The Rising (17 page)

“Th-that's crazy,” Nicole said. “Y-you've always hated me, Sam. You hated coming to live with us and you were jealous of me and—”

“Um, no, you're the one who was jealous. Spiking my orange juice with vodka so I'd go to school drunk. Planting drugs in my bedroom. Drugs you got from volunteering at the clinic. Like the drugs you got to dope Maya at her party.”

“That was
Hayley
. Everyone knows it was. She worked at the clinic, too, and she hates Maya.”

“I did
not
roofie Maya,” Hayley said. “I didn't have access to the drug closet.” She turned to us. “Dr. Blair caught me sneaking Ritalin this summer. She took away my key. I couldn't tell you guys that without admitting I got caught stealing drugs. I asked Nicole to vouch for me, but—”

Nicole crumpled—just let her legs give way and fell to the floor, hunched and sobbing. Hayley looked at me. Even Rafe did. Uncertain looks from both of them. I had to admit, Nicole was a good actor. If I hadn't seen her switch from “sweet Nicole” to “raving lunatic Nicole” in a heartbeat at the campsite, I might have believed her myself. Even now I felt that niggle of doubt.

Had I been wrong about people before? Oh, yeah. Repeatedly in the last couple of weeks. Starting with Rafe, which is why he stood here now, looking hesitant, studying my expression. He'd been the target of my snap judgments. So had Hayley.

“Maya?” Rafe said. “Is that what you think? She killed Serena?”

Before I could answer, Nicole leaped to her feet with astonishing speed for someone who'd been in a puddle of misery a moment ago.

“Maya hasn't said that,” Nicole insisted. “Sam's the one doing all the talking. Maya's smart. She thinks things through and she knows there's no way I could have drowned Serena. How could I do that and escape without being spotted?”

“By swimming under the water,” Sam said.

“Seriously? How long would I have had to stay under water? Ten minutes? That's impossible.”

I glanced at Hayley, who'd gone quiet. “It's not, is it? At least, not for the members of Salmon Creek's championship swim team. Serena could hold her breath for at least five minutes. I'm guessing you could do the same, Hayley?”

Hayley nodded. “We all could. Me and Nicole and Serena. We used to have competitions when the coach wasn't watching. The winner was always . . .” She looked at Nicole. “Almost fifteen minutes one time, until Serena freaked out, worrying Nic would hurt herself. None of us could stay under nearly that long.”

“No!” Nicole said. “That's a lie. No one can hold her breath that long.”

“No normal person,” I said. “But you're not normal, as I'm sure they've told you here already. You're a xana. Your talents are singing and swimming, which I'm sure includes holding your breath.”

“No!” Nicole spun on Hayley. “You're lying about the competitions and you're lying about the drugs. If you can hold your breath so long, then you killed Serena. Killed her and drugged Maya.”

“Why? What possible reason—?”

“Jealousy. You hated Serena because she was better than you in swimming and singing. You hated Maya because everyone thinks she's special.”

“Yep, we're all jealous,” Sam said. “All except you. Right, Nic? Which is good, or else you really wouldn't want to hear about Daniel and Maya.”

“What?”

“Daniel and Maya,” Sam walked toward her. “Who do you think comforted Maya when she thought Rafe was dead? Who do you think got
really
close to her on that long walk through the woods?”

“What?” I said. “If you mean—”

“Oh, Nicole knows what I mean. Gotta hand it to you, Maya, you played the grief card perfectly. Completely blindsided poor Daniel.”

“What?” I stared at Sam. I could see Rafe hesitating, looking confused. Confused and hurt.

“Don't lie, Maya,” Sam said. “I saw you and Daniel together that night. Awfully chilly to have all those clothes off, but you seemed to be keeping warm just fine.”

