CHAPTER NINE

"What are you thinking?" Sarah asks me as we stand in the doorway, looking out at the quiet street.

I shake my head. "I don't know. I don't know what to think."

"Do you think he's..."

I look at her as she watches the road. Her skin is paler than usual and her eyebrows are drawn together in an expression that seems to mix worry and confusion. She looks tired as well – really tired.

"If you're asking whether I think he works for Patrick, then no, I don't," I reply, turning back to the street. Opposite us, a lady struggles down the road, pushing a pram as the wind continuously flings her shoulder length hair into her eyes.

"But it's possible, right?" Sarah insists. "Why else would he leave like that?"

"Maybe Patrick's people took him. Maybe he had an emergency errand to run. I mean, maybe he's just taking the trash out. We don't really have any evidence of anything, so there's no point in jumping to conclusions."

"But he just left. Without saying anything. And my ability..." She trails off, her voice soft.

"So what? He has powers – that doesn't necessarily mean he's a bad person. And besides, maybe you inherited that ability from your mother."

Sarah lets out a frustrated breath. "Or maybe you're just biased. He's your father – you grew up with him – and that's making you ignorant of the facts."

"What facts?"

"Well, for one, I have freaking powers. Me. Powers. And the spirit flew straight at me like it knew I would survive – like it wanted me to know I could survive. It led us to the conclusion that Thomas has abilities. And then we find he's missing? Doesn't that trigger alarm bells?"

I release a breath. "Maybe," I admit. "But I don't want to think about the possibility that he's been lying to me all this time, pretending to care for me, pretending to love me. I don't think I could handle it."

Sarah nods, and in the quiet that follows, I look at her once more. Maybe it's just my imagination, but there seem to be some serious shadows beneath her eyes. She looks as if she could fall asleep at any moment and I can't understand why.

"Say, hypothetically, that Thomas does have powers, and that he's an Anarkk," Sarah says suddenly. "How would you respond to that?"

I frown. "I don't know. I–" I shake my head. "I honestly don't know."

She nods.

"What about you?" I ask.

She considers it for a moment. "I'd definitely have to rethink a lot of things. I mean, he's my biological father. If he's an Anarkk, then what would that make me? What might I have inherited from him? What would it mean for my future? It'd change a lot, I think."

"Even though you don't really know him?"

She nods. "Even though I don't really know him."

There's another moment of silence, in which her tiredness becomes even more evident. "Are you feeling okay?" I ask. I notice she's leaning against the door frame for support.

"Fine," she says, and she pushes away from the wall as if to prove her point. "I'm just thinking."

"You look tired."

She shrugs, and it seems to require a lot of effort on her part. "Didn't sleep much last night."

"Really? Because I swear, you were more awake this–"

Just then, her knees buckle and she falls, knocking into me on her way down. I grab her arms before she topples completely to the ground, but her weight slams in to me as I try to hold her up. "Sarah?" I say, panicked.

She looks up at me weakly. "The curse knows what's in your heart," she whispers.

Then she passes out.

-:-:-:-:-

Caden pulls up in front of the house in Katherine's car and rushes up the pathway towards me.

"I came as quickly as I could," he says as he reaches me and I step aside to let him in. "Where is she?"

"In the lounge room," I reply, directing him quickly towards Sarah. "I put her on one of the couches after she fell unconscious."

We reach the lounge room where Sarah lies unconscious, her skin pale. A memory from before we swapped, of another Sarah lying on a couch as the life drained out of her, comes to the forefront of my mind. It's happening again, I think for one terrifying moment. Then I remember we've swapped back and realise that couldn't possibly be true.

"What did you say she said before she fell unconscious?" Caden asks, kneeling on the ground before her.

"She said, 'the curse knows what's in your heart'," I quote, watching for Caden's reaction. He swallows.

"What does it mean?" I ask.

He gives a tiny shake of the head. "Hopefully not what I think it means."

"And what is that?"

"Later," he promises, meeting my eyes. "Right now, we need to get her out of here."

I nod, and he lifts her up off the couch, bridal style. "Remind me again why you're here?"

"I was taking Sarah to meet her father."

Caden raises an eyebrow. "And how did that go?"

"Quite well," I say. "I mean, it did at first." We exit the house, and I make sure to lock the front door behind us as we leave.

