Inescapable (Talented Saga #7) (6 page)

“
I don’t suppose a private
visit is on the table?” I chanced.

“
The only other option on
the table is
my
supervision,” Victoria replied.

I waved a hand dismissively in Yocum’s
direction. “I suppose he’ll do.”

The briefest of smirks
flitted across his face at my words—a victory for me. One of my
favorite pastimes on Vault—okay, my
only
one—was prompting my guard to
break his stoic exterior, even if only momentarily.

As far as jailers went, Agent Yocum was
actually much better than I’d expected. Since being sentenced to an
indeterminate amount of time on Vault, I’d come to think of
Nicci—he hated when I called him that, so naturally I did so as
frequently as possible—as a kind-of-sort-of friend. Victoria had
assigned him to me as a personal guard, tasking him with both my
containment and my protection.

I might have been UNITED’s prisoner, but I
was still quite valuable to them. Way too valuable to let something
happen to me, whether from the guards or my fellow prisoners.

An alarm sounded. A pleasant mechanical
voice came over the loud speaker.

“
Meal One will be delivered
in ten minutes. Thank you, and have a wonderful day.”

My eyes darted to Agent Yocum just as
quickly as my mood plummeted.

“
Time to go?” I asked,
already knowing the answer.

He nodded once and withdrew handcuffs from
his belt.

Even as I felt the weight of another
twenty-three hours alone descending upon me, I returned my
attention to Victoria. “Thank you.” The two simple words rolled off
of my tongue with considerable effort.

“
You are welcome.”
Victoria’s expression softened. “I know we are out of time, but I
wanted to let you know, I included Alexander McDonough in the
visitation petition….”

Her words brought a soft glow of hope to the
darkness that had overtaken me, though it didn’t last long.

“
I am sorry, Talia,”
Victoria said gently. “The council denied the request.”

I nodded dismally in response.

Alex was a spunky little boy with more power
in his tiny child’s pinky finger than most Talents would ever
experience. More than the Created, for that matter. Alex’s
parents—Donavon, my ex-boyfriend, and Kandice, the girl he’d
cheated on me with—were both gone, so the little guy was an orphan.
Both had died violently at the hands of TOXIC—Kandice while
protecting Alex, and Donavon while protecting me.

On her deathbed, I’d promised Kandice that
her sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain, and that I’d make sure Alex was
okay. I’d made Donavon a similar promise, to protect Alex at all
costs.

Craptastic job you’re doing
with the whole protection gig
, I thought,
surveying the small exercise cell with its walls of reinforced
glass surrounded by steel bars.
Epic fail,
Tals.

My self-chastising thoughts and overwhelming
guilt were apparently too strong to keep to myself, because
Victoria’s stoic expression softened once more.

“
Alex is well, I promise,”
Victoria offered. “Earon Kelley is a wonderful guardian, and I have
been overseeing his education personally.”

I rolled my eyes. “Education? He’s a
toddler, Victoria. He doesn’t need education yet. He needs to be a
kid.”

“
He is a child with
exceptional gifts, Talia. As you know, it is very rare for someone
so young to exhibit such talent. His power ratings are
unquantifiable. That sort of power needs to be honed, polished, and
channeled correctly.” Victoria held up a hand when I opened my
mouth to argue. “I have no interest in exploiting a young child,
Talia, I merely wish to provide some guidance. We do work some with
his abilities, but his curriculum is focused on the arts right now.
Despite Alex’s limitations, his artistic abilities are quite
impressive already. I am sure you will agree once you have seen the
pictures he has made you, I will be sure to send them along with
Mr. Kelley tomorrow.”

“
I already know they are,”
I said, a note of pride creeping into my voice.

The “limitation” she was referring to was
not at all uncommon for a Remote Viewer; Alex was born blind.
Instead of traditional sight, he saw the world through visions that
he then drew with an eerie precision that had always unnerved
me.

“
His new tutor, Sasha
Zostov, was a special needs instructor at the Academy of the Gifted
in Budapest,” Victoria continued. “Alex seems fond of her, and
Earon is pleased with the arrangement.”

The slip was subtle. I might’ve missed it,
had I not already been suspicious; she’d called Erik’s father by
his first name. Not “Mr. Kelley.” Victoria had formality and
etiquette rammed down her throat while growing up, and therefore
did not refer to male acquaintances by their first names. But I’d
caught her doing so several times lately with Mr. Kelley.

Erik is going to
freak,
I thought with a grin. For a brief
moment, I considered dipping in to Victoria’s head for sordid
details that I could use to torture him.

A warning flashed fast and
fierce across Victoria’s sweaty face. My smile, as well as my
desire to infiltrate Victoria’s thoughts for confirmation of my
suspicions, withered and died a quick death. Two words blazed a
path inside my head: “
Do Not.”

I really needed to get a handle on my
newfound problems with projecting. Solitude had made me
careless.

“
I look forward to meeting
the tutor,” I said absently. “She sounds like a real
catch.”

A delicate wrinkle formed between Victoria’s
brows as she frowned. “Not only is Ms. Zostov a gifted Viewer, she
is also fluent in six languages. She is well-respected and highly
sought after, we are lucky to have her.”

Victoria sounded defensive, and I realized
she’d misread my sincerity for sarcasm. It was an understandable
mistake, since most of the comments that came out of my mouth these
days were sarcastic, but I didn’t bother correcting her.