Nicole flew at me then, her face twisted with rage. She knocked me flying. Rafe and Sam jumped in to pull her off, but she grabbed my hair and wrapped it around her fingers, yanking, hitting and clawing with her free hand. I managed to grab her by the hair and yanked her off me. She yowled and kept coming, clawing and hitting, not caring that hanks of her own hair were ripping free as they held her back. Finally, I pinned her. I could feel the shift coming, my skin pulsing, my face changing. She could see that and still she kept fighting. I got my hand around her throat. Then the door slammed open and two guards raced in.

I backed off Nicole fast. They hit her with a needle, but she wouldn't stop trying to get me and they had to haul her out.

“You bitch!” she shrieked back at me. “You think what I did to Serena was bad? Just wait until I get ahold of you.” They dragged her away, still spewing threats.

I stood there, doubled over, catching my breath. Hayley helped me straighten and led me to the sofa, then sat beside me.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

I gulped in breaths as the shift slowly reversed.

Hayley looked up at Rafe. “I don't know what Sam was talking about, because I never saw
anything
happen between Maya and Daniel.”

“Because nothing did.” I pushed up and advanced on Sam. “I don't know what game you're playing, but nothing—”

“Oh, of course, nothing happened,” Sam said. “Like you'd watch your boyfriend die and jump the next available guy.” She turned to Rafe. “And if your boyfriend thinks for a
second
that was possible, he doesn't know you at all.”

“You caught me off guard,” Rafe said. “I just didn't know what the hell you were playing at. I didn't think Maya did it.”

Only he had thought I did. Or at least, he'd entertained the possibility. I'd seen it on his face.

“I think it's clear what I was
playing at
,” Sam said. “Setting off Nicole. It worked, didn't it? When it comes to Daniel, she's got a few screws loose. More than a few. Now everyone's seen it, and she confessed to killing Serena, so it's all good.”

“All good?” Hayley said, standing. “Not only did you just accuse Maya of messing around with Daniel, but you've convinced Nicole that she did.
Nicole.
The girl who murdered Serena because she was dating Daniel. The girl who tried to murder Maya because she's friends with him. And that's
all good
?”

Sam sputtered and spewed excuses, but I could tell she hadn't thought it through. Now I was trapped in a house with someone who truly wanted me dead.

The door opened again. In walked Nast, followed by Moreno, a guard, and a woman I didn't recognize. Moreno was talking, as usual. “Look, I know you're in charge, sir, but Calvin asked—”

“I don't give a damn what Calvin asked for. I told him to control his daughter.”

Nast headed for me. Rafe moved closer.

“Get out of here, boy,” Nast said. “Playtime's over. Take them”—a dismissive wave at Sam and Hayley—“with you.”

They made no move to leave. Nast didn't seem to notice, just continued bearing down on me.

“One hour,” he said. “You haven't even been conscious for one hour and already you're attacking—”

“She didn't attack anyone,” Rafe said. “Nicole jumped her.”

Nast looked at Rafe. He didn't even seem to focus on him, just curled his lip, like Rafe was beneath his notice, before waving at the guard and saying, “Get them out of here.”

“It was self-defense,” Sam said. “Nicole attacked her.”

“Get them out.”

Nast didn't raise his voice, but the guard jumped as if he'd shouted. He took both Hayley and Sam by the arm and propelled them to the door.

“Moreno? Take the boy. Now.”

Moreno wasn't so quick to obey. He sauntered forward, waving at Rafe. “Come on, kid. Your girlfriend needs to go with the doc for a checkup.”

I caught Rafe's eye and mouthed, “Go on.”

A second guard appeared as Moreno and Rafe left. Nast pointed to me.

“Take her to the lab for Dr. Wiley. And be careful.” He met my gaze. “Her wild streak is showing.”

D
R. WILEY WAS THE
woman who'd been standing there, silently observing. She followed as the guard led me away. We headed upstairs and into another hall. As Rafe said, the house was huge. This seemed like a wing, with doors lining the corridor. A few were open and I could see what looked like work areas. An office. A computer lab. A staff lounge.

Dr. Wiley opened the next door. Inside was a medical office, complete with paper-covered examining table and gown.

