Destiny and Deception (21 page)

“
Da
,” I agreed. “That was Wanda’s dog. The woman?
That
was Wanda.”

“I never met the woman,” Cat said, confused. Pietr and Max nodded in agreement. “Did you meet her?”

“
Nyet
. But she would have been there that night.”

No one asked what night I meant because everyone knew. It was the only night that still haunted all of us—the night our parents disappeared from Farthington.

“This could all be coincidence,” Jessie spoke up.

“I am sorry, Jessie.
Nyet
. This is not coincidence.” I went to the china cabinet, opened a door on its bottom, and pulled out the photo.

We all saw it.

Cat cursed, and Jessie knew by that I was right.

“It’s a good thing she’s not anywhere nearby right now,” Max snarled.

I nodded. “
Pravda
, brother. Very true.”

It was one of the few times recently he did not recoil at my use of the familial term for him. In this—in anger—we were again united. Kin.

But until Wanda returned to Junction, there was little we could do to mete out justice.

Marlaena

I stalked into the house an hour later, the cold finally edging its way past the protection afforded by my body’s extra heat. I paused in the kitchen, watching the candlelight dance eerily along the dusty old curtains. I pulled open the refrigerator out of habit long ago made useless—how many abandoned homes still maintained electricity, or a working fridge?

Dark and empty. As expected. Noise came from the little living room, and I slunk toward it to lean on the door’s warped frame.

There he was, Gareth, licking their wounds, so to speak. Soothing and gentle and—utterly Christlike.… I wanted to scream. Or crucify him.

How could he be so sharp with me and so loving to them? And so consistently?

Kyanne was gloating at the extra attention he paid her and it didn’t hurt the growth of her tender ego that Noah and Darby were seated at her feet, telling jokes until she laughed and scolded them for making her hurt.

My stomach ached to see them like that. So close, and me not a necessary part of any of it. This was my pack.
My
family.

“They heal, you know,” I snapped at him, striding forward and slapping his hand away from the wound on Kyanne’s arm as he was being his tender best with her. It disgusted me how gentle he could be with absolutely anyone.

“Everyone heals faster with a touch of compassion,” he replied levelly.

“Why must you be so soft with everyone?” I snarled, stepping away from the group of them. I could hear him behind me—feel the heat of him by my back—and it made my stomach do strange things, made my mind slow. I spun to face him.

“Why must you be so hard?”

“Damn it, Gareth,” I whispered, backing into a wall. “Survival. That’s why I do
everything
. That’s how I make all my choices. It’s survival. Needs and some wants. For them, for you, for me.…”

“We
need
to start looking further ahead,” he said. “This simple survival is coming closer and closer to killing us.” He took a step toward me, coming so near I could smell the sweet scent of his breath.

My head swam and my spine and knees went loose seeing him so close, so touchable, so soft and kind.… “What are you suggesting?” I whispered, knowing in my head the words were laced with a request for far more than he was willing to give. I blinked and, remembering myself, my place, his place, I straightened and cleared my throat. “Do you have a plan? Some brilliant idea that could make all our lives perfect?”

“Not perfect. But perhaps stable. Maybe better.”

“Stable. How very middle-class American and
human
”—I let the word twist out of my mouth like I’d said something foul—“of you.” I crossed my arms before me, effectively building a wall between us.

I’d return to the Russian. If my plan regarding the Russian-Americans didn’t work out first.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Jessie

Having talked to Harnek and spent a little more time with Sophie’s wards, I’d come to a conclusion. “It’s simple, really,” I said. “We just need someone on the inside to warn us if things go bad. Or if there’s info we need to know.”

“Yeah,” Amy gave a snort. “That’s simple. How do you get someone on the inside of a group like this?”

“I agree with Amy. We have a strong suspicion of who the local leader is here, but getting access to his files or overhearing any of his calls … it’s risky, Jessie. He almost never leaves the offices—”

“Unless there’s a food fight—”

Amy grinned. “Yeah, some sort of civil disobedience the teachers can’t handle.”

“And I’m already walking on dangerous ground with”—Sophie cleared her throat—“my other project.”

