Erik was anxious when he knocked on my door ten minutes after leaving. “Ready?” he asked.

  “Definitely,” I replied with more confidence than I felt.

  As much as I was itching to learn the truth, now that I might, I wondered if maybe I should stop scratching. Was I just going to end up with a giant festering wound that could never heal?

  Erik and I didn’t talk much as we left the hotel and boarded a bus that ran to the outskirts of the city. Thanks to the summer’s extended daylight, the sun was still high in the sky and the air was warm, if not muggy. A check of my Communicator on the way out let me know we had two hours before curfew. Not much time. I hoped there wasn’t a lot of traffic.

  We were meeting Anya at a mall food court in Cleveland Park. My prayers to the traffic gods were answered. Few cars traveled the city streets, making the trip across town a short one. Barely any of the city’s residents gave us a second glance in our civilian clothing, for which I was grateful. After witnessing the way citizens were acting toward The Agency, I didn’t want people realizing I was a Talent or an Operative.

  When the bus finally reached our stop, Erik grabbed my hand and led me through the thick crowds of people clogging the sidewalks. The mall took up an entire city block. We joined the throng of teenagers making their way through the main entrance. A group of girls no older than fourteen openly gawked at Erik. At first, I worried that they were staring because they knew he was talented. A quick swipe of their emotions told me his talented status had nothing to do with their giggling and pointing. I gave the girls a smug smile and held on to Erik a little tighter.

  The food court was to the immediate right of the entrance. Fast food restaurants selling everything from fried chicken to raw fish ringed a cafeteria-style seating area. The atmosphere was laid back and happy. I felt myself relaxing amidst the groups of carefree people.

  Most of the tables were already occupied by teenagers with brightly colored hair and extravagant clothing. Mine and Erik’s attempt at going unnoticed by dressing in comfortable jeans and plain-colored shirts only made us stand out more. A few families were interspersed with the teens. Several adults gave us dirty looks while their children hungrily devoured large ice creams and dipped fries in ketchup. Erik either didn’t notice or didn’t care, but it bothered me. During my handful of previous trips to the city, I’d never felt the divide between the Talented and the non-Talented. Today, I felt it. Things certainly were different now.

  I followed Erik as he navigated the crowd, finally stopping in front of a square metal table with four metal chairs. A girl with a sheet of blue-black hair hanging straight down her back was the table’s sole occupant. I stiffened the moment I laid eyes on Anya.

  Attractive was too simple a word to describe such breathtaking beauty. Her olive skin was several shades darker than mine and unmarred by freckles or blemishes. I swiped my nose as if I could brush off my own sun kisses. Even the fluorescent lighting seemed to flatter the girl’s irritatingly straight tresses, highlighting the blues and giving her a preternatural appearance. My guard shot up like a jack-in-the-box.

  The girl looked up from her salad as if sensing our presence. Emerald-colored eyes glittered like gems when she saw Erik. Long eyelashes, heavy with mascara, batted feverishly. A thin coating of gloss drew my attention to her full lips. She wore very little other makeup; she didn’t need to.

  My stomach dropped to the floor. I was marginally jealous of Cadence Choi, but those feelings paled in comparison to the monster that reared its ugly head when the girl stood and threw her thin arms around Erik’s neck. When he released my fingers to return her embrace, I was reluctant to let his hand go.

  “Erik, it’s so good to see you!” she exclaimed. “You look great, as always,” she added, pulling back to study his appearance.

  “Thanks, Anya,” Erik replied, glancing at me out of the corner of one turquoise eye.

  After my earlier melt down, he was worried how I’d react to this girl. I mustered the best smile I could manage, even as images of clawing out her jewel-like eyes danced through my head.

  “Anya, this is Talia,” Erik said, placing his hand on the small of my back, in what I was pretty sure was supposed to be a warning gesture. “My girlfriend.”

  “Girlfriend?” Anya repeated the word like it was foreign on her tongue and she was saying it for the first time.

