Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 132491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
“Take McClain to get some food. Then bring him to his old office.”
The two men leave, Marcus and I still locked in a stare-down. I’m not flinching this time. I cowered inside a hive of vines at his command and came to his rescue when he stupidly offered himself up to Ray yesterday. If he doesn’t see how capable I am, that’s his problem, not mine.
“I’m staying with Amira,” I say.
He scoffs, his gaze darkening. “The fuck you are.”
“Either I’m staying with Amira, or you can put me in a cell. Your choice.”
He rubs the scruff on his jaw, looking away. “Look, I know I’ve been a dick—”
“You mean even more of a dick than usual. A massive dick instead of a regular one.”
Something flares in his gold-flecked eyes. “Yeah, fine. But we’re still ... it doesn’t change anything between us. You stay in our room. With me.”
“Are you going to tell me what’s been going on with you?” I fire the question at him like a bullet. “Why you’re so distant?”
“I’m getting there. Give me time.”
I shake my head, holding back angry tears. “Take all the time you want, but I’ll be staying with Amira while you do.”
I turn and leave, the tears spilling over. I let them trail all the way down my cheeks to my chin, because I’m not letting him see me raise my hand to wipe them away.
“It’s bare in here,” McClain says as he walks into the office where we talked to Olin yesterday.
“I burned most of your shit,” Marcus says tightly.
McClain doesn’t react. He just takes a seat in one of the chairs facing the desk, leaving the one behind it open for Marcus. When I sit down next to McClain instead of Marcus, I get a low-key scowl from the man who brought me to tears a few minutes ago.
I’m hoping to ignore him for the entirety of this conversation.
“Did you eat?” I ask McClain.
His eyes brighten a notch. “I did. It’s been ages since I had pancakes and bacon.”
“Thank you for fixing the solar panels. That was dangerous for you, but now we don’t have to worry about the shield going down.”
He nods. “It was the least I could do.”
“That’s a fucking fact,” Marcus mutters.
I shoot him a glare before saying, “Dr. McClain, we have to get back to searching, but there’s something I need to understand. Can you tell me more about the different strains of aromium?”
He uses his spindly arms to pick up his chair by the back, turning it so he’s facing me and then sitting back down. “What do you want to know?”
“I’m sure there’s a lot, and I’d love to know everything at some point when we aren’t on a tight schedule, but for now, I need to know more about how aromium is affecting me.” I shake my head. “I still can’t believe this, but somehow aromium has connected me to vines.”
A crease appears between his brows, his glasses perched low on his nose. “Vines? Can you tell me more?”
“At first, I didn’t even know I was doing it. When I felt strong emotions, like when someone was about to kill me, vines ... responded, I guess? They flew out of the jungle and wrapped themselves around the person trying to kill me, so she couldn’t do it. They saved me.”
Awareness dawns on his face. “You’re the first I know of to link with a plant. I wondered how that would work.”
I have so many questions; it seems impossible to narrow them down and keep this conversation succinct. “How many people have gotten the same strain I did? Marcus said he can call wolves and I can call vines because of the strains we were given.”
McClain looks at Marcus, whose expression is completely closed off.
“Well...” McClain shifts in his chair, frowning. “Are you sure you want to go into this right now, Briar? You may find it ... disturbing.”
“I want to know. I deserve to know.”
He nods, his eyes meeting mine. “Tell me your full name.”
“Briar Hollis. Juniper, if you need my middle name.”
His eyes widen, what little color his cheeks have draining away.
“Hollis?” It’s almost a whisper. “Are you Lucy Hollis’s daughter?”
My heart thunders in my chest, pounding so hard and fast I’m a little lightheaded. “Yes.”
McClain’s shock unsettles me. I can’t even wait a few seconds to let him process it.
“Did you know her?” My voice breaks.
He pushes his glasses up on his nose, his expression turning sympathetic. “Yes. Lucy was an expert in her field. No one knew more about plant biology and pathology.”
“How did you know her?”
It’s all I can do not to jump out of my chair and shake him—I want to make him tell me everything he knows about her, right now.
“Soren Whitman hired me to assemble a team of the world’s greatest minds to figure out how to engineer a compound that improved upon human DNA. Your mother was one of those people.”