Caged (Talented Saga) (20 page)

“I’ll see you later, Mac,” I called over my shoulder as I hurried to catch up with the departing crowd.

I’d only made it a couple of feet when long fingers closed around my wrist. Startled, I swiveled around to face Erik.

“Hey,” he began uneasily.

“Hey,” I responded, glancing around nervously. I wasn’t sure what to say to Erik after everything that had happened with Donavon the previous night.

“I’m leaving tonight ...I was hoping that we could talk before I go?”
Erik’s thoughts were unguarded, and his longing to spend time with me made my chest ache and butterflies swarm in my stomach.

“I can’t, Erik,” I said, yanking my wrist free from his grasp.
“I’m sorry.” I wanted to spend time with him too, and I wanted to touch him so badly that my hands twitched at the thought of feeling his skin underneath my fingertips. But Erik had called me his “friend”; and also, after my reaction to Donavon’s admission about Kandice, I knew that I wasn’t over him.

I didn’t know what I wanted, but I did know that Erik was leaving to go back to Headquarters.
He was going back to his real life, and he couldn’t be there for me in the way that I needed right now – the way that Donavon could, the way that he had been last night. Erik was patently immature and sarcastic; and even if he took back his claim that we were just friends, I doubted that he’d want me if he witnessed one of my seizures. Not that I blamed him - I wouldn’t either.

I shoved my longing aside, willed my pulse to slow, and bit my lip to keep the tears back.
Slowly, I turned and walked away from Erik, who let me leave without so much as a word of protest, though his eyes bored through my back and pierced my heart.

Once I was safely outside the Arena, away from Erik, I searched the throng of congregated students for Kenly.
Thankfully, her height made her easy to spot in the crowd; she was standing with a group of girls huddled off to one side.

“Kenly,” I called as I approached.

She turned her head to locate the person calling her name. When her eyes landed on me, she smiled.

“Hey, Ms. Lyons,” she called back, raising one thin arm in a friendly wave.

“It’s Talia, and could I talk to you for a minute?”

“Um, sure.”
She glanced around at the gaggle of girls and nodded, indicating that they should leave.

“So, you want to try out for the Hunters?” I began once her friends were a safe distance away.

“Yeah. I know that it’s a long shot, but I really want to be a Hunter, like my father,” she answered, bobbing her head so vigorously that her brown locks bounced up and down on her shoulders.

“Placement Exams are coming up pretty soon and you would need a lot of work to be ready,” I prompted, attempting to gauge her level of commitment.
I knew from watching her that she had heart; but if she were going to be a real contender, she needed focus and determination as well.

“I know.
I’ve been practicing after school.”

“How would you like some help?
I’ve asked the Director for permission to help you train.” Kenly’s brown eyes lit up like a Festivis Day firework.

“Really?
You would do that for me?” She seemed shocked that I was taking such an interest in her future.

“Well, yeah.
If you want,” I added.

“Why?” she whispered.

“Why, what?”

“Why would you want to help me?
I’m not that good, and the chances that I’ll actually make the Hunters are low.”

Why
did
I want to help Kenly? She was right; her placing high enough for the committee to select her for the Hunters was against the odds. And it wasn’t like I didn’t have enough to worry about without the added pressure of someone else’s career on my shoulders.

“Because you remind me of someone,” I finally answered.

“Who?”

“Me.”

Kenly beamed. “I would love for you to help me.”

We made plans to start our sessions after school the next day.
Now I just needed to figure out exactly how I was going to accomplish this monumental task, how I was going to teach Kenly everything that I’d learned over the course of six years in just three months.

Chapter Nineteen

That evening, I arrived at Donavon’s room with dinner in hand.
He opened the door just as I raised my hand to knock. He was wearing only black pants and a black belt, his chest bare and his shaggy hair still a little damp. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“Hi,” I stammered.

“I didn’t know that we were picnicking for dinner,” he gestured to the bag that I held.

“I thought that it would be more fun if it was just us.”
He gave me a skeptical look. “Besides I hate the cafeteria,” I said quickly. Truthfully, I was avoiding Erik.

Donavon opened the door wider, and I brushed past him into the room.
He caught my arm, and I turned to meet his clear blue eyes. He leaned down just as I rose to stand on my tiptoes, and our lips met in the middle. Dropping the paper bag holding our dinner, I wrapped both of my arms around his neck. I willed the door shut and heard it slam in response.

The air seemed to rush out of the room with the closing of the door.
Penny’s voice filled my head, and I inwardly sighed. What was I doing? I pushed lightly on Donavon’s shirtless chest.

“Sorry,” he said, not sounding sorry at all.

“I just don’t know what’s really going on between us,” I started to ramble.

“You don’t need to say anything, Tal.”
He gave me a genuine smile. “Let’s eat. I’m starving.” I picked up the paper bag and withdrew two sandwiches, each with thick slabs of turkey, smothered in a creamy cranberry mayo on cornbread. I spread out napkins on the floor while Donavon watched hungrily.

