“Wait.” She tucked her hair back, glancing at me. “What if the DOD captured an Arum, believing it to be a Luxen, and you guys were studied, too, right? Forced to assimilate into the human world? I don’t know what assimilation entails, but I’m sure it was some kind of observation, so wouldn’t they have noticed eventually, especially with the heat-signature thing?”
Matthew walked over to the liquor cabinet in the corner, going for something harder. “When we were being assimilated, they never saw our abilities. So if we work off the theory that they’ve known for some time, they studied our abilities on Luxen who could never tell us that the DOD is aware of what we can do.”
“You’re saying that those Luxen would be…”
“Dead,” he said, tossing back a mouthful of clear liquor. “I’m not sure how much Daemon has told you, but there were Luxen who didn’t assimilate. They were put down…like feral animals. No stretch of the imagination to believe that they used some Luxen to study their abilities, to learn about us, and then got rid of them.”
I was quiet, but I was listening, and I suddenly thought about Blake. What if the DOD was sending some of the Luxen—or ones like Kat—out to spy on others? Maybe that was paranoid. Maybe not.
“But that doesn’t explain why the Arum would work with the DOD,” Kat argued.
“It doesn’t.” Matthew moved to the fireplace. He propped his elbow on the mantel. “I am afraid to theorize over what that could mean.”
“Part of me doesn’t even care about that right now,” I said, feeling tired. “Someone betrayed Dawson. Someone had to tell the DOD.”
“It could be anyone,” Matthew said wearily. “Dawson didn’t try to hide his relationship with Bethany. And if anyone was watching them closely, they could’ve suspected something happened. We all watched them when they first got together. I’m sure some of us didn’t stop.”
Who in the hell could it have been?
We left Matthew’s house shortly after that, and she handed the keys to me without fighting when I asked for them. Snow was coming down heavier, and I needed…well, I needed something like driving to focus on. I turned to open the car door, but Kat walked back to me. Before I knew what she was doing, she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tight.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “We’ll figure out something. We’ll get him back.”
We’ll get him back.
After a moment of hesitation, I folded my arms around Kat and held her close. “I know,” I said, full of steely determination. “I’ll get him back if it’s the last thing I do.”
Over the next couple of days, we staked out Vaughn’s house after Kat finished her evening training with Blake. We didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. No visiting Arum or Nancy. Each evening, we returned home, and my frustration grew.
My brother was out there, somewhere, and nothing I was doing seemed to be getting me any closer to finding him. When I wasn’t with Kat, I was staking out Vaughn’s home on my own. I began to realize that the man was barely there, and I wondered if he had another home. Though the times I managed to follow Vaughn on foot, he didn’t go anyplace else.
Thoughts of my brother and who could’ve possibly reported what he’d done to the DOD consumed me. It would have to have been someone who saw either Dawson or Bethany immediately after whatever happened or someone Dawson trusted enough to tell.
Dawson didn’t trust anyone in the colony, not even Lydia, with that kind of information. The only person he could’ve talked to would’ve been Dee, but there’s no way she would’ve kept that quiet all this time. I already knew he hadn’t confided in Adam. So that left two options. Someone saw them.
Or it was someone Bethany knew.
The more I thought about it, the more it made sense that the person who had notified the DOD was connected to Bethany and not Dawson. My brother would’ve been so damn careful to keep what he’d done a secret, and maybe Bethany hadn’t realized the seriousness of what had happened, trusted the wrong person.
But that theory had its flaws, too, because who did Bethany know that would’ve even had the inclination or the know-how to contact the DOD? It’s not like you could call 1-800-ALIENS or something.
Looking into Bethany was a start, though.
Since Kat wasn’t home early Thursday evening, I scoped out Vaughn’s place on my own. As usual, nothing happened. I headed back to the house, spying Kat’s car in the driveway, but I knew she wasn’t there. She was out somewhere with Douche Bag, and to stop from wanting to blow up something, I reminded myself of why she was with him in the first place.
Because of my mouth.
Guilt churned in the pit of my gut as I headed to my bedroom. Once inside, I grabbed my laptop and refocused on Bethany.
I had no idea what I could find on the internet, but it was a start. I typed in her full name, and Google pulled up several articles. My chest hollowed as I started scanning through them. At first, they discussed her as if she were a missing child, and then the later articles hinted that she was presumed dead. Her family had moved away from Petersburg about a year ago, something I personally found strange. If I hadn’t been told that Dawson was dead and only that he was missing, I would probably stay here forever, hoping that he’d someday return.
Unless her family had reason to believe that she was dead.
Or they just couldn’t live in an area that served as a constant reminder. I could understand that.
I stared at a picture of Bethany on a news website. Pretty girl. Dark hair. Bright smile.
There was nothing on the internet, barely even a mention of Dawson, which I’m sure the DOD had something to do with. The lack of anything mentioning him was as if he’d been erased from history. Made sense. After all, we lived here, but when things went south, we ceased to exist.
Bethany hadn’t been at school long enough to get really close to anyone, so there wasn’t a friend I could check with. Dead end there. Closing the laptop, I stood and stretched, growing restless. What else…?
Beth’s house.
Lowering my arms, I smiled wryly. There was one place I could check out. Bethany’s old house. I didn’t even know if anyone had moved into it or if I’d find anything, but shit, it was better than pacing in my bedroom, which was surely coming next.
It was better than doing nothing.
I passed Dee’s bedroom on the way out. The door was halfway open. I stopped and peered inside. She was already asleep. What an exciting way to spend a Thursday evening. It wasn’t even seven. I knew the house wasn’t empty. I could hear Adam moving around downstairs.
I was almost at the door when Adam appeared, coming from the kitchen. The light from the Christmas tree flickered. He glanced at me and then the direction of the door. “You leaving?”
My brows rose. “You staying?”
“Actually, no. Dee’s asleep, and I was just cleaning up after the dinner she made.” He looked up the stairwell, smiling faintly. “I was just heading out. Where are you going?”
First inclination was to say nowhere, but as I stared at Adam, I made a split decision. “I’m going to go check out Bethany’s house.”
Adam blinked. “Come again?”
“Come outside, okay?” He followed me out onto the porch. My boots crunched over the layer of snow covering the porch, blown in by the wind. “Before I say anything else, I need to know you’re not going to repeat a single thing to anyone, including Dee.”
“You’re starting to worry me,” he replied, crossing his arms over his PHS sweatshirt. “This is the second time you’re asking me not to talk to Dee.”
“I know, and if you don’t want to keep her in the dark, then the convo between us ends here. Nothing personal,” I told him. “But I don’t want her knowing any of this. Not yet.”