Unravel Me: The Juliette Chronicles Book 2

of person who could never age, who would remain forever preserved in this ethereal form.
    “Twenty-four,” he says, looking grateful for a chance at validation. “Just turned twenty-four, actually. Had my birthday last week.”
    “Oh, wow.” I’m surprised. He doesn’t look much older than 18. I wonder what it must be like to celebrate a birthday at Omega Point. “Well, happy birthday,” I say, smiling at him. “I hope—I hope you have a very good year. And”—I try to think of something nice to say—“and a lot of happy days.”
    He’s staring back at me now, amused, looking straight into my eyes. Grinning. He says, “Thanks.” Smiles a bit wider. “Thanks very much.” And he doesn’t look away.
    My face is hot.
    I’m struggling to understand why he’s still smiling at me, why he doesn’t stop smiling even when he finally looks away, why Kenji keeps glancing at me like he’s trying to hold in a laugh and I’m flustered, feeling oddly embarrassed and searching for something to say.
    “So what are we going to do today?” I ask Kenji, hoping my voice sounds neutral, normal.
    Kenji drains his water cup. Wipes his mouth. “Today,” he says, “I’m going to teach you how to shoot.”
    “A gun?”
    “Yup.” He grabs his tray. Grabs mine, too. “Wait here, I’m gonna drop these off.” He moves to go before he stops, turns back, glances at Brendan and says, “Put it out of your head, bro.”
    Brendan looks up, confused. “What?”
    “It’s not going to happen.”
    “Wha—”
    Kenji stares at him, eyebrows raised.
    Brendan’s mouth falls closed. His cheeks are pink again. “I know that.”
    “Uh-huh.” Kenji shakes his head, and walks away.
    Brendan is suddenly in a hurry to go about his day.

TWENTY-SEVEN
    “Juliette? Juliette!”
    “Please wake up—”
    I gasp as I sit straight up in bed, heart pounding, eyes blinking too fast as they try to focus. I blink blink blink. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”
    “Kenji is outside,” Sonya says.
    “He says he needs you,” Sara adds, “that something happened—”
    I’m tripping out of bed so fast I pull the covers down with me. I’m groping around in the dark, trying to find my suit—I sleep in a pajama set I borrowed from Sara—and making an effort not to panic. “Do you know what’s going on?” I ask. “Do you know—did he tell you anything—”
    Sonya is shoving my suit into my arms, saying, “No, he just said that it was urgent, that something happened, that we should wake you up right away.”
    “Okay. I’m sure it’s going to be okay,” I tell them, though I don’t know why I’m saying it, or how I could possibly be of any reassurance to them. I wish I could turn on a light but all the lights are controlled by the same switch. It’s one of the ways they conserve power—and one of the ways they manage to maintain the semblance of night and day down here—by only using it during specific hours.
    I finally manage to slip into my suit and I’m zipping it up, heading for the door when I hear Sara call my name. She’s holding my boots.
    “Thank you—thank you both,” I say.
    They nod several times.
    And I’m tugging on my boots and running out the door.
    I slam face-first into something solid.
    Something human. Male.
    I hear his sharp intake of breath, feel his hands steady my frame, feel the blood in my body run right out from under me. “Adam,” I gasp.
    He hasn’t let go of me. I can hear his heart beating fast and hard and loud in the silence between us and he feels too still, too tense, like he’s trying to maintain some kind of control over his body.
    “Hi,” he whispers, but it sounds like he can’t really breathe.
    My heart is failing.
    “Adam, I—”
    “I can’t let go,” he says, and I feel his hands shake, just a little, as if the effort to keep them in one place is too much for him. “I can’t let go of you. I’m trying, but I—”
    “Well, it’s a good thing I’m here then, isn’t it?” Kenji yanks me out of Adam’s arms and takes a deep, uneven breath. “Jesus. Are you guys done here? We have to go.”
    “What—what’s going on?” I stammer, trying to cover up my embarrassment. I really wish Kenji weren’t always catching me in the middle of such vulnerable moments. I wish he could see me being strong and confident. And then I wonder when I began caring about Kenji’s opinion of me. “Is everything okay?”
    “I have no idea,” Kenji says as he