Caged (Talented Saga) (32 page)

“You’re right,” Erik agreed, turning to give me a small, genuine smile.

But it was Mac’s words I heard instead.
“
Sometimes, those closest to us are the best at deceiving us; you of all people should know that,”
he said. He was talking about Donavon then, but maybe those sentiments applied to Penny now.

No, I thought firmly.
She’d cried when she learned what happened to me in Nevada. She’d risked sanctions, and possibly even her appointment to the Crypto Division, when she’d broken protocol to help me prepare for my mission. Besides she was an orphan; there was no way she had any ties to the Coalition. The only time she ever left Headquarters was with me; I definitely would have known if she was having clandestine meetings with members of the Coalition when we went into the city. I hated myself for even doubting her, and I hated Donavon for creating a mistrust in me that hadn’t been present before his infidelity.

“What about the other
Cryptos?” I asked. “I know that they all had their reasons for not telling the truth earlier, but I was so caught up in the whole encryption nonsense that I didn’t really try to figure out if they had ties to the Coalition.”

“Could be,” he shrugged.
“But cheating on your Placement Exams doesn’t exactly make you a criminal mastermind.”

“I don’t know,” I said slowly.
“It seems like tricking the examiners into believing you’re Elite would be pretty hard.”

“Eh, it could be done.
Depends how good the Mimic was that tested her,” he replied absently.

“Mimic?” I asked, surprised.
I tried to recall my own Talent Ranking session. Mac, a Telepath, and a Manipulator had made up the panel that asked me questions and forced me to display my abilities. The Manipulator had been strong – I’d felt his strength just like I’d felt Cal’s. Looking back, that was a little odd; Mac had always told me that I was the only Toxic member with such strong powers of Manipulation.

“Yeah, all testing panels have a high-ranking Agency member, an Operative with the student’s same abilities, and a Mimic.
Exceptional Talents, like you, are easy to feel – most people with any extra perception will pick up on it. Even non-Talented people can feel your power; they just don’t understand what they’re feeling. It’s harder, though, with your average Talent, which is why they use us. Mimics are best equipped to read a Talent’s strength,” he explained.

“I don’t remember a Mimic being on my panel,” I said, shaking my head.

“Do you remember a Manipulator being there?” he countered.

“Of course.
Mac said that a person with my same abilities would sit in to gauge my strength relative to his.”

“I bet you that was a Mimic.”

“No way. I’d have known,” I declared. I would’ve ...right?

“Did you know what I was when we fought during your trials?” Erik asked, giving me a playful nudge.
I smiled at the memory of our first encounter.

In addition to the Talent-ranking portion of my Placement Exam, I’d also had a physical trial.
Erik had been one of the combatants that I’d faced, and I’d been sorely unprepared. All of the other fighters had been easy to defeat; I’d been able to control them through manipulation. Not Erik, though. The moment I tried to take over his mind, he’d thrown my abilities right back at me. The match had quickly turned ugly.

“Point taken,” I said.
“I knew that you weren’t a Manipulator. I just didn’t know what you were.”

“If I’d been better at replicating your powers, you would’ve thought I was a Manipulator.
I bet that the Mimic on your panel was better acquainted with Manipulation than I was.”

“I doubt that; you’re
an Elite,” I pointed out.

Erik fidgeted uncomfortably, pulling at the drawstring of his pajama bottoms.
He seemed almost embarrassed, and refused to meet my eyes.

“I’m not exactly
an Elite, Tal. Mimics don’t have rankings,” he finally said.

“Are you serious?” I exclaimed.
All Talents had rankings. At least, I’d thought they did. But Mimics were rare, and Erik was the only one that I knew personally.

“Yeah.
If you’re a Mimic, you just ...are. Mimics are only as strong as the Talent they’re imitating, and even then it’s complicated,” he mumbled.

Ahh
, so that’s why I felt the guy on my panel,
I thought. I was actually feeling my own power when he mimicked me. How weird.

“Complicated seems to be the word of the day.
Explain it to me,” I said.

“Like I said, Mimics are only as strong as the Talent they are mimicking.
I can morph into any animal and even other humans when I’m around Henri because he can do all of that. When I’m with you, I can read people’s minds, control them just like you do.”

“I’ve noticed,” I quipped.
Erik frequently read my thoughts now, and even controlled them on occasion.

He smiled, not ashamed at all.

“I only do it to you when you’re really upset,” he promised.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah - just get to the complicated part.”
I gave him a scowl even though I wasn’t really upset. He did it because he cared.

“Well, I have to learn how to do those things.
That’s why it took us so long in the beginning to form the three-way connection between you, me, and Henri. Remember?”

I did remember.
At first, it had seemed like we would never pull it off. Henri had been so frustrated, I’d worried he regretted offering to take me on as part of his team.

“Higher Reasoning is the same way.
I can mimic one, my brain will analyze the data and compute things really quickly and all that, but I don’t know what to do with the information once I have it. I doubt that I’d be able to gauge their strength since I don’t really understand how their abilities work.”

I’d always thought that being a Mimic would be cool, having the ability to possess so many different gifts.
But after hearing Erik’s description, I wasn’t sure. It actually sounded like a lot of work. After spending years learning how to use my own gifts, I couldn’t imagine how much effort and dedication it took to learn everyone else’s, too.

“If Grace did well on her written exams - like if Rider had given her the answers and coached her through it - and the Mimic on her panel wasn’t well versed in how Higher Reasoning works, he might’ve just thought that his reading was off,” he continued.

“So when you’re around Penny, for instance, you can’t tell she’s an Elite?” I asked, oddly fascinated by the revelation.

