Inescapable (Talented Saga #7) (70 page)

“
Too early, go back to
bed,” I groaned, rolling over and gathering Talia’s small body in
my arms. She stirred, snuggled closer to me, and tried to bury her
head in the pillow like an ostrich does in sand.

“
The vote results are about
to be announced,” James said darkly.

The last vestiges of sleep evaporated
instantly. Talia’s head popped up, the back of her skull cracked
the underside of my chin. I winced and inhaled a nose full of her
tangled curls.

“
It’s on every news
outlet,” Kenly added. “Hurry up or you’ll miss it. Emma and Kip are
already awake, and they made coffee.”

For a long minute, Kenly and James simply
stood there, waiting for Talia and I to get out of bed. I glanced
pointedly at Talia’s bare torso, her shoulders and arms the only
parts of her body not covered by the blanket. Kenly flushed scarlet
and rambled apologies, before concocting an excuse to make a hasty
exit. For his part, James didn’t register embarrassment at all. He
did, however, push Kenly from the alcove while she was still
speaking.

No sooner had they turned their backs than
Talia threw the covers off of us and leapt to her feet.

“
Clothes. I need
clothes.”

I watched my girlfriend dart around the
alcove, yanking open dressers drawers and forcing bins from beneath
the bed with her mind as well as her hands, an amused smile on my
face. She used to be a lot more modest, but the lack of privacy in
a prison cell had clearly changed that. The thought wiped my
expression clean.

Finally, Talia located a pair of neon purple
leggings and a white snowflake sweater with the words “One of a
Kind” stitched on the back. It reached just above her knees once
she’d slipped it over her head, and suited her perfectly. At a
slightly less manic pace, I pulled on my dress pants and matching
button-down from the night before.

“
Come on.” Talia grabbed my
hand and led me from the alcove before I managed to get more than
the bottom two buttons fastened. “This is huge.”

Someone had pulled more chairs around the
desk in front of the wall of monitors. Emma, Kip, and Kenly were
seated. James stood behind his girlfriend, his hands planted firmly
on her shoulders in a death grip. There was an air of excitement
surrounding the group, in addition to a nervous energy they all
shared. I couldn’t blame them. The last time the treaty had come up
for renewal, we were all too young to appreciate the magnitude of
it. Also, the results hadn’t been so uncertain then. In the past,
most people took it for granted that the Coexistence Treaty would
be renewed. That was not the case this go-round.

Emma turned upon hearing our approach and
offered us a tight smile. Kenly pointed needlessly to the two empty
chairs with steaming mugs of coffee already in place.

“
Anyone want to bet on the
outcome?” Kip joked half-heartedly.

“
What are you two going to
do if it’s voted down?” Emma asked Kenly and James, as though the
thought had just occurred to her.

“
Nothing different than we
have been,” Kenly answered with a shrug. “It doesn’t change much
for me. The Poachers are my focus. I’ll stay here and keep doing
what I’m doing in the hopes of finally taking them down for good.
If anything, my work will become more important. Right now, a lot
of the ringleaders are in hiding. But if the vote goes against us,
they’ll probably feel it’s safe to resume business. Those Talented
who aren’t given spots on the islands will be at greater risk for
capture and sale. Governments will care even less than they do now
about that sort of thing. Who knows? They might even encourage
it.”

Kenly’s tone was offhand and she spoke as if
it was really that simple, but I felt her fear and doubt. The
Poachers terrified her. She hated them with every cell in her thin
body, rightfully so. After what TOXIC had done to me, I understood
that degree of hatred. The Poachers had kidnapped her and dressed
her like a doll for the sole purpose of selling her to the highest
bidder. In a way, what they’d done to her was worse than what Mac
had done to me. And I’d gotten my revenge.

“
You could go to the
islands,” James said quietly.

“
No.” Kenly’s emphatic
reply echoed throughout the bunker. “I will not go into
containment. I will not let them poke and prod me all the in name
of science. I’d rather die fighting the Poachers.” The steel in her
voice made me smile. She sounded so much like Talia in that
moment.

