Untouched The Girl in the Box - By Robert J. Crane Page 0,23

was more potent than any flame Aleksandr Gavrikov could have tossed out. “You’ve been through a lot—gaining powers, your mom disappearing, being locked in a metal box as punishment, being stalked by a psychopath, beaten, injured, watching a ton of people die and blaming yourself,” he listed them as if he were ticking off points from a list. “It might not be a bad idea to talk to a professional about it.”

“What will they tell me?” I felt the rage, but I leashed it. Wolfe was cackling, but I bade him shut up. “That it’s normal to be stressed over being stalked by a psycho, imprisoned in your own house for over a decade, and finding out that you have superpowers?” I let the sarcasm fly. “I don’t care what kind of shrink you’ve got, he’s not qualified to deal with the crap I’d lay on him. I’d probably make him run screaming from the room, some of the stuff I could tell him.”

Ariadne raised an eyebrow. “So you feel you should deal with these things on your own?”

I bit back an angry reply. Even with Wolfe circling in the back of my head, I knew there was truth to what she and Zack were saying. I had been through a lot, more than most people went through in their lives, I suspected. I’d been near death twice in the last week or so, had Mom vanish on me, and had a variety of other things, great and small, on my mind. I blinked. Actually, it was amazing I wasn’t in pieces already, mentally. Maybe I was. I was hearing the voice of my greatest nemesis, after all, and he was dead.

“Fine,” I conceded. “I will...talk to this...person.” I said every word through gritted teeth. “When can you start looking over my mom’s purse?”

“We’ve already started,” Ariadne said. “Kurt had it delivered to the lab when he went to the medical unit. You’ll get the results after the first session.”

“Fine.” I wasn’t pouting, exactly. But close. “When can I meet with your psycho...analyzer?”

Ariadne’s mouth was a thin line. “Right now. He’s cleared his schedule to meet with you. He’s in a different building.” She looked to Zack. “Show her the way?” He nodded.

“What did you want to talk about regarding the warehouse?” I was in a little bit of a huff, but I wanted to get this over with so I could get the next thing over with. Actually, I just wanted to get the whole day over with at this point.

“Your friend Reed. And the new threat.” Ariadne had turned wary again, like she was tiptoeing around what she wanted to say so as not to set me off.

“I’ve only met Reed twice,” I said. Kind of sad, but that made him my oldest friend. “And I have no idea who this new guy is. Just for the record, I’m calling him ‘Full Metal Jackass’ because he’s a sucker-punching douchebag, and I hope you’ll join me in that by putting it on his official file or threat designator or whatever you use to keep track of metas that cross you.”

“Duly noted. We have concerns.” She folded her hands again.

“So do I,” I agreed. “Most of them involve your fashion sense, with a few left to spare for the armor-clad whackjob that bitch slapped me around a parking lot this morning.”

She sighed, bowing her head in utter resignation. “We’d like to know who Reed works for.”

“So would I. But I’d also like to know who Wolfe worked for, who this new metal man is, who funds the Directorate, exactly how many factions are out there involved in this dustup over metas, what all their goals are...” I shrugged. “I asked him some of these questions, and he didn’t answer, so I’m not sure how I can help you.”

Ariadne hesitated. “You could tag him for us.”

“Tag him?” I felt a laugh rising from within and I let it slip. “Is that a crude aphorism for sex? Because I think that would kill him before he could answer any of your questions.” I couldn’t bring myself to look at Zack after I said it. I wouldn’t have gone there, but as conservatively as Ariadne dressed, I had a feeling the reaction would be worth it.

It was. She reddened, her face turning roughly the same shade as her hair. “I mean with a tracer bug, if you should run into him again.” She reached into her top desk drawer and her hand emerged