“Why should I? Fia’s not here.”
“But she will be.”
I back away from their voices, then raise my hand. “Umm, hey. Can I have an opinion on this?” I turn toward Adam. Is this how he sees me? I want to pretend like he’s protecting me because I’m precious, not because he thinks I’m defective. “I’ve spent most of my life feeling helpless. Being made to feel helpless. I’m done feeling like that.”
“But you’ll never need to know this stuff,” Adam says, and he sounds so sad I forgive him.
I walk forward and hold my arms out, wait for him to meet me, and then put my arm around his waist. “None of us wants to be part of this, but we’re all here. Besides, it’s kind of fun. And now I can do this. Look! Over in the corner!” I point wildly, then put my foot behind Adam’s leg and throw my shoulder against his stomach, tripping him. I fall on top of him, then roll off, laughing. “See how good I’m getting?”
“Brilliant,” Cole says, his voice dark.
Adam lets out a winded oof.
I sit up, still laughing, gasping for breath between giggles.
“Come on. We have another half hour to go.” Cole nudges me with his foot, and I grab his ankle, holding on for dear life as he tries to get loose. “Seriously, Annie, we’re not done.”
I lunge forward and wrap my arms around his knees, push against them until he loses his balance and crashes to the ground.
“I win!” I cackle, flopping onto my back.
It’d feel more like a victory if Adam’s voice saying “She’s blind!” wasn’t echoing in my head, making me feel small and helpless.
His words are still there that afternoon as I sit alone in my room while Cole and Adam talk business. I miss Fia so much it’s like I’ve lost another sense, one I didn’t know I had until it was gone. She would know what to do. She would tell me.
And that’s exactly my problem. I’ve had enough of waiting for other people. I tap out two pills and swallow them, then lie back on my bed and wait.
After a couple of hours someone knocks softly on my door. “Come in,” I call. I feel weird. But not super weird. And maybe I only feel weird because I’m waiting to feel weird. I don’t know.
“Hey,” Adam says. “It’s been a while. How are things?”
I laugh. “You know, same old, same old. Attacked by people from my past with guns. Ran from their bodies. Got stuck in this house to hide some more. You?”
I feel him sit on the edge of the bed. “It’s been okay. Having a lab again makes me feel a little normal. Been running tests on Sarah and a few other girls. Actually, that’s why I’m here. Rafael wanted me to get some scans of your brain activity.”
I sit up, frowning. “You’re researching?”
“Pretty much picking up where I left off, but it’s nice because I’m not operating blind anymore. Err. I know what I’m looking at, now, I mean.”
“Be careful. I—you could do a lot of damage.” I bite my lip, hesitating. Nope. No more hedging. “I knew about you before we met.”
“What did Fia tell you?” He sounds so bashfully pleased with the thought that Fia talked about him, it makes what I’m saying feel even worse.
“Actually, I knew about you first. From a vision. It was women, a bunch of women, who could Read and See and Feel. They were coming into focus and then disappearing. It wasn’t a happy vision. It was a bad one. And your name was there the whole time.”
“Annie, I would never hurt anyone.” He’s upset, and he stands up from the bed, starts pacing. “You have to believe that.”
“Of course I believe that! But right now it’s so hit-and-miss finding girls like me. If someone, the wrong someone, got hold of what you’re doing, if they could track abilities on a broad scale, none of these girls would be safe.”
“I know. We’ll be careful. I’d die before I let Keane get my research. I understand if you don’t want to—”
He pauses, and then I hear the distinct rattle of a medicine bottle being picked up. “What’s this?”
“A prescription. I wanted to see if it’d help me have more visions.”
“Adderall?”
“It increases brain function.”