Duality: Vol 2, Euphoria (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) (33 page)

“They were using Influencers,” said Jasmine.  “I don’t know who or how, but they had Influencers working as part of the security system.  The geek we talked to seemed pretty proud of it.”  She leaned against the back bumper of the car, next to Kootch.

“That makes sense, then,” said Mr. Butts.  “If Rae and Malcolm were there canceling out all their power, it would have completely failed.”

“Zane told me that they weren’t allowed to have electronic devices of any kind there.  That they kept their place secret that way.”

“Well, maybe that’s what they told Zane, but we found plenty of signals coming out of there,” said Mrs. Butts.  “And the person in charge, I’m not sure what his actual name is, he was the worst offender with the chatter and talking too much about what was going on with outside sources.”

“I wonder if it was that man I saw in the meeting room,” said Rae, looking up at me.

I shrugged, not having any idea who she was talking about.  We hadn’t yet had time to talk about what happened when we were apart in the compound.

“His code name was Cobra.”  Mr. Butts laughed.  “Very spicy for a brain trust, but whatever.  It probably intimidated some of the people involved.”

“Did you say Cobra?” I asked.

“Yes.  Do you know who it is?”

“It’s Helen,” I said.  “She’s the Cobra.  And I don’t think it’s just a … spicy nickname or whatever.  She was very slithery.  I’ll bet she’s an Influencer herself.”

“You don’t mean shape shifter, I hope,” said Jasmine.  She pushed off the back of the car and looked into the tinted window to the trunk area.  “Maybe she shifted and slithered into the car.”

“No, don’t be silly.  I mean she was sneaky and she had this face like a serpent.  And she would just stare at you and … well, it was creepy.  Just trust me on that.”

Mr. and Mrs. Butts looked at each other, a silent message passing between them.

“So where are we going?” asked Jasmine.

“You are going home, young lady.  And you can look forward to fifty hours of additional training that starts at oh-six-hundred tomorrow morning,” said her father.

“What?  Why?  What’d I do?”

“You took too many risks.  We just need to work on your tactical training, that’s all.”

“Tactical training?” I asked, not sure I completely understood what I was hearing.

“Yeah, you know.  So I can become a certified badass,” Jasmine said, smiling.  She didn’t seem too upset about the training, really.

“I want in on this training,” said Kootch.  “I was totally fucked when those guys hit us up.  I didn’t know my butthole from a hole in the ground.”

Mrs. Butts laughed, putting her hand on Kootch’s shoulder.  “We’d be happy to include you, if Jasmine’s okay with it and your father is too.”

“My father’s not even going to know.  I’ll tell him I’m doing extra hours of phys ed.  He’ll be fine as long as I’m out of the house.”  He looked down at Jasmine who’d settled in next to him again.  Elbowing her, he said, “You mind if I join the fun?  Show you a thing or two about being a badass?”

She snorted.  “Huh.  Yeah, right.  You can come, but be prepared to be schooled, not be giving lessons.”  She looked over at Rae, shaking her head.  “Stupid guys.”

Rae stepped a little closer and put her arm around my waist.  “I just want to know what you think Malcolm and I should do.  I don’t want to go back home.  I can’t.  Not with a handler there waiting to brainwash me or whatever.”

“No, you can’t go home,” agreed Mr. Butts.  “We’re hoping you’ll take us up on our offer of shelter.  We can’t risk getting you involved in what we’re doing now … not until we take care of the Greater Good problem, anyway.”

Mrs. Butts snorted in disgust.  “Greater Good.  How obnoxious can anyone be?  As if they know what’s good for all of us.”

“Seriously,” I agreed.  “Those people in there … I want nothing to do with them.”

“There are other influencers in there,” said Rae.  “A boy who can make people think they’re on fire…”

“A guy who’s apparently so gorgeous you ask him to take his clothes off,” said Jasmine, winking at Rae.

“Stop, that’s not what happened.”  Rae put her head down.  Even in the meager parking garage lights I could see her face was red.

“What
did
happen?” I asked.  I didn’t mean to put her on the spot, but I had a feeling the Butts group should know.  If they were going to deal with the Greater Good team, they needed to be totally updated on the Influencers they might go head-to-head with.

“He was the most gorgeous man you could ever imagine.”

“Did we see him before he got all ass-ugly?” asked Jasmine.

