Contained (Evolution Series Book 5) (2 page)

The four of us made our way down to the boat hire place. The same guy who had served us last time was inside.

Since our pictures had been plastered over every media channel around the world, I figured it was easier if I was the only one going inside.

Aiden tugged my hand as I tried to let go. “I got this.”

“Thanks,” I said with a smile as a sense of relief swept over me. Since my latest visions, I’d felt uneasy about using my abilities. As stupid as it may have been, I figured that the less I used them, the less chance I would have of my visions coming true.

I half wondered if Nathan had drugged me with something else. Or maybe I was just predisposed to becoming a monster, with all the genetic alterations he’d done on me when I was conceived.

Aiden narrowed his eyes at me. “You can do this if you want.”

I shook my thoughts away. He’d assumed the reason I was dejected was because I wanted to be the one to take control for a change. Aiden had always taken care of those things and I was happy for him to continue. I forced a smile. “You go. I’ll stay here with these guys.” When he looked at me doubtfully, I added, “And make sure he gives us the lunch package. He forgot it last time.”

Although Aiden wasn’t convinced I was okay, he nodded and went inside.

Chelsea bumped shoulders with me. “Are you okay?”

I bumped her shoulder back. “Couldn’t be better.”

She eyed me suspiciously just as Aiden had, but she kept her opinion to herself.

A couple of minutes later, Aiden returned with a set of keys in one hand and a basket full of goodies in his other. “Ready?”

“Yep.” I linked my arm with his and we made our way down the jetty and climbed up onto the catamaran.

“How long do we have the boat?” I asked Aiden.

“One night so far, but we can extend it if you want.”

Chelsea pulled her towel out of her bag and spread it on the deck. “How about for a month?”

I laid my towel beside hers and sat down on it. “Won’t we be cramping your style?” I flicked my gaze up to Lucas then returned them to Chelsea.

She bit down on her smile. “There are bedrooms downstairs.”

I shoved her arm. “Please, Chels, spare me the details.”

Crossing her legs she twisted herself around to face me. “Come on, you want to know don’t you?”

I screwed up my face. “Nope. Ignorance is bliss.”

She cocked her thumb in Lucas’s direction. “He is bliss. It was as if he knew what I wanted. He was one hell of a…” She broke off in laughter. “You should see your face.”

“How about I send you an image of Aiden and me, and we’ll see if you’re still laughing.”

“Eww, no!”

“Exactly.”

She hugged her knees under her chin as she jittered with excitement. The girl couldn’t sit still. She was desperate to tell me what happened after Aiden dropped them at the hotel.

“Fine.” I lay down and stared absently at the one and only cloud in the sky. “But spare me the raunchy details.”

Letting go of her legs, she inched closer and lay down on her side, facing me. “Okay, well, let me just say, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

I chuckled as I rolled my head to the side. She was beaming with happiness. “Is it safe for me to ask what for?”

She drew her eyebrows together. “Aren’t you supposed to be able to hear my thoughts?”

“Nope. I’ve blocked your thoughts permanently! Your mind is
way
too dirty for me.”

“You never cared before.”

“That’s because you were never thinking about my brother’s hands running all over your body.”

Chelsea threw her head back as she laughed.

“I do not need to see my brother’s and BF’s sex life.”

“That’s just weird isn’t it?”

“That Lucas is my brother? Or that you’re dating my brother?”

“Dating…” She shook her head. “I never thought I’d hear that word associated with Lucas and me.”

I laughed. So far she hadn’t followed through on a single train of thought. I was sure her mind was bouncing around just as much as her body was. “You’ve got it bad.”

“That I do.” She grinned. “I didn’t think he’d ever go for a normal human. Ooh. That reminds me, Harry sent me a message.”

That got my attention. “What did he want?”

She chewed on her bottom lip. I was pretty sure she wasn’t thinking about Lucas so I reopened my connection to her mind, my eyes widening as soon as I realised what he wanted.

She pointed to her head. “You’re in there aren’t you?”

“He wants to start testing already?”

“He thinks it’s best if he starts gathering data from you as early as possible. But you already knew that didn’t you?”

I nodded. “So much for our break so we could be normal teenagers.”

“It’s just a little needle.”

I choked on a laugh. I wished I saw them that way. Every time I looked at the long shiny needle, I had to turn away so I didn’t pass out, which again had me confused as to how I would one day find it so easy to kill someone.

“Don’t suppose you want to come with me? That way Harry won’t have to come here,” Chelsea asked.

The thought of witnessing another medical experiment made me sick to my stomach but I wasn’t about to let her down. “And let him ruin our private teenage retreat? Never.”

