Justin

You know your day just went to hell when your plans are to take your girlfriend for some dinner and then back to your apartment for whatever else might happen, but when you walk into her house, she's on the floor crying and her mother and sister look like they were too terrified to move. The door was already wide open and that was the scene in the living room when I walked inside. I had missed Zack's exit by about three seconds, but I didn't know that until later.

Kayla was pressed up so tight against her mother that it looked like she was trying to prove Newton wrong, and Mrs. Harris was holding her tightly. And then I noticed the cracked wall. For once, I could wait for an explanation. I brushed past Mrs. Harris and went straight to my girlfriend, dropping to my knees and pulling her close to me. Mrs. Harris didn't seem upset that I had just walked in the house. I normally wouldn't be that rude, but the wide open door had worried me. Looked like I had other things to worry about.

"Baby, what..." I started to ask, but then I got a look at her. Her bottom lip was split and slightly swollen. Blood was still oozing out of it and onto her chin. Her right eye had that red puffed look that heralded a spectacular shiner to come. There was only one person that I knew who came around and could get the better of Jhondie.

"Want me to kick his ass for you?" I asked lightly.

She sniffed. "Sweet that you want a matching crack in the wall, but it won't help."

Kayla let out a little grunt of annoyance. "Did *everyone* but me know?" she cried. She jerked away from her mother and looked at her in expectation.

That seemed to help Mrs. Harris get back her equilibrium. Jhondie was still sniffing, but not crying like she had been. She was still holding onto me and didn't seem like she was planning on letting go any time soon. I would take care of Jhondie; she knew that, she needed to take care of her other daughter. I glanced at the crack in the wall again. From what Kay had just said, I was willing to bet she had just met Zack. I had never seen him and Jhondie get into it, but I could imagine what it had been like.

"Justin was the only person besides your father and I that knows," Mrs. Harris answered. Jhondie still hadn't told her mother about Dr. Lee. Mentioning him at the moment would have been very, very bad timing.

Mrs. Harris blew out a breath and shot me a look of gratitude for being there. "Kay, help me get some ice for Jhondie. Justin, can you..." I waved her on, knowing I would be able to talk to Jhondie better without her mother and sister there. They went into the kitchen, and for a moment, all I could do was hold her and wonder what the hell happened.

"I thought he only yelled when you weren't being a good soldier," I said softly.

She let out a little self-derisive laugh. "He does until you jump him and start screaming," she said bitterly. "Then he reminds you that he's still better at hand to hand." She looked up at me, the pain in her eyes enough to make me want to cry. "Manticore got Bryn. She was sick and when she said she didn't want to die, he let them take her. He told me and I kind of lost it on him."

"Oh, God, baby, I'm sorry," I said, understanding now why they had gotten into a fight. I knew Jhondie's opinions on Manticore and going back. There was nothing that would make her return to them. I didn't like hearing it, but I knew she would rather be dead. I knew far more than she realized about what she had been through and I could at least understand her view on going back.

"I just can't help but feel like there was something I could have done, should have done," she said emotionally, tears starting to flow again. "I don't care if she was sick. Maybe I could have done something and...and...oh God, how can anyone choose to go back to that hell?"

I had no idea what to say to that. Nothing was going to make it better, make her feel like she wasn't responsible. She wasn't. I knew sometimes she felt bad because she had a great life and Zack was always running around and taking care of everyone. She felt like if she would have helped him, then maybe he could have something of his own. But Zack wasn't the type to ask for help once he'd made up his mind. And I was willing to bet he had decided on the separation policy from the moment they started their escape.

I picked Jhondie up and moved her over to the couch. She didn't try to resist, but just held onto me tightly. I was just glad I could give her some kind of comfort. My specialty was words, but at the moment, I couldn't find a single one to make things better. "I'm going to get that ice," I finally said, disentangling from her. "Be back in just a second." She nodded and pulled back into a little ball, her knees tucked against her chest, arms wrapped around her legs.

I went into the kitchen where Mrs. Harris was still filling Kayla in on a lot of the missing details. I was still curious to know exactly how Kayla had found out. Zack was usually very careful on when he came and left here. As far as I knew, Kay had never even met him as a "friend" of Jhondie's.

"So you're saying that she's not even a human?" Kayla asked with all of her teenage snottiness completely back in gear.

