Tara only nodded, but I knew she was unsure; not that I blamed her in the slightest.

I stepped away from Jonas and walked over near the sink. I held my left wrist out so all could see what I was about to do. I clenched my fist and drew the knife blade over my skin. The blade was dull so it took some force, but in a moment I drew a good amount of blood.

"What are you doing?!" Tara screamed the moment she saw the blood. She tried to dart forward, but Christian caught her arm.

"Watch," Christian said, holding her tightly.

Tara watched. She watched the wound in my arm seal itself, saw the blood seep back into my veins. Her mouth hung agape as I washed off the wound and I showed her the newly healed skin. "How?" she said, unable to continue.

It was now my turn to explain. "My mother died when I was five or six. I lived in an orphanage until I turned eighteen, when I went to find my father. Christian. During my life in the orphanage, a man came to take me away each weekend. He took me to his lab and experimented on me. I believe he was trying to kill me. But he couldn't. What he did to me only made me stronger, capable of healing with the touch of my hands." I held up both my hands for emphasis. I realized I was still holding the knife, and I let it drop into the sink. "I can also read minds."

"This is a joke," Tara said as she vigorously shook her head. "He's got really great makeup on, and she must have switched out the knife somehow. It's not real."

"It's real," Christian said. "I was dying of cancer when she found me. She cured me."

"It's all lies," Tara said, backing away from all of us. "Lies." She moved towards her son, fearing suddenly for his life.

"n.o.body's going to hurt Reagan," I said, reading her thoughts.

Her eyes teared up in fear.

"Tara," Christian said. "Honey, there's nothing to be afraid of. This is all real. n.o.body's lying to you."

Christian went to his wife, took her hand and brought it to his lips, just as Jonas did to mine. He put his hand on the side of her head and kissed her lips. She didn't balk, didn't try to pull away. Instead, she relaxed in his grip and returned his kiss. I could easily see she still trembled.

"It'll be okay," he told her. "Now, go put Reagan to bed. I need to talk to my daughter. We have a lot of catching up to do."

Tara did as she was told and went into the living room. She gathered up her son in her arms and held him close to her. "Good night!" Reagan yelled to us and waved as his mother carried him off.

"Night," I said.

Christian sat back down at the kitchen table and gestured for me to do the same. I did so, and Jonas followed suit, unwilling to leave my side- not that he had anywhere to go.

"Are they hunting you?" my father asked once it was safe to talk in such a way.

"Yes," I said. "I healed a little girl at a hospital in Las Vegas. She had brain cancer. She was dying. They tracked me back to our home." I looking over at Jonas, who looked away from me. "They destroyed it. Killed everyone there."

"My G.o.ds," Christian said. That was one of my sayings, as I don't believe in the one G.o.d theory. I don't know how he picked it out of my head. He hadn't heard me say it, and said "G.o.d" in the singular before and...never mind.

"Jonas and I weren't there," I continued, somehow ignoring my own thoughts. "We're the only ones who survived." I thought of Hermione, but I was unwilling to talk about her.

"I'm sorry," Christian said.

"Earlier today, we broke into the old Cannon base," I said. "That's where we pulled the file. I need to go back there. We left in a hurry, and we left some things behind. There are more files I need, files on the people who died at our home. Maybe more files on myself."

Jonas gazed at me, surprised, but said nothing. He had no intention of going back to the base until I brought it up.

"You broke into the base?" Christian repeated.

"Well, not really broke into," I corrected. "I just kept us hidden from prying eyes."

Christian didn't question what I meant when I said, "hidden." He understood. Then he surprised me. "I'll go with you."

"I'm not asking you to do this," I said.

"I know," he said. "If they have files on you, they must have files on me." He looked out into the living room to make sure we were still alone. He then said in a whisper, "When I woke up, the first thing I did was ask about you. They said I was alone in the car when it crashed. I knew they were lying, but, after what happened to us, I felt it safer to go along. I've been searching for you since that day. But it was like you disappeared off the face of the planet."

He sighed then continued. "That woman. Tara. She isn't my wife. She was at my bedside when I woke up. She claimed she was my wife, that we'd just been married only a month before. I didn't know her and she knew little about me. The doctors said it was because of a head injury that I didn't remember her, that I thought there was someone else in the car with me. I knew the truth. Tara's a good person, and I care about her. I don't love her. I'm sure they brainwashed her into thinking she's my wife. She remembers things that never happened. It's like the accident. She knows something happened to me, but she doesn't quite know what. Anyway, it isn't her fault. I couldn't blame her. We got pregnant with Reagan almost immediately after I woke up. Now you're back. And I know it is all a lie."

