The Decaying Empire (The Vanishing Girl Series Book 2) (9 page)

I could hear the hum of conversation from down the hall. Laughter and the clattering plastic trays punctuated it. I stared down at my beat-up boots, one of several pairs Caden had also saved, and my hand tightened around Caden’s.

The dining hall would be filled with teleporters at this time in the morning, and they’d probably know all about me. I basked in anonymity, so walking in there would be a particularly hellish experience.

But that wasn’t the only part of the ordeal that terrified me. Stepping right back into this world and pretending, if even for a short period of time, to be okay made my stomach churn.

A long time ago Caden had said that the teleporters who came back were not the same. I now understood what he meant. One doesn’t simply come back from near death without carrying their share of scars. From the violence, the pain, the betrayal. I couldn’t just hold on to that experience and expect to remain unchanged.

My legs trembled with the need to run in the other direction, but I made myself move forward. Caden squeezed my hand once. When I met his gaze, he gave me a look that said,
You got this
.

Despite what the movies show, crowds don’t usually go quiet all at once. Instead conversation gradually trickles away. Like right now. Caden and I stepped in line for breakfast, and the hair on the nape of my neck prickled. I didn’t have to turn around to know I had the attention of almost everyone in the cafeteria.

Next to me I saw Caden glare out at our audience, his jaw tipped up just enough to make him appear hostile.

“It’s fine,” I said.

“No, it’s not.”

“Just give them a minute. Once they’ve looked their fill, they’ll go back to what they were doing.”

It was true. By the time we’d left the line, the stares had faded somewhat, though the whispering hadn’t. We headed to a table near the back of the room. Where there was once a group of friends, now there was one. Jeff. It was unclear whether death or dissention caused the ranks to thin. Regardless, the table looked a little lonesome.

Jeff stood up when he saw me and opened his arms. “My girl Ember. Bring it in.”

Setting down my tray, I grinned and walked into Jeff’s embrace. The guy squeezed the living daylights out of me. “I’m glad you came back from the dead,” he said. “The table was getting lonely.”

“I noticed,” I said, stepping away and taking a seat next to Caden. Jeff sat down across from us.

“So,” he said, “are the rumors true?”

“Rumors?”

Jeff leaned forward. “That you laid Desiree out on her ass. She’s been in the infirmary for the last few days.”

Her face on the night of my failed mission flashed in my mind. My hands fisted at the reminder, my anger bubbling up at the mere thought of her.

“Oh shit, you
did
deck her! Damn, girl.” Jeff eyed me. “I ain’t ever going to piss you off.”

I gave him a watery smile. I couldn’t joke about it—not yet. It still felt too raw.

Caden’s eyes flicked to my fists. “Dude,” he said, turning his attention to Jeff, “how was your last mission—you were in Jordan, right?” I wanted to kiss him for reading my mood and changing the subject before Jeff could probe me some more. As soon as their conversation took off, I surreptitiously glanced around the room. Some vaguely familiar faces stood out, and others I’d expected to see were absent. In their place I saw new faces.
Turnover.
That word came to mind as I took in the crowd.

Everyone looked so normal. These didn’t appear to be stressed or frightened teens. They didn’t seem to struggle with the same problems I did. Maybe they masked their feelings well, or maybe they really were wired not to question orders.

As I scanned the dining hall, Eric’s and Serena’s names kept drifting in from surrounding tables. I tried to listen in on the conversations, but nearby voices kept drowning them out.

“Ember?”

I blinked and focused my attention on Caden, who’d spoken. Concern creased his face. Judging from the way he was looking at me, he must’ve said my name a few times. When my gaze strayed to Jeff, I saw pity on the other teleporter’s face.

Maladaptive
. I could see the term running through Jeff’s eyes. And he was right.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Caden asked, looking pointedly at my tray.

I stared down at the untouched oatmeal and tried not to grimace. On the best of days oatmeal was palatable. On a day like today, when I sensed a dozen sets of eyes on me, I didn’t think I could stomach it. Instead I picked up the banana on the tray and began to peel it.

“Is Eric alive?” I asked casually.

I caught the look that passed between Caden and Jeff before Caden spoke. “Yeah, he is.”

Alive. That meant that he’d also survived getting spliced. No wonder Caden had been hopeful about my return.

I’d seen Eric’s wounds when he’d come back from his mission. Never would I have placed money on him surviving that.

That’s what I must’ve looked like.

“Where is he?”
Did the government make him disappear too?
That’s what I really wanted to ask, but I bit it back for later.

Caden and Jeff exchanged another weighty glance.

“Would you two fucking quit it with the looks and just tell me?” The teleporters surrounding us quieted at my outburst.

A smile bloomed along Jeff’s face. “You really did come back a ballbuster, Ember.”

