Mindspeak (36 page)

The rest of his story checked
out, and Father seemed to think so. For now though, we’ll leave him on the “do
not trust” list.

Though Seth spoke every so often to
the dean and to Coach, his eyes never stopped roaming the room. He sipped from
his glass again. Then he looked in our direction, his expression severe, before
turning toward the door.

“Mommy Dearest is here,” Jack said
close to my ear. “Her fangs appear to be out.”

Cathy entered through the main
doors. She was dressed in a bright red, tailored suit with a high collar. I
chuckled at the vampire reference.

Dani, Briana, and Kyle approached
us, playfully arguing about something.

“This is sooo boring,” Danielle
said. “We should go see the art, so we can hit the roof once the adults succumb
to their adult ways.”

“Adult ways?” I raised a brow.

“You know, spiking their punch and
shutting us kids out of their stuffy conversations.” Danielle smiled. “Besides,
I want to see the nude you talked Ms. Waters into featuring.”

“How’d you manage a nude, Lexi?”
Kyle asked. He hooked his thumbs in his belt loops. “Waters is a major
conservative. I heard it was crazy impossible to even get her to allow the
models to reveal much skin.”

Briana slapped Kyle playfully. “The
imagination is an amazing tool.” She tilted her head side to side. “I mean… I’ve
seen
you
in a Speedo.”

Everyone laughed.

While the others started toward the
maze of exhibits, I scrutinized the room again. Something the size of a double
bacon cheeseburger sat uneasily in the pit of my stomach.

“Shall we?” Jack stuck out his arm
for me. “I’m dying to see the nude everyone’s talking about. How
did
you
manage to get a nude entered into the exhibit?”

“The mind is a powerful thing, my
friend.”

Jack raised a fist to his chest. “Oh,
you wound me, Miss Matthews. Surely by now we’re more than friends.”

“Stop. You know we are.”

“Let’s go see the art.”

We walked around the maze of
temporary walls filled with art, admiring the many pieces. Jack said his
favorite was the charcoal I did of Cherriana. “You’re very talented, you know.”

“No. I just like to play around.
And since I have zero musical talent, Wellington required me to choose some
kind of art.”

“Her eyes are so sad.”

I stared at Cherriana’s big brown
eyes and remembered the mood I was in when I drew her. “She’s somewhat of a
caged animal. Literally and metaphorically.” In the charcoal, I drew Cherriana
running free in the woods where Jack and I had ridden. “I imagined that even though
she was the result of mad scientists, trapped inside a body created by man and
not by the will of God, she should run free in the world.”

Jack stood behind me and wrapped
his arms around my waist. “We’ll ride together again. I promise.”

I swallowed hard and nodded.

We moved on and found the others
standing in front of the nude. Dani cupped her hand over her mouth, whispering
something to Bree. They both giggled.

It was killing me not to tell Kyle
and them both what I knew about The Program. Jack assured me that he would tell
them when he was positive it was safe to do so. He thought having me safe on
the outside would insure they had a fighting chance to escape Wellington if it
became necessary.

Problem was… I wasn’t on the
outside yet.

The group of us walked to the next
painting. Jack kept his promise by holding my hand as we stared at Danielle’s dramatic
oil painting of two eyes.

Briana sidled up to me. “I think
Danielle has a crush?”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t recognize those eyes?” she
asked before walking away without telling me who it was.

I stared longer. The eyes were a
beautiful color of amber with specks of blue throughout. Almost black eyebrows
tilted inward, causing a “v” in the skin between the eyes. The eyes seemed worried.
Determined. Yet warm and sad at the same time.

The eyes were definitely familiar
to me. But it was an oil painting for crying out loud.

“What do you think?” Dani stood
beside me now.

“The painting is superb,” I said. “Who’s
the model?”

“This is the man I’m going to marry.”

I smiled. Jack dropped my hand and
whispered in my ear, “I’ll be right back.” My palm turned cold as air hit the
skin Jack had been holding tightly.

Dani analyzed her own painting.

“What do you mean marry?” I asked.

