Reyes shook his head, unclenched his jaw, and laughed softly. His gaze flicked to movement in the town behind her. When he looked at her again, he’d managed to dampen the worst of the heat.
“That was a pretty neat trick you pulled back there,” he said. His voice was low and rasping raw.
She would not feel bad about this. She shrugged.
Reyes cleared his throat. “Don’t suppose you’d consider telling me how to do it?” He managed an amused snort at the look on her face. “No? Not even if I promised not to turn around and use it on you?”
It was her turn to bark a laugh.
As if you could.
She said nothing, but didn’t bother to hide her scorn. Her father had made sure she understood no one could do what she did. It was why they wanted her.
Reyes’s smile faded. He gave her another sharp look, considering. He pursed his lips. “Okay, Lena.” He nodded. “So, here’s the thing. Council’s been waiting for a girl like you, but they’re not the only ones interested. What do I have to do to get you to come with me? What reassurances can I give you—?”
She shook her head. “There is nothing you can say or do to ever make me go with you.” She paused to be sure she had his attention. “Not ever. I have zero interest in being one of Peller’s Pistons.” Her mouth twisted at speaking the title. It was an affectionate term coined by the man who had figured out how to use Spark abilities to rebuild civilization. They were all just parts of his machine.
Mark Peller had died long ago, but the term was still in use. Peller had been that important. He had become their First Councilor, faraway in Zone Two, starting the restoration among those left alive in the relocation center there.
“C’mon.” Reyes uncrossed his legs and stood, shrugging his shoulders. “There has to be something you want. I’m not really a useless rich boy, but I do have influence with a certain group—”
“I already told you. I want to be left alone,” she said. “I want to be myself without constantly looking over my shoulder. I want what everyone who hasn’t been mind-fucked by living in a Relocity wants, Reyes. I want to live for me and not the Council.”
He chuckled. She didn’t think he was all that amused.
“Do I look like the kind of guy who is easily mind-fucked?”
“Easily? No. Not easily. But they had plenty of time, didn’t they, with their Testing Year, and their special programs for talented children? Tell me, Reyes, did you go to the regular gifted school with the mid-range Sparklets and work your way up, or were you one of the special kids? Did they snatch little Alejandro away from Mommy and Daddy and make him a Ward?” She could feel the heat in her cheeks and felt her eyes go glassy with moisture.
Keep it together, Lena.
When she was a girl, she’d wanted the chance to show she was as good as those boys, but it was forbidden. Her father had made it clear: the Council would never allow a girl like her to show she was stronger than the Ward boys. They’d take her away from her family, yes, but not to teach her. They’d use her. Or they’d kill her.
Reyes’s impassive face gave her nothing. The mere thought of what her parents had worked so hard to shield her from upset her, but clearly he’d come to terms with his stolen childhood long before. His face was such a mask she didn’t think she’d even gotten through.
But then he asked with a soft note of pity in his voice, “What happened to you?”
She laughed and shoved her hair behind her ears in a quick, defiant motion. “Bad childhood, I guess. So I’m an antisocial misfit, and I have attachment issues, and I—”
“Is that an official diagnosis or did it come from an over-eager program leader?”
“I—what?” She shook her head. “No, Reyes. It came from me. I made it up right now.” It wasn’t true. Her sister had spat those words at her the last time she’d visited.
She threw her hands up in the air. “Why are we even having this conversation?”
“I’m trying to figure you out.”
“Why?”
“I like you, Lena. That much of today wasn’t an act.” A sly smile pulled his lips up, and he held her gaze. “And I am in a unique position to make sure you are safe and happy.”
She felt her skin prickle, almost an electric response. She shifted away from him, took a step back, and shook her head. “I’m never going back. Not even if you ask nicely.”
She waited a beat, but he just put his hands on his hips and shrugged again.
“So unless you plan on trying to force me into your car…?”
Reyes rolled his eyes. He cocked his head to the side and leaned out to look past her at the Pueblo, and then leaned back in again. His tongue slid across his lower lip. “That probably wouldn’t be a good idea, considering.”