25

Suki found me. I was sitting against the base of a tree. I reckoned I’d been there about an hour. Possibly longer. The light filtering in shafts through the branches above me was almost horizontal.

‘There you are,’ Suki said.

‘Is Nate back?’ I asked.

‘No. Not yet.’

I sank back against the tree. They had been shot or captured, I knew it. I covered my face with my hands and squeezed my eyes shut.

‘They’ll be fine, Lila. It’s Alex and Jack. They’re good at what they do. Let’s go and wait for Nate. He might even be back already.’

I scrambled up, my legs stiff from sitting cross-legged so long. We walked back in silence. There seemed little point in talking.

The clearing was barred with shadows, the sky above us turning indigo. Everyone was gathered around watching Nate, who was still slumped over the table. Amber turned first, sensing our arrival. Everyone else looked up, following her gaze, and I saw the anxiety on their faces. They looked like family at the bedside of an intensive care patient. They smiled when they saw us and I felt myself redden. Only a few hours before I’d been doing telekinetic battle with Bill while Ryder held a gun to Jack’s head. Now we were all friends, suddenly? God, what was happening? Maybe I had that thing – what was it called, Stockholm Syndrome? – where the kidnappee develops a bond with the person doing the kidnapping. Sometimes they even fall in love with the kidnapper. I looked at Demos. No, that was definitely never going to happen. What on earth had my mother been thinking?

I hesitated a few metres away from the table.

‘Come on, we won’t bite,’ Suki whispered, brushing past me and going to stand next to Demos.

Demos nodded over at me, then went back to studying Nate’s unconscious face. I stood dangling on the periphery for a minute, then went and sat down on the very edge of the bench, next to Ryder. The minutes ticked by, the sky darkening as though a pot of ink had been diffused into it.

I was beginning to feel the last strains of hope leaching away when Suki and Amber both seemed to stiffen. Amber lifted her head off Ryder’s shoulder and Suki bounced forward and put her arm around Nate. We all stared at his face, waiting for signs of life. He blinked a few times then sat up, shaking his head. The dazed expression started to clear and suddenly he was grinning at us.

‘They made it. They’re on their way.’

The tension evaporated just like that. Harvey stubbed his cigarette out and started rolling another. Amber let out a huge sigh and I watched as Ryder gently stroked her hair. It was done with such tenderness that just watching them felt like fish hooks were being embedded into my skin. I looked at Nate instead, willing him to tell me more. To let me know how they were, whether they were hurt.

‘What happened? How did they do it? Did anyone get hurt?’ Suki was asking for me.

‘No, they’re fine. They’re all fine. Well – kind of.’ He looked at Demos and I saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. ‘Alicia’s pretty pissed off. But she’s fine. Just a few bruises. Thomas – he’s not so good.’

I felt my body release like a popped balloon. My fingers uncurled from their position clutching the underside of the seat.

‘Let’s go,’ Demos said, striding off.

Without another word everyone was up and moving after him.

Nate was walking just ahead of me, next to Suki. I hurried over to them. ‘Is Alex OK? Is my brother?’

They both turned to me. ‘They’re fine,’ Nate said, grinning widely. ‘It was a breeze. They didn’t even break a sweat – it was so cool.’ He sounded like he had a crush on them.

‘How did they do it?’

‘Dunno. I couldn’t go in – or near the building. I waited outside. They just went in then came out twenty minutes later with Alicia and Thomas. Then they all got in the car and drove off. I hung out for a bit with them in the car then came back here.’

‘What about Rachel? What did they do with her?’ I asked.

‘Oh my God.’ Suki stopped dead. ‘Nate!’

Demos stopped still ahead of us, then marched over. ‘What?’

‘Rachel. They’re bringing Rachel,’ Suki told him.

Nate’s face was stricken. ‘Yeah, sorry, I forgot to tell you. They didn’t want to leave her, they thought she might sound the alarm, so they brought her with them. They had to put her in the trunk.’ He shrugged.

I couldn’t help myself. I laughed out loud.

Demos considered the news for a minute. ‘Nate, can you go back?’

Nate’s shoulders sagged. ‘I’m not sure. I’m really tired.’

Demos appraised him for a few seconds, then nodded. ‘OK, I understand.’ He put one hand on Nate’s shoulder. ‘You did well.’

‘Maybe I can try again in a little while?’

‘Maybe.’ Demos nodded again, then marched off, pulling a mobile out of his pocket and dialling.

I wondered if he was calling Alex and if he’d let me speak to him but he was already out of earshot. I hung back with Nate and Suki.

‘Is it the projecting that makes you tired?’ I asked.

Nate looked at me and nodded. ‘It’s like running at warp speed. Mega fun but mega exhausting.’

We made it to the cable car just as they were closing it for the last ride down. That was good timing on Nate’s part.

Once we were all inside, I inched away as casually as I could from the others and went and stood in the exact place where Alex had kissed me. I closed my eyes and tried to relive the moment, the way his thumb had touched my bottom lip. The way his lips had felt when he’d pressed them against mine, the way he’d looked at me with those velvet blue eyes. I took a deep breath and noticed the ache in my ribcage was better.

Like a bomb blast it hit me. Alex loves me. I felt the smile splitting my face in two.

It vanished when I remembered that before Demos showed up Alex had been going to leave me. In fact had actually left me. His last words had been something about being the moment. That was it: ‘When you fell down the stairs,’ he’d said, ‘that was the moment.’ The moment what?

