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Vincent Iabruzzi. Caleb knew the name and the incident from the information the Fugitive Six had gathered on the Foundation. Taylor had met the guy when she was in Abu Dhabi. Caleb didn’t know that Melanie was present the day that Vincent was taken.
“Are they looking for him?” he asked. “Or, I mean, did they find him?”
Daniela lowered her voice, even though there was no one around. “They try to keep the nasty stuff from us because Melanie’s all sensitive, but one of the Peacekeepers told me they found his body in the jungle. Had to identify the poor kid from dental records. I guess the Peacekeepers rounded up the crazies that did it. Some cult that thought they could steal his quote-unquote magic powers.”
“Wow,” Caleb said. “When did they find him?”
“A few weeks after he got taken,” Daniela replied. “Don’t say anything to Melanie. She’s still holding out hope and Earth Garde wants to keep her happy.”
A few weeks. Caleb shook his head. The timeline didn’t make sense. Taylor met Vincent in the United Arab Emirates well after that. The body must have been a fake planted by the Foundation and the cult used as scapegoats just like the Harvesters had been.
“All we’ve done is help, yet some people already hate our kind,” Daniela continued, misreading Caleb’s solemn face. “You know all about that, huh?”
Daniela gave him a meaningful look, probably thinking about Caleb’s run-in with the Harvesters. She had been there for that battle, but how much did she know about who was really behind it, who had set that conflict in motion? Did Daniela know about the Foundation? Even though Caleb felt like he could trust Daniela, he kept his mouth shut.
“Yeah,” Caleb replied. “It’s messed up.”
“Uh-huh. Anyway, in case you haven’t realized it yet, we aren’t just here to help build stuff and stand in the background of pictures.”
“We aren’t?”
“Jetlag making you slow?” She elbowed him playfully. “We’re here to keep an eye on Ms. Earth Garde. In case something else goes down. Strong as she is, she never hit the Academy. She never ran for her life during a Mog ambush. She’s not hard like us, and the higher-ups know it. But she’s marketable as shit and makes people feel safe. They know that, too.”
“So we’re like bodyguards?” Caleb stared at Daniela. “They . . . they told you all this?”
“I’m not stupid. I pieced things together. I mean, obviously they also want us here because we’ve got useful Legacies for the Repair Civilization World Tour. But we’re also here to keep Melanie safe. Maybe stop her from flying off the handle, when possible.”
“Dang,” Caleb said. “I feel even worse now about dropping that beam.”
Daniela patted Caleb on the shoulder as they reached the cars. “It’s not a bad gig, being her sidekick. We get to help a lot of people, travel the world. You ever think you’d get to go to Australia?”
“No way,” Caleb said, smiling now, relieved that they were moving on to less heavy subjects.
“Yeah, me neither. I’d never even been to Staten Island before all this”—she let her eyes flash silver, the telltale sign of her activating her Legacy—“went down.”
“Well, I’ve still never been to New York,” Caleb replied.
“Don’t worry. You will. That’s the other good thing about this detail,” Daniela continued. “Princess Melanie needs a lot of vacations. Pretty much any time she wants. And we get to go along, since we’re basically the only friends she’s allowed to have.”
Caleb’s brows wrinkled at that. Melanie hadn’t seemed very friendly to him so far. She acted like he and Daniela weren’t even there. He’d thought socializing at the Academy had been difficult to wrap his head around, but this was a whole other level of complicated.
A Peacekeeper saluted them and opened the back door of an SUV. Caleb saluted back, then climbed in after Daniela. She was still talking.
“After Sydney, I heard we’re heading back to the States. Some rich friend of Melanie’s family offered to host us at his beach house. It’s in Florida, which—” Daniela made a face. “Definite downgrade over Australia. Still, should be a chill time.”
Caleb sat back and the let the air-conditioning wash over him. His skin was hot from being in the sun all day, his atoms quaking from spending so much time using his duplicates.
“What rich guy?” Caleb thought to ask, opening one eye to look at Daniela.
“Think Melanie said his name is Sydal. Wade Sydal.”
Chapter Eighteen
TAYLOR COOK
THE HUMAN GARDE ACADEMY—POINT REYES, CALIFORNIA
DR. LINDA SLEPT CURLED UP ON HER SIDE. THE floorboards creaked under Taylor’s feet as she approached the woman’s bed. The psychiatrist stirred. Taylor made no effort to hide her footfalls. As Dr. Linda blinked awake, Taylor clapped a hand over the woman’s mouth, gentle but firm.
