wearing black. They could have taken him anywhere. The Kauffmans lived in Napa...
The Kauffmans. The thought of them left Jaden cold. One of the intruders had come from upstairs. Had he hurt them? Had he killed them?
His mind scrambled. He’d dropped a glass, but neither man cared about the noise: Because Derek and Jenny couldn’t hear.
Jaden’s stomach was nauseous again. Derek and Jenny had been so kind and generous. And now they were dead?
Unless they had been kidnapped, too. Maybe the intruders took them first, stashed them in the van or SUV or whatever they used to kidnap him, and now Derek and Jenny were here, in another part of the facility.
Why, though? Why were they here? Dalton had not mentioned them. It was some kind of research facility. Were they going to do experiments on Jaden, Derek and Jenny? Test diseases? Remove their organs and give them to dying people? Clone them?
Jaden looked down at the fresh tattoo on his forearm. A barcode. Like he was bread at the local store. What did the pyramid mean? He examined it with more skepticism. The pyramid was three colors: one side black, one white, and the bottom, the base, was gray. Right side up, the pyramid was upside down.
They, Dalton and whoever else, branded him and put a collar around his neck to control him. His eyes flickered over the room and landed on the odd bed.
Nothing could be moved.
The door slid into and out of the wall. No joints, no hinges. It was impossible to open from the inside.
His chest constricted again, not out of sickness, but as if the walls were shrinking in on him.
There was no way out except through this door, and whoever constructed this room knew Jaden could not get out of it. It had been designed to keep him in. To keep Jaden in. Nothing could be moved, not even the toilet had a lever to flush. It was automatic.
The Kauffmans were not here.
They know the secret.
How? He hadn’t told anyone except Derek and Jenny, and they swore secrecy. Unless they were the ones who told...
No. Someone else confessed, there were plenty of people who knew Jaden was strange. The family Jaden had lived with before the Kauffmans had taken matters into their own hands. They made a connection that Jaden did weird things. It could be them.
Whoever told, that’s why he was here. Dalton and whoever else, wanted to study him to learn why he was the way he was.
Jaden’s situation was dark, yet his mind was strangely focused. He would have to play dumb. That much was obvious. Somehow he’d have to force his ability down and keep it from cropping up. If he wasn’t special, if he was just like any other nine year old, they’d let him go. Why waste time on a nobody?
Or they would kill him instead, so he wouldn’t talk.
Jaden grabbed his knees to his chest and rested his head on them, rocking back and forth, thinking, worrying about what would happen if he could not think of a way out of this.
It was a nightmare. A real one.
There was no clock. No window to see outside. No calendar, no electronic devices, nothing at all. Nothing told him the time, weather, ambient temperature, or whether it was night or day.
The air was neither hot nor cold.
His gray clothes were like nurses’ uniforms. Scrubs. He wore thick socks instead of shoes. His nails were trimmed short, so he couldn’t use them to scratch.
A shelf under the sink in the bathroom held a small toothbrush and tube of toothpaste. No floss and no comb for his hair. But there was no need, for even his hair was gone.
His throat was constricted every time he swallowed. He tried yanking and prying the collar off, but it would not come loose. As long as it was there, he could not hope to break free.
It felt like hours since Dalton introduced himself. The drugs’ effects were gone, as Dalton had predicted: no more nausea. Despite his anxiety, exhaustion set in. Fear kept him alert. Uninterested in current events, his stomach ached and growled with hunger.
What was he supposed to
The Kauffmans. The thought of them left Jaden cold. One of the intruders had come from upstairs. Had he hurt them? Had he killed them?
His mind scrambled. He’d dropped a glass, but neither man cared about the noise: Because Derek and Jenny couldn’t hear.
Jaden’s stomach was nauseous again. Derek and Jenny had been so kind and generous. And now they were dead?
Unless they had been kidnapped, too. Maybe the intruders took them first, stashed them in the van or SUV or whatever they used to kidnap him, and now Derek and Jenny were here, in another part of the facility.
Why, though? Why were they here? Dalton had not mentioned them. It was some kind of research facility. Were they going to do experiments on Jaden, Derek and Jenny? Test diseases? Remove their organs and give them to dying people? Clone them?
Jaden looked down at the fresh tattoo on his forearm. A barcode. Like he was bread at the local store. What did the pyramid mean? He examined it with more skepticism. The pyramid was three colors: one side black, one white, and the bottom, the base, was gray. Right side up, the pyramid was upside down.
They, Dalton and whoever else, branded him and put a collar around his neck to control him. His eyes flickered over the room and landed on the odd bed.
Nothing could be moved.
The door slid into and out of the wall. No joints, no hinges. It was impossible to open from the inside.
His chest constricted again, not out of sickness, but as if the walls were shrinking in on him.
There was no way out except through this door, and whoever constructed this room knew Jaden could not get out of it. It had been designed to keep him in. To keep Jaden in. Nothing could be moved, not even the toilet had a lever to flush. It was automatic.
The Kauffmans were not here.
They know the secret.
How? He hadn’t told anyone except Derek and Jenny, and they swore secrecy. Unless they were the ones who told...
No. Someone else confessed, there were plenty of people who knew Jaden was strange. The family Jaden had lived with before the Kauffmans had taken matters into their own hands. They made a connection that Jaden did weird things. It could be them.
Whoever told, that’s why he was here. Dalton and whoever else, wanted to study him to learn why he was the way he was.
Jaden’s situation was dark, yet his mind was strangely focused. He would have to play dumb. That much was obvious. Somehow he’d have to force his ability down and keep it from cropping up. If he wasn’t special, if he was just like any other nine year old, they’d let him go. Why waste time on a nobody?
Or they would kill him instead, so he wouldn’t talk.
Jaden grabbed his knees to his chest and rested his head on them, rocking back and forth, thinking, worrying about what would happen if he could not think of a way out of this.
It was a nightmare. A real one.
There was no clock. No window to see outside. No calendar, no electronic devices, nothing at all. Nothing told him the time, weather, ambient temperature, or whether it was night or day.
The air was neither hot nor cold.
His gray clothes were like nurses’ uniforms. Scrubs. He wore thick socks instead of shoes. His nails were trimmed short, so he couldn’t use them to scratch.
A shelf under the sink in the bathroom held a small toothbrush and tube of toothpaste. No floss and no comb for his hair. But there was no need, for even his hair was gone.
His throat was constricted every time he swallowed. He tried yanking and prying the collar off, but it would not come loose. As long as it was there, he could not hope to break free.
It felt like hours since Dalton introduced himself. The drugs’ effects were gone, as Dalton had predicted: no more nausea. Despite his anxiety, exhaustion set in. Fear kept him alert. Uninterested in current events, his stomach ached and growled with hunger.
What was he supposed to
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