Brianna keeps asking about Adam, and I know she is disappointed that we haven’t worked this out yet. She says Adam isn’t looking too happy and he keeps getting in fights at football practice. She thinks I should come and watch their practice tonight. He’ll be happier if he sees me there, so she believes. I don’t really have anything else to do, and, though I can’t stand the situation between us, I want to see him.
I’ve decided to tell him about my adoption—that should suffice for my trip to New York. Maybe that will keep him happy and he’ll forget about my leg and everything else. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Half a truth is often a great lie,” but what other option do I really have?
I meet up with Brianna after class and we head to the practice together. We sit on the bleachers as the guys are warming up.
“Adam is number seven, the one looking this way right now.” She smiles and waves to him. “He‘ll be happy to see you here.”
We stay for the whole training and so do a ton of other girls, including Lindsay, who cheers for Adam every time he throws a good pass. She’s really getting on my nerves.
“So are these girls always here?” I mutter to Brianna.
“Yeah, since the coach got this new assistant. That’s him over there.” She points in his direction. He is very young—not much older than us, built like a college football player, and admittedly attractive.
When training is over, Brianna goes looking for Matt and I step down to the field to find Adam. I don’t see him anywhere.
“Livia!” Matt calls out. “Adam left with Kyle, something they needed to do. Sorry!”
“No problem. I’ll talk to him later.”
“Sorry to break the news to you, but that’s what Adam does when he’s not interested anymore,” Lindsay says. I turn around and there she is, with a grin on her face. “I noticed he’s been avoiding you on lunch breaks, too.”
“Lindsay!” Brianna says angrily.
“What? I’m just telling the truth. That’s how he is. He doesn’t stick around for too long—you know that as well as I do.”
“Why don’t you mind your own business,” I practically growl, itching to leave the field. “You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.” It’s all I can do to not jump on her and tear her hair out.
Brianna slips in beside me as I stalk off and says quietly, “Livia, don’t mind her. She’s a bitch. Look, we’re hanging out at Matt’s tonight. Why don’t you come over? Adam should be there and you two can work things out.”
“I might be going to Bellingham to visit my Grandma, but if I don’t, I’ll come by.”
I head to my car, Lindsay’s words echoing in my head. What if she’s right? What if Adam got sick of dealing with me? It’s entirely my fault for acting childish. I should just tell him the truth. If he chooses to move on after that, at least I’ll know it’s not my fault. If he is important to me, I must take the risk.
Kyle and I reach the Farm House Motel and I park in front of Room 5, where Stevens is staying.
“It’s better if you stay here,” I tell him. “He might not talk if he sees you with me. If I don’t come out in half an hour, come in or call the cops.”
He smirks weakly. “Fine, I’ll come in and save your butt.”
I get out of the car and walk up to the door. I knock and wait. No one answers, so I knock a couple more times. The curtains stir, and a second later he opens the door, pulls me inside, and quickly shuts us in. A green backpack lies on the floor, but otherwise, the place is clean and picked up. It looks like he’s about to leave town.
“Were you followed?” he asks with concern.
“Who would be following me?”
Stevens lets me go and paces around the room; his hand shakes and he holds it close to his chest. This guy is jittery, as if he’s mainlining caffeine. “Your life might be in danger.”
“You need to be clearer. Why am I in danger?”
“Because they are getting closer.”
“They who?”
“All I can tell you right now is that there are people after you. They’ve been searching for the past seventeen years and now they’re too close to finding you.”
I rub my temples, taking in a deep breath and more than ready to press him further, but he keeps going on his own.
“There’s just too much you don’t know, and I don’t have time to explain everything. They know I’m in town and it’s not safe for you to be seen with me.”
“Okay, look,” I say, pointing a finger at him. “You need to tell me who is after me and what they want with me. It’s only fair. You’ve been stalking me and scaring my girlfriend, and now you’re telling me that my life’s in danger, and you can’t just explain—?”
“You need to calm down.” Stevens stares at me, scared, and takes several steps back.
“You’re not giving me clear answers.”
