“What do you want from us?” Nate asked. Nothing was ever free. He couldn’t keep up. He was missing something, and when he missed things, that’s when the wires sparked up and bit him.
“Let’s start at the beginning.” Agatha sat at the edge of the table by Nate’s boots. “You know what your blood can do. The magic of it. Correct?”
“It’s not really magic.” Pixel wiped her nose. “Nate said so.”
Agatha turned kind eyes on Pixel. “But itfeelslike magic, doesn’t it?”
“He didn’t ask for a story.” Reed pulled Nate to the edge of the table and wrapped an arm around his chest too tightly.
“Then let me skip to the story’s end. You came here because you’re dying.”
“They brought me here.” Nate’s voice strained in his sore throat. “Alden sent us.”
“Alden is an abuser. I shudder to think of how you must have suffered at his hands. But you’ll be safe now, with us.”
Nate’s head spun. Agatha was so warm and concerned. Somehow nurturing, despite the predatory glint in her eyes. “Alden didn’t. . .” He rubbed the little sore spot on his finger where he’d pinched himself with his pliers. Alden had never hurt him.
Had he?
Reed made a bristly sound. “Don’t make it sound like you invited him over for gull pies. You tried to kill him!”
“I did not try to kill him. We had no choice but to make him come to us.” Agatha studied Reed. “We didn’t make him ill. He was dying because Gathos City built a failsafe into the genetic code of GEMs so we couldn’t survive outside of their control.”
Reed’s grip tightened at Nate’s shirt.
“Gathos City never saw us as people,” Agatha went on. “So they never truly understood how dangerous we could be.”
She wore baggy pants and a plain T-shirt like Reed’s, but there was something elegant about her—and something strong. Whatever she wanted, he had no doubt she’d find the means to get it. And her smile did nothing to soften the threat.
Nate held on to Reed’s arm, trying to reassure him. He needed to know: “Do they really do terrible things to GEMs in Gathos City?”
The answer was already in his bones, in the heart-pounding moments between waking and forgetting his nightmares.
He needed to hear it, though, even if he had no reason to trust this woman.
Agatha’s smile pressed into a tight line. “Yes. It’s worse than you can imagine. Worse than what people say. They take our bodies and do with them what they wish. What you would never wish for.”
Alden’s words echoed in Nate’s head:They’ll take everything, Natey. Don’t you know that?
But Alden hadn’t been talking about Gathos City. He’d been talking about the Breakers.
“Tell us what you want him to do,” Reed said.
“We’ve developed new purposes for GEM blood. New opportunities.” She turned her gaze from Reed to Nate. “I can offer you safety, food, and shelter in return for sharing your blood. And I will supply you with Remedy, of course.”
Nate rubbed his eyes until he saw stars. The cold, clean table was familiar, like a fading scar, and he couldn’t place why. “I don’t understand. You want me to feed someone?”
“Of course not. That’s barbaric. Our methods transcend the butchery our makers intended us for.”
“You’re not taking his blood!” Reed grip stretched Nate’s shirt.
“Reed,” Nate said sharply. His head was clear now. He could speak for himself. Agatha’s promise of shelter and food had gotten his attention. This could be his chance to keep the gang safe. Always. All he had to do was feed people—maybe heal them. She clearly cared about him. How bad could it be? “What kind of methods?”
“Perhaps I should show you,” Agatha said. She offered Nate her hand and helped him off the table. He stared at where her skin touched his, struck by a memory of her touching him before this place, before any of this. But how could that be?
Reed held Nate’s other arm, tugging him closer the moment Agatha let go.
“It’s okay,” Nate said to Reed quietly, trying to reassure him.
