Forgotten by Kailin Gow Page A

Grayson shakes his head. “I made all the moves yesterday. Celes didn’t want anything to do with it. She’s with Jack.”
                “Which is why he’ll come running,” Senator Hammond points out. He tosses the reader to Grayson, who catches it but doesn’t destroy it. “Ah, clever boy. The original is already on its way, of course.”
                “But you can’t do this,” I say. “I mean, you’re running for president .”
                For a second, just a second, Senator Hammond looks a little ashamed, but it doesn’t last. “How do you think people get to high office, Celestra? You think that any one of my political rivals would hesitate if they got hold of footage showing me doing something compromising?”
                “But I’m not running for office. You just grabbed me and…”
                “And with everything that’s at stake, you should be grateful I’m going for an option that doesn’t hurt anything other than your relationship,” Senator Hammond snaps. “All we do is send Jack this and he’ll hurry back. He won’t want to risk the possibility that there could really be romance in the air.”
                I look at him, and for a moment or two, I hate him. Hate him for what he’s done, and for what that might mean for me and Jack. I’m curious too, though. “How can you know Jack that well?”
                Senator Hammond hands back the screen to his bodyguard. “We watched you before we took you, and I’m good at judging people. I saw the way Jack looked at you.”
                “You watched us?”
                He sighs, shaking his head. “I said before, the Others and the Faders aren’t the only ones with an interest here. Frankly, I doubt either of them really knows how dangerous you are. How dangerous you could be, anyway.”
                “And you do?” Grayson says, moving so that he’s between me and the senator.
                Hammond nods. “The part they don’t understand is that what makes you dangerous isn’t your ability to burn people, or your speed. It’s far more than that.”
                I gently move Grayson out of the way. I’m not going to let someone like the senator intimidate me. “You sound like you know a lot about me.”
                “More than you could possibly know.” The senator’s expression softens a little. “But then, I had a better source of information than anyone else.”
                I’ve only seen his expression go that way around one thing so far here. “This has something to do with Johnny,” I guess.
                Senator Hammond looks a little surprised, but then nods. He makes a sign to one of his bodyguards, and the man goes to the door. It opens and Johnny runs in. He looks so excited to be there, though from the way he’s looking at the games console I guess he’s mostly just looking forward to another game of Battlewar with Grayson. Especially with the pleading look he gives his dad.
                “Not right now, Johnny.” Senator Hammond looks at me. “Promise me that you’ll behave yourself, Celestra. Promise me.”
                What? Does he really think that I’m going to do something to hurt a little kid?
                “I’m not the one trying to wipe his memory,” I say, but one look at Senator Hammond’s expression tells me that he’s serious. “Okay, I promise.”
                The senator looks around at his two bodyguards. “Out, both of you.”
                “Senator…”
                “Out. I understand the risks, and right now I’m willing to take them. What I’m not willing to risk is someone overhearing this conversation who doesn’t need to be here. So make sure that we aren’t disturbed for any reason. Understood?”
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