Winter's Storm: Retribution (Winter's Saga #2) (31 page)

“
I wonder what’s going on,” Alik mused.

“
Me too, but for now, let’s just hurry up. I have the strangest feeling we’re being watched,” Dr. Andrews stopped for a moment, turned back and squinted in to the darkness.

“
No arguments here,” Alik agreed, happy to see the house up close again.

From the darkness, Farrow grimaced painfully. She was furious at herself for getting shot. Even though the metas were right in front of her, she could not do anything to take them out because of her condition.

So, she had regrouped away from the St. Paul home and decided her best effort at this point would be to set some explosives on the road so anyone coming and going would trigger them. And if she were lucky, she thought to herself, she may just be able to pick off one or two of them before Dr. Williams arrived with the soldiers he told her he was bringing. What had he called them? His “perfecto rez?” Whatever that meant. She didn’t care what he called them. She just needed backup, and she needed it now.

She looked down at her stomach and stifled a moan. Blood was oozing through her makeshift bandage from the gunshot wound. She gingerly pressed her hand against her belly and curled up on the damp earth. Farrow found herself rocking back and forth, instinctively feeling some comfort in the rhythmic motion. And even as tears pooled and spilled over, she began drifting in and out of consciousness.

57 Changes

“
Time?” Margo’s voice was groggy from her nap in the desk chair. She was rubbing her eyes trying to read the clock ten feet from her.

“
Nine,” Paulie yawned.

“
Vitals?” Margo yawned back.

“
Stable. She’s looking good.”

“
Is it time to draw another blood sample?”

“
Nearly. Let’s give it another hour.” The scientist stood and stretched.

“
You need to go rest, Paulie,” Margo patted her friend on the back.

“
I think she’s out of the woods, Margo,” Paulie nodded slowly.

“
I think you’re right. Thank God she’s such a fighter.” Margo reflexively reached out to stroke her daughter’s hair.

“
She is one amazing little spit fire, isn’t she?” Paulie smiled widely thinking of the spunky teenager.

“
She has so much life all packed into this small frame. She’s always been like this. When she’s awake, her personality just glows around her making her seem twice as large as she is, and then I go check on her in the night, and see her little body barely lift the covers off her bed.” Margo’s heart welled up with the kind of mother’s love that can’t be explained.

Paulie reached around his former student and old friend and squeezed her shoulder encouragingly. “You are a great mom, Margo. These kids are lucky to have you. No one could love them more. No matter what happens with that guy, Williams, you need to know you gave these children more of a chance at life than they would have ever had without you.”

“
Thanks, Paulie,” she said. “For everything.”

Not being a man who discussed matters of the heart very often, Paulie shrugged and blushed before turning to head out of the lab. “Can I send in a fresh cup of coffee for you?”

“
Nope. I’m good, thanks.” Margo smiled at her daughter’s still sleeping frame. “Okay, young lady. You have slept long enough. It’s time to wake up and get back to work.” She moved the sheet off Meg’s left leg and began rubbing it vigorously getting ready to start her daughter’s physical therapy. “Come on sweetie. We have to keep you battle ready,” her mom smiled.

Margo finished flexing and stretching Meg’s left leg, laid it back down on the bed and draped the sheet back over it before reaching for her daughter’s right leg to begin the process again. Her mind was wandering back to the days when the children were little. As a seven-year-old Meggie, loved to run around the ranch wearing shorts—only shorts, just like her brothers. She was fearless and headstrong with those large soulful eyes that commanded respect even way back then.

She finished working on Meg’s legs and rolled her chair around to work on her daughter’s arms. That’s when she noticed Meg’s eyes were open.

“
Meg?”

Meg turned her head slightly to look at her mother with those beautifully dark, knowing, eyes.

“
Meggie, it’s okay honey. Oh, thank God, you’re awake!”

Meg tried to speak but all that came out was a raspy croaking sound.

“
Hang on, honey. Let me get you some water.” She hurried to retrieve a cup and slipped a straw in place just as she held it up to her daughter’s lips.

Meg looked very worried, but obediently took a few sips before trying to speak again. Her voice was still scratchy, but she was able to get her question out. “What happened?”

“
Well, you’ve been very sick for about a week now. We were only able to isolate an antigen for your illness last night. We weren’t sure it would work but,” she grinned widely. “Look at you! You’re awake!”

“
Sick?”

“
Yes, very sick. What is the last thing you remember?”

“
Evan told me we were—that I was going to die because of the serum that changed me into a meta.”

“
That’s right, and then you left the house…”

“…
and went for a run to think things over.”

“
Do you remember what happened during the run?”

Meg tried to remember, but got nothing for her efforts. Margo stood and walked over to a nearby counter where she retrieved an envelope from a refrigerated cabinet. Meg watched her mother sit back down beside her and carefully open the envelope.

“
You were struck in the neck by this. It was tipped with a deadly parasite that quickly began taking over your system,” Margo explained, intentionally leaving out much of the details.

Meg reached out and took the dart from her mother’s hands. In that instant, she felt a rush of emotions. Like a movie being played at twenty times the regular speed, emotions linked with images flooded her, overwhelming her senses and causing her to draw her breath sharply as though she were in physical pain.

“
Meg! What’s wrong?” Margo was on her feet and quickly snatched the dart away from her daughter’s hands worried she had somehow been hurt by it, again.

Meg couldn’t respond right away. She was gulping for air as though she had sprinted fifty-yards.

“
I’m calling the others,” Margo turned around and grabbed the phone off the jack. “Theo, get everyone and come quickly. Meg’s awake, but something—something’s wrong. Hurry!”

Meg was quieting down, though she was obviously still upset.

“
Meg, can you tell me what just happened?” Margo’s brows were deeply etched with worry.

