Select (Select #1)(69)

Novak had clearly relocated headquarters from his office to the house. Only the members of his inner circle came to see him. When I was in the vicinity of Novak’s office, I’d hear fragments of the same general argument every time—Novak defending his position on why we hadn’t left yet. From what I overheard, Novak wanted more time to get a last piece in place.

I wasn’t worried until I heard about Kendra. I’m not sure I ever would have found out if I hadn’t been at dinner with Novak at the time. We were gathered at the dining room table—Novak, Victoria, Victoria’s parents, Liv, and myself. I was feeling proud that I’d been asked to join them.

“Novak.” All of us looked up at Lati, Angus’s father, standing in the doorway with George’s father, Darien. Novak immediately stood and followed them out of the room.

When Novak came back moments later, Victoria looked at him questioningly. He shook his head at her.

“What is it?” demanded Victor, who was Victoria’s father. He was still vigorous and youthful looking. The older generations were our most dangerous giveaway—their longevity, their resistance to disease. Puris exceeded the life expectancy of normal humans by twenty years easily.

Like it was a simple matter, Novak stated only a tad regretfully, “Kendra’s dead.”

“What? How?” Liv asked.

“Girls, time to go,” Victoria said.

In a very un-Novak moment, he flatly said in front of us, “She tried to jump our fence and was electrocuted. It was a problem in the hookup. There must have been a live wire. Darien was reviewing our security and alerted Lati. Don’t worry. It’s being handled.”

“What about the police?” I asked, stunned.

“They won’t find out. We’re taking care of it.”

Like, disposing-of-her-body taking care of it? “But won’t her family come looking for her?” I asked.

“We’ll be long gone by then.”

“Will they ever know what happened to her?” Liv asked.

“Enough,” Victoria said. Liv and I looked at each other. There was something so wrong about Kendra’s family not knowing she was dead. I would never have guessed that Novak would do something like this and the rest of the family would go along. There had to be a way to get word to Kendra’s parents. Otherwise, they would spend the rest of their lives searching.

Victor spoke up. “I’m done—with the lawsuits, the broken families, the suicides. Just let it go, Novak.” Victoria’s father was the only person I’d ever seen disrespect or corner Novak.

Novak looked at Victor coldly. “For two decades I’ve been executing this plan. I haven’t come all this way for our people to end up in a beautiful casket. We need to continue our line. And we need them to do it.”

It was the babies again. And the fact that there weren’t any.

“We’ll be together. Maybe that’s enough,” Victoria said—astonishingly, siding with her father.

“What’s all this been for if we’re just going to let ourselves end? I’m telling you, I know this from my visions. These lost souls are drawn to us—to me—for a reason. Some outsiders have our genes already, but the traits are dormant. If we apply just the right amount of stress, if we surround them, these traits will reveal themselves.”

“Novak, do you want to be arrested on federal charges? You have nobody else cultivated—male or female—and we need to leave. No one thinks it’s a good idea, even if they seem to have similarities to us. You made a compelling case for taking Kendra with us on Relocation, but then look: the same thing happens every time. There aren’t others like us.” Victor waved his hand in the direction of the backyard.

“There are. I feel it,” Novak said.

“You aren’t hearing what I’m saying. These people you identify are only outsiders and none of us want them. We don’t want to dilute our blood.” There was a dark pause, and maybe it was paranoia, but I felt like Victor purposely wouldn’t look in my direction.

I looked down at the napkin in my lap, staring at the pattern and texture, realizing the position of Novak’s assistant had been slotted for someone he identified as a lost soul with the potential to evolve into one of us. They needed breeders essentially. I felt resentment to my core. Novak had really been willing to take Kendra, but he’d threatened me, his own daughter, about needing to earn the privilege?

Novak leaned forward, changing tactics and recapturing his patience. In his charming, coaxing manner, he said, “No one will be sorry. I promise you. I’m almost there.”

Ultimately I didn’t even know how anyone could wrestle a plan away from Novak. All of us were at the mercy of his decisions. Everyone at the table seemed to comprehend this at the same moment, and for the rest of dinner there was only silence.

In the days following I stayed at the house, not wanting to ask Victoria permission to go out only to be denied. If I wasn’t in my room, I was down at our dock, staring at the lake, trying to counter the ominous feeling in the house that this exit wouldn’t go according to plan.

To make things worse, a couple of days after that dinner, I was positive someone had been in my bedroom when I wasn’t there. After walking around the property, I returned to my room, and as soon as I entered something in the air felt different, like someone had just left. Nothing was out of place, but I instinctively knew my things had been touched. I picked up my phone and knew someone had held it minutes before.