Resistance (The Variant Series #2) (28 page)

Unable to meet Grayson’s eye, Aaron swallowed and looked down at his feet.

“Was,” said Aaron.

“I’m sorry?”

“
Was
his name. My dad died six years ago from cancer.”

Robert was dead?

Suddenly the enigma that was Aaron Gale made a lot more sense.

“I’m sorry, Aaron. Your father was a good man.”

“My father was a coward,” said Aaron, still glaring at his feet. “He ran when he should have fought.”

“It’s not that simple, Aaron. He made that choice in an attempt to protect you. To protect your mother.”

“And to protect
himself
,” said Aaron bitterly. “He hid our family away in the woods while the rest of your team—
his
team—fought and died trying to stop Masterson.”

“When Samuel Masterson betrayed us, every member of our group was forced to make a very difficult decision. Stay and fight, or
leave
, and live to fight another day. Samuel posed a terrible threat to all of us, Aaron. The decision your father made was not an easy one.”

Aaron crossed his arms over his chest and stared out the window behind Grayson.

It was still early on Saturday morning. The rising sun shone brightly at Grayson’s back, casting a long shadow across his desk.

“Before you were born, Aaron, your father was thought to be the very
last
of his kind. You know better than most the weight that title carries with it. When we knew for certain that you’d inherited his ability, it became that much more important that you were kept safe.” Grayson rubbed his forehead. “And it was absolutely
crucial
that you
both
be kept away from Samuel Masterson.”

“Why? Because he’d kill us?”

Grayson stared at the boy for a long moment, puzzling over the question. “What did your father tell you about Masterson? About what he’d become?”

“Become?” Aaron repeated, confused. “He only said that he’d suffered some sort of psychotic break. That he’d become fixated upon a girl—Alex Parker—and that he was killing people in an attempt to get his hands on her.”

“And your father never told you why? Never told you
how
Samuel was killing people?”

Aaron shook his head.

A knock sounded at the door.

“Yes?” he called.

Nathaniel opened the door and stepped inside. “Cil’s here. She’s asking to see you.”

Grayson checked his watch. Cecilia was early.

Oh, well.

He’d learned enough from Aaron for one day, he supposed. If the conversation continued in the direction it was heading, Grayson would likely end up answering more questions than he asked, anyway.

And until he knew the true identity of Aaron’s employer, keeping secrets might be for the best.

“Right,” said Grayson. “Well, I’d say we’re just about finished here. Go ahead and show her in, Nathaniel.”

Aaron got to his feet.

“Take care, Aaron,” he said. “And know that you’re welcome here any time.”

“Uh, thanks,” said Aaron, stumbling slightly as he made for the door, his previous bluster over his father’s legacy gone. “Thank you, sir.”

With one final backward glance, Aaron slipped past Nathaniel and into the hall.

No sooner had the nervous boy exited than Cil strode coolly through the door. Even with her slight limp, it made for a marked contrast.

“Am I really so intimidating?” he asked as Cil carefully lowered herself into one of the leather-backed chairs. He stared at the door as Nathaniel closed it behind him. “That boy could have conjured a gust of wind and tossed me about the room like a rag doll, if he wanted to, but he sat and stared at me, like a cowed schoolboy in front of the headmaster.”

Cil snorted. “Honestly, Grayson? It took
years
for me to shake that feeling of intimidation. You don’t exactly radiate ‘cuddly and approachable.’”

“Hmm.”

“Anything else from the Director?”

“No. Just more of the same,” he said. “It’s a miracle we were able to talk her down this time. We have to keep Alex from losing control again in the next eight days. I’m not sure we’ll have any recourse
left
if this happens again before next Sunday’s test.”

Cil shoved a curly lock of hair behind her ear and changed the subject. “So what did you learn about Aaron?”

“Do your remember Robert Gandry?”

Cil arched an eyebrow. “Should I?”

