Embers & Ice (Rouge) Read Online Free

in
his ears, Joshua was regretting giving up his luxurious suite to move into room
fifty-seven and the lab. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t afford the apartment
upstairs. It just felt so empty without Hunter living in it. There were too
many touchy memories.
    Besides,
living in the trashy room outside his lab – where the furniture still smelled
like damp carpet – was the best way to keep an eye on Eli and… the teacher.
    Joshua
held his breath as he entered room fifty-seven against the pungent smell of
age. It had been over two months since Prom, and still the apartment didn’t
feel like home. It was, after all, only a front for the lab that lay hidden
behind it, just in case the Agents followed him home. No one would think to
lift the picture frame on the mantelpiece of the fireplace where the hidden
lever was that unlocked the secret coded door revealing his sound-proof,
impenetrable laboratory. No one except Hunter.
    Still,
it was strange to be living in this room, especially when it was so
uncomfortably homey. Joshua hated anything comfortable. If it wasn’t stiff, it
was cold or modern or disgustingly expensive. That was how he liked it.
    Joshua
dumped his groceries on the vinyl kitchen bench, gazed at the small apartment
and sighed.
    God.
I’m living in Paul McCartney’s bedroom.
    In
spite of the smell, Joshua lingered in the apartment for as long as possible,
unpacking the groceries and making dinner for two. Yes, for two. Joshua plated
up a salad and cold chicken for himself and microwaved a quiche – because he
hated using an oven – and stood behind the kitchen bench, trying to force
himself to open the lab. Truth was, he didn’t want to face her. Not after
yesterday.
    Joshua
took his time preparing for the cryonics process, and after combining his old
research with the new formula from the stone, it took another few weeks for
Jennifer Smart to unfreeze. Joshua didn’t expect it to take so long, nor did he
expect to actually succeed. He spent countless hours researching,
re-researching and then doing so again until he was sure it would work. Even
then, he didn’t know for certain.
    It
was messy at first. As with any revival from cryonics, very advanced
bioengineering and molecular nanotechnology was needed. Fortunately, Joshua
saved well and had very good connections. Not to mention he could be very
persuasive at times.
    The
worst part of the revival was repairing Jennifer’s tissues. After the fire in
the school, her skin was littered with burns, burns that made it that much more
difficult to heal the tissue beneath the skin as well as on the surface. He
worked very hard to balance the temperature and help her cells regenerate. It
would have been easier if the technology was available, but – like always –
Joshua was ahead of time.
    Jennifer
soon awoke. The moment her breathing became normal again and her words formed
actual sentences, the screaming started. Some cursing and gibberish that Joshua
neither knew nor cared to know was involved. Joshua deflected her attempt to
punch him with a flick of his wrist and a spray of ice that froze her arm
stiff, but that only made her scream louder. He hadn’t been able to get a
single word in to explain why he had frozen her in her hospital bed. She
wouldn’t allow it.
    Since
he couldn’t get a word in, he also couldn’t ask her if she felt any different.
He feared she had lost some part of herself, and he didn’t know her personally,
so he couldn’t determine whether anything had changed. So far, she wasn’t
speaking in Spanish or behaving like a gorilla, so that satisfied him well
enough.
    He
hoped that by bringing her dinner and approaching the situation guardedly, she
might actually calm down and listen.
    He
was very wrong.
    The
moment the door to the lab slid smoothly sideways and Joshua stepped into the
bright environment, a female body collided with him from the left and he, the
female body and both plates of carefully prepared dinner went