Adaptive: A Young Adult Dystopian Romance (The Elite Trials Book 2) Page 23

  As soon as Brendan left, Jaxon settled onto a dining table and snuck covert looks my way. After the fifth one, I rolled my eyes. “What?”

  “Oh, nothing. Just checking how you’re handling the news of being a weapon of mass destruction.”

  “A what? I’m not a—” I stopped when I noticed the teasing light in his hazel eyes. “Maybe the first thing I’ll do is destroy your movie collection.”

  He gasped, clutching at his heart. “Now that’s plain demonic. You think you know a person.” His feigned shock fell away as he gave me a rare serious face. “We’ve got your back though. I hope you know that.”

  I nodded, managing a small smile of appreciation. “I do. But . . . who will have Brendan’s?”

  A hand covered my eyes and I flinched. “I’ve got my own back. Always have,” Brendan whispered in my ear. The words were meant to soothe, but they had the opposite effect.

  “I realize overconfidence and a big ego go hand-in-hand,” I said, trying to pry his fingers off my face, “but then there’s idiocy. I think you might have that too. Scratch that. I know you do.”

  He tsked, tightening his hold. I was debating whether to stomp on his foot or elbow his gut when I caught a whiff of something incredible. It was unlike anything I’d ever smelled before. Warm, rich, earthy, nutty.

  I hummed my interest, reaching for the source.

  “Nuh-uh. Blind taste test for calling me an idiot.”

  “Dude, you were going to do that even before she ripped you a new one.”

  “Whose side are you on, best friend?”

  “Hers.”

  “Righteous,” I said, forming a fist like he’d done yesterday. Was it really only yesterday that my greatest concern had been to beat Brendan at his own game in the Abilities Competition? So much could change from one blink to the next.

  “You two have spent way too much time together,” Brendan mock-complained as I felt Jaxon bump my fist with what I assumed were his knuckles.

  “Don’t burn her tongue off.”

  “I won’t. I put an ice cube in it.”

  “What are you two talking about?” I asked, trepidation making me cringe back from the heavenly scent. “Is this thing even food?”

  “No. A drink.”

  I went silent for a moment. “Is it tree bark?”

  “What? No! You think I’d do that?”

  “Yes! Third time’s a charm, right?”

  As we argued, I could hear Jaxon cackling up a storm. So much for having my back.

  “Look,” Brendan said, lowering his voice to a placating level. “I made a promise to you while we were in Tatum City. This is me honoring that promise. And you obviously need it.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Boy, you gonna get kneed in the stones again,” Jaxon crowed. A loud thump came from his direction. Did he fall off the table?

  “Just try it, okay? You can knee me later,” Brendan said with growing impatience. Jaxon started coughing so hard, I worried for his lungs. “Jax, man, you know I’m getting you back for this, right?”

  “Okay, okay!” I raised my hands in surrender. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “This is so not how I envisioned this happening,” Brendan muttered. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep a smirk at bay. Served him right. As the glorious scent became stronger, he said, “Just take it nice and easy. I’ll do all the work.”

  “Stop, man, stop!” Jaxon wheezed between spasms of laughter. “My mind is so in the gutter right now.”

  “Ignore him,” Brendan said. Did I detect a note of embarrassment? I felt the cup’s rim touch my bottom lip. “He’s off his meds.”

  I wasn’t allowed to reply as he carefully tipped the cup a second later. Hot liquid, but not too hot, filled my mouth. I didn’t taste it right away since the heat and scent were overpowering, but once it settled on my tongue . . . I spewed it out of my mouth in a rush. Gagging on the bitter flavor that still coated my tongue, I whirled out of Brendan’s grasp and glared at him. “You said it wasn’t tree bark!”

  He gaped at me, and after a moment, I realized Jaxon was too. The latter spoke first, indignation pitching his voice higher than normal. “Girl, you did not just spit out liquid gold.”

  “Liquid what?”

  “It’s coffee,” Brendan said, chuckling. Jaxon looked at him as if he’d lost his mind too. “I should’ve known you’d be the ‘I take a little coffee with my sugar’ type.”

