Shiver (12 page)

Seeing no way out of this, Lian took her mother’s offered hand. Meiling kept a vise-like grip on her as they ascended the stairs and walked across to the other side of the house, where they entered the narrow corridor leading into the bowels. While the hidden cells were located on the side facing the mountains, the opposite section led to a cavernous fishing hole by the edge of the ocean.

At least Vera was still with her. Vera was respected in the estate and most of the guards had been trained by her at one time or another, but they also resented her commitment to Lian.
 

“Where are we going?” Lian asked.

“Stop asking stupid questions. I’ve already told you that we’re going to see your father, so shut your mouth until we get there.”

She breathed a sigh of relief when they finally entered the open area at the bottom of the house. Meiling released her tight grip and Lian almost lost her balance. She took a step back, opening and closing her fingers to get the blood flowing again. She couldn’t help but think of blood and Knox, and felt a flutter inside her stomach.

She didn’t know why her mother wanted to involve her father, but when he looked up from across the room and smiled, she felt better.

He advanced toward them. “Hey, how are my two favorite girls?”

Mike Shan wasn’t a tall man, but Lian and Meiling were both shorter. For being in his early fifties, he was still in good shape and seemed to have an endless amount of energy. She often found him down here days at a time, catching a variety of fish and stocking them in the cold confines around the room. She scanned the icy walls at the far end and noticed a bunch of sea creatures already encased. It should have been dark and horrible down here, but instead it appeared light from the icy ground beneath them. At specially selected spots, huge holes had been dug into the frozen base, reaching directly into the ocean so her father could fish the exotic wildlife below, and sell it. It was a good and honest trade that supplied for many of the townsfolk.

Lian ran to him and threw herself into his offered embrace. “Dad,” she said. He might be wearing a plastic body apron over his customary denim shirt and jeans and smell like day-old fish, but she didn’t care. At least he smelled real, not like her perfectly scented but phony mother.

“Whoa, what’s going on?” He held her at arm’s length, meeting her gaze with confusion. “Are you okay? What happened to your face?”

“I…I…”

“You should be wearing something thicker than this,” he said, even though he was as lightly dressed as she was. He didn’t have any frown lines on his face or even a single gray hair to show the passage of time. “You’re not even wearing any shoes! What’s going on?” He glanced over her head at Meiling and his frown deepened.

“I—”

“Lian needs to be punished because she’s an ungrateful child,” Meiling spat behind them.

“What’s going on, Mei?”

Lian leaned forward and pressed her cheek against his chest, enjoying his comforting embrace and the sound of his heart against her ear. She wanted to tell him everything that had happened without Meiling twisting it around. Maybe she should have told her father what was really going on as soon as she’d found out, but she hadn’t wanted to tangle him in her mother’s web of deceit.

“I just told you what’s going on.” Meiling was getting closer. “Your programmer certainly has a lot to answer for. I paid top-credit for you, but you seem to be getting dumber every day.”

Lian’s heart skipped a beat.
What?

“Mei, what’s gotten into you today?”

“You’re so clueless,” she replied with a snort. “You’re always holed up in here, fishing your life away without knowing the truth about anything.”

“Of course I am. It’s what sustains us.” His voice rumbled through his chest and Lian held on tighter. She didn’t want to let him go. “It’s what I was programmed to do.”

“You don’t support anyone. Did you really think a line and reel inside this icy pit was enough to support anyone?” Meiling chuckled. “Mike had an interplanetary shipping business with dozens of vessels and ships, but I sold those years ago.” She looked disgusted. “You’re such a weak caricature of the man you replaced.”

“Mei, what’s gotten into you?”

Why were her parents using the word
programmed
?

Lian peered past her father and noticed they were the only ones inside the room. Meiling’s personal guards stood in the doorway with Vera still between them. Her face was closed off, not revealing a thing. How much of this did she suspect or know?

“Damn this, I’ve wasted enough time with both of you.” Meiling shook her head as if she were a victim in all of this insanity.

The laser blast took Lian by surprise. She jumped. Her father’s strong arms grabbed a hold of her, pushing her behind him. She’d seen the scorch mark on his chest, yet he was still standing.

“No! Dad, are you okay?” She tried to peek around him. She nearly lost her footing when she found Meiling holding the weapon.

“He can’t feel anything, you fool!”

“Mei, this isn’t funny.” His voice sounded level, not a bit of panic evident. “Stop this nonsense—”

More blasts hit him square in the chest and face, interrupting his response. He continued to shield Lian, and her ears hurt as the sound echoed around them and she felt the buzzing heat of each shot.

Only when her father toppled forward onto the icy ground did her mother finally stop firing.
 

Lian dropped to her knees. “What have you done?”
 

“Shut up!” Meiling made her way toward them, the blaster still raised in front of her.

“Dad…” Lian crawled to his side, the ice numbing her legs.

His chest had caved in on itself and blood was seeping out of the cavity, but so were a mess of wires and silvery bones.
What the hell is going on?
She ran her hand over his cheek and the skin peeled off, revealing a shiny, metal cheekbone. “No.” She could see a mechanical heart inside his chest still pumping.

He grabbed her hand and forced her closer, until his mouth was near her ear. “Don’t worry about me, Li,” he whispered. “When I die, you’ll realize your true potential.”

She pulled back, crying and staring at him. “No. You can’t die.”

A small smile teased the edges of his metallic mouth. “You’ll understand soon. The force-field she set up inside you will fail after I die. You’ll learn just how strong you really are. You’ll realize how much power lives within you.”

Lian didn’t understand a word he said. What force-field? And how could it affect her? She glared at the woman responsible for this. “What the hell did you do to Dad?”

