Collide (Entangled Teen) (The Taking Book 3) Read online

Kelvin sits back in his chair and taps his fingertips together. “What is Briya?”

  My eyebrows thread together. I would expect all of Earth’s leaders to know everything about Loge, but maybe Zeus has kept his planet and its inner workings a secret. “Briya is one of Loge’s regions. I thought you would know that.”

  He studies me as if searching for an indication that I’m lying. “And what region did you visit while you were there?”

  “Triad, of course.”

  “Of course,” he replies, but I can tell by the way his eyes shift that he had no idea. He knows nothing about Loge, and Zeus knows everything about Earth. We are at an even greater disadvantage than I imagined. My fear spikes again, worried thoughts polluting my mind, but for now, I have to take this one step at a time. The first step is to get Jackson back.

  I draw a breath, and for a moment Kelvin and I just stare at one another, waiting for the other to crack, and then my mouth takes over my reason. “Why are you asking where Zeus is in the first place? Why not simply prepare for his attack? Surely that’s a better use of your time than tracking down a man who by all accounts can’t be killed. I know. I tried to myself.”

  Kelvin leans forward. “So you say.”

  I leap out of my seat before I can stop myself, causing a surge of Ops to rush into the room, guns pointed at me, but I ignore them. “So I say? So I say! I watched him murder innocent people, all the while you were here doing what? Living in some shell underground, protecting yourself and leaving the humans on Loge to suffer? And you call yourself a leader! You want to know about Zeus? There is no knowing Zeus. There is no understanding him. There is only fear and consequence, and I refuse to sit here another second while you wait for him to attack. I know what he’s capable of and this”—I point at the tea service—“is child’s play. If you want to stop him, you have to be prepared to fight to the death the moment he strikes, because there will be no preventing him. He is coming, and you are sitting there, doing nothing. Nothing but waiting.”

  Kelvin stands slowly. “Do you know how I came to have my current position, Ari?”

  I shake my head in frustration. “You want to give a history lesson. Now?”

  “I was the Lead Chemist under President Cartier, and I would listen in each meeting. I would watch. And soon I became the person who knew what others did not know. I saw what others never caught. I was the knowing land in a sea of cluelessness.” My gaze darts to Law, sure that I will find some hint of anger at the way Kelvin is talking about his mom, but he shows nothing. “Waiting, processing, listening… These things are anything but nothing.” He starts for the door, Law on his heels, then stops just short of the threshold. “Oh, and Ari?”

  “What now?” I spit out.

  “For our next meeting, try to look more presentable. I expect a certain level of professionalism from those in my audience.”

  The door closes behind them, and I’m again left alone with my thoughts. I walk to the window and press my palms to the glass, leaning my forehead against the cool surface. Please, tell me you’re okay, I say silently, praying he can hear me, praying he’s still the Jackson I know and love. The silence becomes unbearable and I beat against the glass, unable to hold in my emotions any longer. “Tell me you’re okay!” I shout, my body trembling. But he doesn’t respond; he simply stares at me, past me, through me. Like he doesn’t see me, or worse…he doesn’t remember me.

  Fear grips me as I wave my hands, trying to get a reaction, begging for a reaction. Something. Anything. But then a pair of Operatives enter his room and I scream, “No!” as they drag him away from me once again.

  Chapter Five

  “Ari, come on!” Vill shouts through the door. “Let us in.”

  I roll over in bed and shove my head under my pillow. Can’t I just be alone? Please. I know Vill can hear me, but I also know he isn’t going to allow me to wallow in my misery.

  I came back to my room after the session with Kelvin and Jackson and locked myself inside, unwilling to talk to anyone. What could I say? I saw him, but I didn’t save him. Instead, I let them take him. Again. The thought drives guilt through my stomach. I’m trapped in this rabbit hole of an existence, slowly going insane.

  I don’t want to see anyone right now. I want to plot out a plan. I want to train, to prepare to fight. I want to scream at the top of my lungs and lash out.

