Resilient (26 page)

“Livia!” I shout. “Call 911.”

“I’m on it,” she says, raising her phone to her ear.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” 

From behind Livia, a strange man dressed in black appears from out of the dark.

“I need to report a murder at the community park behind the high school,” Livia relays into the phone anyway before hanging up.

“You are brave, aren’t you?” the man muses, walking closer to us. “I could have shot precisely at your hand and made you drop that phone.”

“I knew you wouldn’t,” she counters.

“Very well. What are you, a telepath? I haven’t seen one of those yet. Is that why you’re so important to them?”

“Why did you kill him?” I snap, trying to say something, anything, to buy time.

“Oh, he’s not dead. Not yet, at least.” His tone is flat, bored. Every bit of me is concentrated on him, but I can’t pick up the slightest irritation. Something about him is off. The guy is maddeningly neutral.

Livia kneels down, grabs my hand, and murmurs, “We’re going to have to run. He won’t be able to keep up.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” the stranger says. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. I can hear anything from miles away, just like you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Livia declares.

“I think he’s referring to me,” I say, and the guy chuckles. 

“Huh. You two have no idea what you are capable of, do you?” he asks, amused. “You could make this a whole lot easier on yourselves if you just come with me. You’ll learn everything you’ve ever wanted to know, and more.”

I feel Livia’s grip tightening. It’s all I need to understand that she’s ready. I grab her arm and I pull her up, running. 

“You won’t get far! I will find you!” The man’s voice is steady behind me. He knows I can hear him.

I run fast but Livia is faster, passing me, and now I’m the one following her. I’m running as fast as I can and I’m right on her heels. I copy her movements as she maneuvers around rocks and jumps over fallen tree branches. I feel my senses getting sharper as the “flight” of the fight-or-flight instinct takes over me.

In minutes, we reach the main road on the other side of the park trails. We don’t stop running until we get into town. It’s late and everything is shut down. I look at Livia and she’s breathing heavy. I grab her hand and we walk fast to a secluded alley hidden from the road.

I lean against the wall and Livia stands across from me, taking in deep breaths. “Are you all right?” I ask and she nods.

“We’re in big trouble.”

“Yeah, you think?” I glance at her. “I don’t think it’s safe for us to stay here.”

“It’s better if we stay. I can sense if someone gets closer.” She heaves one long, shaky breath. “Or we could go back to get my car. He’s probably not even there anymore.”

“No, he might not be there, but someone else might. We don’t know if he was alone.”

“Then we could walk to the police station.”

“We need to figure out what we’re telling them. I mean, we can’t really tell them the truth.”

She shakes her head in disbelief. “Adam, we need to figure out what we’re going to do, now.”

“I’ll call Kyle to pick us up and then we can go over this. It’s not safe to talk here. If he’s close he can hear us.” 

I dial Kyle and I tell him where to pick us up. He’s not far from here and he should arrive in minutes. Hopefully he makes it to us first. 

I sit on the curbside and Livia sits next to me, resting her head on my shoulder. I reach for her hands and I can feel them trembling.

Bright headlights swing into our alley, and we both hurry to stand up, ready to run. I recognize the car and I hold Livia steady. “It’s okay. It’s Kyle. Come on,” I say, and we get in his short-cabin truck, Livia snug in the middle.

“Stevens came to me after the game,” I tell him as he starts driving away.

“And?”

“He got shot before he could tell me everything.” 

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, some guy came out of the woods and shot him. There are people after me, and Stevens—God, he was trying to warn me.” I gather myself and tell Kyle everything that Stevens told me about my past.

“You’re saying he rescued you from your biological parents?”

“I don’t know, man. He couldn’t tell me.”

“But who is after you?”

“He called it ‘the agency’, but we have no clue what that means. CIA? Somebody else? We just know they’re after Livia and me,” I say, taking a steadying breath.

“Livia?” he questions and I realize I haven’t told him.

“She and I have the same abilities—or at least some are the same.”

“So it is true?” A beat of silence and he snorts incredulously. “I should have known.” He looks over to Livia and smiles. “Did you know you beat the world record? You ran one hundred yards in 8.59 seconds.” 