“Please put on a shirt,” I mumbled.

“Am I distracting you?” he teased.

“No, it’s unhygienic to eat without clothes on,” I shot back.
Even to my own ears, my voice sounded unconvincing. The look he gave he me told me that he didn’t believe me either, but he turned and began rummaging through his closet in search of a shirt.

“There are drinks in that mini cooler under the night table behind you,” he said, his back to me.
I turned around, opened the cooler, and fished out two bottles of water.

“Any chance you have salt?
I forgot to pick some up,” I said, sheepishly.

“Um, yeah.
In my desk drawer there are probably some packets,” he called over his shoulder.

I slid open his desk drawer and began searching for salt.
I found several packets mingled with the loose papers and pencils clogging the interior. I fumbled to retrieve all of the loose packets, and my fingers brushed over a glossy surface – a picture. I pulled the photograph free from the mess; it was of a child, maybe a year old with shaggy blonde hair and oversized sunglasses, sitting on a lawn.

“
Aww, you’re so cute in this picture!” I exclaimed. Smiling, I turned to show Donavon the photograph in my hand. My grin faded when I took in Donavon’s tense expression. A trickle of fear leaked from his mind before he sent up his mental barricades.

“Um, yeah, thanks,” he replied tightly.

I started to say something else, but Donavon’s eyes had gone dark and icy in a Mac-worthy glare. His expression unnerved me.
Weird
, I thought, quickly snapping my mouth shut. He turned back to his closet, making a show of noisily searching through the handful of shirts that hung there.

Not wanting to upset him further, I quickly replaced the picture in the desk drawer where I’d found it.
When I tried to push the drawer back into place, something prevented it from closing completely. I wiggled it, attempting to free the hindrance, but the drawer still wouldn’t shut. I pulled it back out on the runners and felt around in the back to locate the impediment. My fingers closed around a tightly folded wad of paper, and I yanked it free.

When I withdrew my arm and opened my palm, my blood froze in my veins.
My next breath hitched in my throat, and my stomach twisted with terror.

My mind flashed to Henri placing a tightly folded piece of paper in my hand and folding my fingers around the edges ...the same piece of paper that I now held.
I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out when I saw the dark stains obscuring my own neatly printed name. The blood, my blood, flaked off of the page and into my palm. A thousand thoughts raced through my head. Why did Donavon have Erik’s letter? Why was he keeping it stuffed in the back of his desk? How did he get it in the first place?

“Did you find salt?” Donavon asked, pulling a white t-shirt over his head.

My mind swam with warring thoughts. Should I confront him? I quickly decided not to; I needed more time to process the situation. I shoved the wad into the back pocket of my jeans.

“Salt?
Yeah, I did,” I said, trying to keep my voice even. Hastily, I slammed the drawer shut with my mind. Donavon turned around to face me once again, and his eyes had returned to the warm blue of a clear sky, all traces of his earlier annoyance gone.

Managing a weak smile, I held one of the sandwiches out to Donavon.
He accepted it and quickly began eating. I slowly chewed the first few bites of turkey and bread, not really tasting the contents, but managing to swallow them all the same. Thankfully, Donavon seemed so distracted that he didn’t notice my own mental wandering.

Trying to dispel the awkwardness in the room, I began making small talk about the various students from the demonstration, and watched as the tension visibly dissipated from Donavon.
Once he seemed relaxed, I took a chance and reached out to his mind, but his thoughts were all on what we were talking about. Well, not ALL of them, but the ones that weren’t made me blush, so I quickly retreated into my own head.

After we ate, I cleaned up our little picnic and hugged Donavon goodbye.
When he bent to kiss me, I turned my head and his lips brushed my cheek instead. He barely hid his disappointment over my rebuff. Right then, I didn’t care about Donavon’s feelings. The only thing that mattered was the letter currently burning a hole in the pocket of my jeans – a desperate reminder that I had to see Erik before he left.

The words on those pages verged on treason.
The accusations that he’d made would guarantee him a horrible fate, particularly if they were true. And somehow, I’d let them fall into the hands of the Director’s son. If Erik got in trouble, it would be my fault; any further bloodshed would be on my hands.

Panic, bordering on hysteria, gripped my lungs as I ran across campus to the hover hangar.
Erik and Henri were loading bags onto a Toxic jet when I breathlessly crossed the threshold. Erik looked up as I approached and waved. Despite the dire reason I’d come, I felt my heart skip a beat and my stomach flutter. The smile that lit up his face fell when he picked up on my emotional state.

“I thought you might not come,” he called, crossing the cement floor to where I stood.

“Erik, I need to talk to you,” I panted, disregarding his greeting.

Henri had followed Erik over and now stood next to him.
“I’ll leave you two to say goodbye,” he offered, looking awkwardly between my red, sweaty face and Erik’s distraught expression. Henri gave me a quick hug and peck on the cheek before retreating.

Erik rested his hands on my shoulders, and I could feel the heat of his skin through my sweater.
His turquoise eyes sparkled sadly, and I knew that he’d read my thoughts.

