“Why wouldn’t I be nice to you?” He smiled, nodded, and left.
She filled a glass and sipped slowly, taking stock of the boardroom. Two intriguing paintings, one of a peaceful mountain and another of the tumultuous sea, had been framed and displayed on the gray wall. She was no art expert, but they looked expensive.
A large gilt-framed mirror across the room caught her eye. She studied her haphazard reflection and combed through her tangled hair with her fingers. Her hand glanced over the nearly invisible plastic bit inside her ear. How had she forgotten about TINK?
When she clicked the button, instead of hearing TINK’s cheerful voice, all she caught was static. Of course it didn’t work. That would be too easy. Frustrated, she pressed the button to stop the fuzzy noise from clouding her mind.
Lawrence came to the door an hour later, and he seemed astonished to see her sitting on the couch, reading an outdated issue of TIME magazine.
She offered the jerk an innocent smile. “Are my test results back?”
Lawrence glanced toward the wall of windows, then back at her. She recognized the moment his confidence faltered. “We’re expecting them any minute. Come with me.”
He brought her down an elevator and out to the lobby, through an open courtyard dressed in shadows against a pink evening sky, and to a smaller building next to an empty parking lot. He kept checking over his shoulder that she was still behind him. When they reached an office with his name on the plaque next to the door, he motioned for her to enter. “Go in and take a seat.”
The door closed behind them with a jarring click.
An urgent knock sounded, and Jasper joined them a moment later, his eyes focused on the papers in his hands. He leafed through the results multiple times, an unreadable expression on his face.
Lawrence pulled a metal tray from a sideboard next to his desk and placed it in front of him. On the sterile silver platter sat a square antiseptic packet, a glass vial filled with greenish-yellow liquid, and a needle encased within a hygienic plastic tube.
Vivienne’s heart thrummed in her ears and her adrenaline spiked. To keep the fire at bay, she took a deep, even breath.
Lawrence extracted a pair of blue medical gloves from a box on his desk and placed them on the tray.
“I don’t understand it.” Jasper scratched his head.
Lawrence groaned, “What now?”
“She showed all the signs when she was in the hospital.” Jasper flipped back to the first sheet and began again.
“Don’t forget about the Shadow. Why was he in Ohio if she isn’t one of them?”
Vivienne was pretty sure she knew who they were talking about. Still, she asked, “Who is the Shadow?”
Instead of answering, Lawrence darted a glance at her. “You’re sure she’s clean?”
“It appears that way.” Jasper handed over the file. “I ran the tests a couple of times and nothing showed up. Have a look for yourself.”
Although Lawrence’s evil smile had been replaced by a frown, Vivienne knew better than to let down her guard and celebrate the victory until she was back in Neverland.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, setting the Newton’s Cradle on Lawrence’s desk into motion.
“It appears as though you do not have the disease,” Lawrence mumbled, unable to look up from the stack of papers within the folder.
“Then that’s good news, right?”
“What? Oh, yes, yes. Very good news for you.” He knocked the swinging silver balls to the ground.
“Am I free to leave?”
“We don’t discharge patients this late in the evening.” Lawrence tossed the file on his desk and wiped his hand across his face. “You should stay until morning.”
“I’d rather go home. After all, my boss and friends are probably worried about me.” Calm. She needed to stay calm. And stand up. And walk toward the exit.
The two startled guards grabbed her when she opened the door, but Jasper stopped them with a dismissive gesture. “Let me walk you out.”
He snatched the file and clutched her results to his chest, a dejected look on his face. “Wait here,” he said when they reached the glass doors, “and I’ll have my assistant drive you back to Frostburg.”
“I’d rather wait outside in the fresh air.” Instead of keeping her promise to wait, Vivienne strolled toward the parking lot. Fifty feet from the building, she tried TINK again. “Hello?”
“We have eyes on you,” Deacon’s voice crackled from the earpiece concealed beneath her hair. “What’re you doing?”
“Leaving,” she said as if her actions should have been obvious.
“They let you go?”
“More or less.” She turned in a circle, searching the horizon for signs of him. “Where are you?”
His words were muffled by the light breeze and rustling leaves. “Ridge line, six o’clock”
“Hey, Vivienne?” Jasper shouted from some distance behind.
Her muscles tensed as she twisted toward him. “What, Jasper?”
“First name basis, huh?” Deacon muttered.
“What’s your blood type? These hospital records say AB negative…” He turned to the back page of his report. “But the tests we ran today say O negative. There must be…some mistake…”
Lawrence was evil. That much was clear. But Jasper seemed . . . clueless. She would’ve felt bad for him if he hadn’t been trying to murder her.
“It’s hard to believe you’re this naive,” she said with a mirthless laugh, backing toward the parking lot.
Jasper’s brows came together, and his head tilted to the side. “What are you talking about?”
“That ‘treatment’ is poison,” she spat. “It kills us.”
“Us? Wait—” His eyes widened, and he took a halting step toward her.
Fire raced beneath her skin as adrenaline surged through her veins. In one fluid motion, she crouched and pushed away from the earth.
Vivienne dipped below the leafy camouflage at the base of the ridgeline as dusk settled over the horizon. A dark figure appeared from the canopy above and landed beside her.
“What are you doing here?” she clipped, hating her fireflies for acting up. This guy was trouble and heartache in one very appealing package.
Deacon moved toward her slowly, his face hidden in the shadows of his black hood. “I thought you needed me to save you again.”
He may have saved her before. But not anymore. “I save myself.”
“I see that.” He moved closer, and she could see his mouth was pressed into a thin line. “They didn’t give you anything, did they? Pills or injections?”
“I’m fine.”
His finger brushed along her bandage, sending chills down her spine. “Then what’s this?”
“They just took some blood.” She pulled her arm away. “It’s not a big deal.”
“You’re sure that’s all they did?”
“Positive.” Now that he was at arm’s length, she noticed his gray complexion and the dark smudges beneath his brilliant green eyes. “You look terrible.”
“Yes, well.” A laugh. “I thought my girlfriend was being murdered, so I’ve been a little stressed out.”