The Vanishing Girl (9 page)

Hey Creeper,

First off, I am not incompetent, and do I need to mention again that I saved your life? Second, thanks for the warning. Third, I’ll try to see you soon.

Kisses,

E.

I hit “Send” and closed my laptop. Damn my life was so screwed up.

I worked on
what I could for the next two hours. Just as I was about to take a break, someone knocked on my door.

“Come in!” I yelled, not taking my eyes off of my laptop screen.

The door opened and a man and a woman in uniform peered in. “Ember Pierce
—
are you ready for your simulation?”

“Simulation … ?” Crap. Double crap. I hadn’t checked the freaking schedule.

“Uh,” I cleared my throat, “I mean
—
yes, I am ready,” I said, sliding off my bed and into a pair of flip-flops.

“Good,” the man said, “Come with us.”

A million thoughts flew through my mind as I walked through the facility with them. Where were we going? How would this work if I wasn’t tired? Would I do alright? Was I going to get hurt? Where was Caden? How many people would see me naked when I returned?

I stared at the stark white walls and listened to my sandals slap against the linoleum.

The two individuals in uniform stopped outside a door and knocked. A woman in a white lab coat answered the door.

“Yes?” She looked behind them at me. “Ah,” she glanced down at her clipboard, “Ember Pierce?”

I nodded, and she opened the door wide to let me in. I glanced around the room. This place was a strange cross between a laboratory and a control room. On the walls closest to me were cupboards and drawers. Medical supplies rested on the counter that ran along one of the walls.

Against the far walls, a series of computers had been set up. In front of them two technicians typed away. Above the computers were rows and rows of T.V. screens, all currently lifeless.

Finally, in the middle of the room, a bed awaited
—
the kind you normally find in a doctor’s office. I guess I knew where I was sitting. Next to it rested a small desk, and on it, another computer.

“Go ahead and take a seat,” the woman said, gesturing towards the bed. Reluctantly I sat down on it, the cheap paper crinkling beneath me. The scientist walked over to the desk and picked up a folder.

“What will I be doing in this simulation?” I asked.

“Whatever it is that you do best,” she replied evasively.

“How will I know what to do and when?”

“That’s for you to figure out.” She gave me a tight-lipped smile, the kind that made it clear she was tired of answering my questions.

I shifted my weight, crinkling the paper further.

The female scientist muttered to herself as she read the file. Then she snapped it shut and came over to me.

She swabbed the crook of my arm.

“What are you doing?” I asked. The question came out a tad more hostile than I meant it to.

“Swabbing your arm,” she said, like I was the world’s biggest idiot.

“I mean, why?”

She pulled out a syringe and a glass vial filled with clear liquid. “You’re going to be sedated so that we can initiate your teleportation.”

My mouth formed an O. That made sense. I watched as the syringe extracted fluid from the vial. Once it was full, the woman tapped on it a few times.

“Where’s Caden?” I asked.

The woman looked away from the syringe to focus on me. “Is that your pair?”

I nodded once.

“He’s in another room. For the practice simulations, the project heads are interested in isolating teleporters beforehand to better analyze you alone.”

“So I’m being watched and graded right now?” I asked.

“Of course.”

So now, if the project heads were watching and interested, they’d know I asked a lot of questions. That was probably not a good thing.

The woman in the lab coat sat down in the chair stationed next to my bed, and watched a clock on her computer. The seconds seemed to stretch out, but at some point she turned away from the computer.

“Ready?” she asked, taking hold of my wrist.

“Do I have a choice?”

“No.”

“Then go ahead I guess.”

The needle slipped under my skin, and I squirmed as I watched the fluid leave the syringe and enter my bloodstream.

The sight terrified me. I was now helpless.

Within seconds the affects began to hit me. My eyes drooped, the room swayed, colors blurred together. Just before my eyes closed I had one final, lucid thought: this was the second-to-last place on earth that I wanted to be. As for the first, I’d be there shortly.