"She is very much human," Mrs. Harris shot back. "What they did to her genetically does not alter the fact that she can think and feel and breathe just like any normal person."

Kayla made a little noise of disgust. "But you just said that she's got cat DNA in her. If she's half cat, then I'm going to go with not a human."

"You do that," I said conversationally, getting some ice from the freezer and wrapping it in a towel, "and it makes her cry even once and I will personally kick your ass. Right now, I would say she's a hell of a lot more human than you're being." Kayla's jaw dropped open, and Mrs. Harris had to fight back a laugh. I had stood up to Zack before to defend Jhondie. This kid was not nearly as scary.

Kayla's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, right, like you really believe that. If you did, then you two would be married or something by now. The only reason you're not is because you don't want a freak for a wife and a bunch of half- freak kids running around."

I glared at her coldly. "Jhondie's got a good heart and a sense of compassion and decency. I guess in light of the people you hang out with, that would seem like a freak thing. I kind of like it, myself. And as far as why we aren't married, that's none of your damn business."

"That's enough, you two," Mrs. Harris interjected quickly. She looked at her daughter quickly. "Do you think Tori is a freak?"

Kayla gave her a look that clearly said her mother had lost it. "No," she answered. Tori was one of her friends that was less pierced than most.

"She had gene therapy when she was younger to cure her of epilepsy," Mrs. Harris said pointedly. "They changed her DNA. But you think of her as just a regular girl." Kayla blinked, the point setting in. Mrs. Harris looked over at me. "Jhondie could probably use that ice now," she said. I took the hint and went back to the living room and sat back down beside Jhondie.

She wasn't crying. That might have been a good thing, but I wasn't sure at the moment. Very gently, I pressed the towel against her face, letting the ice help with the swelling. She put her hand over mine, holding it there for a minute before holding the towel by herself. "I would kiss you right now," she said in a low voice, her words sounding funny as they stumbled over her split lip, "but I think that would hurt." I smiled a little and pressed a kiss to her forehead. It looked like the least bruised part of her face at the moment.

"So how did Kay meet Zack?" I asked.

Jhondie sighed. "She was in my closet and I didn't know. Zack came in, we talked, said a lot of things that shouldn't have been said in front of her. Then there was that little earthquake and something fell in my closet. Thought it was Cody. It wasn't. Mom came home just then. Kay freaked. She'd be okay I guess if I hadn't gotten into it with Zack." Absently, she used the edge of the towel to wipe the blood off of her face and chin, wincing slightly at the pressure on her lip.

Mrs. Harris and Kayla came out of the kitchen then. Kay sat down on the side chair, staring at Jhondie's back suspiciously. "So..." she said, "you know that Amazon chick that's been saying she's going to kick my butt and take Frankie? Does this mean you can, you know, take her out with extreme prejudice?"

Jhondie slowly turned and stared at her sister for a long moment. And then she burst into laughter. Kayla grinned and I think Mrs. Harris and I both decided that the heart attack could wait until later. I don't know what her mother had said to her after I left, but suddenly having a genetically engineered sister might not be the worst thing in the world to Kayla. And I actually knew what Kayla was talking about for once. The girl she was referring to was six feet tall and probably weighed about 180. Kayla was seven inches shorter and sixty pounds lighter. There wouldn't be a contest.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly stop her from taking Frankie, but I can guarantee she would regret ever touching you," Jhondie finally replied. Kayla pretended to pout at that and then smiled again. I was starting to think that Kayla knowing might be a good thing. Maybe it would help her and Jhondie to start getting along again in a weird way. Maybe then she wouldn't need her freak friends as much. Nah...I didn't have any ulterior motives for wanting things to calm down around this household, really I didn't.

"Why are you worried that someone is going to find you now, anyways?" she asked curiously. "Like, how are they even going to know who you are? You were a little kid last time they saw you. That guy...Zack...he was saying that other chick got busted for trusted the wrong person. No one here is going to rat you out."

In response Jhondie turned and moved her hair, showing Kayla the back of her neck. I knew that there had only been two accidental viewings of Jhondie's neck in her life, once with me and once with Dad. Not a bad track record really. At least now she could wear a ponytail around the house.

Kayla's jaw dropped and she started sputtering. "But...but...I've seen your hair up before! You didn't have it like at your prom!"