  I want to cry until I can’t cry any longer.

  The scene replays in my mind, each memory cutting into my heart more and more. What could I have done differently? How could I have saved him? My only hope is that Kelvin needs Jackson for information. He won’t kill him. But that doesn’t mean Jackson won’t wish he were dead. My bottom lip trembles at the thought, and I clamp my teeth over it.

  Vill pounds on my door again and, frustrated, I jump out of bed and hit the button to let him in. “What? Can’t you just leave me alone?”

  He barges in, Gretchen right behind him. “Are you okay? What did they do? What happened?”

  I don’t have the willpower to rehash how Jackson looked. I’m not sure I could even describe it if I tried, so I just recall Jackson’s distant expression and push that to Vill’s mind. He flinches, taking a step back as though he wants distance from the image I’ve just given him. I understand. I want space from it, too.

  “Exactly.”

  Gretchen stares between us. “What?”

  “They used Jackson to try to get information out of Ari. She just showed me the memory.”

  Gretchen’s face contorts. “They’re torturing him?”

  I shake my head. “I don’t know. He looked different. Lifeless. I didn’t notice any bruises, but then again, he’s Ancient. He would heal as soon as they inflicted the injury.” I walk away from them, needing a moment, but there’s nowhere to go. I feel suffocated in this tiny room, surrounded by Vill’s and Gretchen’s thoughts, both so obvious they might as well say them out loud—Why didn’t you do something?

  “I couldn’t, all right?” I shout, causing them both to jump. “I can hear you loud and clear, so you might as well just ask me what you’re thinking. But you know I wouldn’t have left him if I could have done anything at all. We were outnumbered.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Vill says. “You could have taken them. What really made you hold back?”

  I release a breath, my bottom lip shaking again, so I clamp down on it, this time drawing blood for sure. It doesn’t feel right, me here, him there. I should be receiving the same torture, the same pain. I should—ugh! “I don’t want anything to happen to him, okay? I was afraid if I fought them, they’d kill him, and I couldn’t take the risk. Not until I have a plan. But I don’t even know where we are or how to get out of here. The halls all look the same. I’m not sure I could even get back to the interrogation room if I tried.”

  Vill stares at me, then sighs and starts for the door.

  “Where are you going?” Gretchen and I ask together.

  “I’m going to eat. There’s nothing we can do right now. Besides,” Vill says, turning to me, “there’s someone dying to see you, and she said she’d be in the cafeteria if you were up for a visit.”

  She? A smile stretches across my face. It’s the first moment of happiness I’ve felt in a long time.

  Emmy.

  …

  We make our way down the hallway to an elevator and then down two levels. The doors ping open to a giant room with composite-steel walls and tables, people already seated at most of them. I start forward, eager to ask how they have this much real food and why they aren’t just handing out pills for our nourishment, when I notice something. A single row of empty tables slices the room, set there like a giant divide. My eyes dart from one side to the other, confused, and then Vill speaks up. “Ancients on one side, humans the other. They’re divided.”

  “Obviously. But why?”

  “Fear, I suppose,” he answers.

  After everything that has happened, humans and Ancients are still this full
of hate for one another? When are they going to see that their similarities outweigh their differences now? Sadness finds me as I realize it may never happen. We may forever be two instead of unified as one.

  We continue on into the room and suddenly a hush spreads from table to table, everyone’s eyes—human and Ancient alike—now on us. A gasp comes from the far right and then I see Madison rushing over to us, wrapping me in a tight hug. “I’ve been so worried! Where were you? We’re all here, but we didn’t know what happened to you or Jackson.” Then her expression changes. “Have you seen my mother, Ari? I can’t find her. Did she get stuck on Loge with Zeus?”

  Lydian, the traitor. I remember her expression when I shot her, her body as it slid down the wall. I can’t tell Madison that her mother is dead, and certainly not that I’m the one who took her life. Not now. Not when we need to be strong to face whatever is coming.

