Remember Yesterday

22

The first moment I crawl from underneath the copter is the scariest. The moment when I’m out in the open, vulnerable. When I might be attacked by a person frenzy-whipped by the mob. When I’d make perfect target practice for anyone with a handful of electro-darts.

But nobody pops out of the bushes, and nobody shoots at me. I take a step, and then another, my pulse blending into one long beat.

The distance from the landing pad to the trees is approximately two hundred feet. It feels more like two miles. By the time we hit the woods, I’m panting like I just hoverboarded around the perimeter of the city.

“Where’s the cabin?” Tanner squints at the dense woods ahead of us. “I don’t see anything.”

“That’s because there’re holographic spiders surrounding the perimeter,” I say. “Projecting an image of the trees so that the cabin stays hidden. Walk another hundred feet, and you’ll be able to see the cabin.” I throw out my hand, hitting Tanner in the chest. “Five more steps, and the motion detectors will spot you.”

“How do you know?” He swivels his head from left to right, as if to say every tree, rock, and bush looks identical in this place.

“I know about the cabin because Mikey’s been recruiting Ryder and me to join his fight. And these woods?” I shrug. “This was my and Ryder’s playground when we were kids. There’s not an inch we’re not familiar with.”

I realize all of a sudden that my hand is still on his chest and snatch it away.

“There’s no way around the motion detectors, not with our time constraints. I’m going to the front door.”

His eyes dilate like a bot’s. “Is that safe?”

“Mikey might be right about some Underground members getting carried away. But not Zed. I’ve known him since I was six. His broad back might look scary, but I know for a fact that it gives the best piggyback rides.”

“Fine. I’m going with you.”

“Zed will recognize you—”

“He won’t.” Tanner gestures to himself. “Look at me. I’m not wearing my lab coat, and I’m covered in filth. He’ll just think I’m a regular guy. A friend of yours from school. Your boyfriend.”

I freeze. “My boyfriend?”

He smiles slowly and turns me to face him. His hands remain on my shoulders, a tingling point of contact that sends waves of heat coursing through my body. “I’m sure we’re good enough actors that we can be convincing, don’t you think?”

“Let me get this straight,” I say carefully. “You want us to pretend that we like each other, to flirt and touch and, hell, maybe even kiss, even if we don’t actually feel that way?”

“I’m happy to practice now, if it will make you more comfortable.” His smile broadens, and he slides his hands down my back, pulling me against him. Even now, it makes my heart beat a little faster. I kinda hate him for it.

I stare at his chest, the one I admired even before I knew it was him. The one—if I’m being honest—I still admire now. Tanner is hot. There’s no denying that. But I need more than good looks in order to like a boy. He’s already hurt my feelings once. I’m not going to let it happen again.

“Why would we want to do that?” I ask in a low voice. “So you can make a fool of me again?”

His hands still on my back. “Huh?”

I lift my eyes to his face. His brow is creased, and he looks genuinely puzzled. All of a sudden, I’m so mad that I’m trembling. “So you can string me along, and then laugh in my face when I think it’s real?” I shake my head. “You don’t get to do this, Tanner. I’m not playing these games with you. Everyone already thinks that the wrong sister died. Sorry if I don’t willingly enter another situation that’s just going to make me feel even more worthless.”

“What?” he bites out. “Jessa, I never intended—”

I jerk out of his embrace. Backing away, I cover my ears with my hands. Whatever his excuses, I don’t want to hear them.

I march straight through the motion detectors toward the first set of spiders. The log cabin will come into focus at any moment.

Not anymore. I don’t need any more people in my life who consider me an inadequate substitute for the real thing. I’ve always been second best to Callie, and for the most part, I’m okay with that. Because she’s first best in my life, too. I love her the most, too.

But just once since my sister died, I’d like somebody to care about me as much as I care about him or her. Just once, I’d like to look into someone’s eyes other than Callie’s—and know, without a doubt, that he or she believes my life is worth saving.

Maybe that will happen someday. And maybe it won’t. But for now, I’ve got a girl to rescue.

A few minutes later, I press the button that will vibrate the floors of the cabin. Tanner has trailed after me to the door, but since I don’t feel like talking to him, I keep my back turned away. I don’t have to see him to feel his presence, though. His every movement, his every breath. It’s like I’ve been cursed with my very own Tanner radar. Lucky me.

Clenching my jaw, I jam the button again, wrenching my mind back to the log cabin. This could go down one of two ways. Either Zed will clobber me over the head and drag me inside, true to Mikey’s warnings. Or he’ll shift his feet guiltily and pretend he hasn’t kidnapped a girl.