"I know," Jhondie replied calmly, turning back around. "I can have it removed, but it comes back. I did that right before my prom. You know how some people have a mole that comes back even if it gets removed? This barcode is hardwired into my genetic code."

"That's kind of cool looking," Kay commented. "My tight-assed sister actually has something cool on her body. Bet 'Trina would want one if she saw it too even."

"For the first part of my life, it was everything that I was. My name, my designation, the definition of what I was supposed to be." Jhondie said coldly. Her hand clamped down on mine tightly. Kay was going into some seriously bad territory and I didn't think she had the ability to see what she was doing. "It's not 'cool'," Jhondie continued, the ice still coloring her words. "It's a ball and chain stamped into my neck."

"Jhondie," Mrs. Harris interjected sharply. "Kayla doesn't know anything about what you've been through. This isn't easy for her to handle and I think she's doing rather well under the circumstances. The least you can do is try to not get defensive when she says something because she doesn't understand everything. I'm sure you had to explain a lot of this when you told Justin."

Actually, no, she didn't. I never thought the barcode was cool. Then again, I met her when she jumped out of a third story window, so I never really thought of her as a normal girl. But I was also older and had already gone through that teenage thoughtlessness that was getting Kayla to say things to Jhondie even though it was obvious that the subject was quite painful to her. Jhondie had told me things as she had gotten more comfortable with me. I had always had good instincts when it came to questioning people, and I had known then not to push Jhondie. I think that's why she was willing to talk to me. I didn't keep demanding more. Well, there was that once in Boston, but that was a special circumstance. And now...I knew enough now as to why she wouldn't talk about some things.

Jhondie looked over at Kayla who had shrunk back slightly, looking at her with the same expression that she had when she was in the kitchen. "I was in a prison," Jhondie explained much more softly. I could tell that she was starting to have to fight back tears. "And that barcode on my neck is always there to remind me of what they thought of me." She was clinching her jaw. When that started, talking needed to stop. But she continued, her words more hesitant now, the coldness not lending to a smooth flow anymore. "What they wanted me to be. I was their possession. Their grand experiment. We were numbers to them." A tear slid down her cheek. "When we started naming ourselves, we had to be careful because we could be punished for calling someone by their name and not designation." She wasn't really staring at Kayla anymore. Her eyes had darkened and she seemed more like she was staring into a black well of memories.

Kayla had the grace to look uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Mrs. Harris didn't know when to stop it either. I didn't realize then how little Jhondie had told her mother about Manticore. It was hard for her to get Jhondie to talk about it and when she did, typically they would get interrupted and have to stop. Jhondie was talking now and nobody was there to interrupt. But it had gone far enough already. I knew it. However, I knew her so much better than they did.

"Jhondie," she asked gently, "what was so important about forty-six hours?"

Jhondie's hand clenched on mine reflexively hard enough to make me wince as she shot her mother a look so black Mrs. Harris recoiled slightly. "Lydecker had a point to prove," she said slowly through clenched teeth.

"Jhon," I got out in a strained voice, pointing at our joined hands. Her hand was tightening on mine even more and I was starting to hear bones grinding together. She looked at me and then down at her hand, the knuckles going white. She let go immediately with a little gasp, her eyes getting big. My hand was the same shade of red as around her eye, that shade that you know is going to turn into a bruise.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking up at me, fear and shock in her eyes. It wasn't like this was the first time she had grabbed me too hard, but I was willing to bet the events of the day were becoming too much for her and this was just the breaking point. "Are you...I...I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I said quickly with a small reassuring smile. I shook my hand a little. "I'm fine, don't get upset. It's okay." She still looked like she was about to break into tears.

She shook her head. "I need to get out of here," she said quickly, jumping to her feet.

"Honey," Mrs. Harris said, the concern obvious, "I'm sorry if I upset you..."

"No," Jhondie cut her off, "I just...I just need to get out of here." She turned and raced up the stairs to her room.

Mrs. Harris looked over at me. "Do you..." As her words trailed off, I marked it as the first time I had ever seen her at a total loss.

I thought about it for a second. Yeah. I knew. Not the whole thing I was sure, but I could fill in the blanks. "Let me talk to her," I said, and headed upstairs to Jhondie's room.