The Embers Of My Heart (44 page)

We followed the collection of agents downstairs. My mom took a seat at the table and gestured for Todd, Star, and myself to join her. Absynthe stood close by while the rest of the agents sat or stood around the rest of the room. "Todd, Absynthe, have you finished the draft agreement?"

"Hashed it out overnight," he said, handing a piece of paper to my mom. "The gist of it is that I'm going to provide some of my people as a second line of defense for Kevin. We're here to deal with the details."

My mom wasn't paying attention to him; she was scanning the paper like a machine. "A cell of six people will be deployed to Troy," she said. "All college age or slightly older, enrolled in local colleges. At our expense?"

"I feel that's fair," Todd said.

"I do as well," she said. "But it'll take some creative accounting to pull that sort of funding without anyone noticing. It should be within my capabilities, even if I have to use my personal funds. I hope you appreciate the educational benefits, Sarah."

She shrugged. "I guess. Traditional education hasn't been a focus for me lately."

"Even so." She continued reading. "This is good, but I do have a concern, Todd. If all six agents are based at schools away from here, they'll be far too late to defend Kevin in case of emergency."

Todd nodded. "They're not going to be bodyguards, Pat. They're going to be a secondary line of security that you can call on in emergencies. We both know if they act, their cover is blown, and that's best case. Worst case is Alistair figures out why they're here and who invited them."

"This might be a dumb question, but would we have any chance of getting them into Ripley?" I asked.

My mom shook her head. "While we're grateful to Todd for providing assistance, we want to keep them out of sensitive areas as much as possible."

"Your mom doesn't trust me," Todd broke in.

She frowned at him. "Knock it off. It's much more difficult to bring students into this school without vetting them for potential. Alistair would flip shit, so to speak, if he found out."

"So that's out," I said. "I'm concerned about it too. Is the plan for them to live on campus?"

Todd nodded. "Aside from those attending the community college."

"Why not have them live off campus in apartments closer to Ripley?" I asked. "Split the difference. Might even be cheaper than dorm living."

My mom looked thoughtful. "That's not a bad idea."

Todd gave me a grin. "You just want an excuse to move in with her."

"I don't think I could pull that off," I said as a ripple of laughter rolled around the room.

"Unfortunately," Star mumbled.

My mom nodded and pulled out a pen, scribbling something on the paper. "We'll pay the security deposit and first month of rent. All other expenses would be your responsibility."

"That's fine," Todd said, pulling out his own pen. "I'll initial that."

"I don't think we need much more. This is just a loose understanding. One more thing, Todd." Mom tapped her pen on the table. "We give each other notice. If you're pulling your people out, or if we need them to leave, whatever the situation. Give as much notice as is reasonable, minimum of twenty-four hours outside of clear emergencies. I don't want to wake up one morning and find out your team vanished in the middle of the night like you did. Understood?"

Todd winced. "Yeah. I understand. We'll do that."

"Good."

"So, I'm going to be in charge of the team?" Star asked. "Am I going to get to pick my own people?"

"Yes," Todd said. "Divide them into pairs, we'll break down the assignments when we get back. Just for the record, Sage is girls-only, and that's the one you're going to."

"Like hell."

"That's an executive order."

"Your executive order can kiss my ass."

"Children, please," I said. "Let's calm down."

My mom finished marking up the agreement and passed it over to Todd. "Absynthe, do you have anything to add?" she asked.

"Nothing specific," Absynthe replied. "We'll have to discuss means of communication between our respective teams. Obviously, it'll need to be kept quiet."

"We've got a system to handle that," Todd said as he initialed the margin. "Star will set it up when she arrives."

"All right," my mom said. "We have an understanding. Ladies, gentlemen, please be aware that this agreement is high treason by Establishment regulations, and you're putting your lives on the line by witnessing it."

"We already committed when Absynthe called for help," one of the agents called out.

"We're with you, Patricia."

"Sign it and let's get this done."

Mom and Todd shared a smile and signed the papers. Agents walked past, looked at the signatures, and headed out. I felt tiny flickers of power from each of them. "Go ahead and witness it," Todd said as the room emptied out. "Just commit it to memory."