I couldn't think of anything to say. Christian's words were all truth. Tara probably was brainwashed into believing she was his wife, that they had a life together before the accident that wasn't. Tara didn't know any better. She only knew what was in her head. I felt kinda bad for her, though I knew I could never tell her the truth. Neither could Christian.

"That's why you can't go with us," I said to him.

"Why?"

"Because you have a son," I said. "And a wife who thinks she loves you. You can't risk your family for me."

"You are my family," Christian said. "My real family. And you won't be able to stop me."

"I can," Jonas chimed in, his eyes bright.

I smiled at my amber eyed love. "He can, you know," I said. "Jonas has an iron fist."

Christian shook his head. "I have to go," he said. "I need to know the truth."

"Though Truth and Falsehood be near twins," I muttered, unable to help myself.

Jonas heard me and let out a laugh. It was the first time I'd heard him really laugh in days. Christian didn't comment.

After a moment of silence during which Christian stared long and hard at me, I said, "Okay. But on my terms."

"Okay," he said. "I can get us in there."

I raised an eyebrow.

"I have clearance." He grinned. "They keep planes I sometimes take out for joyrides, so the equipment doesn't get rusty. I never go into the buildings though. I keep to the hanger. I can get you through the gates. You just get us into the buildings."

It was decided.

Chapter Thirty-Nine.

I didn't bother to listen in on Christian and Tara's arguing during the night. Jonas and I stayed up in the guest room, but we were close enough to hear the m.u.f.fled voices coming from the master bedroom. We didn't speak about it. I kept Reagan asleep so he wouldn't hear the fighting. From what I did hear, she wanted him to stay away from Cannon the next day, thinking it dangerous and he'd get into trouble. That was enough for me and I did my best to go to sleep.

In the morning, at seven o'clock, Jonas and I climbed into the trunk of Christian's car. It was just a precaution; I'd keep us safe no matter what, but Christian was more comfortable with that. The Lexus had a roomy enough trunk so Jonas and I weren't too squished. It still wasn't very comfortable. We rode in silence, my mind following along with Christian's so I knew where we were at all times. At the gate, I felt a hint of panic, though Christian's ID got him in without question. He parked near the hanger and unlocked the trunk from inside the car. Keeping a close hold over the minds of nearby soldiers, I got out and Jonas followed.

Jonas and I went into the hanger behind Christian. I didn't bother to keep my father hidden from prying eyes. The soldiers there knew him and were used to him being there.

In the hanger, I took a moment to look around. There were five large planes housed here. I didn't know jack s.h.i.t about aircraft, and I kept close to Christian. He went over to a big bi-plane and walked around to the prop. I really don't know s.h.i.t about planes and picked up this lingo from Christian's mind.

"Taking her out today?" a young soldier asked.

"Yeah," Christian said, placing a hand on the plane's nose. "Was thinking about it."

"You haven't been up in the Shark for a while," the soldier said, joining Christian beside the plane.

"I know," Christian said. "Maybe I will today."

"Let me know," the soldier said. "I've got my rounds, but I love to watch you fly."

Christian smiled. "Thanks," he said to the soldier. The soldier walked out of the hanger to resume his apparent rounds. To me Christian said, "Okay, Christiana. It's up to you now."

It was later in the day than the first time I'd been there and there were lots more minds to hold onto. I was expecting more security around the file room, but as it looked like nothing had been taken-because of Jonas's quick thinking in replacing the files we'd set out on the floor, though he couldn't resist taking the one he did-there was only one guard. He stayed on the outside of the experiment room because n.o.body wanted to stand guard inside the room with all those undead bodies. He was easily taken care of. He forgot all about me and my partners in crime before he even laid eyes on us. Staring straight ahead, the poor soldier just stood there as we strolled right past him.

I walked quickly through the rows of metal tables and unmoving bodies. The camera had not been replaced so was one less thing for me to worry about. Christian followed me slowly, looking at all the bodies in the room. I heard him ask, "What are they doing?" He got no answer and ran to catch up to me.

Jonas had already decided he'd stay in the experiment room. He'd be our guard if my mind failed for some reason. Not that he believed it would, he just felt better keeping an eye out for trouble, especially after what had happened the last time. Remember, I hadn't seen Hermione coming before she entered the room, and I should have. While Jonas wandered around, looking into blank faces, Christian and I began searching through files.

