Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Nova grabs hold of his shirt and I’m just watching all this like a stupid spectator, trying to make it all fit together. But I feel like I’m missing pieces.
“OK, fine!” Nova says. “Fine. We don’t need to see the evidence. You told me how to crash you out. You told me that it was in the kiss.”
In the kiss.
These words reverberate around in my head.
In the kiss.
When I look at him again, he’s staring right at me.
He knows it’s true.
“Kiss him, Nova.” These words come out of my mouth instinctively. Without thought or hesitation.
“No, Locke. It’s not my kiss he needs. It’s yours.”
Mercer is suddenly quiet. But I can practically see the wheels spinning in his head. He’s going on instincts now too. Because he must know that Nova is telling the truth. Maybe not all of it fits just yet, but he has enough doubts to quell the burning desire to run and take me with him.
Because that’s what he’s been doing, I think.
Running. And taking me with him.
Not to keep me prisoner, but to keep me safe. Because he was the one who gave me that pill and if Nova’s right—and based on the crash I just had, I’m pretty sure she is—then he’s the one who ruined my life.
He’s responsible for all of it.
“We didn’t get far, did we?” I’m thinking about the island, but also that room at juvy where we met. Both places prisons.
Mercer swallows hard. Like he’s swallowing something that doesn’t quite fit down his throat. Then he shakes his head a little and whispers, “No. We didn’t.”
He’s afraid, I realize. Afraid of what the truth might bring. Afraid of all the things he could’ve done for them under the influence of that pill. Afraid of what it might mean to crash out and be himself again.
I walk over to my best friend, take his face in my hands the same way he takes mine, and then I kiss him.
It’s a long, slow, Mercer kiss. And I’m smiling into it. Then laughing.
And when we pull apart and I look up into those eyes of his, I see him.
The real him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - NOVA
The little bell chimes above the door to my shop and it takes real effort to pull myself up from the memories, or fantasy, or whatever the hell you want to call my life.
But I must, so I do.
The earring is still in my palm. I grabbed it the moment I saw the car pull into the parking lot.
No one comes to the Midnight Ark in a limo.
Well, I take that back.
Obviously, one person does.
I slip the earring on and turn to the door.
It has been nearly two months since Mercer, Locke, and I crashed out and got most of our memories back.
Most.
Not all. But most is good enough for now.
And for all those two months I’ve been waiting for Patricia to show up and drag us back.
Threaten us, at the very least.
But it is not Patricia who walks through my shop door.
It’s… what’s her name.
I don’t remember.
She must read the confusion on my face because she walks over to the counter, tilts her head, and smiles with the same poise she did five years ago when we… met.
Except, we didn’t just meet, did we?
“Eliana?” she offers. “Torres?”
“Right. I remember now. You told me to go up to the top floor of the library.”
“You didn’t go.”
“Nope.”
She tsks her tongue. “It’s a shame. I think all of this could’ve been avoided if you had. Patricia was there that day. She was going to put a stop to that trial and take you off the island. Take you away from Mercer, actually.”
“Why would she do that? It’s was the last trial.”
Eliana just smiles at me for a moment. It’s one of those smarmy smiles, too. The kind of smile that makes you want to slap someone. “We had all the data we needed. That last trial was just our confirmation. For the board, you see. They pay a lot of money so we can conduct their pet research projects and if they want a show at the end, we give them a show, Nova.” Another smarmy smile from Eliana. “And boy.” She chuckles these words out. “Did you ever put on a show.”
I’m annoyed. Like very annoyed and that trailer-park girl is about to burst out of me and ruin everything, so I move this conversation along. “Why are you here?”
She points to the door. “Patricia is out in the car. She would like to have a conversation with you.”
We weren’t sure who Patricia would contact. I was betting on Mercer since he was obviously close to her. But all three of them said it would be me. So I’ve spent the last two months biting my nails to the quick, anxiously waiting for this moment.