Betrayed (14 page)

"And the administrators, they just sit there and do nothing?" Rae shook her head, and more bursts of color
exploded in front of her eyes.

"They're going to find him, Rae. They're going to take him down. I promise you that." Aiden wiped the sweat off his
lip with his fingers. The droplets immediately reformed.

"You promise. You make too many promises," Rae muttered. "I want to talk to them myself. You've got to get me to
them."

"The administrators have more power than almost anyone in the country," Aiden said, his voice cold. Hard. He
leaned across the table toward her, getting right in her face. "They're government, okay? And Rae, listen to me, if
you get in their way at all, they won't hesitate to kill you themselves."

"The place doesn't seem that fancy," Anthony commented as Yana pulled up in front of theNacoochee Grill. It
looked more like a house than a restaurant, a big white house with a tin roof and a wide front porch.

"Yeah, and you're an expert in fine dining, right?" Yana snapped as she parked. "Everyone knows this place is
amazing. Rae's daddy isn't going to bring his little girl anywhere but the best for her birthday."

Yana definitely had her bitch juice this morning, Anthony thought. Most of the time when she got sarcastic, it was
funny. But not today. He unbuckled his seat belt and opened the car door. Yana snagged him by the arm before he
could get out. "We're early.

We're supposed to get to the table with the dessert."

"Right." Anthony slammed the door shut. Yana didn't let go of his arm.

"Sorry I've been a buzz kill tonight." She fluffed her white-blond hair, checked herself out in the vanity mirror on
the visor, and then sighed. "I'm just nervous about seeing Rae." "Me, too. Sort of," Anthony admitted.

"You didn't have a massive fight with her," Yana said.

Yeah, but I kissed her, Anthony thought. And I don't think I've actually looked her in the eye since then. Kissed.

What a stupid little word. What he and Rae had done… it should be called something else. Something more
awesome. And now, he thought as he checked the clock on the dashboard, in less than half an hour he was going
to be sitting near her, maybe near enough to smell that citrus stuff she wore, and No. What's going to happen is that
you're going to be sitting near Yana, Anthony corrected himself. And you're going to be showing Rae that you and
Yana are together and that the three of you can all play nice and be friends. Then pretty soon Rae will end up with
Marcus or some guy like Marcus, some guy who's smart and fits in and everything, and the four of you will then all
be best friends forever.

The thought of being with Rae and some other guy, having to watch them-Anthony gave his head a hard shake,
wanting to hurl the image out of his brain. "What?" Yana asked.

Anthony cracked his knuckles, then cracked them again. "Nothing. I just want to get this over with."

"It's going to be fine," Yana told him, running her fingers through his hair. "She's going to be glad to see us, and
we're going to have fun. We'll make it a birthday Rae will never forget."

Rae took another bite of her grilled vegetables. She knew she loved them. She always ordered them here because
at Nacoochee, they cooked everything over big fire pits and the veggies got all smoky and yummy. But tonight, God,
she could be eating dog biscuits. It was like every part of her brain-even the part that usually relayed info from her
taste buds-was focused on what Aiden had told her.

I have to go after Steve Mercer, she thought for probably the billionth time. If I don't, he's going to kill me. And the
administrators, from whatever part of the government they're from, they might not move fast enough to save me. If
they'd even want to. They sure didn't protect my mother, or Mandy's mother, or any of those people from the group I
wasn't able totrack down. Rae shuddered, imagining all of them in a pile, a pile of corpses. "Are you cold?" her
father asked.

"No. Just-" Rae shrugged. "Some weird muscle spasm." She forced herself to smile at him. It was so clear he
wanted this birthday to be special. Rae could give him that, couldn't she? The illusion of a perfect sixteenth
birthday, the illusion of a normal, happy daughter.

"Sixteen. Hard to believe you're sixteen," her dad said, his eyes moist with emotion.

Rae felt her own eyes tear up. If Steve Mercer had his way, I'd be dead by now, she thought. My dad would be all
alone, his whole family murdered.

But if I can find a way to stop Mercer, then everything is okay again, Rae reminded herself. She gave a couple of
hard blinks to get the tears out of her eyes. There's not some disease growing in me. By my next birthday, if I
manage to come up with a plan that works, I won't have to be pretending to be happy. I'll be alive. And no one will be
after me.

I'll be alive! The thought was like drinking champagne, which she'd done a couple of times at weddings. It made
her feel all fizzy inside.

She smiled at her father. "So, am I what you thought I'd be like? I mean, when I was little, didyou ever try to imagine
how I'd turn out?" Rae asked.

"Actually, no, I didn't try to picture what you'd be like at some other age." Her father picked up the last piece of
corn bread and held it out to her. She shook her head, and he started to butter the bread. "I was always too
interested in whatever you were right at the moment."

Rae speared the last piece of vegetable on her plate, glad she'd made it through without choking. If you feel like
you're going to gag during cake, just remember the good news Aiden gave you. No disease. No disease!

"Like when I taught you how to ride a bike," her father continued. He paused to take a bite of his bread.

"The bike story again?" Rae complained. But she was glad he'd decided to drag it out. Maybe it would help to hear
it again.

"One of my favorites," he answered. "You fell down I don't know how many times that day. Your knees got all
skinned up. I was starting to think-"

"That I'd have to ride a tricycle the rest of my life," Rae jumped in.

"Well, it was looking likely," her dad answered. He reached across the table and pushed a section of her curly hair
away from her face. "But you keptgetting back on. You were determined. I was afraid you'd scrape off every inch of
skin before you were done. But finally you got on the bike again, I gave you a push, and you rode. You rode. So
even though I didn't spend a lot of time wondering what you'd end up like, I knew you'd be able to do pretty much
anything you wanted. Because you'd keep trying no matter what."

