Tremble (Denazen #3)(8)

“Aren’t you just a ball of happy,” I mumbled, downing the entire cup of coffee in four long pulls. “Can’t say I’m really thrilled to make your acquaintance at this point…”

Henley flashed an apologetic smile and kept going. “This morning they declared all the old models obsolete. They’re not going to wait for the rest to turn eighteen. They’ve ordered them—”

“Terminated,” I finished for him. That’s where I’d walked in on the conversation. Perfect. “How many are there?”

Mom leaned back. “Including you? Twelve.”

“That’s a lot of potential crazies to hunt down,” Alex said, leaning back in his chair. “With all the resources Denazen has, we’ll never get to them all in time.”

Henley nodded and pulled out another piece of candy. I resisted the urge to jump up and snatch it away. The smell of peanut butter was making me sick. “Twelve total—but you have two already, so, really, only ten. And not all of them are still out there. Some have already been terminated.”

“Two—me and who else?”

Henley turned, pinning me with a look that sent chills down my spine. “Me.”

This kept getting better and better. “Do we know which of the ten are already dead?”

He shook his head. “Unfortunately, not without going to check on each one. We have someone else on the inside. She’s good with a computer, but they’re keeping the info pretty close to the cuff. They erased all the files. Our guess is they’re playing it safe and using paper.”

Wonderful. “Do we have names? Addresses?” I glanced back at the coffee machine. Vince had just poured the last of the pot into his cup. Perfect. I was going to need more caffeine to deal with this. Like, much more. “Please tell me we have something to go on because otherwise this is going to be an epic needle-in-a-haystack thing.”

Henley looked uncomfortable. “We have the names and last-known locations, but that’s no guarantee you’ll find them there. I’m pretty sure it’s an old list.”

“And we can’t get an updated one because they’re not keeping it on the computers anymore. What about you?” I nodded to Henley. “Can’t you go in and dig something up? Isn’t that what you’re there for?”

Ginger shook her head. “Henley’s position on the inside is no longer viable. He’s here to stay.”

Henley stood. “I’ve got a massive headache. Do you mind if I crash?”

“Of course,” Ginger said, standing as well. “Deznee, could you please show Henley to five twelve?”

“No,” he said, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. “You can just tell me where it is. I can find my own way.”

Ginger narrowed her eyes. “Deznee will take you.” Without another word, she turned and exited the kitchen through the door on the opposite end, Dax following close behind. Mom hung back for a moment, then left as well, leaving Vince at the table shoveling away at an enormous bowl of cereal. I’d never seen anyone eat as much as he did. Anytime I saw him, he was chewing on something. The guy’s metabolism must operate on triple speed because he was thin as a rail.

“Well, I guess you’re showing me to my room.” Henley turned and started for the door. As he stepped away from the table, I noticed something bulky in his side pocket. Something round—like a wheel. There was only one person I knew who carried a wheel with them everywhere they went.

Brandt.

I waited until we were down the hall, past the common room, before I stepped in front of him. “So that’s it? You’re not planning on saying anything?”

He stopped just short of crashing into me, eyes wide. “Huh?”

“Really? You’re gonna play dumb? With me?”

“I don’t understand. What are you—”

“The skate wheel is sticking out of your pocket, brain trust.” The wheel was from his favorite skateboard. It was the one and only thing he’d taken before leaving Parkview behind.

He patted his hip like he’d forgotten it was there—totally unlikely, since he never went anywhere without the damn thing—and cursed. “I can explain.”

“I doubt it,” I said, bitter. One foot in front of the other, I started walking again, a confusing mix of anger and elation twisting my gut into a knot. “I haven’t seen you since before Kale left. I waited—you obviously knew what was going on. You had to know I needed you.”

“Dez—”

“What could you possibly have to say, Brandt?” I was angry, but more than that, I was hurt. Whenever the bad crap went down in my life, Brandt always had my back. He was a Soul Jumper, which meant that when my cousin’s body died, his life force jumped into the nearest person. In the event that person was a Six, he inherited their abilities.

Brandt had obtained incriminating information about Denazen, and Dad had him killed. They didn’t know it—and hopefully never would—but he was alive and well. After his first death, he’d jumped into Sheltie’s body, the Six who’d murdered him. Sheltie could invade your dreams, so even though my cousin had to stay out of sight, he was in my dreams when I really needed him.

Until one day he just wasn’t.

He grabbed my arm to stop me, then leaned back against the wall. “Just ’cause I was out of sight doesn’t mean I wasn’t looking out for you.”