Mindsiege (Mindspeak #2)(25)

I rolled over and buried my face in the pillow beside me, breathing in the smell of fabric softener. My head ached, and I wasn’t sure why. Slowly, I grew more and more conscious. I must have been exhausted the night before, because I struggled to bring myself out of the deep sleep I had been in.

I returned to my back and opened my eyes, squinting against the light. Jack was the first thing I saw. I liked that. I smiled.

Kneeling beside the bed, he was fully dressed in a navy polo and khakis. His hair was damp, and he smelled of shampoo. Lines formed between his eyes as he studied me.

The events of last night scrolled through my mind. I remembered being by the fire pit. Jack held me. We talked. Not about anything specific. Not about the clones I discovered yesterday or about Jonas’s control over me. I must have fallen asleep, but not for long.

I remembered voices waking me.

I was dreaming. No.

Kyle was there.

The train.

I studied Jack’s face again. His school uniform.

As realization dawned, I pushed myself up and looked around. My smile faded. “Where am I?”

“Lex,” Jack said, a warning in his voice.

I narrowed my eyes. “What have you done?”

Calm down, please. I did what I had to do.

“What you had to do?” I pushed the blanket off of me and climbed out of bed. Still dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, I ran to the only window in the room and looked out onto… the front lawn of Wellington Boarding School. Closing my eyes, I lifted a hand to drill two fingers into my forehead. I let out a long breath and whipped around. He took a step backwards. “You brought me to Wellington?”

I paced while squeezing the bridge of my nose. I had worked so hard to get away from Wellington, a school where I’d once felt safe and had hoped to graduate from. But everything changed when Cathy DeWeese turned it into a prison for cloned freaks.

I stopped pacing and took in the room. It wasn’t a dorm room. A full-sized bed stood against one wall. Beside the one window were an armchair and a small bookshelf. It was cozy. “Where exactly are we?”

“This is Coach Williams’s apartment.”

“What?” I didn’t even know my swim coach—an ex-FBI agent hired by my father—lived on campus. That did make him closer to me, which could have been by design. For protection, maybe; protection I hadn’t even known I needed.

Jack didn’t move from his spot against the wall. His eyes watched me carefully as I glared at him. “Why, Jack? Why did you bring me back to Wellington?” Did Jonas know I was gone? I searched my mind. Nothing. My pulse raced, wondering what he would do when he discovered where I was. When he discovered I was right where he wanted me.

“You thought I didn’t believe you.”

“That’s not a reason.” I felt the fire spread up my neck and onto my cheeks.

“I had to get you away from Jonas. He was controlling you. He can’t do that here.”

Uncontrollable laughter bubbled up and out of my throat. “Is that what you think?”

“What do you mean?”

I stepped up to him. I stood so close I could hear his heavy breaths. “Jonas doesn’t need to be close to control me, Jack. He can hear my thoughts, see what I’m seeing, and force my hand—anytime, anywhere. Not even the gates of Wellington are going to keep me safe from his mind invasion.” Or from the other clones with a mission, according to Jonas.

“Then we have to find a way to block him.” Jack reached out and slid his fingers between mine. “You block me all the time.”

I did, but with Jonas, it seemed different. “That easy, huh?” I scoffed.

“No, but we’ll figure it out.” Jack rubbed his free hand along the back of his neck. “Seth might be able to help.”

“Seth. Good ol’ Seth,” I mocked. I definitely wanted to talk to him. Awfully convenient that the IIA just happened to be cloning humans so close to where Seth just happened to set up the original location of The Program.

“What happened to me taking on a new identity and running so that your mom and other crazy scientists couldn’t control me?”

Jack straightened, rolled his shoulders. “That was before.”

“Before what?”

“Before you took off yesterday, went all rogue on me, and held a scalpel to Jonas’s neck. Before Marci was murdered very near The Program. And before…” He grabbed my other hand and pulled me closer. “Before Jonas controlled your mind so fully that you were willing to come back to his house with him. I don’t think your life is in danger with him, but I think something strange is going on. And it’s forcing you to make decisions you wouldn’t normally make.”

“I wouldn’t have cut him badly.” Would I have?

“I’m sorry I doubted you.” He touched my face with the tips of his fingers, tracing the line along my cheekbone down to my chin. “It just didn’t make sense. He had helped us. The night of the accident.”

“It wasn’t an accident, Jack. Someone drugged me and intentionally tried to run us off the road.”

“I know.” Pulling his hand away, he stretched and closed his fingers into fists, then reached for the chai tea he had set on the nightstand and handed it to me. “I know we thought Wellington was dangerous, but right now, this might be the only place we’re safe.”