“
Oh! Turn it up. It’s
starting,” Emma squealed excitedly.

Of the six of us, the vote had the least
impact on her. From the little Talia had told me of her escape, I
knew Emma and Kip lived on a remote island in a secluded community
where Talents were prevalent. No matter the result, Emma’s life
wouldn’t change.

Kenly hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d
said that every news outlet was covering the announcement. All
fifty of the screens had a ticker running at the bottom with
updates and a reporter on scene in Trafalgar Square for a live
broadcast. On the center monitor was an overly made-up woman in a
canary yellow skirt suit and alarmingly red lipstick. I recognized
her from my own interviews: Dana Duval. She was an unflinchingly
biased reporter with conservative political leanings when it came
to the Talented. She was also one of the world’s premiere
journalists. It was her report that Kenly chose to turn up.

“
Ladies and gentleman,
Talented and Created, I am here in London’s Trafalgar Square, where
we are mere seconds away from the Joint Nations big announcement,”
Duval began, her eyes twinkling merrily.

The camera panned the enormous crowd. Flags
from various nations around the world flapped in the light breeze.
It was still dark outside, and many of those gathered held neon
glow sticks or had lights attached to their shirts, blue for those
in favor of coexistence and red for the opposition. It was hard to
tell which side was better represented. The same sorts of signs I’d
seen at my rallies jutted into the air on long poles to be
seen.

Talia slipped her hand into mine and
squeezed.

Did the outcome truly
matter?
I wondered. If it went against us,
we’d be together. Running for our lives, but together.
Right, but if it goes in our favor, Talia can
return to the islands and we can live in peace,
I reminded myself.
Even if she had
to serve out her jail sentence, they’d release her soon. Or, we
could go to the States, where Crane would grant her asylum. That
was ideal, I decided. It was the only chance we had of leaving this
life of danger behind us. We could start over.

“
Ah, Chief Delegate of the
Joint Nations, Rumi Hardjoc, has just stepped to the podium,” Duval
declared on screen.

My heart skipped a beat. After all of the
stupid campaigning and bullshit, the time for waiting was over.
Talia leaned into me, placing her head on my shoulder. Her mind was
open, so I felt the odd mix of emotions swirling inside of her. She
hated that one piece of paper made all the difference in the future
for our kind. Why was coexistence even a question? She shared my
belief that, in many ways, exile might be best, since so many
people didn’t want us in their cities and towns. If it weren’t for
the fact that so many refugees would have no place to call home,
Talia would definitely be rooting for the treaty to be voted
down.

I wanted to help ease Talia’s mind, but my
own thoughts were all over the map. My emotions were so out of
control, and I was unable to quell the rising tide of trepidation
inside of me.

A short man with pale blond hair and a trim
black mustache suddenly took center stage on every screen. He
cleared his throat and tapped the microphone twice, causing static
to crackle over the hushed crowd.

“
Good morning,” Rumi began
with a blank expression. “We are here at this very early hour to
announce the results of the Coexistence Treaty vote. After I read
off each delegate’s decision, I will remind the listeners what this
means for the future on a global level.”

As Rumi droned on about the history of the
treaty, dating back to its inception, and talked about the Great
Contamination and how the Talented came to be, the impatience in
the room increased exponentially.

“
Suspense effectively
built,” James muttered under his breath.

“
Now, for the reading of
the votes,” Rumi finally said, just when my impatience had reached
a breaking point. “Delegate Abington from New Zealand votes in
favor of renewal.”

Kenly summoned a notepad and pen from
somewhere in the back of the bunker. Both zoomed neatly through the
air and landed on the desk in front of her. She quickly drew a line
down the middle of the top page and made a single tally mark in the
left column.

“
Delegate Crane from the
United States votes in favor of renewal,” Rumi
continued.

