“It’s hardly a drink.”
“Have you ever transported Potentials before?”
Christian shook his head. “They’ve always been an urban legend, but the ancients know about their existence. People choose what they want to believe.”
I scooted up and swept my tousled hair away from my face. “They’ll never have normal lives.”
“Unless they become Breed. Private organizations do what they can to protect the children until they’re old enough to make a choice. It’s a dark world we live in, Raven. There’s wickedness the likes of which you’ve never seen.”
I peered over at Claude, who was fast asleep on the adjacent couch. Though it was still dark outside, I reached in the backpack at my feet and found a T-shirt to change into. The cabin felt uncomfortably warm and stuffy. When I took off my hoodie, Christian stretched his legs and put his hand over his growing erection. His hot gaze slid down my body, giving me a little tingle between my legs.
After dressing, I folded my hoodie and stuffed it in my bag. “You better watch yourself, Poe.”
Carol appeared from the back room, feeling her way around the dark cabin.
Christian shot out of his seat and approached the kitchen cabinets. “Are you hungry?” He turned on a dimmer switch.
“No, I just need to…” She sneezed and quickly covered her nose.
Christian handed her a paper towel, and she blew into it.
“I can’t sleep with that lady lying next to me.” Carol handed Christian back the paper towel, and I could have sworn I saw him shudder. She moved past him and peered out the door window. “Where are we going? Is it like a prison with security bars and electric fences?”
“I doubt they’re sending you to Jurassic Park,” I said, trying to be a voice of reason. “I’m sure it’ll be nice. I’ve heard it’s new and the best of its kind.”
She rolled her eyes. “Jail is jail. Can we please stop at a gas station before we get there? My head’s stuffed up, and I need some nasal spray.”
I leaned toward the front cab. “Shep, do you have anything for a cold?”
“Negative.”
Carol plopped down next to me, her jacket still on but unzipped. “I bet they don’t have any good medicine where we’re going. They didn’t at the last place. I just had to suffer.”
“Aren’t they supposed to take care of you?”
She shrugged. “They’re supposed to hire Relics that know about humans, but they hardly ever gave us medicine when we were sick. I think their job was just to make sure we didn’t keel over and die or something.” She studied her fingernails. “I’ve got money saved from working in the kitchen. I can buy the nasal spray. I’m not a drug addict, if that’s what you’re afraid of. But I can’t breathe.” She pinched one nostril closed and made an attempt to breathe through the other one. It made an awful sound before she sighed.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I promised her.
Christian moseyed to the back where Blue was sleeping.
“How long have you lived under protection?” I asked.
She crossed one leg over the other and picked at the thick treads on the bottom of her black shoe. “My whole life. My mom—or whoever—left me at a fire station when I was born. Someone must have seen the mark on me, because they never sent me to foster care or anything like that. I went right to the Breed facility.”
“Does anyone get adopted from that place?”
“Are you kidding? It’s not an orphanage, so getting a family isn’t an option.”
I leaned back. “At least you got to grow up with the same kids, so it was like having siblings.”
“Not really. Sometimes they shipped kids out in the middle of the night, and nobody got a chance to say goodbye. Why bother making friends? I think they only kept me around because I did a lot of work in the kitchen. Not everyone there worked for money. I like having personal stuff that’s mine, but I had to leave it all behind,” she grumbled. “They didn’t even give us time to pack because they were afraid we might tattle or try to escape. The only time there were runaways was during a transfer. You get attached to your friends, and it’s the only home you know.” She sighed and put her foot down. “I wish they’d never found that mark on my back. I would have had a normal life in foster care.”
“Trust me, kid, you’re better off. I knew someone who grew up in foster care, and it was no picnic. She told me stories about how they were bounced around, neglected, and sometimes abused. You’re lucky if you can get through the system unscathed.”
She sprang to her feet. “Do I look unscathed? I don’t have any family, I’m not allowed to go outside by myself… like ever, and now I’m being kidnapped and taken to some top secret location that no one will tell me about.”
“Shhh.” I pointed at the sleeper above where Adam and Eve were.
