The Secret (7 page)

He pulled back, searching my face. “So how did you get out, Lanie?”

I hesitated, then heaved in a ragged breath. “I knew I was being watched. So I waited until it was late. I don’t know, probably two or three in the morning. And then I drew two weapons.”

Jake stood there, listening.

“I knew I only had seven minutes. That’s the longest the weapons would last.”

Jake nodded. “Like the one in the car…it disappeared.”

“Right.”

He leaned forward. “Why?”

Shrugging, I turned and walked to the window. “I don’t know. That’s part of the reason Dr. Luth was running so many experiments. He actually discovered that the more accurate my drawing was, the longer it would last. When I first went in—the longest anything would hold shape was between two and three minutes.”

Jake squinted. “And it’s anything. You can draw anything and it will…come to life?”

I hesitated for a minute, wondering if I should answer. But he already knew so much. “Yeah. Pretty much. Dr. Luth had me try almost everything. But most living things lasted at most four minutes. He couldn’t make them last any longer.”

Jake acted like he was digesting this. “You…you can make
people
come to life?” His voice held an edge of wonder.

“No.” I backed further away from him. “No.” I felt myself start to shake. “Dr. Luth tried that. But when I would touch a portrait…all that was left was ash. Bringing people to life is not possible.”

Running his hand through his hair, Jake nodded. “Then why the portrait? Why was he having you draw a person?”

I thought of the little girl—her dark, puppy-brown eyes, her feather-cropped hair. She was beautiful. “He was just experimenting with my power.”

Jake circled the room—thinking. “I know he’s alive, but you must have shot him to get away?”

I bit my lip. “When I blew the lock with one of the guns I had made…my dad was there.” I thought of that day. And it all began to make an awful kind of sense. “He told me he’d come to get me. That he hadn’t realized what was happening. He wanted me to give him the gun.” Collapsing my head into my hands, I felt anguish wrapping around me. Had my father knowingly let Dr. Luth hold Rob and run experiments on me?

“Lanie.”

“Dr. Luth wrenched the gun from my hands and shoved me to the ground. He and my dad struggled. I tried to get in position with the other gun…and then I heard a shot, and…”

Jake stilled, ceasing his pacing a few feet in front of me.

The familiar anger surged through me. “I don’t know. I can’t remember. Everything seemed to blur and go into slow motion. I must have blacked out because, when I woke up, Dr. Luth was gone…and my dad was covered in blood.”

Jake stared at me. “So you shot him?”

I shuddered. “No. No, I didn’t shoot him. I never pulled a trigger. It…it had to have been Dr. Luth.” Tears started down my face and I wiped them away angrily.

Compassion flooded Jake’s expression and he reached for me again, pulling me back to him. “Shh—it’s okay, Lanie.” He rocked me gently back and forth. “It’s a miracle you escaped. But…how did you find Rob?”

I thought of Rob’s body, curled into a ball on that mattress. “I started checking the rooms next to mine. He was down the hall.” My heart ached at the memory.

“And…then?” Jake’s arms tightened around me.

“We ran. We ran from The Foundation. I called one of my father’s oldest friends.”

Pulling away, Jake was intense. “How do you know you can trust him?”

“Stewart? He and my dad served in the war together. He was my godfather. We were really close to him when I was little. He didn’t know about The Foundation or anything.”

Jake considered this, his jaw clenching. “How long did Dr. Luth hold you, Lanie?”

I dropped my head, feeling ashamed that I hadn’t been able to get away from The Foundation sooner, and shrugged. “Seven months.”

I could feel the anger coming off of Jake in waves. “I knew he was behind everything.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

Walking over to my dad’s coin on the floor, he picked it up. “Lanie, we need your help. We need our powers back.”

I was confused. “There’s nothing I can do, Jake.”

Jake took both of my hands into his, the coin pressing into my left palm, and his eyes turned a dangerous grey. “You can help us, Lanie. You can help us draw out Luth.”

Episode 8: The Chosen One

“I think you should help them.” Rob turned down the music in his Jeep, pulling up to the curb next to the high school.

Mondays. I hated Mondays, and now Rob was starting this fight again? “I’ve told you—all weekend—I’m not helping them.”

Turning resigned eyes at me, he shrugged. “I think you have an obligation to help them. Their powers mysteriously disappeared on the same night they tried to save you. And…your powers became stronger. Don’t you find that to be a little too coincidental?”