  Her eyes grew to globe-like proportions. She staggered several paces back, resting one thin hand on the table to regain her balance. Her mind projected disbelief and understanding in a tangle of emotions. Desire to slap her flushed face made my hand twitch at my side. I wasn’t proud of my reaction, but I didn’t know how to quash it, either.

  Anya recovered her composure, a beautiful mask of ambivalence quickly replacing her heartbroken expression.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Talia,” she said politely.

  I took her offered hand and shook it gently, afraid if I held on too long, my rising temper would cause me to crush her delicate fingers. Erik sent me calming thoughts that dampened my mounting agitation, but didn’t erase it altogether.

  “Thank you for helping us,” I said evenly.

  “Right. So, I guess it was your medical records Erik sent me?” Anya asked, getting down to business. She sat back in her chair and gestured to the empty ones on the other side of the table.

  “Yes. I was captured on a hunting mission and they injected me with something. Dr. Thistler, the Head of Medical Research, has been giving me something to counteract the effects, but she can’t seem to find an actual cure. I was wondering what exactly she is giving me,” I said, all the words leaving me in one breath.

  Anya smoothed the skirt of her lacey, baby-doll dress. Self-consciously, I looked down at my own too-big jeans and tank top, wishing I’d bothered to wear a nicer outfit. I felt like an ugly duckling sitting across from a swan.

  “You said there were some irregularities?” Erik asked, resting his hand on my thigh. His fingers traced small circles above my knee, the rhythmic pattern helping to calm my nerves and quiet my temper.

  “Yeah. There were a couple things that didn’t make sense,” Anya said.

  Finally, I was going to get some unbiased answers to one of my many questions.

  Anya cleared her throat. “The drug she is giving you is an equalizing agent, as you guys thought. What’s weird is that the drug is normally used on prisoners to suppress their talents and prevent them from using their abilities to escape or harm the guards.”

  “Let me get this straight: Talia’s daily injection is supposed to suppress her natural ability to manipulate minds? That doesn’t make sense,” Erik said doubtfully.

  “No, it doesn’t. The drug is still experimental and the effects vary from person to person. It has even proven lethal in several cases. To my knowledge, Talia is the only active Operative that it’s ever been given to,” Anya explained, furrowing her perfectly plucked eyebrows in confusion.

  “But my talents haven’t been hindered or suppressed since getting the drug,” I argued. “I use my manipulation all the time.”

  “Well, you have been getting tired pretty easily,” Erik said slowly, turning to meet my gaze. He shrugged sheepishly as if to say he was sorry that he’d exposed my weakness.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “True,” I admitted. It was no secret that exhaustion was a constant state of being for me. “But my actual abilities have been strong, almost stronger than they were before.”

  “Your senses are definitely stronger than before,” Erik agreed. “Your eyesight, your hearing, even your sense of smell is more pronounced than before.”

  “You’ve noticed that, too?” I asked, sagging with relief. I’d been wondering if maybe I was going crazy—well, crazier—when I noticed that my senses seemed enhanced.

  “Like I said, the suppressant has different effects on everyone, but I’ve never heard of it amplifying someone’s powers,” Anya said.

  I could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she pondered the conundrum.

  “I still don’t get it,” Erik interjected. “Why would the Director want to suppress Talia’s talents? He uses her to interrogate people, and now he’s using her to administer the aptitude tests. Wouldn’t he want her mind manipulation at its strongest?”

  “In theory,” Anya said, tapping a manicured nail against her chin.

  I looked down at my own bitten and torn nails resting on the tabletop and folded my hands in my lap to hide the unruly sight.

  “Would a suppressant like that neutralize a poison in my system?” I asked doubtfully.

  “It might,” Anya said skeptically. “It depends on what the poison was. And since we don’t actually know, I can’t be sure.” She shook her head apologetically.

  “Do my medical records give the chemical formula for the poison?” I asked hopefully, looking from Erik to Anya.

  “No, they don’t,” Erik answered. “I’m sorry, Tals.”

  “Oh,” I replied, the last vestiges of hope deserting me.