With two votes for coexistence secured, the
crowd in Trafalgar Square erupted in a chaotic mess of boos and
cheers. I, however, didn’t feel quite so jubilant, and neither did
Talia. New Zealand and the U.S. were known to be Talented-friendly
countries; it was no surprise that both delegates had voted for
coexistence.

The next three votes went against the
Talented. Each pronouncement was met with the same reaction from
the crowd viewing it live. Several of the other monitors at the
front of the room had switched from the image of Rumi in London to
gatherings around the world, where individuals were watching this
historic event together.

At a bar in Croatia, a brawl broke out after
the fifth vote was announced. Two women, one with talons and a
large bird beak and the other very plainly human, clawed and
scratched at each other’s faces. Others soon joined in on one side
or the other, pulling hair and feathers, biting with razor sharp
incisors. One man even brought out a baseball bat from beneath his
chair and started clubbing anyone in his immediate vicinity. The
image dissolved to an outdoor gathering in Germany that was only a
fraction more civilized.

“
This is getting
nasty,”
Talia sent.

“
Did you expect people to
be adults?”
I asked.

She shrugged.
“I don’t really know what I expected. I’ve had a
lot of other things on my mind.”

I blanched at the reminder, and then kissed
her forehead.

Things only got worse as Rumi continued down
his list. Many of the news outlets were no longer showing the
international gatherings, but rather fixed on the stage in
Trafalgar Square. Of those still willing and able to show the more
graphic images, many displayed warnings across the top of the
screen so that people would know the bloodshed they were about to
witness.

In a neighborhood that could have been
anywhere suburban, mobs were dragging Talented from their homes at
gunpoint. Local policeman in riot gear watched but did nothing to
stop the atrocities. The mob forced Talented men, women, and
children into the street, where a waiting group of norms hurled
everything from rotted fruit to large rocks at the sobbing
individuals.

“
I think I’m going to be
sick,”
Talia sent.

“
Is this…real?” Emma asked,
in the voice of a frightened child.

Even James was green, and he’d spent most of
his life witnessing scenes not dissimilar to this one.

Only Kenly seemed nonplussed by the graphic
violence, but her eyes were glued to Rumi on the center monitor.
Talia’s mentee had no interest in anything besides the actual
outcome of the vote. I was a little surprised to feel the lack of
surprise on Kenly’s part, though. Then I remembered that visions
were one of her created gifts. Had she already seen all of this? I
supposedly had the ability to future-gaze. Thankfully, I’d yet to
have a single vision. For the most part, I preferred the future be
a mystery—made life more interesting.

“
Last one,” Kenly muttered.
“Come on, come on, come on.”

I’d been consumed by the reports from around
the world and hadn’t realized how close we were to learning the
final result. Glancing over at Kenly’s paper, my stomach gave a
queasy jolt. Tied. The vote was currently tied. This last delegate
was the deciding factor, if only because the votes had been read in
alphabetical order according to the delegates’ last names, with
Rumi saving his vote for last.

There was no air left in the bunker. We were
all on the edges of our seats, both literally and metaphorically,
waiting for Rumi to announce his decision. One look at the
anticipatory expressions of the delegates lined up behind him, and
I knew that they were in just as much suspense.

“
They don’t know,”
Talia sent, obviously having seen the same thing
I did.

On stage, the Joint Nations militia edge
closer to the delegates, ready to whisk them away to safety once
the need arose.

“
I, Chief Delegate to the
Joint Nations Rumi Hardjoc from Lithuania, vote in favor of
abolishing the Coexistence Treaty.”

Stunned silence filled the bunker and
viewing parties across the globe. It lasted a full thirty seconds
before mutiny broke out.

In Trafalgar Square, people in the crowd
turned on one another. Fights started between everyone from an
elderly old woman to two children that couldn’t have been more than
five or six. There, at least, weapons had been banned, so the
damage was minimal compared to other locations. The worst, in my
opinion, was the scene in a seaside town, where Talented leapt
hundreds of feet from a cliff to the roiling ocean below.