Imitation (28 page)

Linc stops outside my bedroom. “I’m
going to find Titus and give my report. I’ll come see you before I
go for the night.”

We both know where he’ll go when he
leaves and I am already impatient at the thought. “No, just talk to
Titus and get going as soon as you can.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Yes. I just need to
know.”

“
I’ll see you in the
morning.”

“
See you then.”

He hesitates a second longer and I
wonder if he’s going to kiss me right here in the hallway. I can’t
help glancing at his mouth as I think it. Instead, he lets out a
quiet groan and then turns and walks away.

That night, I am woken by the sound of
my name. “Ven … Ven.”

And in my half-awake, half-dreaming
state, my first thought is how nice it is to hear those three
letters spoken together out loud.

“
Ven.”

The voice comes again, loud enough to
chase away the fog and then I’m awake and breathing heavily while
somehow not breathing at all because someone is in my room in the
middle of the night, calling me by my real name.

“
Linc?”

“
It’s me,” he says and the
words are rushed. “I need you to come outside.”

“
Why?”

“
She’s here.”

Those two words are all I need to get
moving. I know without being told exactly who he means. Instantly,
I am on my feet and pulling on pants without a thought as to what
Linc can see in the moonlit room.

“
She came willingly?” I
ask, pulling a sweater on over my camisole nightshirt.

“
Yes. But she won’t come
in until she talks to you.”

I nod and push my feet into the
closest pair of shoes. “Where?”

“
Outside.” There is the
briefest pause and then he adds, “In the alley.”

I still. For three beats I don’t say a
word. That’s how long it takes me to shake the images of the last
time Melanie and I were in the alley together. “Do you think it’s a
trap?”

He crosses to me and takes me gently
by the shoulders. “For what it’s worth, no, I don’t. I think
there’s a reason she’s allowing herself to be captured, but I don’t
think you are it.”

I let that sink in a moment. Still, I
don’t move. The pressure of his hands on my shoulders is just
enough to be reassuring.

“
And I’ll be right next to
you the entire time,” he adds.

That, combined with my curiosity
propels me onward. “Let’s go.”

The hallways are deserted. There is no
guard in the foyer and I want to ask how Linc managed it but I know
better than to make any noise. Linc doesn’t press the button for
the elevator. Instead, he leads me through a side door and down a
flight of stairs. We are careful to keep our steps
silent.

At the next landing, we take the door
leading to the main hallway and Linc calls the elevator. It dings
so loudly, I feel they’ve heard it all the way through the
building. We step inside and the door closes. Beside me, Linc is
rigid. I am wound just as tight. There is nothing to say but I slip
my hand into his and he squeezes.

When we step into the lobby, Linc
veers left. We take a back exit that opens directly into the alley.
The door shuts behind us, sealing us and any noise out.

“
Melanie,” Linc calls
softly.

Silence.

“
You left her out here
alone?” I ask him incredulously.

“
Relax,” I hear as a mane
of red hair materializes from around the far side of the Dumpster.
“If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t have come.”

“
Melanie.” Everything in
me wants to take a giant step backward at the sight of her piercing
gray eyes and glowing hair. I squeeze Linc’s hand and stand my
ground. “What do you want?”

“
I want to talk,” she
says, shrugging as if it’s all that simple.

“
To talk,” I repeat,
letting the skepticism show in my voice. “We can do that once
you’ve come inside.”

“
I’d rather this story be
for your ears only,” she says pointedly.

“
Linc stays.”

She shrugs. “It’s cool, I figured as
much. When I say alone, I mean without your daddy. Or fake Daddy.
Or he’s real but you’re … whatever. You know what I
mean.”

I bristle with irritation. It gives me
more confidence, diminishes the fear. “You have five minutes. I
don’t owe you anything.”

“
Actually, that’s the
thing. You sort of do owe me,” she says.

She takes a step forward. I tense and
Linc steps between us, blocking me. “Stay where you are,” he tells
her.

She holds up her hands in front of
her. I look away because even though she meant the gesture to be
one of acquiescence, all I see are the weapons she used to try to
kill me. She’s so much stronger than she looks. Again, I am
reminded of Lonnie, her wiry strength and unswerving determination
when she sets a goal. I realize their chins jut in the same
way.

“
I won’t move,” she says,
her tone full of innocence. I can’t tell if she’s lying.

“
Talk,” I say.

“
Here’s the thing. I know
who you are: Ven from Twig City. And I know what you are:
Imitation. I also know there is an entire underground city full of
you. Well, not you, exactly, but products.” She pauses, possibly to
let the full weight of her words settle around us.

Other than Linc, Daniel, and Titus,
she is now the only other human I’ve met this side of Twig City who
knows the truth. It feels … ominous.

“
Daniel told me
everything,” she explains.

I don’t doubt it, though I have no
idea why he shared so much when he so obviously doesn’t care about
her. I put all of the condescension and uncaring that is Authentic
Raven into my voice when I say, “You brought me all the way out
here to rub it in that you know my secret?”

“
No. I brought you out
here to tell you I know where there are many more like you. In this
city. Including your friend Anna.”

I look at Linc. “They weren’t at the
address Obadiah gave us?”

He shakes his head. “It was empty. She
moved them before I got there.”

I glare at Melanie. “You’re holding
them hostage?”

She snorts. “Wrong. I’m hiding
them.”

“
From who?”

“
Titus. Twig City. The
world.”

I let that sink in. “They are there …
willingly?”

