Vengeance (21 page)

Harry grinned. “Why don’t you two head back and fill everyone in. You’re going to need to work on a plan as to what we’re going to do with him once he’s been subdued.”

“You’re right,” Aiden said. “We have to think this through properly.”

“Can we go back to the hotel first?”
I asked Aiden.

Aiden tried to hide the smile that played on his lips.
“Didn’t get enough?”

I quickly turned my head so Harry couldn’t see my face as I flushed with embarrassment.

“Well, we may as well go then,” Aiden said, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me against his body so I could hide my pink cheeks. “Will you come back to your house when you’ve finished here?”

Harry nodded. “That’s the plan.”

“Okay then, we’ll see you soon,” Aiden said.

I waved at Harry around Aiden’s back. “Seeya.”

Aiden and I transported to our bedroom in the hotel. He looked at me and smiled. “I know you wanted to talk to me about something. I just couldn’t resist seeing you embarrassed like that.”

I slapped him playfully on his chest. “Don’t do it again.” I sat on the edge of the bed. “How are we going to get him admitted to a psych ward?”

He sat beside me. “Well, I guess Kai could dummy up some sort of doctor referral or court order and have the hospital pick him up.”

“That could work.” I twisted to the side and put my knee up on the bed. “Where do you think we should keep him?”

“We could go for somewhere local so either my parents or your mum can keep an eye on him. Or we could send him to some second-class facility where he’ll be treated worse than an animal.”

I liked the idea of the latter, but what I wanted more was for him to be driven insane, what he had tried to do to me. “I want him in a state-of-the-art facility, in a white padded room, in a straitjacket. I want there to be no way on earth he can escape.”

Aiden laughed. “That would probably be the highest form of torture for him.”

I smiled. “I know.” What I didn’t say was that it would also be something I thought Lucas could live with. But he didn’t really have to know the details. “Maybe we should keep the ‘driving him insane’ part away from Lucas.”

Aiden narrowed his eyes at me. “Why? Has Lucas said something?”

I shook my head. “He hasn’t said anything.”

“But?”

“It’s just that…” God, I felt terrible for what I was about to say. But I thought Aiden should know how his friend was really feeling. “Lucas knows that his father needs to be stopped. But whenever anyone says something about killing Nathan, he feels sick to his stomach.”

“So that’s the real reason why you didn’t want him to die?”

“It was at first, but then I realised the psych ward was better than any death we could plan for him. It will be like torture for him every single day. Day in and day out.”

“Just like what he’s done to us for the past few months?”

“And my mum for even longer.”

“Do you think she’ll be on board with all this?”

“It doesn’t really matter, but there’s only one way to find out.”

Aiden put his hand on my knee. “Let’s go see your mum.”

Chapter 22

At Harry’s house, we found the lounge empty. Sounds of laughter came from outside. Aiden opened the sliding door, and we stepped outside into the moonlight. Lights lined a path down to the pool, where Chelsea and Gemma were swimming. Lucas sat on a lounge chair, watching the girls and thinking about his father’s demise. I hoped what I was going to tell him would ease his conscience.

“Hey, guys,” Lucas said when he saw us walking down the path.

“You should come in,” Chelsea yelled as Gemma splashed water at her face.

I was about to ask her where she’d gotten a swimming suit until I realised she was just wearing her underwear. She figured her bra and panties were black and didn’t reveal anything a suit wouldn’t. But she expected me to do the same.

“No thanks,” I called back. “I’ve got to talk to Lucas and Mum about something.”

“Your loss,” Chelsea said then ducked under the water to swim away from Gemma. The only problem was that Gemma knew what to expect, and she swam quickly to get in front of Chelsea and wait for her to resurface.

Aiden and I sat on the lounge chair next to Lucas with our backs to the pool.

“What’s up?” Lucas asked, worried we were going to give him some bad news.

I put a hand on his arm. “Don’t worry. We’ve got some good news. We’ve come up with a way to stop Nathan. And I wanted to run it past you first before I tell my mum.”

“Okay,” he said nervously.

Aiden slung his arm over my shoulders. “It’s pretty ingenious actually.”

My lips twitched as I tried to suppress a grin. “I didn’t feel right about killing him. And when we were with Harry an idea just sort of came to me.”

