Winter's Awakening: The Metahumans Emerge (Winter's Saga #1) (9 page)

Of course that was Evan’s response! That kid didn’t have a dishonest bone in his body. I loved that about him, but right about now, I felt like hitting him over the head with his integrity!

“Keep reading, Meg. What does the next entry say?” Alik spoke up now. He looked as if he’d been crying. His nose was pink and blue eyes glistened, but he was so quiet about it. Maybe he was working hard to seem tough, too.

Dr. Andrews smiled and nodded, encouragingly. Beside him on the couch, Michelle yawned.

I took a deep breath, flipped the page and continued reading to the room.

Chapter 24 Dr. Williams

He watched her from the doorway for a few moments. His thugs were standing behind him in case Margo gave him any trouble, but he highly doubted she would. Light from the hallway streamed around him and poured into the darkened holding room blinding her for a moment. He waited patiently for her to register who he was.

Her hands and ankles were bound and she must still feel nauseous and dizzy from the chloroform they’d used to sedate her. Since he was a detail man, he also noted that she hadn’t eaten in at least twenty-four hours. Nor had she been given water to drink. Her lip was swollen, her right eye blackened and her hair was matted with dried blood.

From his report, his collection agent had a bit of a surprise when she attacked him a few hours into her transport here. Apparently, he hadn’t taken the file on Dr. Margaret Winter seriously when warned of her military training. It was a shame to see such a beautiful face marred.

She stared at the man in the doorway with a hatred only a woman could feel. He watched her with calculated amusement for another moment. Out came the silver marbles and, without thinking, he began rolling them in his hand.

“Ms. Winter, is it?” Dr. Williams baited. “Well, well, young lady. I’ve been looking for you for quite some time. Been enjoying your Texas ranch, have you? And the children, how are they? I imagine the female is about fifteen, the oldest male is fourteen? And the youngest male is merely twelve. Typical teenagers, are they?

“I am truly curious, you see, because they hold the most successful of all the serums we ever created. They were the answers we needed to stay on the right path of future advancements. Once you stole them and destroyed their documentation, especially the male infant, our scientists had to start from scratch.

“You see, the formula delivered to the children had a unique factor my scientists have been unable to replicate. Something about the exact formula created a different reaction in the DNA—a “sleeper-like” effect. The metahumans are all very intelligent, very strong and quick to heal, but M57, 61 and 74 showed evidence of this sleeper gene. They were enhanced somehow. Heightened.

Nothing Dr. Williams was saying was new to Margo. She read every note made on her children when she confiscated them then destroyed them. Yes, the case studies were quite impossible to replace.”

She sat completely still, only half listening to the rantings of this crazed man. She was, however, very much focused on the thugs standing stupidly behind him. There were two of them flanked on either side of the monologue-ing idiot. The men had thick physiques and even thicker skulls. Outwitting them wouldn’t be a problem. But the demon doctor over here was another story. He was a wimp, but he was definitely not standing here without several alternate plans to maintain control over this conversation.

She was determined to get one answer. So she played her part as the beat-down hostage. “Where are the children?” Margo almost whispered her one question, exaggerating her exhaustion. “Just please tell me. Where are my children?”

Chapter 25 Road Trip

Okay, I have been in an SUV before. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I had never been in an SUV with my two brothers, Cole, Dr. Andrews and Maze. It was a little cramped, and I was drowning in testosterone.

We had decided to drive to California not because we were masochistic, though now I have to wonder about that, but because we had items that would not pass security at an airport.

Leave it to the Midwesterners to be avid hunters who were determined to protect the metahumans with their big burly guns. (read: I’ll be saving their butts before this is all over.)

We had stocked up on healthy snacks and drinks before we left. Michelle was no help whatsoever. She got dressed for work, wearing something called Prada strappies and Dolce and Gabbana suit and headed into the office that Monday morning. (I only know the names because she kept barking at Maze to stay away from her “gorgeous Prada strappies and Dolce and Gabbana suit that cost more than his pelt could get on the black market!”)

She barely waved good-bye to Cole and gave her husband a brief and lipstick stained kiss on the side of his mouth. I promise you, I will someday knock that woman senseless. I could just feel my blood boil every time she walked in the room.

It was probably a very good thing that she never even offered to come with us. Being stuck in the SUV with that she-witch for the twenty-three-hour drive would have been horrible! What did Dr. Andrews see in that woman?

The road trip began uneventfully. We stopped to gas up first. I didn’t even let Evan out of the SUV to investigate the pump machine. Lord knows we didn’t need to create an explosive geyser right now. It was far more important to maintain an air of anonymity.

The doctor came back to the SUV with an armful of goodies for us. These definitely would not be categorized as “healthy” snacks. But oh my goodness! If I didn’t like the doctor before, I love him now! Whoever invented those little white donut pastries in an easy-to-carry package was an absolute genius! Now I know why mom never brought these to the ranch. The boys and I would probably want to survive on only their meager nutrients for the rest of our lives!

I looked up from my now empty package only to see Cole watching me with a laughter that was barely contained.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, miffed.

“You. You’re such a weird girl. One minute you’re scissor-kicking your brothers and the next, you’re licking the inside of a donut wrapper. You have white powder all over your face!” Cole’s laughter just bubbled up from his tummy. If he weren’t laughing at me, it would have been fascinating to watch because he was so darn cute. As it was, I was blushing mad.

“You think I’m ‘weird?’ Hey doc, pull over. I think your baby boy here needs to see how ‘weird’ I can get.”

“Come on now, we’ve got a long ride ahead of us. We don’t need to start off on the wrong foot.” The doctor was trying to keep the peace, but his spawn had just started a fight, and I was itching to put him in his place.