I tried not to start a blinking spree. “Obligation? What are you talking about? I had nothing to do with it—I mean, I didn’t
mean
to, even if I did.” Folding my arms, I tried not to seethe. “And
they
are
normal
!” I threw my hands in the air, hitting the top of his Jeep in punctuation. “We’ve been searching for the last year and a half for a way for me to be normal.” I pursed my lips and gave an exaggerated shake of my head. “No! No way. I am
not
going to be the bait for Dr. Luth. And you know that’s what would have to happen.”

Rob tilted his head down and looked at me over the edge of his glasses. It was exactly what my father used to do, and a jolt of pain went through my chest, thinking of his possible betrayal. “I don’t want you to be used as
bait.
” Rob cleared his throat, then looked away. “But we could tell them about mom. We could tell them what she said…” His voice trailed off.

“What?” I gave Rob the best ‘are you kidding me’ look I could muster. “We cannot tell
anyone
about mom. That would be a mistake and you know it.” I poked him in the shoulder.

He pulled away from me, but sighed.

I sighed back, annoyed that we were even discussing this. “Plus, I don’t think mom telling us we need to find ‘the book’ could be considered information.”

He pointed at me. “She’s reliable. She told us about the Equinox, remember.” 

“She’s crazy, Rob, remember? And how do we know that one of them isn’t a spy or something? Maybe Karen?” He hadn’t said anything about her, but I had a feeling that there was something between them after catching some of the glances Rob had given Karen when we were back at Marsha’s. “Hmm?”

Rob reddened slightly, but threw his arms in the air. “Mom is
not
crazy. Would you stop saying that?”

I held my expression and purposefully let loose on my eyelash fluttering—he hated that.

Turning away, he grumbled, “You’re so annoying.”

Watching his face, looking for weakness, I glared at him. I was not backing down on this. I pushed him in the shoulder. “I told you all weekend that I am not helping them get their powers back. Nothing good comes from having powers.”

Rob shook his head, pulling off his glasses to clean the lenses with his sweatshirt.

Blowing out my breath, I picked up my bag. “Now, I am going to go and have a very
normal
day of school. I am going to find other friends…normal friends.” Even as the words came out, I knew it probably wouldn’t happen. In the last year and a half I’d been to six other schools—and I’d never made what could be considered normal friends. “And I’m going to keep gathering information from mom and wait until the Equinox.” I let my breath out. “And then we can move on and be happy. Very happy,
normal
people.” I pulled the door handle and kicked it open with my foot.

Jake stood next to the door.

I gasped back into the seat. My heart started pumping furiously.

Jake’s lips suppressed a laugh as he reached his hand out to me. He was wearing a black leather jacket and dark jeans with combat-looking boots. “Just because you don’t want to help us doesn’t mean we aren’t friends, does it?”

Looking down at his open hand, I felt a little suspicious. I wanted to believe him—that we could be friends.

“Hey, Lanie.” Rob leaned over to me.

I turned to him, catching a half-smirk on his face.

“Go find those
normal
friends.”

Rolling my eyes, I slid down from the Jeep, careful to avoid Jake’s hand.

Jake shut the door and gave Rob a farewell wave. Stepping next to me, he asked, “Did you have a nice weekend?”

He had his backpack slung over his shoulder and his dark hair was still a little wet. He looked good. Too good. Butterflies started in my stomach and I tried to ignore them, turning for the school. “Yep.”

Jake laughed, walking beside me. “So that’s how it’s going to be?”

Frowning at him, I picked up my pace. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

Tugging at a little piece of my hair, he stepped to the other side of me.

Unwillingly, I laughed at his antics, batting away his hand. “Hey. What are you doing?”

He bumped into my shoulder in light companionship. “Lanie, I know you feel this too. Why are you fighting it?”

The intensity of his words made the butterflies that had been under control in my stomach rush into my chest, taking my breath away. I put my hand up. “Stop, Jake. Just stop.”

Putting his hand quickly down to his side, his eyes twinkled with suppressed silliness.

Even though I didn’t want to, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “I don’t understand you.”

Suddenly, Marsha was beside Jake. She folded her arms and frowned. “Oh, gag me with a spoon.”

“I think it’s cute.” Karen stepped next to her, smiling sweetly at me. “How’s Rob?”

A heavy arm draped over my shoulder and Reed laughed loudly, a toothpick in his mouth. “What’s up? It’s the Lane-ster.”

