The Skylar Experiment : Beginnings

Chapter Thirty-Eight - Lost Sister

A PART OF ME WISHED I could back out of the deal, but I wasn't going to slip away. Too many things were at stake to allow myself that. Mr. Kennedy gave us a rapidly-approaching date where we could use the school basement. He obtained the alarm code to deactivate the system in a reversible way. 

Apparently, the enigmatic Tony had agreed to patrol the vicinity. Everything fell into place, but I was nervous. How could I not be?

House arrest had improved this week—hopefully the last of it. When it was Luc or Ben's turn around our property, I could convince them to let me walk from school or out on a stroll if they joined. We roamed the woods like I was the one joining patrol duty. 

Luc didn't talk much. He wasn't a chatty guy while we were outdoors, but he looked less bored whenever I'd ask him to show me some mutant party tricks. 

My favorite one was how he managed to pop up tiny lights right under his skin, and they moved. He called it the lava lamp trick. 

"Was it true when you told my dad about those seniors? Idiots who thought they could shoot a Wanderer ahead of Halloween trick-or-treating?"

He peered high over his shoulder. "All true."

I almost tripped under an exposed root when I lifted my foot, forgetting to pay attention. "No freaking way. There was one roaming in the area and it just... left them alone?" I halted by a moss-covered boulder, forcing him to turn around. 

Luc threw his head toward the sky and sighed. His hands balled into fists under his hoodie. "Well, okay, there was one of us with them that night. We're able to sense them before we see them. That poor creature did notice at some point. I don't know how exactly—she snuck off to steer it away, came right back to the group before anyone realized." 

I was puzzled at the odd, tight-lipped smile he gave. He wasn't telling me something, and I briefly recalled Emma mentioning she'd been close to someone they had in common. Someone who wasn't here anymore.

"I don't suppose Devin was the offender for such a kind gesture."

"Wow, you're a quick one." With a dismissive glance, he resumed his walk, not checking to see if I kept up. At the hospital, he'd revealed that his parents died a long time ago. But he'd never said that about his sibling in the framed photograph. 

I jogged up to his side, mentally cursing his long, agile legs. "You're more likely to do that than her." 

"Nah. I was busy and I knew they were in better hands. Those kids got very lucky. Most of us wouldn't do VIP bodyguard duty for some stupidly curious high schoolers." And he stared straight at me like his eyes were holding back arrows. "Which makes me a special breed of fool."

I gripped my mounting irritation just enough to evaluate my options. I could let it loose and start an insult match, hold my tongue, or ask more questions. My mind was torn between the first and last, and he amusingly read the effect he had on me. 

"Careful there," I needled, heart racing as the words began to cross my lips. "You might let people believe there's some softness underneath that mean, crusty shell of yours."

For a full beat, he reared back, nose twisting like he smelled cow dung. I felt glowing with satisfaction to have found the right stab to shut him up, but my blissful moment was brutally terminated. The warm wind around me was the only warning he offered. 

My stomach flipped then sank, and the leaf-strewn ground started to fall under me. By the time I realized it wasn't the soil shrinking into the Earth, I was pinned to a tree. Unable to even move a finger.