You know about Mr. Smith?
The man who’s been trying to capture one of us?
Right. He’s given up on trying to find out what we can do. I think he believes it’s too dangerous. Which is why men are taking Olivia and Gabe Bowman out to sea now.
And Olivia bonded with you?
Yes.
Which means both you and Olivia are children from the Solomon Clinic.
Yes.
Let me tell the others.
After conveying the information, Rachel said to Travis,You must have extraordinary powers to have bonded with her...after death.
No,he corrected her.I couldn’t have done it without Olivia.
* * *
Gentle rocking woke Olivia.The motion of a boat on the water, she realized. Smith had said he was putting her and Gabe on a boat, and she could smell the tang of the bay. They must be way beyond the river by now. But she could see nothing except what looked like a closed, dark room. She must be somewhere below.
Olivia.Travis’s inner voice was urgently saying her name. He had probably been calling to her for a while, trying to wake her up, but she had been beyond his reach. Now that she was coming around, his words penetrated the fog in her brain.
A rough hand shook her, and her eyelids fluttered. They felt like they had been glued together, and it was a tremendous effort to raise them.
“She’s waking up.”
“Ahead of schedule. The boss said not to let that happen—that she could be dangerous.”
“How?”
“Don’t know, but we’d better work fast.”
She saw one of the men looking over his shoulder.
“What?” the other guy demanded.
“I keep feeling like there’s another boat coming up on us fast.”
The second guy paused for a moment. “I don’t see nothin’.”
“But the water. What’s making those little waves?”
“Currents,” his partner snapped.
As they talked, they were doing something to her ankles. First, they cut off the ropes that bound them, and she had a moment to enjoy the freedom from restraints. Her ankles were raw from the rope, and she wanted to rub some lotion on them. But they weren’t going to give her the chance. All too soon, the rope was replaced with something that chafed her skin—something heavy.
Wha?
Weights like in a gym. Christ, they’re putting weights on you.
Her brain felt like it was full of cotton candy. Desperate for clarity, she fought for full consciousness, fought to make sense of what was happening.
They lifted her hands, and she felt the cuffs being pulled away. Her wrists felt as raw as her ankles.
“Hurry.”