  After two cups of much sweeter coffee, I decided that I actually liked the stuff. As we left The Circle, I asked for a third, but Brendan wouldn’t let me—said something about cravings, addiction, and neurotic-like symptoms. I was wide awake now, my blood alive with a buzz similar to adrenaline. “And you think this’ll help me find my sister how exactly?”

  “Because every time you have a vision, adrenaline seems to be the thing that triggers it,” Brendan explained as the elevator doors closed. Jaxon was still eating breakfast with Yukiko and Bells so it was just him and me now. He punched the tenth floor button, not the fifteenth to Dr. Moore’s office like I’d expected.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To your room. I’ve been given permission to try something. We’re going to take a trip down memory lane in hopes of unblocking one or two of them. An Iris one if we’re lucky. Then maybe you’ll be able to find her.”

  I chewed on the inside of my cheek, wondering what his plan was. “How did Iris end up in Tatum City? Was she kidnapped too?” I tried to keep my tone neutral, but a hint of accusation still coated my words.

  Brendan noticeably winced. “I think she was, yes. Not by me though. I sensed her project, and when her energy levels were similar to yours, I suspected that you two were sisters. Seeing her face only confirmed it. Being in close proximity to the two of you can be overwhelming, to say the least. But I learned a long time ago how to switch off my ability when it becomes too much.”

  “Huh. I seem to have the opposite problem,” I muttered as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.

  We walked in silence for a few moments before Brendan said, “I think you’ve been subconsciously repressing your ability for fear of losing control.”

  I shrugged casually even though I knew he’d hit way too close to the mark. “Maybe some of the visions I’ve had weren’t very fun.”

  “You’re right, you’ve had some terrible ones.” From my peripheral, I saw him glance at me. “But you’ve saved lives. That little girl in The Circle. Yours. Mine.”

  “Wait, hold on.” I stopped in front of my bedroom door and faced him as anger stirred my blood. Not anger at him, but at myself. “I didn’t save your life, I got you stabbed.”

  “That was my choice, Lune. But I’m talking about a past event you don’t remember. We were training after dinner hour at the lake near the barracks. Lars and his goons showed up, looking for trouble. They had Iris and were trying to get a reaction out of you by drowning her. At the same time, they had me pinned down and Lars was about to stab me in the heart. You stopped it from happening, even as you were rescuing Iris. In fact, I think she might have had the same vision. The energy coming from you both momentarily stunned me. And when you screamed, it was as if time itself stopped.”

  At the detailed description of such a horrific memory, my heart thudded against my chest. Adrenaline surged. My eyes slammed shut and I curled forward, clutching at my head as images flashed before my closed lids. Rapid. Intense. Emotions followed—fear, desperation, confliction over an impossible choice. A scream of rage and heartbreak. A girl.

  A girl who looked like me but wasn’t.

  Iris.

  I clung to her image, trusting Brendan to watch over my body as I opened my mind. I immersed myself as if diving into that lake, collecting every single drop of memory that I had of my sister. I saw her, wet and afraid, pointing at a figure in the distance. Before I could focus on the person, she whispered, “Bren.”

  At the sound of her voice, I felt
a connection form. Over and over, I replayed the soft-spoken way she’d said his name. Bren, Bren, Bren. The familiarity—not only of Iris’s voice and what she meant to me, but of the name itself—settled into my bones. The bond solidified, allowing my mind to reach out toward her. To travel along an invisible tether. Down the hall it soared, punching through stone, barrelling through the mountain until it burst into open blue sky.

  My consciousness continued to stretch, racing faster, traveling farther than should ever be possible. Panic bloomed. Fear of losing control, of losing touch with reality. But that single word—Bren—kept me centered. I wasn’t alone. He was right there with me. I simply had to trust that he wouldn’t let me fall.

  Minutes passed by along with a thousand trees. I shot over a looming gray wall, briefly registering it as Tatum City’s. Then I was plummeting. Down, down, through cement and walls. The connection stretched tightly. Tighter, tighter. Pain pricked at the edges of my awareness. Abruptly, my mind slammed to a halt.

  Silence surrounded me.