“Yes.  But I think because Malcolm was close to me, you just saw what he really looks like, not what he influences people to see.  And I’m not even sure we’d see the same person if we both looked at him without Malcolm around.  Maybe he was just my version of gorgeous, I don’t know.”

“But why were his clothes off, that’s what I want to know,” said Kootch.

“Because … he was suffering the Rainbow love first of all, and second of all, I made him kind of a deal.”  Rae pulled away from me, folding her arms across her chest.

“What kind of deal?” I asked.  I put my hand on her arm gently.  “Don’t worry about me.  I’m cool with it, whatever it is.”

She looked up at me.  “It’s … a little embarrassing.”  She looked over at the Butts family.  “I was trying to help, in case you guys came with a rescue team.”  She sighed heavily before continuing.  “I told him if he gave me the answers to my questions, I’d have sex with him.”

Jasmine choked out a laugh and Kootch had to whack her on the back several times to help her breathe again.

“Well, Rae … that was very dedicated.  Thank you,” said Mrs. Butts.  She walked over and gave Rae a hug.  “I hope he didn’t hurt you, sweetie.”

“No, he didn’t.”  She was shaking her head over Mrs. Butts’ shoulder.  “He might have, but it didn’t get that far.  Malcolm showed up and blew his cover.”

“And you were like, yo! Deal’s off!  I’m not having sex with you, ugly boy!” said Kootch, laughing along with Jasmine.  The two of them were bent over, holding their stomachs and hooting.

She stepped back from Mrs. Butts and scowled at Jasmine.  “It wasn’t like that.”

I pulled her to me by her t-shirt.  “Get over here and hug me,” I said, forcing her to put her arms around me.  “You did awesome.  You were completely brave and came up with a killer plan.  And it totally worked, right?  You got all the secrets and didn’t have to give anything in return.  It was perfect.”

She looked up at me.  “You mean it?  You’re not mad?”

I shook my head, one-hundred percent honest when I replied.  “No. Not at all.  I’m proud of you.”  It’s a phrase I’d never heard anyone say to me, but she needed to hear it.  Her father had disappeared to be replaced by a madman, her mother had rolled over and let it happen for some reason, and now she was left with no one but me.  It was my job now to take care of her and let her know what a great person she is.

“Okay, kids, so here’s the deal.  We have a car full of gas for you over there.” Mr. Butts lifted up the keychain and pressed a button, making the tail-lights and headlights on a mini SUV light up and a beep sound twice.  “There’s food in the back to get you to your destination.  The car’s a hybrid, so you should be able to make it as far as you need to without stopping.  There’s a paper map in the glove box for you to follow - no GPS in this baby, okay?”

We both nodded.  I was excited knowing we had a plan.

“We’ve got funding to keep you supported for the next two years, got it?  That means money for food, clothing, shelter, that’s it.  You’re going to have to live very frugally to survive on this budget, do you understand?”

We both nodded again.  I felt like a bobble head.

“Where is it?” Rae asked.

“You’ll know when you get there,” said Mrs. Butts.  “The rent is paid and the contract is in another name.  No one will bother you there.  Stay away from the public as much as you can.  You can go online, but don’t contact anyone you used to know.”

“Except me,” said Jasmine, walking over to stand next to her parents.  “She can contact me, right?”

Her mother nodded.  “Yes.  You’ll be able to reach us via secure online video chat.  We have it set up for you.  There will be instructions at the house.  You’ll be able to order your groceries online and have them delivered, and anything else you need, you just contact us.”

“Why are you doing all this?” I asked, pretty much blown away by the generosity.  They didn’t even really know either of us, but they were treating us like we were their kids.

“First of all, we want to help you get your lives ironed out,” said Mr. Butts.  His voice had gone a little gruff.  “Every teenager deserves a relatively stress-free life before joining the adult ranks, and you haven’t had that.  Neither of you have.  Consider this a birthday present from our family.”  He put his arm around his wife and daughter.

Jasmine nodded, obviously proud of her parents.  I would have been too, if they were mine.  Right now I was just grateful.

Mrs. Butts picked up the explanation.  “We estimate it’ll take about eighteen months to root out all the players in this scheme so that we can get them reported and the evidence gathered for some kind of prosecution.  We want you to lie low and stick together until we’re free to bring you back or introduce you to our team.  We have a lot to learn from you, but not just yet.”

  “You stay in contact with me,” said Jasmine.  “I’ll let you know what happens at school with Holder and Derek.”