Chapter 16

I stood in
an alleyway between two buildings. It was night here. Looking down at myself I wore a shimmery sequined dress, and a gold bracelet ringed my wrist. I took a closer look at it and noticed on the underside of my wrist the gold gave way to a digital timer. I smiled to myself as I watched the seconds tick away. They’d given me something to time my visit.

Further down I wore stylish ankle boots. Not the best for running, but I could make do. Sticking out of one of them was a piece of paper.

Use the back door. Second floor, first door on the left.

My heart dropped. The note was in the same handwriting as all the others. I didn’t know what it meant. Why had the government sent me
—
before they’d even reached out to me
—
to kill Adrian or break open his safe, only to then send me to that office and look through those awful cases of spliced teleporters?

When I looked up from the note, Caden stood in front of me.

“Jesus!” I staggered backwards and clutched my heart.

“You okay?” That was the second time he’d asked me that question today. I wondered if my craziness was starting to show.

“I’m fine.”

“Good, then let’s go.”

I didn’t have a clue what we were going to do, so I let Caden lead the way, making sure to use the time to admire the way his muscular back rippled under his fitted shirt.

We walked down the alley until we came to a door that had been cracked open.

Caden held it open. “Ladies first.”

I slipped through and Caden followed behind. We continued down a dark hallway. Strobe lights and obnoxious techno music pulsed at the far end, but that wasn’t our destination. A chained-off staircase branched off the hall.

My heart began to hammer in my chest as soon as I saw it. Whatever we were looking for was up there.

Caden took my hand and gave it a squeeze, his eyes trained on mine. “Focus on your breathing
—
in and out.” I followed his instructions. It did relax me
—
until I glanced at our entwined hands.

Quickly Caden was becoming something more than just a partner, and now he was risking his life alongside mine. The thought filled me with dread. I didn’t know how to look out for others during these trips; I’d never had to before.

He let go of my hand and climbed over the chain. Reluctantly I followed him, and together we climbed up the stairs.

When we reached the top, a curved corridor spread out in front of us. Exposed light bulbs hung down the hallway, barely giving off enough light to see clearly. Up ahead was the door on the left.

Caden grabbed my arm as I began walking towards it. He spun me around and put a finger to his lips. I nodded. He then placed himself in front of me. From his pocket he pulled out a gun. I stiffened at the sight.

No
. I didn’t care what kind of simulation this was, a gun was a gun, and if used, we could still get spliced.

I shook my head frantically. I was supposed to be the distraction after all.

Caden gave me a look to let me know I was insane to ask him to put away his weapon. He fiddled with the gun, and I heard a click. Whatever the sound indicated, his expression told me that he had no intention of disarming himself.

“Caden,
no
,” I whispered.

“I didn’t just teleport here with a weapon to be a peacemaker,” he whispered back.

“Fine, then stay here while I try to be one.” I got up and began walking to the door again, shaking out my hands as if that would rid me of my nerves.

“Ember
—
no,” Caden said, shadowing me. “Whatever’s in there is dangerous. You can’t go in alone.”

I turned to him and pointed a finger at him. “Stay back there.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing. You haven’t had enough training yet.”

“Just listen to me for once,” I said, pushing him back.

I pushed a little too hard.

Caden hit the hallway wall. I saw the moment of impact, and the way the whiplash ran down his arms. His wrists snapped as they hit the wall, and a shot exploded from the gun. The sound rang in my ears long after the bullet was fired.

Epic fail.

“What the fuck Ember?”

I never got the chance to reply. Almost immediately the first door on the left opened, along with three others further down the hall; it happened so fast that these doors must’ve been guarded from the inside. And out of them poured more scary looking individuals than the time I teleported into a biker bar. And they all were armed. So much for trying to avoid splicing.

Caden pushed me behind him, braced the gun with both hands, and fired several shots. I only had time to see a few people fall before Caden grabbed my hand and we ran for dear life.

“What were you thinking, Ember?” Caden yelled as we flew over the stairs.

“I just didn’t want anyone to get hurt.” It sounded ridiculous now that several men were bleeding out their lives behind us.

“We’re partners,” Caden shouted over the pounding music. “You can’t just go rogue on me and decide to do your own thing.”

