Revived (The Lucidites Book 3) (2 page)

“I’m not sure he has any,” I said, looking up from the table and immediately regretting it. Most people in the main hall were staring at me like I was wearing a plate of spaghetti on my head. And one person’s expression in particular was enough to snap my sanity like a twig. Aiden’s eyes grew wide as the white coat next to him leaned over and whispered the news in his ear. His chin jerked to the side and down, repulsion written on his face.

I expected him to bring his eyes back up to find mine, to offer me comfort in a look. I expected him to raise his head and finish his toast. I even half expected him to come over to me and say something, anything. But he didn’t. Aiden stayed, eyes pinned on the table, stress furrowing his brow, for too long. I lost track of how long he stayed frozen. Then I left, unable to bear how his paralysis threw my heart into a fit of wild tics.

Now I’m cuddled up on a couch in the library surrounded by books and not able to make sense of any of this. Volumes written by Poe, Emerson, Thoreau and their contemporaries aren’t doing their jobs anymore. I’m starting to feel the doom push in on me.

Joseph strides up to my fortress of books and swiftly knocks it down with a single kick. “Enough!”

I turn over on my side, pull a book up next to me, and pretend to read it.

“Stark, this is worthless behavior,” he reprimands.

“Who says?” I say, stretching out my feet on the coffee table in front of me.

“Face this
with
me,” Joseph says, looking defenseless.

“Why’d you blab to everyone?” I ask, not hiding my disdain.

“It was an accident actually,” Joseph says, pushing his hands through his short blond hair. “I told Trent when we were standin’ in line at the buffet table this morning. I guess one of the kitchen people overheard it. By the time I’d gotten through the line and sat down it appeared a fair amount of people already knew. People love a scandal, what can I say.”

“It shouldn’t have come out,” I say bitterly. “You were sloppy.”

“Well, it’s too late now, so get over it.”

“That’s what I was trying to do. You’re interrupting my ‘get-over-it’ ritual.”

“No I’m not. You’re just using this as another excuse to sulk.”

“I don’t really need any more excuses, thank you very much.” I pull a few of the closest books to me, hoping they’ll provide the comfort and salvation I’m seeking through osmosis.

“I just need you to wake up,” Joseph pleads with an exasperated tone. “You think I can face this without you right now?” Apparently he forgot how much he made me face alone while he was off resurrecting Zhuang, but this is probably not the right time to throw it in his face.

Joseph ignores my obvious body language that warns him to stay away, shoves a dozen books on the ground loudly, and sits down on the sofa next to me. “Please, just this once don’t run away. I need your help. This isn’t somethin’ I want to deal with on my own.”

Suddenly something new enters my heart; it isn’t my own self-pity, it’s Joseph’s suffering. I pull at the string attached to his emotion and a series of thoughts follow. They aren’t my thoughts though, they’re his. For some reason now I can pick up on his thoughts and emotions the way he’s always done with me. I stay silent as I listen to him.
Why does she have to be so difficult?
She’s so selfish.

I swiftly punch him in the arm.

“Ow!” he yelps. “What was that for?” he says, rubbing his arm.

“Selfish? Really? Well, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

Realization falls on his face after a brief moment of confusion. “Oh, well it’s about time, Stark. Welcome to the sibling mind reading club.”

Joseph has been able to pick up my thoughts since the beginning. However, I’ve had more difficulty with it. I suspect this is because I was too overwhelmed with facing Zhuang and dying. After that whole mess was over, Zhuang was apparently in Joseph’s head, blocking our connection. Now is the first time I’m able to truly feel and know his thoughts. The experience is foreign, like I’ve just put on a pair of gloves that are too big but soon conform to my hands. It feels all wrong and also, completely right. And it creates an obligation to him I haven’t felt before.

“All right,” I finally say, “you’re not alone in this, Joseph. We’re a team. I’m here for you.”

“Thank you,” he say. “It hurts, doesn’t it? It hurts to know that whatever his reasons were, he let us go. He put us each in a stranger’s home believing that was somehow better for us than being here…together.” Joseph stares off in the distance at nothing in particular.

“It doesn’t make sense,” I say.

