Tremble (13 page)

“Of course I—”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I don’t like you running around with her. She’s dangerous.”

“I can take care of myself. I’m hanging up now. I’ll be in touch.”

“Kale, wait. I—”

He looked down at the cell, then up at me. It wasn’t a smile. Not really. But it wasn’t a scowl, either. “Let’s go find the truth.”

15

We drove for another hour before Kale made me pull off the interstate again. I asked him twice where we were going and he kept saying he wasn’t sure, but it looked like we were headed somewhere specific.

“How much farther? Remember Simmons’s plane comes in tomorrow. We can’t miss it.”

“We won’t.”

And that was it. It was all he said for another forty minutes. When he spoke again, it was to tell me to pull into the driveway of a small, unassuming ranch with a barricade of firewood all around the front porch and a three-foot lit snowman with a bright red Santa hat by the door.

I killed the engine and unfastened my seat belt. “So obviously we’re here for a reason. What is it?”

He got out of the car without responding and started up the walk. I stuck my head out the open window. “Kale?” And when he didn’t answer, I extracted myself from Ginger’s uncomfortable seat and begrudgingly followed him to the house. “Are we just randomly knocking on people’s doors for some reason, or do we have a specific purpose here?”

“I don’t know,” he snapped, then stopped halfway up the walkway. Sighing, he said, “I don’t know where we are or why we’re here. I don’t know who lives inside, and I don’t know why I feel such a pull, but I do.”

I put my hand on his shoulder and was surprised when he didn’t pull away. “It’s okay.”

“I feel like I
have
to be here.”

“Then let’s be here.” There was nothing else to say. There was desperation in his eyes as well as fear. He’d spent his entire life controlled by Denazen, having no free will to speak of. Feeling the need to come here, but not knowing why, must have brought up buried fears.

He turned to me and I saw it again. A glimmer of my Kale. “I don’t know if you’re telling the truth, but I know something’s wrong. I can feel it. My own family attacked me, and I keep seeing…”

I had to fight the urge to grab his hands and shake him. “Seeing what? Are you having flashes?”

He looked like he wanted to say more, but he only nodded to the house. “Let’s go.”

We climbed the steps and knocked several times, then waited. Unfortunately, it looked like no one was home. There was no sound coming from inside the house and it didn’t seem as though any of the lights were on.

“That’s inconvenient.” I sighed. The only chance we had of finding out what had drawn Kale here was getting into that house. I tapped the doorframe and waggled my eyebrows as I turned to him. “We could always do a little breaking and entering. See what’s inside?”

“There’s no need to break in. Just knock a little louder.”

We both jumped, spinning back toward the door. A woman slightly older than Mom, with short black hair and bright green eyes, watched us from behind the screen. She looked from me to Kale and when her eyes fell to him, a brilliant smile lit her face. “You came!”

That was unexpected. “You know him?”

She stepped back, holding the door open, and enthusiastically waved us inside. “Not formally, no. But we’ve met…in a manner of speaking.”

We stepped into the house, Kale more easily than I did. Apparently, along with his memories, he’d also lost his caution to Denazen. My Kale would never just walk through a door in a strange place without checking things out first.

“What are you names?” I didn’t miss how she looked from left to right, almost as if to be sure we were alone, before closing the door and clicking all three intricate padlocks in place.

Huh. Someone was a paranoid puppy.

“My name is Kale.” He pointed to me. “This is Kiern—”

I shot him a look that would have scared most children and small animals, daring him to finish the sentence.

“Honestly, I have no idea who she is,” he finished with a shrug of his shoulders.

I smiled and held out my hand. “I’m Dez.”

The women nodded, smile bright as the sun, and shook my hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, Dez and Kale. Please. Take a seat. Make yourselves comfortable.”

We followed her inside and I settled on the couch, while Kale sat in the armchair on the far side of the room. The woman sat between us, saying nothing. She watched Kale, and I found it a little creepy how she just sat there smiling at him.

“That’s a really cool bracelet,” I said in an attempt to get things moving. As nice as it was to be somewhere with real heat, we didn’t have all day. Things to do. Secrets to uncover. Evil corporations to topple.

“Thank you,” she said, holding up her arm. On her wrist was a shiny silver band with a raised red stone. It was simple yet elegant. “It’s my good luck charm. A…safety blanket so to speak.”

