Free Escape to Eden by Rachel McClellan Page B

through.”
    “Boo-hoo,” she says, gritting her teeth. “You’ve had a hard life. We all have. At least you get to live long enough to see yourself get varicose veins. Sheesh. You’re so emotional,” she says, raising a hand to touch her cheek. “I don’t know how you’re going to survive this world.”
    “Is that what I’m going to have to do? Become emotionally dead? If that’s what you are, then you’re already dead.” I turn around and catch Anthony with his mouth open. “When are you meeting Bram?” I ask.
    “I have to call him first and let him know about your father. It complicates things.”
    Jenna drops into a nearby chair, still touching her cheek where I slapped her. It’s bright red. “Her father? Why would Bram care?”
    “Howard Edmonds is her father,” Anthony says and positions the earpiece behind his ear again.
    “William Radkey,” I clarify, but no one notices.
    Jenna slowly turns to Colt, her eyes big. “ The Howard Edmonds?”
    “Not now, Jenna,” Anthony says in a warning tone.
    “But this is huge!”
    “I said later.” His voice is firm and Jenna doesn’t argue. “I have to make that call.”
    Anthony walks into the office and closes the door.
    Jenna eyes Colt for several seconds like she’s itching to say something, but then she turns to me. “So apparently you’ve got your memory back. What’s that like?”
    She doesn’t call me Patch or anything else, which is nice for a change, but her voice still reeks of sarcasm.
    I think of all that I remember. Only one word comes to mind.
    “Painful.”
    My gaze meets Colt’s. This time it’s him who looks away.
    “More emotions. You’re boring me.” Jenna stands and goes into the kitchen, muttering under her breath.
    I don’t get upset. I have more important things to do, like trying to save Max. I sit in the chair Jenna’s just left, my knee bouncing. There must be something I can do. I imagine the layout of the Institute. I know it inside and out because my father had me memorize it every week for the last year. In case. He had me learn a lot of things. In case. His lessons were grueling, almost cruel, especially after my mother. Things would’ve been so different if she were still alive.
    “Tell me about your childhood,” Colt says suddenly. His eyes are a softer blue, like the color of the sky on the edge of a cloud.
    “Like I said, I lived near the coast. In Maine. It was an amazing place. For the first seven years of my life it was just me and my mom and dad, then she had Max. I loved having a brother, someone else I could confide in.” The motion of my leg slows to a steady rise and fall, like the swells of the ocean. “My parents were great teachers. They taught us everything. How wonderful this world is and how important the people living on it are. But then my mother died. I was twelve.” Colt doesn’t say anything so I continue.
    “One day I came back from spending the night on the beach with Max, and she was just gone. My father had already buried her. He never talked about it. All he would say was it was a horrible accident.” Even Jenna has stopped chewing her cereal from the kitchen to listen. Colt shifts in his chair.
    “My parents died when I was young too. And Jenna’s dad died.” The words bring pain to his face, and I wonder how many times he’s said them aloud.
    Jenna swallows and adds, “Moving on from depressing stuff, did you ever leave your home? You know, get out a bit to see the world?”
    It takes me a moment before I continue. “I knew about things in the world, but never experienced it firsthand. Only watched iton television. I wished I could be a part of it, but I knew I’d never be accepted. I was obviously different, not special.”
    I laugh a little, imagining all the times I’d paint my hair or try to lighten my skin with powder to hide my skin’s imperfections.
    “That’s where you’re wrong. We’re not special.” Colt motions between Jenna and him. “We’re