The Rising
Page 37

She looked momentarily stricken, as if she’d thought they’d come close to selling me the deal, and the decision now rested on a response she couldn’t give. I knew she couldn’t give it. But I sat there, looking expectant.
“Your father will be there,” Nast said.
I gave him a look that said I wasn’t dignifying that with a response. Then I turned back to Dr. Inglis.
“My parents will know soon, right? They’ll come live with me. Just like before?”
“I . . .”
“You remember my parents?” I said. “You’ve known them for eleven years. You’ve been to our house. You’ve gone to lunch with my mom.”
“Your adoptive parents can’t join you, Maya,” Nast said.
I kept my gaze on Dr. Inglis. “I saw you at the memorial service. And you saw them, right? My parents? They seemed okay with me being dead, didn’t they?”
She looked away fast.
“This is for the best,” Nast said. “Perhaps, if you kids hadn’t run like that, we could have avoided the ruse of your deaths.”
“Like hell!” I said, wheeling on him. “When we crashed, we were being kidnapped. Of course we ran. You never intended to return us to our parents. The crash just gave you a really good, really permanent way to do that.”
“Permanent,” he said, drawing the word out. “Yes, it is permanent, Maya, because there’s no way we can reverse it without endangering the project. Your parents are human. They know nothing of the experiment or of supernaturals in general. If they found out, they would go to the authorities, which would be catastrophic. Catastrophic for us if the authorities believed them, but more so for your parents, when they didn’t. And that’s presuming they don’t reject you outright. A girl who can change into a mountain lion?” He shook his head. “You’re not theirs. Not really. For once, I suspect they’d be glad of it.”
“My parents would never—”
“Of course they wouldn’t,” Dr. Inglis cut in. “They will mourn you. Deeply mourn you. But, after a time, they will move on. In fact, we’re pulling in the full medical resources of both the Nast and St. Cloud corporations. When your mother is ready, we’re going to offer to help her conceive.”
“Help her . . . ?”
“Many advances have been made in the years since they adopted you. We firmly believe that, with the right treatments, your parents could have a child of their own.”
“Wow,” I said. “That’s like . . . it’s like losing your dog-pound mutt and getting a purebred puppy in its place. They’re so lucky.”
My hands started to pulse. I looked down at them, certain I was imagining things. But I wasn’t. The skin had begun to ripple.
Why was I shifting? It only seemed to happen when I got stressed. Sure, I wasn’t happy with this conversation, but they’d said nothing I didn’t expect. I was annoyed and frustrated, but my heart was chugging along at a normal—
Almost as soon as I thought that, it sped up so fast I had to gasp for breath. What was happening to me?
“Maya?” Dr. Inglis said.
I turned to her and when I saw her face, rage filled me. Blind rage, like in my room, with Nast. But I wasn’t enraged with her. I was annoyed and frustrated and hurt. Yet as that untethered rage shot through me, it brought a wave of memories, of all the times I’d trusted her, all the times my parents had trusted her. As if my brain was finding reasons for the anger.
I gripped the arms of the chair and closed my eyes.
“Maya?”
Dr. Inglis touched my shoulder and I had to clench the chair harder to keep from smacking her hand away.
“She’s shifting,” Nast murmured as if I couldn’t hear.
No, as if I don’t matter. As if I’m nothing more than—
The rage surged and I clamped down as hard as I could.
“Maya?” Dr. Inglis said. “Can you tell us what you’re feeling? What you’re thinking?”
I’m thinking of launching out of this chair and taking you down. I’m thinking of putting my hands around your throat—
I jerked forward, a whimper escaping.
What the hell was happening to me? It was like I was outside myself, watching a stranger—
Annie’s words came back. It was like watching myself. No, watching someone who looked like me and felt a bit like me, but wasn’t, not really.
No. I wasn’t reverting. I was stressed out, and they were making it worse by telling me to forget my parents. They’ll certainly forget you . . . after we give them a real daughter.
My arms started to throb.
Don’t think about that. Think about anything except your parents and Ash and Daniel . . . Daniel out there, injured, maybe even—
Do not think about that!
I took a deep breath and struggled to think of something innocent and meaningless. Think back to what I’d been doing before all this happened. Back in Salmon Creek before everything started with Rafe and Mina Lee.
Biology. I’d had a midterm coming up and I’d really wanted to ace it. I was always in competition with Brendan in bio and we’d laid a wager on who would do better this time. Winner got lunch at the Blender, which meant I needed to win, because Brendan could really pack away—
“Maya?” Dr. Inglis shook my shoulder.
Damn it, no. Leave me—
“She’s stopped it,” Dr. Inglis said.
I opened my eyes and saw her staring at me. When I looked down at my hands, they’d gone back to normal. The rage had evaporated.
Dr. Inglis bent in front of me. “That was excellent, Maya. Can you tell me how you reversed the process?”
Nast brushed her aside. “That’s not important. Tell us what happened, Maya. You got angry, didn’t you? I could see it.”
I looked at him, then turned to Dr. Inglis. “I’d like to leave now.”
“You’ll leave when—” Nast began.
“Yes, I think that’s a good idea,” said a voice behind us.
I turned to see Antone in the doorway, his hand still on the knob, his breath coming fast, like he’d been running. Moreno stood behind him.
Nast rose. “If you want to watch this discussion, Calvin, the video feed is active.”
“I’ve been watching.” He walked in. “Under the terms of our agreement, sir, I am allowed to veto any treatment of my daughter. I’m going to ask that you allow me to cut this interview short. It’s been too much for her and the strain is clearly showing.”