“He was a member of my original team,” said Grayson. “Joined us about two years before the events with Samuel.”

“Was he the one who ran off after Sam killed Hanako?”

Grayson nodded.

Hanako Nakamura was a Japanese-born Variant who had possessed the ability to control fire—the same power as Carson Brandt.

Hanako and Cil’s sister Nora had been close prior to their deaths, and Hanako often looked after Alex when Nora and James were away on a job.

She’d been the one watching Alex the day everything changed.

The day
Samuel
changed.

Because of that, Hanako was the first in a long list of casualties.

It was only dumb luck that Nora returned to pick up Alex moments after Samuel’s arrival. If she hadn’t grabbed Alex and teleported her to safety, there was no telling what might have happened next—or how history might have changed.

“What does your former tech guy have to do with Aaron?” she asked.

Grayson frowned. “Gandry wasn’t just our
tech guy
, Cecilia.”

“Oh?”

“He was a weather manipulator.”

“Oh.” Understanding spread through her expression. “
Oh!
You’re saying Robert Gandry is Aaron’s father?”

Grayson nodded.

“So
that’s
why Gandry left,” she said. “It makes sense now. If Masterson knew what they were, then he’d be even more determined to take the Gandry’s ability. Weather manipulation would have been quite the coup, for him. But what on earth is Aaron doing in Bay View
now
?”

“That, my dear, is the real question,” said Grayson. “I think It’s time we did a little digging into the story surrounding one Dr. Edward Li.”

* * *

“Now this is the sort of training I can get behind,” said Kenzie, sliding her sunglasses further up the bridge of her nose.

“Easy for you to say,” mumbled Alex. “You’re over there working on your tan, while I’m getting my butt handed to me in this
stupid
—”

The minor slip in concentration proved costly.

A surge of cold water slipped around Alex’s ankles as she spoke and yanked her mercilessly beneath the surface as it hardened into an icy shackle.

Her startled cry emerged in a series of bubbles.

Cheap shot, Aiden
.

It took Alex a long moment to remember how to melt the chain of ice fettering her to the pool drain. Unfortunately, remembering
was only half the battle. Getting it to work correctly? Well, that was another story.

When the ice refused to melt, Alex blew out half of her remaining air in a furious grunt.

Stupid water. If she disliked it the week before, she straight up
hated it
right now. She’d more than had her fill of the obnoxious substance over the course of the last few days.

Alex closed her eyes. The chlorine was making them sting.

She ought to be reviewing her chemistry notes right now. Instead, she was spending her afternoon trying very, very hard not to drown.

This time tomorrow, Alex would be sitting through her final. Her performance on the exam would determine whether she’d be passing with the absolute lowest grade possible, or repeating the course in summer school.

She miraculously aced the final project, but after her cringe-worthy performance on the AP exam for college credit the day before, it was obvious she still needed all the extra study hours she could get.

Alex reached out a hand to grab the icy restraints.

What was it Aiden had said about changing the water’s temperature, again?

“It’s not just a matter of wanting it to change, Alex. You have to feel it, too.”

Feel it.

Right. Thanks, Aiden.

She’d received the exact same piece of advice a dozen times now, from nearly every other person who attempted to train her—but that didn’t mean it was an easy concept to get a handle on.

When it came to Variant abilities, intention and emotion were irrevocably intertwined. The intensity of your emotions often dictated the strength of your attack.

In other words, Alex could easily melt the ice, she just had to want it bad enough—and in the right way.

Alright,
thought Alex.
Warmth. I
want
warmth.

Nothing happened.

Frustrated, Alex beat angrily against the ice.

Each ability was different.

Telepathy, for instance, required a surprising amount of
zen
. The deeper your calm, the further your reach. Positive emotions were helpful when scanning, and if you were pissed off while projecting, you just might end up sending the thought in question to
every mind in the room
along with a killer headache.

