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  I knew it was a long shot—there’s no way it’d be this easy—but the best place to start looking for the information I needed was Dad’s office. The new security card unlocked his door with no problem. I closed it behind me and dove for the filing cabinet.

  After about twenty minutes of searching, I’d gone through all the files in the small cabinet next to his desk. Business expense receipts. A few personnel files—ones marked for a raise. But there was nothing saying how many Sixes they had at Denazen, much less who they all were. The only things left were his desk drawers. As I started forward, reaching for the top drawer, a voice snapped from the doorway.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  My blood ran cold. I looked up into Dad’s furious face.

  14

  I climbed to my feet, brain working at warp speed to come up with some logical excuse.

  For once, I had nothing.

  He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. The snap of it made me jump. “Answer me. What are you doing? And how the hell did you get in here?” He stalked forward and for a second, I thought he might hit me.

  “I—” I stumbled. It wasn’t for show either. I was coming up totally blank. A first. Usually, I could sell ice to Eskimos. “I wanted to see if I could find any information on that Dax guy.”

  “How did you get through the security locks?”

  I went to pull the badge from my pocket. It was there, the cool smooth plastic rubbed against the tips of my fingers. But I couldn’t hand it to him. He’d see his security badge—not mine. My mimics didn’t revert on their own and since I didn’t have a copy of my original badge, I couldn’t change it back. I gave him my best, sheepish smile. “Um, crap. I must have lost it.”

  “You lost it,” he repeated.

  Eyes down, I pretended to scan the floor. “I must have dropped it. Has to be in here somewhere.”

  He was quiet while I played it up, walking the length of the room in search of the security badge. Once, from the corner of my eye, I could swear I saw him smiling. He let me search for a few minutes before clearing his throat.

  “Let’s go. We’re leaving.”

  §

  In the car, the silence was more than eerie. It was heavy. Angry. I had to do something to diffuse the situation, otherwise I was never getting near that building again. Dad was still livid I’d been snooping. I’d never get Ginger the information she wanted unless I did some damage control. Fast. It had to be something drastic. World shattering. If I was going to weasel my way back into Denazen, I had to show the only card I had. My ace in the hole.

  Unfortunately, it was the ace of spades.

  “I want in,” I blurted into the silence. “I want to work for Denazen.”

  Dad chuckled. “That’s not possible.”

  “Why not?” I demanded. “Those people that took me, they’re animals. They’re planning to attack Denazen.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dad’s eyes widen. “What?”

  “It was one of their threats. They’re going to rise up and take you down. They think they’re better than everyone else,” I said, laying it on thick. “I need to be a part of this, Dad. I need to help stop them.”

  “Deznee, there’s hardly anything you can do to help.” Another Dad might have sounded sympathetic. Another Dad might have said the same thing, meaning it was too dangerous for his teenage daughter to get involved in. Not mine. His words were cold, harsh. They said there was nothing I could do to help because I was useless. Oh yeah? We’d see about that.

  I inhaled and said a silent prayer, reaching for a pen from the console. Holding it tight, I grabbed the marker rolling on the floor at my feet. I’d dropped it two months ago when Dad had picked me up from school and never bothered to pick it back up. I pictured myself holding two markers, instead of one pen and a marker.

  A few seconds later, Dad swore and jerked the wheel hard to the left. The car fishtailed, tires squealing, and for a moment I thought for sure we’d crash. Thankfully, after several nauseating moments, the car came to an abrupt stop.

  Everything spun a little, and the throbbing in my head was starting to subside.

  Dad stared at me not with shock or horror, but something else. Vindication? Barely contained excitement? Whatever it was, it was way creepy. He had to know it was a possibility, right? He’d screwed Mom and she was a Six. There’d be a fifty-fifty chance I’d be one, too.

  “I think I could be useful in some way, Dad. Don’t you think?” I turned, looking him in the eyes. Balling my fists, I repeated what I’d told him yesterday. “I need to make them pay.”

  §

  Considering the shocking secret I’d confessed, I was surprised—but relieved—when Dad left me alone to go back to work. As soon as he’d made it down the street, I was out the door and headed through the woods into town.

  My first stop, Roudey’s, was a bust. Alex hadn’t been seen since he’d left last night to meet Kale and me. Thankfully, though, Roudey gave me his new address. Which was good since I hadn’t realized he’d moved. But then again, that can happen when you avoid someone for over a year. After a short chat with Roudey and a promise to not be a stranger, I was on my way.

  I headed down to the pizza place on Fourth. It was one of the only phones in the area I knew of outside. The rest were next to bathrooms and in lobbies. Way too easy to be overheard. Hello, paranoia.

  Picking up the receiver, careful to avoid the wad of dried, pink gum stuck to the side, I dialed Brandt. “Hey.” I said when he picked up. “It’s me.”

  “Jesus, Dez. About frigging time,” Brandt snapped. “I’ve been freaking!”

  “I know, I know. Sorry. I’m back at the house. I mean, not this second, but Dad came and got me yesterday.”

  “Came and got you?”

  “Long story,” I said, leaning my head against the edge of the phone booth. There was still a slight hum in my head and my neck ached a little. “Did you find anything?”

