The Forbidden Trilogy(209)

Mary sat on her bed, arms crossed. "You satisfied?"

I nodded and stood to stretch. Her room surprised me, too tiny for a roommate, and nearly monastic in its plainness. A red blanket hanging from the bed provided the only dash of color—and that probably belonged to Robyn.

I was about to leave, but paused. "I'm sorry for slapping you." The words almost stuck on my tongue.

She shrugged. "No big deal. I would have slapped myself. I deserved it."

No argument there. She'd been a mega-bitch to everyone since forever. But seeing her now, alone in the dark, so self-conscious about the scars she carried from the fire, I pitied her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She scooted back on her bed and put a pillow on her lap. "Things are really different now."

"That's true. I sometimes wonder if it was easier at Rent-A-Kid. Life had been simpler, before we knew the truth." Mary's bullying notwithstanding, I'd enjoyed my life there, before Drake and the baby and all of this.

"We can't go back to ignorance, and I'm not sure we'd really want to. But knowledge carries its own burdens." She looked up at me as if waking from a trance. "Good luck, Sam. I really do hope you find who took her. She's a sweet baby."

The vivid memory of Ana, rather than the idea of finding her, sent me into a spiral of hurt. I missed her so much I couldn't stand it. The knowledge that, if I broke down and gave into the pain Ana would pay with her life, kept me moving forward.

Anger boiled in me. Mary had been my prime suspect. If not her, then who? No one else at Rent-A-Kid had it in for me—that I knew of. Was it Norm or Robyn? They'd acted weird, but I couldn't imagine my friends betraying me like that. I decided not to scan them until I'd checked the rest of the school. Hopefully, I'd figure out what happened before I even got to them.

After checking off Mary's name, I scanned the list and started from the top.

Five hours later, only a handful of people remained, all of whom were close to me. Nobody else had hidden anything of relevance. One guy had smoked pot the week before, and a girl had made out with her boyfriend when she was supposed to be in Algebra, but that hardly qualified as suspicious activity for a group of teenagers, paranormal or not.

Bernard, Father Patrick and Susie had insisted that I scan them, and while they all had very interesting pasts, they knew nothing about Ana and felt horrible about her kidnapping.

I stopped and stared at my list. Which friend's mind would I violate first? As I weighed my options, Susie put her arm around my shoulders. Her calm spread through me in waves, but even she couldn't touch the cold fear at the center of my being.

"How are you holding up, Sam?"

I slumped into her shoulders. "Honestly, I'm a wreck. Drake promised he'd be here, but he's not. No one knows anything about Ana, so now I have to probe my friends. And when Drake does get here, I'm not sure it'll make a difference. We had a lot of problems to work out anyway, and his leaving didn't help. His ability to control minds has always made me uncomfortable, and even after learning it myself, I hardly ever use it. In fact, I haven't used it at all since Ana was born. He has no trouble taking over other people, though, or beating them to death, and I just don't know if I can trust him. At this point, I don't know if I can trust anyone."

Susie pulled me closer. "You can't let your mistrust of one individual destroy your trust in all of mankind. Who should be believed? Who should be ignored? It's a test, a personnel dilemma. Some may pass your test, and some may fail, but they will do so individually."

I understood that, but still had to ask, "And if one has already failed?"

Her compassionate smile made the world seem a kinder place. "Everyone deserves a second chance to make things right."

"I'm not sure I can let him. I'm not sure he can make things right, no matter what he does."

"You must have faith, my child. Without faith, there is no trust. No one is beyond redemption."

***

Brad and Desirai sat in an empty classroom, heads bent over a computer.

"Hey guys, what are you working on?" I hated to interrupt them, but best to get the interview out of the way. My list of people had become distressingly short, adding to the desperate fear I'd felt since Ana disappeared. Only force of will allowed me to put on a neutral face and try to interact like a normal human being.

Brad rose and hugged me. "Are you okay? Any luck?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, but you guys are next. No one else has known anything so far. It's not that I think you would hurt Ana...."

Desirai came up behind Brad and hugged me as well. "Nonsense. You need to do this. We understand. Don't worry about it, Sam."