Page 176 of Pulse Zero
“I’m not insulting him,” Malcolm replies calmly. “I’m being honest. Reese is exactly the kind of Ascended I saw repeatedly. Powerful, violent, uncontrollable.”
“And yet you made him into that.”
“Because I also saw possible futures where he was necessary. Ones where he would protect you.”
Those bad feelings from before—the ones I felt when I first realized just how much Malcolm had actually planned—come rushing back, barreling right through my chest and knocking the air out of me.
What part of this is actually ours, Reese?
I was right.
What Reese and I have is because of a fuckingplan.
Does that make it not real? Does that make it all a lie, an illusion?
“I know what you’re thinking.” Malcolm’s tone is gentle, and for once, it doesn’t sound fake. “But I didn’t choose him for you, Cason. Fate chose him, and I just listened.”
The next breath I take comes a little easier.
Iwantto accept that.
Malcolm turns and paces once around the edge of the central structure in the middle of the room. He peers around, like he’s taking one last look. “I told your father everything, of course. He was the only person I trusted.”
Dad.
Something thick lodges in my throat because fuck him for talking about my dad.
But I’m also too curious to stop him.
“We researched it all together,” Malcolm continues. “Compared incidents, medical reports, survivor testimonies. We were the ones who coined the terms Ascended and Ascension.”
I swallow hard. Because somehow hearing that feels intimate. Ancient. Like the foundation beneath my entire life just shifted.
“You told Reese you killed my father,” I say quietly.
Malcolm doesn’t hesitate. “I did.”
All that electricity itches to come shooting out of me again, but again, I hold it back.
“But what I didn’t tell him is that I tried to bring him back.”
My powers settle into a dull static as everything inside me stops. I fear I know what he means, but I still have to ask anyway even though my voice hardly works, the words coming out too quiet.
“What does that mean?”
“Your father didn’t die of a heart attack, Cason.”
My gaze gets stuck somewhere far away, and my ears start ringing.
No, no, no…
“He wanted to Ascend.”
My heart pounds in my throat as my breaths come as gasps.
“You’re lying.”
It’s barely a whisper, and I don’t know if he hears me. I can barely hear the words myself.
