The words sit heavily on my chest, like I’m buried in wet cement.
“You’re my family.”
“I’m here. You’re safe.”
“Everything will be okay, Rose.”
A jolt races through me, an unnerving tightness growing in the center of my chest.
How did we get here? Parker and I aren’t friends. We barely tolerated each other at Neurovida. And when he gets home and his memories change, he won’t want me anywhere near him. He won’t stare at me the way he does now, a silent plea in his gaze.
I can almost hear the whispered words, floating through my own head.Stay. Stick together. Fight.Dangerous thoughts. I let Flame in. And Matthews. They’re the reason I’m in this mess. They are the mistakes I can’t make again.Stick with the plan. We restore his powers, and I’m free.
“Let me see how bad it is,” I say, gesturing to Parker’s abdomen. He stands and lifts his shirt, prying back the fabric stuck to his wound with a hiss. I shudder at the crimson streak. “Jesus, Parker.”
“It’s fine.” He lowers his shirt and eases down onto the edge of my bed. “How are you feeling? Honestly.”
“Like shit.” I rub my temples, memories from our field trip to Neurovida flashing through my mind. “Matthews knew we were going to be there… and the way he moved… I’ve never seen anything like it.”
At Neurovida, Matthews excelled in time and date accuracy. He was the only Alpha who could jump into the past and return within the space of a second. Even after years of training, none of us could match his precision. The only traveler who rivalled him was Flame. A shudder works its way down my spine at the memory of her standing in Neurovida’s dim training room. Pupils racing behind her closed lids, blood streaming from her nostrils. That ominoushum of power and lightbulbs shattering… There were times I found the power she possessed truly terrifying.
No wonder Matthews wanted her help. And after his show in McGregor’s office—
“He’s been training.”
“It wasn’t that impressive,” Parker says under his breath.
I’d forgotten about the fierce rivalry between him and Matthews at Neurovida. “Are you kidding? He traveled directly into the room and skipped through moments in timeby the millisecond.”
Parker suppresses an evil grin. “Did you see the paperweight hit him in the face?”
I smirk. “I think you broke his eye.”
“Breaking every bone in his face wouldn’t be enough,” Parker says with a sneer.
No, it wouldn’t. Matthews deserves far worse for what he’s done. “He’s obviously still working with Neurovida?”
“Looks that way.”
I gnaw the inside of my cheek. “I don’t understand. If he wants us dead, why doesn’t he travel back to the days we were at Neurovida and kill us there?”Why did he betray us in the first place?
Parker shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
I still don’t understand what happened the day we fled Neurovida. One moment we were in session like any other day, and the next Matthews was accusing us of being traitors to Neurovida. “If Matthews finds out we’re here, we’re fucked,” I say.
“Maybe.” Parker scoffs. “He didn’t even have both shoes on last night.”
I’d forgotten about Matthews’ one pitfall—his inability to consistently travel with all his clothing. Neurovida seems like a lifetime ago. I close my eyes and see the faces of the other recruits—Flame, Bandit and Axis.
“Remember the time we had to travel back one month, and Bandit ended up a year off everyone else?” Parker says, and I laugh but it turns into a cough.
“Or the time you came to class so hungover you vomited on the floor. You were a mess. No wonder she broke up with you so many times.”
The grin on Parker’s face falls. “I know.”
“I miss it.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. I miss training and the sessions and the recruits. I miss Bandit and Axis. But I miss Flame the most. She was the binding to our messed-up group, holding us all together, and she didn’t even know it.
I wish I’d never gone to Neurovida.The thought sits like a black hole in the center of my chest, threatening to suck me into its impenetrable depth. I’ll spend the rest of my life knowing what it was like to have a home… and what it’s like to lose one.
