The Ones (20 page)

“We have to be smart about it. That's what we were doing until Kai showed up. That's why you were taken away. It's the Weathermen that are the problem.”

Cody knew some of this was probably true. But even though James had come around to taking action, he was still too many steps behind her. He wanted to continue with the peaceful protests. She wanted Norton dead.

Cody was the one who had been jailed and tortured. And what had he done to get her back? Asked his dad to make a phone call? As grateful as she had been to see him walk into the room, she'd never felt so far away.

She saw that James had picked up on that.

“What's wrong?” he asked.

Before Cody could answer, her door swung open and her mother stuck her head inside.

“Sweetie, you've got another friend who wants to say hi,” Joanne said, then turned back to the hallway. “I'm sorry, I don't think we've met before … did you say Taryn?”

Cody jerked her head up, and sure enough, Taryn was standing in her doorway, holding a box of cupcakes. She looked totally different—nose ring gone, hair in a prim ponytail that must have been fake, muted clothes.

“Yes, thanks, Ms. Bell,” she said in a bizarrely cheerful tone. And then she held out her arms to Cody. “Cupcake?”

Joanne left the room, and Taryn stepped inside. Cody saw her catch sight of James for the first time and noticed how Taryn stopped in her tracks. The two of them shared an uncomfortable look until James turned away.

“Oh,” Taryn said. “I didn't realize it was a party.”

“Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?” Cody asked.

“A girl can't come check on her friend?” Taryn said, again with the odd Valley-girl affectation. Then she threw the cupcake box onto the bed and transformed back into her normal self. “You're being watched, Cody. Kai needs to talk to you, but he couldn't risk coming here. He knows they're looking for him. So he sent me. And we thought it might be better if I looked more like a basic Amber Reed clone than, you know, normal.”

“I'm being watched? Did you actually see them?” Cody asked.

“Assume your entire life is under surveillance.”

Cody leaned over to pull the curtains back and peek outside.

“So don't do things like that!” Taryn yelled, and bounded over to slap Cody's hand down.

James cleared his throat. “It's nice of you and Kai to check in on her. Kind of surprising, considering the last time you were talking about her.”

Cody looked at James, confused.

“You can't trust them, Cody. All they care about is themselves.”

Taryn looked at Cody. “Can we talk privately, please? It's him you can't trust—believe me.”

Cody turned her head between James and Taryn. Even though there was still a gulf between her and James, she knew he always had her best interests at heart. She might not be able to count on him to help kill Norton, but she knew she could trust him to protect her.

“James can stay,” she said to Taryn. “What do you need to tell me?”

Taryn glared at James, aggravated. Cody saw that she was choosing her words carefully. “The Weathermen want to debrief you, that's all. If you learned anything about what the Equality Agents are looking at, it would be helpful for us to know.”

Cody thought about it and decided that this was a reasonable request. Not only did she want to help them, but she also had some questions of her own. An exchange of information would be very welcome.

“Okay. But if I am being watched so closely, how?”

“You like running, right?” Taryn asked. “Go out for a jog. Disappear in the hills. Tell us where to meet you.”

“I don't think this is a good idea—” James started to say.

“Fine. I'll do it tomorrow. Right after sunrise,” Cody said quickly.

“Where should I tell Kai to meet you?” Taryn asked.

Cody hesitated and looked over at James. She knew he didn't want her doing this. But that was a moot point now. The least she could do was not offend him by keeping it a secret from him. She turned back to Taryn.

“Take the Whiskey Meadow trailhead to the top, and keep going. I'll find him.”

Taryn nodded and headed for the door. Cody saw her give James a withering look on the way out. The last time Cody had seen all of them had been during the school takeover. James and Taryn had always been tense around each other, but it seemed a lot worse now. Clearly something weird had happened in the aftermath, and she could tell James was keeping something from her. Cody wanted to ask him about it, but he stood up to leave.

“They used you and then threw you away like garbage, Cody,” James said. “Make sure you remember that tomorrow.” And then he walked out of her room.

Cody heard the front door shut and tried to consider what James was saying. She didn't really want to think about it, because she already knew she disagreed. She also already knew what she had to do.

So she started packing a bag.

*   *   *

Cody knew it was cruel to be leaving again so soon, but she still slipped out of the house the next morning before dawn. The note she left on the table for her mother was brief but heartfelt. She hoped it was enough.

It felt amazing to be outside. She took several deep breaths of fresh air. Dawn was breaking, and the streets were quiet and empty. Cody jogged down the middle of her street, slower than usual, her wind gone, her legs heavy, and her backpack weighing her down. It reminded her, of course, of the day the Supreme Court had ruled against the Ones. But she wasn't anxious like she had been then. What was there to be afraid of anymore? The only thing left was to act.

Cody made it to the edge of town and found the trailhead that led up into the hills. As she turned onto it, James was standing in her path.

“James—” she started.

“Can I run with you?” he asked.

“James, you shouldn't have come.” She saw him clock her bulging backpack even as she made a pointless effort to obscure it from him.

“Let me run with you. Please.”

His eyes pleaded with her. She thought for a moment and then nodded. And as usual, she darted off ahead of him.

James caught up with her, and they fell into stride together. Cody wasn't laboring anymore. James's pace was pulling her forward, and she felt that exhilarating spring return to her legs. They ran in tandem, breathing as one, up the hills and through the trees. The sun began to creep through the lowest branches and warm their faces.

They were both beautiful, and the ground flew by underneath them.

By the time they'd reached the end of the trail miles later, Cody's mind had been on autopilot for so long that it was a genuine surprise to see Kai standing across the meadow in front of them, his face covered, as usual, by his dark hood. Cody slowed to a stop before they reached him and stood with James.