“Trust me; you don’t want to know the whole story. All you need to know is that, right now, you have to be careful who you trust. You need to steer clear from that girlfriend of yours; she’s trouble for you. You’ll need your abilities to protect yourself, if it comes down to it. You have to develop to your full potential; that’s the only way you’ll be safe.”
“Wait, what does Livia has to do with this?”
A knock on the door startles Stevens. He peeks out the window. “It’s your friend. Why is he here?”
“He drove here with me.”
Stevens shoots me a wary look. “You should leave now.”
“You still haven’t answered my question: how do you even know about my abilities? And what about my father? Where does he fit in all of this?”
“I’ve told you what you need to know for now. I don’t have much time left. You know what you need to know for now—anymore and it will just put you in more danger. I’ll come looking for you when I think it’s safer, and maybe we can talk again. Just stay away from the girl, or she’ll lead them to you.”
He rushes over and opens the door for me to leave.
Kyle and I drive back to town, and my head is spinning.
Kyle keeps glancing at me. “So are you going to tell me what the guy said?”
“He didn’t explain anything. He said there are people looking for me, they know about my abilities. He told me to stay away from Livia; he said she was trouble, which doesn’t make any sense.”
“Man, this guy sounds nuts. What about your father? Did he explain that?
“Not at all. Something about ‘the less I know, the safer I’ll be’.”
“I think you’re giving this guy’s word way too much credit. We don’t know if there’s any truth to what he’s saying.”
“Yeah, but he knows about me. How does he know?”
Kyle huffs and gets defensive. “I’ve never told anyone. Who would believe me, anyway?”
“I know, but somehow, someone other than us knows.”
“I’ll tell you what.” Kyle looks at me. “Let’s head to Matt’s tonight, play pool, and relax. Then you can think over this with a clear head.”
“I need to go see Livia.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re going to.”
We get to Matt’s house and there’s a crowd of people there. I hurry inside and scan the place, and I don’t see Livia. I glimpsed her at the practice, but left before I could talk to her. I thought it would be a long talk, and I was in a hurry to find Stevens—but I wish she were here now. This is the time to have that talk; I need to tell her everything and I need to know what kind of trouble she’s involved with.
“I don’t think she’s coming,” Brianna says, coming up to me. “After your practice, she was pretty upset with you. You just disappeared!”
“I had things I needed to do.”
Matt appears at my side and hands me a drink. “Hey man, glad you made it! Here, this should make your day better.”
“I doubt that,” I say, but I take the cup from him anyway.
I sit down on the lounge chair, watch the guys playing foosball against the girls, and sip my drink. It sure doesn’t make me feel any better. Stevens’ words are hammering in my head and I can’t seem to be able to make sense of any of them. And the insinuation from that day in the hospital, that my father isn’t my real father, still lingers. Tears are fighting to spill beneath the pressure, but I blink them away. None of this is true; Stevens is messing with my head—he has to be.
“Hey, you!” I look up and I see Lindsay coming closer. She smiles a little too warmly and lounges on the edge of my chair.
“I’m kind of busy, Lindsay,” I retort, but she leans closer.
“You don’t look busy,” she chides. “You look bored. We could go someplace more private and I could make this night more exciting.” With each word, she bends further over me until her face is inches from mine. She rakes her hand through my hair and bites her bottom lip, giving me that sexy gaze. She tilts even closer, so close that I can smell her peachy lipstick. I am craving some attention, but it’s not hers.
“Not interested,” I answer quietly.
“What was that?” She doesn’t move, so I put my hands on her waist to push her away, and I see Livia; behind Lindsay, looking straight at me.
I stand up and Lindsay grabs me by the arm. “Come on, Adam, let her go!” she says, and I jerk out of her grip. But when I turn to find Livia, she’s already gone.
I rush out the door and I see her running into the woods, towards the beach. I follow, picking up my pace as she starts running faster. I try to catch up but she keeps a good distance between us. I don’t hold back, I let my feet hit the ground as fast as they can go, and yet I can’t reach her. I slow down when I realize she’s heading for a cliff—“Livia!” I shout and she must have heard me because she comes to an abrupt stop. I reach her now, before she even turns to look at me. When she finally does, she’s breathing heavily and her eyes are wide open—she looks confused.
