blank.
Working the sites I managed to access, I trolled through article after article written by eminent genetic scientist and researcher Dr. Geoffrey Halbrook. He sounded like a smart guy. Granted, I couldn't understand half the medical-speak though I did manage to get the gist of most of them.
My eyes complained that it was late; the clock agreed, blinking 3:23 a.m. I promised myself just one more article before I crashed. The last one was co-written and I blearily brought it up, yawning widely through cupped fingers.
I choked and spluttered on the second yawn.
The article proclaimed a collaboration between Dr. Geoffrey Halbrook and Dr. Stephen Lee.
***
Blood thrummed through my eardrums, drowning out the world.
Stephen Lee.
Aidan Lee.
As assumptions went it was a short, easy leap. Was Aidan related to this geneticist? A colleague of my father? From the contents of the book it seemed they were far more than just colleagues.
They were rivals.
I read every page again in case I'd missed something. Dr. Lee disapproved of my father's experiments and research, and his alleged use of DNA belonging to an ancient skeleton. For good reason, given my uncanny resemblance to the Valkyrie Brunhilde, the glow of soon-to-be-dead people and my unusual strength of late. Dr. Lee's suspicions may not have been far off the mark.
The only thing was I didn't want any of it to be true—especially the part where Aidan was probably the son of my father's rival, sent here to investigate me and estimate whether I needed "termination."
I hurt, deeper than I'd ever experienced grief or pain before. In this huge game, I was a pawn.
Manipulated. Used. Dispensable.
In black despair, I shut the computer down, no longer able to keep my eyes open, but sleep didn't come. I lay in the bed in darkness, eyes shut but body and mind on overdrive. Aidan's betrayal and desertion cut deep.
I quaked with anger at him. Our entire "relationship" was one multifaceted sham. To think I'd allowed him to get so close, closer than I'd ever allowed anyone else to get. The only reason I would ever want to see him again would be to tell him exactly how despicable I thought he was.
I rolled over and curled the blanket tight around me. Bigger issues brewed here than the minuscule problem of my shattered heart. Finding out the truth about who and what I was loomed at the top of my list of things to do. Well before piecing my heart back together.
But what could I do? Where did I start? I didn't have friends to turn to and I didn't want to burden Ms. Custer with problems that were never hers to begin with.
I fell asleep when the dark night sky bled into a dusky grey, only for my sleep to be riddled with dreams of Aidan surrounded by a golden glow that predicted his death.
Chapter 13
Days stretched into weeks, and the end of November blew in on a frigid wind. I took to using Izzy's bike to get to school, preferring to get there and back with as much speed as possible.
Hiding from Pete and his henchmen had taken a toll on me. I was grateful that Ms Custer had taken my revelation so well. I'd begged her not to go to the police, and watched as she laughed when I told her how I'd trounced my attackers. I prayed the day would come when those thugs forgot the pain I'd put them through. But I was in for a long wait. Pride healed slower than wounds. In the meantime I chose the safest, quickest route home.
When school let out for Thanksgiving break I sped home, weaving through the smaller back streets and skidding to a stop at our back door. I hoped to escape upstairs unseen, choosing to sneak into the house through the back way. Food was still a sore topic with poor Ms. Custer, a subject I avoided like a vampire did garlic. I didn't want to be responsible for hurting her.
I waited a few seconds in the kitchen, listening. The coast was clear. But just as the door to the dining room shifted beneath my fingers, ready to swing open, the sound of Ms. Custer's
Working the sites I managed to access, I trolled through article after article written by eminent genetic scientist and researcher Dr. Geoffrey Halbrook. He sounded like a smart guy. Granted, I couldn't understand half the medical-speak though I did manage to get the gist of most of them.
My eyes complained that it was late; the clock agreed, blinking 3:23 a.m. I promised myself just one more article before I crashed. The last one was co-written and I blearily brought it up, yawning widely through cupped fingers.
I choked and spluttered on the second yawn.
The article proclaimed a collaboration between Dr. Geoffrey Halbrook and Dr. Stephen Lee.
***
Blood thrummed through my eardrums, drowning out the world.
Stephen Lee.
Aidan Lee.
As assumptions went it was a short, easy leap. Was Aidan related to this geneticist? A colleague of my father? From the contents of the book it seemed they were far more than just colleagues.
They were rivals.
I read every page again in case I'd missed something. Dr. Lee disapproved of my father's experiments and research, and his alleged use of DNA belonging to an ancient skeleton. For good reason, given my uncanny resemblance to the Valkyrie Brunhilde, the glow of soon-to-be-dead people and my unusual strength of late. Dr. Lee's suspicions may not have been far off the mark.
The only thing was I didn't want any of it to be true—especially the part where Aidan was probably the son of my father's rival, sent here to investigate me and estimate whether I needed "termination."
I hurt, deeper than I'd ever experienced grief or pain before. In this huge game, I was a pawn.
Manipulated. Used. Dispensable.
In black despair, I shut the computer down, no longer able to keep my eyes open, but sleep didn't come. I lay in the bed in darkness, eyes shut but body and mind on overdrive. Aidan's betrayal and desertion cut deep.
I quaked with anger at him. Our entire "relationship" was one multifaceted sham. To think I'd allowed him to get so close, closer than I'd ever allowed anyone else to get. The only reason I would ever want to see him again would be to tell him exactly how despicable I thought he was.
I rolled over and curled the blanket tight around me. Bigger issues brewed here than the minuscule problem of my shattered heart. Finding out the truth about who and what I was loomed at the top of my list of things to do. Well before piecing my heart back together.
But what could I do? Where did I start? I didn't have friends to turn to and I didn't want to burden Ms. Custer with problems that were never hers to begin with.
I fell asleep when the dark night sky bled into a dusky grey, only for my sleep to be riddled with dreams of Aidan surrounded by a golden glow that predicted his death.
Chapter 13
Days stretched into weeks, and the end of November blew in on a frigid wind. I took to using Izzy's bike to get to school, preferring to get there and back with as much speed as possible.
Hiding from Pete and his henchmen had taken a toll on me. I was grateful that Ms Custer had taken my revelation so well. I'd begged her not to go to the police, and watched as she laughed when I told her how I'd trounced my attackers. I prayed the day would come when those thugs forgot the pain I'd put them through. But I was in for a long wait. Pride healed slower than wounds. In the meantime I chose the safest, quickest route home.
When school let out for Thanksgiving break I sped home, weaving through the smaller back streets and skidding to a stop at our back door. I hoped to escape upstairs unseen, choosing to sneak into the house through the back way. Food was still a sore topic with poor Ms. Custer, a subject I avoided like a vampire did garlic. I didn't want to be responsible for hurting her.
I waited a few seconds in the kitchen, listening. The coast was clear. But just as the door to the dining room shifted beneath my fingers, ready to swing open, the sound of Ms. Custer's
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