The Forbidden Trilogy (75 page)

Her ponytail fell against his cheek as she leaned in to
whisper in his ear. "I could have crushed your windpipe."

She felt his heat against her body, his heart beating so
close to hers, the mint on this breath that he must have chewed that morning.
They both breathed hard, exhausted and exhilarated at the same time.

Hunter's green eyes were wide, taking in everything.
"Yeah, I think we have a technical knockout here. Luke, your sister
pretended to kill me."

"Good," said Luke as he munched on berries.
"I hope she uses her imagination more often."

Hunter grabbed Lucy's hips and flipped her over,
immobilizing her beneath his long, hard body. He leaned and mimicked her own
whisper. "Always take the kill shot when you get the chance, otherwise you
could end up on the bottom."

Before she could say something stupid, like the bottom
didn't seem that bad either, he rolled off and helped her into a sitting
position. Their hips and shoulders pressed together, and neither moved away.

He nudged her. "That was a good move."

"Watch your right hand. You pull it back right before
you punch."

"Thanks."

"It's a small tell, but it's still there." She
added in a whisper, "Kind of like my brother's leg."

"Really?" Hunter kept his face void of expression.
"I didn't notice."

"You let him win," Lucy insisted. "Thank you.
I haven't seen him that happy in a while."

Hunter brushed a stray hair from her face. "He'll be
back to normal soon. You just have to be patient, no matter how badly you want
to kick his ass."

She nodded and stifled a sigh of regret when he pulled his
hand away from her face. "I know. I need to be more patient in everything,
it appears. I just miss my old brother and want him back. But today really
helped with that. Speaking of being patient, when are you going to tell me the
truth?"

"Depends on what I'm telling you."

"How you jumped, when the lizard attacked me."

He smiled. "Ah, that. It's not really hard actually.
You just bend your legs, flex, and push up."

She punched him in the shoulder. "You know what I
mean."

An ocean breeze brushed against them, and Hunter looked out
to the horizon with faraway eyes. "You two are not the first paranormals
IPI's worked with. There's not many of us, though. As I said, I advanced
through the ranks due to my natural talents, which I wish were more helpful
right now. We need to find a way out of here." He stood up and held his
hand out to Lucy.

She gripped it but didn't move to stand yet. "What's
your para-power?"

He lifted her, then wagged his finger. "Keeping
secrets." And with that totally unhelpful answer, he walked away.

Frustration burned in her, tempered only by the knowledge
that she had her own secrets—like the sphere. Really, they hadn't even known
each other that long. Maybe she was blowing their whole relationship out of
proportion.

Luke sat under a tree and scowled at her. "If you can't
share it with the whole class, you shouldn't be sharing at all."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Grow up, Luke."

She walked back to their camp, sore from the sparring, but
in a good way, and irritated at Hunter and herself. She stopped short when
Hunter packed up his backpack and headed toward the forest.

"I'm going to go look for a way out. You two still need
to rest. I'll be back late."

He was gone before Lucy could protest.
Talk about mood
swings!

She shot Luke a questioning glance, and he shrugged.
"No idea. Maybe he just needed some alone time. But hey, at least that
gives us a chance to hang."

And another mood swing. Luke looked entirely too happy to
have Hunter gone.

***

Hanging involved all sorts of fun. They ate berries and
found giant spongy mushrooms that made great trampolines. They laughed and
talked about nothing important, and Lucy tried not to think about Mr. K or how
she'd betrayed his trust by using her powers on him. Using Luke as a
distraction helped.

As the sun set, they lay side-by-side on a mushroom and
watched the sky turn dark.

Silence settled gently between them, but broke apart like
ice when Luke sighed. "Hunter told me about the lizard, which I assume was
giant from the claw marks on your back. He said he killed it. How?"

They'd avoided talking about Hunter all day. Lucy didn't
want to reveal anything about his powers, but the number of secrets she had
kept from her twin weighed on her. "With his sword. It's high-tech."

Luke pursed his lips. "Yeah, that's not normal. He's
definitely not telling us something, Luce. I don't trust him."