“Good.” She put her hand on me and I didn’t hear what she said next because my mind was completely consumed with the vision I was thrown into.

Chelsea was cowering against a wall, with a knife held to her throat. Tears streamed down her face as she pleaded with me to stop.
Me!
I was the one holding a knife to her throat!

The moment Chelsea broke contact, I was back in the present. “Are you okay? You look kind of spaced out. But not in the way you do when you’re talking to your man.”

Paralysed with fear, I stared at her blankly.

She clicked her fingers in front of my face. “Earth to Jade.”

It wasn’t until Aiden transported beside me and put his hands on my shoulders that I came around. “Sorry,” I said. “Just, all this talk about needles is getting to me.”

Chelsea eyed me suspiciously but nodded. She tapped my knee and stood. “I’m just going to go over… away from you two.”

“Chels,” I said.

She smiled. “You need to talk to him and whatever it is about, I’m guessing you don’t need me around.”

“Thanks.” Aiden sat behind me, encompassing my body between his legs.

She nodded then headed aimlessly in search of something else to do.

Aiden pulled me back against his chest and draped his arm over my shoulder.
“What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“Jade…”

I bit my lip as I thought about what to tell him. Admitting my visions to myself was bad enough. I feared that if I told Aiden about them, he might actually believe them to be true and he may never look at me the same way again. I couldn’t bear to see him regard me the same way he did when I took his love for me away. So instead, I said, “I just can’t seem to stop thinking about Nathan.” I turned in his arms so I could see him. “I know I promised no Nathan talk but… I just can’t help but think he’ll always be there to drag me back down. I mean, who knows what he’s done to me—and you,” I quickly added. “And this ‘whole world knowing we exist’ thing is pretty hard to get my head around.” I looked into his bright green eyes. “What kind of life are we going to have? Has he ruined us?”

Aiden smiled sadly as he brushed my hair behind my ear. “
We
are going to have a great life.” He wrapped both arms around me and squeezed tightly. “You’ll see. And whatever the repercussions are, we will get through them together.” He kissed the top of my head.

I just hoped that his allegiance stretched to me turning into a psychotic killer.

Going back to the windowless, doorless room was kind of comforting. It was within those very walls we’d planned Nathan’s demise. What was located inside the cupboard was another story.

I looked to the side as Harry brought over the needle. “So, have you noticed anything different about yourself?” he asked Chelsea.

“Umm…” She paused to think and by the look on Harry’s face, I was glad I couldn’t hear what was going on inside her head. I’d also blocked Harry’s thoughts so I didn’t get a second hand view into her mind. “I’ve had a lot of energy.”

I choked on a laugh.

“What?” she asked. “That brother of yours really—”

I whacked her arm. “Stop! Just, please, stop.”

She grinned. “Sorry. But you know my mouth has a mind of it’s own.”

“That’s the understatement of the century.”

She nudged her thigh against mine. “You love me for it.”

“No. I put up with that shit because I love you.”

Chelsea shrugged. “Same dif.”

Harry chuckled. “Teenage girls never cease to amaze me.”

“Hey,” Chelsea said. “You say that as if you’re over a hundred and a little birdie told me you’re only in your thirties.”

He opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it.
“She still doesn’t know we can hear a normal’s thoughts does she?”

“Nope. She thinks it’s just me because of something Nathan did to me.”

Harry gave me an ever so slight nod then said, “I never understood them then and I don’t understand them now.”

Chelsea sat up tall. “That’s because perfection is complex.”

I laughed. “That’s so pathetic.”

She shrugged. “Well, you know my mind’s somewhere else. Be glad I’m not saying what’s really on my mind.”

“On that note.” Harry held up the needle as he took Chelsea’s arm.

I quickly looked away.

“Ouch!” Chelsea said making me jump.

I glared at her. “That’s so not funny.”

She laughed. “Yes, it is. You’re such a girl. They barely even hurt.”

“Except if Harry slips and sticks the needle deep into your muscles, then I bet it would hurt.”

Chelsea groaned as she rolled her eyes.

Harry chuckled. “Except
you
won’t feel the pain.”

“True,” I said, remembering when the psycho had carved me up. I hadn’t felt a thing. “But I’m not so sure you will be that lucky, Chels.”

“Death by needle. I think I’ll take my chances.”

Hearing the needle clink on the metal tray, and Harry’s footsteps as he turned away, I dared a peek in Chelsea’s direction. She was peering under the cotton ball that Harry had placed over the puncture wound.

“No way.” She inched her face closer to get a better look. “It’s closing up.” Chelsea held out her arm for me to look and sure enough, the tiny hole in her skin was almost gone.

