Winter's Legacy: Future Days (Winter's Saga Book 6) (16 page)

“Okay, that’s it.  I choose you as my battle buddy, Ev.” Cole grinned and pointed across the room at Evan. 

“I can’t believe it never occurred to me that Danny’s healing could be—so far-reaching,” Theo rubbed his forehead.

“Maybe the healing Danny provided corrected what the burns did to your gift during metamorphosis.  Maybe this was always meant to be your evolved gift,” Alik suggested.

“It must have been—part of it, anyway.”

“What do you mean ‘part of it’?” Alik narrowed his eyes at his brother.

“It’s a long story,” Evan’s eyes fell back to his smooth hand.

“Are you saying you have another gift you never told us about?”

Then, from the sofa, Margo inhaled loudly, lifting her arms slowly above her head to stretch leisurely and catlike.

The excitement in the room was instantly redirected as all eyes looked on Dr. Margo Winter.

Theo, whose hand was still resting on Margo’s bare feet, gasped when he realized what he was feeling.  Margo was stretching her whole body—her toes pointed, ankles rolled and she lifted her knees slowly before letting them fall to the side and snuggling into the sofa in a new position, legs curled adorably, her fists returning to a comfortable spot just under her chin.  She sighed before slowly blinking her eyes open.

Once she did, the first face she saw was Theo’s.  His jaw hung slack.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Her voice was groggy.  Her brow quickly furrowing as she moved her hands to her face and instinctively brushed the sand off her eyes.

“Margo?”  Theo leaned over her and studied her expression.

“Wh—where are the children?” As a mother, her first thoughts always jumped directly to the safety of her babies.

Alarmed by his
shocked expression, she flung herself into a sitting position and leaped to her feet.  Instantly, her legs quivered and her body swayed precariously.  Figures moved around her to help, but Alik was the fastest, his muscle reflexes wrapping his strong arm around his mother’s waist.

“Alik?”  Margo reached up and touched her son’s face before looking around the dimly lit room.  “Evan?”

“I’m here, Mom.” Then Evan was at her side, holding her hand. 

“Meggie?” she called.

“She’s in the States, Mom.  Remember?” Evan spoke slowly sensing his mother’s confusion.  Theo moved to stand in front of the woman he loved so completely.

“Where’s Cole?” she searched Theo’s eyes.

“I’m here,” Cole spoke from behind her, “I’m trying not to freak out, but I’m here.”

“Everybody is fine, Margo—Danny, Creed, Farrow, Sloan, Maze—even Evan’s friend Kylie.  We are all remarkably well.” 

She looked into Theo’s misting eyes before scanning the dimly lit room herself.  Her shoulders relaxed just a fraction before she nodded slightly. 

Her eyes slowly crawled down her wet shirt and jeans and stopped to stare at her bare feet.

She looked up again.  This time her expression was hardened. 

“A dream.  This is just a dream.” She let her head hang sadly.  “Why couldn’t I dream Meg was with us, too?  I miss my little girl so much.”  Her voice could barely be heard above the noise of the storm raging outside.

“Margo, you’re not dreaming.”  Theo lifted her chin trying to force her to see him through her fog.

“Oh, Theo, you always say that in my dreams.”  She reached up and patted his scruffy cheek tenderly.

“Mom, this is really happening,” Evan squeezed her hand hard enough to give her a small jolt of pain for emphasis.

“
Ow!  Evan!” She flinched.

“Sorry, Mom,” he grinned sheepishly.

“It’s true, Mom.  This is really happening,” Alik nudged her small frame with his large, muscular one and smiled down at her.

“Margo, think back.  We were under attack at the house in Cairo.  We had to escape.  Some
of the children were badly injured,” Theo nodded.  His eyes were wide, searching her face for that moment when she would remember and know he was telling her the truth.

When he saw her eyes dart worriedly to Alik, he knew her fog was lifting.

“Alik?  Your face!  Your eyes!” she reached up and pulled her son down to her level so she could study him.

“I’m fine now,” Alik grinned at her.  His skin looked fresh and pink under a dusting of sand.  “Everyone’s all right, Mom.”  Evan nodded reassuringly, “Even you,” he added carefully as he nodded toward her legs.

Margo followed her son’s eyes.  Her jaw dropped as her knees buckled.

Alik caught her effortlessly before easing her back to the sofa.  Her gaze settled on Danny’s sleeping body.  Maze’s
coat was nearly dry from the vigorous shanking he’d given it when they’d arrived and now he was using his warmth to keep the little boy comfortable.  The coydog’s warm yellow eyes watched the child sleep.

“He was praying,” she whispered in awe.

