Chimera

Chapter 25

“I like this one. Can we keep it?”

I shut off the engine and snorted ruefully as Michael ran a reverent finger across the dashboard. “Life should be so easy.” We were in the middle of a snowdrift-covered mall parking lot in the SUV that Sevastian and Pavel had rented at the airport. Our own car was beginning to flounder in the snowstorm and I wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when it had four-wheel drive and was sitting unlocked in Lev’s driveway. It was about time we switched cars anyway, but we couldn’t keep this one. Too bad. It was nice, with leather seats and a stereo system that could be heard in the next state. It also had GPS written all over it, but we had a few days to find another car before the rental place figured out no one was bringing this one back.

“It would be a nice change.” Breathing lightly on the passenger window, he drew a cartoon face in the fogged glass. It had a ferocious scowl and familiar curly hair.

“What?” I reached over and wiped away the unflattering if accurate portrait. “The car or life?”

“Both,” he said with a teasing quirk of his lips. Then more seriously he said, “About what happened at the house . . . I’m sorry.” The words came out rather awkwardly, as if he’d never said them before. Chances were he never had. If one of the kids in the Institute had reason to be sorry, I would be surprised if they were given the opportunity to apologize. Jericho was bound to embrace a zero tolerance policy with a vengeance.

“Sorry?” I echoed blankly. “What do you have to be sorry about, Misha? I’m the one who got us into this mess. Hell, you saved my life back there.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Two fingers softly stroked the ferret’s head as it peeked from Michael’s jacket pocket. “I’m sorry about your uncle Lev.”

“Yeah?” My jaw tightened and I made a conscious effort to relax it. “Don’t worry about it, kiddo. Like the man said, it was only business. It’s my fault for forgetting that.”

“It is? When you were five or six? I know I would’ve been thinking that while sitting on Santa’s lap.”

I raised my eyebrows at his sarcasm and ignored the meaning behind his comment. I knew I’d started out young and innocent, and I didn’t blame the naïve kid who’d loved his uncle Lev. But not blaming the blindly stupid adult who should’ve known better was a little more difficult. “Had a class on Santa too, did you?”

“All the major topics were covered.” He was still wearing the glasses, but they had swooped down to balance on the end of his nose. It made it easier for him to shoot me an exasperated glance over the rims. “You’re changing the subject, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m ignoring it altogether.” I leaned the seat back, looked at the roof for a moment, then rolled my head toward Michael. “You never did say what you did to Sevastian to take him down like that.”

He pushed the glasses back up, trying very hard for casual. To give him credit, he almost made it. “Stopped the blood flow to his brain, just for a few seconds. It’s harmless. Mostly.”

“You knocked him out,” I said with instant and strong approval. Michael had done the only thing he could to save me. I wasn’t going to let him start second-guessing or blaming himself now. He’d shown a lot of restraint with Sevastian, a good deal more than I had. “Good idea. You really did save my life, you know. Again. It’s getting to be a habit of yours, making me look bad.” I grinned at him. “I guess I owe you, huh?”

“I guess you do.” He looked toward the mall and opened the car door. “And there’s no time like the present to discuss payback.”

I groaned and climbed out on my side. “Okay, okay. But no porn.”

The snow was still falling heavily and it covered Michael’s hair in seconds as he agreed with a long-suffering sigh. “Very well. No educational materials, but you’re sincerely stunting my social growth.”

“I’ll try and live with myself,” I grunted as the snow accumulated under my jacket collar with the touch of cold fingers. That was the reason we were here. The thin coats we’d purchased in Georgia weren’t doing the job. We needed the real deal. We still had our trip to St. Louis ahead of us before we made our way to Babushka’s old house, and it wasn’t getting any warmer. A mall was the perfect place to buy heavier clothes and go relatively unnoticed if anyone came looking. I doubted anyone would. I was fairly sure Sevastian and Pavel were alone and Lev didn’t have the men he used to.