  I shrug, guilt weighing on me. “I’m not sure,” I say with as much conviction as I can, though I feel Vill shift beside me. He knows, of course. He was there.

  My eyes travel beyond Madison, in search of the one person beyond my mother who brings me instant comfort, and then I’m the one running. Emmy breaks into a smile and stands as I reach her. “My child,” she says as she pulls me into a hug. She looks exactly the same, except for her eyes, which hold sadness, and I know she must still be mourning Mami’s death. It can’t be easy to lose your only sister, but Mami was married to Zeus, abused for much of her adult life. Her death, while horrifying, wasn’t a surprise.

  My parents walk up then and tell us to sit while they fetch us food. I try not to notice the looks from those around us, the attentive ears, the swirls of emotions, changing each moment—from curiosity to fear to anger. Mom and Dad return with trays of fruits and steamed vegetables that look a little too perfect to be edible.

  “What are those?”

  Mom tilts her head and grins. “One of my inventions. It’s food. It tastes like food, has the same texture as food, and has similar benefits.”

  “But what is it actually?”

  She picks up a plump strawberry and pops it into her mouth. “It’s grown in a lab, like composites. The basic composition is something like an apple.”

  “What about meat?”

  She shrugs. “Meat isn’t really an option down here. Space is confined, and it isn’t vital to our nutritional development. We eat lentils and beans and take protein supplements as needed.”

  “So you’re saying the whole world is now vegetarian?”

  She shakes her head. “No, most of the world operates as it has always operated—off their own land. So, yes, they eat meat if they’re able to raise it.”

  “Wait. You’re saying we’re the only ones underground? What about the rest of the population? The rest of the world?”

  Dad clears his throat, his voice low as he says, “Ari, look around. There is only so much space and there are millions of people on Earth. Each of the Trinities has an Underground just as we do, and they chose, just as we chose, who would continue the human species should the war destroy everything aboveground. It isn’t perfect. It’s just reality.”

  I clench my fists, anger bubbling to the surface. Clearly, that’s the only emotion I have anymore. “And who makes that choice? Who decides who is important enough to live? What about everyone else?”

  He releases a long breath. “Ask yourself, would you do it any differently? There is no right answer here.”

  “So you’re saying you agree with Kelvin?”

  Dad glances around quickly. “It’s best not to talk about Kelvin here. He has more friends than enemies. Most of these people feel Kelvin saved their lives. He’s a hero.”

  “And what do you think?”

  Dad’s gaze drifts beyond us, to where a group of men and women all dressed in black sit, Law seated at the very end. “I’ve learned that those who think they understand everything in actuality understand nothing.”

  I smile. “I see you’ve been hanging out with Vill.”

  Vill sends me an incredulous look. “What?”

  My grin widens at his offense. “Nothing. So what is the plan? What do we do now?”

  “Kelvin hasn’t told you?” Dad asks.

  “Told me what?”

  His expression hardens. “He wants us to mobilize and activate the other bases. He’s created a team, including Cybil, myself…and you.”

  “I’m not leaving here without Jackson.”

  Mom drapes her arm around me, hugging me close. And that’s when I look around and realize that while the Ancients and humans are separated, one thing unifies them—fear. Everyone in the cafeteria looks afraid, like any sound could startle them, like they know any moment their lives could be gone.

  I glance up at Dad. “How long before the fighting begins? Law said two weeks.”

  “He’s right. Weeks at best.”

  I know his words are true, but I can’t make them sink in, the finality of them.

  “It’s time you prepare yourself,” Dad says. “This is the war of all wars.”

  Chapter Six

  That night I close my eyes as I lie in bed, my mind on a thousand memories that feel a thousand miles away. My eyes opening that first time to see Jackson over me. The feel of his hands on my face in the woods. His lips on mine. Our bodies pressed together after I healed him, nothing between us.

  Tears burn my eyes as I think about where he is now, how his gaze never met mine, and I’m petrified that they’ve somehow erased me from his mind, taken everything we have and made him a shell of the Jackson I love. But at least he’s here on Earth. Because no matter what Kelvin does to him, I know in my heart it’s nothing compared to what Zeus would do.

