Mindsiege (Mindspeak #2)(37)

“No, not maybe. Definitely.” I wrapped my arms around his neck. Jack lifted me in a hug so that my face was even with his. I leaned in and kissed the spot below his ear and continued down his neck. “If you hadn’t found me…” My voice cracked a little.

“Shhh. You’re right. There’s no use playing the what-if game.”

I nuzzled his neck and swallowed against the lump that formed. The warmth of his hand against my bare skin made me want to curl up inside his jacket and let him smuggle me inside his dorm.

I tried to hide a yawn, but Jack was onto me. He let me slide to my feet. “We both could use a good night’s sleep.”

I pulled back. “Until tomorrow then.”

“Tomorrow,” he agreed, then leaned in for one last goodnight kiss.

~~~~~

The tingle of Jack’s kiss lingered on my lips as I approached my dorm room. I touched my mouth, unable to contain a smile. How could my life be so messed up, yet so right when Jack was near? I shouldn’t have avoided him this past week, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I were to cause something terrible to happen to him.

Dad had called Wellington a safe haven for the clones he had recently discovered. Only, Wellington wasn’t my safe haven: Jack was.

I dug in my purse for my room key. It was just after the eleven o’clock curfew. The hallways were eerily quiet for a Friday night.

No one was in the common area on my floor. The lights had already been dimmed.

Just as I lifted the key to the lock, I smelled it.

Smoke.

Not now, I thought.

I immediately began searching the edges of my mind for the invasion. If I was quick enough, maybe I could push Jonas out.

“It’s no use, Sarah.”

The little hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention at the sound of Jonas’s voice directly behind me. When his fingers slid into my hair and grabbed the back of my neck, every muscle along my spine tightened.

“I’m not only inside your head,” he whispered right next to my ear. “I’m right here.” His breath warmed my neck. His fingers spread up through my hair, and he guided my head to face him.

My eyes met his. Instead of the warm amber that I sometimes found in Jonas’s eyes, I faced cold black, his pupils dilated, leaving only a small perimeter of brown.

“What do you want, Jonas?” Though the grip he had on my neck made it difficult, I cocked my head just slightly. Was someone controlling him, forcing his actions the way I sometimes forced others’? “Or… are you ready to tell me who you really are?”

The boy before me smiled an evil, lopsided sort of grin. “You’d like it if you could place another name on this version of me, wouldn’t you, Sarah? You like the kinder, more gentler Jonas, don’t you?”

I was powerless in his grip. I could smell the fear emanating from my racing heart and my trembling limbs. But I answered him. “Yes, I do.” And I did. When Jonas was being kind, he was easy to like.

He leaned closer to me, his face inches from mine. “I see why Jonas likes you, too.”

I searched his eyes for his true identity, but all I saw was Jonas.

Then realization dawned. “Ty,” I whispered, and the corners of his lips tilted farther up, reaching all the way to his dark eyes. His presence glided in and around my mind, leaving me drunk from the quick movements of this complete invasion. “What do you want?” I asked again.

“You will come with me.” He forced me to turn, and gave me a little shove back down the hallway.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

~~~~~

Getting past the security of the dorm and into The Program was not a problem for someone who had one hundred percent control over the mind of another.

Keep going, he mindspoke. We moved quietly down the hallway in the basement of the infirmary and entered the room I was becoming all too familiar with. Sandra hadn’t moved. The machines around her were silent. Lights blinked to confirm that her heart still beat.

“You’re going to make me heal her, aren’t you?” I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. My heart beat so fast, I thought I might faint. “This is never going to work, you know.”

Quiet.

I tried to speak again, and no sound came out. So far, I’d been unable to refuse his commands.

Lexi? It was Jack.

Jack! Help me. I’m in The Pro—

The pressure to my throat came fast and hard.

Ty, in Jonas’s body, lifted his hand from my throat and placed it over my mouth. Sliding his palm to the small of my back, he brought me closer. “Try something like that again, and I will terminate you. But not until the job is complete.”

The smell of smoke on his breath made me nauseated. I squeezed my eyes closed. I knew what the job was. What I didn’t know was, could I do it? Was I capable? And if I was successful, would I survive the consequences?

“Now,” he said, forcing me to face Sandra. “Let’s get on with it.”

I stared down at the woman before me. Her hair was tucked neatly behind her ears. It had been brushed recently. The nurse? Seth, maybe? Her skin was a pearly color, much paler than mine, but she was lying in a hospital bed. I wanted to like this woman who looked identical to me, only older. Was I supposed to? She was the reason I existed. Was I somehow supposed to respect her for that?