The Hidden (The Hidden Trilogy) (41 page)

She has to come back. She fucking
has
to.

“Thomas, we have to go,” Matt said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “Humans are coming. They can’t find us here. C’mon.”

I shrugged off his touch. “I’m
not
leaving her.”

Mel kneeled in front of me, her face red and tear-stained. “Honey, we can’t take her with us. We can’t leave a car crash with no survivors or casualties.”

I knew they were only being rational, but I couldn’t leave her here, alone and on the cold ground. I shook my head, meeting Mel’s pitiful stare. “I can’t leave her.” The words were nothing more than a whisper.

Fresh tears welled and she wiped her face. “She’ll come back, okay? She
will
.” Mel looked past me to Matt and said, “Get her stuff. Get rid of
anything
that’ll trace the car back to Em.” Looking back to me, Mel said, “Thomas, we need to leave. The coroner will take Emily to the morgue, and that’s where we’ll pick her up, okay?” 

She tried to pry my hands off Em, and I shook my head, clinging to her body. “
No!
I can’t leave her!” 

“Thomas, she’s
gone
. Let her go.”

Matt came up behind me, grabbing hold of my biceps as Mel pried Emily out of my hands. “
No!
” I screamed. She gently placed Emily on the ground as I struggled against Matt. “
No
,” I sobbed, my body eventually going lax as I sagged against him. 

They started to pull me away, and after tremendous hesitation, I let them.

*          *          *

“Thomas, wait– It’s too soon.”

Mel grabbed my arm as I tried to leave her house, making me drop Emily’s purse on the beige tile of her foyer. The contents spilled everywhere. Glaring at her, I bent down, and picked everything up in one fell swoop. “I’d rather be too soon than too late.”

“But–” 

“But
nothing
, Mel.” My booming voice quieted her instantly. “Think how terrified she’ll be if she wakes up in the morgue. Do you really want me to risk that?”

She lowered her eyes. “No.”

Matt spoke up from his spot at the bottom of the staircase. “Do you want me to go with you?”

I shook my head, giving them one last look before I left. Matt couldn’t come with me. Because if Emily didn’t wake up, well…I wouldn’t be coming back.

Unlocking Matt’s Audi, I climbed in and tossed Emily’s things on the passenger seat. Her driver’s license and credit cards splayed out across the gray leather, as well as the corner of a worn picture, half-hidden under the pile. That had to be the picture of Emily’s mom. She said she kept the only picture she had in her wallet. 

I grabbed it from the bottom of the pile, getting a clear look at Emily’s biological mother for the first time. The blood in my veins turned to ice, and I froze. “
No
.”

Chapter Sixty-Three

EMILY

Blackness surrounded me as my eyes popped open. My chest arched towards the ceiling as I gasped swallows of cold air. Something crinkled as I moved–

My lungs burned from the air rushing in. I coughed when it was too much, too fast.

Where am I? And why is it so cold?

My chest ached, like I’d been holding my breath for too long, and my body felt stiff, especially my neck. Whatever I lay on was cold and rock hard. I shivered, and as my breathing leveled out, I noticed the smell. It was a strong antiseptic smell that burned my nose as I inhaled. There was an underlying odor that was just…
awful
. It smelled like decay.

I reached up to cover my nose and felt fabric covering me. It brushed against my face and I felt it run the length of my body, covering me completely from head to toe. Was it a blanket? That was probably why I couldn’t see anything, because I’d already blinked several times to clear my vision, but everything remained black.

I tried to push it back, and froze.

What the…?

It wasn’t the soft fabric of a blanket covering me, but thick, heavy-duty plastic, almost like a tarp. I tried to push it off, my movements causing the plastic to crinkle again, but it didn’t want to budge. I reached above my head, trying to find the edges. There weren’t any.

My heart started to race.

What the
fuck
?

I sat up quickly and hit my head on something not too far above me, the hollow sound of clanking metal thundering in my ears. I lay back down and clamped a hand over the sore spot on my head, my ears still ringing.

I jumped as a door swung open, followed immediately by heavy footsteps.