  In the stillness, in the darkness, I couldn’t see her. But I could feel her. Fear, confusion, pain. The emotions were hers, not mine. “Iris,” I whispered.

  She stirred, as if woken from a troubling dream. “Please, don’t. I didn’t do anything, I promise.”

  Her words echoed through me weakly, like she had no hope of being listened to.

  “Of course you didn’t, dear,” a new voice said, one that sent shards of ice scraping across my mind. “But you will.”

  “Lune. Lune! Come back to me!”

  The stark urgency in the words snapped me back to myself. I sucked in a ragged breath as my eyes shot open. A wave of coughing racked my body. Bile pushed against my throat. I shivered, forcing my lungs to expand and contract. Wait, why was I shivering?

  I blinked away water, squinting as white tiles filled my vision. A groan left me as I registered the headache pulsing behind my eyes, then I croaked, “W-where am I?”

  A shuddering sigh directly behind me warmed the top of my head. A set of arms drew me closer to a hard chest. “We’re in a cold shower. Definitely not as pleasant as our previous one. Whatever stunt you just pulled, can you never do that again? Your temperature spiked out of nowhere and I couldn’t wake you up. This was the only thing I could think of.”

  Clarity returned then. The vision—or whatever it was. Holy crap, I had traveled to Tatum City and back again with my mind. I wanted to laugh. And cry. Then laugh some more. But more than that, I wanted to say a name. A name I hadn’t uttered in far too long. “Bren.”

  “Did you hear anything I just said? You freaked me out, Lune. I thought you were—” He paused. His muscles went rigid. Then, in shock and disbelief, he whispered, “What did you say?”

  I slowly twisted, grimacing at the ache in my bones, but needing to see his face. With each memory given back to me came a new awareness of this man. How much he had meant to me. How much more he meant to me now. I met his eyes and took a moment to soak in their golden color. So rare. So beautiful. Like the rest of him. I straddled his hips, giving in to the urge to brush damp strands of hair off his forehead before exhaling his name again. “Bren.”

  His chin quivered, then a tremulous smile lit up his face. “I wanted to hear you say that for so long.”

  I bit my lip, but couldn’t hold back a smile of my own. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why let me call you Brendan this whole time?”

  He skimmed a thumb across my cheek. “I needed a reminder of what I lost. And what I’ve been trying so hard to get back.”

  “After pushing me away several times first,” I deadpanned, tugging on a lock of his hair.

  He laughed softly, the sound part relief, part embarrassment. “I didn’t think it possible that you’d forgive me a second time for stealing your freedom and ruining your life. For all the secrets and lies. I kept you at a distance where it’s safe so I wouldn’t lose you completely.

  “But,” he continued, watching me intently, “I couldn’t stay away, despite knowing how uncertain my future—our future is. While in Tatum City, I embraced the idea of being stuck there so long as I was with you. But now that you’re here and I have to go, I’m afraid I’m going to lose you forever, and . . . I can’t stand it. Because every new second I spend with you, I fall in love all over again.”

  My lips parted as I struggled to make sense of his words. He couldn’t possibly have said what I thought he’d just said. “You . . .” I croaked, then swallowed past the tightness building in my throat. “What?”

  Bren brought both his hands up and cradled my face. My eyes started to burn when he leaned down and pressed a tender kiss to my forehead. Tears spilled down my cheeks when he said with a slight catch in his voice, “I love you, Lune Avery. Foolishly. Desperately. And I can’t bear to be apart from you.”

  My heart. It expanded inside my chest until I thought it wouldn’t fit anymore. Was it possible to die of happiness? I wanted to say the words back—they were on the tip of my tongue, pushing against my lips. I hadn’t known I felt that way toward him, but I did now, and I knew without a doubt that it was real.

  Despite how certain he’d sounded, worry lines formed between his brows when I remained silent. I longed to erase them, ached to tell him how I felt. But something stopped me. Instead of saying what my heart wanted, I replied softly yet firmly, “Then stay.”