  Finally, I drift off, and before long, I’m back in the interrogation room, the clock ticking on the desk, a hint of something floral in the air. I peer through the viewing window, and the door to the room beside mine opens, and once again Operatives drag Jackson inside. I expect Kelvin or Law to come question me. But then the door to Jackson’s room opens again, and Kelvin enters, followed by someone else. His back is to me, a hood up over his head so I can’t see his face. Then Kelvin says something I can’t hear and the Op beside Jackson yells in his face. I rush to the window, my heart hammering wildly in my chest. What are they doing? What are they asking him?

  Jackson stares at the man, his expression void of any emotions. Empty, like his eyes. And then the Op decks him. Jackson’s head snaps back from the blow, and now I’m pounding against the window, screaming for them to stop, but it’s no use.

  Kelvin speaks again and the Op pulls out a gun and presses the barrel to Jackson’s forehead. Still, Jackson doesn’t respond. The Op says something, and then the cloaked person leans into Kelvin, whispering, but this time the words are clear. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. They circle me, penetrating my brain. Kill him.

  The Op cocks the gun, and I watch, as if in slow motion, as he pulls the trigger.

  “No!” I scream, pounding on the glass to no avail.

  Then the cloaked man turns, pushing aside his hood to reveal long gray hair, a wicked smile on his wrinkled face as he mouths, “Soon.”

  I jerk up in bed and make it only to a small trashcan inside my room before vomiting until there is nothing left inside me but fear and anguish and tears.

  Zeus.

  I remember the dreams I had when Jackson first healed me and I became part Ancient. It was as though Zeus had a direct path to my mind and could screw around with it at will. A shudder moves through me at the thought. Where is he now? What is he doing? What does he have planned?

  It’s three in the morning, the Underground completely quiet as I open my door and pad down the hall. At first I thought I’d go to Gretchen’s room, then Vill’s, but my feet lead me somewhere else. On instinct I move through the halls, listening, feeling, reading the people behind closed doors. I know there are cameras here, and somewhere Kelvin could be watching me, but I don’t care. I need to feel li
ke I have control again, like I can do and think without someone holding all the power over those thoughts and actions.

  Finally, I reach the elevators, and I step inside, remembering that I’d gone down two floors to the cafeteria and only one to where Kelvin had questioned me. But there are four levels, and I’m on level four. So everyone lives on level four, level three must be the business floor—where the Trinity operates—level two had the cafeteria and likely all other facilities to help the Underground function. But what about the first level?

  I hit the button for level one, curious if the elevator will even take me there, or if it’s protected and only authorized personnel can go there. But then the elevator drops, and when the doors open I’m staring out into a vast open area. It’s dark, the floor and walls cement-like, reminding me of the Landings apartments. A chemical scent hits my nose, burning, like machinery mixed with bleach. What is this place?

  I edge into the dimly lit area, my steps impossibly loud in the quiet. And then I feel them—first one, then another, then another. There are people down here—Ancients. I can feel their fear, their anger. Ancients, which means—

  And then I’m running past each cell of prisoners, some asleep, others watching me go, their bony hands waving for me to stop. But I can’t stop, because I feel it. I feel him.

  I skid to a stop in front of the last cell and peer through the bars to see Jackson asleep on a makeshift bed on the floor. My heart swells at the sight of him, at how close he is to me. “Jackson…” I whisper. “Please, wake up. Talk to me.”

  He doesn’t stir, and again I wonder what they’re doing to him to make him so disoriented. “Jackson, wake up,” I say a little louder, ignoring the calls from some of the other prisoners to help them, release them. Right now, I can’t do anything, focus on anything but the broken boy before me.

  “Jackson.”

  Finally, as though the word held the weight of a punch, he startles awake, his eyes everywhere, frantic, and then they land on me, and a breath releases from his lungs, all the love he has for me pouring out of him.