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They were all staring expectantly when I looked at them.
“She told me where to look for the implant that’s making Reggie sick,” I said.
The others followed me into Reggie’s room. I sat down on the chair by her bed, my phone still clutched in my hand. “A couple of things, before I give you this,” I said. “Is it true that Cass is Halliwell’s daughter?”
Reggie looked back defiantly. “Yes,” she said. “But she’s not happy about it.”
My heart sank. “And… you?”
“Not me, thank God. I was an ‘oops’ baby. My mom was experimenting with having a boyfriend. The boyfriend didn’t work out, but she kept me.”
“Why didn’t Cass tell me?” I asked.
Reggie lifted her eyebrows. “Come on. How would you have reacted?”
“Not as badly as I’m reacting right now,” I said. “All things considered.”
“He’s not family,” Reggie said heatedly. “He’s a monster. A nightmare. My mom ran away from him when she figured out how dangerous he was. He scared her to death. He wanted to do, like, some kind of brain surgery on Cass, when she was really little, to make her more like him. He did it to his other kids, too. A couple of them died in surgery, Mom said.”
I exchanged glances with the other adults. “That would explain the state that Vincent and Nicole were in,” Freya said. “If they were surgically altered by a megalomaniac hack.”
“Are Vincent and Nicole the ones who kidnapped Holly?” Reggie asked.
“Yes,” Ethan admitted. “Very bad people. We had some trouble with them.”
“Well, Halliwell’s bad people, too,” Reggie said. “She only worked for him because he said he could save me from Varen’s Disease, but she hates his guts, and she couldn’t wait to leave.” Reggie gestured impatiently at my phone. “Can I see? Please?”
“One more question,” I said. “Do you have a sore spot on your scalp?”
Her eyes widened. “How did you know? I never told anyone about it.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s here.” She reached back and touched her scalp. On the back, on the right, at ear level. “It’s from when I passed out on the school grounds that time. Then I got so sick, I forgot. I told the doctors at the clinic, but they didn’t care.”
“Can I look at it?”
“Sure,” she said. “But hurry, please. I want to see that video.”
I parted the thick, glossy locks of curly red hair, shining, the flashlight from my cell phone onto her scalp.
Frey and I saw it at the same moment, and I felt rather than heard her soundless gasp. She touched it gently with her fingertip. It was a small, straight, recently healed scar on her scalp, vertical, a little inflamed.
“Wow,” Jed said, peering over Freya’s shoulder. “Well, I’ll be damned. Look at that.”
“Shane?” Reggie urged. “The phone? Can I see the video? Please?”
“Wait.” I looked up at Kat. “Call Demiguel and the surgeons right now. Let’s get this checked out immediately.”
Kat’s ear was already to her phone. “On it.”
“So that’s taken care of, right?” Reggie said impatiently. “So can I have the phone, please?”
I handed her the phone. Holly scrambled right up on to the bed next to her, putting her arm around Reggie’s shoulder and giving her a reassuring squeeze.
Reggie set it to play. We all stood there, jaws clenched. Staring at the two little girls faces as they watched raptly. The phone’s blue illumination reflected in their eyes.
We followed the tinny audio. Reggie frowned in fierce concentration through the whole thing, holding it close to her eyes. It finished, and she set it to play again, stopping it to enlarge the image, replaying individual moments.