‘The moment he fell in love with you. Durr. For goodness sake, Lila. It doesn’t take a mind-reader to work that out.’

I sunk down onto the bench in the middle of the car. So Alex had loved me the whole time, from the moment we’d seen each other again? All that time I’d been freaking out about Rachel? All that time I’d spent inches away from him, sleeping in his bed by myself; sitting opposite him at dinner, smashing plates; clinging to him on the back of his bike; sneaking peeks at him through a half-ajar bathroom door – and all the time he’d been in love with me? We’d wasted all that time when we could have been kissing? And he’d had to wait until two seconds before leaving me until he told me? If the Unit didn’t kill him, I was going to.

The smile was back, though, pulling my face into a rictus grin. If I wasn’t so ecstatically, crazily happy right now, I would most definitely kill him. Then I had another sudden realisation. Alex most definitely wouldn’t be able to go back to the Unit now. He’d have to come with us. Woo-hoo.

‘Are you OK, Lila?’ It was Nate.

I looked over at him, startled. ‘Um, yes, why?’

‘Well, you were just hyperventilating, clapping and grinning like a toddler on speed.’

‘She’s just happy.’

I looked over at Amber. ‘Keep it up. It’s a pleasant relief,’ she said.

Ryder wrapped his arms around her from behind and winked at me. I couldn’t stop myself from grinning back. I wanted to go over and hug them both. They were in love. I loved them for being in love. The world was beautiful and Rachel was tied up in a boot and Alex was coming back to me and he loved me.

‘OK, Demos, I think I need you.’ Suki was calling out to Demos over her shoulder while still looking at me.

I pulled a face at her.

‘Lila, please turn it down a fraction. I can’t hear myself or anyone else think. He loves you. You love him. Now before you start singing about apple trees and honey bees, let’s please try to think about other things.’

‘How about Jack? Think about Jack.’ Nate grinned wickedly at me.

I didn’t want to think about Jack. I was really happy he was safe too, but when I imagined me and Alex being reunited, Jack wasn’t in the picture. He was safely off to the side, with his back turned.

‘Yes. Jack isn’t going to want to see that.’

My attention flew straight back to Suki. ‘What?’

‘Jack. You’re right to worry. He was pretty annoyed with Alex earlier. I heard him. In amongst all the rage against us, there was quite a bit of anger aimed at his best friend.’

Oh dear. ‘What was he thinking?’

‘Ooh, thinking? Girl, I know what he was saying.’

Now my attention was fully on Nate. He had one hand on his hip and the other looped over Suki’s shoulder.

‘When? Oh God, what happened?’ I stared up at them.

‘They had big-time words about you.’

‘About me?’

He giggled. ‘Yeah, it was hardcore.’

‘What did Jack say?’

‘He was like, “Dude, what the hell with my sister?” And Alex was all “I love her”, and Jack was “No way, man,” and Alex just turned round and said “That’s the way it is. Deal,” and that was sort of the end of it. You know, I totally get why you’re in love with him by the way. He’s totally gorgeous.’ He rolled his eyes as though he’d just licked his favourite flavour ice cream.

‘Er, OK, thanks. I think.’

‘Nate – you are unbelievable.’ Suki poked him with her spear-like elbow, then turned to me. ‘I swear he spends more time following the hot guys from the Unit than the useful ones.’

‘I do not.’

‘Do too.’

They were like two bickering kids.

‘I am not.’ Suki pouted at me. ‘He is.’

‘Lila . . .’ I looked at Nate. His big brown eyes had gone liquid all of a sudden. ‘Did you see my dad? Is he OK?’

I looked at Suki and hoped she wouldn’t give me away. ‘Yeah, he’s fine.’ I thought back to his blood-spattered face. ‘Well, I mean, he’s really worried about you.’ I remembered the promise Alex had made to Key about protecting Nate from the Unit and getting him away from Demos. It didn’t look like that was a promise Alex was going to be able to keep. It didn’t look like Nate wanted to go anywhere. I lowered my voice. ‘Why’d you run away in the first place?’

‘I didn’t run away. I’m free to make my own choices about how I live my life.’

OK, that I understood only too well. Who was I to accuse anyone of running away?

‘And anyway,’ he continued, ‘what I’m doing now is way better than school. I get to do cool, real-life beating bad guys stuff. . .’

Didn’t he think they were using him? He was just a kid.

‘We’re not, Lila.’ Suki was frowning at me. ‘And he’s not a kid. He’s the same age as us. We’re making our own choices, aren’t we? Wouldn’t you fight for what you believed in?’

I’d fight for Alex. That much I knew. And for Jack.

‘There you go then,’ Suki said.

‘But that’s different. They’re my family. This isn’t personal for you.’

‘How could it get any more personal, Lila? They’re coming after people like us, containing us and even murdering us. Demos is doing this because of your mother. And we’re fighting with him because we believe in him. If the Unit caught you, wouldn’t you want to know that we were out there fighting for you and trying to get you back?’

I didn’t have time to answer. The cable car ground to a halt and I looked around, startled. We were back in the real world. The eight of us exited the car and followed Demos across the car park. It was dark now, the lights from Palm Springs glowing like phosphorescence in the distance.

‘Where are we going?’

‘To the Batmobile,’ laughed Suki.