  On the other end of the line, something creaked—he was sitting on his bed. Brandt gave a heavy sigh. “Dez, this is some serious shit. They call them Sixes because their funky abilities? They come from an abnormality in the sixth chromosome. Some of these people? Seriously dangerous.”

  “Yeah, that information is old news. What about Denazen? Did you find out anything about the organization?”

  “Oh, yeah, they’ve got their hooks into everything.”

  I swallowed. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I did some digging. I found connections to Denazen everywhere.”

  “Connections?”

  “Does the name Martin Bondale sound familiar?”

  “Yeah, kinda. Why? Who is he?”

  “Remember that guy who was up for DA last year? The one who had that woman come forward claiming he’d banged her the entire summer? Everyone went nuts when she turned up dead?”

  “Oh yeah,” I said. “I remember. Everyone thought he did it, but he got elected anyway!”

  “Uh-huh,” Brandt said.

  “Wait. You’re saying Denazen had something to do with it?” As the son of a hardcore investigative reporter, Brandt always had a conspiracy theory or three ready to go. As much as I wanted this to be one of them, I knew better.

  “He’s just one on a list of city, town, and government officials who have links to these people.”

  “Are you crazy?” I whispered. Glancing over my shoulder, I made sure I was still alone. “When I said see what you could find out, I didn’t mean dig like you’re looking for China. These people are dangerous. They—”

  “Dez, trust me when I tell you, I understand what kind of dangerous they are.” A pause. Then, a second later, a metallic rattle. He was spinning the wheels on his skateboard.

  “Okay, I gotta find Kale.
Make sure he’s okay.”

  “Whatever. Let me know if you need anything else. And be careful,” Brandt urged. “Without me there to watch your back, you’re just a helpless girl.”

  “Sure. And without me to watch your back, you’re just a big, clueless guy.” I smiled and went to hang up but stopped. Bringing the phone back to my ear, I said, “And no more digging!”

  Alex’s apartment was in the seedier part of town, unaffectionately dubbed The Fix. Even though The Fix was where most of the local drug deals went down, the cops tended to avoid the area altogether. They had no problem busting the dealers the moment they stepped onto school property or at the mall, but The Fix seemed to have a government all its own. It had its own rules and its own enforcers. Ones you didn’t cross.

  As I climbed the narrow steps leading to the third floor—the elevator didn’t work—I tried to hold my nose. The hallway smelled like urine and unwashed bodies. I made a left at the top of the stairs and counted the doors. The apartment numbers were mostly missing, but when I came to Alex’s, the numbers 342 had been filled in with black magic marker.

  I raised my hand to knock as the door swung open.

  “Dez?” Alex stumbled back. Obviously I hadn’t been expected. “What the hell are you doing?” He reached out and dragged me into the apartment. “You shouldn’t be here!”

  “Please tell me you’ve seen Kale?” He’d been gone when I woke this morning—which made sense—but I didn’t know where he went or how to find him.

  “I’m here,” came his voice from behind Alex. He stood in the hall, wearing a pair of Alex’s black jeans and one of Brandt’s long sleeved green T-shirts. He smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back as the panic drained away.

  “You left. I didn’t know where you’d gone.”

  He stepped past Alex, stopping only when his shoulder brushed mine. “I left when I heard your father get up.”

  From the corner of my eye, I could see Alex watching us, eyes narrow. “What is he talking about?”

  Kale, apparently feeling helpful, answered for me. “I stayed with Dez last night. We took off our shirts.”

  I didn’t have to see my face to know it turned a bright shade of red. Kale and I were going to discuss the appropriate level of sharing. Soon.

  Alex folded his arms and shook his head. “First Beldom and Doon, now Rain Man here? Is there something I should know, Dez?” He turned to Kale. “I thought you stayed here with me last night.”

  Kale shrugged and turned away from him. “I left when you fell asleep.”

  “There’s no way you snuck out of here without me knowing it.” Alex was jealous, I could see that—but he’d lost that right a long time ago.

  “You sleep loud,” Kale said to Alex, still smiling at me. “It was easy.”

  Alex looked like he wanted to lunge for Kale but maintained his distance. He turned to me, disgusted. “He seriously spent the night with you?”

  “Not like you’re thinking, but yes! And who the hell are you to care? Your college skank not giving you enough these days?”

  Kale looked from me to Alex, face darkening. At his sides, fingers twitched. “You hurt her. She told me. Why do you care if she lets me kiss her? She holds my hand now, not yours!”

  Alex let out a horrible laugh. “Aww, you poor shmuck. You got shafted, trust me. Haven’t you heard? She lets other guys do a lot more than that.”

  I didn’t think, only reacted. A lot like the day I found him groping the college bimbo in the back room of Roudey’s. My fist shot out, nailing him right in the corner of the jaw. He took the blow like a trooper, but I could tell it stung. It better have, because my hand felt like it might fall off.

  “If you’re done being a dick, then I have some news.”

  And like flipping a switch, Alex turned serious. Kale spending the night, as well as my well-placed right hook, was forgotten.

