Page 25 of Hidden
“I don’t want to talk anymore.” I pressed my face deeper into his chest. “Please stop.”
I could hear his pounding heart, feel the tenseness of his arms. The longer I was held by him, the more the fight pulled from me. My body relaxed despite myself, and a comforting heaviness fell over me.
“That’s interesting,” Dr. Reed said, her voice sounding near. Julian shifted, pushing himself against the wall and turning as he continued to hold me against him.
She was sitting on the seat that I had abandoned, her mouth thin. “What are you doing, Julian?”
“I’m not doing anything,” he replied, his arms tightening. “I’m only holding her.”
“Really?” Her eyebrow raised, and I probably should have been offended at the look on her face. But I was more relaxed than I’d been since arriving at this place. I didn’t want to do anything to have that comfort taken away.
“It looks like her abilities are still fairly strong,” she continued. “She blinked.”
“She’s blinked before,” Julian said, his voice even. “It’s what she does when she’s under stress and needs to escape.”
“She never did as a child,” Dr. Reed said. “And she’s on medication.”
“She’s the Xing,” Julian didn’t miss a beat. “You know that even the officers don’t blink until they are older. And, quite frankly, I’m shocked this medication works at all. We aren’t normal humans.”
That seemed to surprise her, and her eyes moved to me once again. “Bianca, about your medicine—”
I didn’t care anymore. “It never worked. It was harder to see and feel them, but there was always an awareness. The medicine made it easier to pretend.”
She didn’t seem to be happy about my admission. “But what about…” Her gaze drifted toward Julian, and her voice trailed off. “You’ve always had your abilities?”
I shrugged, hiding my face into the crook of Julian’s neck.
But she saw the movement. “And you’ve never noticed anything else odd?”
Julian’s frame stiffened, and his voice was tight when he cut in. “What do you mean by that? What else would she have noticed?”
She ignored Julian. “I noticed you have old bruising. Do you bruise often? How did that happen?”
It was Julian who responded. “That wasn't natural, Finn did something to her. Damen says it was a curse or Finn losing control of his abilities. He also did something to stop it from spreading.”
“Finn did it?” Julian’s explanation didn’t comfort his mother at all. In fact, she only sounded more concerned. “Betweenthatand you being off your medication, Bianca, are you sure you haven’t heard—”
“No.” My heart leaping into my throat. She couldn’t bring up the woman in front of Julian. Every instinct inside of me screamed that would be a terrible idea. “There’s nothing abnormal going on at all.”
Julian’s heart pounded, and he shifted, pushing me back in order to meet my eyes. I longed to look away, but this time he held my chin between his thumb and pointer finger, trapping my gaze to his. He was as serious as he’d ever been toward me. “What is my mother talking about? Had you heardwhat? Is there something going on we don’t know?”
“No,” I lied—and from his expression, he knew it. But caution crept over his expression, and he hesitated to push further. Guilt racked at me; I knew he worried.
I didn’t want him to worry…
But I couldn’t ignore my instincts, and they screamed at me to not say anything.
“Everything is fine.” I touched his cheek, trying to make up for my dishonesty. It felt terrible to hide things, but he was better off not knowing everything.
I was the worst person in the world.
The room was dark. But when the lights flickered on, it illuminated the shadowy figure that had been stalking Finn. The figure was familiar to me now, it had been something stalking my thoughts since it’d first appeared.
I’d had this dream a thousand times. I was in the classroom where my speech lessons had been held. It was a strange feeling, to know that you’re asleep during your dreams.
The figure should go away soon. It always did.
But this time, it didn’t.
