Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
I’m standing over her now, right in front of her desk. “And resorts? For blood? I don’t need any fucking blood, what I need is my sister!”
She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, the room going silent as I swallow down the rest of my fury as best I can. I could handle her being an ass, or being hard on me, or being anything other than this. Because whatever is happening between us right now, I don’t understand it. And when I don’t understand something, I will pick at it and pull it apart and study it until all my questions are answered. Or I’ll die trying.
“Why aren’t you talking to me?” I say more quietly this time. “You’ve never been like this before. Secretive and, and … What the hell is going on?”
She meets my gaze, and finally, finally some of her façade is falling away. No snide expression, no irritated set of her lips. “You know, when Mom and Dad adopted you, I didn’t understand at first. I didn’t know why I wasn’t enough for them, why they wanted to adopt—and a little white girl at that.” She laughs lightly and drops her hands into her lap. “But then, my teenage hormones kicked in, and I was so happy to not be the only one anymore. Mom wouldn’t hover so much, and Dad would be wrapped up in whatever sport you chose to play or instrument you were learning. I’d be able to make my own way.” She looks up at me. “But that’s not what happened. Instead, I’m the one who invested in you, who loved you, who taught you how to shoot a basketball, how to read music, how to kick creeps where it hurts. You became mine as much as theirs. Maybe even more, especially after they passed.”
“Stop trying to soften me up!” I turn my back and walk away. “That’s what this is, isn’t it? You bringing up Mom and Dad and—”
“No.” She stands and comes around her desk. “No, I just want you to know that maybe the things I’m doing—maybe they don’t make sense. But these decisions I’ve made, they’ll help you. They’ll help everyone. And in the end, they’ll bring us closer.”
“What decisions?” I turn back to her. “What have you done? Blood resorts? Me reporting to Valen? I need the truth from you, Juno. I’m fucking tired of begging you to level with me. This isn’t like you! I want answers. If I don’t get them …” I let out a frustrated sigh that seems to deflate everything in me.
She sighs heavily. “This is the only way it could work, the only deal Valen and his people would accept. I agreed to give him access to you and your research in exchange for samples of his people’s blood.”
“And the blood resorts?” I can’t even say the words without sneering.
“Those were the second part of the deal. Access to you and the resorts are what I gave up so that we can find the cure.”
I whirl on her. “You sold me out.”
“No.” She shakes her head and reaches for my hands.
I pull away. My entire body is cold, my blood thumping sluggishly in my ears. I’m caught in a trap; one I can’t see the inner workings of. What does Valen want with my research? Is Juno telling the truth even now? Or is there more?
“I didn’t sell you out, Georgia.” She speaks faster now. “You’ll be safe. They’ve promised me that you won’t be touched—not by the dangerous factions of their own people, President Gray’s maniacs, or anyone else. You’re the most protected person in this city. Maybe more so than even me.”
“Wouldn’t want the prize cow to stop giving milk, is that it?” I both love and hate the way she flinches from my words.
“Georgia, please.” She reaches for my hands again. “I’ve told you from the start that you’re going to be the one who ends this crisis. These deals I’ve made—they’ve given you what you need to do it. Don’t you see?”
“The deals—you mean putting people into these blood camps. For what?” I ask. “Why didn’t you tell me about them and what the hell are they?”
She looks away. “The same way we need their blood to survive, they need ours.”
“What?”
“Valen’s people need our blood. It’s totally harmless.” She glances away. “A short vacation and a few blood donations, and we’ve met that part of the deal.”
Foreboding has already made a home in my chest, like a bird building a nest. Stick by stick, Juno is adding to it, making it sturdy for whatever horrid egg is on its way. “Who are his people? Is that where you went today? To meet with them?”
“Yes.” She presses her lips tightly together, then adds, “I met with Gregor.”