Regenerate

Chapter 21

I blink, suddenly realizing that it's light outside. Light.

If there's light, then I can't still be buried in the remains of the building we accidentally brought down.

I'm in a bed. My bed, actually. And Derek is hovering over me, waiting for me to wake up. I sit up slowly and smile at him.

"I don't see what you're so smiley about," Derek says. "You were out for a long time."

"How long?" I ask.

"Two days," Derek says. "That was quite a hit you took to the head."

"Not to mention burying myself alive," I say. I'm still so incredibly happy that I wasn't awake for any of that. "Did the serial killer..."

"Crushed when the building collapsed," Derek says.

I take a deep breath. I hadn't meant to kill him. I hadn't thought I would. But part of me doesn't feel particularly sorry. I feel... I don't know. I feel a lot of things all at once, and I don't want to sort through them all right now. I just want to be with Derek.

But Derek isn't done being mad at me.

"How dare you?" he says. "How dare you just go off script like that without telling anyone?”

"I needed more information," I say. "Derek, there are others out there like us. People with powers, some who don't use them for good. Some who are probably really, really bad people. I thought I could convince the guy to lead me to them. I had a plan. I didn't think anybody would get hurt, but you sort of interfered."

Derek crosses his arms over his chest. "So this is my fault now?"

I shake my head. "Of course not. I just didn't expect you to find me so fast. How did you know I would be in that warehouse?"

"Are you kidding me?" Derek says. "Of course that's where you were. That's our go-to abandoned building. Or at least it was before it collapsed."

"Well I'm sorry that I worried you. I should have told you, I guess. But you never would have agreed to it."

"Absolutely not," Derek says.

"So then I'm glad that I didn't. And I did get a little information. It's not much, but maybe Mantis can figure it out."

"Oh, if you think I'm mad you aren't going to want to talk to him at all," Derek says. "He might rip you to shreds and then let you heal just so he can do it again."

"That mad, huh? Well he'd have to actually show up in person to personally shred me. It might be kind of worth it." Unless of course Mantis has a robot that he sends out to shred people for him. I wouldn't put it past him.

"Thalia, we had to steal you from a morgue," Derek says.

"What?"

"When that building came down, you were buried under so much rubble. There was no way that I could dig you out of there. Some guys had to come by with a forklift, and when they dug you out they sent you to the morgue, labeled you as a Jane Doe."

"Really?"

Derek nods. "Yeah, they did. And of course we couldn't leave you there, let them do an autopsy on you. So we had to break you out. Mantis had to hack into their computers and switch up the guard schedule and I actually had to go in there and drag you out of the building..."

I look down at my hands. I certainly hadn't anticipated that happening when I decided to break away from the established plan.

"Sorry," I say. "I didn't mean to cause so much trouble. But I don't regret what I did. Not really."

Derek sighs. "Well we can be done talking about it. I'm sure Mantis will have plenty to say about it, so you don't need to hear it from me. He's scarier than I am anyway."

Sure enough, I can hear my phone buzzing on the nightstand next to me. I really need to find a way to debug the apartment. Because that's the only way that Mantis could know that I had woken up. The only way.

"You aren't going to run off if I answer, are you?" I ask Derek. He shakes his head.

"I might get a bowl of popcorn and watch while Mantis chews you out for being a moron."

I click the button to accept the call.

"Where do I even begin?" Mantis asks.

"I don't know," I say. "Maybe with a thank you. I did just take down a serial killer."

"Thank you was not what I had in mind," Mantis says. "You were stupid to take off on your own like that. Do you know how much trouble you caused?"

"Derek's been telling me," I say. Of course, Mantis probably already knows that because he's been listening in. "But I did get some information that I think you will find valuable."

Mantis pauses on the other end of the line. "I guess that will be up for discussion."

"Later," I say. "I think I've earned a day off."

He considers. "I suppose I can give you a day. But call me tomorrow. I have another assignment for you."

"I'm sure you do."

"And a lecture about not being an idiot," Mantis adds.

"Naturally," I say. But today is my day off, so I say, "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"I'm counting on it," Mantis says. "And Thalia?"

"Yes?”

“Thank you.” The line clicks dead before I can answer, but the thanks is satisfying anyway.

I turn back to Derek. He hasn’t run away or gotten a bowl of popcorn.

He’s just there. Being his normal, supportive self. Somebody who, despite everything, I find myself trusting.

I get out of bed slowly, not really trusting my legs. But they hold my weight just fine. I walk up to Derek and stand in front of him. “Are you still mad at me?” I ask.

“A little,” Derek says.

“Hmm,” I say. I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss him. Just a peck, but he’s totally surprised.

“I’m hoping that will make you forget that you’re mad at me.”

Derek grins. He wraps an arm around me and pulls me in closer. “I don’t know. I am pretty mad at you.”

“Guess I’ll just have to work extra hard to make sure you forget.” I wrap my arms around his neck and pull myself up so that I can kiss him again, longer this time.

“Is it working?” I ask.

“Keep that up and I’m going to forget my own name,” Derek says.

“Well we wouldn’t want that, would we?”

“I’d be fine with that,” Derek says. He leans in to kiss me again, but I pull away.

Someday, I think. But not yet.

I take Derek’s hand. “Come on. Mantis says he has another assignment for me tomorrow. So I think now is the time to celebrate.”

“You sure your up for that?” Derek asks. “You had kind of a tough go of it.”

I keep pulling him toward the door. “I’ve had a lot of tough days. Just not any that were tougher than me.”

Derek laughs. “No, and I don’t think you ever will.”

The End of Book 1