“You seem like you’ve been expecting me. But you didn’t know my name?” Kale fidgeted. Not flicking his fingers but back to tapping again. Sets of three.

One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three.

“Let’s start out easy, shall we?” Smile still in place, the woman asked, “Do you know who I am?”

“I don’t remember anything about my life,” he said, leaning forward, elbows on knees. “My childhood, family, friends—all of it’s gone.”

She lost her smile. “I thought something might be wrong.” Leaning back, she placed both hands in her lap and crossed her feet at the ankles. It was all very
British
, as Alex would have said. “But if your memories are gone, how did you find your way here?”

“I don’t know. We just started driving. This is where we ended up.”

We
started driving?
I
drove, and technically it was more a hostage situation than the leisurely road trip he made it sound like. Granted, I was a
willing
captive, but still, he didn’t necessarily know that. “What do you mean, you thought something might be wrong?”

She relaxed a little and faced me. “First, explain to me about his memories.”

“A place called Denazen happened,” I spat without thinking. To most people, the name wouldn’t mean anything. The company made the news at the beginning of summer when the building burned down, but other than that, as far as the world was concerned, they were a simple law firm specializing in juvenile and divorce cases. This woman, though…this woman knew who they were. Her expression softened, but there was a distinct twitch in her right eyebrow. Fear. “They scrambled his brain,” I continued. “Turned him against his
real
family and friends.”

“So you’re the girlfriend?” she said with a sad smile. “One of the Supremacy children?”

A chill raced through me, chased by a healthy dose of fear. I stood, and to my surprise, Kale rose and stepped close. It was an unconscious gesture. I could tell because after he did it, he stopped and looked down at me, taking a step away, confused, as if he hadn’t been aware of his own actions.

She threw up her hands. “Please. I mean you no harm.”

“How do you know who I am—and more importantly, who are
you
?” At the mention of Denazen, she’d been afraid—but that didn’t necessarily make her an ally.

“I know who you are through Kale.”

“Who you’ve said you’d never met until we showed up on your doorstep,” I finished for her. “But
then
you said you thought something was wrong.” Shoulders squared, I narrowed my eyes and gave her my most intimidating stare. “You’re all over the place, lady. Make up your mind already because you’re making me dizzy.”

“Answer her questions,” Kale said, voice low. “Who are you? And how did you know something was wrong with me?”

“It’s true. I’ve never met Kale in person, but I know you from his memories. You were inside his head—and his heart.” She turned to Kale. “And I know you because my blood moves through your veins.”

“You’re a relative?” His eyes became impossibly wide and just a little bit hopeful, but I knew that wasn’t the case. Ginger was his only living relative. If there’d been someone else, she would have told us.

Then again, maybe not. This
was
Ginger.

The woman shook her head. “I’m sorry, no. But you are as you are because of me.” She stood and held out her hand to him. “I’m Penny Mills.”

16

I couldn’t speak. Now that she’d said it, I could see a faint resemblance to the picture Ginger had shown us at the cabin. The eyes were the same, and the shape of her face similar, but not much else. She’d obviously gone to great lengths to change her appearance.

“I can’t believe it,” I whispered, sinking back onto the couch. Kale took a seat beside me. “My friends are looking for you. Denazen is looking for you.”

“Yes, I’m quite popular, aren’t I?”

“But how have you stayed hidden? Denazen is looking under every rock in the country right now—and let’s face it, those guys have some pretty insane resources.”

“I’ve been extremely careful since parting ways with Denazen. I only managed to maintain my freedom because they believed me dead. It wasn’t until recently that they uncovered the truth about my survival. I’m afraid my carelessness in being discovered has led to the current predicament.”

“Current predicament? You mean the creation of a working trial of the new Supremacy? Domination?”

“Yes,” she said. “They used my blood to make it, but it’s not one hundred percent successful. People are still dying.”

“Exactly!” I exclaimed—but that
still
didn’t answer all our questions. If she didn’t stop being so cryptic I was likely to implode. “How do you know all this? Do you have contacts inside Denazen? You still haven’t said how you know Kale. The thing about your blood is a little vague…”

“Contacts inside Denazen?” She laughed. “How absurd! No, I have a special connection to the latest trial. Apparently, since my blood was used, I can communicate on a subliminal level with anyone given the new drug. That’s how I know Kale. It’s how he knew where to find me.”