I nodded. “I agree, Sophie. I can’t have you involved.”

Cat blinked at me.

“You’re not in the running, either, Cat. You attract way too much attention still being new—”

“And foreign—”

“And gorgeous,” Amy concluded, sticking her tongue out.

Cat’s smile spread nearly from ear to ear. “You are all so much trouble, but I must keep you all as a result of that.”

“Does this mean we’re suddenly kept women?”

Cat snorted. “Have you seen how little the Super Shoe Shop pays me? I could not afford to keep a mouse!”

“And yet I see some strappy new high-heel boots,” I remarked, looking at her feet pointedly.

“Ah! They were discounted,” she said, stroking her fingers along the straps and their shiny platinum buckles. “Besides,” she said with a smile, “making an occasional purchase helps keep my spirits up.”

“Then your spirits must have been sky-high after you brought that tiny leather jacket home…,” Amy muttered, looking up and away in mock innocence.

“Oh! You are so not being kept!” Cat scolded her.

“Okay, okay,” I said, waving my hands for their attention. “Look. I have a plan—”

Pietr’s tray clinked down beside mine. “Excellent. I would love to hear this plan of yours.”

I barely kept from groaning. Without skipping a beat, I announced, “The plan is: We all meet up after school and hit the mall to do some window shopping!”

On cue, all the girls smiled and nodded or clapped agreement. “It’s settled then.” I winked at them and finished my lunch.

*   *   *

Because my friends were smart and girls are naturally quite savvy, we met up right after lunch in the girls’ bathroom—the only thing close to a fortress of solitude at the high school. The only place Pietr wouldn’t barge in and give his two cents on my plans. Not that he barged in anywhere anymore really.…

“Okay, some office staff’s been let go due to the new budget cuts instituted by the superintendent,” I announced.

“Heard he’s a drunk,” Amy muttered in disgust, looking down at her shoes.

Aghast that she’d be so cold about someone suffering from alcoholism considering her dad’s own fragile state, I stared at her for a long minute.

“He’s not in rehab,” she explained suddenly, realizing I was staring. “It’s different because of that.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheeks and wondered when a good time would be to point out that as great as it was she thought things could be made better by getting help, she herself still wasn’t talking to anyone or seeing a professional about what had happened to her.
Not now,
the voice in my head said.

“So, because of these staff cuts, the office is looking for a couple volunteers to help the ladies out during study halls and lunch breaks and before and after school. It’s as close as any of us can legally get to what Perlson’s doing. And it may be close enough to find out what’s up.”

Nods.

“Cat’s out. Sophie’s out, and I’m out—I have a bit of a reputation with sticking my nose places it doesn’t belong and—”

“Breaking the noses of others?” Amy quipped, recalling the fight in the locker room.

“Yeah, that, too. I no longer have angel status.” I shrugged. “Amy?”

“I never had angel status and I doubt any of the office cares to help me earn my wings,” she muttered. “I’d stick out like a sore thumb.”

I had to agree. “So…”

They shrugged.

“We need someone in the office—someone working the inside track.” I fell silent, hearing the door open and close.

Sarah stepped around in front of me. “I’ll do it,” she said.

*   *   *

“Nooo.” Amy’s was the first protest, but certainly not the only one. “She can’t be trusted. She’s always the first to flip-flop, and there are things she doesn’t know—things that she shouldn’t.”

Cat nodded. Emphatically.

“Buuut,” I said, looking Sarah flat in the face, “she doesn’t have to know everything as long as she knows she needs to report everything she sees and hears. No matter what.”

“Not a problem,” she said firmly. “Besides, the office ladies love me.”

“Is that love, or is it a deeply seated fear they have of you?” Amy asked.

“At the moment I don’t care. Jessie needs help, and none of you can do it. But I can. I have the social graces and ability to maneuver in different social circles—a gift some of you don’t,” she said, looking straight at Amy. “I have a high-end phone that can snap awesome photos of documents, record at a remarkable distance, and has no problems sending everything it gathers to somebody’s e-mail. It’s the perfect tool for spying.”

