“Why?” Ash asked. “I mean, why do any of this? Why not leave humans as they are, to their own evolutionary path?”
“Our work began, legitimately enough, in therapeutic research. We wanted to see if there were ways to bioengineer cures for human diseases. Our work was successful and garnering international accolades, which brought us to the attention of the Omnis. They forced us into their program by threatening my mom and our daughter. We discovered their work was much further along than anything in the outside world. We mined our way in to its very core, knowing that the only way to stop it was from the inside out. We’d reached that point when we were extracted and eventually brought here. But as for the why of it? Power. Whoever can control human genetics can control governments, resources—the future of humanity.”
Ash looked at Merc, finally beginning to understand the huge scope. “That’s what you’re fighting.”
He nodded.
That was important work. And though he and the others used methods that violated regular human ethics, they did it to preserve life as most humans knew it. And he somehow thought she could contribute to that work?
“I do.” He looked at Joyce. “Ash is highly skilled, but untrained, in psychometry. If she were to join us, she would be powerful. Her skills could rival Guerre’s.”
Joyce nodded. “You become more of what you are when you undergo the mutations.” She went to a tray that had been prepared with the implements she’d need for the blood draw. As she prepared Ash’s arm, she explained, “We’re going to need to do blood draws once a week for at least the next month. Some modifications stay dormant in a host. We don’t fully understand what triggers them to become active in any given situation, so we want to monitor you. And, of course, we don’t even know whether you’ve been infected. We’ll have to watch and see.” She gave Ash a hard look. “Are you prepared for that?”
Ash shook her head. “I’m not sure I am going to be joining you.” She avoided looking at Merc, but Joyce checked his reaction. “If Merc wipes my memories of all of this, will that affect my biology?”
“No. Just your awareness of any of these conversations and events.”
“So you’ll continue to monitor me?”
“Yes. We have to, for your own wellbeing. Summer was modified with a new strain of mutations, but they are, so far, benign. We don’t know if you were changed, or if you were, what type of changes you might have been given. There’s a huge range of outcomes that we have to watch for, including a hyper-immune reaction to the modifications that would need support.”
“Okay. Let’s do this.”
Merc put his arm around her. “I hope it was just some kind of bug interaction and nothing more malignant, love.”
She leaned against him as Joyce pulled a vial of her blood. “Me too.”
31
Ash got out of the black SUV that Merc had used to drive her home. It took up half her driveway.
The yard service she’d hired to take care of her lawn and garden had already started work for the season. Everything looked lush and well-tended—just as if she’d never left.
Her yard was all that remained of her old self.
Merc grabbed her backpack and mentally opened her locked side door. He broke into her reverie by guiding her into her cheery kitchen. It had two windows—an east-facing one that looked out over the drive, and a south-facing one that was covered by the wide eave at the front of the house, keeping the hot sunlight soft and indirect.
Merc carried her backpack into her room and left it on her bed, then did a full walk-through of her house. She waited for him in the living room.
“All clear.” He stopped in front of her, just inches away, but she was emotionally miles from him. “Want me to stay? I can sleep on the couch.”
“No. I really do need time alone.”
“Righto. If you need me, you just have to speak to me”—he tapped his forehead—“here. You don’t even need to phone me. I’m going to stay in town with Acier, so I’ll be nearby.”
Ash nodded.
“Good luck at work. I’ll check in with you tomorrow night.”
God, it felt wonderful that he cared and that she wasn’t facing this alone.
“You aren’t alone in this. You have me, Summer, Selena—all of us.”
“When will the test results be back?”
“A few days. Joyce and Nathan want to be thorough in their examination.”
“Okay.”
Merc slowly gave her a smile, his eyes so heavy with emotion that breathing was hard for Ash. He was feeling the same things she was. He caught her cheek in his hand, then bent down to kiss her other cheek. He didn’t say the words, not audibly or mentally, but she still felt them.
I love you.
Did that come from her or from him?
Ash stood still while Merc left. She didn’t move as she listened for his car to back out of her driveway. She remained still for the longest time after that, trying to get her bearings.
She was home, but she wasn’t the same person who’d left a week ago for a second trip to Valle de Lágrimas. She knew things no sane person should know, things that only made sense in the context of a role-playing game, things that would haunt her forever.
And somehow, she was supposed to just put one foot in front of the other and move on with her life.
And hell. Just standing in the middle of her living room for what felt like an hour was fucking odd. She was odd. Changed forever, whether or not she took the human modifications—whatever that meant.
She forced herself to go into her room and unpack. Pretending to be normal was about as close as she’d get to it again. She did her laundry, put her toiletries away, selected an outfit for work in the morning.
And completely closed her mind to the thoughts screaming at her. Merc had opened her locked door without a key as he had so many times in Colombia. Presumably, any mutant could do that. She had no defenses against Flynn or any Omni enemy accessing her place, but she knew Merc was protecting her, even though he wasn’t on site to do it.
She was safe.
For now.
Merc parked in the lot outside the warehouse in Fort Collins where Acier lived and had his workshop. He didn’t knock, just walked in. The place always looked like the entrance to a Halloween horror house, with its black walls and blocked windows. He wondered if Acier had a problem with sunlight because of his modifications. He hadn’t come through the same training camp that Merc, Bastion, and Liege had. In fact, his origins weren’t well understood.
Acier heard his thoughts and glared at him. “What—you think I’m a vamp? Just open the curtains…upstairs. In your room.”
Merc hadn’t been aware that he’d slipped behind him. Acier held himself in such tight control that he rarely let the rest of them in on his thoughts, though he freely helped himself to theirs. “You’re a freak, Acier. Never know what to expect with you.”
“I’m not a freak. You are. Ash kick you out?” Acier asked.
“Yeah. Can I crash here? I want to stay close in case she needs me. Flynn’s fucked her over good.”
“You think she was modified?”