  “I could take a sample of your blood and try to isolate the chemical. I might be able to determine something more from that,” Anya offered tentatively.

  “Could you?” I asked eagerly, optimism surging again.

  “Hold on, Tal,” Erik said cautiously. He turned to face me, taking my hands in his and looking directly in my eyes. “You know I want to find out what’s wrong with you almost as much as you do, but if there’s something more going on than Mac is telling you, having Anya analyze your blood could be very dangerous. If she gets caught, we’re all going to be in a lot of trouble.”

  His concern for Anya’s safety reignited my earlier rage and I yanked my hands free from his grasp.

  “Tal,” Erik sent warningly.

  He reached for my hand again and I swatted his attempt aside.

  “I’ll be careful. I don’t mind taking the risk if you two don’t,” Anya said.

  We both turned to look at her. A fire shone behind her emerald eyes at the prospect of doing something dangerous. In that moment, I knew what the attraction between the two of them had been. The knowledge forced me to sit on my hands to keep from lashing out at either of them.

  “Tal, you need to keep it together,” Erik sent.

  This time, he didn’t sound angry, just concerned and a little scared. He pushed my curls aside to place a hand on the back of my neck. His thumb stroked my thudding pulse, willing it to return to normal.

  “Calm, Tal, calm,” he soothed, and in no time, I was.

  I should have been angry that he used my own abilities to control me, but the effect of his words and fingers felt too good. My anger dimmed before extinguishing completely.

  I turned to face Anya. “Thank you,” I said giving her a genuine smile.

  I might be jealous of her perfect appearance and the fact that she “knew” my boyfriend better than I did, but her willingness to help a stranger touched me. Erik was right; testing my blood was dangerous. This meeting alone could land us on Mac’s shit list. I didn’t even want to imagine what he would do if he found out we were going one step further.

  “I don’t have a test tube or anything with me, but if you soak a napkin with some of your blood, that will work just fine,” Anya told me.

  “Do you have a knife?” I asked Erik.

  He nodded, removing his hand from my neck to withdraw a Swiss Army Knife from his pocket.

  “Look away,” he ordered as he poised the knife over my palm.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and prepared for the pain, but it never came. I did feel Erik draw the blade against my skin and then quickly press a napkin to the wound. I opened my eyes and glanced at Erik’s wincing face.

  “Thanks,” I whispered.

  Erik smiled and pressed the napkin tighter against my torn flesh. He folded my fingers over and raised the back of my hand to his lips. Anya averted her eyes, but not before I saw the pained expression she was trying to hide. I almost felt sorry for her, but then I remembered that she’d been naked with Erik and I hadn’t.

  Anya took the napkin from Erik, folded it carefully, and placed it in her purse as though it were a precious gift.

  “I should have the results in a couple of days. I’ll call when I do,” she said.

  “Yeah, thanks, Anya. I really appreciate you doing this for us,” Erik said.

  The dark-haired girl nodded, flashing us her perfect white teeth. Erik stood and I followed suit. Anya rose to her feet and came around the table to hug Erik goodbye. I clenched my teeth and tried to crush my returning bitterness as she held on to him tighter than I was comfortable with.

  “I’ll see you in a couple of days,” Anya said turning to me.

  “Thank you,” I said, reaching for Erik’s hand in the process.

  The polite thing would have been to shake her hand, but I wasn’t feeling terribly polite. During our short conversation with Anya, I’d cycled through a rainbow of emotions—red anger, green jealousy, yellow hope, and thanks to Erik, blue calm. Now all the feelings seemed to be swirling together, making a muddy brown mess of my thoughts.

  As we walked away, I wondered what color humiliation was because once I’d put some distance between me and Anya, I became mortified by how I’d acted. I felt Anya’s eyes on my back as Erik and I made our way back through the crowded food court. The urge to apologize to her made me glance back. Even across the room, I could see tears glistening in Anya’s eyes. I offered her a small smile, doubting that she could see me as well as I could see her.