I hesitated.

“It's a physical, Maya,” Dr. Wiley said without looking back. “On the table, please. Sitting.”

The guard backed out of the room. As he was closing the door, a hand grabbed it. Moreno walked in. When he did, I felt a weird flutter of relief at seeing a familiar face. Which was stupid, really, because Moreno was no friend of ours. But at least he was a threat I knew. One I understood.

“Hey, Doc,” he said.

“I'm busy.”

“Yeah, I see that. Only . . . wasn't Inglis supposed to do the examination on Maya? Pretty sure she was. Pretty sure Cal insisted on it.”

“Mr. Antone and Dr. Inglis are unavailable. Mr. Nast wants the examination done immediately. He's concerned about Maya's behavior.”

Moreno gave a derisive snort. “Only because he wasn't the one chasing her though the forest for three days. Otherwise he'd know that misbehavior is pretty much par for the course with Miss Maya.” He turned to me. “Isn't it?”

I gave him a look.

He laughed. “The killer glare. You inherited that from your daddy.” He lifted a hand. “Yeah, yeah. Rick Delaney is your daddy. Spare me the protest.” Back to Dr. Wiley. “If Mr. Nast thinks Maya's bad now, he should just be glad her partner in crime isn't here. First time I met those two? Maya tried to question me while her benandanti buddy knocked me around. It was kinda cute, actually.”

“Beating and interrogation?” Dr. Wiley said. “We have a very different definition of cute, Mr. Moreno.”

“Maybe. But the point is, she isn't acting out of character. Which means this examination isn't necessary. I'm sure you have other things to do. You go do them. I'll take Miss Maya back to the others, and Dr. Inglis can examine her later.”

“My orders are to conduct a physical. I take my orders from Mr. Nast.” She looked his way. “As do you.”

Moreno blustered some more, but when Dr. Wiley picked up the phone to call security, he shut up and took a seat. The doctor settled for compressing her lips in a thin line of disapproval as she turned her attention to me.

I've been having physicals all my life. I always figured they were just the normal kind everyone talks about. Now I suspect mine were a little different. They were certainly thorough. At home, we all dreaded the twice-annual two-hour appointment.

This one started exactly as I remembered. Height, weight, blood pressure, eyes, ears, throat, chest. She drew blood. Ten vials. Nothing more than I was used to, but I could see Moreno's eyes widen a little as she passed number five and kept going.

When she was done with the blood, she sent it out immediately. I got juice and cookies while she waited for the lab tech. It was the same kinds of juice and cookies I'd been getting since I was five, which was creepy. The Nasts hadn't just bought us, they'd bought everything about us, replicating each detail to ease the transition.

I shivered.

“Cold?” Dr. Wiley asked.

I shook my head.

She frowned. “Have you been shivering a lot recently?”

“No.”

“Anything more serious? Shaking? Convulsions?”

“The girl shivered, Doc.”

“Mr. Moreno, I'm going to ask you to leave now.”

“Ah, hell.” Moreno leaned back in his seat. “Fine. I'll be quiet.”

“I'm afraid that won't be sufficient. I need to conduct a thorough examination, which requires . . .” She picked up the robe and waggled it at him.

Still he hesitated.

“Mr. Moreno.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He stood and walked over to me. “Your dad will be here soon, kiddo.”

Dr. Wiley sniffed and waved him out. I watched him go.

Okay, what was that about? I'd sensed the tension between Antone and Nast earlier, but I hadn't given it much thought. Antone was more accustomed to giving orders than taking them. But Moreno's hovering? That was weird, as was his insistence on waiting for Antone and Dr. Inglis.

Something was going on here. Serious tension, and not just between Antone and Nast. I could see Dr. Inglis being uncomfortable having someone else work on me. I was “hers,” and there was bound to be conflict between the Nast camp and the former St. Cloud employees. But Antone and Moreno had been with the Nasts since this had begun.