“Mom?” Evan knelt at her feet and tried to catch her eye—worried she’d slipped back into the dreamlike fog.

Margo blinked and met Evan’s searching look with knowing resolve.

“In the lake,” she said with a certainty.  “Danny prayed for our healing.”  The room waivered in silence—absorbing the implications.

Margo nodded slowly, her gaze settling back on the little boy.  

Theo reached out to Farrow for the sheet she’d removed from the coffee table and walked toward the little boy.  He gently draped the cloth over him.  “I’m sorry I doubted you, Danny.  You are truly touched by God.”

32  Eyes Wide Open

While waiting out the storm, t
he family had resigned themselves to finding various pieces of clothing in the closets of the three bedroom villa and changing into the dry things.

Farrow and Sloan had helped dress Kylie in a traditional
galabeya
.  The loose fit of the full-length robe made it easy to put on the unconscious girl.  They had slipped a cushion under her head and covered her with a light sheet before Evan could approach.

“She’s still resting.  Her heart rate is steady.  I think it’s just a matter of time before she wakes.  Maybe it would help if she heard your familiar voice.” Sloan frowned at Evan’s profile wondering if he’d heard anything she just said.  His eyes never left the sleeping girl.

Sloan gently grabbed the crook of Evan’s elbow, to force his attention.  He peeled his eyes off Kylie’s angelic face and looked into Sloan’s serious, steel-gray eyes.  “When she wakes, tread carefully.  She fooled you once; she could do it again.  Williams has a way of twisting the truth.  Learn her intentions.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo, Sloan.  You know first
-hand how my family handles Williams’ defectors.  If that’s what she wants to do, she’ll be welcomed into the fold like you were.”  The edge in Evan’s voice had Cole out of his seat and on alert.  Evan caught the motion in his peripherals and glanced in Cole’s direction nodding once before looking back at Sloan and softening his words with a tight-lipped smile.  “Thanks, Sloan.” He took a deep, calming breath.  “I’ll be careful when I talk with her.  If I suspect anything, I’ll take her out myself.”

Sloan let her hand drop and stepped aside. 

“C’mon Sloan,” Cole held out his hand.  “Let’s get you something to eat and find a spot to rest.  You’ve been taking care of everyone else tonight.  It’s your turn, kid.”  He smiled at her tired eyes.  She reached out to accept his offer and leaned against him as they made their way to the kitchen. 

Farrow smiled at the couple.  Her eyes easily found who she was looking for: Alik.  She moved to follow Sloan and Cole to the kitchen thinking she would prepare something simple for him to eat and coax him to rest.  As she moved nearer to him, she saw his eyes alight with joy at seeing his mother easily performing the physical therapy mobility tests Dr. Andrews was conducting on her.  In that instant, she saw the little boy he used to be as he grinned widely at his mother’s happy tears. 

He’s such a good person,
she thought with a blush and a smile she tried to hide from him as she moved past the three to the kitchen.  Just as she was about to round the corner, she glanced back over her shoulder at the boy she loved.  He caught her eye and winked before nodding toward his mom as if to say, “Can you believe this?”  Farrow grinned and nodded back.  She didn’t have to speak.  She simply put her hands over her heart and bowed her head.

Alik pointed to the sky.

Farrow nodded and did the same. 

They knew it.  These miracles were all God. 

Farrow waved and went about her task. 

Alik turned back to his mother and watched her walk across the room just as if she’d never been shot in the spine.   

Evan had moved the heavy coffee table carefully so as not to disturb the candles placed there.  He positioned it beside Kylie so he could perch on the corner.  He wore simple linen trousers and a tan T-shirt.  Not fifteen minutes before, he’d taken a fast, cold shower trying to rinse off the layer of sand that had caked his skin in the short distance between the lake and the villa.  Now that he was dry and somewhat clean, he felt more himself.  His longish, untamed sandy-blonde hair that had been finger-combed had resumed its typical messy, gravity-defying angles.  He hadn’t realized it yet, but both his body and face looked much older than fourteen.  The physical changes that seemed partially in place since his metamorphosis four months ago, seemed to have clicked into final transformation in one night: one life-changing night.

His physical conversion had gone completely unnoticed to him.  He was too focused on the face of the girl who brought him and his family to the brink of extinction that night.  He had so many questions for her he didn’t even know where to begin. 

“Why am I not in pain?” Her voice came in a breathy whisper.  Her eyes were still closed, as though she dreaded what was on the other side of her lids.

Evan let
out a breath of air that he didn’t realize he’d been holding and responded with the first thing that came to mind: the truth.  “My little brother prayed for your healing.  God answered his prayers.”