“Wait,” Kale said, paling. “You’re saying I was given Domination? That’s impossible.”

“I’m afraid it’s true. I wouldn’t have been able to feel you otherwise. The drug was administered in late September. I knew you the moment it integrated with your system.”

“How many others are there besides Kale? Have you spoken to any?”

She looked at me as if I were insane. “Spoken to them? Of course not. Kale is the only one I’ve contacted.”

Holy crap. Getting information from her was like dragging an elephant out of a mouse hole. “You keep saying that. Contacted. What do you mean?”

“And why me?” he added. “Why
contact
me at all?”

“I’m what Denazen calls an empath. I feel the emotions of those physically close to me. When given the Supremacy drug, my ability became heightened. I was able to focus on a specific person—no matter where he or she was—and use my ability. In the case of those administered the new drug, the one that contains my blood, I found I didn’t need to try establishing a connection. It was automatic. I felt people involuntarily. I also found I could communicate with them while in a rested state.”

“Rested state? You mean when they were asleep?”

She nodded. “Asleep or relaxed. Some of my communications with Kale were while they had him semi-sedated, shortly after administering the drug.”

“This is very interesting, but it doesn’t tell me why you chose to communicate with me and not the others,” Kale said flatly.

“You were overwhelmingly sad and frightened after you received the drug—not like the rest. You were so worried not only for yourself but for the girl you loved. A girl from the previous trial.”

Kale glanced at me, then quickly looked away.

Penny’s eyes teared as though the pain were her own. “Those first few days were excruciating. You felt so alone—but you weren’t. I was there with you.”

Kale stood and took several steps toward the door. “This is crazy.”

“But something changed.” Penny stood as well, frowning. “The connection grew clouded and erratic. I could still sense you—could still feel you—but it was pure confusion. I thought it was possibly a new side effect of the drug. That maybe you were somehow allergic but not fatally so. Now I understand it must have been what they did to your mind.”

“A Resident did it. They needed to be sure they could control him if he survived,” I said.

Kale shook his head and was almost to the door. “You’re both wrong,” he insisted. The look in his eyes was enough to steal the breath from my lungs. Fury, disappointment, and worst of all, pain. “
No one
controls me.”

The ferocity in his voice sent my heart thundering. Kale had been given a taste of freedom—his first—when we met in the woods behind my old house. Until that day he’d been told where to go, what to do, and who lived and died. Once free from all that, he swore no one would ever have that kind of power over him again.

“I showed you where to find me so I could help cure your girlfriend,” Penny said softly.

“Your blood,” I said, watching Kale. “We have friends who believe they can create a cure using it.”

“This is ridiculous,” Kale snapped, making both of us jump. “She’s not my girlfriend and I wasn’t given Domination. This is the way I’ve always been.”

“It’s not,” I said quietly.

“He knows.” Penny took a step closer to him. “I can feel the confusion swirling inside his head. His mind is at war with his emotions.”

Kale froze a foot from the door, pinning her with a dangerous glare. “Shut up.”

She ignored him and turned to me. “Whatever they did goes deep, but you
are
familiar to him.”

“Stop it,” he said, this time louder. He took a menacing step toward her, and I jumped between them as, at the tips of his fingers, a black mass started swirling.

But Kale’s hostility didn’t faze Penny. She gently nudged me aside and stepped closer. “Think, Kale. This is what you wanted more than anything. To save her. You found your way here—against all odds. Denazen buried everything you knew. You couldn’t remember your own name—or hers—yet you found me. For her.”

“You said it yourself,” I added, as the convulsing mass of black receded. Hesitant, I reached out and took his hand, surprised when he didn’t pull away. Instead, he stared down at our twined fingers, mouth agape, tightening them around mine. The sensation sent tingles of excitement shooting through me. “You don’t know what to believe. She’s right. You found your way here. There has to be a
reason
for that. Maybe you should at least hear her out before making any rash decisions, okay?”

He thought about it for a minute before nodding once in Penny’s direction. “Fine. I’ll hear you out.”