With a shake of his head he continues, “He’s so distanced from this whole thing. There are a million things he should be telling us, but instead he sums up everything in a few words.”

“My thoughts exactly,” I say.

“Like something about our mother. More than just her name would be nice.”

“And why is it that Ren is the only other person who knew?” I ask, the question suddenly occurring to me.

“Yeah, that makes no sense whatsoever,” Joseph says, then laughs unexpectedly. “Bet Trey is being bombarded with questions now.”

“Good, I hope it’s terribly difficult for him.” My words feel rough as they come out of my mouth.

“Nah, I doubt it. He appears to be pretty good at deflecting these things.”

“Isn’t it weird that he’s spoken to us so many times and not shown the least bit of sentiment?” I ask, twirling my hair rapidly around my finger.

“You think that’s weird?” Joseph gawks at me. “That’s you! That’s totally your behavior.”

I narrow my eyes. “I resent that statement.”

“Sorry, but that’s the truth.”

“That’s your opinion,” I say, but silently I know there’s some truth to what he says.

“Trey is really the least of my problems at this point. I’m actually grateful that people are busy gossiping about this conspiracy.” Joseph tugs on his shirtsleeve, yanking it down by his wrist like he’s suddenly cold.

“Because it takes the attention off the fact that you brought Zhuang back,” I state abruptly.

“Yeah, as I said, sensitivity really isn’t your strong suit.”

“I can understand the guilt and frustration; however, it could have happened to anyone. Zhuang picked you because you fit the criteria, but it just as easily could have been me or someone else,” I say.

“It wouldn’t have been you. There’s no way you would have fallen for it. If you can spot Chase’s projections then you’d spot Zhuang’s for sure.”

“It was going to happen one way or another. You can probably appreciate Samara’s position more than ever. She was in a similar predicament when she killed Pearl. What’s done is done. Zhuang is alive because he was never dead. This just means that this time we have to kill him for good.” I sound much more triumphant than I feel.

“We?” Joseph looks at me weakly.

“Yeah, this time we’re a team,” I say. “We have to act that way. For starters, we need to figure out how we’re going to confront this whole Trey mess when we face the Institute.”

Chapter Two

T
he decorations from last night’s party are still hanging in Aiden’s lab. A song I’ve never heard plays softly from the speakers overhead. And the Head Scientist looks like he’s seen a ghost when I stroll in and lean against his door frame.

“Get in here,” he says, rushing over to me. His arm extends. I expect it to wrap around my waist, wrenching me into him. Instead he holds down the button next to his lab door, sending it shut. The button, which is always highlighted blue, now turns red.

“What are you doing?” I ask as he paces back over to his main workstation and pins his worried eyes on the table.

“Locking the door.”

I didn’t know the doors in the Institute locked.

“Why?” I ask, cautiously making my way closer to him.

“Because we need to talk. Uninterrupted.” His eyes look like they’re trying to saw the table in front of him in two.

“Aiden,” I say at his side.

He turns and faces me, but his eyes don’t find mine, only stare off to the right. “I can’t…”

“What?” I lose all the air in my chest suddenly.

He shakes his head. “I can’t tell Trey about us. Not now.”

“Why? Because he’s my father?”

“Yes, because he’s your father. And also because the timing is all wrong.”

“Aiden, why won’t you look at me?”

His blue eyes dart to mine, a rare sadness in them. “Roya, this is difficult. Everything has changed. I love you, but––”

“Nothing has changed,” I interrupt.

“Yes it has. Before it was a professional issue. Now it’s personal. Trey wasn’t going to like the idea of me dating his greatest asset at the Institute. He’s going to hate the idea of me dating his daughter.”

“I don’t care what Trey thinks!”

“I do. He’s my boss!”

“He’s a freaking liar!”

“Roya, please stop making this harder.”

“Me? It’s Trey. He literally, literally ruined my life. Put me in a stranger’s home. Embedded them to raise me. Hid my twin. Hid my identity. Hid his identity. Refused to let me live where I wanted. Forced me to lead deadly missions. And puppeteered how everyone here interacts with me!” I’m screaming now. Waving my hands in the air. I step forward and consider beating my fists against Aiden’s chest. The pain is about to engulf me—take over. Wrapping his arms around me, he pins me into him. My heart is a half skip from unleashing a torrent of tears. I thrash in his tightly grasping arms, until he squeezes me so firmly my heart feels flattened by the pressure.