I’m prepared for both, but betting my well-being—and Tanner’s, the smug bastard—on the latter.

The door opens. Zed takes one look at me and falls into my arms, sobbing like I’ve brought the apocalypse.

My limbs turn to petrified wood. What happened? Only fifteen minutes have passed. In that short time, what could have turned a calm and controlled man into this blubbery mess?

Of their own volition, my eyes rise to meet Tanner’s over Zed’s back. What in space? he mouths.

I shake my head. I’ve never seen Zed cry before. Ever. It’s as weird and awkward as the first time I realized my mom was fallible. When I finally admitted to myself that she was not always wise. Her decisions were not always selfless. She made mistakes, too. And maybe I never forgave her for it.

I regain control of my arms and wrap them around Zed. But his back is too wide, and I only reach partway. “What’s wrong, Zed? Talk to me.”

“It’s Eli,” he gasps. “He’s hurt.”

My muscles turn to liquid. Eli. His gorgeous little boy. Curly brown hair like sprigs of parsley. Eyes as shiny as river rocks. Not quite four years old.

The last time I saw him, he bit into an orange slice, and his entire face lit up. “There’s orange juice in here!” he exclaimed, as if he’d just discovered time travel.

“He and Laurel got caught in the riot,” Zed says, his tone so heavy it pulls me to the floor. “She was carrying him, fighting her way through the crowd. And then, she was shoved from behind and fell. Eli rolled out of her arms. He only traveled a few feet, but she couldn’t reach him, couldn’t protect him with her body. The stampede was too great.” He looks up, his eyes glinting. “They never even bothered to stop. By the time Laurel got to him, he had been trampled by Fates know how many feet.”

My heart skips a lot of beats. Maybe an entire song. “Will he be…okay?”

Zed moves his big shoulders. “Don’t know. They rushed him over to the intensive care at MedA.”

He drops his face into his hands. I stand on my tiptoes, patting his back, and Brayden comes out the front door.

“Zed, my big man. You’ve got to pull yourself together.” He gives the ginormous back a few slaps. “The draught’s wearing off. She’s stirring.”

“Who’s stirring?” Tanner asks. It’s the first time he’s spoken, and both Brayden and Zed turn to him.

The atmosphere shifts. The older guys straighten their spines, and an alertness leaps onto their faces, ready to fight, ready to defend.

“Who are you?” Brayden asks. Wars have been started over less hostile tones.

I step in between them and back up until my shoulders hit Tanner’s chest. “He’s with me.”

“You shouldn’t be here, Jessa,” Zed says in a shaky voice. “We’ve got Underground business. It doesn’t concern you.”

“I’m part of the Underground.” I can feel Tanner’s chest moving against my back. He wants to say something—his entire torso vibrates with the need. I take another step back, pressing harder into his body. “Mikey’s been trying to get me more involved for years. You can tell me.”

“Not a good idea.” Brayden squints as though he’s pushing his psychic tentacles at me, trying to read my mind.

I slam down my shields. I’ve blocked my own precognition for years; deflecting Brayden is assembly cake.

“For Fate’s sake, it’s just Jessa.” The way Zed says my name, I can tell he still thinks of me as the little girl who showed up in Harmony a decade ago. The one who never talked and existed entirely in someone else’s shadow—Logan’s, for the most part, and then Ryder’s, when he got older and bigger.

“Our world’s rolling down a path we have to stop.” Zed skips his eyes from my face to Tanner’s and then back again. “Callie tried to derail this future, but the chairwoman somehow wrenched it back on track. We can’t let her win, Jessa. We have to tell the people the truth. We need to show them exactly what our future will hold if we leave Chairwoman Dresden in charge.”

He shifts in front of me. I don’t wait. I dive around him and run into the cabin, tearing down the hall to the bedrooms in the back.

“Grab her!” Brayden shouts. “I’ll get the boy!”

I don’t pay attention. I have only seconds before they catch me, but that’s all I need. I push open the first door. A bare room with seams in the floors and walls, where a bed and closet might be hidden. Second room, same thing. Third room—

Zed grabs my arm. “It’s time to go, Jessa.”

It’s too late. I’m already in. A girl is curled in a fetal position on the floor, her long hair spread across her naked body. An oversize duffel bag lies next to her.

She looks up, through the curtain of hair. My thoughts jumble, tripping over themselves with disjointed images. A button nose. Straight-cut bangs. A sports cap falling to the floor of a racquetball court. Twin braids swishing outside the pod of a seesaw.

I haven’t seen her for ten years, but I’d recognize her anywhere.

Olivia Dresden.