Resistance (The Variant Series #2) (24 page)

Something slammed against the center panel.

Again.

And again.

It was only a matter of time, now, before the splintering frame gave way.

So he ran.

Out the back door, onto the patio, through the yard, and deep into the forest behind his apartment.

He ran and he ran and he ran until, finally, the world went black.

Alex withdrew from Aaron’s mind faster than if she’d grabbed a live wire, disoriented and sporting a blinding new headache, grateful beyond measure that she hadn’t attempted that little trick while driving.

This wasn’t the first time Alex glimpsed someone else’s memories.

It
was
, however, the first time she’d fallen down the rabbit hole so hard and so fast that she hadn’t been able to find her way back
out
.

Until Aaron’s world went black, Alex temporarily ceased to exist.

She
was
Aaron. She lived those moments exactly as he had.

Five minutes into his run, Aaron had passed out, only to wake alone and aching in the middle of the woods.

Currently, he was waging an internal debate over whether or not to give in to his overwhelming urge to collapse, or to stay awake and to keep running.

He was trying his damnedest to control the storm, even as he fled, and it was killing him.

But that wasn’t the only thing that prompted Alex to turn off the jeep, yank the keys from the ignition, and jump. It was also because of the face she’d seen through Aaron’s own eyes as he’d stared through that peephole.

The Devil was knocking at Aaron Gale’s door, and the Devil looked a hell of a lot like Director Carter.

* * *

Aaron ran.

And when he felt like he couldn’t run any farther, he staggered. He lurched. He crawled.

The world around him was a haze of greens and browns. Of rain and shadows in the darkened woods; half seen blurs that slipped past him as he fled.

He couldn’t stop.

Couldn’t allow himself to be caught.

“Do you see this woman?”

“I ain’t blind, Dad.”

His father popped him lightly upside the head. “Don’t get smart. I really want you to look, now.”

“Alright! Geez, sorry. I’m lookin’, I’m lookin’.”

His father laid the photo on the kitchen table next to Aaron’s bowl of cereal.

Aaron stared at the woman with the cold eyes and the severe expression. “Is this her?” he asked. “Is this that lady from the Agency who tried to—”

“Memorize that face, son,” his father said. “If you ever see her—if you ever see
anyone
from the Agency—you run, Aaron. You hear me? You run like hell, and you don’t look back.”

Aaron opened his eyes.

The blackouts were coming more frequently now. If things progressed in the same way they had during the first storm, he’d soon start going down for ten and twenty minutes at a time, and then he’d be out for a full day, at least.

He needed to get somewhere safe before that happened… but
where
?

Aaron was back on his feet and staggering blindly through the woods.

Had he been back home in the mountains, he would have known exactly where to go.

But he wasn’t in the mountains, he was in Bay View, and he’d never really gotten around to making contingency plans for his new home.

Had his father been alive, the old man would have whooped him but
good
for being so lazy.

Reckless, Aaron
, he thought.
Too damn reckless.

How had they found him? Was it because of the storm?

They weren’t even supposed to know Aaron
existed
. His father had taken every precaution known to man to keep his son from ending up in the Agency’s directory.

As far as they were concerned, Aaron was a ghost. And he probably would have
stayed
that way, had it not been for this goddamned storm.

Aaron’s surroundings tilted violently to the right, his shoulder slamming into a tree trunk as he struggled to shake off the onslaught of vertigo.

If he never saw that girl again, it would be too damn soon.

“Aaron! Aaron
wait
!”

He turned his head to locate the owner of the voice—and wound up sliding down the side of the tree instead, landing flat on his back in a pile of wet pine needles.

Heavy droplets of rain fell against his face as he struggled to roll onto his side.

“Aaron!” said the voice again, this time from somewhere above him.

He looked up and into a set of steel gray eyes.

Like those eyes, Aaron’s world was starting to turn gray around the edges.

He knew what would be coming next.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” said Alex, her breaths coming in quick gasps, as though she’d been running a long while in her efforts to catch up with him. “They’re not far behind me.”

“Then run,” he said, his voice strained. “Leave me… and
run
. I… I can’t anymore.”

She smiled down at him, then took his hand in hers.

“No reason you can’t come with me.”

No sooner were the words out of her mouth, than Aaron surrendered to the most intense pressure he’d ever experienced.

Aaron blinked his eyes open and immediately fell into a violent coughing fit.

What the
hell
was that?

Alex had released his hand. Was she still nearby?

Curled on his side, Aaron struggled to take in his surroundings and to catch his breath.

Blinding sunlight, an azure sky and triple digit heat replaced the cold wind and rain.

Aaron sucked in one last, deep breath.

The pain in his head started to let up.

He was exhausted—utterly spent in every way imaginable—but somehow, he felt better. Like maybe the worst of it was over.

“Can you sit up?” asked a small voice from a few feet away.

He turned toward it.

Alex was here. She’d
brought
him here.

But how?

With a little help, Aaron pulled himself into a seated position.

A warm breeze sent sand skittering past them. Everywhere he looked, a barren landscape stretched as far as the eye could see.

They were in the desert.

They’d
jumped
to the desert.

“You’re a jumper,” he said, surprised. “I thought… I thought you were…”

“Like you?” she said, taking a seat beside him. “I’m that, too.”

He blinked at her, simultaneously amazed and confused. “You’re a weather manipulator
and
a jumper?”

“For now, anyway.”

Impossible. What were the odds of meeting two Variants with multiple abilities in the same year? Hell, even in the same lifetime? It was like winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning on the same damn day.

“Bullshit,” he said. Because it had to be. There was no way she could be telling the truth.

But why should she lie?