“Oh, you should have seen her running just now. She’s even faster than I am,” I say, oddly proud given the situation.

“Has Kyle always known about you?” Livia asks, surprised.

“Yeah, he’s always known I’m different.”

“Don’t be humble! He means superpowers.” Kyle emphasizes ‘powers’. Like Superman or something. 

“How about you, Livia?” I ask and, mocking Kyle’s voice, add, “What are all your superpowers?” 

Frankly, I’m curious to know what we actually have in common.  We haven’t talked about it yet. I know she can heal herself and I can’t, but there’s bound to be more.

“I can run a minute-mile, apparently,” she starts. “I can empathize with people, and that’s how I know what others are feeling.” She smiles at me. “But not you. I can’t empathize with you and I have no idea why. I don’t feel the cold. I have an exceptional photographic memory, and I can heal extremely fast.”

“That’s why your leg…” Kyle makes an appreciative noise, turning his truck onto the main road.

“You don’t know where you came from, and neither do I,” Livia says. “I was adopted when I was a couple days old. I have no idea who my biological parents are and I don’t know why I’m like this, nor did I ever consider that there was anyone else like me.” 

I reach for her hand, which feels extremely warm. She smiles at me, but her eyes gleam with concern. I’m worried about what’s in store for us, too.

“And what are your superpowers?” Livia asks, mocking me mocking Kyle.

“I can’t empathize with anyone, but I do know when they are angry and I can control their anger.” I smile with her. “But not yours. I know when you’re angry, but I can’t control it. I can’t heal fast, but I have acute hearing. I think I can hear things from about a mile away if I try hard enough. And I can do everything else you said you can.”

“You might be developing strength, as well,” Kyle says. “That ball you passed me today almost threw me off the field.”

I shrug, my smile widening. “It just felt like a good throw.”

Kyle rolls his eyes. “Right. So, is there a chance you two might belong to the same parents?”

“What?” Livia retorts, letting go of my hand. “No way. We don’t even look alike.”

“You guys might want to be careful until you find out. You could totally be siblings.”

“We have the same birthday,” Livia says. “If we were siblings, then we would be twins.” Her voice says what I’m feeling: if we are siblings, it would be so disturbing and I don’t even want to think about the possibility. What I feel for her is not exactly brotherly love.

“Let’s just think of what can be helpful right now,” I say. “Livia, I want you to contact your uncle. Let him know what happened to Stevens. We’ll have to corner him until he tells us everything he knows.” I give her an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, but it just seems that he knows more than he’s telling you. You said it yourself.”

“I can do that,” she says, and she doesn’t seem offended.

“Kyle, once her uncle is in town, I’ll need you to follow him everywhere he goes. I want to keep tabs on him.”

“What are we going to do about the 911 call I made?” Livia asks. “The cops will know where it came from.” 

“We should go to the police station and say we heard the gunshot, we thought we saw someone, and we ran, afraid that they would shoot us, too. Don’t mention anything about talking to Stevens. I need to know who we can trust before we can think about telling the truth.”

Her hand clenches mine. “Let’s do this.”

Kyle drives us to the front of the police station. It’s a small wooden building, not big enough to hold anyone in custody.

As we reach the front door, I hold Adam’s hand for emotional support. I’m not a very good liar, but I can’t just go around telling people that I’m being hunted because I have superpowers, as Kyle calls them. 

“Are you ready?” Adam asks.

I squeeze his hand. We walk into the police station, and when we tell them what we are here for, they call up the police chief, who calls our parents and then directs us to a private room. “We’re taking you two into separate rooms,” an officer tells us. 

I look at Adam as we’re ushered down the hallway, and his eyes reassure me that everything is going to be okay. The chief opens the door of one of the many rooms in the hallway and tells me to go in. I stop in the doorway and I watch as Adam disappears into a different room, followed by a tall man dressed in black. My stomach clenches and I freeze. 

