Talen

“Don’t even think about it.” I see Officer Ford in front of me, weapon aimed at my face. “Get your hands up, and don’t you dare reach for those knives.”

Ford moves in front of me, and two burly, hairy arms grab my wrists and wrench them behind me. I’m shoved to my knees on the catwalk, and my hands are bound behind me. Aerin is beside me, also bound, and one of the guards holds a gun to the back of her head.

“Is this what you’ve been doing since you ran off?” my father asks. “Living in the middle of a mountain?”

I don’t even look at him.

“I told you he would still be here somewhere,” Dad says. “Bring them into the office.”

Aerin and I are hauled to our feet and pushed through the double doors, down the corridor, and into an office. Inside, I recognize Mark Harp from our previous visit as he places two metal chairs in front of a large desk. Aerin is shoved into one chair, and I’m shoved into the next. My father walks around the desk and sits in a big, luxurious seat before he leans forward and smiles.

“It’s been a long time, Theo,” he says. “Last time I saw you, you were in cuffs, too.”

“Thanks to you.” I curl my lip in a snarl.

“You brought it on yourself,” he says with a nonchalant shrug.

“President LaGrange, we can use one of the offices as a holding cell, but we won’t be able to hold them there for long.”

“We won’t have to,” my father says. “They won’t be here long. Dr. Harvey is preparing a place for both of them in his lab. We need to perform a little research, and they’ll do just perfectly.”

I glance at Aerin and see the color drain from her face.

Before I can say anything, a woman walks through the door, wearing a long, white lab coat and wire-framed glasses. She has dark hair and a pale, heart-shaped face. She looks vaguely familiar, and I wonder if I might have seen her at my father’s office in the past.

She looks up at me and then over to Aerin, and her already pale face goes completely white. The clipboard she holds nearly drops to the ground as her hands begin to tremble.

“Aerin?” she whispers.

Aerin, who had been glaring at my father, whips her head around, and her mouth drops open.

“Mom?”

Chapter 23

Everyone in the room exchanges quick glances with everyone else, all with confused and shocked expressions. No one looks more surprised than Aerin.

“Mom?” Aerin says again.

The dark-haired woman, who I now realize looks familiar because Aerin looks a lot like her, straightens her shoulders and takes a deep breath.

“Hello, Aerin. I’m so sorry all this has happened.”

“What do you mean, you’re sorry?”

“I had no idea you were one of the intruders,” she continues.

“Jennifer?” My father raises his eyebrows at the woman. “Is this your kid? The one you sent west all those months ago?”

“It is,” Jennifer replies. “She had been gone for so long, I assumed she had died in the mountains. I never thought I’d see her again.”

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

“I sent you out here without really understanding everything myself. You had been gone so long, I had to go to President LaGrange to talk about my suspicions. He arranged for me to travel west and learn the truth. I looked all up and down the coast, but there was no sign of you. Once I returned to the capital, I learned the whole truth, and…well, my perspective changed.”

“Your perspective?”

“Harry, do they really have to be tied up?” Jennifer looks to my father.