Pulse

frowned, her papery skin folding into tight wrinkles around the edges of her mouth. “First pulse, second pulse, and Intel, all rolled up into one tidy package. I don’t think even Clara knows how powerful she is.”
    Clara Quinn, the whole deal in one strikingly beautiful girl. She was unstoppable unless they had Hawk’s intellect and another second pulse. And the only second pulse they could hope for was Faith. She had the traits; she was young enough; she’d been carefully groomed. Dylan held her in his arms and wished for something that was starting to feel impossible.
    “We could hold them back,” Dylan said. His mother could be cold; he knew this about her. But she could train them all in ways no one else could. And she loved him more than anyone else, certainly more than his father ever had.
    “True,” Meredith said. “But eventually they’d prevail. It’s what Andre wants. It’s what Gretchen wants. And they generally get what they want unless someone stronger shows up.”
    “You don’t think I can do it?”
    “No, I don’t. Sorry, champ, there’s only one of you. And one’s not enough.”
    It hurt that she didn’t believe enough in him to think he could get the job done, but he also knew she spoke the truth. It was simple math that even Wade could figure out. There were two of them and one of him. He could never do it all by himself.
    “Training session in an hour,” Meredith said. “Better get something to eat. Clooger is making waffles, and we found a huge stash of coffee at the old Trader Joe’s. Who’d of thought something that special would get left behind?”
    Coffee and waffles sounded good, but Dylan didn’t follow Meredith. He could eat later; there were sure to be leftovers the way Clooger cooked.
    “Faith, please.”
    He didn’t know what else to say. He’d brought her into this mess, and now she was practically lifeless in his arms. She’d saved him on the field at Old Park Hill. If it hadn’t been for her, he’d still be pinned under a slab of concrete, his second pulse lost forever. The only thing that moved was her chest. In and out. In and out. Slow and steady, like she were resting up for something that would take everything she had.
    Dylan let her go, and she floated above the bed. He’d found bright yellow sheets at the deserted Bed Bath & Beyond. He thought they looked happy, like the daisies she drew sometimes, and figured they’d be cool against her skin. He lowered her to the sheets, letting her head rest softly on the pillow. He’d waited all this time to kiss her because he had a feeling about a kiss that scared him half to death. It felt to him that it would either be a kiss good-bye or that it would be the thing that would bring her back. It was stupid, he knew, but that was how he felt about it. Kissing her would be serious business.
    He was sixteen, and he’d never been in love. Looking at Faith, he realized how much he needed her, and not just because they had no chance without her. He needed her in order to keep breathing. Every day she was gone was like a death march, walking through the day in a fog, his heart heavy like the hammer.
    “I’m going to kiss you now,” he said. Enough was enough. At least he could do it while she was alive and in a state in which she couldn’t say Gross! Back off, loser.
    He leaned over her body, touched the soft skin of her arm. His hand drifted down to her hand, which he had kept soft with half-hardened lotion he’d found at the Bath & Body Works. He put his ear to her mouth and felt her soft breath as it escaped from her nose in waves. He could feel the air going in and coming out, like the tides that would soon cover the very room he sat in.
    Dylan touched her face with the palm of his hand, turning her slightly in his direction. Her face was incredibly soft, and he wondered if the trembling in his fingers would wake her. He touched his lips to hers and pressed in close. Seconds passed and Faith didn’t move. He pulled away, tried again. He wasn’t going to stop until she moved or gave him a sign. He would stay right there all day if that’s what it took. But this, too, was dumb. It was a sort of final insult that he knew he couldn’t sit next to her bed kissing her all day long. Bittersweet. He tingled with excitement because he was kissing the girl he loved. But she didn’t move, and that definitely ruined everything.
    He pulled back very slowly, letting the full weight of disappointment sink in.