Page 109 of Inception

“I thought that was pretty obvious.” He pumped his jaw muscle without looking at me. “They wantedyou.”

“For what?”

He shook his head. “It looked like they were trying to bring you somewhere…probably back to the Rev that gave the order,” he said, slowing down to park behind a throng of evergreens.

“Is there any way we can find out who’s behind this?”

“It’s going to be hard.”

“But not impossible?” I asked, watching him pull the keys from the ignition. “Is there someone you can call, like a contact or something? Or should we go to the Council? Do you think they can help us with this, or is it better to just—”

“You ask too many questions, anyone ever tell you that?” He flung the driver’s side door open and climbed out of the car without answering any of them.

I scanned my surroundings trying to figure out where we were but saw nothing telling. There was nothing but trees and shrubs and dirt for miles in every direction.

Trace appeared on the passenger side and pulled open the door, holding out his hand. I looked down at it, questioning it as though it could speak to me. As though it had the answers I sought in this foreign world.

“You can trust me,” he said, inching it closer.

I placed my hand into his and climbed out of the car.

32. TRANSFERENCE

“Where are we going?” I asked as Trace led me further away from the car and deeper into the dew-kissed forest.

“We can’t go back to town right now. They know who you are. They’ll know how to find you.” He stopped in a small clearing and turned around to face me. A canopy of plush green leaves blanketed the two of us like a beautiful quilt. “We need to go somewhere safe until we figure this thing out.”

“Where did you have in mind?” I asked, crossing my arms. He better not be thinking about camping out here.

“My father’s cabin up north.” He looked at me with calming eyes. “No one knows about it. It’s completely off the grid.”

“But the car—” I began, thumbing in the direction of where we’d come from but stopped short when he started grinning.

“We won’t need it,” he said. Before I could ask another one of my daft question, he quickly added, “We’re using another mode of transportation.”

“Oh. Right...thatportingthing you do.”

“Yeah, that porting thing I do.” He took a purposeful step towards me, breaking into my personal space.

“What are you doing?”

He uncrossed my arms and gently began pulling me towards him. “Your body needs to be touching mine for this to work.”

“Oh, so we...okay.” My heart sped up feverishly.

I let him pull me in closer until I was pushed up flush against his body. Careful not to graze the injured area, I circled my arms around his waist and breathed in his intoxicating scent as he slid his own arms around my back, sending my body into a near-state of rapture.

He cleared his throat. When I looked up at him, I could see he was fighting back a smile.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head.

Was he laughing at me again?

“I want you to take a few deep breaths, okay? You’re going to feel cold for a bit, but it’s normal. Don’t be scared.”

Before I could ask any more questions, I felt his body temperature (and my own) drop abruptly, jolting me upright. I tightened my hold on him as the forest began blackening out around us. The freezing air licking at my skin as the world I thought I knew ceased to exist.

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