The Countdown (The Taking #3)(75)

Tyler came toward me. “So let’s do it. Let’s tell Dr. Clarke what we know.”

I lifted my chin to meet his eyes. “The ISA already knows. They got the full message and rejected them. They’re never letting Adam go.”

“How can you be so sure?” Jett asked.

“Because something happened when I boarded that spaceship up there.”

Jett looked confused. “So . . . wait. Are you saying you weren’t taken by force? Because that’s what it looked like . . . on the radar screen. That that ship of theirs, or whatever it was, just engulfed you.”

I shook my head. “They’re not hostile. At least, that’s not their intention. I can’t explain it, but somehow I sensed they were inviting me on board. Maybe not in so many words . . . at least not in a way you or I would understand . . .” I chewed my lip trying to think of a way to make it clear. “And they never actually spoke to me, but I . . . knew what they wanted.” I shook my head. “Seriously, I get how crazy this sounds, and I wish I could make it more clear, but the truth is, I don’t remember how it happened. I honestly thought I was up there for less than an hour.” I tried to laugh it off, because that was starting to feel like the story of my life—gaping memory lapses—but the laugh caught on a lump in my throat. I swallowed, trying again. “All I know is we’re running out of time.”

Simon drew me back to the issue at hand. “When you say ‘running out of time’ . . . time for what, Kyra?”

I pushed my shoulders back, determined to find a way to make this clear. “We’re in trouble. And not just us,” I explained, looking around at all of them, even my dad. His eyes were bloodshot, but he was paying attention. “Everyone . . . like the entire planet.”

Willow eyed me. “You sure you didn’t bang your head on something? You said you don’t remember all of what happened up there, maybe you got a concussion and you hallucinated the whole thing.”

I glanced at Jett. “You saw the radar. Did that look like a hallucination?”

Hanging back ’til this point, Thom spoke up. “If they’re not hostile, then what makes you think we’re in danger? Did they tell you that?”

I started to shake my head and then stopped myself. “Like I said, not in so many words. My memory was blank, but when I snapped out of . . . whatever happened to me . . . I just understood things. Like they transferred information straight into my brain.”

Griffin wrinkled her nose skeptically. “Like what?”

“Like this.” I lifted my hand and drew their attention to the table Griffin had been sitting at a minute ago. I felt the familiar tingle tugging the skin at the back of my neck, only this time I didn’t have to concentrate, I just took a breath and . . .

The pen she’d been using was suddenly hovering six inches above the tabletop.

Willow’s mouth fell open as she gaped at me. I flashed her a knowing grin and then flicked my fingers at the pen and it shot toward me. I caught it in my fist, and inhaled deeply.

There’d been a part of me that had worried Willow might be right—that I’d suffered some sort of space fever.

When I turned and caught Simon staring at me, I raised my eyebrows. “And I’m barely concentrating. Like I said, I can’t explain it. I just knew stuff. And not just how to move objects; other things too. They taught me how to tap into electrical currents.” I was more nervous now. At least the thing with the pen was something I’d tried before, something I’d only been perfecting. The electrical thing was all new to me, and if I blew it . . .

I squeezed both hands into fists, closing my eyes as I concentrated on what I wanted to have happen.

Lights out, I thought. And then, desperate to prove I wasn’t delusional, I added, Please, for the love of God, get this right . . .

Even though my eyes were shut, I knew the moment the room went dark because I heard the collective gasp. When I opened them again, eight heads shot my way, and I knew they were all seeing my eyes, and only my eyes.

“Whoa,” Jett admired.

“That was . . . wow . . .” Tyler added.

“I know,” I admitted, with almost audible relief. And just to test things out, I popped my fingers wide, feeling like a tacky, second-rate magician when I did.

Still, the lights came back on at once.

There were several light-adjusting blinks before I announced, “See? Not a head injury.”

But there was one thing I needed to make very clear, something we all needed to take seriously. I spoke mainly to Tyler, Simon, and Jett since they’d been there. “You know how Dr. Clarke told us the ISA replicated the EVE? What she didn’t mention was that they didn’t build just one ship. They have an entire fleet of them. I don’t even think the M’alue I met were aware of what the ISA was up to.” My eyes fell on Tyler. “At least not until you and I arrived.”

“You?” my dad interrupted. “How does your being here make a difference?”

“All I know for sure is that we were what the ISA has been missing. Now that they have us, they’re one step closer to getting their fleet airborne.”

Griffin glanced from Tyler to me, and then snatched her pen out of my hand. “That . . . trick you just did there might be impressive, but there’s no way they can expect the two of you to pilot an entire fleet.”