This was exactly why she didn't want to talk about Hunter.
Luke couldn't see straight when it came to him. She'd hoped the sparring match
would have helped them bond.
Guess not.
"What is there to
tell?"

Luke shrugged. "Who made that sword? Why does he have
it? Why'd he get so tired after he brought you back?"

Lucy felt bad about that. Hunter's exhaustion was her fault,
but she couldn't admit it to Luke. More secrets. More lies. "You'd be
tired too if you fought that lizard. And the sword is probably some
high-ranking IPI tech. Maybe he's like James Bond and has his own Q."

"Maybe. But he doesn't strike me as the James Bond
type. And besides, we're on their top-priority mission right now, and I didn't
get a fancy sword."

"Maybe they ran out." She didn't keep the bite
from her response.

"Maybe they're hiding things from us, Luce."

"Or maybe, since we're not actually agents, they don't
tell us everything. Why would they?"

He continued talking as though she hadn't spoken.
"Think about it. IPI. International Paranormal Investigations. What
paranormals? Us? If they've known about us for a while, why didn't they do
anything?"

"Maybe they couldn't. Most of the kids at Rent-A-Kid
would have died to defend it a year ago—you among them."

"Or maybe IPI isn't so different from Rent-A-Kid."

"What?"

He sounded like Beleth with talk of experiments and hidden
agendas. She wondered if she should tell Luke more about that night.

No, not now. He's already too agitated.
"They
haven't done anything to make me doubt them. And Hunter's done nothing but help
us."

"Oh, well, I know
you
like him."

"No... well, yeah, maybe, but it's not just that. He
saved me, Luke. If it wasn't for Hunter, I'd be dead."

Luke swallowed and nodded, clearly thinking about life
without Lucy.

A shrub rustled and....
Speak of the devil.
Lucy's
heart did a little dance as Hunter emerged from the forest, and she slid off
the mushroom, trying to look less excited than she felt.

Hunter didn't notice her, though. He walked straight toward
Mr. K.

She caught up with him and grabbed his arm. "Did you
find a way out?"

Hunter shrugged her off, the heat of his anger practically
burning a hole in her hand. "There is no way out. Cliffs surround this
entire goddamned area!" He plodded into the enclave to yell at Mr. K.
"Liar! You didn't want to tell us the way out, because there is
none."

The bark of the tree peeled open to reveal Mr. K's eyes.
"I didn't want to tell you the way out because you wouldn't be able to
manage it, boy. I felt you kill that lizard, felt the earth shudder as a life
slipped away. You had no consideration, no prayer for the creature before you.
You were just a machine doing its work, a switch going off, an instinct taking
over—your instinct to kill."

Hunter's muscles tensed and his face turned to stone. Lucy
stepped forward, prepared to calm him if he snapped, but he relaxed his
shoulder, turned away and nodded to Lucy. "If I'm a killer, then why's she
alive?"

He turned and stormed off.

Mr. K's bark face could register little emotion, but it did
look angry in that moment, and his branches jerked and slapped around like live
wires. "Stupid boy!" He locked eyes with Lucy. "Be careful
around him. I've felt his rage. He burns it like fuel."

Hunter? Really?
She'd never seen him angry before.
Sure, he made an art of deflecting, but that didn't translate to rage. Lucy
left the enclave, and found Hunter on the shore staring at the moon.

She rested a hand on his arm. "You want to talk?"

"You have anything new to tell me?"

"Well, no." She dropped her hand and stepped away
from him.

"You know a way out?"

"No. I just want to talk. You don't have to be so
angry."

His body shuddered, but he didn't turn to look at her.
"No? Then what am I supposed to be? Happy? Happy that for every day I
spend in this valley, hundreds of children suffer out there? Happy that I get
to spend all of my time with you, talking to you, falling in—" He paused.
"I
am
happy here. I don't want to leave, but there are people out
there who need me. All I can think of is spending another minute with you. Why
can't I think about anything else?" His face fell in sorrow and confusion,
and he shook his head as if clearing his mind.