She shifted her gaze to mine. Her eyes were lit up with excitement. “That is so cool.”

Harry came over and grabbed Chelsea’s arm, manoeuvring it so he could get a better look. A moment later he shook his head. “I guess we can say that healing is a definite ability Jade’s blood has given you.” He let go of her arm. “Whether it continues to have that effect… only time will tell.”

Hoping Chelsea’s mind was on the topic at hand, I opened up the connection to Harry’s thoughts. “And more testing I’m guessing,” I said, putting his plans out there.

“I suppose you’d probably need to take more of Jade’s blood to compare it to?” Chelsea asked with an evil grin.

I was relieved to hear that Harry already had enough of my blood for the time being.

He chuckled. “Jade’s off the hook for a while.” Harry sat in his desk chair and scooted into the open space between his desk and the bench we were sitting on. My heart sank as I heard what he was about to ask. “So have you heard anything about what’s happening with the media?” he asked.

“Nope. Been too busy for that,” Chelsea said with a grin.

Harry smiled briefly at Chelsea before returning his gaze to me. “What’s going through your head?”

I clenched my hands into fists as I thought about all the people who’d come forward pleading for my help.

“What’s he talking about?” Chelsea asked.

When I didn’t answer, Harry jumped in, “It didn’t take long for the word to get out about what Jade did to you and there’s been a continuous flood of people begging Jade to cure their terminally ill loved ones.”

I jumped off the bench and paced the room, a million scenarios running through my mind. Coming to a standstill I said, “We can’t. I know that sounds bad and all but we don’t know what my blood will do to them—”

“Ah, cure them,” Chelsea said as if it wasn’t half obvious.

I sighed. “But there’s a chance it might do more than just that. My blood may make them into a next gen and we can’t risk that.” I shook my head as the ramifications of what that could do to the world rushed by in a blur of dread. All I could think about was what if I created another Nathan. “We could turn the world from the crap hole it was, where humans can be unfairly struck down with various illnesses and disabilities, to a complete nightmare. We could potentially create an army of Nathans with more power than they could ever dream of, who won’t give a shit about the normal humans we’d started out trying to save in the first place. We could make it all so much worse.”

Harry nodded slowly as he thought about what I’d said.

“Well, I didn’t think about that,” Chelsea said, looking a little stunned.

“You’ve got a point.” Harry scooted on his chair back to his desk. He logged on to the computer then turned the screen so I could see and pressed play.

Chelsea hopped off the bench and came over to see what Harry was talking about. Tears soon flowed as we watched some playbacks of children pleading for me to save their terminally ill mum or dad. Parent’s pleading with me to save their dying children. There was even a nurse taking a video of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She zoomed in on a baby who’d just gone through heart surgery for the second time in his short three-week life. His chest was a mess, and the wounds went right down his tiny little body. She then moved on to another little one whose tummy was still open. Apparently they couldn’t close it up just yet and needed to keep a special tape over the open body and pray it would keep out any infections. The camera then turned to what had to be the baby’s mother. Tears streamed down her face as she begged me to end her baby’s suffering.

I couldn’t handle seeing it anymore. Without thinking it through, I transported away, not caring or deciding on where I was going.

Opening my eyes, I was relieved to see the one person who understood me more than I understood myself. I buried my head in Aiden’s bare chest and let my tears fall.

He handed his fishing rod to Lucas then drew me into a hug.

Not wanting to be around a crying nutcase, Lucas phased out, leaving us alone on the boat. I would’ve laughed at him if I wasn’t so upset. The images of the poor babies were ingrained in my head, and nothing I could do would make them go away. It would haunt me for eternity knowing I
could
stop their suffering but I wouldn’t.

Aiden kissed the top of my head.
“What’s wrong?”

I opened up my mind and let him take a look for himself.

“Shit.”

Lifting my head, I wiped away my tears and closed off my thoughts to Aiden. “I can’t sit back and do nothing… But I don’t know what to do. They may be so tiny and innocent right now, but who knows what they might grow into. I can’t have another Nathan.” The fact that I could very well be turning into Nathan set off a new round of tears.

Aiden wiped them away with his thumb. “What does Harry suggest we do? Because I’m sure he doesn’t want to deal with another Nathan either.”

Shaking my head, I choked on a laugh. I’d done what I always did. As soon as something got too much, I panicked and left. “I don’t know,” I said. “You know me, I transported to you before he even had a chance to discuss anything.”

He ran his hands down my arms then laced his fingers with mine. “How about we go find out?”

Nodding, I asked, “Is the boat safe for us to leave here?”

“Yep. The anchors are down. We’re good to go.”