“I’m not dead?” she asked, eyes still shut.

“Open your eyes, Kylie.  See for yourself.”  Evan suggested.  He watched closely as her eyelids fluttered open.  She slowly turned to look at Evan.

She frowned and blinked into the candlelight.

“Where are we?”

“Safe, for now.”

Kylie reached up to carefully touch the places on her body that should be shot and torn.  Evan watched her frown deepen when she felt only smooth skin.

“Am I dreaming?” she whispered.

Evan shook his head, his hands clasped together forcing him to remain calm.  “This is all very much real, Kylie.”

She took in his grim expression and nodded once.   Looking around the room at people smiling at one another, huddled talk
ing in hushed tones—some of them dozing, sharing blankets and pillows.

This is a family,
she mused.

“I don’t belong here,” she blurted the first thing that came to mind.

“Where do you belong?” Evan asked as he watched her green eyes.

She
lowered her eyes and picked at the edge of the linen robe she wore.

Evan didn’t let her get away with silence.  “Answer me, Kylie.”

“I don’t know,” she whispered.  She sat up and rubbed some sand from her eyes.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning
?  How long have you worked for Williams?”

She stopped rubbing at the mention of her Director’s name.  Her shoulders slumped.  “You may as well know everything,” she began.  “I was seven-years-old when my mom told me to pack a small bag and drove me to a strange house.   She was a drug addict.”  Glancing up at Evan she fully expected to see a look of disgust but his face was unreadable—neutral, listening.

“I’d been the one to take care of her more times than I could count when she was coming off a binge, I just never thought she’d stoop so low.  She pulled into the driveway and a man came out of the house.  He opened my door and leered at me.  My mother told me to get out of the car and go inside the house.  I obeyed her knowing things were going to be different this time.

“Just before I stepped inside the house, I turned back to see the man pass her a small wad of cash and an even smaller bag with white powder inside through her lowered car window.  She took the payoff, backed out of the driveway and didn’t look back.  I never saw her again.” 

Evan saw how painful it was for Kylie to recall that day.  Her voice was quivering around shallow breaths.  She ended by swallowing back the emotion swelling in her throat.  He didn’t interrupt—only watched and waited for her to continue.

“After some shuffling around, I was shipped to the Facility.  I don’t know how I lived through the Infinite Serum’s beating that first week, but I did.  The Facility was my new home and Dr. Williams took on the role of father figure.”  She winced at her words before continuing.

“I felt safe there.”  She shrugged.  “I think after living with my mom, I thrived on the discipline and predictable schedule.  Dr. Williams nurtured my love of science and study.  I worked very hard for him, desperate for his approval.  I graduated with my doctorate in Metahuman-ology at fifteen and began working in the Research Hospital.  I only wanted to make him proud so I obeyed every order.  He took care of me.” 

Kylie’s green eyes darted up to peek at Evan’s expression.  His facial muscles worked as he clenched and unclenched his jaw.  She knew she was treading on a sharp edge and lost the nerve to say another word.  Her eyes dropped again as she mulled over what to say or do next.

“And then?”  Evan’s voice was steady—encouraging her to continue.

“My job description changed.”

“Meaning?”

“As part of my new work, it became my responsibility to administer the Infinite Serum to the ‘new recruits,’ seventy-eight percent of whom died within the first week
of exposure.” 

His honey eyes locked onto hers and refused to let go.

“It’s the awful truth.”  Tears welled in her eyes as she felt compelled to explain her plight.  She realized he was her assignment just 48 hours before, but everything was different now and all reluctance to talk shattered under the weight of her torment.  Confessing was more important than consequences.  

“I couldn’t stand it anymore, Evan.   I couldn’t sleep for all the nightmares.  I got physically ill every ‘new recruit’ day.  I was ordered to disconnect from the ‘subjects,’ but I just couldn’t.  I would see that mask of death creep across their faces,” her voice cracked, “and I just wanted to die for them.  I wasn’t even supposed to think of them as human.  They were just vessels and only worthy of concern if they survived the Infinite Serum.” 

Evan nodded slowly, imagining what it must have been like for Kylie to have grown up under those twisted circumstances.  “What changed?”

Kylie absently swiped the tears from her face and d
ived into the story of the last ‘new recruit’ day—the day the Research Hospital was destroyed.  She shared every detail of her act of defiance as she worked to save a child from certain death.

“What happened to the little boy you tried to help?”

“I was told the surviving recruits were shipped away before the hospital’s collapse, but I honestly don’t know if that was true.”  She shook her head despondently.

Evan swallowed hard then chewed on his bottom lip for a moment.