“I’m so sorry, Erik,” I whispered.

“I always knew that you would never get over him,” he said regretfully, as if I hadn’t spoken. “I suppose it’s hard to say no to a guy who nearly died for you,” Erik continued.

I was so confused that I momentarily forgot the reason that I’d nearly torn a hamstring in my haste to get to the hangar.

“I don’t think that willingly risking his life for me and me nearly killing him because I lost control are the same thing,” I said slowly, still trying to figure out what the hell Erik was talking about.

“Huh?”
Erik sounded confused now. “What are you talking about?”

“What are
you
talking about?” I countered.

“Nevada,” he said slowly.

I stared at him blankly, my brain apparently too slow to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. What did Donavon, Nevada, and me nearly dying have in common?

“When the extraction team found you in Nevada, you’d lost so much blood that they didn’t think you were going to make it,” Erik started to explain.
I mentally urged him to continue. I knew all of this, but had no idea what it had to do with Donavon. “Well, there was only so much blood on the plane, and the Medics were unable to stop your bleeding.” He seemed hesitant to continue; his words were halted.

“Okay ...and what does this have to do with Donavon?” I demanded.

“Donavon was part of the extraction team,” he said, eyeing me cautiously. “You didn’t know that?” he guessed.

“No,” I whispered.
“I didn’t.” Mac had left that detail out when he’d filled in my memory gaps. And apparently, when Donavon said that he’d never lie to me again and that I could trust him, he’d conveniently forgotten about this.

“Get to the part about Donavon nearly dying,” I hissed through clenched teeth.

Erik grimaced, and I almost felt bad since my anger wasn’t directed at him.

“Well, when the Medics used all of the blood on the craft and you still needed more, Donavon insisted on giving you his.
So, the Medics gave you a direct transfusion. Donavon gave you so much blood that he had to be carried off of the plane when it finally landed in Kansas.” Erik looked miserable, like it physically pained him to admit that Donavon had done something so noble.

“How do you know this?”
I asked, fighting the hysteria rising in my chest. Why had no one told me? Why had Donavon not told me?

“I arrived in Kansas a couple of hours after you did.
The Director was screaming at Donavon, saying that he shouldn’t have done it. He kept telling Donavon that he screwed up and that you would have made it to Kansas, where there was more blood, already filtered and cleaned, to give you.”

“Why was it such a big deal?
Why was Mac so mad?” I asked, more to myself than to Erik. All Operatives were routinely checked for diseases and illnesses; Donavon would’ve known if he was sick. Surely he wouldn’t have given me his blood if he knew that it was tainted.

“Well, it’s against protocol; but in extreme circumstances, I’m sure that it’s happened before,” Erik said.
“All I know is the Director was so furious that he made Donavon leave immediately. Donavon said he wanted to make sure that you were okay, but the Director told him he’d already done enough.”

“Why wouldn’t Donavon tell me?” I asked, voicing the million dollar question.

“I don’t know, Tal. I’m sorry that I told you. I figured you already knew.”

I shook my head, no longer trusting myself to speak.

“Erik, we need to go,” Henri called from inside the craft.

“Tal, I’m so sorry.
I wouldn’t have said anything if I knew that you didn’t know.” He wiped his thumb under my left eye and across my left cheek, smearing the tear that had spilled over. He bent down and kissed my cheek, his lips warm against my cool, damp skin.

“I’ll see you soon, Tal,” he whispered, his breath tickling my ear.
He turned and started to walk toward the open plane door.

I shoved my hands in my back pockets to still the shaking, and my fingers closed around Erik’s letter.
I called out to him, “Erik! Wait!”

He turned slowly, hope filling his features.
I hated that what I was about to say would once again wipe the expression off of his face.

“Donavon had your letter.”

“What?” he demanded, closing the space between us faster than I’d have thought possible. He grabbed my upper arms, his fingers digging painfully into my flesh. “What did you say?” His crazed expression terrified me; I’d seen that look before, and nothing good could come of it.

“I-I-I was in his room, looking for salt; and I found it, stuffed in the back of his desk,” I whimpered.

“When?” Erik demanded.

“Just now before I came here,” I whispered.
Erik’s grip on me tightened and I cried out, sure that my arms would be tie-dyed black and blue tomorrow. “I’m so sorry,” I sobbed. “I didn’t mean for him – for anybody to find it. I was reading it in Nevada when I thought I was dying.”

“So he’s had it for what, ten months now?” Erik asked, more to himself than me.

“I don’t know. The last time I saw it before tonight was right before I passed out. When it wasn’t listed with my personal effects, I assumed that it had been burned when the extraction team sanitized the woods where they found me,” I explained.

Finally, Erik released me; I swayed unsteadily without him holding me up.
He reached for me again, but this time he wrapped his arms around me and crushed my body to his. I relaxed into his embrace, circling my own arms around his waist.

“Shit, Tal, I’m sorry.
I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he murmured into my hair. “I’m not mad at you; it’s not your fault,” he promised.