I pulled away from him. He reeked of bacon.

He didn’t seem to notice, pulling the toothpick out of his mouth and chomping at me with his big, white teeth. “I don’t care what Marsha says…I like you.”

I shook my head, looking in turn at each of them. How come my emotions seemed to tailspin when I was around them? “Thanks…I guess.”

The bell rang and the others dispersed, leaving me alone with Jake. I started toward Mr. Drake’s class, but Jake stepped close to me, reaching out to softly touch my fingers.

My heart fluttered painfully and I pulled away from him. “I’m not helping you, Jake.”

Jake shook his head and let out a breath, giving me a severe look. “I get that…this isn’t about that.”

We walked into the classroom and I didn’t feel like I could take a breath. He was still giving me that intense stare as I slid into the seat behind him.

Mr. Drake rapped the podium in front of the class, nodding at us and using his fingers to comb down the sides of his mustache. “So we’ve talked about choices, people. Heroes have to make choices to make them interesting. No one likes a hero who sits around and lets things happen to them. But today—let’s talk about destiny.”

As I turned into Mr. Drake, a small tingle started on the back of my neck.

“Sometimes the hero needs to be persuaded to find their destiny. We see this in the mentor character. They help show the hero what they can become.”

My eyes connected with Mr. Drake’s and his words started coming apart, swooshing to me in a bright yellow funnel. He kept talking and his words swirled across the classroom, becoming a steady stream straight into my heart. Jolting in my seat, I knocked my backpack off the desk with a loud thud.

Mr. Drake stopped talking, looking at my backpack on the floor. The class turned to me. The funnel was gone and the yellow melted around me, leaving me with a peaceful feeling. His words…
his words had power?

“Ms. Hart, are you okay?” Mr. Drake stepped from around the podium and walked to my desk, his face softening with concern.

Jake picked up my backpack, giving me a confused look.

I held perfectly still. Had I imagined that? “Yeah. I’m fine.”

Mr. Drake tilted his head down, turning on his heel. “Okay. So—let’s talk about the next report coming up…”

I went to the Art room at lunch, trying to stick with my resolve to make normal friends, and trying to figure out if I’d imagined the whole thing with Mr. Drake. Painting was the only thing that helped me think. Art. I loved it. After being locked away at The Foundation, I’d made a promise to myself that I would never take my art for granted again. The freedom to draw what I want, how I want…was a gift.

I worked on the lily I’d been seeing in my mind lately, with the vines spreading and growing, the flames of purple, yellow, and a mixture of bluish-pink. Leaning back, I surveyed the room, making sure no one was there. I touched the lily with my pinky, catching it as it formed into the real thing before it could fall to the ground, and pulling it close, smelling the sweet fragrance.

“Impressive.”

Dropping the lily to the ground, I turned.

Marsha tapped across the floor, her stilettos peeking out from beneath her bedazzled jeans. She looked magazine perfect in a white button down, fitted shirt, down to her perfect, salon-manicured nails.

Running her hand in the air next to the canvas, she hissed, closing her eyes. “I can almost feel what it would be like.” She turned to me, inspecting me closely. “I can almost feel the power that must surge through you—especially when they come alive.”

Her hair was up, Chinese-looking chopsticks holding her blonde hair in place, and perfectly placed tendrils waving gently around her face. Her green eyes were calm, but I could feel her angst. I didn’t move, watching her walk over to my paints.

She looked up at me. “Can you draw youth, beauty, health?”

I held her eyes, but didn’t try to answer.

She laughed, looking a little insane. “That was me. I could heal. I could make people beautiful.” Picking up a brush, she dipped it in yellow, and stepped to the canvas. “Can you draw the sun?” She made a circle, filling the circle gently. “Desire, love, power?” Looking at the canvas, she whispered, “That was Jake. You never felt alone around him. He could convince you of almost anything.”

Intrigued and disconcerted, I watched as she did little doodle designs.

Turning back to me, she rinsed the brush, dipping it in blue. “Can you draw strength? I mean pure force, raw muscle?” She pressed her lips together, making a popping sound with her mouth. “Obviously that was Reed. Nothing could stop him.” She painted a long strip of blue onto the canvas. Stepping in front of me, she reached the brush into the air, pretending she was drawing a design. “Wait…that’s you, not me.” Holding the brush out to me, she waited.