Resistance (The Variant Series #2) (41 page)

No pen.

She couldn’t have everything, apparently.

Ignoring the small pile of black fatigues folded inside the trunk, Alex instead worked her way into the clothes Dr. Li had offered her as she left the infirmary—the same jeans and black tank she’d worn days before. Someone at the facility had taken the time to wash her clothes, though the small holes in her tank top from the tranquilizer darts remained.

Sitting down dejectedly on the edge of the uncomfortable bed, Alex pulled out the
other
item Li had secretly handed her before saying goodbye—the glossy photograph Aiden had given her as a gift from Nathaniel that she’d shoved into her pocket before leaving for the test.

Little Nate’s smile stared back at her across the years, as quiet and unassuming as ever, and yet filled with that same steady reassurance she’d always found in his presence.

A tear slipped onto the photo and she wiped it clean.

Her heart broke a little more as she studied the image further and realized that Mr. O’Connell was wearing the exact same faded, gray military jacket that Declan so rarely went without.

Late one “girls night” after Cassie had fallen asleep, Kenzie told Alex about the last time she and Declan saw Alex as children.

The story of their parents’ death.

As Alex stared down at the photo, Declan’s attachment to his coat suddenly made perfect sense—and her heart ached to finally realize why it always smelled so strongly of ashes.

On that fateful night so many years earlier, the O’Connells were hiding young Alex in their Kilkenny home.

Masterson showed up and started a fire, nearly burning the house down around them all as they slept. He meant to steal Alex away during the chaos, but Mr. O’Connell discovered him instead.

In the end, Declan’s father drove Masterson off and ushered the children outside—only to teleport back inside the raging fire to rescue his wife, who was trapped in one of the back bedrooms.

Neither of the O’Connells made it back out alive.

Somehow
, that jacket survived the fire. And now it belonged to Declan.

Alex returned the photograph to her back pocket.

She had to get out of here. She had to go back.

Alex had made her decision.

This shouldn’t be their future. Those pain-ridden memories shouldn’t be their past.

She knew exactly
when
she needed to travel back to, in order to stop all this from happening. She’d go back to the day of the photo. She’d warn Grayson’s team about what was coming for them.

She would fix this
.

An explosion rocked the subterranean building, blowing out the lights and plunging Alex’s room into darkness. Heavy boots raced through the halls outside of her cell, headed in the direction of the stairs.

Something was wrong.

A second explosion sent shockwaves rippling through the ceiling above Alex’s head, knocking her off her feet. A klaxon echoed through the corridors. 

The facility was under attack.

But from who?

Fumbling her way toward the wall of her cell, Alex ran her hands along the cool plaster until she found what she was looking for. She yanked desperately at the door handle, but to no avail. It was still locked.

If there was a fire… If no one let her out of here…

Frantic now, Alex pounded her fists against the gray metal door, shouting for anyone who might be listening to open the damn door, already, and let her out.

Belatedly, the emergency lights mounted in the hallway blinked on, sending a beam of light cascading through the thin, rectangular window in the door.

From the vibrations in the walls and the thudding reports of gunfire, some sort of battle was raging high above her head.

What the hell was going on up there?

This time the heavy boots sounding down the hallway moved
toward
her instead of away.

Again, Alex beat wildly at the door, trying in vain to see anything through the narrow window.

“Hello?!” she called.

The footsteps slowed, but there was no reply.

Alex huffed. “I can
hear you
, asshole! I know you’re there! Now, someone let me out of here, dammit!”

A laugh.

Someone had just
laughed
in the hallway.

The boots slowed to a stop and Declan’s face appeared on the other side of the window.

Alex let out a cry that was part sob, part laugh, and nothing short of
relief
.

Declan grinned back at her from the shadows.

“Now
that’s
the Alex I know,” he said. “Nice to see you haven’t lost your spirit. Now, back up, princess. This might get messy.”

As Alex backed out of the way, she heard Declan say, “Check the other rooms. Make sure Alex is the only one being held on this floor.”

Then the door blew inward, rocketing off its hinges and slamming into the far wall. The metal panel rippled from top to bottom with crackling tendrils of violet electricity.

Declan must have used a sphere to knock it in.

“Lex?” He stepped into the room and looked around for her in the darkness. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she said, getting back to her feet.

She stepped into the light and Declan’s concerned expression melted into one of relief.

Another step and she was pulled swiftly against his chest as his arms wrapped tightly around her. Alex hugged him back as though it had been years, and not days, since she’d last seen him.

If she did what she had in mind, it might just be that long
,
next time.

That is, if she saw him again
at all
.

She pushed lightly against his chest and he loosened his hold, allowing her to step back, but still not dropping his arms.

“Are you alright?” he asked. “Have they hurt you?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “But Nate and Aaron…”

Something flickered in Declan’s eyes. “We know about Aaron. I’m sorry, Alex.”

She frowned. “How did you find me here?”

“Ozzie,” he replied. “And Grayson’s contacts. But it took us a while to decide on the best way to get you out of here, especially since we spent the last few days on the run while we planned it out.”

“You
what
?”

Declan shrugged. “After they knocked you out during the test, we fought back. We didn’t find out until
later
what the Director had done to cause you to go berserk like that. But we fought anyway, even without knowing for certain.”

“You fought the Agency?”

Declan huffed. “Wasn’t much of a fight. They ran before we could do much damage. Took you with them when they went, which was basically the last straw.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well after that, Grayson decided it was finally time to make a stand.” Declan dropped his arms from Alex’s waist and took a step back, looking out into the hallway to make sure the coast was still clear. “We’ve officially gone to war with the Agency. What they did to Nate would have been enough in and of itself, but after rigging your test on top of it…
taking you
like that… Well, let’s just say that the Agency has brought all of this on itself.”

