Nate found only two people to tell, but just as with Rhett, those two went to tell two or three more, and those passed the message on until the entire 17th Company had been informed of the emergency meeting in the pit.
Rhett and Nate returned at nearly the same time to their posts and exchanged knowing looks. The acrid fumes from the buses roiled through the late fall air, causing the boys’ eyes to burn. They watched as they worked, sensing the start of something huge at the sound of their doors closing. The caravan was led by the Director’s black limousine. With a roar, the buses revved and shifted into gear. They began to roll, slowly at first as though the massive vehicle was unsure of its ability to carry the weight of 180 metahumans. Finally, the packed busses picked up speed. Rhett, Nate and the others didn’t even pretend to keep working. Everyone watched as 95 percent of the adult metahumans left for war.
Chapter 85 Secrets to Reveal
He walked into the lab to find her hunched over her work. Her concentration was so intense she didn’t even hear him come up beside her.
“Hey you.” His voice sounded exhausted.
Kylie abruptly sat back from the high-powered microscope she’d been peering through and looked up at Evan, a smile pressed to her lips until she saw the look on his face.
“Evan? Hey, what happened? Didn’t your meeting go well?”
Evan pulled up a chair to sit beside the girl who so quickly had become invaluable to him.
He sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. For three days he hadn’t slept. Something was going to have to give; he wasn’t going to be able to keep himself awake forever.
“The meeting went as I expected it to. The disappointing part was my family’s reaction.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. Right now I really need a nap, but I can’t sleep here and I really can’t go home.”
“Why not crash at my house for a few days?”
Evan raised his brows. “Your dad would be okay with that?”
“He trusts me,” she shrugged.
“Damn, I wish my family trusted me.”
“Why don’t they?”
“It’s a long story,” Evan yawned deeply, covering his mouth with his scarred hand. “Listen, thanks for the offer. I’d love to take you up on it; really I would. But I really—I just can’t sleep around people.”
“Why not? Do you talk in your sleep? Sleepwalk?”
Evan thought for a moment before answering. He was too tired to devise a different solution, so he decided to trust his gut. “Do you have about twenty minutes? I need to tell you about something.”
“You’re not going to tell me you’re married, are you?” Kylie set her pen and notes aside before looking up into Evan’s exhausted eyes.
“I’m serious, Kylie. Can I trust you?”
“Of course, you can,” she said earnestly. She frowned with worry as realization that the boy who seemed so stoic and standoff-ish was tearing up.
“What is it?”
“Not here,” he said.
“Okay, where?”
“An empty parking lot would be good,” Evan chuckled at the ridiculousness of his own suggestion.
“I know just the place,” Kylie said abruptly putting away her things.
“You’re serious?”
“As a heart attack,” she answered, hurrying toward the lockers where she retrieved her purse. “Do you have your bike?”
“Yeah, but I’m really too messed up to drive,” he coughed through the emotion building in his throat. Now that he was about to confess, he was terrified of her reaction and for some dumb-ass reason, his eyes decided now’s the time to start leaking.
Manly, Evan. Way manly, he scolded himself as he roughly wiped his eyes dry.
“I’ll drive,” she offered.
“I’m not that messed up. I’m fine to drive.” He tried to smile, but he was pretty sure it looked as fake as it felt.
“It’s not too far,” Kylie nudged him toward the elevators.
Evan sighed deeply and nodded, “Okay. Let’s go.”
They stepped into the empty elevator and watched the doors close.
“Can you give me an idea about this big confession?”
Evan thought for a moment before answering. The elevator slowly made its decent. “You know, scars aren’t all bad. They’re proof that the wearer has suffered some embattled moments and came out the other side. Now scars of the body, heart and soul, they may heal and you may say to yourself, ‘hey, at least I lived,’ but in the end, the person is changed forever—irreparably changed. Some scars come at a steep price. They may leave the wearer isolated or ostracized, but that doesn’t matter as much as what the wearer does in their altered life afterward.”
The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Kylie was watching Evan closely—sensing profoundness in him so much deeper than she previously realized.
He stepped out of the car first and looked back at her with a twinge of wariness forming between his brows.
“Are you coming?”
“With you? Of course, I am.” She reached out to take his left hand in her right. She squeezed gently and smiled up at the complicated young man.
“What I said back there,” he began, “that didn’t freak you out?”