Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Everyone in the room had fallen silent. The tension was so thick I could almost reach out and touch it.
Zach’s eyes focused on me with strange intensity. “You have a real family, Tessa. You don’t need them.” He nodded toward Tanner and Kate, resentment hardening his eyes.
I turned to him. “You only want me because of my Variation. When you thought I was normal, you didn’t even come looking for me.”
Zach took a step toward me, and Tanner and Kate tensed. “That’s not true,” Zach said. “We didn’t have the same resources we have now. Dad never stopped searching for you.”
I wanted to believe him and maybe it was true. My mother had said that Abel would never forgive her for taking me away. What if that meant he really cared for me? Devon appeared at my side, hair rumpled but otherwise uninjured. When our eyes met, it took him a second to focus.
“Did Stanley hit you?” I asked.
Devon shook his head and blinked once, hard. “No, the bastard just spit on me. His spittle is strong stuff.”
“But you’re okay?” I whispered, never taking my eyes off Zach and Tanner, who were both still watching me. Both had taken a few steps toward me. Stanley had disappeared.
“I’m fine. My Variation can take care of the stuff.” Devon’s gaze settled on Tanner. They had joked around a lot in the time they’d spent at headquarters together, and now they were facing off like enemies.
“Why should I believe you?” I asked, turning my attention back to Zach.
He opened his arms in a disarming gesture. “Blood’s the strongest bond in this world. You should be with the people who love you for being a sister and a daughter and not for the value of your Variation.” He sent a brief glare toward Kate and Tanner.
“Don’t let him manipulate you,” Tanner warned, taking another step in my direction.
I snorted. “Because you and the FEA would never do that, right?”
Devon’s body brimmed with tension beside me. He was eyeing the redheaded guy with the transport Variation. And I felt stupid for having almost forgotten about him. He looked relaxed, the way he was standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest, but I didn’t buy his act.
“What about him? Will you let him kidnap me the way you did with Holly?”
Zach’s face looked puzzled and for a horrible moment I was sure he didn’t know who Holly was because they’d killed her the moment they’d found out she wasn’t me. “Jago won’t touch you. I won’t force you to join us. I want you to come because you want to,” he said. Jago gave a small mocking bow, his red hair falling into his eyes.
“Enough already!” Kate hissed. “This is ridiculous. Tanner, now!”
My gaze flew to Tanner. He looked reluctant to do whatever Kate wanted him to do.
“Now!” Kate snarled.
The guns that Benny had taken away from us soared over Zach’s head and landed in Kate’s and Tanner’s outstretched hands.
One of Zach’s men guffawed. “How very human of you to use guns!” he exclaimed.
Now that he wasn’t half covered by Zach anymore, I realized he was the suspicious-looking guy who watched me while I had been giving my speech as Senator Pollard.
“Shut up, Will,” Zach hissed.
But Kate raised her weapon and fired at Zach as all hell broke loose. My chest constricted with fear. What if Kate had hit Zach?
A few Variants started scuttling through the room in panic but others joined the fighting. Bolts of electricity shot through the room, taking out several light bulbs and whoever was in their way. The smell of sulfur flooded my nose. More shots were fired and knives soared through the room. Kate tried to make her way over to me but other Variants and bolts of electricity kept getting in her way. The light flickered, turned from blue to red, then back again. Someone bumped into me and sent me flying to the floor. My tailbone collided with the stone floor, sending a twinge of searing pain up my spine.
Devon gripped my arm and pulled me to my feet. “Come on. We have to find the tunnel and get away.”
But some part of me didn’t want to run—the same part that wanted to believe that Zach’s words had been the truth, that he and my father had been searching for me for all those years. The part of me that wished we could be a real family.
“Tessa, come on!” Devon urged.
Fighting was happening all around us, but Kate had almost reached us. Zach and Will were crouching on the ground. But I couldn’t see Jago anywhere. Suddenly Zach nodded in Will’s direction. Will sprang to his feet and thrust his arms outward. Every mirror and glass in the room shattered with an ear-splitting shriek. A crack tore through the thick glass of the aquarium, the sound like nails on a chalkboard, and then the ground began shaking, just like it had done when I’d pretended to be Senator Pollard.