“Please don’t scream,” Taylor said. “I need your help.”
Taylor made her eyes wide, the whites shining in the near darkness of Linda’s bedroom. She forced her hand to tremble, knowing that Linda would be able to feel the tremor. She wanted to seem desperate and cornered. After weeks of perfecting her badass act, Taylor wasn’t totally sure she could pull this off.
Linda’s hands were still pinned under the sheet. Taylor had checked the room quickly before waking her up. She didn’t find any weapons—just novels, scented candles, and collections of crossword puzzles. There was also the tablet computer that all the faculty carried, the one connected to the Academy’s systems. Linda would be able to summon security with that. Even so, Taylor had left it on her nightstand within reach.
It was important that Linda feel like she was in control.
If there was a momentary flare of panic at being woken up by Taylor looming over her, Linda had tamped it down. Her eyes now regarded Taylor with the customary calmness, like they were in session. She nodded her agreement. She would be quiet.
Taylor took her hand away and stepped back. Linda sat up in bed but didn’t reach for her tablet. No one would ever consider the therapist an intimidating presence, and in her oversized flannel pajamas, her graying hair all wild and uncombed, Taylor could only think of how fragile she looked. Hard to believe this woman could be her enemy.
“Taylor . . . ,” Dr. Linda said quietly. “This is highly inappropriate.”
“I know, I know . . .” Taylor paced back and forth in front of Linda’s bed and pushed her hands through her hair. The woman watched her, gaze steady. Taylor hoped she wasn’t overdoing it. “I didn’t know where else to turn, what to do . . . they took Kopano and Ran.”
It wasn’t hard to work emotion into her voice. Stealing her friends away, taking Kopano just when they were starting to get closer—Taylor wasn’t sure she could forgive Earth Garde for that. Use it, Isabela had told her outside Dr. Linda’s house. Make her believe.
“Yes. I received a memo about that,” Linda replied measuredly. “I believe they’re calling it protective custody. It’s for their own good—”
“This is already protective custody!” Taylor snapped. “We’re already prisoners! And this just shows . . . just shows that Earth Garde will do whatever they want with us. They don’t actually care. We’re just . . . weapons.”
“Now, Taylor, I understand you’re upset . . .”
Taylor put her hands over her face. “I should’ve listened to the Foundation. They were right about everything.”
Linda was quiet. Taylor peeked at her through her fingers. Her mouth was quirked to the side, eyes narrowed as she studied Taylor.
“Why did you come here?” Linda asked. Her voice betrayed nothing.
“I didn’t know where else to go,” Taylor said shakily. She took a deep breath to make it seem like she was trying to get a grip. If this was going to work, Linda needed to believe this next part. “I went to confront Nine about what happened to my friends. Outside his office, I heard him and Dr. Goode talking. They’re going to send me away, too, to what
ever Earth Garde prison they shipped the others. They’re afraid the Foundation will try to take me again and don’t want to endanger the other students. They talked about how safe I’d be there because the security is impenetrable. Because I’m a healer, they said, I’m too valuable to lose. They don’t care—they don’t care what I want!”
“Hmm,” was all Dr. Linda said in response. She picked up her tablet and turned it on, but to Taylor’s relief she didn’t call security. Instead, it looked like she was scrolling through her messages.
“I know . . . I know I’ve been a pain lately.” Taylor pressed on with her begging. “I know I’ve made it seem like I don’t want to be here. But I’d rather stay here than be in some Earth Garde prison for the rest of my life! Please, can you tell them? Tell them I’ll be good?”
“Calm down,” Linda replied. “I’m looking at your file. There’s nothing here about you being transferred.”
“I swear, I—”
Taylor jumped theatrically as someone pounded loudly on Linda’s door. Right on time.
Linda’s eyebrows shot up and she got out of bed. Taylor intercepted her before she could go far, clinging desperately to her arms.
“It’s them!” she whispered. “Please! Please don’t tell them I’m here!”
“It’s okay,” Linda said. “Stay here.”
Taylor let her go and watched, peeking around the corner of Linda’s bedroom door, as the psychiatrist straightened her pajamas and went to answer the knock. She cracked the front door open just enough to see Nine standing there, leaning against the frame, smiling smugly.
