Hidden (Hidden Series Book One) (16 page)

My butt was numb from sitting after hours of
clicking and hoping and finding nothing of merit. After giving up,
I sat there, powerless and clueless. Not knowing anything about
myself or the world. Other than that I was bred to be a vicious
killer.

A familiar and playful cadence of knocks on
my door interrupted my thoughts and added something else I knew
about the world: I had a friend I didn’t want to lose.

“It’s open, Nate.” I closed out the screen
from my failed search. I turned around, and my handsome and
incredibly perfect friend held out a plate with two sandwiches
piled on top. He braced two cans of soda against his chest with his
other arm. “Wow, thanks.” We sat in front of the TV, and I gave him
the remote. Cartoons again. “You know you don’t have to cook for me
all the time, right?”

He nodded as he opened his can and took a
swig. “It’s no trouble. They’re watching this horror movie I don’t
think you’d like, so I came up here.”

I smiled because he seemed so sure of that,
like he knew me. My heart twisted because he didn’t. Copies
probably had no trouble with horror movies. It sounded like we were
like something right out of one.

“Chris, I heard your heart earlier,” he
said, tapping his ear. “It sounded like you freaked out when they
did the spell. Do you hate even being around magic?” he asked.

The light from the open curtain cast a glow
around him. He looked angelic, perfect, impossible to lie to. I
didn’t have the words, so I went to my desk, pulled out the credit
card, and brought it back to him.

He studied it. I saw exactly when he made
the connection between the names.

“Sophia gave me that. She said her husband
changed the name on all of my bank stuff to Cecilia Neal so it
couldn’t be tracked to me.”

“It’s your house?” he asked, barely a
whisper.

“I think so. I don’t know. I think she
bought it with my money.”

“Without telling you?” he asked. I nodded.
“This house costs way more than ten thousand. You think she may
have taken something from you?” I shrugged my shoulders and
stammered something close to a maybe. “Can you check?”

I brought my laptop and bank papers to the
sofa. I logged on to my account. The balance was still fifty-two
million. She hadn’t even taken the ten thousand. Or maybe it hadn’t
shown up yet. I was tempted to call the customer service number to
ask about withdrawals, but I was a missing person and wanted to
stay that way.

“That’s a lot of money,” Nathan said. He
jammed the sandwich in his mouth, devouring half of it with one
bite. “You should just ask her about it. I’m sure she has an
explanation.” He stuffed the other half in his mouth, chewing fast
like it was going somewhere.

“Hope so,” I said.

I wanted to crawl to his lap and let him
erase how worried I was about this. About everything. Is that
something I can ask for? I didn’t think I could get the words,
will you hold me again
, out of my mouth.

Nathan pushed up to his feet and slipped a
hand awkwardly in his pocket. “I have more windows to clean before
I meet up with Remi,” he said, without his usual smile. “See
ya.”

I managed a wave but nothing else. Truth
was, the coldness in his voice hurt me. And just before he turned,
I saw how far away those beautiful green eyes were from this room.
From me.

I climbed in bed, every part of me wanting
to sink into the sheets. Sleep would sooth my heart from worry
about Sophia and being a copy and getting hauled back to school …
or to my death.

I groaned and forced myself to get up. I
needed to move, do something other than what Leah would’ve done a
few days ago. Other than what copies probably did.

I chose Shakespeare. I walked around my
room, reading and refusing to sit or sleep or die as I read slowly
enough that I understood what the heck he was talking about.

When Sophia announced that it was time for
dinner, I made good on my promise to attend, even though I wanted
to be alone. I sat next to Emma again.

Sophia ran through her basic questions for
everyone quickly – what chores were done, what schoolwork for me.
No one brought up Cecilia Neal or her empty bedroom.

“And you, Remi? Did you clean the toilets
like I asked?”

Remi leaned into the table and dropped her
fork, a dramatic sound in the silent dining room.

“I think it’s funny how your own grandson
was mopping floors today and Leah has yet to lift a finger,” she
said, rolling her eyes. That name cut through me. Leah was the copy
hunters left at a Catholic school. I preferred Christine, the name
and the girl. “We all think it’s ridiculous, but I guess I’m the
only one bold enough to say it. So here it is, I refuse to wash
another damn toilet until the princess does one first.”