Aaron took a moment to look the girl over. She was drenched, the pretty clothes she’d been wearing at school that day now muddied and torn, presumably from her trek through the woods.

The expression on her face was—of all things—currently one of embarrassment.

Alex sighed. “Declan’s going to shoot me,” she said. “Okay. The short version? When I was a kid I was given a… a
trial drug
, of sorts. Something the Agency concocted years ago that was later lost in a fire. It changed me. Made it so that I temporarily absorb the ability of any Variant I touch.”

“Temporarily?” he repeated. “
Any
Variant?”

Alex nodded.

“So when I bumped into you in the hallway today, you—”

“I accidentally borrowed your weather ability. I’ll be stuck with it for another day or two.”

He looked up. The sky that had been so clear and blue upon their arrival was gradually filling with clouds. They hadn’t left the storm behind. Not really.

Alex was simply recreating it here, in the middle of the desert.

He stared at her quizzically.

One girl…
one girl
created that entire storm.

And she hadn’t even meant to do it!

“When we leave a storm we’ve created behind,” she began, “does it disappear? I mean, now that we’ve left Bay View, will it just fade away?”

Aaron frowned. “No. Unless I—” he paused. “Unless
we
intentionally bring down the intensity, the storm stays in place until it’s fully run its course.”

“Well…
shit
.”

No kidding.

“So that storm is still raging back home?” she asked.

He nodded.

“I need your help, Aaron,” she said. “I need to learn how to control it.”

Aaron scowled. “Why should I help you, Alex?” he asked. “It’s your fault all this is even happening in the first place. It’s
your fault
the Agency found me! I’ll be running for the rest of my natural born life now, thanks to you.”

Alex’s face fell. “I’m really sorry, Aaron. I never meant for… for…” Her eyes narrowed in confusion. “How
did
they find you?”

“What?”

“The Agency,” she said. “I mean, I know the lengths your father went to in order to keep you off their radar. How did they figure out it was
you
that I absorbed this ability from?”

“How do
you
know about the things my father did to keep me hidden?”

There was that look of embarrassment again.

Her expression personified the word “whoops.”

“I, uh,” she stood up. “I can kind of read minds, too. At least, I can for a few more hours.”

“You’re in my
head
?” he threw up his arms, exasperated. “What
else
can you do, Alex? See the future?”

“Erm, no,” said Alex, then added in an undertone. “Not at the moment.”

“Because I’d
love
to see how this mess you’ve gotten me into turns out,” he finished.

She paced nervously in front of him for a few moments, then dropped back down.

“Aaron, I’m sorry,” she said. “I never meant for
any
of this to happen. And I feel horrible that I’ve blown your cover and exposed you to the Agency, but I do have some friends that might be able to help you.”

Aaron took a moment to process her words—and then he took a moment to consider all the risks that went along with trusting people he’d never even met.

He wasn’t without “friends” of his own.

All it would take was one phone call to Dr. Li to explain his current situation, and he could probably find all the help he needed.

Li wasn’t without the means to assist him. A guy like him should have enough loose change lying around to give Aaron the fresh start he needed, complete with a new identity and a new town to call home.

And if Li wanted to keep his pet weather manipulator from falling into the hands of the Agency, he’d probably be more than willing to make it happen.

But what then? If he went to Li for something like that, he’d rack up the sort of debt he’d never be able to pay back. He’d probably end up working for Li for the rest of his life.

“Who are these friends of yours, Alex?” he asked.

“A man named John Grayson,” she said. “Along with the rest of his family. They’re the ones who have kept me from being taken by the Agency. I’m sure they can find some way to help you, too.”

Aaron laughed in disbelief. “The Graysons… John
Grayson
is your
friend
?” He looked skyward. “What am I talking about? Of course he is.”

“Is there something wrong?”

“
Wrong
?” He laughed again. “No. That little announcement is pretty much on par with the
rest
of the impossible things you’ve been spewing since we got here.”

Hang on. There was that name she’d mentioned…

Declan.

“Holy
shit
,” he said, leaping to his feet. “Declan—you said the name Declan earlier… You
know
Declan O’Connell?” The subsequent revelation nearly knocked him back down again. “Wait a sec…
Kenzie
. Your friend! The redhead! That was Kenzie
O’Connell
, wasn’t it?!”

Alex was staring at him like he’d just sprouted another head, taken completely off guard by his outburst. “Y–yes,” she said. “It was. But how do
you
know them?”

Now it was Aaron’s turn to stare dumbfounded back at Alex. “Are you kidding?” he said. “There’s not a Variant alive who
doesn’t
know about the Graysons and the O’Connells. They’re about as close as you get to Variant royalty. Surely you knew that.”

Only, it was becoming increasingly obvious to Aaron that she
didn’t
. Who
was
this girl?

He ran a hand through his hair. “Next thing you’re going to tell me is that your last name is really Palladino.”

Alex arched an eyebrow. “It’s Parker, actually.”

And that was the final nail in his coffin. Aaron managed to stagger backward a few feet before his knees gave out.

Alex Parker. The girl standing right there in front of him was Alex
freaking
Parker.

Aaron was having a conversation with a dead girl.

What the
hell
had he just gotten himself into?

— 20 —

“Y
ou sure you haven’t sensed anything yet?” asked Declan.

In the passenger seat beside him, Kenzie sat rubbing her forehead.

Scanning her surroundings nonstop for half an hour straight was starting to melt her brain.

Not literally, of course. But it sure did hurt like hell.

“No,” she said. “Still no sign of either one of them.”

Declan sighed. Kenzie didn’t need to scan his thoughts to feel the tension radiating toward her from the driver’s seat.