I flashed Jeff a quelling look; next to me Caden smirked. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. But when he finally faced me, his mirth had died away somewhat. “They left for the Montana facility.”

They left for the Montana facility.
Caden’s words from breakfast still circled around and around in my head.

That was the facility where older teleporters went to settle down. I’d seen the plans for it—I’d even been inside one of the facility’s track homes. I’d seen the family housing. The playgrounds. The classrooms. The child-care facilities.

The facility was the Project’s attempt to produce more teleporters. At some point in the past ten months, the government had sent Eric and Serena there. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that starting a family was vital to living there.

That place creeped me out just as much as this facility. It reminded me that if we couldn’t be used as weapons, we’d be used as incubators. In return for lengthening their own life spans, those teleporters doomed their children to the same fate as theirs.

The whole thing made me nauseous.

Caden turned away from his printer. “I have our schedu—hey, you okay?” he asked, reading me.

I shook off my mood. “I’m fine.”

I could tell by the way Caden watched me that he didn’t believe me, but he let it slide.

His chair groaned as he stood up, and then my hulk of a pair grabbed two sheets he’d printed. He handed me one, his eyes apologetic. “You got shafted this week, angel.”

I furrowed my brows and took the paper from him. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, reading it over.

Along with my regular classes, I had counseling sessions every single day.

Let the shitshow begin.

Caden and I walked outside the facility, and I squinted against the early-morning sun. When I breathed in, the smell of soil and pine hit me.

God, I was really back here.

“I probably should’ve asked this yesterday,” I said, “but you’re not with anyone are you?”

Caden gave me gentle smile. “No, angel,” he said. “I might dupe, maim, and kill people for a living, but I would never cheat.” His dimples materialized. “I should spank you for even asking.”

“Good to know you haven’t lost your same crude sense of humor.”

He shook his head, taking a step forward. “I wasn’t joking.”

Ah. I took a step back, and he took another one forward, his grin deepening. Just when I felt the morning might take a turn toward interesting, he winked at me and trotted past me up the trail. “Think you can still beat me, angel?” he asked, turning around and jogging backward to face me.

I smirked. “I’m going to laugh when you fall on your ass trying to run like that.”

“Oh, someone
is
nervous that I might beat her,” Caden teased.

I jogged up to him and clutched the front of his shirt. “You are pretty fast,” I said, glancing down at his lips. I leaned in until only a wisp of air separated our mouths. “But you’ll never be as fast as me.”

I gave Caden a firm push.

“Hey!”

I bolted up the trail, not sticking around to see whether he managed to catch himself before he fell.

Almost immediately my legs screamed in protest. What in the past had been my natural gait now strained my muscles. Still I didn’t let up, especially when I heard Caden’s swiftly approaching footfalls.

I laid on the speed. The path wound on for some time before we’d reach the stadium where we were to meet.

I could hear pines crunching close on my heels. A moment later Caden picked me up from behind and swung me around.

I gasped as the world spun.

“That wasn’t very nice,” he said low in my ear. “The next time we get back to the room, you are
definitely
getting spanked for that.”

As he said the words, another teleporter ran by, flashing us a dirty look. Caden grinned like an idiot at the sight. “Don’t act like you aren’t jealous, Cameron!” he shouted to the teleporter’s back.

Oh, Caden.

I stepped onto the field and closed my eyes, letting the wind wash over me. My first class of the day was Close Combat, just like it had been all those months ago. Déjà vu washed over me. It was as though I got a second chance at reliving a nightmare.

I could do this.

I opened my eyes and arranged my expression so that I looked pleasantly bored, even while I was screaming inside.

I managed to keep my cool until Desiree showed up. At the sight of her, my jaw locked and my muscles tensed. I took an ominous step toward her.

“No.” Caden placed a hand across my chest.

I gave him an incredulous glare. “You’re joking. You’re not going to let me—”

“No,” Caden repeated more emphatically.

Desiree must’ve sensed my gaze on her, because she turned and met it. Her face was still swollen and discolored from my earlier attack. Despite the injuries a satisfied smirk drew up one side of her mouth.

Repercussions be damned. She was mine.

I began to step around Caden only to have him haul me back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around my torso.

“Angel,” he warned, his voice low.

Desiree raised her eyebrows and flicked her gaze away. The action clearly said,
You are beneath my notice
.

“Let me at her,” I growled, pawing at Caden’s hold.

“So that what? You can kill her this time? I don’t think so. You don’t want to get noticed for the wrong reasons on your first day back to class.”

His words reminded me of my visit with Dane. I had to be on good behavior. I took a deep breath in, then another out. Some—but not all—of my rage left me.

“Are you good?” Caden asked me a minute later.

I blew out a breath. “I think so.”

Slowly he released me, just as Coach Painter walked onto the field.