"At first?" he asks as we make our way towards the car.

"Well, as I'm sure you've noticed, her father is absent."

He looks at me. "Let me guess: you told him everything and it was too much for him to handle."

"No, actually. He took it quite well."

Caden unlocks the car and carefully places Sarah along the backseat. "So you told him," he says as he closes the door, and I nod. "What happened then?"

I take a deep breath. "He – Sarah – well, this spirit–"

"Please tell me I'm not going to have to pry this out of your mouth," he interrupts, moving around to the other side of car. I smile despite myself as I open the passenger side door and slip in, waiting for him to step inside before I reply.

"Sarah has an ability."

He freezes, halfway through closing his door. "She has a what?"

"An ability. A spirit flew straight through her and I thought she was going to die but instead her eyes just went white and milky and he skin rippled as though it wasn't solid. And then she did this thing with her hands where she turned them to mist and back again. It was freaky."

"Wait, when did this happen? Was Thomas is the room when this happened?"

"No we were out the back. Sarah had stepped outside to give me some time to talk to him and when I went to get her and bring her back in, the spirit just flew at her."

"And then...?" he prompts.

"Well, abilities are inherited, so we came to the conclusion that Thomas must have abilities. But when we went back inside to talk to him about it, he was gone."

"And then Sarah passed out."

"We talked for a bit – about whether or not her father was an Anarkk – and I noticed she was looking increasingly tired. But then yeah, she passed out."

Caden exhales, finally shutting his door and resting his hands on the steering wheel. "That's some morning you've had."

"Tell me about it."

We sit in silence for a moment. "So, thoughts on what Sarah said before she passed out?" I ask.

Caden nods. "It's the Limit. At least, I think it is. She must have used her powers too much and it's drained her energy, knocked her unconscious.

"The Limit? But I thought that only applied to Anarkks?"

"It does."

It takes me a second to understand what he's getting at, and when I do, horror spreads through me like a disease. "You think Sarah is an Anarkk?"

"Maybe not on the surface. But deep down...anything's possible. And think about it – she was saying the curse knows what's in your heart, which is basically how it works. It targets people depending on their innermost beliefs. And if her father is an Anarkk, it only makes sense that she would be one too."

"But like you said, these terms are based on what you believe. Why would Sarah believe in the destruction of humanity? She's been raised by people who believe the opposite."

"Good question," he says, and looks over his shoulder at where she lies on the back seat. I follow his gaze. "She wants to be home-schooled, she disappeared for a day, and now she has powers," he mumbles.

She's also been lying to us, I think, but I don't say it. "What are you getting at?"

"I'm not sure, but there's definitely something going on with her. And it's not good."

I look out the window at the perpetually quiet road. "Let's just get her home. Katherine will know how to handle this."

When Caden doesn't start the car, I turn back to him. "Why haven't you started driving?"

"We could take her somewhere else, you know," he says softly, as though hesitant to suggest it.

I frown. "What do you mean?"

"Well, there's a high probability that she's keeping something a secret. I was just thinking we could maybe ask her some questions before we bring her to Katherine."

I stare at him, aghast. "You've got to be joking. You want to interrogate her?"

But he's not playing around – his face is as serious as ever – and it frightens me. This is not the Caden I know. "We wouldn't be interrogating her, just asking her questions away from Katherine's ears."

"What's wrong with involving Katherine?"

"Think about it: Katherine raised her. She'd never think that Sarah was an Anarkk. And therefore, she'd never agree to let us follow this through."

"Who says that I agree to follow this through? I mean, come on, this is insane. Sarah's our friend." How could he even think to do this? Where did this come from?

"You know I'd never hurt her," he says, and I think, do I? "Besides, we won't be intimidating her – It'll be casual."

"Casual," I parrot. "Because placing her in a situation she can't escape and demanding answers is casual."

He sighs. "Fine. Fine. It was just an idea. We'll take her home," he says, and finally starts the car. We head off down the road, an air of tension settling inside the car, draping itself across my shoulders.

I don't say a word, but as we drive, I wonder about Sarah and her lies. I wonder about the father I grew up with and his secrets. I wonder about Caden and whether he's still the same person he was when we first met or whether he's changed, whether I still know him.

As we drive, I wonder whether I really know anyone at all.