“No, I can’t,” he admitted.
“I’ve never tried to mimic her specifically, but I imagine that if I did, I’d be able to replicate her powers, just not implement them.”

“What about other Mimics?” I pressed.
“What do you feel when you’re around them?”

“I feel nothing, unless they’re mimicking another Talent.
If that’s the case, I feel the other Talent’s abilities. When they’re at rest, it’s kind of like being around a normal human ...but not,” he finished lamely.

“What do you mean?”
My brain was on overload. I couldn’t process all of this. I should’ve brought Penny; her analytical abilities would’ve come in real handy right about now.

“Their Talent essence is still there.
I can feel that there’s something that separates them from your average person, but it’s blank and undefined.”

“Weird,” I whispered.

“Yeah, thanks. I know, I’m a freak.” He laughed, pulling a lock of my hair to demonstrate how much he appreciated my commentary.

“That’s not what I meant!
I just never knew any of this. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

Erik shrugged.
“It never came up. And Toxic puts such an emphasis on rankings that I don’t like to tell people that I don’t have one. I am the only Hunter who isn’t Elite; it’s kind of embarrassing.”

I turned and stared directly into his eyes.
He looked so vulnerable. It was almost troubling to see Erik this way; he was always so confident, so sure of himself. I leaned in and kissed him softly. The hand on my neck tangled in my hair as his lips parted. I loved the way he tasted and I scooted closer until I was practically on top of him, but Erik gently pushed me back with his free hand.

“Easy,
Tals,” he whispered. I shrank away from him, humiliated by his admonishment. “Hey, it’s not like that,” he promised, cupping my chin and stroking my cheek with his thumb. “You’ve had a long day and it’s late. Why don’t we go to bed? If you get some sleep, maybe all of this stuff about codes and everything will make more sense in the morning.”

Erik stood and offered me his hand, which I took.

“Guest housing? Or my place?” he asked as he led me from the woods.

“Do you even have to ask?” I teased.
Of course, I wanted to stay with him.

“My place it is.”

When I met his gaze, the intensity lit my skin on fire, and I had to look away. Erik laughed softly and squeezed my hand. Sometimes I thought that making me squirm gave him a thrill.

When we got back to Erik’s room he found a pair of workout shorts and an old t-shirt for me to sleep in.
In his bathroom, I found an extra toothbrush and set about getting ready for bed.

Erik was already in his bed with the covers folded back when I finished.
I crossed the room to join him. Erik covered me with the blankets before drawing my head against his chest. He folded one hand behind his head and slid the other around my waist. I turned my face up, expecting him to kiss me, but his eyes were already closed and he didn’t bring his lips to meet mine. I kissed the side of his neck and began working my way to his mouth.

“
Tals, don’t,” he mumbled, his pulse quickening.

“Why?” I demanded.
I could tell that he wanted me. Why was he being like this?

“Exactly, but you’re too vulnerable,” Erik said, reading the thoughts straight from my head.
“Please don’t make this any harder than it already is.”

Vulnerable?
He thought I was vulnerable?

Erik sighed audibly.
“Tal,” he began, “I just meant that you’ve been through a lot today and you’re exhausted and on edge. I can feel all of that. I can feel how badly you need to sleep. I don’t want you to have another seizure on my account.”

“Stay out of my head,” I mumbled.

“I’m not in your head. You’re projecting.” I didn’t doubt that he was right; my thoughts were bouncing around my skull, fighting for freedom from their cranial prison.

I turned away from him and scooted to the edge of the bed.
Erik let me go and didn’t even react when I purposefully removed his hand from my waist. He let me stew, lost in my thoughts. I let the events of the day overtake my bruised ego.

All of the information that I’d learned raced through my mind on separate tracks, like sprinters in their own lanes, all aiming for the same finish line but never crossing paths.
The facts seemed like pieces of different puzzles – the lying Operatives, the simplistic encryption, Ian Crane knowing my name, the fact that Mimics didn’t have rankings. There had to be a common denominator - I just needed to find it.

I became so lost in thought that I didn’t realize Erik was still awake.
He didn’t say anything when he curled his strong body behind mine, wrapping one arm around my waist. He pulled me tight against his chest, nudged my curls aside with his chin, and buried his face in the back of my neck. His mouth was next to my ear, his lips brushing my skin.

“
It’s gonna be okay, Tal. We’ll figure this out. Please don’t cry.”

I brought my fingers to my cheeks, surprised to find that hot tears were weaving patterns across my cheekbones and dripping down the sides of my nose.
My body began shaking as I started to openly sob. I didn’t even know why I was crying. The shaking became so violent that I thought it might be the beginning of a seizure. It just made me cry harder. Erik rolled me over to face him and tightened his hold. I cried harder, balling handfuls of his shirt in my clenched fists. The harder my body convulsed, the tighter Erik held me.

After what seemed like forever, my muscles relaxed and the spasms stopped.
My tears gave way to hiccups. Erik gently detangled my fingers from his shirt and laced them through his. He forced my head back, and I looked up at him through swollen eyes. His expression was so gentle. He brought his mouth to mine and kissed me softly, our lips barely touching. I tasted my salty tears.

Erik’s mind was open, and his feelings for me clouded all of my other thoughts.
The weight that had been bearing down on me since Nevada lifted. I felt light, free. I wanted this feeling to last forever. Suddenly, I was so overcome with the desire to sleep that I couldn’t keep my eyes open. My mind seemed to go blank and my thoughts became shadows that I couldn’t catch.

“I don’t know about forever, but at least long enough so you can get some sleep,” Erik whispered, pulling back from the kiss but staying close enough that his lips still brushed mine when he spoke.