Unforgotten(103)

And chances are … he hasn’t.

I push my arms through the sleeves of the sweater, still damp from our swim, and pull it down. “I don’t understand what is happening between us.”

“Neither do I.”

I believe him.

“I found you without knowing where you were,” I tell him. “I transessed to you. Like you were a place in my mind. A physical location.”

He nods. “I know.”

I tilt my head and study this new Kaelen. Still perfect, but made even more beautiful by the shift in his eyes. The realness I see there now. I don’t know what changed him. What flipped the switch. But if I had to guess, I would say it was the exact same thing that changed me.

“That’s how you found me,” I realize aloud. “Today in Cody’s lab. And here in the submarine. You transessed to me.”

“I don’t know how it works,” Kaelen admits. “Alixter never said anything about that. The scientists taught me how to transesse to places and times. Not people. I just somehow knew I could do it with you. Like if I tried hard enough, I could feel where you were.”

“Does it work with other people?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Only you.”

“Alixter sent you to get the cure,” I confirm for the final time, needing to hear it from him. To hear it said aloud.

“Yes.”

“And to bring me back.”

This answer takes more time. More strength. “Yes,” he says at last.

I swallow, allowing myself to sink into him. I lay my head against his bare chest, feeling the electricity of our contact sizzle pleasantly against my cheek. I close my eyes. I listen to his thundering heartbeat. Like a horse galloping. Like a prisoner held against his will.

“You were right,” he says quietly into my damp hair.

“About what?” I whisper, keeping my eyes closed.

I think about my own heart. The one held tight against my wrist. Still open. Still active. If he decides to obey the second half of his orders and bring me back, I can’t stop him. I am defenseless. My future is his to take. If he wants it.

But it doesn’t matter. Right now I know I would go anywhere with him.

“About this,” he replies. Then he lets out a stale sigh that feels like it’s been trapped inside him for ages. “It’s not a choice.”





57

REMAINED



I drift in and out of sleep for what feels like days. When I wake, Kaelen’s face is the first thing I see. He didn’t leave. Although he certainly could have. His transession gene doesn’t have an Off switch.

But he stayed.

Right here. His chest solidly under my head. Supporting me while I slept.

I push myself up and stretch my arms over my head. As I do, something falls off my lap and tumbles onto the floor. Curiously, I glance down and see Lulu, Jane’s fabric doll, lying on the grimy floor. Half of her left arm has been burned clear off, leaving behind a charred, black stump.

I scoop her up and look curiously at Kaelen. “Where did this come from?”

He shrugs sheepishly. “I took it from you.”

I frown. “You did? When?”

“After I removed you from the fire. You were unconscious. I was ordered to empty your pockets and confiscate everything. I didn’t know which items were functional—like the locket—and which ones weren’t.”

I bring Lulu up to my nose, inhaling the fabric, hoping to catch a brief scent of Jane or the farm or my life before everything fell apart. But all I smell is the smoke that seeped into her cloth body during my failed execution.

“Well, thank you for giving her back to me.”

“I don’t understand.” Kaelen frowns at the doll. “What does it do?”

I laugh for the first time in what feels like weeks. “It doesn’t do anything. She’s just … I don’t know … a comfort, I guess. She reminds me of someone I used to know.” I tuck the doll in my pocket, keeping her safe there. “Any idea what time it is?”

He glances at his watch. “By my calculations, 7:22 a.m.”

For a moment I feel invigorated. Refreshed. Then the moment passes and the previous night rushes back to me. Maxxer’s betrayal. Diotech’s manipulation. Zen’s lost cure. And the anger seeps back into my thoughts.

“What do we do now?” Kaelen asks.

But I don’t have the slightest idea. I can’t simply desert Zen and let him die alone in Cody’s house. And yet, what hope do I have of saving him?

No matter what I do, no matter where I go, someone will always be following me. Someone will always be chasing me. Someone will always be trying to use me.

But what about me?

What do I want?

At one point, this was an easy question to answer. An automated response. Now, the answer is not so clear anymore.