She pulled him around to face her. "I understand. I
feel this pull to stay as well. I don't know whether it's... this," she
waved her arm between them, "or something in this valley." On
impulse, and because she needed to, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged
him.

He stiffened, then relaxed into her and rested his chin on
her head. "We've spent nine days in this valley."

Nine already?
Lucy had lost track of time during her
recovery. Beleth had said the kids only had a month to live.
One month, and
we're stuck in a valley with no exit.
What can I do? This is just too
much. All of it.
She tightened her arms around Hunter, comforted by his
strength and nearness.

His hands ran up her back, careful to avoid her injuries,
and his lips moved against her forehead as he spoke. "And each day, I've
thought of kissing you."

Her breath caught in her throat. He'd spoken her own
thoughts. She leaned back to look him in the eyes. With all the horrible events
that had taken place, all the bad that had happened, Hunter had been the only
good.

More than good.
"Then what are you waiting
for?"

She wanted to protest the departing warmth as his hands
moved off her back. But then he cupped her face and leaned in. The mint of his
breath mixed with hers, and all else fell away as their lips touched.

Hunter's kiss made every other kiss she'd experienced the
equivalent of being slobbered on by a dog. His soft but firm lips, his body
pressed against hers, his scent and taste, the way his fingers wove into her
hair when he deepened the kiss—all of it sent Lucy's senses spiraling.

With a sigh he pulled away and stroked her face.
"You're so beautiful, you know that? Not just on the outside, but inside
too. I've met a lot of women in my life, but none that compare to you."

Lucy didn't like thinking about Hunter with "a lot of
women," but nothing could shake her from her happy high. She shivered in
the night air, and he wrapped his arms more tightly around her while she rested
her head on his chest. Night had fallen, but she didn't want to leave his arms.
She wanted to be closer, to explore these new feelings, but....

"It's late. We should get some sleep."

He released her slowly and stepped back. "We should.
You're right."

Neither moved or broke eye contact.

"Goodnight." Lucy's throat didn't want to form the
words.

"Goodnight."

She pulled herself from his gaze by force of will, and left
him to stare at the moon while she went back to camp.

Luke waited for her, a dramatic frown on his face. He spoke
in their secret language, as if the trees would betray their secrets. Well,
maybe one might, but she doubted it. "Lucy, are you sure about this?"

Great. Just what I wanted to talk about after the most
perfect kiss ever.
"Sure about what?" She wasn't about to make it
easy on him.

Luke rolled his eyes. "You know. Him. The
I-like-to-stare-at-the-moon-and-am-so-sexy-with-my-green-eyes-and-silver-hair
him."

She sat by the fire and stoked it with a stick. "He has
a name."

Luke sat by her. "I know. Just, don't you think you
should take it a little slower?"

"How slow? It's not like we just met."

"Well, it kind of is. You've only known each other for
a few days. How much do you really know about him?"

"I know enough. Okay?"

"Not okay. What's enough? Do you know where he was
born, or where he grew up? Do you know anything about his life until now?"

"Oh, sorry, Mom. I didn't realize I had to ace a test
on a boy before I could date him."

"You don't. I just thought we agreed there's a lot we
don't know about his past. What if—"

Lucy spun on him with her stick, anger ablaze in her eyes.
"What if what? He did something horrible? What about my past? What about
how from the age of six Rent-A-Kid trained me to spy on people and kill them if
I had to? What about the assignments where I helped the corrupt avoid jail and
screw each other over? What about how I helped an organization that rents out
kids to the highest bidder, then uses them as baby factories?"

The fire next to them flared up, as if in response to her
rage. How dare her brother hold anyone else's past in judgment over them?

Whatever Luke had been about to say, he wisely changed
gears. His voice softened and he put his hand on her shoulder. "We didn't
know those things at the time. It's not our fault."

That argument failed to impress her. "We should have
known. Maybe instead of sitting around, spending all of our assignment money,
we should have noticed who we were helping. We should have asked more questions
about why we were helping them, too."