Nathaniel’s telekinesis, meanwhile, was strengthened by pretty much any intense emotion. Desire. Determination. Surprise.

Rage
, Alex had discovered, was particularly helpful, although it tended to screw with her accuracy.

But water wielding?

Made no freaking sense
.

The anger that made objects achieve ridiculous speeds with telekinesis only slowed the water down. The zen that was so helpful with telepathic scans had absolutely no affect whatsoever.

And rage? The emotion that usually resulted in the most
intense
results with every other ability?

Yeah.

That turned the water to ice.

Which was something of a problem at the moment, since Alex’s current levels of frustration were now causing the icy chain around her legs to
grow
, thickening into impossibly dense bonds creeping toward her kneecaps.

If anger created ice, then she needed the exact opposite.

Alex might have sighed, if she’d had any air left in her lungs worth sparing.

Feeling things was proving to be a tricky proposition. Any time Alex’s emotions met full force with her intentions, bad things happened.

Things like exploding computer labs, for example.

For that reason, it was crucial that Alex
temper
her emotions as best she could.

You okay down there
? Kenzie’s projection echoed in the silence of Alex’s watery prison.

Who, me?
Alex replied.
I’m just peachy, thanks for asking.

Maybe you should try thinking about something hot,
said Kenzie.
Like
Chris-Hemsworth-on-the-beach
type hot. The steamier the better.

At Kenzie’s prompt, Alex’s thought-process immediately bypassed her imagination in favor of her memories instead.

She was in the lake with Declan. He had one hand at her waist and the other buried in her hair as he pulled her closer and deepened their kiss…

Alex broke the surface of the water, gasping for air.

“Nice, Alex.” Aiden stood on the deck just above the pool’s deep end, looking amused. “Though you didn’t have to heat the water
that
much.”

“Is that steam?” Cassie was stretched out
on the lounge chair next to Kenzie’s, a second-year French textbook in her lap. She was pointing at the thin layer of fog now coating the surface of the water.

Whoops.

Looks like the memory she chose worked a little
too
well.

This was exactly why Alex was getting fed up with her stupid emotions.

“Instant jacuzzi,” confirmed Aiden. “Superheated to roughly a hundred and
fifty
degrees, thanks to Alex here. Now do you see why I said no one was allowed in the pool with her today?”

Cassie leaned forward in her chair. “Why isn’t the water hurting her? I thought the human body couldn’t stand water that hot without it instantly burning the skin?”

The answer, of course, was that Alex had instinctively created an area of cooler water around her body to protect herself from the overwhelming heat. She’d done it reflexively in the same instant she’d felt the water grow too warm for comfort.

But Cassie never got an answer to her question, because instead Kenzie burst out with, “You
kissed
my
brother
?!”

“Wait, what?” Cassie slammed her textbook shut. “You kissed Declan?
When
? And when the crap were you planning to tell the rest of us?!”

Oops.

One of these days, Alex was going to remember to keep her mind clear of any and all incriminating thoughts while she was in the presence of a telepath.

This was obviously not that day.

Aiden made a face. “Personally, I was getting along just fine without that piece of information. Now can we get back to—”

Cassie shushed him. “When did this happen?”

“
Cass
,” Aiden’s tone was beseeching. “I really need Alex to focus right now. Can’t this wait?”

Alex resisted a sudden urge to sink to the bottom of the pool and stay there for the foreseeable future.

There was a
reason
she hadn’t told her friends about the kiss yet.

She hadn’t actually
seen
Declan in person since that night in the lake, and until she did, she couldn’t be sure about anything.

After setting a personal record of 22 straight hours of sleep, Alex woke up Friday evening and immediately threw herself into preparing for Saturday morning’s AP chemistry exam.

According to Aunt Cil, Declan stopped by to see Alex earlier in the day, but she was still down for the count.

When Saturday crept past without word and Sunday grudgingly replaced it, she convinced herself that what happened between them at the lake was a fluke. A mistake.