Sophia slammed her hand on the table, and I
jumped out of my skin. Emma rubbed my shoulder. Both her thoughts
and her eyes said that Remi wasn’t speaking for her. Paul didn’t
seem like he would care if I did chores, but maybe he was included
in the
we
Remi spoke of. And that could be why Nate ran off
after lunch and why his eyes were drilling a hole into the
table.

“Watch your mouth,” Sophia said. “Thin line,
Remi. This is your last warning.”

The rest of dinner was tense and quiet.
Nathan hadn’t looked up since we sat down. No smiles, no jokes.
More strangers than friends.

I trailed behind him on the stairs, waiting
for a silly face or an invitation to hang out. I knew he could hear
and probably smell me, but he didn’t turn around. Before I could
say anything to him, Remi bumped my shoulder to pass me. I stumbled
and caught the rail.

The world went silent. In moments, I was
burning, dying to hurt her. My blood danced with inherited fury.
Just like the times I’d been shoved on the stairs in the past. It
wouldn’t be magic this time. It wouldn’t be Satan. It would be the
thrill of knowing I could snap her in two. The thrill of fulfilling
my purpose, using the powers that were trapped inside of me.

No.

Not again. Not here. I couldn’t be Leah. I
took a deep breath and let it out slowly, begging that girl, that
horrible girl, to stay buried where I needed her to be.

“Problem?” Remi said.

“No,” I whispered.

I went up the stairs to my floor, my eyes on
the yellow and white flats Sophia made me – sweet shoes for the
sweet girl she thought I was.

“Hey, hottie. You coming out with us?” she
asked Nate, my friend who seemed upset with me.

“Maybe some other time. I’m tired,” he
said.

“Well, you and I can stay in if you want. My
bed is a pretty comfortable place to hang out. And I’m sure it’ll
be more fun than what you’ve been doing with what’s her face.”

I ran up to my room before I could hear his
answer.

Pulling my body in the opposite direction of
her hurt like hell. Unnatural, worse than sitting in class and
letting those girls taunt me. I couldn’t get her face out of my
mind, the human and the animal. She’d only bumped into me and asked
out my friend, but I was dying to show her who I really was.

I remembered watching a documentary in
Biology last year, on one of those days Sister Margret didn’t feel
up to teaching. In it, a tiger had somehow escaped its habitat at
the zoo. Before attacking an innocent bystander, it paced in a
circle, almost as if it were confused and felt out of place. I’d
always felt that way, like someone had let me out of a cage.

My parents had.

They knew they would be killed, probably
punished for doing awful things, and stashed me in New Haven where
I’d paced for years before almost attacking a few days ago. And now
I was pacing again. A tiger living on the third floor of a lovely
home, prey underneath me, prey on my mind.

But I couldn’t attack. I couldn’t ruin
another hiding spot. I had to ignore Remi and control myself.

The scent of lemons wafted around me, the
wrong kind of citrus, as I sat on the sofa, trying to think of Remi
as a bratty teenager and not a thing I should kill. Sophia had
beaten me up here. It was her second deep cleaning of the day.

“I’ve been meaning to speak with you about
Remi,” she said, leaning in the archway between my bedroom and the
sitting room. So much for getting her off of my mind.

“Why?”

“I wanted to make sure she isn’t ruining
your stay here. I know how things were before. I don’t want you to
be intimidated by anyone. I’ll ask her to leave if it would make
you more comfortable.”

“I’m fine,” I said, and flipped on the TV. I
frowned. The channel was still set to Nate’s cartoons. I checked my
phone. No messages.

“Okay. But if she upsets you in any way,
just say the word and she’ll be history.”

And there she was, treating me like the
queen again, or more like the owner of this house. I mashed the
power button, silencing the zany sounds of the cartoon, and met her
under the archway.

“Sophia, I know about the house. I know it’s
mine,” I said. Her face blanked. She bowed her head. When she
raised it again, her face was different. Soft and apologetic. “Paul
did a spell with salt. It said Cecilia Neal.”