“It’s not what you’re thinking,” I gasp. “Nothing happened with Lindsay.”
She’s fixing her eyes on mine, and I notice there’s no trace of anger. “How did you follow me here? How did you run this fast?” she asks.
And with that question, realization sets in—I was running fast, as fast as I can, but I still wasn’t able to keep up with her. I was right, and it’s all starting to make sense now. She’s still starting, trying to make sense of what is going on.
“I could ask you the same thing, but I think I already know the answer.” I take a step closer to her, but she puts a hand up, telling me to stay put.
“What are you talking about?” she asks, almost as a whisper.
“I’m talking about your ability to run faster than you should be able to, your ability to heal extremely fast, which is called rapid cell regeneration—I looked it up. It’s online. Even though they say it’s just fiction, you make it real.”
She lets out a long breath. She leans against a tree and slides her body down until she reaches the ground.
“I have a share of abilities myself, Livia. Haven’t you ever suspected it? How do you think I could keep up with you at PE the other day? How do you think I can swim in the lake’s cold water? We are the same, we share the same secret—unless…” I let the word hang as a thought forms in my mind. “You already knew that, and you didn’t want me to find out about you. Is that it? That would make sense, that’s why he said you’re trouble.”
Even though it all makes sense in my mind, I can’t bring myself to believe that Livia is involved with whatever Stevens was talking about. I rub my face, trying to clear my head. When I open my eyes, Livia is standing in front of me, her eyes searching mine for answers; she’s even more confused than me.
“He who?” she murmurs. “What’s going on here, Adam?”
I walk to the edge of the cliff and I sit down. The bay in front of me looks so calm and I try to match my emotions to the rhythm of the water below us. She sits next to me and I take a deep breath in. “I met with Stevens today, the guy you saw at Fort Casey the other night.”
“So you do know him?”
“The first time I saw him, he was at the hospital looking for my dad. Then, on the day you hurt your leg, I overheard a conversation between the two of them. He was insinuating that my dad had traded babies and I was not my father’s son.”
“What? You believe him?”
“I confronted my father before, and he flat out lied about everything, so it can only mean that he’s trying to hide something.”
“So that guy is your father?”
“No!” I run my hands through my hair in frustration. “I don’t think so. But he knows about my abilities, he knows I’m different and he said my life is in danger, and there’re people looking for me. He told me to stay away from you, that you’re trouble and would lead them straight to me.”
“And you think that I knew about you and I’m involved with whoever is after you?” She asks in disgust, shaking her head. I grab her arm before she can get up.
“I’m sorry, Livia. I don’t think that, I’m just confused. It’s all so weird, and now I have a feeling that I’m being watched on top of everything.”
“Maybe it’s him following you, like he’s done before.”
“This might sound crazy, but I don’t think he’s lying, and if people are after me because of what I can do, then they must be after you too.”
Livia immediately closes her eyes as if she just realized something. She stands now, taking a few steps away from me. I see her face changing as millions of thoughts pass through her mind. I stand up, and hesitantly touch her hand before pulling her into my arms.
“Don’t worry. We have each other; we’re going to figure this out. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Livia lays her head on my chest for a fraction of a second, and then pushes me away. “I think we should stay away from each other until we figure this out. If what that guy told you is true, then I’ll be putting you in danger if you stay close to me.”
“Livia, that’s crazy,” I protest, but the look on her face is resolute.
“Adam, I’ll talk to my uncle. I’m sure he knows this guy, Stevens, and I know he knows more than he’s telling me. He’s hiding something. Maybe he can help us, but until then, I want you to stay away from me.”
She starts walking away, back towards the house. “Livia!” I shout. “That’s not going to happen. I’m not staying away from you.”
She stops. “I’m not giving you a choice.”
With that, she runs. I tried to catch up with her, but by the time I reach her, she’s already inside of her car, her tires squealing as she drives away.