The Reckoning by Teyla Branton Page B

I might move in with your parents.”
    “That’d be great. They miss you a lot.” I tried to keep the relief from my voice, but my grandmother’s smile told me she’d seen it for what it was. She knew me too well.
    “Erin, I’m fine. These two young men are seeing to that.” She gestured to the two security officers Ava had installed in the house next door, who were on constant lookout for her. Grandma Martin always went to their place to communicate with the kids on secure equipment, so the calls couldn’t be easily traced or overheard, but there was still a risk.
    “We should go,” Mari said from the counter, where she had returned for seconds of bacon, which she had a weakness for. With a last nudge of my leg, Max hurried toward her. He’d become our group mascot of sorts since he’d moved in and knew how to work the system in a way that resulted in the most bacon possible.
    “Gotta go, Grandma,” I said.
    “See you in two weeks.”
    My stomach flopped at the mention of my upcoming nuptials. “Yeah.”
    “Bye, Great-grandma.” Kathy clicked to disconnect the call.
    I arose and nearly spilled the cup in my hand when Kathy hugged me. “You’ll take care of Dad, right?” she asked.
    “Yeah. Of course. Jace and I will.”
    “Good,” Kathy said, “because he sometimes forgets he’s not like you.” The children had accepted the near immortality thing a lot easier than most mortals. Almost every day they asked Cort if he’d made any progress on a way to activate the Unbounded gene in their own bodies. He’d told them it was impossible, given the generations that separated them from an Unbounded ancestor, but their hope never dimmed.
    Most Unbounded eventually realized that leaving their mortal families behind was the only way the people they loved could have a normal life. One day when Kathy and Spencer married, my goal was to see them set up far away from the Emporium’s view—and far away from the danger we Renegades faced daily. Maybe Chris could even be convinced to leave and take on a new identity. I wouldn’t be able to be a part of their lives, which devastated me, but it was a sacrifice I’d make willingly so they wouldn’t have to live with the constant danger. I didn’t think distancing myself would help when I eventually had to attend their funerals.
    Leave it, I told myself. I didn’t need to think about funerals now. To Kathy, I added, “See that your brother obeys Becka, okay?” Becka was Nina’s granddaughter and the children’s nanny who Chris had stay with the kids when we all went out of town.
    “You kidding?” Kathy laughed. “Spencer has a crush on Becka. He does everything she asks.”
    Like father like son, I thought. Chris would do anything for Stella. I hoped Chris at least had an idea of what he was doing.
    Ritter strode into the room. “Let’s move.”
    A few minutes later, we retraced our steps through the basement and underground tunnels to the warehouse where Ritter’s Land Cruiser waited.
    “Do you know that I can get practically anywhere in town using these tunnels?” Jace said. He’d memorized all the maps Chris had created of the connecting tunnels and sewage lines while we’d been in New York and had made a few more of his own. “That guy who built the Fortress might have been paranoid, but he was also a genius. We’ll never get trapped in there.”
    After loading most of our gear into the top carrier, we piled inside the SUV, with me riding in front next to Ritter. The three other women took the middle seats while Cort, Jace, and Keene settled in the rear. Stella was strangely quiet and for once her headset was off and her laptop zipped tightly in her bag. She didn’t look at me.
    “What’s wrong with her?” Mari mouthed over the seat at me. I shrugged because it wasn’t my place to tell her. Stella was still my best friend.
    Mari lasted all of five minutes in the SUV before she said goodbye and shifted ahead to the plane. I wished I could