Hunted (Talented Saga # 3) (17 page)

Ingrid Bowman’s pink eyes stay glued to me until she’d exited the room, her mix of trepidation and relief mirroring my own.
We were both relieved she would be going somewhere she would no longer feel like a freak for being different. But we both ached at the thought of the forced separation from her family. I personally knew how hard it was to be torn from your parents, but unlike me, Ingrid would at least see hers on vacations. That fact absolved me slightly of the guilt at having been a part of taking her away from those she loved.

Since I hadn’t allowed Ms. Cruise to give Ingrid the amplification drug, her mind wasn’t numb the way the other children’s had been by the time they left the interrogation room.
So I felt her pain more intensely than I had with the other kids and it made me profoundly sad. It reminded me how unfair the Mandatory Testing Laws truly were. Children like Ingrid did need the school to help them learn to use their Talents and to feel normal. But that was a choice that they should be given, not one decided for them.

Chapter Fifteen

Erik was quiet and subdued over dinner.
I’d ordered us lamb steaks and broccoli casserole to my room. Erik sat pushing his food around on his plate, only eating small bites. His injuries magnified against pale and fatigued features.

“How do you feel?” I asked, concerned by his melancholy mood.

“Huh?” he asked, so lost in thought, he seemed to have forgotten I was there.

“How do you feel?” I enunciated my words this time.

“Fine,” he lied, offering me one of his beautiful smiles.

“You’re a liar,” I teased.
Something was bothering him. Well, a lot of stuff was bothering him, but something that he didn’t want me to know about. If I delved into his mind, I could figure out his source of unease, but I wanted him to tell me himself.

“Just tired,” he mumbled.

We ate the rest of our meal in silence. While I ate, Erik just played with his food.

“Lay with me for a while?” I asked when it was obvious he wasn’t actually going to eat his dinner.

Erik glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was already after ten. He nodded slowly. “Just for a little,” he warned.

I tried to smile, but his reluctance upset me.
After the scene at breakfast, I’d anticipated him being less touchy feely than normal, but his complete indifference was not expected – or welcome.

Under the cover of darkness and with Erik’s arms wrapped loosely around me, I chanced questioning his source of distraction again.
However, by now, my irritation with his attitude was high and tact was not a concern.

“What’s wrong, Erik?”
I demanded.

“What’s wrong?”
he shot back incredulously.
“Really, Tals? Everything is wrong. The Coalition ATTACKED a Toxic facility, you’re a prime target for them, you’re sick, and we don’t know why, the Director directly threatened to take action against my family this morning, and oh, yeah, we just condemned yet another child to a shitty life of servitude to Toxic. Did I miss anything?”
Erik was tense, fury radiating from his body. It took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to rise to the challenge in his words.

“I’m sorry.
You’re right,”
I tried to calm his rising temper. I reached up and tentatively stroked his cheek. He didn’t shy away from my touch, but he didn’t respond to it, either. Apparently, Ingrid’s feelings had affected him strongly, a catalyst that had incited the rising panic he had already been experiencing. In a rare reversal of our roles, I tried to assure him that we would find out what was wrong with me and that Ingrid was actually going to be better off in the long run. Erik remained unconvinced, reliving his own experience of having been torn away from his family.

“And Mac won’t do anything to your father and brothers,”
I promised.
“I’ll make sure of it.”

“And how do you expect to do that?”
he demanded.

“I can control people, remember?
If it comes to it, I’ll do whatever I need to,”
I swore, even though I wasn’t sure that was a promise I’d be able to keep. I’d never actively tried to control Mac and after all the mental conditioning I had done with him, I wasn’t sure I could.

Erik still had his doubts, but some of the tension ebbed away.
His arms tightened, pulling me closer. Snuggling against him, I relaxed a little, too.

“I’m sorry,
Tals. I shouldn’t be taking all this out on you. I know how stressed you are,”
he apologized, kissing my forehead affectionately.