  Erik decided we should walk for a while instead of boarding another bus back to the hotel. He insisted that it was a nice night, but I knew from his mind that he was hoping the walk would restore my emotional equilibrium. My stomach rumbled, reminding me we hadn’t actually eaten dinner. I barely noticed the hunger pains over my reeling head. Anya had provided me with an answer, but it only provoked more questions.

  Why was Medical giving me a drug to suppress my abilities? Mac had gone to such great lengths to develop them and he encouraged, even demanded, I use my talents on several occasions since my return.

  “Want to talk about it?” Erik asked, interrupting my thoughts.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know what to say. I mean, she did tell me what drug Dr. Thistler is giving me, but that still doesn’t tell me what’s actually wrong with me.”

  “I know it’s frustrating,” Erik said, rubbing my uninjured palm with his thumb. “But maybe we’ll know more after she analyzes your blood.”

  “No, Erik, you don’t know!” I exploded, yanking my hand from his. “You have no idea what it’s like!” I wiped angrily at the tears that splashed my cheeks. I didn’t want to cry—I wanted to be strong—but I felt like a branch that had been bent too far and finally snapped.

  I stomped forward, bumping into several pedestrians before people started moving aside to let me pass. I could feel Erik behind me, rushing to keep up. He grabbed my shoulder and spun me to face him. His face was blank, completely expressionless.

  “I’m sorry, Tal. You’re right. I don’t know what it’s like,” he said with a calmness that irritated me further.

  I tried to shrug out of his grip, but he held firm. I averted my gaze, staring at the people passing by without truly seeing them. I bit down on the inside of my cheek, letting the physical pain outweigh the emotional.

  “I want to help you, Talia. We are going to find out what is wrong with you.” He sounded so sure of himself, like failure wasn’t an option.

  “I hope so,” I whispered, turning my gaze up to meet his.

  He sighed and released his grip. He ran the backs of his fingers down my cheek, smearing what remained of my tears.

  “What do you think?” I wanted to know. “Why do you think that Dr. Thistler is giving me a suppressant?”

  Erik hesitated before answering. “I don’t know, Tals. Maybe Crane injected you with some kind of amplification drug, like The Agency is using for the aptitude testing,” Erik suggested finally. The hesitancy in his tone contradicted his words. He laced his fingers with mine and we started walking again.

  “Maybe….” My voice trailed off.

  We both knew it made no sense for Crane to give me something that would make me stronger.

  Neither of us spoke as we passed restaurants and clothing stores. The other pedestrians were giving us a wide berth now. My impromptu breakdown had drawn attention to us. And people whispered “Agency” to one another in hushed tones as we passed. I didn’t have room in my brain to care.

  “Do you really think it’s dangerous for Anya to run my blood?” I asked after we’d walked several blocks. I knew that it was. But I felt the need to fill the silence.

  “Well, Tals, yeah, it could be pretty dangerous,” Erik admitted. “If the Director finds out and he really is hiding something…. Well, I don’t even know what will happen to her and us.”

  “I don’t want her to get in trouble on my account,” I said honestly.

  “Me either, but she’ll be careful. Just hang in there a couple more days.”

  “Thank you,” I said quietly. “Not just for asking her to help, but for everything. I know that you don’t really need this complication in your life—”

  “Stop,” Erik cut me off. “Don’t thank me. Just let me be here for you.”

  I stopped in the middle of the crowded sidewalk and pulled him to me. He leaned down until our lips met. The urgency of his mouth against mine contrasted with the gentle tone he’d just used to try and reassure me. Pedestrians jostled us as they passed by. Some hooted and hollered. Their jeers prompted me to wrap my arms tightly around his neck and kiss him deeper.

  “I love you,” he sent.

  “Say it again.”

  As long as I lived, I never would get tired of hearing Erik say those words.

  Erik pulled back. “I love you, Natalia Lyons,” he repeated, aloud this time.

  The way he emphasized each word made my heart flutter and I thought I might float right off the pavement.

  “I love you, too.”