“You’re the perfect
tool
,” Amy snapped.

I widened my eyes at her.

“Oh. For. Spying,” she concluded sharply.

“Niiice,” Sarah countered. “Look, let’s be straight here. I’m not doing this to become anyone’s friend. Well, Cat, you and I could hang,” she clarified, looking at Cat’s recent boot acquisition. “You at least have a sharp sense of style. But some of you don’t have any sense at all. And some of you are far from sharp.” She turned back to face me. “But Jessie basically saved me when anybody else would’ve thrown me away. She got honest when it mattered most. And she gave me back my memories. Plus some creepy crap I still don’t know what to do about. But she tried. For my sake. So I’ll try for hers.”

I shrugged. “I’m all for it. We need someone.”

“And if you’re all we’ve got…,” Amy added grudgingly.

“Thanks. So glad to finally make the list.”

“Ohhh, you’re on my list, no worries,” Amy said, wrinkling her nose.

“Stop!” I shook my hands. “We all need to work together to make this work out okay. Sarah, what we mainly need to know is if Perlson starts acting weird—like if it seems he’s ready to charge off in any particular direction. And if he says or does anything else weird.”

“Vice Principal weird or—”

“Scary paranormal / supernatural weird,” Sophie whispered.

“Awesome,” Sarah said dryly. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say. And when he does—because, let’s face it Scooby gang, this is Junction, and weird seems to ooze up from the sidewalks around here now—what do you want me to do?”

“Text us all. Immediately. First Soph and me, then Cat and Amy.”

“Heyyy, look who’s on the bottom of the list,” Sarah remarked, pulling out her cell phone and passing it to me. “Enter the digits.”

We all complied.

The door swung open and Max strode in.

Sophie shrieked, Sarah and Cat snorted, and Amy just grinned.

“Lose somethin’, Tiger?” she teased. “Can’t imagine any reason a guy like you’d be in a place like this unless you’d suddenly misplaced something tremendously valuable to your gender identification.”

“I did,” he said gruffly. “But she’s right here,” he added, taking her hand, “and about to be late for class unless we hurry.”

“Fine, fine,” she said, letting him lead her to the door. “Adjourned?”

“Adjourned,” I agreed.

Max paused and looked around a moment. “Why does your bathroom smell so much better than ours?”

“Maybe because we don’t spend our time using our
equipment
to try and take aim and hit—and probably miss—some little blue thing that’s disgustingly called a
cake?
”

He nodded sagely. “But some of us are good enough with our
equipment
we can write our name in the snow. In cursive. And in Cyrillic.”

“I so don’t want to ever see that,” she specified as they left the bathroom hand in hand.

Alexi

I examined the ticket in my hand. Flight 732 to Samoa. Seat 23A. Across the country and an ocean later I could be in the arms of my love, Nadezhda. I could tell her everything that was in my heart—all my hopes and fears and distant plans for our future together. And she would cover my face in kisses and take my hand in hers and lead me back to some quiet place away from the hustle and noise of humanity.…

Or I would find her with her partner and my reality would be cruelly adjusted.

If I returned the ticket and cashed in my dream I could still recoup some small something and better ensure that my family had the money they needed to last a little longer in Junction.

Or to deal with the treachery that seemed to dog us. I could use the money Wanda gave me to somehow bring her down—get the justice my mother and father deserved.

The irony would be sweet, using her own money against her.

Nadezhda and I might be doing fine at a distance. Surely we could keep what we felt for each other alive a bit longer, even just using phones and e-mail and Skype.… Could we not?

Da
. Of course we could.

Even though she had a partner who probably played the role of her husband in her current undercover operation … who stayed in her flat, in her room.…

To keep up appearances …

It was just a job.

I had an important choice to make: love or vengeance.

I thought about the heat of Nadezhda’s kisses and the way her breath cooled the skin of my bare chest one hot summer day in Moscow.…

But my mother and father taught me everything I knew about life and love …

… and loyalty.

I knew in that instant what I needed to do.

I picked up the phone. “I’m so sorry,” I explained. “I need to cancel my ticket. I will not be taking this flight after all.”