Page 82 of Captured Immune

He’s totally lying, but that’s nothing new. Either way, I’ll try to stay still so I don’t hurt him anymore.

Now that we’re out of the darkness of the barn, I’m able to get a better look at his bloody face. It’s worse than I thought. I think he’s bleeding from the side of his head. But that’s just a guess, because there’s so much blood covering him, it’s hard to know where it’s all coming from.

I feel the need to take a wet rag to his face and an urge to kiss the pain in his eyes away. It’s the same pain I saw in him the first time he saw me handcuffed to that bed—and all the other times he looked at me while I was in the evil lair.

I believe him when he says he had nothing to do with physically abducting me. If he did, he wouldn’t have been so genuinely shocked to see me there. I know he cares about me, too. Why else would he have attacked his uncle for manhandling me? Why else would he have risked his life to save me? Even though he’s part of the reason why I needed saving in the first place, I won’t discredit that he’s the one who got me out of there.

“Thank you, Trey,” I say in a sweet whisper. “That was brave of you.”

Trey’s face crinkles as more anguish swims across his face. He bites down on his bloody lip and shakes his head. I wait for him to say something, but he just keeps staring at me with that broken look in his eyes.

It takes a while for him to whisper back, “That wasn’t bravery.”

“What was it then?”

“I dunno, but I don’t feel brave.” He lets out a ragged breath like he’s about to cry. It makes me tear up too. I want to cry whenever I think about how they tortured him until he went unconscious for three days. And then they tortured himagain. No matter what he’s done, he didn’t deserve that.

“Arella, I’m so sorry.” He chokes on his words. “None of this was supposed to happen.”

I glance over the edge of our flying tire, unable to look him in the eyes. If I do, I might burst into a sob.

The forest is dark and quiet. The treetops seem to wave goodbye at us as we pass them. I feel Trey’s gaze on me as I swallow the dry lump in my throat.

His apology feels sincere. I wish I could tell him that it’s okay. I wish I could tell him that what happened to me wasn’t his fault. But it’s not okay, and some of thisishis fault, and I’m ready to know how much.

19

ARELLA

I stareover the edge of the tire as the wind blows against my back. “If I ask you some questions, will you answer them honestly?”

“Yes,” Trey says with a firm nod.

“What planet are you from?”

He scrunches his eyebrows together. “Earth. I’m not an alien.”

Pfft.“You could have fooled me.”

“Do you see antennas coming out of my head?”

I run my fingers through the top of his hair to check and my hand gets caught in the dried blood matting up his dark strands. “They could be coming out of your butt or something. I’ve seen a lot of wild stuff recently. Nothing can surprise me now.”

“You’ve seen me naked. Many times. Don’t you think you would have noticed if I had antennas sticking out of my ass?”

You’d think so, but then again, I didn’t know he could make fire come out of his bare hands. How am I supposed to trust my ability to notice things—ever? “If you’re not an alien, then what are you?”

“Human...” He scowls hard and has the audacity to look offended.

“You said you’d be honest, remember?”

“Iamhuman, Arella, just like you. Except I was born with powers—and I guess I have a few bodily differences.”

I pull my long hair to one side and hold it there to keep it from flying into Trey’s face. He hasn’t complained about it, but I can’t imagine he likes being continually whacked by my waves. “I didn’t know there could be humans born with powers.”

“That’s because you’re not supposed to know. The entire world used to know about Zordis. Our kinds used to live cohesively. Eventually, we were forced to go into hiding because Ordinaries began mass-murdering us.”

“How did that happen when you guys can overpower us with your superpowers?”

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