Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
“What was the response?”
“She said that she wished she could wean Santo off them as she had Nene, but that the ‘accident’ and the drugs he’d been given in the aftermath had permanently reset Santo’s entire system. He seems to need them to remain stable and sane.”
Cissi had pressed her lips together. “To put my mind at ease, to make sure I’d follow the regimen, she placed Santo on half doses for a day so I could see the impact.” A shuddering breath. “I felt so awful after, even though she took full responsibility for the decision. He . . . becomes lost in nightmare. Garbled speech, whimpers, loss of physical functions, and worst of all, he screams as if he’s trapped in a hellish inner landscape.”
The reaction could as well have been shock at a sudden reduction of dosage, but Theo didn’t believe the guardian’s act showed malice, not when Janine was free of medication. “Did she say how long she tried to wean him off?”
“Longer than with Nene, but he never comes out the other side, and she couldn’t stomach it anymore.” Cissi’s voice had been thick. “She loves them, Theo. Trust me on that. My Silence is shit because while my main ability is telepathy, I have low-level E abilities. I only survived the Council because I buried that part of me out of self-preservation.”
Laughter bitter and ragged. “But I’m through with hiding—and that bit of E in me means I’m not fooled by fake Psy emotion. It’s the real deal. If she could get him free of the drugs, she would. That terrible day, she got into bed with him and hugged him and rocked him until he finally fell asleep. It took hours but she never left, never gave up.”
Now, with the sky growing dusky as they drove back to the apartment, and Yakov’s presence a living warmth that surrounded her, she found herself thinking of this mysterious guardian. Who could it be? A staff member who’d disagreed with what was going on at the facility?
“Who’s Keke?” The rumble of Yakov’s voice, the pitch of it resonating deep within her, an imprint she would never forget, no matter how long she lived.
It would hurt to be away from him.
Shoving that aside because her selfish wants couldn’t have priority here, she said, “I wish I knew. I’ve checked all my mental files and as far as I know, no one with that name—or nickname—is part of my family, worked for my family, or was otherwise connected to us.”
Yakov tapped a finger on the steering wheel. “Not a stretch to assume it’s their guardian. Obviously has to be a person who knew the ins and outs of the facility’s finances well enough to get access to the stream of money your grandfather earmarked for it—and clever enough to have hidden it all this time.”
Theo stared out the windshield. “And a good person,” she found herself saying. “She saved those people, Yasha. My family doesn’t save people. We hurt and kill people. She’s not of our blood.”
“Bullshit, Theo.” His tone was harder than she’d ever before heard it. “Stop telling yourself that. You’re doing exactly the same thing right now. Trying to save people, help people.”
Theo wanted to believe that, believe that she had a seed of goodness in her. She had once upon a time. She’d saved that bird with Pax, had felt good about it. But it had been a long time since she was a child. A long time for her grandfather to twist her into a creature of his own making.
Unable to confront the likelihood of her own conscious involvement in evil, she thought back to something Yakov had said right at the start of the day, but that she’d let slide through the surreal beauty of what followed. “How did you know that Janine was a telekinetic? Was it in her records?”
A shake of his head. “There were far fewer records for her than for Santos. Makes sense if she was working directly for your family.” His chest fell and rose in a deep inhale, followed by the rush of an exhale. “I caught her scent at the site of the murder, Theo.” His words were heavy rocks falling into a glacial pond, cracking through the ice to spread chaos. “Not at the initial site, but at the pickup location in the forest. She teleported the murderer out.”
Theo’s skin was suddenly aflame. “Someone is taking advantage of a person who can’t say no.”
“No,” Yakov murmured. “It’s worse than that. It has to be someone she trusts. Someone to whom she doesn’t say no. Otherwise, she’d have told Cissi. The trust there is pure—but she trusts the murderer more.”
Bones grinding as she clenched her jaw, Theo forced herself to think beyond her anger. Always there, that anger, that rage. Like a furnace she couldn’t switch off. “Obviously you’ve cleared Cissi?”