“You should be confiding in me,”
I urged.
“That’s what I’m here for.”

Erik’s mind
quieted, and his guards went back up as he privately contemplated something he didn’t want me to be privy to.

“There’s something else.
What is it?”
I demanded, fearful that something fundamental had changed in our relationship, making him want to distance himself.

Erik said nothing for a long time and my fear turned to panic.
Was he going to breakup with me? Was he trying to find a way to tell me it was over? Now that he’d had me and the thrill of the chase was over, was he bored with me? Had the conversation that morning made him think I was crazy? Maybe he’d finally reached his limit with my jealously and spastic mood swings? Panicked sobs started gathering in my chest, screaming to break free.

“Calm down,
Tals,”
Erik sent, his mental voice gentle. His soothing only made me fear the worst. He’d seen what I had done to Donavon’s cabin when we broke up and probably worried that, given my unstable health, I would fly off the handle.

“It’s nothing like that, Talia,”
he insisted.
“Although, I’m not gonna lie, this fighting is getting old. I know that you can’t control it, but I can’t keep doing this with you. I love you, but you just have to trust me sometimes.”

His words felt like a slap to the face.
I scrambled across the bed, putting as much distance between us as possible. Erik closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He breathed in and out several times, trying to collect his composure. I buried my head in my hands, my cries breaking free, and I openly wept.

“Come here, Tal,” he said softly, reaching for me.

“No,” I cried, swatting blindly at his hand. “If I’m so much of a burden, then just go.”

Erik’s jaw clenched and I thought that he might take me up on my offer.
“Look at me, Natalia,” he commanded. I shook my head, fighting the control he was attempting. “I said look at me, or I really will walk out that damn door,” he threatened.

I hesitated.
I didn’t want him to leave, but I was ornery and if I looked at him now, then he won.

Erik groaned loudly.
“No tricks, Tal. I’m asking you to please look at me, please talk to me,” he said patiently.

Slowly, I raised my head to meet his eyes.
“I can’t help it,” I sniffled, “I’m sorry. I just don’t understand what’s wrong with me.”

“I know,
Tals.” He looked sad and my anger turned to guilt. “Can I touch you?” he asked.

I jerkily bobbed my head up and down and Erik crawled over to collect me in his arms.

“I’m sorry,” I repeated.

“
Me, too, love, me, too,” he gently stroked my hair, rocking me back and forth.

Erik held me until I calmed down, which I did only under his manipulation.
I hated myself for being so ridiculously out of control, but I didn’t know how to stop it. I was constantly ruled my emotions and no matter how hard I tried, I never realized that I was overreacting until it was too late. Erik deserved some kind of award, or a medal at the very least, for putting up with me.

“Having you is the only reward I need,” he whispered.
In spite of myself, I giggled. He was so cheesy. “We’ll get through this, Tal,” he promised.

“Will you tell me what you were thinking about earlier?”
I asked, hoping that my question wouldn’t start another fight.

Erik didn’t
so much as flinch.
“It might be nothing,”
he warned.
“I didn’t want to say anything until I had a chance to think about it more.”

“Okay, but if it has to do with me, I want to know,”
I said childishly.

Erik groaned audibly.
“You’re awfully nosey,”
he commented, playfully tickling my side to let me know he was at least partially joking.

“So I’ve been told,”
I replied dryly.

Erik went silent again, and in a rare display of patience, I didn’t push.
I knew he was going to tell me if I just gave him time.

“It was something that girl, Ingrid, said,”
he started slowly. Well, that was unexpected. I’m not sure what I’d expected, but not that. I tried recalling the conversation we’d had with the little blonde telepath and couldn’t, for the life of me, remember her saying anything bizarre.

“When she said that my mind didn’t buzz like yours,”
he added, sensing my confusion.

“What’s odd about that?
Your mind doesn’t have the same patterns as mine. We have different Talents,”
I replied.