“
I’m not sure—I don’t know why, but when I touched the dart I could feel what the person was feeling each time they touched it. Images too. Oh, my God, mom. Williams sent a meta to deliver this to me. He called it his ‘gift’ to me.” Meg looked at the dart still in her mother’s hand like it was a viper.

“
You mean you could feel what Williams was feeling just by touching something he touched?” Margo looked awestruck and terrified at the same time. Meg couldn’t have agreed more.

“
Yes, but Williams wasn’t the only one who touched it. A female meta—yes, a soldier—she was the shooter. But even before that, there were several scientists at—Williams’ hospital who created it.” Meg reached out to take another sip of water as though she were trying to wash a bad taste from her mouth.

“
Meg, has that ever happened before?”

“
What?” she said after swallowing a large gulp of water.

“
Have you ever been able to touch something and know its history—who touched it before and what they were feeling when they did?”

“
Nope. It’s all new to me.” Meg looked around as though she was just realizing where she was and sat up.

“
Meg, slow down! You’ve been in a coma for days! You can’t just…” Margo was trying to push her daughter back onto the bed, but her daughter easily resisted her.

“
Mom, I think I have an idea, but my head’s still too foggy. Give me a few minutes to think this through. I’ve gotta get out of this,” she motioned to the tubes and wires still connected to her. Then she hopped down off her hospital bed wearing only her gown and began detach herself from everything.

Margo stood, jaw agape, and watched as Meg yanked out her own I.V., flung the pulse-ox monitor off her finger and peeled off the heart monitor electrodes from her chest.

Immediately, the warning system Alik had set up to alert the entire house of a Code Red began screaming.

Meg turned to walk herself to the bathroom. “You can turn that off now, and when everyone gets here, tell them I have to have a family meeting. There’s a lot going on and we don’t have much time.” Meg closed the bathroom door behind her.

Margo hadn’t moved, so shocked at her daughter’s words and actions. She was standing and staring at the bathroom door seconds later when the rest of the family came running into the lab expecting the worst.

“
Where is Meg?” Evan called from across the room after seeing the bed empty.

“
You’re not going to believe this,” she began.

The bathroom door opened and out walked Meg.

“
Meg? Oh, my God! What are you doing out of bed?” Theo called from behind Evan.

“
Well, I have to get some clothes, for one thing. My tushy is getting far too much exposure in this,” Meg blushed and motioned down at her hospital gown. “And I’m dying to brush my teeth. Everyone meet in the living room in fifteen minutes, please.” She called over her shoulder as she hurried past the growing crowd of stunned observers.

She stopped dead in her tracks the moment she saw Creed. He had heard the alarms like everyone else in the house and came running. “You,” she said coolly.

As an unplanned experiment, she reached out to touch his hand and received an immediate jolt. Her eyes widened with an instantaneous understanding of the young man standing in front of her. “You have come a long way, Creed Young,” she surmised.

Just as surprised as anyone to see Meg up and around, Creed stood with his jaw slack and his eyes wide. All he could think to say was, “Meg?”

Her knowing fingers released his hand and reached to touch one of the holes in his shirt from the bullets he took for her. His eyes followed her hand. “Thank you for helping my family, and for helping me.”

Alik who was standing right beside Creed asked, “Meg? How are you feeling?”

Meg smiled beautifully at her brother, “I feel stronger than ever.” And before she turned to hurry down the corridor to her bedroom, she demurely grabbed the gown at her back to keep it from exposing any more skin to the eyes she knew were following her.

Margo, Theo, Paulie, Alik, Evan, Creed and Cole stood exchanging confused looks for a moment before Cole blurted out, “Okay, it could just be the pain killers talking here, but dang, did she look amazing or what?”

“
Remarkable,” Paulie smiled at his fellow doctors.

“
That was the fastest recovery I have ever seen. Meta, or not!” Theo’s eyebrows were still raised in the surprised position.

“
I don’t think it was just the medicine working here,” Evan said thoughtfully.

“
Boy, you don’t know how right you are,” Margo said breathlessly.

“
What’s that supposed to mean?” Creed asked.

Too steeped in thought to answer Creed directly, Evan walked to his computer and began working. “I have a theory, but—mom, did Meg seem different to you? And I don’t mean different from her comatose state. I mean changed from the way she behaved prior to her illness?” Evan asked without looking up from what he was typing.

“
Evan, Meg’s gift seems to have—changed,” Margo was still staring down the hallway where her daughter was moments before.

“
Changed?” Evan asked. He stopped typing and turned to look at his mom. His honey eyes were crisp with excitement. “Could you mean evolved?”

Margo exchanged a look with her youngest son that spoke louder than words.

“
I need to work for a few minutes. I’ll meet everyone in the living room; please don’t start the family meeting without me.” His back was turned to everyone while his fingers flew across the keyboard as if possessed.

The group began walking back toward the other side of the house—most of them lost in their own thoughts until Theo broke the silence. “Margo, can you tell us what’s going on?”

“
Let Evan and Meg explain it. I just have a hunch right now, but what I can tell you is that Meg is even more vibrant than she was before. She’s stronger, more capable.”

“
Meg’s awake.” Creed whispered to his still tingling hand where she had just touched him. He felt a surge of joy and fear all at once as he quietly brought his hand to his lips.

True to her word, Meg walked into the living room fifteen minutes later with Maze nudging against her bare feet. She gently rubbed his ears and was careful to avoid his still-tender and healing wounds from just a couple nights before. Maze stared adoringly up at her and whimpered happily at her touch.

Fresh from the shower, she was wearing blue jeans and a simple pink T-shirt. In her hands was a towel she was using to squeeze the excess water from her long wet hair. Defiantly, her dark curls bounced right back out of place after being tugged on.