I had a good pile going-having known where Jonas stashed the files we'd taken out the first time; thankfully they were all in one drawer-as did my father, when Jonas suddenly poked his head into the room.

"Chris," he said, "I need to show you something."

"What is it?" I asked, not bothering to pry into his mind.

"You aren't going to believe it," Jonas said. "Come on."

I got to my feet. Christian remained where he was, still flipping through files and putting aside those of interest. Jonas led me through the bodies all the way to a far corner of the room. I kept my eyes on his back, not wanting to look at the people lying there. The poor people never had a chance at life. All those I desperately wanted to save.

Jonas stopped, and I ran into his back. He grabbed my arm and dragged me around him. What I saw stilled my heart.

"They tricked us," was all Jonas said.

There, lying supine and on a metal table was Starch.

"Oh, my G.o.ds," I said quietly. Jonas let go of my arm and I bent over the unmoving form of our friend. "They switched them." My voice became a whisper. "They switched the bodies." I bit my lip, breathing hard. I reached out and put my hand on Starch's shoulder. My eyes closed, and I took a mind dive into our dear friend's sleeping brain.

"Can you help him?" Jonas asked me when I opened my eyes.

I turned to look up at him, and I nodded. "We need to get him out of here. I can't do anything here without risking us all."

Jonas nodded. "Go get your dad and bring everything you've found. I can carry him."

I ran away from Jonas as he ripped wires away from Starch's body. A machine began to beep, but he silenced it somehow; I didn't bother to look. I stopped in the doorway of the file room. "We need to leave," I said to Christian.

Christian didn't question. He helped me gather up the files we'd set aside and got to his feet. With paperwork in our arms, we left the file room and found Jonas in the experiment room. Jonas had Starch slung limply over his shoulder.

"What is this?" Christian asked when he saw Jonas with a body.

"He's our friend," I said simply, and Christian, G.o.ds love him, didn't question.

Together, with one extra piece of baggage, we left the base under the cover of my mind.

Chapter Forty.

I wouldn't let Christian take us back to his house. I made him drive us to a hotel. Inside the room, we laid Starch on one bed and spread the files out on another. I itched to try and wake Starch, but I knew this would be a hard trick. He was alive. I could see him breathing and that was enough, so I saved him for later. Besides, I was too anxious to see what other information we'd brought back with us this time.

This was how I discovered the truth about my mother's supposed death. Christian found the file, and, as we hadn't talked during our search, I didn't know he'd found it. He recognized her picture inside the cover. It was the first file he handed to me.

I learned my mother's twin sister died in her place. It was only through a microchip-implanted upon her during her time as a lab rat to tell the two of them apart-that the gov learned what happened. Since the women were identical twins, their DNA was a perfect match. She carried my mother's ID, and this was enough for authorities to confirm her ident.i.ty. I didn't know my mother had been micro-chipped. h.e.l.l, I hadn't known she'd been a twin. I wondered about myself, in both aspects, but that could wait. I a.s.sumed they didn't know where I was because they had no way of tracing me, which meant no chip inside of me. As for the twin thing, well...I was pretty certain my mother died and could not be asked, and I was an only child. I think I would notice another me wandering around when I was a kid.

I put aside the file and the thought of microchips and twins, and rifled through the rest. I learned details about people I loved, and people I never knew. Starch had been taken in alive. Everyone else lost their life out there in the desert on that day which felt so long ago. The only one missing, and the one I really wanted, was Alendra. There was no file on the lycanthrope, but other files my father pulled included information on other lycans. I knew I'd get plenty of time to go through the files, and I also knew of one other thing I needed to do.

"Christian," I said as he was flipping through a file.

"What, sweetheart?"

"You need to go," I told him.

"Why?"

"Because you have a family," I said. "You have to go back to them."

"What about you?"

I looked over at the man lying still and supine on the bed. "I need to fix him and then we need to leave. It isn't safe here. Once someone finds out he's gone, they'll know it was me. They'll look for me."

Christian understood. Somehow, someway, he always understood.

It was hard to say goodbye to him. I did it alone, leaving Jonas in the room with Starch. I kissed Christian's cheek and said I was sorry.

"Why do you say that?" he asked me.

"For coming back into your life and for disappearing again so quickly."

"You'll come back," he said. "I know you will. Call me?"

"I will," I said. "Whenever I can."