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)
A deeper smile, but still nothing in those glacial blue eyes. “There was no trail to follow. They vanished without a trace. Just like I did, Theo. His own daughter. Erased from existence.”
Theo acted on instinct. “My mother—your sister, Claire—is at this moment plotting my murder.” Pax had decided, after consulting with Theo, to allow the conspiracy to continue on so he could pinpoint as many psychopathic bad apples as possible. “Our family sucks.”
Barking out a laugh that was too hard, too broken, Keja said, “Want to know a secret?” The rising wind lifted strands of her hair into the air. “Twins run in the Marshall line.”
It took Theo a second. “You’re a twin, too.” Even as she spoke the words, she knew they couldn’t be true. Her mother was far older than Keja. There were no other siblings.
“My brother died in the womb,” Keja said, as if reading her mind. “They didn’t even note him down on the family tree, but I carry him here.” A tap of her head. “He woke up after the procedure, made sure I was never alone.”
Theo stared at the woman who was Theo with a little more time on her . . . and who was perhaps calmly, beautifully, insane. “How do you know so much about the back end of the operation?” she asked, both because Keja had all the answers—and because knowledge was power.
“Father had a habit of talking to me. Had no one else to boast to about his successes, I suppose—and even though I was a failed attempt, I was still functional enough to experiment on, and to serve as a control against the treatments they trialed on version 2.0.” The blue turned to stone, as inhuman as the gaze of a rattlesnake. “Walk.”
Version 2.0.
“That’s me, isn’t it? Version 2.0?” Theo said as she fell into step ahead of her aunt, soon emerging onto a familiar overgrown pathway scattered with yellow petals. She wasn’t afraid of being shot in the back. If Keja had wanted to shoot Theo, she’d have done it right after she shot Yakov.
“Yes, you’re the version that worked.” Bitterness coated in a rage that glittered with ice. “You’re the one who had the right brain chemistry, the perfect neuroplasticity.”
Theo’s stomach lurched, the breakfast Yakov had fed her with such affection threatening to rise up and erupt from her mouth. “Keja?” she said when she could speak again, her voice a rasp. “I don’t know what they did to me. Will you tell me?”
A long pause behind her, so long that they’d reached the door to the small residence she’d explored with Yakov before Keja replied. “He never told you?”
Taking a calculated risk, Theo glanced over her shoulder at her aunt. “I didn’t even know this place existed until I arrived at the gates and had a panic attack that triggered a flashback.”
Eyebrows lowering, Keja said, “Get inside,” but her tone was more thoughtful now.
Theo walked into the living area to find Yakov lying on the floor in the same position he’d been in on the forest floor. Janine sat beside him, patting at his arm. “He’s a bear, Keke,” she said in that sweet tone. “He’s nice. Why won’t he wake up?”
“He hit his head, Nenochka.” Keja’s tone was of another woman altogether, warm with compassion. “Why don’t you teleport back before Cissi comes looking for you? You remember what I said?”
Janine lifted a finger to her lips. “Our secret.” She giggled, then waved at them both and was gone.
“Where does Cissi think she is?”
“In the toilet at an indoor plant fair. Janine experiences stomach issues from time to time—long-term effect of the drugs they put her on here. Sorry about this.”
Theo’s body jerked, her nervous system overloading under the abrupt hit. Pain seared the nerves damaged by her grandfather’s assault, blackness unfolding in front of her eyes.
She heard Keja swear before her aunt caught her dropping body and shoved her into a chair. “Shouldn’t have had that much of an impact,” she muttered, before leaving Theo.
Theo wanted to act, grab the knife in her jeans pocket, the grenades in the pocket of the jacket, but her body refused to accept her commands. Her eyes wouldn’t even open.
Keja had bound Yakov’s legs and arms by the time they did.
Made him helpless. Just like in his nightmare.
Chapter 62
“Something’s wrong with Yasha. And neither he nor Theo are answering their phones. I’m tracking—Govno! Phones are either off or dead.”
“Try the vehicle.”
“Tracking disabled. Fuck.”
—Pavel Stepyrev and Valentin Nikolaev (now)
THEO’S AUNT GRABBED a chair from the dining table and dragged it to a position opposite Theo.
Theo, her nerves yet twitching, tried to use her Tk to push the weapon out of her aunt’s hand, but though Keja’s arm moved, she kept her grip. “Stop that.” A light reprimand. “I’m you, remember? I know every trick you do. Father tested them on me first.”