“I thought this was a simulation!” I yelled, using anger to cover up my fear.

“It is
—
that doesn’t mean it’s not real.”

What the hell?

We hopped over the chain. Behind us gunshots rang out, and sparks bounced off the metal railing behind us.

Caden turned for the exit and I yanked him in the opposite direction. “Out there we’re exposed.” I glanced at my clock. Six minutes and fifty-seven seconds. That was an eternity when someone was after you. If we ran down an empty street, we might survive, but chances were we’d get hit. And then spliced.

“We have too long to wait before we go back to the facility,” I said. “We’re going to have to hide within the club.” The crowd would conceal us.

After a moment’s hesitation, he nodded. The pounding music was so loud that the sound drowned out all other noise. We wound our way through the club, the club goers oblivious to the fact that multiple gunshots had been fired in the building.

As we passed the dance floor, Caden tugged us towards it. We slipped between other warm dancing bodies until we were snug in the middle of the crowd. My body pressed itself flush against his, and I looked up at him. His eyes moved over the sea of people, then quickly moved back to my own. “Don’t look anywhere but me.”

“I think I know how to blend in Caden.”

“Oh really? So that’s what you were doing upstairs when you attacked me.”

“No one told me this was going to be real!”

“Real or not, you don’t attack your partner
—
ever!”

“You could’ve just trusted me! I was trying to do my job as a distractor!”

“You’re not ready!”

“Our bosses seem to think I am!”

Caden’s eyes flicked away from mine as something on the edge of the dance floor caught his attention. His eyes moved back to mine, but only for a moment, and then he leaned down and kissed me.

Adrenaline thrummed through my veins, but right now it screamed at me to run from the danger
—
not kiss the man in front of me. I tried to push away, but Caden’s arms tightened around me, his lips parting my own.

His tongue caressed mine, surprising me enough that my muscles loosened and I responded. My lips moved over Caden’s, my tongue pressing back against his. He tasted like a dare, like a challenge I’d gladly accept, and his touch tempered my skittishness.

I snaked my arms around his neck and swayed my hips in time to the music. I was sure he could feel how I trembled. My mind could distract itself from what had happened, but my body couldn’t.

Caden’s hands slid down to my sides, and he followed the rhythm. For what seemed like an eternity we stayed like that. The guilt that tightened my chest never seemed to fully go away, but Caden’s presence demanded most of my attention.

Eventually, I pulled back long enough to gaze at him, my eyes moving between his. Just beyond him, I felt another pair of eyes on me.

I glanced past Caden. An Asian man with tats all over his face, neck, and arms, stood at the edge of the dance floor, and he stared right back at me.

For a moment
neither of us moved. But I knew I’d been found out. Someone who was innocent wouldn’t be staring at him with the same wide eyes I was.

“Caden, move,” I said, not taking my eyes off the man.

“What?” Instead of moving, he tried to shield me with his body, scanning the club to find whatever had spooked me.

The man raised his weapon.

“Gun!” I screamed, pushing Caden down. The strobe lights cut the events into frames. One moment the girl to my left was fine. The next, a bullet tore through her arm. I cupped my hand over my mouth to muffle my scream.

Around us I could see others screaming, but I couldn’t hear them over the sound system. My eyes trailed back to the girl, who clutched her arm close to her. Rivulets of blood snaked between her fingers.

I felt the bracelet I wore vibrate twice, and then I vanished.

I woke up
in a hospital bed in a different room. A thin cloth sheet covered my now-naked body. Next to the bed someone had neatly folded my clothes. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. A cloth partition hid me from the rest of the room.

I kicked off my sheets, scrambled out of the bed, and shoved my clothes on. My whole body trembled, and I thought I might be sick.

That girl
—
was she okay? And all those people Caden had shot at the beginning of our simulation
—
had they died?

Awful, noxious guilt settled in my stomach. I’d tried to do the right thing; I’d tried to avoid violence by insisting that I distract the targets. The whole thing was terribly ironic because in the end I’d pushed Caden, and
that
had led to a great deal of violence.

