Page 27

27

ARELLA

One-handed, Trey turns the hatch door’s wheel. It squeals as it twists to the open position. Together, we lift the heavy door. Trey waves his hand, making his fireball float down the hatch, revealing a set of stairs and a living room. I can’t see much else beyond that.

“I’ll go first to make sure it’s safe,” Trey says. Finally, we release each other’s hands. “Don’t come down until I say so, ’kay?”

After I nod, he heads down and disappears into the darkness. The wooden stairs creak under his feet.

A minute later, he pops his head up the hatch and holds a hand out to me. “Watch your step, babe.”

Once my feet touch the carpet, Trey points at the hatch door. It shuts with a light thump, drowning us in pitch black. A new fireball brightens the room. He tosses it into the air, then searches the wall until he finds a light switch. The ceiling lights flicker on with a light buzzing sound.

I spin to examine our surroundings. “How is there electricity down here?”

“No clue.” Trey slashes a hand in the air, then his fireball disappears.

Against the wall sits a small couch with a recliner next to it. They are covered with protective plastic sheets. In the middle of the room stands a coffee table with a layer of dust on it so thick, I can’t see the surface. Everything looks like it hasn’t been touched in years. Probably as many years as Trey’s parents have been gone.

Trey drops our backpack onto the dirty carpet at his feet. “Let’s look around.”

I follow him toward the small kitchen, where a thick layer of dust and dirt covers everything from the countertops to the appliances. He peels the fridge open. The inside looks like a science experiment gone wrong. It smells like it too. Whatever was in there before is now unrecognizable lumps of black goo.

Trey slams the fridge shut. “Let’s never open that again.”

“Agreed.”

We head down a hall, where he flips on another light. Trey opens a door on the right to reveal a small bathroom with a sink, a toilet, and a one-person shower.

“How is there plumbing down here?” I ask.

“Babe, did you forget that you’re the one who found this place? I’m seeing it for the first time, just like you are. I don’t understand how anything works down here.”

I point at my chest. “ I didn’t find this. We found it together.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you solving my mom’s riddle.”

“And I couldn’t have gotten here without you telling me which way is east.”

He smirks handsomely. “Glad I could contribute.”

Across the hall is another door that creaks as he opens it. A bedroom greets us with two queen beds covered with protective plastic. A large dresser stands against the opposite wall. Trey pulls open the drawers. They’re full of clothes for an adult man and an adult woman. The bottom drawers are full of clothes for a seven-year-old boy.

“It’s good to know they weren’t trying to abandon me,” Trey says. “That doesn’t change the fact that they set up this entire safe house because they knew there was a chance they could die but continued on with their mission anyway.”

“You also knew there was a chance you could die when you came back to the Ridge to save me, yet you did it anyway.”

Trey shakes his head as he slams the drawers shut. “That’s different.”

“How so?”

“I don’t have a child waiting for me at home.”

That’s a good point. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be Trey, to have lost his parents at a young age in a traumatic way, only to discover that they chose their jobs over him. I don’t know the full story, so that statement might be oversimplifying his parents’ decision, but the bottom line is that they chose to risk their lives, knowing they could be abandoning their son in the end. What could have possibly been more important than him?

I leave Trey’s side to go explore the nightstands. In one of the drawers are some passports and ID cards. I recognize Trey’s mom in one of the passports, but the name next to her face isn’t Suzie Grant; it’s Linda Johnson. Trey’s dad—I mean, the man he thought was his dad—is pictured in the other passport. The name next to his face is Michael Johnson. There are two other passports as well. One is for Aunt Debbie, and the other is for seven-year-old Trey. They have fake names next to their faces too.

“Looks like your parents were prepared to leave the country,” I say.

Trey comes up behind me and glances over my shoulder. “Daniel Johnson? What? Do I look like a fucking Daniel to you?”

I place the passports back where I found them, then head toward the closet. I slide the doors open to reveal an air mattress, extra pillows, linens, towels, and cleaning supplies.

Trey doesn’t waste a second to grab the towels. “Let’s clean this bedroom up so we can sleep in it.”

I roll out the vacuum. “Good idea.”

Together, we work to remove the layer of dirt and grime from... well, everywhere. I vacuum the carpet three times over, but it still feels grimy on my feet. Meanwhile, Trey wipes off every surface in the bedroom and cleans the bathroom.

“At least we can sleep now,” Trey says a while later from the bedroom doorway.

I’m gathering all the dirty towels into a pile on the floor. “How long do you think we should stay here?”