“Which is?” Lucas asked.

“Jade’s came up with this idea that we can use the drug Nathan laced the knife with on Nathan and also put it into something that can slowly release the drug into his system and make him normal. He would become a normal human.”

Lucas’s eyes practically popped out of their sockets. “Seriously? That’s why you almost died?”

“Yep,” Aiden said. “Nathan’s discovered something that will make us normal. After it’s been implanted in his body, Nathan will be easily controlled.”

“So what are you planning on doing with him once he’s normal?”

“We’re going to send him to a psych ward,” I said. “He’ll be completely cut off from ever being able to get that thing out of his system, and nobody will listen to him if he starts talking about him being evolved and has this drug inside him to make him normal. They’ll think he’s a nut job like the rest of the people in the hospital.”

A smile spread across Lucas’s face. “That
is
ingenious.”

I chuckled. “I know, right?”

“She’s not just a pretty face,” Aiden said, looking at me proudly.

“Ew! That’s my sister you’re talking about,” Lucas joked.

I remembered the times when Georgia had tried to drive a wedge between Aiden and her brother by saying that Lucas wanted me. I was so glad to find out Lucas had never felt that way about me. Otherwise, Lucas would’ve probably needed counselling for the rest of his life.

“Do you think your mum will be okay with your plan?” Lucas asked.

“I guess it’s time to find out.” When I heard Lucas worry that Mum might still want to kill his father, I added, “Not that I care if she’s okay with it or not. He’s going to the psych ward.”

Lucas smiled. “I think that’s the best punishment.” He also knew it would ultimately drive his father crazy, but he felt his father deserved that after everything he’d done.

Aiden and I got up off the lounge. When Lucas started to follow suit, I silently asked him,
“Can you stay out here to keep an eye on those two?”

Lucas eased back down and smiled.
“Sure thing.”

“We’re going inside for a bit. You girls have fun,” I called out, then Aiden and I made our way back inside the house.

The smell of coffee wafted into the lounge from the kitchen. “Want a coffee?” I asked Aiden.

“Like you have to ask.”

We found Mum in the kitchen with two cups of coffee, one under the machine, and another empty cup to the side. “Hi kids,” she said. “I’m making yours now.”

“Thanks, Mum,” I said at the same time Aiden said, “Thanks, Nikki.”

Mum took the cup out from under the spout and put the next cup in place. “So what is it you’ve got to tell me?” She always knew by my body language alone that something was on my mind.

“We’ve found a way to stop Nathan,” I said.

“Oh?”

“How about we wait ’til we’re sitting down to talk about it?” I suggested.

Mum worried she might not like what I had to say if I wanted her to sit down. But she accepted my request and turned around to finish making the coffees.

I stepped up to the bar. “Where’s the sugar?”

“I’ve already put it in.” She took the coffee out from under the spout and handed it to Aiden.

“Thanks,” he said, taking it from her.

She pointed to the one on the right. “That one’s yours, Jade.”

I grabbed my cup as Mum picked up the other two, and we headed into the lounge.

“Coffee ready?” Jack asked, walking in from the hallway.

“Sure is.” Mum handed him a cup. “Jade and Aiden have to talk to us about something. They’ve apparently got a plan for Nathan.”

“Oh?” Jack seemed a little more intrigued than Mum was.

We all sat on the sofa.

“So what is it?” Mum asked when I didn’t start talking straight away.

“Actually.” I turned to Aiden. “Can you get your parents over here? I don’t really feel like explaining it twice.”

“Sure thing.” Aiden pulled out his phone and dialled his mum. I leaned closer so I could listen.

Anna picked up on the second ring. “What’s wrong?”

“Can you, Dave, and Kai come over to Harry’s? There’s something Jade and I have to tell you guys.”

“Is everything all right?” she asked.

“We’re fine,” Aiden said. “When can you all be here?”

“Dave and I will be there in a—” The call was disconnected, and Anna and Dave appeared in the lounge room. “Kai’s still out surfing.”

I jumped up from the sofa. “I’ll take care of it.” I went outside. I thought about bringing Kai into the pool, but I figured he was a big enough boy and could handle going from the sea to the grass. I concentrated on Kai and brought him to me.

