Freak of Nature - By Julia Crane Page 0,21
at this point. Soon she would be gone.
Kaitlyn stared blankly at him. “Can I help you?”
“Look,” Lucas said, his stomach suddenly aflutter with nerves. “I’m just going to come out and say it. Can you feel things?”
She tilted her head as if trying to process the question. “Such as pain? No, I cannot.”
“Not pain. Emotions. Feelings.”
Kaitlyn’s eyes darted to the ceiling. The red light of the camera blinked. “I don’t know what you mean. You have to be more specific.”
What in the world was he thinking barging into her bedroom like this? She had no clue what he was even saying.
I’m such an idiot.
Lucas sighed. “Forget it. I’m sorry, Kaitlyn. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
As he turned to leave, her voice stopped him. “Lucas, I would like some fresh air. Professor Adams says it is good for me.”
The request startled him. He turned back around, meeting her blank gaze and scratched his head. “I guess I can take you outside.”
“I would like to be taken outside. The fresh air is good for me.” She untangled her legs and rose to her feet. Lucas watched, mesmerized, as she slid her slender feet into a pair of brown leather flats.
He held open the door, and she brushed past him. When her skin hit his, it nearly dropped him to his knees. A jolt of electricity surged through him with only the barest of touches, and he knew it wasn’t because she was half electronic. A girl had never had this effect on him—and he had known a few girls. He could never seem to relate to them.
Lucas took a deep breath and steadied himself. He asked himself again what he had been thinking coming here; it was bad enough he had to see her for hours in a clinical environment. Seeing her outside of work felt more intimate, and it scared the hell out of him.
“I will show you where I walk with Quess.”
“You walk with Professor Adams’s granddaughter?”
“Yes.”
How did he not know that? He should be talking to Quess instead of Kaitlyn. That would definitely be easier. Lucas shoved his hands deep in his pockets to stop from fidgeting as they walked the empty halls and out towards the courtyard.
It was a cool day. They didn’t pass anyone on the narrow sidewalk that led away from the dormitory towards the woods. Kaitlyn broke the awkward silence. “Did you know that dogwood trees used to be called dog-tree?”
Lucas cracked a smile. “No, I wasn’t aware of that fact.”
“The name switched over in 1614.”
“That’s interesting.” He slid a sideways glance to her. “Do you like dogwood trees?”
Kaitlyn looked at him blankly. “It’s a tree.”
His shoulders slumped an inch, disappointed.
“Do you like trees?”
Lucas blinked at her in surprise. “They are needed for clean air, so yes. I like trees.”
She didn’t ask anything more. They continued walking, Lucas so aware of her presence beside him that he couldn’t think of anything else.
They came to a large birch tree. Kaitlyn reached out and pressed her hand to the peeling bark. “This is my favorite tree.”
Lucas stared up at the massive tree. She wasn’t built to have preferences for something like that. He kept a straight face, trying to squash the hope that built within him. Maybe he hadn’t imagined it. Maybe he really had seen emotion in her back at the lab.
“Why did you come to my room, Lucas?”
“I-I don’t know. It was foolish. I’m sorry I bothered you.”
“It’s not a bother. I like to get out of the room.”
That word again. Was she trying to tell him something?
“You do?”
Kaitlyn nodded once, a horribly robotic gesture, and kept walking. He hurried to catch up.
Lucas tried another tactic. “Kaitlyn, if I told you that you didn’t have to leave, would that make you happy?”
She tried to hide it, but he saw it: a flash of hope in her wide blue eyes. “Can you do that?”
“It depends. Do you want to stay here?” He didn’t have the authority to make such an offer, but he wanted to see her reaction. Maybe he could plead his case to Harrington.
Yeah, right.
She looked down at the ground and then back at Lucas. “I don’t want to leave. I don’t like it here, but I feel safe.”
His heart rate accelerated. Holy shit. This was huge. Lucas wanted to run back and tell Professor Adams, but something in her face told him not to. How could he have missed the signs that she still had feelings and emotions, hopes and fears?
Lucas thought of