Kyle and Amanda left her house and walked hand in hand toward the nearby park.

"You promised you were finally going to tell me your secrets," Amanda reminded him, skeptical that he might back out.

He smiled, "I promised."

"I saw a lot of drawings in Nate's papers, so you really grew up in one of those tanks?" Amanda asked, "You didn't have a normal mother?"

Kyle agreed, "And no father."

Amanda frowned, "Then who raised you? The Petersens?"

Kyle shook his head, "It's going to sound strange…"

Amanda interrupted, smiling, "What's new with that?"

He smiled and continued, "But I guess I was raised by Nicole … and the rest of the Tragers"

"But Kyle, you were a teenager when you came here last year!" Amanda was stunned.

"I was in that pod until I was sixteen, unconscious all that time. That long development is what made my brain develop far more than normal people. It's why I have the ability to do the things I can do." Kyle smiled, "When I first saw you, playing the piano, it was only the second day after I was 'born'. I couldn't even speak yet. I was just learning. Your music was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard."

"I thought you were just terribly shy, I thought it was cute." Amanda remembered with a laugh, "but you learned really fast!"

"Yes, I learn very fast," Kyle agreed. "The swimming lesson you gave me really was my only lesson."

"And you were swimming better than I can at the end of it." Amanda said wonderingly.

I told her about Zzyzx, and about Foss and how he had protected me. I told her how they had found out about me and that it had become unsafe, how the Petersens pretended to be my parents to provide an excuse to move me to a safer place without making the Tragers suspicious. I told her about Adam Baylin and how he had created Latnok and about him being shot. I told her about Foss fire bombing Zzyzx to keep them from continuing to come after me and about coming home to live with the Tragers under the cover story of the Petersens having died.

"You've been in Zzyzx," Kyle told her. "The day we all went into the woods and explored that burned underground facility. That was Zzyzx."

"That's where your tank was? Where you spent your first 16 years?" Amanda's brow creased, "And did Jessi come from the same place?"

Kyle nodded, "Jesse came from there, we didn't know about her at the time. She survived the bombing and woke up. I wish we had known about her and been able to rescue her. Her life would have started a lot easier."

I told her about Madacorp, about how they captured 781228 and named her Jessi, giving her false memories to try to extract data from me. I told her about Sarah and how we had followed the trail from Adam and Sarah's picture to find Adam's cabin, how the song I had her play was the security code. I told how Jessi had downloaded the information and jumped off the cliff – only to show up at Madacorp alive and how I had gotten it back and damaged their network and ended Ballantine's efforts.

Amanda sat stunned, "All this has been going on next door? I thought the problems over me coming back from the conservatory were a big deal. You were bringing down international organizations!" She shook her head wonderingly, "I knew there were secrets, things you didn't tell me about, but nothing like this! So how does Latnok fit in? Nate is part of Latnok. He has a tattoo."

Kyle said, "The student group where the party was is also part of Latnok. Most of them don't know much about it. The main group is somewhere else."

"You said that Adam Baylin founded Latnok. Is it a good organization then?" Amanda frowned, "Why did Nate try to keep me in his room when I found the papers?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure how Nate fits in," Kyle admitted. "I know that some parts of Latnok are not to be trusted. Cassidy is a very bad person. Jessie and I found out that Cassidy killed her mother, Sarah."

"He killed Jessie's mother?" Amanda was aghast, "Did you tell the police?"

Kyle answered, "There would be no evidence that the police would recognize, but Jessie and I are sure. He was trying to recreate the experiment that made Jessi and me. Sarah tried to stop him and he killed her."

Amanda put her hand on his arm, "Kyle, when did this all happen?"

"It happened the night of the prom when Jessi and I were searching for you. Cassidy and some of Latnok's people had kidnapped you and we were trying to find you," Kyle explained.

"Kidnapped me!" Amanda exclaimed, "What do you mean kidnapped me? The night of the prom? I didn't pass out from the punch?"

Kyle explained, "They kidnapped both of us. I got away and then Jessi and I tracked you down and rescued you. You were unconscious the whole time."

"And you didn't tell me?" Amanda sat back unbelieving.

Kyle said earnestly, "But you woke up at the end of the night and didn't remember. I wanted you to have a perfect prom night, filled with good memories. I didn't want to spoil them. I didn't want to make you unhappy."

"But someone drugged me and kidnapped me on my prom night and you didn't tell me? Kyle, I deserved to know. Happy prom memories or not, I had a right to know." Amanda was becoming agitated.

Kyle reassured her, "No, they didn't use drugs; they injected a small electronic device into your brain to harmlessly block the memories so you wouldn't be affected. No drugs."

"I have an electronic device in my brain!" Amanda was shaking now. Kyle tried to take hold of her hand and she brushed his hand away, terrified.

"No, it's gone," Kyle assured her. "It was supposed to dissolve by itself but it took longer than they expected. It was what was interfering with your memory and causing you to have trouble with your piano piece. I dissolved it with an electric charge right before your piano exhibition. I transferred the charge when I kissed you."

"You used an electric charge to dissolve a device implanted in my brain!?" Amanda's eyes were wide with horror. "How did you know you wouldn't kill me, or leave me brain damaged?" Amanda's tone had become incredulous as the revelations piled on top of each other.

"No, it was safe," Kyle said reassuringly, "I tested the technique on Jessi first."

"You tested…" Amanda stopped and sat shaking, tears running down her cheeks.

Kyle tried to touch her and she drew away. He had tears running down his face too, "Amanda, all I ever wanted to do was protect you. I didn't want you to be hurt, I didn't want you to be frightened. I just wanted you to be happy. I love you, Amanda." Kyle sat helplessly watching her cry.

Amanda sat crying for a while, then gathered herself and looked up at Kyle, "Kyle, I know you meant well, but meaning well is not enough. I trusted you. I wanted to know your secrets, but was patient because they were your secrets. But the things that happened to me are things that I deserved to know. I deserve to know I've been unconscious and I certainly deserve to know when you are planning electric brain surgery on me! I know you wanted me to feel safe, but that's all it was, feeling safe!" Her eyes were wide, "I've been in terrible danger and you didn't tell me!

"I tried to protect you." Kyle said.

"But you didn't tell me! How can I walk down the street holding hands with you without wondering if you're rearranging my brain! Kyle!" Amanda was shaking again. She got up. Kyle got up as well. Amanda said, "I can't believe you kept all of this from me, I knew you had secrets, but I thought I knew what kind of person you were. Now, I don't think I know you at all."

She started back toward home. Kyle started to follow and she said, "Don't follow me. I can't talk to you now. I need to think about all of this." And she ran quickly away toward her house, crying.

Kyle sat back down and put his head in his hands.

Secrets. I had been keeping secrets since I encountered Foss in the woods outside of Zzyzx. He told me I needed to keep secrets about myself to protect Amanda and the Tragers. And now secrets may have cost me Amanda. Secrets piled on top of secrets. It had been impossible to tell Amanda about the abduction without explaining everything that came before it or about the implant without explaining the abduction. They all piled up. But she was right, it did not make her more safe, it made her less safe. The secrets may have piled up so high they crushed Amanda's trust for me. Was there anything I could ever do to regain it?