She thought about what awaited her on each side of the meadow. She knew what existed between her and James: love, safety, familiarity. And she knew what made her pack a bag to leave with Kai: power, excitement, possibility. Cody selfishly wondered why those two extremes couldn't be combined, but she understood that this was impossible. The lack of one was inherent to the other. Neither she nor anyone else could ever have both, and she knew she'd have to pick. Cody wasn't ready to decide forever, but she was confident in what she needed now. She turned to give James a hug.

James started to talk, but Cody stopped him. “You don't understand what they did to me, James. And I care about you too much to make you share it with me. I know you—it would break your heart. So I have to leave. I have to handle this without you.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you,” she said. “I can't drag you down to the place I need to go. Even though I want to, it would be too cruel. Does that make any sense?”

James looked at her with tears in his eyes. “No.”

“Then you have to trust me. Even if you don't understand, you still trust me, right?”

James nodded. “Always.”

“You got me home. But my mind is still back there, and I need to fix that. When I do, I promise I'll come home for real.”

Cody stood on her toes to kiss James on the lips. She held him tight, even though he stood as still as a statue. And then, with each step harder than the last, she started walking across the meadow to Kai.

*   *   *

On their long hike to the quarry, Kai had the good sense to leave Cody alone with her thoughts. When they finally ducked through some thick brush and entered an old mining cavern, Cody was shocked at what she saw. It looked as if a college dorm had been set up in the tunnels, with fancy sleeping bags and laptops lying around in the dust. Cody recognized several of the Ones from the first meeting she had attended.

“There's been a lot of heat on us in the last week, so we just all started staying here,” Kai said.

“What kind of heat?” Cody asked.

“The usual drunk Equality bozos. But more serious stuff, too. Cars following us. Our phones being hacked. Gunshots. Better to play it safe.”

Kai didn't stop in this first area of the mine but continued leading her deeper underground into a smaller cavern, where they were alone. He stopped and turned to look at her for the first time.

“So … was it as bad as I imagine?” he asked.

Cody nodded. She had decided she would tell Kai everything. Unlike James, she knew it wouldn't hurt him. It would probably make him stronger, in fact. And since she needed his help now, she wanted him to know exactly what was motivating her. But before she got into it, Kai was ready to move on.

“I'm sorry you had to endure that,” he said sincerely, then quickly switched gears. “Now tell me everything they know about us.”

Cody suddenly realized this was a business meeting. Kai didn't want to check in on her as a friend; he wanted to pump her for information. She had to admit she was a little offended, even as she respected his professionalism—if you could call a militant student protester living underground a professional.

Most of all, though, Cody was pleased with how desperate Kai seemed for information. It meant she could make a trade.

“I'm happy to tell you everything I learned,” she said. “But in exchange, I need to know something from you.”

Kai nodded.

“What is the Ark?” she asked.

Kai's face immediately went blank. He didn't exactly reveal anything, but the effort he put into not having a reaction spoke volumes.

“Kai, what is it?” she pressed.

“I don't know. You tell me. Sounds like you know more than I do.”

“I know it's important, Kai. They're scared of it. And I know you're involved.”

“Cody, I have no idea what you're talking about, I promise. They could be messing with you for all we know.”

Cody considered whether that could be true. Sure, they had been willing to do anything to shake her up, but Cody had seen the desperation in Norton's eyes. The Ark was real.

“Tell me, or I'm out of here,” she said.

Kai stopped arguing with her and thought for a moment. “I get that you want to be looped in. And you deserve it. I wish I knew what you were asking about, but I don't. That's why it's so important for you to fill me in on every detail of what you heard.”

Cody started to leave, but Kai reached out and grabbed her. She had forgotten how strong he was.

“Wait,” he said. “There's something else I can tell you. Something you really should know. And trust me, it's big.” He stared at Cody with those deep brown eyes. “Will that work?”

Cody could tell he was being serious. She nodded.

“Follow me.”

Kai led them out of the cavern and even deeper into the mine. As he walked, he stared ahead, shining a flashlight and speaking without emotion.

“I'm sorry you have to hear this, Cody, but it's the truth. We've got the evidence to prove it.” He paused and then laid it out for her in the simplest of terms. “The Vaccine is real. They are creating it on our campus. And James's father is the lead scientist.”

Cody's mind accelerated into overdrive, trying to process what Kai had just said. Puzzle pieces started flying together, some of them making sense, others leading to greater confusion. But before she wrapped her mind around it, she realized that Kai was already way ahead of her. His strongest suspicions were a reality: The government was trying to re-engineer the Ones. He was capable of anything now. As they walked deeper and deeper, it was clear that Kai had already made up his mind about how to respond.

“What are you going to do?” she asked, not so much curious to hear his answer as genuinely terrified.

Kai didn't speak. Instead, he stopped in front of a hidden crevice and pulled an old wooden door out of the way. He yanked a tarp off a bulky pile at their feet. Cody squinted in the dim light to make out what was resting in front of her. Then she gasped.

Kai was making a bomb.

 

CHAPTER 16

IT WAS A
long walk home for James. Ever the logician, he spent the entire time trying to understand why Cody had gone off with Kai. He could see that something had changed during her detention and that she had suffered more than he could imagine. Besides the physical toll that was obvious, her spirit for life had been diminished. But wouldn't that make her even more grateful that James had gotten her out? And what about everything that had preceded this month of their lives—did that not hold any weight?

He knew he wasn't really being fair to her. Of course Cody couldn't appreciate what James had done, because she didn't know what he had discovered to force his father's hand. He had debated telling her, first when she'd arrived home and then during their run through the hills. James had sacrificed his relationship with his father for her. It was over for them now; there was no recovery from what he had found. If only Cody had known that, maybe she wouldn't have disappeared with Kai. But James knew he would have been forced to reveal the details, and those details were ugly.