I slid the cloth curtain aside. The clock above my head indicated that it was 3:30 p.m. I’d been asleep for hours. Across from me sat two women in scrubs; both read magazines and neither bothered to glance up when I poked my head out.

On either side of me similar cloth curtains hid what had to be other teleporters sleeping off the sedatives. At least I knew how they choreographed when we appeared at a location.

I squeezed my eyes shut. What had I been thinking? I knew a mistake could be lethal; I just had assumed it was me who’d get hurt. 

I left the room. I had no idea where I was in the maze of the facility, but the more I walked, the more urgently I needed to escape. I began jogging, and when that didn’t help, I accelerated until my muscles burned.

I sprinted down a hall, unsure of where I was and where I was heading, hooked a right, and turned down another. At the end of this corridor, I spotted the dining hall. At least I now knew where I was.

I flew past it and a confused Eric.

“Ember, you okay?” the blond teleporter called after me.

I didn’t
—
couldn’t answer him.

A minute later I crashed into my room. I wasted no time peeling off my clothes and starting the shower.

Before the water had a chance to heat up, I got in and began to scrub away blood that hadn’t teleported back with me. I scrubbed until my skin was pink and raw, and then I cried.

The heaving sobs shook my body, and I covered my eyes with a hand. I couldn’t wash away guilt.

I don’t know
how long I stood in the shower like that, but at some point I heard pounding on the door. I made no attempt to move. They’d go away eventually.

After a while the sound stopped. Just when I was about to relax, I heard the door open and close and someone’s heavy footfalls cross my room.

“Ember!” Caden shouted from the other side of the bathroom door. “Ember!”

My legs buckled and I slid down the wall of the shower. I didn’t want to face him yet. And I didn’t want him to see me like this. Weak.

“If you don’t answer me and let me know you’re alright, then I’m coming in!”

I opened my mouth to make him go away, but no words came out.

The door opened, and I squinted up at Caden, water dripping from my face. At least it hid my tears.

He took me in for a moment, and then he slid into the shower, clothes and all, and wrapped his arms around me.

I leaned my forehead in the crook where his neck met his chest. “I’m so sorry Caden. I’m so, so sorry.” I’d never been exposed to that kind of violence before, and now it was all I could see when I closed my eyes.

“Shhhh.” He traced the edges of my tattoo, and I slid my arms around him, not caring that I was naked. “You’re okay.”

“But they aren’t.” My voice broke.

“The people at the club? The girl will be fine. I saw the wound
—
it missed all vital arteries. And those with the guns … it was them or us.”

His words only slightly eased my guilt.

His hand slid under my chin and he brought my face up to his. “Don’t play the blame game Ember,” he said, his eyes moving back and forth between mine. “This isn’t your fault, no matter what I said to you during the simulation. Someone else decided to give us this life and someone else decided to fuck with our genes. And now someone else is using us to play God.”

I curled my hand around the one that held my chin up. His words tapped into that place inside me that had been untouchable, that place that I’d held away from everyone.

I wasn’t alone in this. 

My gaze moved from his eyes to his mouth. I slid my other hand behind his neck and brought my lips to his.

For a moment
Caden stilled, and then his hold tightened. I parted my lips to deepen the kiss, pulling myself even closer to him. Even that wasn’t enough to satiate my desperate need.

I tugged at his wet T-shirt, and we broke off the kiss so that he could pull it over his head.

“God Ember,” he said, leaning his head against mine, “You can’t know
—
”

I stopped him with another deep kiss. I couldn’t think enough to process any confessions he made about his feelings, and I definitely wasn’t in the right mind frame to return them, no matter how much I liked him.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and straddled him, pressing my chest against his. I’d never been this forward before, but I’d also never been this close to so much death.

Caden made a noise at the back of his throat, and he gripped the outside of my thighs.

I moved against him and he broke away from the kiss. “Jesus,” he said, his eyes hooded, “you need to stop or else I can’t promise this won’t go any further.”

“I’m fine with that,” I whispered.

He pulled his face away from me to study my expression. Whatever he saw caused his brow to crinkle and me to sober up. “I don’t think you are Ember. I’m sorry, but I don’t think you are at all.”