“These are the eyes from my dreams.”
She folded her arms across her chest. I turned back to the eyes. She continued,
“Remember the nightmare? The one where I told you I was in the dark, looking
for you?”

“You’re telling me this is the guy
that wanted you to find me?” I stared into the eyes. It hit me. He was from my dream
earlier today. He led me to the infirmary.

Was this the same guy from my
nightmares?

“Yeah. I’ve dreamt about him practically
every night since then. Never like that first night, though. He’s kind in my
dreams now. Never leading me in the dark.” She stopped and looked at me. “You
think I’m crazy, don’t you?”

“No, of course not,” I whispered.

Briana and Kyle joined us again,
each carrying two glasses of punch and offering Dani and me one.

“Thanks.” I sipped slowly while I
studied Briana and remembered her words.
I think Danielle has a crush
.

If Briana recognized those eyes,
and those eyes are the same as from Dani’s nightmare… I shifted my stare from
Briana to Kyle.
Oh, God. Kyle. He’s been right in front of me all this time.

Did Kyle try to kill me?

I looked around for Jack. The
familiar build of panic bubbled up inside my chest.

“Lexi, you okay?” Kyle touched my
elbow.

I jerked my head back toward Kyle,
who stared at me. A cocktail of emotions passed over his face—curiosity,
concern, anxiety. But the desire to kill me?

Behind him, Cathy DeWeese, Roger
Wellington and Seth Whitmeyer walked toward us, admiring artwork along the way.
Or pretending to, I suspected.

All at once, they turned toward the
four of us. Me, Briana, Danielle, and Kyle. Three of us, part of the original
test sample.

Kyle moved closer to me. His lips
lifted into a nervous smile. “Something wrong, Lexi?” His expression changed,
as recognition must have shown in mine. “You know, don’t you?” Alarm coated his
whispered words. He moved behind me, placing a firm hand on my waist. “Act
normal. Don’t let them see the fear all over your face or tonight will go very
badly.”

Again with the ‘act normal’ stuff.
My hands shook. I tucked them into my armpits.
Jack! Where are you? It was
Kyle, Jack. Kyle has been inside my head. He tried to kill me.

I couldn’t breathe. I squirmed
against Kyle’s hand on my waist. I thought my knees might buckle. Jack didn’t
respond.

Cathy approached. “Hi, Lexi. Loving
the art tonight. Your father never mentioned how talented you are.” She tapped her
compact purse against her lips. “Oh, and honey,” she said. Her term of
endearment sent a fit of rage cursing through my blood. “Jack had to leave.
Something came up with a dear friend of his. He said to let you know.”

Shit
! Jack wouldn’t have
left without telling me. Something’s wrong.

“Thanks,” I said. “Where’s Dr.
DeWeese tonight?”

“John had an emergency. He had to
leave town unexpectedly.”

I redirected my gaze toward Seth,
who stood behind Cathy and her brother. He lifted his chin and motioned for me
to follow him. How was I supposed to do that without anyone noticing?

“May I have your attention, please?”
Dean Fisher’s voice sounded over the speaker.

Visitors and students made their
way out of the maze of art and back into the main room, where Dean Fisher stood
at a podium. I glanced toward the door. Seth had his hand on the door handle.

Jack was nowhere. I took a few
steps toward Seth, but Kyle was on me. His fingers wrapped around my wrist. “You
can’t leave.” It was a threat. “Not yet.”

I looked down at his wrist then up
at the arrogance in his eyes.

“As you all know,” the dean began, “we
have experienced somewhat of a security breach at Wellington recently. But don’t
worry,” he smiled. He raised his hands to the side like he was giving a
Presidential speech. “Our students’ safety is our number one concern. Which is
why—”

“He’s convincing, isn’t he?” Kyle
whispered in my ear. His breath felt hot on my neck.

Panic threatened to paralyze me. I
had to get out of there. I had to find Jack.

My backpack, and only source of
tissues, was tucked behind a bush near the parking lot, ready for my quick
escape later tonight. I looked around for some napkins. If blood began pouring
out of my nose now, I was afraid Kyle would know what I was doing. How much did
he know?

“Which is why we have implemented
our new and improved security system. I must say, I’m pretty proud of it.” Dean
chuckled, like this was an everyday speech.

