Undiscovered (Unremembered #1.5)(16)

“Yes.”

And we ran. We managed to squeeze through the back door of the delivery van as it was sliding shut. Seraphina landed gracefully in a crouch; I smashed into a shelving unit and knocked a few boxes of supplies onto the floor in the process.

I pulled my slate back out and transmitted the signal to open the gate.

The van started to move. I crept cautiously toward the front instrument panel, seeing the van’s destination flash onto a screen as the driverless vehicle turned left out of the compound and the satellite system guided it toward its next delivery drop.

I breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the floor next to Sera. I reached for her hand and held it tightly in mine.

We rode in silence for a good twenty minutes before I had the courage to speak.

“It’s okay,” I said, more to myself than to her. “It’s all over now.”

But she wouldn’t look at me. She was staring down at the inside of her left wrist, running her fingertip across the small black tattoo. She winced and pulled her hand back sharply, as though it had bitten her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, worry distorting my voice. “What happened?”

“My scar,” she said dazedly, still staring at it. “It … tickled.”

“Tickled?” I repeated. I was about to ask her to clarify what she meant when I realized we were no longer moving. The vehicle had glided to an imperceptible halt.

Panicked, I looked to Sera, whose eyes glowed in the dim light of the van. I stood up, leaning forward to get a view of the instrument panel, hoping it might provide me a clue as to why we’d stopped. But the monitors were dark. Shut off. Overridden.

A moment later the door of the van slid open and Director Raze stood there, his steel gray eyes scanning the interior. I watched them land on Seraphina, and his lips coiled into a smile.

“Well, well,” he said coldly, “going for a little joy ride, are we?”

I did the first thing that came to mind. I jumped toward him, throwing the full weight of my body into his chest. He grunted and fell back against the hard concrete of the road.

“RUN!” I screamed to Sera, and like a beam of light, she burst out of the truck.

But she didn’t get far.

The sizzle of a Mutation Laser made my stomach roll as I watched her body wilt to the ground. A wide-eyed, dark-haired agent caught her just before she hit. He looked veritably surprised by the entire exchange, staring bewilderedly at her for a long moment.

“No!” I screamed, struggling to jump to my feet. I ran toward the agent, but I was intercepted by a wall of muscle. Three large men stepped into my path, blocking me. These were not agents-in-training. These were the real deal.

The dark-haired agent scooped Sera into his arms and turned, walking back to a waiting hovercopter that was parked nearby.

I writhed and kicked and screamed against my guards. “Let go of me!”

I heard a voice behind me. “Get back here, you punk!” It was Director Raze. He had recovered from my attack and was marching toward me. “I swear I will end you. I will take every precious memory from your brain, every useful function. I will leave you nothing more than a glitching vegetable.”

Raze was angry. As he should be. I’d been wreaking havoc on his compound for a long time. And I’m sure he was sick to death of me.

Well, the feeling was mutual.

He continued to stalk toward me. The three guards held me in place. I braced myself for the inevitable blow.

But it never came.

“Director Raze!” shouted another voice. I turned to see Dr. Havin Rio approaching from the hovercopter. My eyes narrowed in accusation.

What the glitch was he doing here?

He also looked pissed off. But he seemed to be doing a better job hiding it than Raze. “Stand down, right now,” Rio commanded. “That’s an order. I will handle the boy.”

“Wipe him!” Raze yelled. “Wipe his puny, spastic brain!”

“I said stand down, Director,” Rio thundered. “Transport the girl back to the lab. I will take care of Lyzender.”

Raze exhaled like a bull. “Protocol?” he asked, his jaw rigid.

“Full restoration,” Rio replied. “I don’t want her to remember any of this.”

“No!” I cried out, whipping my head toward Sera, who was being lowered into the backseat of the hovercopter. Again, I tried in vain to get past the guards. “Don’t you touch her!”

I saw her body flinching. Like tiny spasms. She was starting to wake up from the effects of the Mutie Laser.

Her eyes opened and her head lolled to the side. When she saw Dr. Rio, her entire face shifted. Like someone had erased a shadow that had been cast over her exquisite features. “Dad,” she said dreamily. “I’m sorry. I…”

Dad?

This was the man she called her father?

This was the person who worked late nights and took her on fake trips to the beach and brainwashed her?

Rio’s face softened upon hearing her voice. He turned and went to her, pushing her hair away from her face. Seeing him touch her made me want to throw up.

“It’s okay,” he told her, his voice more soothing and human than I’d ever heard it. “It’s going to be fine. Take her back to the cottage. I’ll be there in a moment.”