If Michael was familiar with anything in the outside world, it would be malls. Full of people, the majority of whom didn’t see beyond the nearest sale or the slice of tepid pizza they were shoving in their face, it had been the perfect location for Institute field trips. No one would look at a group of kids twice, no matter how strange they might be. Inside the doors I handed him a wad of cash and drawled, “Go wild. Just no purple.” I’d already had enough of the grape-colored shirt I’d bought him only days ago. It had seared my eyes for the last time.

He accepted the money, only to ask dubiously, “What should I get then?”

“Whatever you want.” I knew it had to be unnerving for him. In his life, all that he could remember, he hadn’t been given the chance to make decisions—any decisions. He’d done well in the bookstore, but there he’d had fairly specific guidelines. This was different; this was being adrift. He had to find his way, though, sooner or later. I nudged his shoulder. “Hey, you bought the rat without any help. This will be easy in comparison. No teeth. No stink.” I gave him a light shove. “Now go. Just make sure you get us both coats and a couple of sweaters.”

I kept him in sight as he shopped. I wanted to foster independence but not at the expense of having him snatched while I wasn’t watching. Jericho was like the monster you knew was under your bed when you were little. You could turn the lights on and peer under there to see only a lost and dusty sneaker. You could know for a fact you were alone, but the second the lights went out again, it would be back. Its hot breath would pant fetid and foul in your face. The jagged claws would weave through your hair to lightly scrape your scalp. Logic meant nothing to childhood monsters.

It didn’t mean anything to Jericho either.

I knew he couldn’t have followed us. The tracking chip was gone, and we’d made our way across several states. We were safe, at least for a while. Even if he was capable of finding us again, it would take time. He wasn’t going to come rushing out of the crowd to my left with that bone-jangling laugh. He wouldn’t be waiting around the next corner to take Michael from me as he had before. I kept telling myself those things, kept looking under the bed for all I was worth, but it didn’t reassure me any more than it had when I was four.

Michael stopped in front of a store teeming with teenagers. There were artsy black-and-white posters and faceless mannequins draped in clothes the Salvation Army would’ve thrown out. I sat on a bench, went to work on a chocolate chip cookie from the food court, and watched the show. He leaned closer to the glass to peer through at a price tag, then jerked upright with outrage as it registered. “It’s a trap, Misha,” I murmured under my breath around a mouthful of crumbling dough. “Run. Run for your life.” Although Uncle Lev was still lurking inescapably in my thoughts, I couldn’t help but be entertained as I watched my brother.

Moving to the next store, Michael studied the window display for several minutes before deciding to go in. I smothered a smile at the suspicious set of his shoulders. The ways of the world remained mysterious to him, and the ways of retail were mystifying to us all. Relaxing as he went from store to store, I was ready for more than a cookie by the time he finished up. He’d taken about an hour, but considering that he had to develop his own likes and dislikes in that time, I couldn’t complain. I was curious to know what he’d picked out, though. I had the kid pegged for dark blues and grays, clothes that wouldn’t stand out; a combination of post-Institute syndrome and being a fugitive on the run.

“What’d you get?”

He deposited two large bags on the bench beside me and reached into one to whip out a shirt. There were blues and grays; I’d been right about that. There were also white, black, green, all coalescing into a picture . . . a face. It was a long sleeve shirt of a slick, heavy material and it was covered with a psychedelic, watercolor portrait of Albert Einstein. I’d seen the type before, retro funk and usually decorated with a rock star or famous actor. This was definitely a new twist.

“Isn’t it great?” Michael shook it out so I could get a better look. “What do you think?”

“There are no words,” I said honestly.

“I have one with Sigmund Freud too.” He folded Albert carefully and put him back into a bag before rummaging again. “Where? Oh, here. See?”

Unless the eminent and penis-obsessed psychiatrist had had a sex change operation not recorded by history, Michael had grabbed the wrong shirt. There were blond hair, cleavage, and a wide ruby red mouth. Marilyn Monroe. At least he had an appreciation for the classics.

“Well,” I said in contemplation as I sucked the last of my Coke through the straw, “that’ll let the girls know you’re open for business.”

Michael looked down and flushed before hurriedly shoving the famous blond bombshell back out of sight. “Er . . . it was on sale.” It was his first solo shopping trip and he’d already nailed the ultimate excuse.

