“How old are you?”

“Don’t you know you’re never supposed to ask a woman her age?” She drew a small smile from him as she looked back up. “Two hundred and thirty-four-almost.”

Wyatt’s eyebrows rose but he quashed further expression. “And you don’t look a day over sixty.” A small chuckled emanated from him.

Am I getting through to him? Or is it angry sarcasm?

“I opted for an exchange student so you’d know she had to leave. I agonized over doing it, though. James even gave me his blessing to go.”

“Go where?” Wyatt asked.

“With you.”

“You could have told me. You could have been honest.” His shoulders relaxed, though he stiffened again.

Charley’s frustration level ratcheted up a notch. “Are you kidding?” A small laugh flew from her. “Eighteen and in love-what did you know? You about freaked when I showed you my eyes on the dance floor. How would you have reacted if I told you I could change shape and was a couple centuries old?” She laughed again. “You’d have had me committed. Most of us don’t last this long. Gotta throw that in there.” She angled her head to him.

“What do you mean?” Wyatt frowned and shook his head. “I get that you can change shape, though I don’t understand it. Were you about to die or something?”

Charley restrained her smile. He’s interested. “When we find a match, it… changes our lives forever-literally.” Charley paused. So much to tell. How do I say this so he’ll believe me? “Anyway,” she began again. “After you and Stuart came here that night, Lily and I decided we’d make it look like we’d actually returned to New Zealand. We planned the whole airport thing, just never got on the plane. Unfortunately for me, Stuart had been pissed enough to come after Lily who’d turned into Mira to make our farce more realistic.”

“Why did Lily have to be you?”

“I can’t mimic anyone on my birthday. If I try, that is the form I’ll hold for the remainder of my life. It’s one day a year that I must be me and only me. It’s a permanent eighteen-year-old day.”

At Wyatt’s blank stare, Charley figured she should explain further. “I’m eighteen on my birthday. Every time.” She waved a hand in the air. “Anyway, mimics usually find the right mate somewhere before their hundredth year and make their final change-to live a normal life-like yours. We want to grow old, live, love, laugh, and eventually pass away. But we can only do that if our match shares a birthday with us.”

“Oh,” he said.

“I’d promised a number of people I’d walk away from you, and I knew it was the right thing. You were too young to take on what I’d need… long term. And, I do keep my promises.”

“So, you had to leave.” His tone remained dark but softened.

“Yes. Lily pretended to be me, but Stuart followed her.”

“Good ol’ Stuart.” Wyatt chuckled. “Always the man in the wrong place.”

Charley agreed, though she owed a lot of her sanity to Stuart. “Apparently, Lily didn’t do a great job in her transformation-she’s younger and not as experienced, but she was willing. So Stuart saw through it, and she had to bring him back here to explain. Since that point, he’s been a part of our secret, but he didn’t know all of it.”

“Who else knows your not-so-secret secret?”

“A number of people in the government but not just in the U.S. Most simply don’t believe it. You remember our dinner when Stuart told us all what Julie’s father said?” Charley smirked at the memory.

Wyatt nodded.

“That’s what most people who can’t believe think. For me, it’s more about being able to be anything I want. Because I’ve also been blessed with a photographic memory, I am considered one of the world’s greatest weapons, so our illustrious government keeps me on their payroll and helps keep us… under cover.”

Wyatt cocked his head.

“Stuart had no plans to join the Army.” Charley mirrored the tilt of his head. “The government takes care of us. It takes care of those who learn the truth, too.”

“Oh.” Wyatt moved to the seat next to Charley.

“When Stuart found out, he was forced into service without much explanation… only that it was for the security of the nation.”

Wyatt tilted in the other direction.

“Then, this one time, we were on separate missions. I got caught away from Cael and James. American military came in as insurgents opened fire. We fired back. I recognized Stuart, told him who I was, why I was there, and what I needed. He blinked once, since we hadn’t seen each other for a few months, and grabbed my arm. He believed me at that.”

She closed her eyes at the memory.

“A bomb or something hit the restaurant we were in shortly after. I’d never expected to be in the middle of fighting, Wyatt. I was never supposed to be-am not supposed to be. Stuart managed to get me out of there, back to the Embassy where Cael and James met me.

