Endgame (Book 3)

Chapter 11

"You've tried to kill me yourself twice now," I thought. "And you expect me to believe that my own sister did as well?"

"I know you don't want to believe me, but it's true. It was about a week ago, in fact."

"And you just stopped her? Why?"

"Well, it wasn't because I was saving your life if that's why you're asking. If your body is harmed, then I may not be able to get back to it."

So he was only thinking of himself. That made more sense than anything else. "But why?"

He retreated from my mind, shrinking away from the question. This was the first time I had made him uncomfortable.

"Jay..." he said. "Look, I've done plenty of things I'm not proud of. Betraying them, my friends, was one of them. I would rather not talk about it."

I sensed his reluctance, but I pressed anyway. "Sage mentioned it before like it wasn't that bad, but you say it was. You have to tell me what you did."

"Jay, I'm sorry. I'm just not ready to face that, yet."

"Then I'll get my answers from someone who is."

I forced him out of my head and struggled to get out of the bed. The cut on my chest ached and burned with every movement, but I was prepared to deal with it this time.

My shoes and clothes were on the counter on the side closest to the wall. I pulled on my shoes, wincing. The clothes weren't worth it.

I expected the nurse to come rushing in as soon as I left the bed. She came running the moment my foot made it out the door.

"You shouldn't be out of bed," she said. She lightly pushed on my arms until I gave in.

"I'm not really hurt. Honestly." I froze as another wave of pain sprouted up in my torso, my hand on the sheets.

"Honestly," she echoed me. "You just have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime, you can get used to your stitches. You act as if you've never had them before."

"How do you know that?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Your parents let me know."

"Oh," I said. My suspicions were beginning to get the better of me. "You're probably right. I don't think I've ever had them before. You can leave now."

She was out the moment I said it. My mother must have really spooked her.

I sank under my sheets, bored. Those papers were waiting for me, but I was in no hurry to read the rest. Zero stayed quiet and, for the time being, left me alone.

There was no television in my room, Sierra was out, and I was stuck in bed. My only hope was that Sage would get out before me.

Time stretched on slowly, and I dazed in and out of sleep. My room was so quiet, I could hear the clock ticking in the corner. I almost wished some life-threatening event would occur to give me something to do.

I grabbed my phone off the bedside table. My lock screen showed two messages: one from Cassie that let me know she was out helping with cleanup; and the same from Sierra, who had sent hers only a few minutes ago.

Everyone was fixing the city besides Sage and me. I felt guilty; we were the ones who caused the huge mess.

I tossed my phone back where I had found it. What could I do?

My mind shifted to thinking about Zero again. I had some questions for him. Some that urgently needed answering, like where he came from or how he gave Ms. Loving powers.