Another explosion rocked the building, this one far more violent than the last. Declan pulled her close again, covering her as ceiling panels rained down from above.

When the dust finally settled, Declan looked her over. “Alright?”

“Alright.”

“We need to move,” he said, releasing her and making for the door.

Alex didn’t follow him.

“We blew their EM shield, but I can’t jump without—” He stopped and finally looked back at her. “What are you waiting for, Lex? We gotta go.”

This was it.

The shield was down. Alex was free.

There was only one thing she had left to do.

Alex closed the distance between them, reached up, and wrapped her arms around Declan’s neck.

The kiss was just as passionate and desperate as their first few had been, and Alex allowed herself to surrender to the blissful sensation of his warm mouth on hers. Of his strong arms wrapped tightly around her. Of the currents that danced all around them.

The kiss tasted of tears.

When she pulled away, Alex wiped carefully at her cheeks and took a few steps backward.

“Alex?” he asked, caught completely off his guard. “Lex, what are you doing?”

“You remember how I thought I’d traveled through time before? After touching Aaron? And you all told me I was crazy?” She smiled sadly. “Well, I wasn’t crazy, Decks. It was all real. And now I finally know what I have to do. I’m going to put things right for all of us… I promise.”

Declan’s face went slack. “I don’t understand, Alex. What are you—”

Knowing that she might never see him again and that this might very well be the last chance she ever had to say it, Alex gave voice to the words she’d been holding inside for so long.

“I love you, Declan.”

Declan’s eyes widened in panicked understanding. “Alex,
no
!”

As it always did just before the jump, Alex’s world began to slow.

She pictured her destination. The sunny fall day when her parents had welcomed their friends and fellow teammates into their home and then gathered by the creek for a group picture. She imagined the cool weather. The wind rippling through the leaves of that large red maple in the backyard. The sound of her parents’ laughter.

The image of her life as it once was so very, very long ago.

And then Alex looked back at the room she was about to leave behind, and saw something she hadn’t expected.

Declan was lurching toward her, his arm outstretched and his palm inching ever closer to her wrist as time shuddered to a stop.

In the instant before her world turned a vibrant red and Alex jumped, two absolutely unthinkable things happened.

Nathaniel was alive
.

She recognized Nathaniel’s bandaged form standing stock still in the doorway, watching on as his brother lunged toward Alex’s vanishing form. And in that frozen moment, he was smiling the same, small smile Alex had grown so much to love.

The expression in his eyes communicated volumes in that fleeting instant.

It was a look that told her he knew what was happening. That he’d been
waiting
for it to happen. And that while he ached watching it unfold, it had also unburdened him somehow. He’d finally been released.

It was all finally happening.

And then the second unthinkable thing happened.

Declan’s hand closed around Alex’s wrist.

Alex’s jump had begun—and Declan was coming with her.

— Epilogue —

S
he was being ripped apart.

Alex cried out in pain as she reappeared, her scream lost amidst the deafening roar of the storm that raged around her.

And she fell.

Rain and ice pelted against her bare skin as a crimson bolt of lightning lit up the darkened sky. An icy wind rushed past her as she tumbled through the emptiness. Alex clawed desperately at nothing, twisting and turning in the black.

Another flash of lightning revealed a churning expanse of water rushing toward her at a terrifying rate.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening.

Connecting with the ocean’s surface was like being slammed ruthlessly against a brick wall. The speed of her descent turned the water into a solid, unforgiving mass. Dazed, she fought to keep her grip on consciousness as the seething waves consumed her, dragging her limp form swiftly downward.

Alex willed her aching limbs to move as she struggled to break free of the merciless current. With no light to see by and no idea which direction to swim in order to reach the surface, she gave in to the panic.

Sharp pains coursed through her limbs, causing her arms and legs to jerk violently. Blood pounded at her temples.

Air. She needed air.

Unable to fight the urge any longer Alex gasped reflexively, swallowing one mouthful of seawater and then another, the briny liquid stinging at her nose and at the back of her throat as it forced its way into her lungs.

Her arms and legs continued to thrash wildly. She made one last, desperate attempt to break free of the ocean’s grasp, but it was no use.

Alex allowed herself to be pulled along by the steady current.

In the darkness she could see nothing, hear nothing but a quiet rushing in her ears. There was no sign of the violent storm raging at the surface—only an eerie calm. She floated through an empty void. All that remained were her thoughts and the endless shadows holding her prisoner inside this watery abyss.

The stillness that came over her in that moment was indescribable. Panic and desperation gave way to terrified acceptance.

This is it
, she thought to herself.
This is how I die
.

The fog in her mind made it impossible to concentrate. She knew there was something she ought to be doing, something she ought to be reaching for, but she could no longer remember what that might be.

All she knew now, was resignation.

Something bumped against her shoulder.

As Alex’s mind receded further into the darkness, she imagined she could feel a strong arm wrapping around her waist.

Someone was with her in the water.

And then there was nothing.

Pain
.

A soft pressure on her lips. An ache in her chest.

“Come on, beautiful, come back!” A deep voice was shouting over the noise of the storm. “Don’t you die on me!”

Before she could open her eyes, Alex began to choke. Salty water poured from her mouth and nose as she rolled onto her side, gasping for air. Everything hurt.

She blinked her eyes slowly open, the world around her a hazy, half-lit blur.

The hard surface beneath her lurched from side to side as water continued to fall in sheets around them, a swirling mix of rain and ocean spray.

She was lying on the deck of a ship.