He has no emotions. He feels nothing, and all I’m faced with is one black hole. I try to make my body move before he shuts the door behind him—Adam is in danger—but it’s like I’m cemented to the floor.

I wait, impatient and alone, in the room they put me in. It’s small and the walls are white. There’s one chair on one side of the table, where I decide to sit, and two empty chairs across from me. 

A woman finally enters, and behind her is my Uncle Henry.

I raise my eyebrows in surprise and he stares at me. “May I talk to her in private, please?” he murmurs.

The woman leaves the room. My uncle sits across from me without saying a word. He’s angry and worried; he doesn’t bother shielding his emotions from me now. It’s a harsh change from the norm. 

He retrieves a pen and a paper from his pocket and writes something on it. He turns the paper so I can see what he’s written: “Whatever they say, do not acknowledge your abilities. You have no idea what they are talking about.” I look at my uncle and nod.

“I’ll be outside waiting for you,” he says, putting the paper back in his pocket and glancing at me before leaving the room.

I’m not sure if I should be mad or relieved that my uncle seems to know what is going on. He walked in here knowing that, if he spoke, someone other than me would be able to listen. He has a lot of explaining to do once I get out of here—if I get out of here.

After what seems like eternity, two men walk into the room followed by the same man I saw with Adam. I immediately shut my eyes as I instinctively empathize with him. It’s like an endless void and I’m afraid to look any deeper. 

“Hello, Livia.” My eyes snap open as he speaks, his voice deep and husky. “What a pretty name. You can call me Aaron.” He extends his hand, but the last thing I want is to touch him. God knows what I would see. I look from his hand to his eyes, which remind me of Ms. Johnson’s icy gaze.

“You don’t need to be afraid. You’re not a suspect. We’re just here to ask you some questions.”

My entire body on high alert, I tell them what Adam and I discussed in the car, that we heard the shot, went to check, and found a man lying on the ground. Then we ran because we thought the shooter was still there. 

Aaron looks at his men; they take a cue and exit the room. I hold back the urge to scream for help. 

“You’re very brave to run into an unknown situation,” he says conversationally. “The shooter could have shot you as well.”

“I didn’t think about it. I just followed my instincts.”

“You just followed your instincts, or you knew you weren’t in any danger…because you could read his mind?”

I hold back a swallow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I really don’t. I can’t read people’s minds and I don’t know why they keep saying that.

“Very well, then perhaps I’ll have to show you.” I hear him, but his lips didn’t move and no sound came out of his mouth. I try to keep my expression neutral, but he must read some recognition in my face. “Now you know what I’m talking about.” He raises his eyebrows. “Very few of us are able to communicate telepathically. Very few of us are open to it. That makes you special, but weak. You see, without proper training, you won’t know how to control your abilities, and that makes you vulnerable. But after we train you, you’ll be one of our strongest members. You will be able to read people’s minds instead of just feeling.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“If you don’t come willingly, you will just make things harder for yourself and for your family.”

“Don’t you dare threaten my family.” The words come out sharp. “You don’t know what I’m capable of.”

“I would never underestimate you, but I know everything you are capable of, even if you don’t. That keeps me safe.” 

His face turns hard as a stone and I flinch. “You have forty-eight hours to let us into your house and erase your entire existence. Your family won’t suffer, they’ll simply forget. Then I’ll send someone for you. You’ll have a new home, a place where you belong, surrounded by people like you.” He opens the door to leave. “It would be better for you if you complied. I hope I didn’t frighten you too much,” he says, and walks out of the room.

After he leaves, a woman beckons me to follow her. She brings me to where my dad, uncle, Adam, and his dad are waiting. They all stand as I walk into the room. “Livia,” Dad hurries to my side. “Honey, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I say, looking at Adam. I can’t read his feelings, but his face makes me think he was just made the same offer.

We all walk out of the police station and into the parking lot, and I tell Dad to go ahead and get in the car. “I’ll be right there,” I tell him, and I turn to Adam, who draws me closer. “What did he tell you?” I ask.

“Pretty much the same thing he told you, at least from what I could hear.”

“We can’t leave with them.” I don’t need to gesture for him to get my point.