My heart felt like it was in my throat. “Wh– Who’s there?”

“
Oh, thank God
,” murmured a deep voice.

I jerked in surprise. It sounded like it came from right beside me, like they’d said it right in my ear.

Wait, was that…? “Thomas?” Why did he sound different?

“I’m right here, baby. I’ll have you out in a sec.”

Metal clinked together, followed by a slow squeak. Whatever I lay on began to move. The plastic covering me crinkled as I heard unzipping, and the blackness parted, allowing a blinding white light to pour in.

I winced and squeezed my eyes shut, but to no avail. As if my eyelids were paper-thin, they provided no protection against the surrounding whiteness. I pressed my palms against my eyes to help block out the light.

“Sorry, I forgot how bright everything is at first.”

I heard footsteps and the click of a light switch before cautiously opening my eyes. Staring up at the ceiling, I blinked heavily and tried to focus.

Something wasn’t right. The lights were off but I still saw everything perfectly–the grooved, yellowing plastic of the fluorescent light coverings and the dead bugs lying inside, the individual fibers of the white ceiling tiles, a small piece of lint floating through the air… I even saw my breath fog.

“Here, let me help you out.” The plastic crinkled again as Thomas shifted it.

Very aware of every muscle as it flexed, every ligament as it stretched, I sat up slowly, my stiff body protesting to the movement. “Where–”

My words cut off as I turned to look around the room. Along the opposite wall sat a huge industrial sink and a stainless steel table, with various kinds of medical instruments lying on top. In the middle of the room, on top of another stainless steel table, a white plastic sheet covered what appeared to be a body.

Nothing seemed real. Everything slowed as my head swam. The only sounds I heard were my shallow breaths and my heartbeat–a rapid thud echoing in my ears. A chill ran up my spine, but it wasn’t because of the temperature.

My eyes grew wide as I looked at the wall in front of me. It had two rows of small, square, stainless steel doors–almost like little freezer doors. One of the doors was open, revealing a small black hole. It was the one I’d just been rolled out of.

Slowly, I looked down, realizing what the plastic belonged to. My breath hitched as my entire body went rigid. My skin crawled and my stomach churned so bad I thought I might throw up.

This can’t be real. I’m dreaming. Wake up, wake up, wake up…

I didn’t remember going to sleep, though. The last thing I remembered, we were driving back from the mall–

The accident.

My eyes darted down to my gray t-shirt. It was stained with crusted patches of dark brown, and there were rips and tears all over. Images from the accident came rushing back to me–my blood all over me, warm and wet as it soaked my clothes, sluggishly running down my skin, choking me as it pooled in my mouth, tasting salty and metallic. Pain so intense it radiated through every cell of my body, hurting so bad that I’d actually prayed for death. Millions of little glass shards all around me, littering the roof of my upside down car. Some were even lodged under my skin.

It was real. This was all real. Tears welled up as I looked down to the body bag I still sat in.

Oh my god, oh my god…

My legs jerked as I tried to get out, but I was stuck. I tried to shove the bag away with my hands, but they were clumsy from panic. My thrashing made the metal tray thunder through the silence of the room. “Get me out!
Get me out!
” I shrieked, instantly making my throat raw.

Thomas ripped the plastic apart and I kicked my legs free, tumbling off the gurney and onto the white tiled floor. Searing pain radiated in the kneecap I landed on, but I ignored it and ran for a door with frosted glass, glowing with light from the hallway outside the morgue. The door busted as I shoved through it, the glass shattering as pieces of wood flew everywhere.

What the–

Fluorescent lights hit me, making my eyes sting. I stumbled as the whiteness momentarily blinded me. It was enough time for Thomas to catch up with me.

“Come on,” he said, taking my hand in his.

I followed behind him, using my free hand to shield my eyes until I heard the click and groan of a door opening. A freezing gust of wind hit us and I opened my eyes. Matt’s car sat before us, parked a few feet from the exit door.

I dropped his hand. “What the fuck is going on? Why am I here?”

