Echoes by Marissa Lete (best books for students to read txt) 📕

that makes me cringe. “Sometimes, yes. Sometimes we just let them go from this world.”

I remember the words on the pages I’d read. Contained. Unresolved. And the third one: controlled. Did that mean she’d killed them?

“The point of it all is that my work is imperative to the survival of humanity as we know it.”

“Why would it be?”

“These abilities, some of them are dangerous. Some of them hurt people. You probably already know this, but Maverick is capable of erasing memories.” She glances at me as she says the words, judging my reaction. I think I see a hint of surprise when I don’t respond. “When he was younger, he accidentally erased someone’s memories, causing permanent damage to his life and to his family.” I know this, too. I remember Maverick’s devastated expression when he told me. “It’s not just him,” she continues, “It’s all of them. All of the anomalies have the power to impact lives, to hurt people. They have to be stopped before they use their abilities against others.”

I think about her words for a long moment. Sure, Maverick’s ability had hurt people accidentally. But he learned to control it eventually, and now the times he’d hurt others weren’t exactly done willingly. But what if someone else had Maverick’s ability? Someone like Alice? That could end pretty badly.

But some of the files in the cabinet hadn’t seemed that bad. I picture one of them in my mind: someone who could move small objects without touching them. That doesn’t sound dangerous.

“Not all of them,” I finally tell Alice.

“That, my dear Laura, is where you’re wrong.”

“The echoes don’t hurt anybody,” I fire back.

She folds her arms across her chest. “Ah, but can you really say that your parents are unscathed by your peculiar tendency to hear the… echoes, did you call them?”

I don’t respond.

“Certainly it was devastating to them when they discovered that their only daughter was never going to be normal.” She narrows her eyes. “And are you, yourself, not hurt by the realization that you have to live with this burden, forever?”

I think about her words. I’d spent seventeen years dealing with the echoes, trying to live a normal life despite them. Sure, I’d never felt completely normal, but I dealt with it. I even made friends this year. And then there are all those months I’d spent dating Maverick that I don’t remember. Surely I’d felt somewhat normal then. Right?

“It doesn’t bother me,” I tell her.

“Oh, so that’s why I found seven years of patient records on you, and your difficulty in living with the situation.”

“That’s not fair. No one believed it was real,” I say.

“But you can tell me, now, that you’re honestly fine with accepting the echoes as part of your life, forever?”

It’s a tough question because part of me does think it would be nice to not hear them. Part of me wants it to be possible. But then I think about what the echoes have brought me. Fun memories of conversations long forgotten. Things to look back on, like mini time capsules only I can hear. And then there’s Maverick. What would have happened if I couldn’t hear the echoes? Would Maverick and I have ever ended up knowing each other again?

I decide, then, that I’m fine with the echoes. They’re a part of me now, I can truly accept that. “Yes,” I say firmly. Finally.

Alice gives me a long, thoughtful look. “So if I had some way to block the echoes, you can honestly say you wouldn’t take it?”

“Do you?” I ask instantly. Instinctually.

She smiles again. “That’s actually what I want your help with.”

I blink at her. “How could I help you?”

“You could stay here. Help us run tests. To learn more about the anomalies and how they work.”

“Something tells me that you’re going to keep me here whether I agree to it or not.”

Alice nods. “Sure, but it’s always better to have someone here willingly. That way, you can describe to us how you’re feeling instead of us trying to guess.”

“And sit here while you kidnap people and hold them hostage, or just kill them? While you study them and destroy their lives? You say that you want to block these abilities to keep people out of danger, but you’ve been sitting here using Maverick’s ability for your own personal gain!” I explode.

Alice slaps her hands down on the table, eyes cold and full of anger. “I’ve been using his ability for the greater good!”

I shake my head at her. “You’re a hypocrite. And you know it.”

Alice leans back in her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose like she’s got a headache. “So I guess you’re not going to help me, then?”

I fix my gaze on her, putting as much rage as I can into my next three words. “No. Absolutely not.”

Chapter 33

Alice doesn’t waste any time trying to convince me otherwise. She lifts a phone from her desk, then presses a button on the keypad. When she speaks into it, the sound permeates the entire building. “We’ve got a Code 2. Please move into phase three.”

“What was that for? What did you just do?” I ask, my eyes widening.

“You won’t help me, so there will be consequences.”

“What do you mean?” I stand from the chair, leaning close to Alice’s desk, knocking the desk lamp over in the process.

“Sometimes our choices affect other people. People we love,” she sneers.

My panic grows. What was she going to do? Kill my parents? Hurt Maverick? Because I wouldn’t help her, even though she was going to force me to anyway? I whip around, spotting the gun on the ground and rushing toward it. I’m not sure how it will help me while my hands are cuffed behind my back, but I