Chapter Six
Kevin and Dr. Ryder were deep in conversation in the laboratory when we walked in. He nodded attentively, seemingly absorbing every word Dr. Ryder spoke, but his brow stayed scrunched the entire time. I was pretty sure everything Dr. Ryder said was going right over his head.
Gabby went with me, which, after a night of intense bonding and information overload, was precisely what I needed: a friend.
With a deliberate clearing of her throat, she caught their attention. The moment her dad’s eyes landed on me, he jumped back and clapped his hands once.
“Ah, there you are, young lady!” Dr. Ryder, not so gently, shoved Kevin off the chair in front of him. “Sit, sit. Right here,” he said, tapping the back of the chair.
“Good morning, Dr. Ryder.”
“Yes, it’s a good morning to sit. Right here.”
I tried not to laugh. “What are you going to do?”
“It’s nothing, really. A simple set of tests that will tell me everything I need to know.” He lifted a tube rack and stared at it. “I think these twelve vials will do.”
I stared at the vials in shock. “You’re taking that much blood?”
“A simple donation, really. Compared to the amount of information we’ll gain. I think with you, we can get Mr. Pierce here back on his feet.” If the wide smile didn’t make it clear, the loud clap on Kevin’s back told us just how excited Dr. Ryder was.
“Well, that’s my cue. Good luck with that!” Kevin gestured at the empty vials.
“Wait, you’re leaving?”
“Nick and Jay are waiting so we can talk.”
“You mean to strategize?” Gabby said, catching my eye and smirking.
I tried to stifle a laugh but failed. “Oh yeah, can’t be short one strategist.”
Kevin looked from me to Gabby and shook his head. “Good to see you two are besties now.”
“Off you go, young man.” Dr. Ryder tapped the back of the chair again, looking at me. “Sit, sit.”
“He’s a kid in a candy store,” Gabby whispered.
“Yep. I see that.” I dropped into the chair, already dreading what was coming. The look on Dr. Ryder’s face told me he was going to enjoy this way too much.
After leaving the lab, Gabby assured me I’d feel better soon.
I had to admit, my self-healing powers were incredibly handy, considering the man had no idea how to find a vein.
I peeled off the Band-Aid to check it out, and sure enough, the ugly bruise left by my donation was already gone.
But I still felt lightheaded . . . and I was starving!
Ironically, what had delayed my breakfast was Dr. Ryder’s endless speech about how Luminaries needed to eat constantly—something about our powers burning through energy like a furnace.
I headed to the cafeteria on a mission to find something to devour, only to find the gang waiting for us.
“There you are,” Nick said. “Andrew just got back with Anali.”
“That’s the babysitter, right?” I grabbed a croissant from the table, and the flaky layers melted in my mouth as I took a big bite. Oh, yes. Definitely the good stuff.
“Yes,” Annie answered, bouncing Jack on her lap.
I saw Andrew by the counter with a long-haired brunette.
Had to admit, my desperate need for caffeine had my full focus, so I wasn’t exactly giving the girl my undivided attention.
But then, out of nowhere, she saw me and made a beeline in my direction.
She caught me off guard and I fumbled, dropping the rest of my precious croissant. Dammit.
“Ryan! You’re okay!” She hugged me.
Everyone in this group loved to hug, didn’t they? If she hadn’t greeted me with a warm smile, I might have felt suffocated. But seriously, I needed them to give me some space from now on. Wasn’t sure how to say it, though.
“Umm hi, yeah,” I said. “You must be Anali?”
“Oh, right!” She pulled back. “You don’t remember anything. I am, but you usually call me Ana.”
“Sorry,” I said, sidestepping to clean up the mess on the floor. My main priority, though, was to hurry so I could get my caffeine fix. And more food.
“All right! Everyone’s here now, so listen up.” Jay tapped the table and waited for Anali to look at him. “We need you to tell us everything you know about your brother’s whereabouts.”
She squinted at him, trying to make sense of what he was saying. “Me? You’re talking to me?” She looked at Annie. “Is he talking to me?”
“Yes, we know you have a brother. You helped him escape. But now we need him, and we need you, for your powers.”
If stares could kill!
The sweet smile continued on Anali’s face, but her dark eyes told a different story about what her intentions might be. “You . . . I don’t know who you are, but I don’t have a brother and I have no powers.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Ana Banana.”
She frowned. “Ana Banana?”
“Yes. It’s what Antonio called you, no?”
Anali looked at Nick and Annie. “Who is this guy?”
Annie walked toward her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’re caught up on Ryan’s memory and how she’s been framed as a criminal?”