  I might as well have shot him. The pain that shadowed his face hurt to see. But I wouldn’t take the request back. I needed him. Needed him. He was the closest thing I had to a home. When he was with me, I felt safe. Alive. He made me look forward to an uncertain future, one where I wouldn’t be alone. Together we could find a way to help those trapped inside Tatum City. But apart? Every bone in my body rebelled against being separated from him, as though warning me that he shouldn’t leave alone.

  So I steeled my spine and said again, “Stay, Bren. Please.”

  His mouth twisted as if he too were fighting with his heart. At the turmoil clearly written in his eyes, my heart sank. I already knew what he was going to say. “I can’t. I’m so sorry, little bird.”

  “Then let me go with you.”

  “You’re killing me, Lune. I can’t let you go back there knowing what Renold wants with you and what Lars has threatened to do. I have to finish this on my own.”

  “Why? Why you, Bren? What you’re attempting to do is . . . it’s suicide, okay?” My teeth chattered as my voice and emotions rose. I was now gripping his wet shirtfront, halfway between shoving him back and dragging him closer. Couldn’t he see how impossible this mission of his was? Being allowed to leave the city once was a miracle, but twice? Fear sent goosebumps skittering across my skin. “If you go back alone, something tells me I’ll never see you again.”

  “You will.”

  “You can’t know that. What if my—what if Renold discovers that you’re a spy? What if he tortures you for information? What if he—” I sat up straighter. “I saw Iris.”

  “What?” His tone changed then, filling with purpose. Almost faster than I could blink, he had us both on our feet. He switched the shower off and, after wrapping a towel around me, said, “Where is she?”

  “Underground. She’s still in Tatum City though. I don’t know what building it is—I can’t remember the city’s layout—but she was surrounded by cement. And . . . I can’t be sure, not with my memories blocked, but I think Renold has her.”

  Bren swore under his breath. He left a wet trail behind him as he exited my bathroom in a rush, stripping off his shirt in the process. “Get dressed, Lune. Dr. Moore needs to hear this.”

  I stared at the wall over his shoulder so I wouldn’t get distracted by all that sleek golden skin. “Bren,” I called before he could slip out of the room. With a hand already on the doorknob, he shot a distracted glance my way. “If I’m so important to Renold, why did he allow me to leave?”

  His gaze shifted to the floor so I couldn’t read his expression. Ah crap, what was he
hiding this time? Before my anger could ignite, he replied with, “I don’t think there’s a clear-cut answer to that question. I think he wanted to test your loyalty and further draw out your abilities. But . . . I also think he’s jealous.”

  “Wait, what?” I definitely didn’t expect that last one. Jealous?

  Bren huffed a laugh. I watched in surprise as he began rubbing at his neck. “Yeah. He’s never let on, but I think he knows about our past connection. I spun a convincing story about seeking asylum from the Recruiter Clan, saying I’d do anything to avoid being used by them any longer. They might be loyal to him, but that doesn’t mean the sentiment swings both ways. He welcomed me with open arms. Of course, I had my own set of rules to follow once inside—one of them being to sign contracts with all three Trials. To keep me in line, he threatened to hand me over to the Recruiter’s boss. Anyway, I think his real reason for allowing me entrance was you.”

  “Me?”

  “Mmhmm. He counted on you remembering me so your emotions would stay heightened and unbalanced. All of that anger and hate and fear was supposed to make you project your ability. I didn’t come to these conclusions until two nights before the first Trial, when I could sense the anger pouring off him after discovering we had feelings for each other. The fact that you didn’t hate me anymore, that you actually considered me an ally . . .”

  He barked a laugh and shook his head. “I wish you could have smelled his jealousy when he realized your loyalty had been given to another.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “I don’t see how this is funny.”

  “It’s not,” he said, trying unsuccessfully to wipe away his grin. “Maybe just a little.”

  My eyes narrowed on him. “Is this like some male dominance thing where you pee on your territory? Because that crap is so not going to—”

  “I swear it’s not. I swear! Stop looking at me like that. Besides, I think the point of letting us both leave the city was to see if we’d run off together or betray one another. If we ran, I’m betting our brains would be fried right about now.” He twisted, tapping at the base of his neck where a small scar lay. “That nut job has an obsession with electricity.”