Pieces are falling into place, even
before she answers with a definitive, “Yes.”

“
You saved Anna from the
carjacking,” I say.

“
I was the hijacker,” she
corrects.

I nod because even though I can’t
explain it and even though this girl did in fact try to repeatedly
kill me, I know she has saved and protected Anna. And maybe
others.

“
Why?” I ask.

“
Because they don’t
deserve to be used this way. Neither do you, though I’m sure you’ll
find that sort of maddening coming from me. Still, I’m sure you’ve
realized by now that Titus is a different sort of bad guy than I
am.” I can’t argue with that. “They call you products but you are
people,” she adds.

Nothing she could’ve said surprises me
more. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“
No,
you
don’t. The science it takes to
create you … you might not have been born from a human womb, Ven,
but you’re human in every sense of the term. Making you believe
otherwise is part of the lie.”

Her words—so contradictory to what I
know as truth—make me angry. I drop Linc’s hand so I can ball it
into a fist. “How do you know all of this?” I demand.

“
Daniel. Anna … and I’ve
seen it.”

“
Seen what?”

“
The data. The conclusive
evidence of testing that proves you have just as much emotion and
ability to feel and experience as we do. Isn’t that what you think
separates you? Isn’t that what they tell you? Humans are
superior—intellectually and emotionally?”

“
You’ve …” I don’t realize
I’ve taken a step forward until Linc’s hand on my arm gently pulls
me back. “How is that possible?”

She folds her arms and her lids lower.
“I can’t tell you that. I’ve already sold Daniel out by telling you
this much.” Her voice drops to a mumble when she says, “I won’t do
it to anyone else.”

I wonder vaguely who else there is
left to betray, but then the thought is gone and I shake my head in
frustration. “How can you still care what Daniel thinks of you? He
was gathering those Imitations to use them as an army.”

She is defensive as she attempts to
explain. “The army’s purpose is the same as yours.”

“
Which is?” Linc
asks.

“
Freedom from the
creator,” she says, looking at me. I say nothing, though my stomach
flips at the thought, and she continues. “His intentions were good.
Or at least they started out that way. The grief of losing his
mother hit him hard. Knowing she could’ve been saved …”

“
An Imitation,” I say, the
story coming together as I remember the little bit Daniel mentioned
just before he wrapped his hands around my throat. “He wanted an
Imitation to save her.”

“
Titus refused to grow a
product for her, even though harvesting organs probably would’ve
worked. When she died, Daniel vowed to change things. Make the
concept of owning a product more public, accessible.” Her words are
no more than a whisper. “Somewhere along the way …”

She doesn’t finish. She doesn’t have
to. We all know that at some point, his mission became motive and
he crossed a line. I refuse to acknowledge the compassion in her
expression as she speaks of him. I will not feel sorry for
him.

“
And him wanting me?” I
ask. “Was it just to add me to your army?”

“
Yes and no. You were
different.” There is something in her voice … guilt.

“
How?” I ask. Beside me,
Linc makes a noise that is a growl and a curse all at
once.

Her expression is full of something I
don’t understand when she says, “You make him crazy.”

Linc snorts his agreement. “Don’t
exclude yourself from that description,” he says.

She glares at him for a
moment and then turns to me. Her expression softens. It is the
nicest look she’s ever given me. “I couldn’t see past … When I look
at you, all I see is
her
. And I hate her.”

I blink at that—and decide to be
honest. “We have that in common,” I say. We share a
look.

I can feel Linc watching me,
questioning. He doesn’t understand what’s not being said. That for
a split second, Melanie and I are enemies on common ground. “What
is the point of telling me all this?” I say finally.

“
Bottom line? I’m offering
you the one thing you want.”

“
You have no idea what I
want.”

She crosses her arms. “In a word?
Freedom. But that’s complicated.” She nods toward my arm. “You
can’t just walk out. Not with that thing still in you. I’m offering
step one.”

“
Which is?”

“
The location of your
friend Anna—and all of the others like her.”

I’ve suspected that’s where this was
going, but I am leery. “What do you want in return?”

“
Kill me.”

I thought nothing she said could’ve
surprised me more than when she’d called me human. I was
wrong.

“
What?” Linc and I say in
unison.

“
I’ve heard enough of
Titus Rogen to know what waits for me in there,” she says, nodding
up at Rogen Tower behind us. “Interrogation, torture, starvation.
But he won’t let me die. He’ll just make me want to. Before that
happens, I want one of you to stage my death so I can escape. With
Daniel.”

“
No.” Linc’s answer is
immediate and final. Melanie doesn’t look surprised. Nor does she
argue. “You can’t expect me to risk something like th—” Linc
begins.

“
We’ll do it,” I
interrupt.

Linc gapes at me. “Ven, it’s
imposs—”

“
It’s worth the trade.
Save everyone, or save no one,” I say. I don’t mention that I’m
beginning to understand what Melanie’s saying: I can’t save myself
unless I save them too.

Melanie presses her lips together and
nods appreciatively. Linc shakes his head but doesn’t argue
anymore.

“
Thank you,” Melanie
says.

I ignore that and ask the question I
can’t shake. “Why go in at all?”

She cocks her head sideways, cutting
from Linc to me in a knowing look. “Love is reckless.”

***

I know the moment Linc places the call
to inform the house that he is bringing Melanie in. Feet thunder
past my room and radios squawk with grainy, digitized voices
telling each other to hurry to the lobby. The alarm
sounds.