Students began to eye each other,
whispering nervously.

“First, the outer perimeter of the
school is now protected by an electric fence that will keep potential intruders
safely on the outside.”

“And us on the inside,” Briana said
under her breath. She didn’t seem to notice the death grip Kyle had on my
wrist.

“Secondly,” Dean continued. “Students
will receive new procedures on how and when they may leave the campus based on
agreed-upon parameters with parents and guardians of each student.”

“Why do I feel we’ve suddenly been
imprisoned?” Dani asked.

“Because we have,” Kyle said so
that only I could hear. “You knew this was coming, didn’t you, Sarah?”

My body tensed at the sound of my
birth name.
Jack, where are you?
I slowly turned my head and looked up
at Kyle. “How long have you known?”

“Known what? That your father and
his friends created us in test tubes, then redesigned our brains with no
consideration for the possible consequences?” His fingers had to be leaving
impressions in my skin.

“That’s not how it happened. It
wasn’t Dad.”

“Shh. Here comes the best part,” he
whispered.

“And third,” the dean announced. “More
students at Wellington will be enrolled into The Program and have access to the
most innovative learning available to high school students anywhere.” He
paused. Whispers echoed through the hall. “That’s right. The initial year of
The Program was a huge success, and now, thanks to the generous donors and
boosters of this school...”

Cathy sipped a glass of champagne
at the back of the room, then raised her glass, nodding toward Dr. Wellington.

“…The Program has been relocated to
Wellington Boarding School.”

“I think we’ve heard enough.” Kyle
tugged on my arm, pulling me in the direction of the exit.

Seth no longer stood at the doors.

When we were on the other side of
the door, I thought tissue or not, I had to get away from Kyle.
Kyle, I want
you to let go of my arm right now. You don’t want to hurt me.

He loosened his grip, but his
fingers remained wrapped around my forearm pulling me down the sidewalk. “I
know you know where your father’s journals are. If we have any hope of
surviving what those yahoos have planned, you have to show them to me.”

Let go of my wrist!
Why wasn’t
my mindspeaking working?

“And if you have any hope of seeing
Jack again—”

“You know where he is?” I yanked my
arm and actually broke free this time.

He started to grab me again, but
stopped. “I know exactly where he is. Right where you and I will be this time
tomorrow if they suspect we won’t cooperate—on lockdown.”

Chapter
Thirty-Three

With a loose grip on my forearm,
Kyle led me to the back of the building where the infirmary was housed, but
instead of entering the main floor, we descended the stairs to the basement.

I recognized the long, white
hallway immediately though I had never been there.

“I dreamt of this place.” No, it
wasn’t a dream, though, was it?

In the back of my mind, a voice
told me I should be running in the opposite direction. Nevertheless, if Kyle
knew where Jack was, and he was in trouble, I had to find him.

Kyle faced me. “Welcome to The
Program.”

I forced my feet to move. “Who are
you?”

“Don’t be dramatic. I’m still your
friend. Let’s just say you and I have a lot to learn about each other. And I
guess we’ll get to, now.”

“What do you mean… now?”

“The campus has been secured, Lexi.
This,” he gestured down the hallway, “is our future. We were genetically
altered. Cloned for specific purposes. You know all this, right?” He looked at
me like I was dense.

“Yes, but I’m just surprised that
you do.”

“Roger Wellington is my uncle. Sort
of.”

I thought about that. “Your uncle.
And where are your parents?”

“As you can imagine it’s
complicated.”

“Tell me anyway.” My voice came out
angry. My hands shook at a 7.9 on the Richter scale. I closed them into fists
at my side.

“I am a clone of the man who raised
me the first ten years of my life. That man was Uncle Roger’s brother. He
disappeared, and R.W. moved me here. Opened the school.”

“How have you kept this a secret
from everyone?”

“What?” His voice escalated. “Does
it matter?” He reached for my hand, which I hid behind my back.

“You said you knew where Jack was.”

Behind us, the door at the top of
the stairs opened and closed with a creak. I jerked my head toward the sound of
mumbled voices.