Page 61 of Raze
I remember the notebook and his letters to her. If anything or anyone is going to save Vera, it’s Dane. Can I really take this chance away from him?
I turn my gaze back on Vera, who’s seemingly waiting for me togive him my response rather than answering herself. To see if she can call me out for lying if I don’t? Well, I’ve got Dane’s back here no matter what. She’s about to learn that very quickly. My eyes harden with determination while meeting her stare. “She’s here.”
He pushes at my legs to urge me onward. “Hurry up! Why’d you stop?”
I step over the ledge and then move to the side to make room for Dane while making sure I’m standing between them. She’s in the middle of the roof, so as long as we keep our distance, we should be okay. Her ability to manipulate technology doesn’t help her on a brick roof with nothing but big letters on it. Other than turning the lights on and off.
“Vera!” The hope in Dane’s voice is soul-crushing. If she doesn’t break out of whatever brainwashing or infatuation she has with GE, it is going to destroy him.Sheis going to destroy him. And I’m stuck standing on the sidelines to watch like a car crash in slow motion.
“Dane.” I notice the smile she gives him is nothing like the look she’d had before he could see her.
Gah. Manipulative bitch.
“I figured out why you won’t leave her to come with me. You don’t know about all the horrible things she’s done. You don’t know where, or who, she comes from.” Vera’s smile turns sly as she looks at me before sliding back to Dane. “So, I’m going to tell you everything. And then you can decide if you’re going to come with me or leave withher.”
A wave of nausea hits me at her threat.She can’t possibly know, I try to reason with myself. She wasn’t there. She could be making upbullshit just to make Dane hate me.
She doesn’t have to make anything up for that to happen.
“Vera, I don’t want to talk about Raegan. I want to talk about you. About mom. And dad. They’re both alive, you know?” He takes a step closer to her. When she doesn’t immediately retreat like last time, he takes another. By the third step, I move next to him and touch his arm in a silent reminder not to get too close just yet. He gives me the barest of nods that he understands, and I drop my hand. “We could go back to them. I couldn’t go back without you, but now that you’re here, we could see them again.”
“Why would we go back?” She sneers. “You don’t care about them. I doubt you even remember them.”
Dane’s hand tightens on the strap of his backpack. “Of course, I do.” He bends down and pulls his backpack forward to unzip it. “Here.” He pulls out his notebook, and Vera laughs coldly.
“You may not want to hear about her, but I can’t let you stay near her in good conscience unless you know this. Her mother was a terrorist. She blew up buildings full of people with her gift until GE captured her. What do you think Raegan’s going to do on the loose?”
What did she just say?
This time, Dane turns to look at me. I can’t give him anything, though. I have no freaking clue how to process that information. Is it a lie, just to catch us both off guard? Or is it the truth? Is that how I was born on the island? Did Grams know and lie to me about my parents’ deaths?
You’re dangerous, Gordon’s voice bubbles up from my memoriesand pops, leaking pain and misery into my head like pus from an infected wound.
“Raegan,” Dane’s voice calls to me. My face turns instinctively to him, but it takes forced blinks to bring him into focus. I’m frozen on my feet, my hands grabbing my arms, as I see him now standing in front of me. I’m expecting fear, or maybe anger, in his expression. But all I see is concern as he calls me back to him. “Look at me. We’ll figure this out.”
“What’s there to figure out?” Vera’s voice practically screeches from behind Dane. Apparently, seeing him come to my aid was not what she had expected. “She’s a fuckingwhore, Dane! A murderer and a whore! Don’t waste your feelings on her. She doesn’t care about yours.”
“Did you kill me?” Dane’s voice is soft, almost like he’s not positive he wants to ask the question. When she doesn’t respond, he turns to look at her over his shoulder and raises his voice. “Did. You. Kill. Me?”
“What? No, I’d never! You’re my sweet younger brother. How could you ask me that?”
“Fine. Did you almost kill me? Over an experiment? Raegan said she was trying to stop you when…it happened. Is what she said true?” he tries again, his voice trembling.
Vera stomps her foot. “No! She’s exaggerating. You weren’t going to die. Worst case, the machines would have brought you back, so she was overreacting. Itoldher you would be fine.”
“Worst case?”
Vera’s eyes widen when he turns, fists clenched. I can’t thinkabout the literal bombshell she just dropped on me right now. Dane’s right. We can look into it later. I can’t even let myself absorb the words she’d called me in front of Dane, either. Right now, I need to make sure he’s safe.
“You werefine, Dane.” She takes a step away from us and starts digging into her pocket for something. “Did you hear anything I said before? She’s the murderer. Hundreds of people, little brother. She killed her boyfriend and his friends, too. You could be next. You have to get away from her.”
Jab after jab hits my psyche, but I hold them there. I won’t let them sink in just yet. I can fall apart later, but for now, I keep my eyes trained on whatever’s in her hand that she pulled from her pocket.
It looks…like a cell phone?
Oh.
Fuck.