“Until we figure out what to do next. We’ll have to resurface for some food in the morning. I found cans of soup and beans in the kitchen cabinets, but I refuse to let you consume anything in here. It’s all probably so toxic, one bite will kill your baby.”

My body stills. I didn’t realize Trey still thinks I’m pregnant. I suppose he has no reason to think otherwise. I haven’t had much free time to think about the loss of our baby, let alone explain it to him. We’ve been a little too preoccupied with running for our lives for the baby topic to even come up.

“Are you hungry?” Trey asks.

“I can wait until the morning.”

“Okay. I’m gonna use the bathroom. When I come back, I have something to tell you.”

I have something to tell you too...

With a sigh, I stand back to take a look at our cleaning job. The bedroom looks and smells less musty than before. The protective cover that was over one of the beds is now lying in a heap on the floor.

I don’t waste a second getting under the covers. As I lay my head against the weird-smelling pillow, my eyes get heavy. My exhausted body is ready for a long, uninterrupted night of rest. The last places I slept were handcuffed to a lumpy bed, the dirty floor of a barn, a rocky bus, and the front seat of a Lincoln. I’m excited to sleep in an actual bed tonight—without the handcuffs.

Trey reenters the bedroom with damp hands, patting them off on his shirt. “I dirtied up all the towels while cleaning. Didn’t think about saving one for our hands.” With a plop, his sweatpants fall to his ankles, then he drags his shirt over his head.

My eyes don’t leave his abs and muscular shoulders as he joins me under the covers. I’m used to seeing him in only his boxers. This is how he normally sleeps. So why are my insides tingling this much?

Trey props himself up on an elbow and tenderly tucks some of my hair behind an ear. “You look cozy.”

I lean into his touch, hoping he’ll continue to do it. “I’m exhausted, and this bed is comfy.”

“Would you rather we talk in the morning?”

“No.” I sit up and prop my pillow against the wall behind me. “I’m curious about what you have to tell me.”

He sighs deeply, and it makes my body tense. The blankets ruffle as he sits up. “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just gonna say it. Do you remember when you told me about your parents? About how they were driving home on a rainy night in September of ’95 and drove right over a cliff?”

Of all the things I thought Trey had to tell me, I didn’t think it would relate to my parents. I side-eye him. “Yeah?”

“Well...” He scratches the back of his neck. “I researched them. Aries and Bella Rance, right?”

“Right.”

He bites his lip and stares at his hands for a moment before looking back up at me. “The reason I thought to research them in the first place is because my parents also died on a rainy night in September of ’95.”

I blink as I process that information. “Are you saying they died the exact same month?”

“No, babe. I’m saying they died the exact same night .”

“What?”

“Yeah, that was my reaction too. At first, I couldn’t find anything on an Aries Rance or a Bella Rance online. After some digging, I ended up Googling for deaths over a cliff in September of 1995. Turns out, there was only one couple that happened to, and it happened on the same night my parents were killed. And here’s the other part: It happened in Three Rivers, near the same mountain range Shadow Ridge is hidden under.”

I gasp with a hand over my mouth. “Do you think there’s a connection?”

“I don’t know exactly what, but there’s gotta be one. Back then, ZIRDA was already doing research on Immunes. My parents were some of the researchers. The subjects were told it was part of a top-secret medical study put on by the government. My theory is that you were one of my parents’ research subjects.”

“I suppose that’s plausible.” I hope the tests being performed at that time were more humane than the ones Victor was doing.

“It would explain why your family was around Shadow Ridge that night. Now, are you ready for the next part?”

The next part? My heart’s still thrashing over finding out that my parents died on the same night as Trey’s parents. Do I really want to hear more? “I’m going to assume by the hesitation in your tone that this next part is crazier.”

“It is. I think the Royals who killed my parents are the same ones who killed yours. Somehow, the Royals found out about ZIRDA studying some rare Ordinaries and they wanted to take the Immunes for themselves. On that rainy night, they shoved your parents down a cliff to make it look like a car accident so they could kidnap you. My theory is that my parents saved you from them.”

I gasp as it all clicks together. “That’s why they showed up at your house that night. They were looking for me.”

“Most likely. My parents must have handed you off to another ZIRDA agent to take you to your grandparents before they rushed home. That’s why I think your grandparents know something. Why else would they have moved you around every year?”

“You think they moved me around to hide me from the Royals?”

“One hundred percent.”

I ponder that for a moment, then say, “Why keep me in California though? If there were people coming after me in this state, why keep me here?”

“Unfortunately, the Royals don’t only reside in California. They’ve got people everywhere, all around the world. Unless your grandparents were going to hide you in a hole your entire life, no matter where they took you, the Royals would have found you.”