Kai stumbled and almost fell flat on his face before he phased out and reappeared standing up on the grass. “Where’s my board?”

“Seriously?” I laughed. “You were just in the surf, and now you’re on land, and the first thing you think about is your board?”

Kai shrugged. “I like my board.”

“Fine,” I said when I realised he wanted to go back for it.

He disappeared then reappeared with his board under his arm a few seconds later. “So what is it you needed?”

“I’ll tell you inside.”

Mum came out of the house with a towel for Kai.

He leaned his board against the porch and took the towel. “Thanks,” he said, drying off.

Mum and I waited patiently then led him into the house.

“This better be good.” Kai sat down next to Anna. “‘Cause those waves were awesome.”

“Well, we came up with this idea of what we can do with Nathan,” I said. “After we found out Nathan had laced the knife with something that turned Aiden into a normal human, we—”

Anna sucked in a sharp breath, having the same fears I’d had.

I rushed to reassure her. “Don’t worry. He’s fine now. It’s all out of his system.”

But she was still sceptical, unlike Dave who figured that if there had been such a significant change in their son’s life, we would’ve told them by now.

Aiden put a hand on his mum’s arm. “Really, Mum. I’m fine. I’m still going to live forever.”

Relief washed over Anna’s face, and I knew it was safe to continue. “So I realised that Nathan’s fascination with experiments was going to be his demise. Harry was able to make more of the stuff, and he’s going to put it inside some sort of slow-release device, lace the syringe, and then inject it into Nathan. Nathan will instantly become normal and no longer a threat. We don’t know if the drug is permanent just yet, but this device will keep him that way until we figure it out. If it is only temporary, we’ll have to keep injecting it into his system.”

“Where do you plan on keeping him?” Mum asked.

I gestured at Kai. “That’s where you come in.”

“Me?”

“I want you to find a maximum-security psychiatric facility then create the files to have him committed. I want him locked away in a padded cell, unable to hurt himself or anyone else ever again. And because he’s in a psych ward, whatever he says to anyone won’t matter because they’ll just think he’s crazy. It will be the ultimate revenge.”

Everyone had thought I was going to tell them how I was going to kill Nathan. But when they heard my plan, they thought it was so much better.

“That’s fabulous.” Mum laughed. “I can just imagine what his face will look like. It will be a living hell for him. Every year he’ll be in there will be that much worse. He’ll hate growing old. He will grow old, won’t he?”

I nodded. “As long as we keep that drug in his system, he’ll grow old just like every other human.”

Mum closed her eyes and took a deep breath. For the first time since I was born, she knew we would be okay.

Kai stood up. “I’m gonna go get my computer. I’ll be back in a sec.” He disappeared.

“We’re going to need to keep an eye on Nathan, aren’t we?” Dave said.

“Of course we are,” Mum replied. “We’re also going to have to readminister the drug every…” Mum turned to me. “Did Harry say how long the drug will stay in his system?”

I shook my head. “He won’t know if it’s permanent until he’s done some further testing.”

“Right. Then if it’s not permanent, we’ll have to find out and make arrangements to have it administered as needed,” Mum said.

Kai reappeared with his laptop in hand. He sat on the couch and opened it up.

I put my hand on Aiden’s knee. “I think we’ll leave you guys to work out the details of whatever you’re going to do to him once he’s incarcerated because I really don’t want to know. I want to get on with our lives and forget about him.” I turned to Mum. “Is that okay with you guys?”

“Of course it is, sweetie,” she said.

“We don’t expect you to be involved in keeping him in there,” Dave said.

“You two need to do whatever it is normal teenagers do and not worry about him,” Anna added.

“Does that go for me, too?’ Kai asked, not taking his eyes off his screen.

Anna rolled her eyes. “Dream on. You’re going to be the busiest out of the lot of us.” Anna turned to Aiden and me. “You two get going. We’ll call you when we have all the details set up.”

“Thanks,” Aiden and I said in unison.

We transported to the lounge chairs beside the pool. Lucas was still in the same position, and Chelsea and Gemma were drying off.

“How did it go?” Lucas asked.

“How did what go?” Chelsea asked.