The tight lines of Thomas’s jaw twitched as he walked around to the driver’s side. “I didn’t want you to wake up in there. I fucking
told
Mel… I’m so, so sorry, Em.” He got in the car and turned the ignition.

I opened the passenger door and climbed in. “You’re
sorry
? I wake up in the morgue and
you’re sorry
? That’s all you have to say? Thomas, what the
fuck
is going on?”

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t even
look
at me. He just stared down at his lap, his brows drawn together as if in pain.

An uneasy feeling crept over me as everything took on a surreal quality. My skin pricked, despite the heat blasting through the vents. They wouldn’t have taken me to the morgue unless…

I raised my arm, inspecting the flawless skin closely. It wasn’t broken anymore. I clutched my chest, feeling its rapid rise and fall. There was no accompanying wet sound, no pain. 

My voice came out barely above a whisper. “Am I dead? Is this…the afterlife?” Tears streamed down my face, feeling hot against my skin, but they didn’t blur my vision like they should have. Everything was still perfectly clear, and almost shiny–like everything was crystallized. It was beautiful.

Lifting his head, his jaw unclenched. “No, you’re alive.”

“How?” There’d been so much blood, so much excruciating pain. How could I possibly have survived that?

Thomas put the car into gear, pulling out of the parking lot. “You’re one of The Hidden.”

Chapter Sixty-Four

EMILY

Flecks of dried blood washed away under the shower’s spray, turning the water red, then pink. Small bits of broken glass fell from my hair, clinking on the shower floor and collecting above the drain. 

I took the soap and lathered it along my arms. My skin felt soft, yet hard–like cashmere wrapped around a rock. The hot water felt incredibly good on my stiff muscles. I let it beat down on me, staying there until it ran cold.

When I got out, I saw clean clothes on the counter and a foggy reflection. I wiped down the mirror, shocked to see a stranger staring back at me.

Whoa.

My eyes widened at the beautiful naked woman before me. I had almost no fat, and there were muscles in places I didn’t know existed.

I traced a finger along the curve of my lips. They were a little fuller, like they’d been stung by a bee, and they were a very light pink. My complexion was so clear it looked unreal, and my eyes–

Holy shit.

Tiny flecks of gold surrounded my pupils, popping out from the familiar hazel. Thomas had said his favorite color was gold… Guess I knew why now.

I looked closer, seeing no blood vessels lining my eyes anymore. The whites were unblemished and bright.

It looked friggin’ weird.

After I threw on the clothes, I came out of the bathroom. Thomas was in bed, on his back, covering his eyes with his arm. The sheets on my side had been pushed back.

Neither one of us said anything as I slid in next to him. I watched the shadows dance on the ceiling as I tried to gather my thoughts. After a couple minutes of silence, I finally asked, “How long have you known?”

“Since the day I met you.”

“Which time?” I retorted.

“The second one.”

He knew for almost four months and he didn’t
say
anything? My teeth ground together as I glared at the ceiling. “Why didn’t you tell me? I had a right to know.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. Believe me, I didn’t want you to find out this way, but…I didn’t think you’d believe me. Mel said you would’ve thought I was just making it up to keep you from leaving.”

Oh my god. We didn’t
have
to break up now. I had all the time in the world with Thomas…

I bit my lip and smiled. Then immediately scowled. “You could’ve saved me so much stress,
you asshole
!” I rolled over and punched him in the gut.

He jerked upwards, clutching his stomach as he wheezed.

“All this worrying and crying was for nothing, and you knew
the–whole–fucking–time
!” I screamed, hitting him with each enunciation.

He curled up into a ball, holding his hands up to block my blows. “I’m sorry!”

I fell back onto the bed, my fists still aching to hit something. It wasn’t really Thomas I was mad at
–
okay, it
was
... But I was also mad at myself. “How did I not know?”

He shrugged. “With human parents, there’s no way you would’ve.”

My brows furrowed as I tried to put the pieces together. “How the hell did I even end up with humans? Why would my parents just give me away like that?” I could understand a teenage runaway putting her child up for adoption, but not an immortal of a different species.

“Because you were safer with humans.”

My eyes snapped up to his. “What? Why?”