't strike me as the type."
Despite the clear menace of their appearance, I couldn't contain my excitement. They knew about Project Nemesis! What information did they have that we didn't?
"So you weren't Lowell's patients?" I thought back to the square. "Did you see Fanelli about the murders?"
Ethan and Sarah exchanged a look. "I told you it was different for them," she said.
Ethan nodded, scratching his chin. "Tell us what you know about the experiment."
"You first," Tack shot back.
Ethan snorted. "Great to see you again, Thumbtack."
"Screw you."
A flush began creeping up Ethan's neck. Sarah put a hand on his arm. When she spoke next, she only had eyes for Noah. "Did you know we all share a birthday?"
Noah's brow knitted. "Huh? Your birthday is in June. Ethan's was three weeks ago."
Sarah shook her head, golden tendrils shimmering in the midday sun. "I saw Fanelli's records. Ethan and I were both born on September seventeenth, just like you two. Our parents gave us fake birthdays our whole lives. Isn't that twisted?"
My heart began to pound. "Why would they do that?"
Sarah glanced at me briefly, then returned her attention to Noah. "For the project. You and Noah are local, but Ethan and I were imported. They needed four betas, but I guess they thought the class parties would be too big. Suspicious looking. So they lied. It's kind of funny when you think about it."