“Yes. What does that have to do with me? And why is this guy calling me a nickname he has no right to?”
“He’s Ryan’s friend.”
With all eyes fixed on me, I hastily devoured what was left of my second croissant before answering. God forbid they could carry on without me having to explain myself. I gestured to Jay with my coffee. “He’s one of us.”
“I don’t feel—”
“Jenny said so.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “Okay, I’ll listen.”
Well, damn, that worked. Jenny said so. It’s like a new superpower, so simple and effective. “Thank you. That’s all I can ask of you.”
She looked him up and down. “I don’t understand how he knows about my brother. No one knew.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Jay looked at her. “I’ve known since he disappeared, and I’ve kept the secret. But now we need to find him.”
“Why?” With a stern look on her face, she crossed her arms over her chest. “What does he have to do with anything?”
“You two have powers that are the key to . . . well, everything.”
“But I told you, I have no abilities. I never displayed anything strongly enough.”
“Yes, you do. It’s minimal, but Annie can help you boost it. Ryan can amplify it, and most importantly, you need to be together for it to work the way we need it to.”
“Nah, I don’t know about that.” Anali shook her head.
“You are twins. Alone, your power can be dormant if you don’t use it.” He tilted his head, staring at her. “Or if you ignore it. But together? Together you have the possibility of defying quantum physics.”
She laughed. “You’re off your meds, dude.”
“If I’m wrong, why is he hiding?”
“He’s—okay, you’re right. He has powers. They said his markers were strong, but I don’t think he knows how to use them. They wanted to do experiments on him so when he got a chance to escape, he took it.”
“This is important. If nothing else, we’re all in hiding now and they’re off looking for Luminaries. You still would want him safe by your side, wouldn’t you?” Jay pressed.
“I don’t know where he is. All I know is he was supposed to keep on the move across the country. Or countries even, I wouldn’t know.”
“Surely you must have a way to find each other or stay in contact?” I asked.
She took the baby from Annie. “If you and Nick think this is important, I trust you. If not, I’d rather not mess with my brother’s hiding place.”
“It is important, Anali. We wouldn’t ask otherwise.”
“You have to promise me you’ll keep him safe.”
“We’ll do what we can,” Annie said. “But I can’t promise you he’ll be any safer than the rest of us. If this works, though—and we think it will—we’ll all be out of this immediate danger.”
“Okay.” She turned to Jay. “But tell me, why us specifically?”
“I’ll have Dr. Ryder explain it,” Annie said. “If Jay’s right, what you and your brother can accomplish together could be the miracle we need.”
“Okay.” Anali looked at her with worry in her eyes. “We agreed he’d reach out every couple of years to let me know a location where he’d leave a clue. At this point, the last clue is over a year old.”
“We’ll work with it,” Kevin said. “What can you tell us?”
“We have to go to Erie, Pennsylvania.” She looked at us. “And that’s just to find the first clue. He will not be there.”
“This actually works in your favor.” Kevin turned to me. “They’re looking for you in New York, so the plan is to find her brother and keep you as far away from here as possible.”
To my ears, the idea of being in a land far, far away from here sounded quite appealing.
The mere thought of what they would do if they found me made me shudder.
Then again, if they did, my nightmare might just be over.
Ugh! I needed to focus on this plan for now.
I tried to shake off the thought. “How are we going to get there? Won’t people recognize me? ”
“We’ll get an RV,” Jay said. “Kevin, you’ll have to work on your powers. If Dr. Ryder’s idea works, you can teleport us all if needed. I can mimic you and teleport too, in case we’re separated. But I think we should keep the group small: Anali, Ryan, Kevin, and I will go.”
“What about the rest of us?” Beth asked. “Shouldn’t we come, too?”
“The young Luminaries are a concern,” he said. “So you all need to start evacuating this facility right away.”
“Why evacuate?” I asked. “I thought we were safe here.”
“I don’t know for sure, but I think they’re aware there’s a training center in this area. We have to assume they’ll find it soon.”
“Now you tell us?” Kevin asked.
“I only remembered when you mentioned Ryan shouldn’t be in New York.” He looked at me. “I swear, I meant to warn you, but with everything that’s happened, I forgot until now.”
Annie looked nervous. “He’s right. We need to move everyone out. Not many are left since the attack at the Org. It’s best we destroy all the information here and keep everyone safe.”
“We started that process already,” Chris said.
Annie turned to her husband. “Nick, you’ll need to hypnotize them not to use their powers until it’s safe again.”
“We should give them the option to give up their powers and forget they ever had them,” Nick said.