“Christine, It’s … I’m … oh, dear,” she
struggled.

“Did I buy it? Did you buy it with my
money?”

Shaking her head, she grabbed my hands. I
wanted to open my heart and let my secrets bleed out. I wanted her
to say something soothing, something like,
you’ve got it all
wrong, sweet angel. Copies aren’t evil
, but I couldn’t.
Literally couldn’t. My throat tightened, making me feel like I
shouldn’t say or admit to anything else. The blood test in
particular. Something told me to keep it to myself forever.

“I didn’t have to buy it. You already owned
it. You inherited it. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you
to live alone.” She paused and continued in a whisper. “Given your
condition.”

Condition? Depression? Psychosis? Or my
natural tendency to hate all things? If she knew of my parents,
unless they pretended to have magic, she should know about me.

“I wanted people around you, and they needed
a place to stay. I thought if you knew this was your home, you
wouldn’t want the kids staying here. I’m sorry.”

“Did my parents live here?” I asked, taking
in the room with new eyes. “Did I live here?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I can’t say for
sure. I didn’t know Catherine and Raymond or anything about them
other than the money. It could just be a property they owned that
is yours now. There’s another in Los Angeles.” She moved her
wrinkled hands to my face and twisted her lips. I’d only known her
a few days, but the action was so
Sophia
that I softened.
“Forgive me, sweetheart. I hate lying, but sometimes…”

The pain in her eyes hurt me and made me
want to trust her even more. And I lied all the time. I was lying
to her right now for something much more serious than a house.
“Sometimes you have to,” I finished for her. She nodded and pulled
me tight into a hug.

We stayed like that for a long minute. I
didn’t know she was crying until she pulled away.

“I’m sorry. I saw an opportunity and I
seized it. They need jobs and homes, and you need to interact with
people. You’re starved of it. And that’s my fault too.” She broke
again, throwing her face in her hands and crying fiercely. “I let
you stay at that school. I should’ve. I could’ve...”

I sighed. Sophia felt guilty for not
rescuing me sooner, and she was too nice to feel bad about
anything, especially about neglecting someone who was too dangerous
to exist.

“You came at the perfect time,” I said,
thinking of what she’d stopped and that I’d made a friend, however
distant he’d been today, because of that timing. “And they can
stay, even Remi, for as long as they want.” She mumbled a thank you
through her dying cries. “And you can stop pretending to live here.
We all know.”

Sophia chuckled and dried her eyes.

“I’ve been married to Greg since I was
nineteen. I was going to move in, it’s just weird being away all
night,” she said. “Are you sure it’s okay with you?”

I grunted and grabbed her hands. For a
moment, it felt like she was pulling away, but then she squeezed my
hands and smiled. Maybe I’d imagined her looking afraid.

“What is it, love?” she asked.

“I need you to stop treating me like I’m
special. Don’t ask my permission for things. I’m just the girl you
got from school, not royalty. I gave you money that I’m not sure
you’ve taken, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait on me. If
everyone notices, I don’t want to be resented for it.”

She raised my hands to her mouth and kissed
my fingers … every one of them. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I changed my
mind about the money. I felt awful about taking it from you. Greg
paid for the kids. And I wait on you because I want to make sure
that you’re happy and that depression stays away from you.” I
sighed again. If Sophia thought I was depressed, she couldn’t know
I was a copy. My secret would be safe as long as I didn’t snap.
“I’ll ease off of the pampering. I can even give you a chore if
you’d like.”

“Okay.”

She scanned the room, twisting her mouth and
humming. “Ah. When you get out of the shower, put your clothes in
the hamper for me.”

“That’s it?”

She chuckled. “Baby steps, dear. Have sweet
dreams.”

She vanished, porting herself to Texas, I
guessed. I didn’t think I needed to worry about Sophia. It seemed
like she knew less about my past than I did. But I did have other
things to worry about – Catherine, Raymond, and how fast Remi had
made dark desires rush into my heart, made my skin prick with
anticipation of how good it would feel to hurt her.

The hot shower didn’t calm me. I paced in
front of my bed, thinking about my parents. This room had the feel
of a master bedroom and bath. I’d bet they slept here.