“He told me that even things like you have a purpose. For now, you can be used for testing, for twisting, for helping us learn to protect human citizens against your kind. And someday, soon, you get to be the catalyst that ignites the world and cleanses it of the powered filth who would make us servants.” His eyes widened, and his fingers, hidden in his lap from the other men, made an exploding motion.
He’s crazy. She licked her lips, but it did nothing to relieve the taste of ashes in her mouth. “How can you…?” The question drifted away. She managed to pull it back in. “You’re like me?”
Lucas leaned in. His voice rose as he spat each word at her. “I am nothing like you.”
She held his crazed stare, refusing to back down. She would not give him the satisfaction. If she could help it, she wouldn’t give any of them any satisfaction at all.
Lucas’s hand curled into a fist in his lap. She could see the hint of the movement.
The door opened. Lucas looked up, his hand uncurling, and smiled. “Thank you, Agent.” Delight colored his voice. His gaze shifted and moved up and down, taking the measure of someone hesitating in the entry. “Welcome.”
Did he intend for his voice to be a sinister purr?
“Please.” Lucas gestured to the area beside him as he stood. “Come in.”
Three hesitant steps lightly tapped the floor as the person came closer. They stopped on the sound of a quickly indrawn breath. Lena’s heart twisted when the woman spoke.
“Magdalena?” Her mother’s voice, filled with despair.
He’d brought her mother to help them break her. Her mind refused to acknowledge how.
“Come.” Lucas gestured her over with a beckoning motion from his fingers. “You can come closer.”
Those light tapping footsteps brought her mother near.
Lena turned away from Lucas’s gloating face and stared up at the ceiling. If she didn’t look, if she didn’t see her mother standing at her bedside, then maybe Mama wouldn’t be there.
She swallowed. There is pain, and then there is pain. He’d promised her pain from which she wasn’t immune. She had to look.
Her mother’s face was drawn, her smaller bloom a bright halo around her, as if she hadn’t grounded in far too long. Her skin seemed yellow and thin. Most Sparks wouldn’t ground if they were sick or over-tired. It was too hard on their bodies. It made the Spark hangover much worse, even dangerous. Most also wouldn’t charge when they were ill, making sure not to build up a dangerous amount of feedback energy.
Lena had never known her mother to go more than a week—her job at the Council plant required regular discharges. She had never seen her mother glow this bright before. Had she been sick? And still working every day?
She felt a pulse of guilt at how long it had been since she’d made her way into Relo-Azcon to see her mother. She always told herself she stayed away due to the danger to them. She just couldn’t stand the guilt. She’d broken her family. Everything that had happened was Lena’s fault.
As was this.
“I’m sorry, Mama.” Her voice shook.
Her mother reached out a hand. As soon as her fingers touched Lena, a spark leaped between them, and her mother yanked her hand back with a cry. When she spoke, her voice still shook. “No, Magdalena. I’m sorry.” Her throat moved spasmodically as she swallowed back tears. “We always knew it would end like this. The three of us tried to protect you.” Her mother shook her head. “From the moment we realized what you were, we tried to spare you this.”
Three of them? Spare me this? Her heart stuttered. “Mama…?”
Her mother continued. “We hoped when they came for us, it would be after you had made your own way. We wanted you to be safe, Magdalena. I thought you were safe now. We always wanted you to be safe.”
Her mother’s shoulders hunched as if she were resigned to fate. It didn’t matter what she expected. Lena wouldn’t allow them to hurt her. She’d give them what they wanted and end this now.
She moved her focus to Lucas. His face was bright again. He’d moved closer to her mother, standing beside her elbow. His nostrils flared as if he inhaled the scent of her mother’s fear. Reason wouldn’t reach him.
She raised her voice so she could be heard in the corner of the room. “Reyes?” He had lied to her. He had broken her trust every step of the way. But he wasn’t a sadist. “Reyes, I will tell you whatever you want, just get this freak away from my mother.”
Her mother didn’t stir, her face rapt as she surveyed her daughter’s face with love and tears and regret written on it. Except for the long sound of a breath drawn in and exhaled heavily, neither did Reyes.
“Reyes!”
His husky voice came from the corner. “Lena, Councilor Three allowed this. I can’t stop it. But I promise I won’t let it go further than it needs to.”
She stared up. Her heart thumped hard. He had to stop it now. They didn’t have to do this. “You promise?” Her disgust echoed off the ceiling above her. She vibrated on the bed with rage. “We know how much your promises are worth, don’t we?” She spat the words then turned back to Lucas. “What do you want me to tell you?”
He cocked his head, and his mouth twisted at the corner. “Tell me?” His voice still had the purring, pleased burr beneath it.