Darkness flashed over my mom’s face. “She decided that this mission wasn’t ‘within scope.’”
I frowned.
“Oh, she didn’t use those words, but it’s the same idea.” She shook her head. “I told you. They look human, but they don’t have the feelings, the capacity for emotion.”
“Ariane’s different.” The words escaped before I could stop them. God, why was I still defending her?
My mom gave me a pitying look and stood with an effort to continue her ineffective struggles with the suitcase zipper. “Even her own mother wouldn’t…” She snapped her mouth shut.
I stared at her. “What?
“Nothing.”
“No, it’s not nothing. You were talking about Ariane’s mother. Do you know who she is?”
She shook her head. “Of course not. I didn’t have that level of clearance.” But she wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“Mom—”
She held up her hand to stop me. “All I was trying to say was that the hybrids aren’t meant for life out here. Expecting more from her or any of them is, at best, setting yourself up for hurt. At worst, it’s dangerous.”
I stiffened. “Did you say that to her?”
“Zane…honey.” She turned and reached for me, her cold fingers brushing my face before I stepped away.
“Did you say that to Ariane?” I repeated.
“She didn’t argue with me. She knows what she is—”
“Who she is, Mom. Who. And she knows who she is. She was trying to help you. She was asking questions,” I argued.
My mom sighed. “I’m not saying that she wouldn’t have helped if it benefited her.”
“No, she’s more than that.” I knew that to my core. The girl I knew, the one who’d stood up for Jenna Mayborne, who’d taken on Rachel Jacobs and her grandfather, that was not someone who calculated the angles and acted only on those that helped her. If she hadn’t stood up for Jenna, she would never have been in this mess to begin with.
“Then where is she?” my mom asked simply.
I grimaced. “She’s trying to help Quinn. In her own way.” But I sounded defensive, unsure, even to my own ears. I was certain she would try to save Quinn, but Ford, Nixon, and Carter…they would come first. She’d admitted as much.
My mom gave me a knowing look. “If she’d been willing to intervene directly on Quinn’s behalf, I would have accepted her help. They are very good at what they do. But honey, you can’t get attached. To begin thinking about her as more than what…who she is. Trust me, I made the same mistake, but once you see what they can do…” She shuddered.
“What, Mom, what horrible thing did she do?” I asked, getting very tired of all this paranoia without proof. She’d been against Ariane since the second we’d arrived. Well, as soon as she’d figured out Ariane wasn’t Ford.
“She killed an animal because Dr. Jacobs told her to. Just stopped its heart.”
I frowned. That didn’t sound like Ariane at all. “Because he told her to,” I said slowly. “What does that mean?”
“I mean he ordered her to do it and she did.” My mom hauled the suitcase off the bed and, seemingly as an afterthought, scooped up the butcher’s knife, tucking it the suitcase’s outer pocket.
“Right then, without argument?” I asked. I couldn’t even picture that in my head. Ford, yes. Ariane, no way.
She made an exasperated noise. “She couldn’t really argue and she tried to resist for a while, but—”
“How many days, Mom? How long did she resist?” A new idea struck and my stomach turned, but I made myself ask. “What did he do to her when she did?” I didn’t know everything about Ariane’s lab days, but I knew enough to guess that any form of rebellion had been met with swift and severe punishment.
“It doesn’t matter,” she snapped. And I saw the genuine fear in her eyes. She’d gotten pulled in over her head and stayed too long. Her world would never be safe now that she knew about the existence of the hybrids and their alien progenitors. “She did it, Zane. That’s the point. And she can do it to any of us.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she will,” I said. Just because someone could do something didn’t mean they would. We were all capable of horrible violence and cruelty, but that capacity didn’t turn us all into abusers and serial killers. “I saw her save someone by refusing to do that same thing.” Rachel Jacobs was alive today only because Ariane had refused to kill her, even though she’d been cruel to Ariane and it would have benefited Ariane to end her life.
That was who she was.
And instead of trusting that person, I’d let her walk out. Worse, I hadn’t even tried to hear her out about the hybrids. Instead, I’d let my own fears get in the way.
That realization struck with such force that it made me take a step back. She hadn’t given up on me; she’d turned away when I’d stopped believing in her.
How could I blame her for that?
The urge to find her, to help protect her from the risk she was taking, overwhelmed me. I turned and headed for the door, desperation moving my limbs before conscious thought kicked in.
“Zane, where are you going?” My mom sounded alarmed. “If you come with me to meet Dr. Jacobs, maybe we can—”
I didn’t stop. “I promise, I will find a way to get Quinn out of there.” But first, I had to catch up with Ariane before she took a chance she couldn’t untake.
The van that had been our home base since the start of all of this was parked at the front of the school, and just the sight of it sent a sweet rush of relief over me, leaving me to sag back in the cramped driver’s seat of my mom’s Mazda.
I wasn’t too late. She was here somewhere.
The rest of the parking lot was empty but for a handful of cars. Including a black SUV gliding to a stop in front of the main entrance.
Shit. I pulled into the nearest parking space, shoved the gearshift into park, and ducked down, hiding as best as I could across the seats. Were they here for Ariane? Or just picking up Ford and the others for the day?
After a long moment, when there were no shouts or pounding footsteps in my direction, I peered cautiously over the edge of dashboard. And got my answer. From my angle, I had an unobstructed view of the doors, so I saw when Ford, flanked by Nixon and Carter, marched out.
I searched her face for signs that Ariane had found her, but I couldn’t read her any better than Ariane. She could have been pissed, bored, or her version of ecstatic. It was impossible to tell.
One of Laughlin’s hired men got out and opened the SUV’s back door for them. Carter climbed in, but Ford hesitated for a second.
My gaze shifted to the van automatically, looking for whatever had distracted Ford. I half-expected Ariane to burst out, shouting for Ford and throwing the guards around.
But nothing happened. Ford got into the vehicle, followed by Nixon, both of them moving as if this was routine.
The SUV pulled away a few seconds later with a squeal of tires on the new asphalt.
I let out a slow breath of relief. Well, if Ford and the others were gone, but Ariane’s van was still here, then that meant she was still here somewhere, right? If I caught up with her now, before she had time to implement whatever plan she’d cooked up with Ford—assuming she’d had a chance to talk to Ford and Ford had agreed to participate—then Ariane would be safe.
The tight knot in my stomach eased slightly. I’d have a chance to talk to her, to apologize, to try to figure out another option or, hell, even help with whatever she had cooked up.
All I had to do was find her.
Filled with renewed determination, I charged out of the car and headed for the van. That would be the easiest place for her to await Ford without detection, but if that was the case, then she’d just missed her chance.