Your One & Only(70)

“Okay.” She paused, wishing he’d come out from the shadows. “Listen, we have to go to the Tunnels.”

“I know,” he said. “We should hurry.”

Althea narrowed her eyes, peering into the trees. His hair shone silvery in the dark. “Wait,” she said. “The Ark. What should we do with it?”

“Destroy it. If it’s something Jonah wants, it must be dangerous. We can’t let him get his hands on it.”

“Shouldn’t we find out what he wants it for?”

“Why does it matter? All that matters is that he doesn’t get it.”

“But what if he wants to destroy it? I’ll go find Sam. He can tell us what to do. Jack?”

Althea watched his silhouette lean casually against a tree. She heard soft breaths exhaled, a quiet, mocking laugh.

“You’re not quite as dumb as the other Altheas I’ve known,” Jonah said dryly.

“Really? How nice,” she said. “Where’s Jack?”

“He’s got some things to work out. I’m helping him, though.”

“You can’t help him.”

“Neither can you, Althea. He just hasn’t figured that out yet.”

Jonah moved toward her and she backed away, but in a single, unexpected motion, he was out of the shadows and behind her. He trapped her in the rigid strength of his arm, her back forced against his chest.

“Don’t be scared,” he said, taunting her. He nestled his face into her hair. “Maybe it’s a trick. Can you be so sure I’m not Jack?”

“Jack would never do this,” she said.

Jonah’s hand, hard and fast, closed over her face. A cloth covered her mouth and nose, suffocating her with a bright, chemical smell.

“You think so?” he said in her ear. “You don’t really know him like I do.”

His arms braced her as she struggled and the world reeled away. She knew that smell, felt its familiar sting in the back of her throat. The trees swayed above her, suddenly lit as if from within and erupting into colors she’d never seen before. The leaves dropped, spun, and then took off into an ocean of sky, a swimming rainbow of nodding, flickering fish.

Somnium, she thought grimly as, against her will, her eyes dropped closed. She clung to the reality of the world around her, what she could feel and hear—Jonah’s solid arms effortlessly lifting her, the crunch of his boots on gravel, and her ear against his shoulder. His breathing was even. She thought she was saying words, talking quite sensibly. Jack won’t like this, she said to him. I’m sure he’ll be upset with you. She was reasonable and convincing, but then she understood she’d said nothing at all. The brilliant colors of dancing fish continued, impossibly, to swirl behind her eyelids. They shifted and darkened, turning the sky a fiery orange that dwindled finally to dust and ash, and Althea braced herself for the dreams she knew were still to come.





Chapter Twenty


JACK


Jack had looked everywhere for Althea, and he still hadn’t found her. He’d even crept into the dorms, only to find her sisters asleep and Althea’s bed empty.

He didn’t know what had happened to Jonah either. If the Council found him, they’d kill him, and Jack thought they’d probably do the same to him. Jack had come to understand that what Jonah suffered in Copan was worse, much worse, than the isolation and schoolyard cruelty Jack had experienced in Vispera. Jonah wanted Jack to leave Vispera with him, and Jack was beginning to think he might do just that. But first he had to find Althea.

Jack sat on his heels. His feet sank into the mud and he covered his eyes with the cage of his fingers. His head hurt. Something was wrong. What if the Samuels had Althea? What if they were conducting more of their treatments, trying to cure her and keep her from fracturing? Another wave of nausea gripped him at the thought.

He had to keep her safe.

It didn’t take long to find Sam. He was at the clinic, with the other doctors and those injured from the boat explosions. He was still useful when they needed so many doctors, even though his brothers were keeping their distance. When Jack saw him alone in the medics’ lounge, he was leaning against a wall, his head tilted back, his eyes closed, and Jack was overwhelmed with a sudden surge of anger. At the same time, Sam looked as tired as Jack felt, and thinner than he’d expected. Angry as he was, he ended up yelling across the room so Sam would at least see him coming before Jack shoved him against the wall. Using the plaster of his cast to pin Sam’s chest, Jack faced the man who’d raised him, their noses almost touching.

“Where is she?”

“Jack, what are you doing?”

“Where’s Althea?”

“How would I know?” Sam said, but he looked away, hiding something.

“You and the other Samuels, you have her drugged somewhere, tied down.” Jack thrust away from Sam. The man slumped against the wall, his knees buckling at the sudden release. “You know where she is.”

“Jack!” Sam’s voice was unexpectedly loud and authoritative, given his wasted appearance. “Stop this!”

“No!” Jack said with equal strength. And then, “Don’t tell me you helped them. That you hooked them up to those . . . wires.” He felt the strain of exhaustion and stress settling on his rib cage like a weight. His chest rose with quick breaths. Sam studied him.