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“I’ve been with Chronos for years, ever since my own parents worked for them,” she said. “I’ve seen raw talent that you can’t even fathom.” The smile faded and was replaced by calculation. “I was a scientist before I was a mother, so I had time to think about the kind of child I wanted. One just like me.”
An uneasy fear crept up my spine.
“I wanted to make sure I did everything perfectly,” she said, “so there was research. So much tedious research. I needed to verify the genetic sequence, so I located specimens.”
“Specimens?”
Her smile made a brief reappearance. “Once everything was confirmed and reconfirmed, I began experimenting. Of course, mistakes were made.”
Adrenaline numbed my face and clutched at my vocal cords. She couldn’t mean what I thought she meant.
“No one gets everything right the first time. Experiments can create monsters.”
“What kind of monsters?”
“The versions of you that I didn’t get right the first time.”
My mouth went dry. “You made multiple versions of me. Are they still out there?”
“I don’t allow mistakes.”
I stared at her, hoping for a shred of humanity. Searching for anything that wasn’t cold and self-serving. I didn’t find any of it.
o;You’re as safe as I can make you.”
“I know.” Even though I hadn’t shed a tear, I felt like I’d been crying for days. Raw, achy, and emotionally spent.
“I want to make you happy,” he murmured into my hair. “Tell me how.”
I whispered in his ear.
Dune pulled away so he could look into my eyes.
“I could disappear,” I said. “Not exist, except as a full-time playground for dead people. I know the timing sucks, but right now is all we have.”
“No, it’s not, Hal. I’ll make sure of it.”
“You’ll try. But you can’t guarantee it, and I don’t want to lose one more second. Do you?”
Instead of answering, he shut the bedroom door.
He hadn’t fallen asleep until dawn, and even then he’d only slept in snatches. This time, I was the one who watched him take every breath. When my phone rang, I picked it up to silence it, figuring it was Dad checking in.
My heart stopped cold when I saw the name on the caller ID.
I shook Dune awake and answered.
“Hello, Mother.”
She sounded cool and well rested. Wherever she’d been for the past few weeks, the living hadn’t been hard.
“Where have you been?” I asked, keeping my tone as bored as I could manage. “We thought you were dead.”
“Don’t you mean hoped?”
“What do you think?”
Dune sat up beside me. The word backup had never meant so much. My mother’s lack of response gave me a petty amount of pleasure. Today, I’d take pleasure wherever I could get it.