“Nothing’s going to happen with them,” said Mr. Butts.  “They’re gone.”

“But I don’t understand,” I said.  “I heard them talking about Rae in the bathroom. They’ve been at that school for years.  It doesn’t make sense.”

“The best we can figure out is that the Greater Good had some internal struggles going on.  Or they had some people who didn’t agree, who fractured off and started their own thing.  We’re not totally sure yet,” said Mr. Butts.

“And the ones that fractured off had a lot of IT support, apparently,” said Mrs. Butts. “I’ve traced all kinds of activity that links over to Mr. Livingston.  I believe what happened is they manipulated his data files to draw him over to this school specifically, where they had people in place already, people like Derek and Mr. Holder who’d been trained to deal with Influencers.”

“So they wanted Rae for themselves,” said Jasmine.

“Yes.  She was the golden goose, it appears,” said Mrs. Butts, looking at Rae apologetically.  “Of all the Influencers, her powers were considered the most valuable.”

“Why?” asked Rae.  “Why not Malcolm?”

“They didn’t even know about Malcolm,” said Jasmine.  “They thought he was just some kid.”

“I’m not sure how they identified the other Influencers,” said Mr. Butts, “but it’s clear that Malcolm was not on their radar.  There is no mention of him anywhere.”

Rae looked up at me and whispered, “The invisible man.”

It was too creepy to smile at.  I’d been invisible all my life until now, and I was okay with that, as long as Rae never looked through me.  She squeezed me as the thought was going through my mind, making a rush of warmth spread through my chest.  Then I smiled.

“So they wanted Rae - Holder and Derek - so they somehow tricked Mr. Livingston to come to our town and enroll Rae in our school?”  Kootch nodded.  “He’s got skills.  Can’t deny that.”

“Are you going to be able to find all of them?” I asked, wondering if eighteen months was long enough to close something of this size down, especially knowing there were two separate groups of them out there.

“Maybe, maybe not.  We’ll see.”  Mr. Butts leaned over and handed me the keys.  “Time for you two to head out of here.  Anything else you need?”

Rae and I shook our heads.  “No.  That’s all,” I said.  “But thanks.  Thanks so much for everything you’ve done and for what you’re going to do to help us.  We’re really grateful.” I cleared my throat when it got difficult to speak.  “No one’s ever had my back like this, so I know what a big deal it is.”

Mr. Butts grabbed me and hugged me roughly.  “Son, life doesn’t have to be about being alone.”  He pulled away and shook me by the shoulders a little.  “You’ve got the Butts family behind you too.  Never forget that.”

I shook my head.  “I won’t.”  It was the best I could do.  If I said anything else I’d bawl for sure.

Rae hugged Mr. and Mrs. Butts for a long time, crying and thanking them over and over.  Then she did the same with Kootch and Jasmine.  Kootch pretended to be enjoying it a little too much, but one punch from Jasmine made him quit.  I knew now that it was all an act to get her attention, making me wonder if they’d find happiness together like Rae and I had.

“Don’t forget to chat me up,” said Jasmine.  “I’ll be online all the time!”

I opened Rae’s door for her and waited to make sure she was all the way in before shutting it again.  I got in next to her and smiled, seeing the fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror.

“How much you want to bet that these are from Kootch?” I said, reaching up to flick one.

“No deal.  It had to be him.”  Rae smiled big, her eyes bright.

“So where are we going?”  I asked.

She opened the glove compartment and pulled out a stack of papers.  She read the first page.  “Leave out of the parking garage and turn right.  Follow the signs to the interstate highway, going north.”

“North, huh?” I said, starting the car and reversing out of the parking space.  “Maybe we’re going to Canada.”  I grinned at her, leaning over for a quick kiss before moving out of the garage.

“Maybe we are.  Or maybe they’ll send us over to Oregon or Washington,” Rae said, looking through the rest of the things they’d left.

I pulled out onto the main road and followed the instructions Rae gave me.

We tried to go the entire way without stopping but it just wasn’t possible.  After two uneventful rest stops, one for bathroom breaks and one for a quick nap, we made it to our destination, somewhere in Montana.  One of the most beautiful places I’d ever seen.

Unpacking and settling in was a breeze.  The attention to detail and comforts the Butts family had put in place made it so easy.  And playing house for real with Rae couldn’t have been more magical.