“
Why did Zostov leave the
Academy?” I asked. I was definitely curious about Alex’s new tutor,
but I was also embarrassingly desperate to keep the councilwoman
talking a little longer. Though Victoria and I had never seen
eye-to-eye, and I wasn’t her favorite person, her company and
conversation were far better than twiddling my thumbs in my cell
over a piping hot plate of gruel.

Victoria’s frown deepened at my question.
“Excuse me?”

“
You said she’s highly
sought-after, so why did she leave the Academy in Budapest?” I
repeated.

“
Oh, right.” Victoria
sighed, absently rubbing the blossoming bruise on her stomach from
my kick. “After news of the Created and the experiments done at the
McDonough School became public, Hungary’s government voted to close
all of the country’s gifted institutions. It was a highly
controversial decision, since those schools were privately
funded.”

“
That sucks,” I said,
feeling sad for Alex’s new tutor, her colleagues, and all the
Talented kids who no longer had a safe space. The world was a crazy
place at the moment.

“
Even worse, the
instructors were detained and interrogated by the Hungarian
government, ostensibly to determine whether the same types of
experiments were being performed in their schools.” Victoria’s lips
thinned to show how distasteful she found the prospect. “The
interrogation methods were not pleasant.”

“
Psychic interrogation
never is,” I agreed quietly.

It was a fact I knew all too well, having
performed several psychic interrogations myself. The techniques
were so risky that I’d utterly broken the brain of someone
once.

“
I am afraid the techniques
employed were nothing quite so humane,” Victoria replied. “They
used primal methods that are more likely to result in a confession
made under extreme duress, rather than finding the actual truth of
a situation.”

I cringed. Physical torture—the preferred
interrogation method of bloodthirsty psychopaths.

“
I’m sure she will be a
great tutor for Alex,” I replied quietly, quickly steering our
conversation away from unpleasantness.

Victoria’s gaze narrowed suspiciously.

“
Seriously, I meant that,”
I continued. “And thank you for doing it. He’s a very special
child, and not just because he’s powerful. I care….” I had to clear
my throat. “I care about him a lot. I know I—”

“
I understand, Talia,”
Victoria interrupted, saving me from the embarrassment that was
pricking the corners of my eyes. “Earon and I are doing everything
possible to make sure all of his needs are being met.”

“
Thank you,” I
repeated.

Outside the exercise cell, Agent Yocum
rattled his cuffs. I sighed and nodded; playtime was over. When he
waved me forward, I automatically slid my hands through the
rectangular opening in the bars. Yocum snapped the cuffs around my
wrists from the other side of the bars, and then unlocked the
exercise cell. Taking my arm, he began to lead me towards cellblock
five—home of the highly dangerous offenders.

“
Talia?”

I paused but didn’t turn around. Even though
I knew it was an absurd reaction, given everything else I’d
experienced in my life, being handcuffed and shuffled around filled
me with shame.

“
Yes, Victoria?”

“
I left some reading
materials in your cell. I thought maybe we could discuss them on my
next visit.”

Feeling both curious and suspicious, I did
look over my shoulder this time.

“
Like a book club meeting?”
I asked.

Though I caught a fleeting glimpse of
Victoria’s smile before she pulled a sweatshirt over her head, it
was gone by the time she pulled the garment in to place. Brushing
stray strands of auburn hair back from her face, the head of UNITED
met my gaze.

“
Not exactly.” Victoria
paused, her expression becoming strained. “I believe, as I always
have, that you are very valuable to UNITED. After your latest
transgression, not all council members agree with me. If you want
to see Alex, or to see Erik without a chaperone ever again, it is
imperative that you prove my faith in you is not
misplaced.”

Erik

New York City, New York

Four Days Before the Vote

“
Smile, kid—that’s what
they’re paying you for.”

Agent Miles DeSanto gave me a sidelong
glance as he smoothly navigated the helicopter onto a landing pad
at UNITED’s New York base.

I shifted in my seat, loosened the knot on
my tie, played with my suit jacket, fastened and unfastened the
buttons, basically did anything possible to keep my fingers busy.
Smiling for the masses was getting old, and I was anxious to get
the peace rally over with already.

Nonetheless, I turned to Miles, parted my
lips, and gave him a toothy grin.

He chuckled. “Gonna have to do better than
that, kid. ‘Cause that’s just creepy, you look like a maniac.

I
feel
like a maniac,
I thought.

As UNITED’s poster child
for the Created, I was supposed to show the world that we were
harmless, friendly, and just like the norms. Except, I wasn’t
harmless. And since the creation drug, I wasn’t all that amiable,
either. All in all, I was
nothing
like the norms.

My created powers made me something
different, something dangerous; a monster dressed up in a suit.

“
You can do this, you’ve
got this. It’s just like last time. Smile, shake hands, kiss
babies. Make them love you.”
Penny Crane
put a hand on my shoulder as she flooded my mind with reassurances.
Then, a calming wave washed over me, erasing my doubts and easing
the tension in my muscles. Memories of Talia—easily the most
amazing girl in the whole world—filled my head. On the beach in
California, Talia wading in the waves as her chestnut curls framed
her heart-shaped face. Festivis Day, with Talia dancing and singing
in the streets of Washington, D.C. Waking up on Eden with Talia
beside me each morning, watching her in those precious moments
before her violet eyes opened.

The helicopter skids touched down on the
landing strip, jostling me slightly in my seat and pulling me from
the visions of Talia. Through the window, I glimpsed the gathered
crowd of supporters and haters alike, already surging toward the
front of the building where the aircraft had landed. Reality came
crashing back with jarring force. It had been nearly one month
since I’d last seen Talia in person, and our parting was not one of
my happier memories.