I flicked my power on just enough to do so and felt Star and Absynthe do the same. The last of the agents walked by us and up the stairs. Mom picked up the agreement and turned it to ash with a surge of power. "And that's that," she said. "We're all set."

"I guess we have flights to catch," Todd said. "Pat, do you want to give Star and I a ride to the airport? That way Absynthe and Kevin can head back and avoid raising any suspicions."

Star's face fell. I wanted to see her off too. "I can do that," my mom said. "But I do have one other proposal for you, Todd."

"What's that?"

"Come home for Christmas. Both of you." Mom looked over her shoulder at Absynthe. "You as well, Alex. We'll have you as a family friend, protecting Kevin while he's off campus."

"Are you sure?" Todd asked. "What if Alistair finds out?"

"It's been a long time since I've had a holiday with the family. Even Alistair can't complain too much if you suddenly show up and I don't have the forces to apprehend you." She looked across the table at me. "It'll be nice to have a couple of days off."

"Then we'll be there." Star's eyes lit back up as Todd spoke. "Thanks, Pat."

"Whatever happened, we're still family, Todd." My mom smiled.

Chapter Twenty Nine

"You don't have any illusions about what it'll be like while I'm there, do you?" she asked. We lay together in my bed, cuddled together for warmth. "Don't think it'll be all fun and games."

Todd, Star, and Absynthe had come for Christmas as planned. My dad seemed unsurprised to see Mom and all of our entourage. It made me wonder again just how much he knew. I pulled Star closer, drawing a grunt from her. "Not all fun and games, but I'm looking forward to introducing you to my friends."

"That won't happen, Kevin." She burrowed into my shoulder. "It can't. I can't come and visit."

"Why not?"

"It's too dangerous. Todd hammered that into my head. If they figure out I'm hanging around you all the time, they might take a deeper look, and if they peg me as Resistance, game over. I'll have to run for my life. You'll be back where you started, protected by wishes and prayers, if they don't just kill you on the spot."

I frowned. "There's more than that, isn't there?"

"Stop it."

"Tell me."

"I can't meet my sister."

"What?" I sat up. She rolled away, but I saw tears in her eyes. I put a hand on her shoulder and rolled her back to look up at me. "Why not? Don't you want to?"

"I can't. She can't know I'm here. Bad enough she knows I'm alive. If she meets me, she'll tell our parents, all of our family, they'd all freak out. I can't do that to them. They'd be in danger again. That's why I had to leave in the first place. Besides, they think I'm dead. They've already mourned me and moved on." A tear broke free of her lashes. "I can't just reappear out of nowhere. I can't turn their lives upside down like that."

"I'm sure they'd be overjoyed to find out you're alive," I said.

"Maybe. They'd be surprised. Angry. Sad. I don't know. I just can't put them in danger. We faked my death to protect my family from the Bureau, from your Establishment, everyone. Now they'd be in danger from Shade's people too. They won't just threaten my family. They'll torture them, just to get to me, just to get to you."

"Does your family know you're gifted?" I asked.

She shook her head slightly. "I don't think so. Maybe they suspected something. I hope not."

"Is it really worth it?" She looked up at me. "You're leaving them in pain. I can't even imagine how it must feel for them. You're not supposed to outlive your child."

"It's not just pain for them. It's pain for me too!" She pulled away from me. "I want to see them, Kevin? I want to hang out with my Jessy again? She's my twin sister! I miss them! I've missed them for years! I love my family and I never wanted to hurt them. I made my choice to protect them. I made that sacrifice. I don't want to undo it until I'm sure they're safe!"

She had never come so close to shouting at me. I let out a deep breath and forced myself to relax. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head and rubbed at her cheeks. "No, I'm sorry. It bothers me. I'm sensitive about it. I shouldn't get upset with you, I know you mean well."

"I understand why," I said.

"There's more, though. I've never been to college. Hell, I just got my GED last year. It'll be interesting to learn something outside of psionics. I figure that as long as someone's footing the bill for me, I'll have to take advantage of it. Right?"

