Jenna Black - Replica

“Stop it!” she said out loud, still glaring at herself.

Second-, third-, and fourth-guessing herself wasn’t going to help. She’d made the best decision she could under the circumstances, and there was no use crying about it now.

Nadia couldn’t face a formal breakfast with her parents this morning, so she rang for a tray instead. Breakfast in bed was a rare indulgence for her, but if anyone asked, she would claim she was still a little under the weather from her bout with the flu.

To forestall any immediate questions, Nadia made sure to be in the bathroom when the tray arrived, and she called out to the maid to leave the tray on the bed. “Your phone is ringing,” the maid informed her, but Nadia didn’t care. She didn’t venture out of the bathroom until she’d heard the bedroom door close behind the maid.

The scent of eggs and bacon made Nadia’s stomach rumble longingly, but her hunger died when she glanced at her phone and realized the call she had missed was from Mosely. Worse, he had left a message.

Nadia wished she could ignore the message and eat her breakfast in peace, but she knew she’d never be able to choke her food down while worrying about what Mosely had to say. She tried to comfort herself with the thought that at least he couldn’t hurt her over the phone.

Gritting her teeth in anticipation—these days, even hearing his voice was an ordeal—she played the message. It was brief and to the point. And it nearly stopped her heart.

“Nathaniel wore the tracker into the Basement last night. Approximately two hours after he entered the Basement, the tracker stopped transmitting. Find out what happened.”

Nadia hugged herself, trying to remain calm. Her first thought was that Nate had discovered the tracker and disposed of it, but she knew that couldn’t be. If he’d found the tracker, he would know, or at least suspect, that she had put it there, and it was him she would have heard from, not Mosely. He’d have been so furious he’d probably have called her in the middle of the night to tell her what he thought of her.

But if Nate hadn’t found the tracker himself, that meant someone else had. The locket meant more to him than anything in the world—and it also hid his greatest secret. He wouldn’t let anyone touch it. Not voluntarily, at least. But someone obviously had; someone in the Basement; someone dangerous; someone who would have had to have hurt or even killed Nate to get to it.

Nadia grabbed for the phone and called Nate’s personal number, her hands shaking so hard it took three tries. Nate had been taking his life in his hands by asking questions in the Basement. She didn’t even want to think about what might have happened to him when some Basement-dweller found a tracker on him.

“Oh please, please, please be all right,” she mumbled to herself as she listened to the phone ring. She almost screamed in frustration when her call went to voice mail. She tried again, even knowing it was futile. A whimper rose from her throat when voice mail picked up immediately.

There was a soft knock on her door. “Do you need anything else, miss?” a maid’s voice asked.

“No!” Nadia said, fear making her voice sharp. She tried to soften her tone, but didn’t have much success as her heart continued to pound in her chest and her stomach upped its rebellious churning. “I’ll let you know when I’m done.”

“Very good, miss,” the maid said, sounding stiff and insulted. Nadia was usually much more polite to the servants than this, and she reminded herself to apologize later, when she was in her right mind. Assuming she’d ever be in her right mind again. She darted to the bedroom door and locked it while she tried Nate’s land line. Unlike his personal cell, that number went through to the security desk at his apartment, and Nadia had to fight her way through a human barricade, becoming more frantic with each transfer, until the phone in his apartment rang. Of course, even that wasn’t enough to actually put her through to Nate, and it was his butler who picked up.

“This is Nadia Lake,” she said, “and I need to speak to Nate right now !” She practically shouted the words, terrified that Nate was once again lying dead, this time somewhere in the Basement. The thought that the Chairman could simply create another Replica if this one was dead was no comfort.

“He hasn’t risen yet this morning, Miss Lake,” the butler said, sounding taken aback by her near hysteria. “Is this urgent?”

Nadia swallowed hard to stop herself from answering with Nate-like sarcasm. “Yes, it’s very, very urgent,” she said with exaggerated care. “Please wake him up.” Feeling like an immature little girl, she crossed her fingers and prayed he was there to be awakened.

“One moment please,” the butler said, and she wanted to punch something as he put her on hold.

She was in danger of hyperventilating, so she forced herself to sit down on the edge of her bed, close her eyes, and take a few deep breaths. It was embarrassingly hard to manage. When the phone line went live again and Nate’s crusty-sounding voice said “Nadia?” she burst into tears.

“Nadia!” he said in alarm. “What’s wrong?”

What was wrong was she was an idiot, she thought as the tears continued to stream from her eyes and her throat squeezed so tight she couldn’t talk. She’d let her fear for Nate run away with her, calling him without once pausing to think about what she would say if she reached him. She had no good way to explain why she’d been so frantic and why she was bawling like a baby now.

“I was—” she hiccuped, then had to pause a moment to let another wave of sniffles pass over her. “Worried about you,” she finished lamely, swiping at her swimming eyes and shaking her head at herself. Surely Mosely had had people following Nate last night, thanks to the tracker. If Nate had been killed, Mosely would have known it and wouldn’t have ordered her to find out what happened. Her guilty conscience had made her leap to the most guilt-inducing conclusion, and she had acted without thinking.

Even if the worst hadn’t happened, she knew her fears for Nate hadn’t been completely unfounded. There was no way he would have let someone open his locket without a fight.

“Are you all right?” she asked, glad to hear that her voice at least sounded a little calmer.

Nate hesitated before answering, and Nadia couldn’t help thinking she was acting strange enough that even someone as generally oblivious as he had to be wondering what was wrong with her.

“Why do you sound so worried?” he asked. “They told me you were nearly hysterical.”

Yes, of course they had. And she’d confirmed it by bursting into tears when he answered the phone. Of course, she also noticed that he hadn’t answered her question. Was it possible he knew about the tracker after all?

Nadia dismissed that thought with an impatient shake of her head. Nate was not a subtle person. If he was pissed at her about something, he’d come right out and say it. But it wasn’t as if she could explain any of that to Nate. Not unless she were willing to come clean and tell him the truth.

“I just … had a bad feeling,” she said, and almost started crying again because the lie was so lame. And because she was so sick of lying. Her head felt thick and sluggish, and she was utterly exhausted from the aftermath of all that adrenaline flooding her system.

“What aren’t you telling me?” There was more than a hint of suspicion in his voice now, and she couldn’t imagine how she could come up with a satisfying explanation for her behavior. Her throat was so tight and achy she couldn’t force any words out. Her mind flailed for a plausible explanation even as waves of guilt and self-loathing crashed over her.