Meiling rolled her eyes. “He’s not your father, you foolish child.”

“What?”

“Your father died years ago in the arena dungeons,” she said, looking more crazed than ever. Her high ponytail was lower and strands of dark hair spilled out the sides. “He was in the way, acting all suspicious and self-righteous. I had to stop him or he would’ve ruined everything. I couldn’t afford to lose his wealth and social stance so I had an AI fashioned in his guise, faked my own death so Mike would think I was gone. Then I made sure
he
went away. It was a clever plan. Except, I never imagined you’d grow to love a machine more than your own mother.”

Lian peered down at the robot she’d always believed was her father, unable to look at her mother another second. She was a disgusting excuse of a woman. How could Meiling expect her to believe anything she said? Lian’s whole life had been built on lies and it was all crumbling around her. Did her real father even know she existed? Was he really dead?

“How could you do this to him?” She ran her cold fingers over his replacement’s ruined face, and he smiled at her. He wasn’t dead yet.

Lian’s tears dripped down her cheeks, and the salty residue stung her scratched skin. She took his hands in hers, intending to hold him until he took his last breath. She never knew a robot could breathe or look so human.

“You don’t understand how much was at stake,” Meiling continued. “I
had
to do this. I had to make sure his name and reputation kept my true business hidden. Jenks Maine is a ruthless man, and the only way I could escape his side was to agree to this.” She sighed, avoiding eye contact. “I had no choice. You can hate me all you want, but you’ll never know how much I sacrificed for you.”

How dare Meiling use her like some sort of scapegoat for such a demented ploy? “For me? Don’t pretend this has anything to do with me.”

Meiling narrowed her eyes. “You stupid,
stupid
girl, you have no idea what Jenks would’ve done if he knew I’d given birth to you. None of us were supposed to get married, or fall pregnant. It wasn’t
supposed
to happen, wasn’t even possible.” The faraway look made her seem younger. “If he’d known you were mine, he’d have taken you. Instead, I offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse and hid you away. Better to send him a
thousand
girls than you.”

The sobs wouldn’t stop, and she didn’t care if she spent the rest of her life crying. The life she’d lived had been built on lies. Lian would never forgive her mother for this. She couldn’t. A single tear slid down her cheek, the first Lian had ever seen her mother shed.
 

“What have you done?”

“I did what I
had
to do.” She wiped it away with her sleeve. “Let him go.”

“No,” she spat, glaring at her. “Tell me what kind of deal you struck with a man who ran arena fights and collects slave girls.”

Meiling sighed. “You already know. Would saying the words set you free somehow? I tried to shelter you from the world to protect you, but it backfired and instead made you weak. You have no idea what others would do to possess someone like you.”

Lian shook her head. Nothing her mother could say would set her free. She’d have to escape this nightmare world of ice and snow in order to feel remotely free. Even then, the memories would always haunt her.

“Step away from him.”

“You took my real father already! Let me say a proper goodbye to this one.”

Meiling didn’t say a word. She lowered her blaster.

Lian kissed her father’s cheek. It didn’t matter if he was artificial or not, he’d been real to her and a constant comfort in her life. He had a metal skeleton, but she could see his blood too. The fact a semi-organic machine had shown her more affection than the woman who’d actually given birth to her didn’t escape her attention.

“I’m going to miss you, Dad.”

“Make it quick.” Meiling marched toward the guards still in the doorway with Vera.

He pressed his now cold fingertips against Lian’s face. “When it happens, don’t let her know.”

Lian stared into his eyes, confused. “I still don’t understand what you mean. What’s going to happen?”

“You will feel it, soon.” Blood gurgled from his mouth. “When the force-field drops, your powers will no longer be dormant.” His eyes closed for a second and his body twitched. “It’s the same force-field that controls the collars.”

Lian couldn’t believe it. If what he was saying was true…

“You will all be free when I die.” He shut his eyes again. “Mya and I, we found a hole in the system.”

“Your time is up!” Meiling called. “Take him to one of the waterholes and drop him in.”

The two guards stepped in front of Lian, but she didn’t want to let go of her dying father. “No. He deserves a proper burial!” She had to ask him more questions. How did Mya fit into this? Did he mean they’d hacked the Network?

Meiling laughed. “Machines don’t get buried. Shove him into the water!”

Lian struggled against the guards, who were trying to pry her father away from her. It wasn’t until he whispered, “It is okay, let me go,” that she let him slip from her grasp and sobbed as she watched them drag him into the closest hole and drop him in. He wouldn’t drown but she could already feel his system failing. Sensing the last few beats of his mechanical heart made her fingertips twitch and her head throb.

Meiling stepped past, her expression gleeful. The pretense was over.

Warm fingers wrapped around Lian’s arm and she half-turned to find Vera standing beside her. She stood up with Vera’s help, letting the only person she trusted more than her father wrap an arm around her shoulders and hold her while she wept.

Pins and needles made her hands feel strange. She tried to wiggle the sensation away but the feeling intensified and spread up her arms and shoulders.

Lian tensed. Her body felt as if it was being overrun by something she couldn’t control. Tiny, electrical ants seemed to have come alive inside her and were scurrying beneath her skin.

“Lian, are you okay?” Vera whispered near her ear.

She couldn’t answer. The pain inside her head intensified, until she felt it would tear her brain in two. Her legs gave out, but Vera’s strong grip kept her upright.

Lian shut her eyes, trying to fight whatever was happening to her. A groan escaped her as she rode the pain until it totally engulfed her.

“What the hell’s wrong with the freak now?”

“I don’t know why Boss bothers to keep her around. Luckily, the little shit will soon be gone.”