  “I start my new job tomorrow,” I said with barely contained pride. It probably should’ve bothered me that I was putting myself in the hands of men who used people like me as puppets, but I was riding the high. I’d gotten myself in and managed to pull the wool over Dad’s eyes. Again. That never failed to give me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

  “New job?” It took all of about six seconds before Alex caught on. His eyes widened, and he flashed me a truly appreciating smile. Suddenly, I was his hero—heroine. “Excellent! How did you manage it?”

  Yeah. This was going to be the hard part. I knew Alex would make a stink. Kale was liable to get downright volatile.

  “I have something they need.”

  Kale watched me, suspicion replacing the anger he’d been directing at Alex.

  Alex was just plain confused. “No offense, Dez, but what could you have that they could possibly need?”

  There was a baseball across from me on the end table. I grabbed it and headed to the kitchen, where I’d seen an orange sitting on the counter next to Alex’s car keys. With both items in hand, I headed back to the living room and stopped in front of them. Closing my eyes, orange in one hand, baseball in the other, I imagined taking a bite of the orange, citrusy juices dribbling down my chin. Pictured the unsmooth surface and thick skin simply waiting to be peeled away. It was definitely harder than usual—not that I did it often—but it did work. I knew not by the weight or texture change of the ball but by the sudden spike in pain and loss of gravity. Several seconds of black, and I was on the floor.

  “Jesus!” Alex swore, sprinting forward.

  Kale beat him to me. “Dez?”

  I nodded, and inclined my head to our right. Two oranges had rolled to the corner of the room.

  “You’re—”

  “A Six,” Kale finished for him, sounding less surprised. He gathered me in his arms and helped me to the couch. Tilting my head up, he brushed the hair from my face. “You’re bleeding. What happened?”

  I swiped at the wetness under my nose. Blood. Well, that was new.

  “I don’t use it because it’s too much of a strain on my body. It physically hurts to do it.” No need to elaborate.

  Alex snorted. “That looks like a little more than hurts. You’re bleeding, for Christ sake.”

  “That’s never happened before,” I insisted. “I think it’s because I’ve been doing it a lot more than usual.”

  About ten seconds later is when the piss really hit the fan.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Alex bellowed.

  Kale began pacing the floor like a wild animal, growling, “Not a chance!” He was flicking his fingers again. Pointer, middle, ring, pinky.

  I waited a few minutes for them to get it out of their system—testosterone and all that. It took longer than I’d hoped, but eventually they’d settled for menacing glares and silent seething.

  “How could you not tell me?” Alex asked after five minutes of heavy silence. He’d retreated to the corner of the room and was fisting a purple stress ball. After mashing it in his hand several times, he hummed it at the wall and threw himself onto the couch.

  “Oh, because you shared all your secrets with me?” Frigging hypocrite! He looked away, guilty.

  “I do not like this.” Kale had stopped pacing and settled against the far wall by the door. Maybe he thought to block it in case I made a mad dash to Denazen or something. Who knew.

  “The Six is out of the bag now. Dad already knows what I can do, so there’s no turning back. I screwed up yesterday. Got caught snooping. I needed something drastic or I never would have been allowed back inside.”

  “This is beyond drastic, even for you,” Alex grumbled. “Can’t you run away? Why are you fighting so hard to get Ginger’s help?”

  “Because I need to find the Reaper. He’s the only chance I have of getting my mom away from that place.”

  “We�
�ll figure something out. Stay and I’ll hide you. We can make it work.”

  Next to me, Kale stiffened. The way he’d said it, I wasn’t sure if Alex meant me and him, or evading Denazen, but either way it was out of the question. “So you’re going to help me spring Mom? I don’t think so. And what about Kale?”

  “It’ll take some time, but we’ll figure out a way to help your mom. I promise. As for him,” Alex said, flicking his wrist in Kale’s direction, “they’ll stop looking eventually. How important could one Six be?”

  “They put a lot into creating me,” Kale said in an eerie, low voice. “They’ve never found anyone like me before. They will not give up. I am of dual use to them. It’s not only my touch they use, but my blood.”

  Alex cringed. “Your blood?”

  “I’ve been gone several days now. They’ll be frantic to recapture me.” He turned to me. “That man’s niece, she wasn’t drugged. She was injected with a serum made up in part with my blood. When injected into the bloodstream of any Six, it causes them to become vacant. Pliable. They’re effortless to control. The blood is taken often and in small batches because the serum sours quickly.”

  “Then leave town. Seems like that’d be the best bet. For you, and for the rest of us.”

  “He can’t just up and leave. Not unless I go with him.”

  Alex slammed his foot down. “What, now you’re like his personal bodyguard with benefits?”

  “He’s lived his entire life inside Denazen. He doesn’t know anything about the world we live in.”

  “Whatever,” Alex mumbled. “Not like I can stop you.”

  “I can make this work, I know I can.” I threw myself onto the sofa next to him.

  “You think it hurts now to do what you did? Can you imagine how you’re going to feel after an hour at Denazen? They’re going to make you perform like a street corner monkey. It’ll frigging kill you!”

  “I can handle it,” I insisted. Truthfully though, I hadn’t thought about it that way. They would test me. Make me show them what I could do. How much could my body take before it broke?