He hadn't thought about that. "No."
"Then why did you not return?"
"I'd lost my powers. Without them, what help could I be?"
"You were gone awhile. Did you work?"
"A little, at first, but I wasn't much use to anyone."
Father Patrick chuckled. "I'm no psychologist, but I believe they call that an inferiority complex."
Inferior? Yes, that's what I felt.
"What changed? What brought you back?"
"I got these." Drake showed Father Patrick two purple vials, the last ones he had left. "They give me my powers back, temporarily."
Father Patrick raised an eyebrow. "And how did you procure this potion?"
Drake didn't want to say. He'd literally made a deal with the devil. "I acquired them from Sam's father, Mr. Steele." He then told the priest everything that had happened from the time he'd met Toby until he'd arrived at Sam's doorstep, including his deal with Steele.
Father Patrick took another drink of tea. "What will you do next time he calls?"
"I hope to have Ana back by then."
"And if you don't?"
"I will." He didn't have a choice, and couldn't even consider the other options.
Father Patrick sat in silence for several minutes, rubbing his chin. "You face both an internal and an external challenge. If Sam loses the baby, she may never recover. But even if you save Ana, can you, my boy, accept yourself?"
Drake nodded. "I accept what I did."
"And who you are?"
He clutched the vials tightly. "Yes."
The old cleric finished his tea, and his eyes glazed over in a faraway look. "When that is true, you'll be together again." He looked back at Drake, his eyes clearing. "There is greatness in your future yet. But to achieve your full potential, you have to let go of who you think you are, and embrace the truth of yourself."
"I don’t understand."
"In time, you will. Look into yourself, boy. What defines you? What gives your life meaning? Is it that purple drug? Is that the full extent of your worth? If that were true, we wouldn't be talking. You have to look deeper."
"Where did you get your powers?" Drake hadn't intended to ask that question, but once it popped he didn't take it back. "You have powers. I've always known it. How? If we were bred for powers, where did yours come from?"
"There are many mysteries in the world, son, more than the mind can fathom. The doings of humans are but a microscopic fraction of the whole. Now, if you'll excuse me, we should both get some rest."
Drake stood and said goodbye. Just as he was about to close the door behind him, Father Patrick stopped him.
"Drake, what will you do when the vials run out?"
"I'll get more."
"And if you can't?"
"I will."
Again, he had no choice. He'd find a way to get more drugs, or get his powers back forever. Then he'd save Ana, and Sam would want to be with him again.
Chapter 99 – Sam
Drake's proposal had rattled me, and Darren couldn't look me in the eye as he slipped off to bed. I could tell Drake hoped to sleep with me, but I refused to even allow the question to come up. He had no right to waltz back into my life and expect so much from me, not after everything he'd put us through.
Sleep evaded me for hours, until emotional exhaustion pulled me into slumber.
A voice on the wind haunted my dreams, and a vision gripped me, tearing me from my room and throwing me into the space between. Images overlapped each other, beaches and trees and a compound with kids. Tommy screamed for me, and another presence settled in my heart once again.
Ana had found me, and now I knew how to find her.
I leaped out of bed, heart pounding as I sent out a group text. "Meet me in the library in thirty minutes. I know where Ana is."
***
Around me sat the people I trusted most at the school: Brad and Desirai, Greg and Gary, Norm and Robyn, Darren, Father Patrick, Bernard, and of course, Drake. Toby had wanted to come, but I couldn't let him. He was too young and this was too dangerous.
We sat in an empty classroom, closed to the students. Everyone waited for me to speak.
"I'm going after Ana. I know where she is."
Bernard nodded. "At the facility Luke and Lucy are assigned to take down, yes?"
"Yes."
Father Patrick wrinkled his brow. "But we don't know where it is. Lucy had the address and handed it over to the IPI agents the night of the escape."
I smiled. "My new powers finally kicked in while I was sleeping. I connected with Ana and Tommy. I felt them and saw where they were—at a compound on one of the islands in Hawaii." I pulled out a map and pointed to a small cluster. "Right there."