You would think, after all the years I’ve spent with my brothers, they would know when it was a good idea to tease me and when it wasn’t. Apparently, they’re not that observant.

“So Meg, the white powder is very becoming on you. Maybe you’d like to open the jelly donuts and add a bit of color to your lips?” chirped Alik.

“And how about some eye shadow? You could use some melted chocolate. Then you’d look downright yummy.” Evan chimed in.

They were all snickering at the images they’d created in their minds.

Now, I know I should have just laughed this off. They were just boys being boys, and everyone was feeling a little anxious and bored. They’re just teasing to letting off steam. Blah, blah, blah.

But I couldn’t.

Maze, who had been sound asleep in the far back seat sat up and whined. He was looking right at me, expecting what was about to come.

So, did I mention that one of the techniques we were taught in karate was how to battle on our knees? No? Well, I’m pretty sure Cole didn’t know about it either.

I didn’t need the doctor to pull over. It just probably would have been safer for the passengers if he had. No matter.

With one quick motion, I unbuckled my seat belt and elbowed Alik in the chest catching completely off guard and in mid-laugh. Evan had half a second to brace himself before my palm made contact with the side of his face.

Cole didn’t know what hit him. Since he was sitting in the front passenger seat, the best tactic to use on him was to wrap my arms around his neck and pull. Did I mention how strong I am?

So now the quick-to-learn doctor pulls the SUV over and barks at me to back off.

“Good grief, Meg! You have to learn to control that temper! They were just teasing you, for goodness’ sake! You don’t need to kill someone for that, do you?” The dear ‘ole doc was a bit miffed at me.

“Depends on what they’re saying,” I mumbled still fuming.

I’m learning all sorts of things about myself on this adventure. First, I love powdered donuts. Second, I hate being teased. And third, apparently I’ve got a temper. Oh yeah, this adventure was sure to be even more enlightening with every passing day.

Chapter 26 Road Trip, Take Two

Things calmed down for a bit. I was reading a dictionary. (I know that is a little strange. But what can I say, I love words.) Alik was working on adding to his physique, as usual, by doing handgrips. And Evan was working on multiple Sudoku puzzles at once. (That’s the only way they were any bit challenging for him.) Cole had been reading a book, but stopped, yawned and reached to turn on the SUV’s radio. He looked kinda gorgeous when he wasn’t laughing at me and calling me ‘weird.’

“Oh, this is a great song.” Cole said to no one in particular.

I listened for a minute, trying to figure out who was singing and what they were saying. But mostly I was trying to figure out what was so “great” about this song. It sounded like some man with a strange voice talking (not singing) over a background of pure base rhythms. What on earth?

“Aw, come on, guys. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of Arizon Flush! His rifts are topping the charts daily. He is truly solid, a revolutionary!” Cole was smiling and moving his shoulders to the rhythm.

“Are we still talking about the music?” Alik’s brow was furrowed in confusion.

“We should try to give this genre a chance. Maybe it takes awhile before we can appreciate it.” Evan was so diplomatic, it made me sick.

Or maybe I was feeling sick from the SUV ride. Or, and this was a stretch, it could have been the seven packages of powdered donuts I just inhaled. Maybe I’ll just lean my head back, close my eyes and take a nap.

I took a deep breath, relaxed my shoulders and tried to think of nothing. But wouldn’t you know, the moment I try to think of nothing, images of my mom flash in my mind. Mom tied up and being beaten. Her dark hair matted with blood. In my imagination there were voices yelling at her demanding information, threatening her with more pain if she didn’t give them what they wanted. And what did they want? Us. They wanted Alik, Evan and me.

I moaned. My poor mom. All she ever wanted was to help and protect, and now these monsters had her and wanted to use her to get to us. Well, they’re going to regret it, because when I get my hands on them they’re going to see the true meaning of “metahumans.” I was seething with anger just thinking about what I wanted to do to the swine holding my mom. Evan’s calm voice responded to my thoughts as if I’d spoken them out loud.

“We’ll find mom, Meg. We’ll find her and make it so that Williams guy never hurts her again. She must have known this day was coming all these years. That’s why she trained us to fight. She had been keeping track of each of our unique developments so she could help us hone our skills even more.

“Remember in her documents she chronicled how strong we were? How we didn’t injure like normal children. How much faster we healed than normal children.

“And as we each got older mom would play those games with us. She wrote about how she would test our intellectual quotients periodically and found we were way above average kids. She knew from the start we were different, but she never made us feel like freaks. She wanted us to develop free from fear of what society would think of or do to us.

“She had all those entries on each of us. Meg, she knew you had a heightened ability to feel and sense emotions. Your interpersonal skills were past intuitive, almost to the point of mind-reading. But because of the nature of your specific talent, you could get too caught up in the emotions of the moment to interpret clearly. That’s why you have a hard time coping when you’re upset. Your emotions are like a superconductor, processing and receiving at an astronomical rate.”

I was staring at Evan now and remembering what we had read in mom’s journals as clearly as if they were in front of me now. The rest of the SUV was quiet as we listened and applied Evan’s interpretation of mom’s notes to our own understanding of the situation.

“And you Evan,” Alik spoke up now. “She played those test games with you too and you blew them all out of the water. Your quantitative and qualitative scores were off the charts. Even those adaptive assessments, those without a ceiling, couldn’t give mom an accurate score because you found its ‘nonexistent’ ceiling. Your ability to learn and relate that knowledge to countless applications was like a plant’s ability to absorb sunlight and turn it in to food.

“Your only problem was that mom found your sheer logic somewhat robotic. You feel emotions, but your logical mind would override emotional reactions. You are the exact opposite of Meg.”

I was amazed at my brothers’ interpretations. They had summarized in two minutes what took us hours to read.