“Damn, kiddo.” I couldn’t help myself. I had to laugh. It came out a bit strangled through my aching throat, but it was genuine. “You’ve got the worse taste.”

He stiffened, not seeing the humor in the situation. “You told me to buy whatever I wanted.”

“Hey, come on.” Pushing the bags aside, I took a handful of his jacket and pulled him down to sit on the bench. “I think it’s perfect. You landed on your feet and hit the ground running. You’re you, Misha. No matter what those bastards tried to do to you, you’re still your own person.” I tossed the cup into the garbage can a few feet away and gave him a wicked smile. “And that person just happens to have crappy taste.”

Michael relaxed with my words, hopefully recognizing the good intentions behind them. It didn’t stop him from peppering me with vengeful comments about my wardrobe as we walked back to the food court. Monochromatic man was the kindest thing he had to say. I liked black. So sue me.

We were halfway to the food court before Michael finally laid off my clothes. I seized the opportunity to ask, “You did get me a coat, didn’t you? And sweaters?”

The smirk on his face was pure, unadulterated evil. “Trust me. I wouldn’t forget you, Stefan.”

He refused to show me the remaining contents of the bags as we sat down to eat our mediocre Chinese food. Instead, he tortured me with vague hints and sly remarks until finally he went quiet and concentrated on twirling noodles around his fork. It was a strange silence, almost wistful.

“Are you wishing you’d bought more sweaters for yourself now?” I toed the bags at his feet. “Nice, sensible, boring sweaters?”

“No.” He rolled his eyes. The glasses had been discarded in his pocket for the moment, but I had thoughts of contacts for him in the future. His bicolored eyes were simply too distinctive. They would be remembered by anyone who saw him up close.

“Don’t come crying to me when Albert doesn’t keep you warm in the snow.” I speared a mushroom off his plate, popped it in my mouth, and chewed. It hurt to swallow, but not too badly. Sevastian would be hurting far more—if he ever woke up. Appetite waning, I dropped my fork and pushed the plate away. “Brings back memories, doesn’t it? This place?”

Michael took a long look around. The crowd was sparse. The snow had kept most people home and it was a weekday, but it was still a mall. “It does,” he admitted reluctantly. He toyed with his food, knotting the noodles into neat little piles. “They drugged us, you know. On the trips.”

“Drugged you?”

“Not so much we couldn’t function.” The fork kept moving. “They wanted us to interact, wanted to see if we could pass for normal. They gave us just enough to slow us down in case we tried to escape.” The tines of the plastic fork bent under the pressure and broke against the plate. “Not that any of us ever tried. What a waste.”

I knew what he was thinking, that his fearless friend John would have made the attempt . . . that he wouldn’t have let the chance go by. But John hadn’t lived that long. “Actually it wasn’t.” I piled our plates on the tray for disposal. “That last field trip is how I found you. One of the girls who worked there spotted you. She’s one of Saul’s. He’s had your description out to his network for years now.”

“She recognized me?” he asked doubtfully. “How?”

“Your eyes. Your age. Faces change in ten years, but there aren’t many kids out there who fit both of those.” I stood and dumped the contents of the tray into the garbage can beside our table. “Face it, kid, you’re unique.”

The expression that shimmered across his face was partly wary and partly something I couldn’t identify. “Stefan—”

“I know,” I interrupted with a tug of the hair at the nape of his neck. “You’re not my brother. You can keep telling yourself that, Misha, but it’s not going to make any difference to me. Now, you want to hit the pet store for ferret food before we go or just toss the rat out the window?”

He sighed but went with the change of subject. “The pet store. I like Zilla. It’s nice having someone around I can have an intelligent conversation with.”

“You certainly bitch like a brother,” I grumbled affectionately under my breath. I might have lost my uncle, but I still had family and it was right here with me, bad taste and stubborn nature included.

“I remember that girl. The one who saw me.” Michael hoisted his bags and followed me. “I was off from the group a little. She tried to sell me a hat.” His voice took on a longing note. “She said I was . . . um . . . hot.”

I slung an arm around his shoulder as we approached the doors. “We have to get you a girlfriend, kiddo. We really do.”