“Roya, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he whispers into my hair.

My chest convulses with angry tears, but I win the battle, keeping them imprisoned inside me. Surrendering to his embrace, I wiggle an inch back, untucking my arms and sliding them around him. I tilt my chin back until I find his eyes staring down at me fiercely. His breath rolls onto my cheeks. Then suddenly his hands grip my arms, pushing me back away from him. Flustered, he retreats several steps.

“Aiden, please don’t do this. I need you right now. Don’t run from away this.”

He shakes his head roughly. “I have to. The timing isn’t right. Maybe in a while things will settle down—in a year or so.”

“A year?! Are you serious?”

“Roya, this
is
serious. I can’t risk it. Not right now.”

“I thought you wanted this.” I motion between the two of us. “I thought you wanted me.”

“I do. It’s just––”

“We deserve to be together.”

His eyes close for a half beat. When he opens them I’m impaled by his pain. “People don’t always get what they deserve. Things sometimes don’t work out like they’re supposed to.”

Unable to accept this turn of fate my mind launches into a full search for a solution. “Look, I’m Trey’s daughter. I can go to him, tell him about our relationship. I’ll make sure he doesn’t use it as a reason to fire you or take away your funding or do whatever it is that you’re worried about.”

“You don’t get it. Trey will go to any length to protect you. My projects have mostly centered on you. I know the other head officials are also charged with guarding and watching you. It’s their job too, to ensure everything necessary is discovered, invented, and innovated in order to secure your development and future. I knew he was slightly obsessed with you, but I always thought it was because you were Zhuang’s challenger. Now I realize the full extent. And I know firsthand that Trey will go to any length to continue to protect you. Even if that means terminating an employee who compromised the integrity of the Institute by getting too close to its greatest asset.”

“Why do you keep calling me that? Greatest asset?”

A harsh laugh falls out of his mouth. “Because that’s how Trey refers to you in meetings.”

“That’s kind of sick.”

He half shrugs.

“I can still talk to Trey,” I plead. “I’ll threaten him. Tell him I’ll hate his guts if he punishes you.”

“You already hate him. And Trey doesn’t care if you like him or not. That’s not his priority.”

“Right, I get it. My protection is all he cares about.”

“Roya, I was willing––excited––to expose our relationship yesterday, before all this came out. I thought I could convince Trey that our relationship wouldn’t interfere with my work. But you’re his daughter. I don’t know how to face him with this. It isn’t right. If it doesn’t go well then I have so much I stand to lose.”

“Well, I’m not keeping secrets anymore.”

“I know.”

“Which means…”

“No matter what, this has to be over anyways. Even in secret I can’t risk it.”

A wild force sprints forward in my mind. It’s unleashed by my scorned heart, which has recently learned it has new depths it can sink to. “Aiden, you didn’t tell me about Joseph. You embedded my fake family. And you’ve worked on demonic projects. I can get over all that and love you despite the lies and secrets. But what I can’t overlook is that you’re a coward.”

Chapter Three

“W
hat we both need is a distraction,” I say as the elevator descends to the fifth level.

“Cable television works for that kind of thing,” Joseph says.

“TV rots your brain.”

“I’m all right with that. I’ll just rely on my dashin’ looks.”

“I’ve got something we can do which is way better than watching mind-numbing TV,” I say, pausing in front of the Panther room.

“Is there a zoo in the Institute that I’m unaware of?” Joseph says, reading the sign by the door.

“Who knows, but through this door is Shuman’s department. No panthers…that I know of.”

“I thought her spirit animal was a rattlesnake,” Joseph says, scratching his head.

“It is. I have no idea why it’s named that. Hell, I hardly understand half of what she says.”

Unexpectedly, the door slides back. Shuman stands staring at us, her amethyst eyes rimmed with annoyance.

“We were just coming to see you,” I say in a nervous rush.

“I know,” she says, stepping back and permitting us to enter.

My eyes take a little while to adjust to the purplish light of the Panther room. It isn’t until we’re standing in front of the conference table that I can see without squinting.