“I’m not an idiot,” Charlie spat. “Well, maybe I am. I trustedyou, didn’t I?” Charlie hobbled to her.
Kennedy didn’t know what to think of this angry, bitter woman. Charlie had been through a lot in life. She’d lost her father to cancer. Her mother a few years ago in a car accident. They’d had each other though, and Kennedy had never seen Charlie so down or hostile, not even after so many hardships.
What had they done to her in this place?
“Where are we?”
“One of Dr. Lang’s hidden labs, where else?”
“Do you know where?”
Charlie shrugged and grimaced at the pain. “I don’t know. An island off the Washington coast, maybe?”
“Do you know what happened to Alex?”
“Your boyfriend?” Charlie said drily. “I think he’s on the rack—what I like to call Duane Smith’s favorite table in this shop of horrors.”
Kennedy rose and tried to hug Charlie, but her cousin waved her off.
What’s wrong? Why are you acting this way?Kennedy pathed.
Again, she got no response.
“Charlie, what did they do to you?”
“It feels like a lifetime since you escaped. At first, Lang left me alone. Smith likes to toy with people. He’s got a thing about causing pain, and he used Nivia to hurt me.” Charlie’s eyes were haunted. “Hurting people gets him off, I think. But he’s all about doing whatever Lang wants, for science.” Charlie glanced up at a corner of the room and smiled. The expression didn’t change the flat look in her eyes. “But I know what’s coming for him, don’t I, Duane?”
Ah, so talking to the cameras watching them. Kennedy understood, but she didn’t know why her cousin wouldn’t tell her, mind-to-mind, what to expect. It was as if Charlie couldn’t hear her anymore.
Charlie, answer me!Kennedy shouted in her loudest telepathic voice.
Charlie didn’t so much as flinch.
Crap.
“Then they gave me to your pack. The amazing B series.” She snorted. “They were no treat, let me tell you. And Sheer… Let me just say I prefer Yates and Myers. Then I had a talk with Dr. Lang. They started leaving me alone, because I predicted for them.” Charlie paused, staring at her with a haunted look in her eyes. “And because I promised I’d get you back. When you left, you ruined a lot of things Dr. Lang hadn’t anticipated. He made you for the B series, and he still has high hopes for them.” Charlie lifted her broken arm. “I wasn’t a good replacement. Apparently I’m not sexy enough for Yates.”
“Oh, Charlie. I’m so sorry. But I only left because—”
“You’re a selfish bitch who thinks more about herself than her cousin?”
Kennedy stared, stunned. Charlie had never spoken to her so viciously. Ever.
“I thought you’d bring help. I thought you’d come back to save me. But you found true love and left me behind.” Her cousin gave an angry laugh. “I suppose I should have expected that. When you came to live with us, everyone was like, ‘Oh, poor Kennedy. Let’s help your cousin, because she’s been through so much.’ No matter that my dad was sick. Or that my life was turned upside down just like yours. When my parents were alive, it was as if I ceased to exist when you were in the room.”
“That’s not true.” Kennedy stared, stunned.
“Yeah, it is. And you know it. I saw your future, you know. I’m nowhere in it.”
“But you never see yourself—”
“Happy?” Charlie cut her off. “I know. I’m always sad or broken or alone.”
Her cousin was acting contrary to the person Kennedy knew and loved. Was she playing for the camera? Perhaps. But why not tell Kennedy the truth telepathically? Kennedy had never known Charlie to predict her own future. She saw Kennedy’s, her parents’, and the futures of those she concentrated on, but never her own.
Something didn’t make sense.
Time to change the subject, for now. “Help me find Alex, please.”