"I'd do the same. Any idea what you'd want a degree in?"

"I have no idea." She let out a tiny laugh. "I love the sciences, but I'm not too great at math. I guess I'll just take a few different courses until something clicks. Isn't that how it works?"

"Some people do that," I said. "Others know exactly what they want to do and go for it. Or they think they know, find out they don't, and have to go crazy changing their major two years in."

"I doubt I'll ever get a degree. I'll just do whatever I feel like."

"That sounds like you."

"Doesn't it?" She held her arms out. I wrapped my arms around her again. "You know, you can't come down to my place all the time either, right? My sister will notice, and she'll get suspicious. She's too smart. She'll figure out I'm here, or she'll think you're seeing someone on the side. Either way, she'll castrate you with a butter knife for not telling her."

"One that's been scraped dull for a couple hours," I said.

"Exactly. She's always been the protective one. Always getting me out of trouble, always coming up with the cover stories."

"You? Getting into trouble?"

"Unbelievable, right?"

"Still, I can make something up as a cover story. I can be your tutor, right?"

She giggled against me. "You? Tutor? Kevin, dear, I don't love you for your brains, you know."

"I'll have you know I only failed one course last trimester."

"I'm so impressed. So what's your average now? One? Two?"

"Two point three, thank you very much."

"My bad. So you are a little smarter than the average bag of rocks."

"I'll give you a bag of rocks."

"Promise?"

The Christmas holiday sped by despite my best attempts to stretch it out and spend just one more day with her. Todd and Absynthe worked out the schedule for the arrival of the Resistance agents, which would just be a couple days after our classes started. Ripley always started promptly on the first Wednesday of January, while other schools started two or three weeks into the month. Mom had already taken care of renting their apartments. I bid farewell to Star for the second time that month and Absynthe gave me a ride back to campus the day before New Year's Eve.

I unpacked the little I had taken home. The door opened and I looked over my shoulder. Max saw me and threw his hand to his chest. "Holy shit, it's Kevin Parker!"

"It hasn't been that long," I said.

"Well, you did flake on your class," he pointed out. "You know you're supposed to go to those, right? Especially when you're paying for it out of pocket? Aren't you in danger of going on academic probation? You just disappear on and off for the whole month without a word to me. What's wrong with you?"

I shrugged. "Max, if I didn't know you better, I'd say you were a crotchety old man."

"I was raised in a family where wasting money was considered a cardinal sin. What did you expect?"

"There's a word for someone like that. Miser."

"No shit, that's how my parents made their money." He ran his fingers back through his hair. Instead of the normal ponytail, he was wearing it loose cut just above his shoulders. It was oddly similar to Star's new style.

"Did you get a haircut?" I asked.

"I did. Don't change the subject."

"I didn't. I just noticed. Looks better than it did."

He reached behind his head and pulled it back into a tail. "Too short. Maybe I just need to get used to it. At least I didn't get it dyed green. But shit, Kev. You're supposed to be the responsible one out of the three of us."

"Me? Responsible? Since when?"

"Well, I guess that's changed since Drew got serious. Plus the thing with Nikki."

His tone changed and I heard a certain level of distaste in it. "Just say it."

"Say what?"

"If you've got something to say, just say it. I've got things to do."

"Like see some other girl?"

I set my jaw and pushed down my temper. "Only if Absynthe counts."

"So, yes. Wait till I tell Jess."

Power flickered in my mind, outside of my conscious control. "Max. Enough."

He took a step back and lifted his hands. "Hey. That was just a joke. Look, what you do is your business, but cheating is dirty, even if Nikki's a cast iron bitch. No one's holding it against you on that count, except Kait. All of us would have been fine if you dumped her queen bitch ass in the trash. Hell, I would have cheered you on."

"You're right, it is my business. Not yours or anyone else's," I said.

"Chill. Think about it. What would you think of me if I started cheating on Jess? Wouldn't you see me as a little less responsible? Trustworthy? Shit like that."

"I'd see you as dead," I said. "Because she'd find out and she'd murder you."