Penny nodded. “Denazen must never get their hands on more of my blood. They haven’t been able to reproduce it synthetically and, since they need it for the current successful drug trial, it will run out eventually.” She held up her arm. The one with the stunning red bracelet. “Inside this bracelet is a device that, with the push of a button, will destroy this house and everything inside it. I don’t ever leave.”

I blinked. “You’re telling us that you’re essentially wearing a suicide bomb?” That was it. Jury was in. Penny Mills was
insane
.

“There is so much you don’t know about Denazen. Their influence—their reach—extends much further than you can possibly imagine. If they were able to bring me into custody—a veritable never-ending source of the thing they so desperately need—they could engineer the army they set out to create all those years ago. The economy, world government—nothing would be safe. I am willing to sacrifice myself—and
anyone
else—to ensure they never get what they’re after.”

A lump formed in my throat.
Anyone.
The message came across loud and painfully clear. She’d said she brought Kale here to help me, but something had changed. “You changed your mind, didn’t you? You’re not going to give me your blood.”

“Quite the opposite, actually. When I first sensed Kale, I had no intention of helping you. I simply intended to make his transition smoother. Please, don’t take it personally. But this is a war we’re fighting. As with all wars, there are always innocent people caught in the crossfire. Then I realized who Kale was and what you meant to him.” She bowed her head and sighed. When she looked up, her expression was resigned. “I have no choice but to help you.”

Kale shifted from foot to foot. “Who I am?”

Penny smiled and rested her hand on his shoulder. “The fabled Reaper. The young man who will one day be responsible for bringing the Denazen darkness to its knees.”

In all the chaos of the last few months, I’d forgotten the story Kale told me when we first met. The Reaper. The man Mom told him to find if he ever managed to get outside the Denazen walls. It’s what brought us to Ginger and the Underground, and ultimately to the truth:
Kale
was the Reaper. Seen through Ginger’s ability and spread to the people to give them hope for the future during dark times. We’d looked for someone who hadn’t taken his place in the world. A foretold hero.

That story alone should have given me comfort. Kale was destined to take down Denazen and that meant he would eventually see that Dad and Kiernan were the bad guys—but it didn’t mean he’d recover his memory. Or that the damage done along the way wouldn’t destroy us all.

“I know they’ve darkened your world, but your love for this girl—for Dez—was enough to make me take a chance. If you let them, I believe your true feelings will show you the way home.”

“I—” Kale froze. One minute he was standing beside me, and the next he was on top of me. The breath whooshed from my lungs on impact and we landed in a tangle of limbs and shooting stars on the carpet at Penny’s feet as something behind us shattered.

The picture window.

Penny dropped to the ground, too, and I kept trying to twist to see what had broken the glass, but Kale was too heavy and wouldn’t let me up. “Penny, is there a back door?”

The only response was the sound of more breaking glass and voices outside getting closer.

Finally managing to twist around, I grabbed her shirtsleeve and tugged her closer. She coughed and grabbed my arm, squeezing until I thought it might pop off. “Penny?”

All the air in the room was gone. Sucked away, right along with any hope for the future.

“No,” I whispered.
“Nonono!”

Spilling to the floor from an ugly hole in her gut was Penny Mills’s life—as well as my own. Bullets. They were using real bullets.

She raised her arm, cradling the bracelet in her left hand. “If you want to get out alive, run for your life.”

Kale cursed and tried to drag me off the floor, but I pushed him away. “No! We can get you out of here. The hospital—”

She ignored me and, with shaking fingers, popped the small red gem from its prong. Even with the chaos all around us, I could hear the tiny plinking sound as it hit the hardwood and bounced away. Beneath it was a tiny button, and before I could stop her, she pushed it.

“You have sixty seconds. Back door. Through the kitchen,” she wheezed. “G-Go!”

There was no telling Kale twice. Despite my struggling, he hauled me from the floor, threw me over his shoulder, and barreled into the kitchen and out the back door. We got several feet from the house before I managed to wriggle free. It was stupid and pointless, but I started back anyway. I had a better chance risking an explosion than I did getting my hands on whatever blood Denazen had left.

But it was no use. Kale tackled me before I got three steps. A deafening roar split the air and a tremor shook the ground beneath our feet as a bright flash of red and orange swallowed the house—and everything inside.

Including my last hope of survival.