“I promised to explain everything to him-in detail. It took another eight weeks before we could get him out of South America. When we did, we brought him here.” Charley’s voice cracked. “After we explained everything, he begged me to tell you, but we made him promise… again.” She waved a hand as if to change her answer. “No, I did. His eyes welled, Wyatt… when I made him promise. He had to give you up because of me.

“He’s been a part of my family since then, in a variety of ways, but it’s always… always… always been my fault that he couldn’t tell you.”

Wyatt gave her no response, his face reflected no emotion.

And I have screwed up again. She turned to the door, opened it and stepped inside.


***

Wyatt followed Charley back through the house to the shared office. Her revelation gave him answers and loads of questions. They also suggested a few of her kind might have been part of some of his weirder assignments. As he thought about it, a few of those made even more sense. Hindsight really is twenty-twenty.

Cael, James and Stuart formed a wall in front of a monitor, their heads rising as Charley and Wyatt walked in.

James smiled, his grin directed to Charley. “Forensics came back with some interesting information, and we just picked it up in the files.”

Wyatt bristled as if he’d touched on James’s territory when it came to Charley. He banked the emotions and the war that started within him.

“What did you find?” Charley asked.

“Sit down, and I’ll explain.” Cael turned from the monitor. “I’d like Lily here if possible, though. I think the more she hears, the more she’s aware of what’s going on, the stronger she’ll be for it.”

“I can hang with Sophie if you want,” Stuart said. When all the faces in the room turned to him, he shrugged. “What? She’s asleep. I can handle that.”

“Go, Stuart. Send Lily. And thank you.” Charley patted his shoulder as he walked by. “But nothing to lead us to our boy or understand who took him, right?” Her hand gripped the desk as if she needed its support before the answer fell into her lap.

Wyatt wanted to put his arm around her but hesitated and tucked his hand in his pocket.

“No, not yet.” James passed her a look that broadcast his disappointment in silence.

Lily walked in a few moments later, and Charley patted the seat next to hers. Pinpoints of glitter dotted her cheeks where tears had fallen again. Hands between her knees, she shivered as Cael began.

Wyatt leaned to Charley’s ear. “Can I sit between you two?”

She looked at him like he’d gone looney, but when he pointed to a shivering Lily, Charley gave him her seat. He put one arm around Lily’s shoulders and pulled her tight as Cael’s gaze grew dark and dangerous.

“Keep going,” Wyatt said. “She’s cold.”

Lily nodded her agreement, and Cael turned back to his screen of graphs, numbers and lines.

Thank the Lord.

Wyatt wanted to offer the same to Charley but didn’t know how she would react. At least with Lily, Cael’s responses consistently suggested they were a pair and anything he did would remain in the realm of friendship.

“So, this…” Cael pointed to a red line. “… indicates force. And this…” He pointed to a green one. “… direction. According to forensics, and based on Sophie’s little bit of information, it suggests the assailant was female, and the little dissection of the voice on the phone does, too.”

“How can they tell that?” Lily asked.

“By her injuries, for one. It’s a lot of stuff I don’t understand but have come to rely on these guys to help in this way,” Cael told her. “From x-rays and her semi-conscious account, plus pictures, they measure the force it took to create the breaks in our furniture, the damage in the house. In Sophie’s case, her injuries were light-but Sophie’s small, so she succumbed quickly.”

“So a woman?” Lily whispered.

“Or women,” James said. “If someone attacked Sophie thinking she was Charley, she might have known of Charley’s strength. Why they opted to keep Chase is beyond what we can find here, though, and I can’t see him going down without try-”

“He’s just a baby,” Charley’s voice took an edge toward anger but mixed with desperation. “He can’t defend himself.”

James shook his head and smirked. “He’s eight, Charley. He’s not a baby anymore.”

Charley trembled like Lily, but the chill hit Wyatt, too, despite their lack of connection. Who is Chase, really?

“He doesn’t know what to do. He hasn’t been taught. He’s barely been away from us outside of Sophie.” Charley’s breath hitched.

Cael coughed under his breath.

“What?” Charley’s tone turned suspicious. She moved her hands to her lap as she stood.

“I-” Cael stopped and looked to James who nodded but rolled his eyes.

“Tell me what’s going on, right now!” She tapped a finger on the desk.