“I know, but I was mimicking your abilities.
We should have had the same brain patterns,”
he answered.

“Are you sure about that?”
I questioned him.
“Mimics are rare and we don’t really know much about that kind of thing.”

“No, I’m not sure, which is why I didn’t want to say anything to you,”
he admitted.
“I haven’t spent a lot of time around other Mimics, so I can’t be positive, but I think that when I mimic another Talent, I should take on their brain patterns. Have you ever noticed when I’m mimicking Henri whether I have the same pattern?”

I’d never actually paid attention before.
The question rendered me speechless for the space of several minutes.

“Okay,”
I finally sent,
“say that is the case, and I’m not sure it is, but let’s just assume it is, what does it mean?”

“I don’t know, but that, combined with what Anya said about the suppressant, makes me wonder if maybe you have a second Talent and that is what the injection is supposed to block.”

“You’re joking, right? That’s not possible,”
I insisted matter-of-factly. Unless, of course, being a raging bitch half the time was a Talent.
“I’d know if I were a dual Talent. And I didn’t need the drugs before everything happened in Nevada.”

“Research has shown that some people’s abilities manifest later in life.
Maybe your second Talent started to come out after your…incident,”
he reasoned.

I thought about that.
Mac had told me that late onset powers were a problem the Agency was trying to deal with. Was it possible that experiencing a traumatic event, like, say, getting shot, caused a second Talent to emerge?

“Why wouldn’t Mac just tell me if that’s the case?”
I wanted to know.
“I was at school. I could have worked with someone to learn to use whatever this alleged other Talent is.”

“Dual Talents aren’t always stable, Tal.
And a lot of Manipulators aren’t, either. An Elite level Manipulator that also happens to have a second Talent would be at an increased risk for insanity.”

Insanity?
Instability? I hated how much sense Erik was making. The mood swings, the erratic behavior, all the crying. Was it possible I was seriously just losing my mind? Were my multiple Talents causing my mind to fracture?

“I hate to admit it, but it sort of makes sense that the Director would want to stop the second Talent from emerging to prevent the side effects,”
Erik was saying.
“You said you’ve noticed that your senses are stronger. I picked up on that, too. I’ve known there was something different about you for a while, since your return.”

“And you really think this might be it?
That I’m a dual Talent, and I’m losing my marbles?”
I demanded.

“I can’t be sure, Tal.
About the dual Talent thing, anyway. You are not going crazy, though.”

I couldn’t look at him when I asked,
“How can you be sure I’m not?”

Erik laughed.
Actually laughed. I glared at him. There was nothing funny about this.

“In addition to the physical examination that every Operative gets periodically, I have to have a psychological one.
Mimics are at the greatest risk of all for insanity because they can possess every Talent. It’s a lot for one mind to handle. I know you aren’t crazy because I know what to look for.”

“Oh.”
I hadn’t ever thought about it before, but it made a lot of sense. I knew Manipulators had to be careful since it’s so easy to get lost when invading another person’s mind and I supposed the same principle applied to Mimics, particularly one that spent so much time mimicking a Manipulator.

“We’ll know more once we hear back from Anya,”
Erik promised.
“Try not to worry about it until then.”

“Okay,”
I agreed, but that was easier said than done. Erik was worried, really worried, which overshadowed his assurances that I was still holding on to my sanity. I might not have lost it yet, but he undeniably thought there was a real possibility I would go insane. Otherwise, getting him to fess up about what was bothering him wouldn’t have been like pulling teeth. And if the whole dual Talent thing turned out to be true, then Erik wasn’t the only one trying to protect me from myself. Mac had an entire medical team working around the clock to find a cure.

“Try and get some sleep,”
Erik sent, bringing his mouth to mine, his hands firmly locking my hips against his side and pulling my leg draped across his waist tighter to him. And for just that moment, I knew all I needed to know: Erik loved me, Erik would do whatever it took to keep me safe.