Rae'd hoped hearing the story again would leave her pumped up-ready to face Steve Mercer and anybody else.

Instead she just felt wistful and nostalgic. God, if only her biggest problem was trying to ride a two-wheeler. If only
her dad could still be there to give her a push and cheer her on.

"Can I take this away?" a voice asked from behind her.

Rae jerked her head toward the voice, heart thundering. It was the waiter. Of course it was just the waiter. But she
hadn't even heard him come up. That wasn't good. She had to be able to sense someone approaching. She had to
feel it when someone was watching her from afar. "Sure. Thanks," she answered, when she realized the waiter was
still waiting for an answer.

"You can take mine, too," Rae's father said. "It was magnificent." "Yeah, everything was great," Rae added quickly.

Was she pulling this off? She shot a look at her dad. Did he have any clue that most of the time only her body had
been in the restaurant with him while her mind was off plotting and planning, concocting how she could free herself
of Steve Mercer? He didn't seem to. Her dad seemed like he was having a perfect night. "It's that time," he said.

"Huh?" she asked. Before he could answer, she'd figured it out because a group of waiters had started to sing
"Happy Birthday." A second later most of the other diners had joined in.

Rae felt the warmth of a blush seeping into her cheeks. This always happened to her, every birthday. When the
singing started, she blushed. She felt like covering her head with a napkin, but because she was sixteen and not
four, she turned toward the waiters moving toward her with a jumbo butterscotch brownie alight with candles and
gave her best fake smile.

"Oh, my God," she cried when she saw who was behind the waiters. Yana was here. And so was Anthony. She
froze, staring at their expressions. What were they doing here? Had her dad guilted them into this? God, how
completely humiliating. But as the panic started to fade, she realized that they were both smiling. Real smiles. Like
they actually wanted to be here.

Her zirconium smile turned to real diamond. Anthony and Yana's smiles turned to grins.

Looks like Yana's definitely forgiven me, Rae thought with a rush of warmth. Maybe Anthony talked her into it. Who
cared how it happened? They were both here. And all her angry, bitter feelings toward both of them had evaporated,
leaving her feeling clean and birthday happy inside. She turned to her dad. "You did this, didn't you?" she asked. He
nodded, without stopping singing. "Thanks." She leaned across the table and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, thanks,
thanks."

One of the waiters set the massive sundae down in front of her. A second later Yana was leaning down to hug her.

"Happy birthday, Rae," Anthony said.

"Sit down, you guys, sit down," Rae urged Anthony and Yana. "You've got to help us eat this massive thing."

"That's the plan," Anthony told her. He plopped down in one of the chairs the waiters had brought over and
grabbed a spoon. Rae's heart felt like it had been turned into a bubble machine. All these light, happy bubbles were
swirling around inside her. And she couldn't stop smiling. Even if she used her fingers to pull down the corners of
her mouth, she wouldn't be able to stop. Anthony and Yana were here!

"Remember to make a wish," Yana said. She took the seat next to Anthony as Rae prepared to blow out the
candles.

Some of the happy bubbles popped as she realized that she had only one wish. I wish Steve Mercer was dead,
Rae thought. She sucked in a deep breath, so deep, her lungs ached in protest, then blew out all the candles with a
whoosh. Her dad, Anthony, Yana, and the waiters all clapped.

"You can't tell anybody what it was," her dad reminded her with a wink. "Or it won't come true."

A few more of the happy bubbles popped. That wasn't the only reason she couldn't tell her wish. It was life
threatening to everybody who heard it.

Rae shoved the sundae into the center of the table. "Go for it, everybody," she said, digging her spoon into one
corner of the brownie where the butterscotch sauce was especially thick. For one hour you can be here with your
dad and your friends and your favorite dessert and pretend nothing else in the world exists, she told herself.

Nothing else and no one else. She slid her spoon into her mouth, savoring the warmth and gooey sweetness of the
sauce. For just this hour, on your birthday, your life can be this perfect.

"Is it good?" Anthony asked, spoon poised over the brownie.

"It's the best thing you've ever tasted," Rae promised him. God, she'd missed him. Him and Yana, too.

Anthony flicked a birthday candle out of the way, then dug a chunk out of the brownie with his spoon. "The best,
yeah," he mumbled after he popped the brownie into his mouth.

"It does look fantastic," Yana commented. Then she leaned close to Anthony, wiped a glob of butterscotch off his
cheek with her napkin, and gave the newly clean spot a little kiss. They're… they're together, Rae realized.

The happy bubbles inside her burst, all of them, all at once. They left behind an oily residue that coated Rae inside,
covering her brain and her heart and her lungs, coating her throat with a rotten taste. A dead taste.

I can't be here. I can't, she thought. Rae used both hands to push herself up from the table, her wax-coated fingers
preventing her from picking up any thoughts. "Be right back," she managed to say, even though her tongue felt
thick with the rancid oil.

The oil sloshed inside her as she walked to the bathroom. The first thing she did was dig in her purse for some
mints. She had to get the dead taste out of her mouth. Finally she found two wintergreen Certs. She threw them into
her mouth and chewedthem hard. It didn't help. "Rae, I have a question for you."

Rae jerked her head toward the voice, oil churning in her mouth, sloshing into her heart. Yana half sat, half leaned
on the first sink in the row. "I just want to know how it feels to have your best friend go behind your back," she
continued. "I mean, I know how it felt when you did it to me. But now that it's your turn, what's it like?"

Yana drove past Anthony's house and parked half a block down. He knew what that meant. She wanted to make
out. Yeah, here came her hands, wrapping themselves in his hair, pulling his face to hers.

Anthony's body responded on autopilot, his lips meeting hers. But it was like he'd been shot up with novocaine.