“Wow. This is a lot to process.”

“I know, and I’m sorry to throw this all on you at once, but are you ready for the last part?”

My eyes bulge. “There’s more?”

“Last thing, I promise. The articles I read about your parents’ car going off a cliff weren’t about an Aries and Bella Rance. The couple’s names were Stanley and Robyn Calder. And...” Trey clears his throat. “Their three-year-old daughter, Hannah Calder, supposedly died with them.”

Three-year-old daughter? Hannah? Died? If what Trey is saying is true, then there’s a lot more to that night in September of ’95 than I thought. This whole time, I thought my parents’ death was just a tragic car accident. Do my grandparents know what really happened? Was my name Hannah at one point?

For the next hour, Trey and I talk through theories of what could have happened that rainy night. The only thing that comes out of our conversation is that we have more questions than answers.

Trey yawns, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen him do it. “Are you ready to sleep now, babe?” he asks.

“Actually”—my heart rate kicks up—“I have something to tell you too.”

He fixes his attention onto me. “What’s up?”

I haven’t had a chance to plan out my words. Like Trey said earlier, there’s no easy way to say it, so I come out with it. “I lied to you.”

His expression remains impassive. “About what?”

“There was never some guy from college.”

He presses his eyebrows together and tilts his head to the side. “Huh?”

“I never cheated on you. There was never a guy from college. I only told you that because you told me you needed a reason to let me go, so I gave it to you.”

“What? When did I say that?”

“When you were drunk.”

He pauses to think, then stares at my belly. “But?—”

I put a hand up before he can say anything about us not being able to conceive. “You said your powers are passed down by genetics, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe you don’t know because it might go back a few generations, but was there ever someone in your family who could sense other people’s emotions?”

“Yes?” His eyes narrow. “Why?”

“Well, um, because, the baby—um, since the baby could do it, so could I. I sensed your heartache that night you were drunk. That was the first time. Then I could sense all those people in the Ridge too.”

He inhales a sharp breath. “What?”

“At first it was only the people who were within a few feet of me. Later, the baby could sense people farther out. It could tell exactly where someone was by sensing what direction the emotions were coming from and how strong they were.”

“You... you’re preg—oh my god! And it’s... it’s mine!” Trey shoots off the bed and rakes his hands through his hair. It’s not in frustration, the way he typically does it. He looks more confused than anything. “But—but how is that possible? To have a half-Zordi, half-Ordi child? That’s not—wait. Who cares how it’s possible? My baby’s an Empath, just like me. Holy shit! I’m gonna be a dad!”

My eyes go wide. “Oh, Trey. Hold on.”

He doesn’t hear me. He climbs back into bed, rips the blanket off my legs, then presses his ear to my stomach.

“Trey, I?—”

His shuddering body stops me. He grips onto my legs, then lets out a cry.

I place my palms over his back as his shoulders tremble. “Are you okay?”

It takes a few heartbeats before he arches his head back, and I can finally see the tears rushing down his face. “Arella, I’m more than okay! I’m gonna be a dad! I’ve always wanted a family. I haven’t had one in so long. I’m gonna work so hard, baby. I promise you. I’m gonna work so hard to be the best dad this little baby could ever have.”

I burst into tears. This was the reaction I wanted when I was scared to tell him I was pregnant. This is what every woman dreams of seeing from her man the second she gets that positive pregnancy test.

Trey swipes his thumb under my wet eyes. “I’m gonna teach them how to play guitar and piano. You can teach them how to bake and how to be a good person. We’ll do things like go to amusement parks. I’ve never been to one. That’s something good dads do with their kids, right? I’ll take them to baseball games and out for movies. Disney World. The zoo. Oh, god. I’ve always wanted to go to a zoo.”

“Trey...” I say through tears as I try to find the right words.

“Look, I know I don’t know anything about babies, but I’m gonna learn. I’ll take classes. I’ll read books, and do lots of Googling. I’ll take really good care of this baby. I’ll take really good care of you too, Arella. I promise.”

“Trey, stop.”

“I can’t. I’m so fucking happy right now. Fuck, I’m even crying. I don’t think I’ve ever cried from happiness before. Look at me. I’m such a goddamn sap, and I don’t even care. I’m gonna be a dad! I’m gonna be?—”

“Trey!” I finally find the strength to shout through my tears. “Listen to me!”

Ultimately, he settles, taking my hands into his. “What, baby?”

“Oh, honey. You just made it harder for me to tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

I’ve never seen anyone so wholesomely happy about being a dad before. I squeeze his hands to give him reassurance that everything will be okay. “Honey, the baby is gone.”