most opportune time. He was already in his early twenties—no one expected him to manifest an ability at all.
As Davis lifted Joyce into his arms and climbed down the stairs, he allowed himself to think about what this could mean for him. He would be the most powerful man in America, maybe even the world.
Oh, the mind reading would certainly help, but it wasn’t as if the ability was unique. No, the real prize was lying unconscious in his arms.
If he was right and Joyce really could take an ability and give it to someone else, he’d have to make sure he kept her close for a long, long time. He was a bit young to be a father, but if that’s what it took to lock her into his life permanently, he’d start poking holes in condoms as soon as he got her back to his place.
One
One of Josh’s carefully curated playlists drifted softly from the high-tech system in the corner of my room. Although it had taken him all of five minutes to throw it together, he knew exactly which songs to choose, and they were all perfect “getting ready” songs.
It had been way too long since one of Ethan’s epic parties, and apparently the masses were getting impatient. Plus, my big teddy bear loved to throw a big party.
Dot unclipped the last little chunk of hair at the top of my head and separated it into sections. I was seated between her legs on the floor, my back leaning on the mattress as she meticulously straightened my hair. I hadn’t cut it more than a trim since my mother’s death. When straightened, it nearly reached my ass.
“Should I put it in a ponytail or something? It’s getting really long.” My nervousness about this party was manifesting as self-consciousness.
“What’re you nuts?” Dot bent around me to look into my face, her brow creased. “I just straightened it to perfection. Girls would kill for this kind of hair.”
“OK, OK.” I held my hands up but chuckled. It was nice to see her spunk back. Her vibrant, loud, over-the-top personality had faded each day her brother and Vital had been missing.
Charlie had been rescued over a month ago, along with dozens of other Vitals. He sat on the bed behind us, leaning on the headboard, flicking through my latest edition of New Scientist. He must’ve found something to hold his attention, because we hadn’t heard a comment or a page flip in a while.
Bradford Hills Institute had given him the rest of the year off; he was to resume his studies for his master’s the following year, but for now, he was spending most of his spare time with us. He’d obviously missed Dot. I couldn’t imagine what he’d been through, locked up in a little cell for so long, never knowing when he might be dragged off to the lab of horrors.
It made me sick to my stomach.
“Apparently neural stem cells from Variant donors are seventy-six percent more effective than those from human donors in treating patients with chronic spinal cord injuries. The transplanted stem cells develop into new neurons that replace severed or lost nerve connections and almost completely restore motor and sensory function,” Charlie piped up from behind us, solving the mystery of what had him so engrossed.
“Oh, really? I guess it makes sense when you consider the accelerated healing and better resistance to injury and disease in people with Variant DNA,” I answered, itching to read that article myself.
Dot nudged my head to face forward again. “No nerd talk! Stop moving. I’ve only got one section to go.”
I kept still as she dragged the last section of my chocolate-brown hair painfully slowly through the straightener. I had a feeling she was doing it just to bug me.
“There. Done,” she declared, finishing it off with some anti-frizz shit that smelled sickly sweet and made me sneeze. She went straight to my closet and flicked through the hangers. “You sure I can’t convince you to wear a dress?”
Hanging next to my mother’s poppy-print dress were rows of clothes I’d purchased on a recent trip to the city with Dot. Charlie and Ethan had come too, as well as a full Melior Group security detail. We were able to pretend the agents weren’t there for most of it, and I’d learned how enjoyable spending money could be when you didn’t have to worry about packing all your purchases into one easy-to-carry bag.