Remember Me

By Stacey Nash

An exciting new adventure from Stacey Nash, set in the world of The Collective. Following on from FORGET ME NOT, this brilliant YA series concludes with NEVER FORGOTTEN.

When all is lost, she must remember...

Anamae Gilbert managed to thwart the Collective and rescue her father, even though his mind is now a shell. Determined to stop Councilor Manvyke hurting her family again, she's training to become an active resistance member and falling hard for resistance fighter Jax Belfry. But things never sail along smoothly - Manvyke wants retribution and Anamae's name is high on his list.

After a blow to the head, she awakes in an unfamiliar location, unable to remember the last few weeks. She can't believe the fascinating new technology she's seeing. She's the new kid at school, and although weapons training comes with ease, something feels off. Why does the other new kid's smile make her heart ache? 

And why does her gut tell her to run?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Oct 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781460704011

Stacey Nash

Stacey Nash is a writer, mother, wife, but not always in that order. Stacey went to the University of New England to study history where she fell in love and married her college sweetheart. Now, they live in the gorgeous Hunter Valley, Australia. Stacey has a passion for writing stories set in speculative worlds, from science fiction to fantasy and anything in between. She also loves to blog is a co-founder and a contributor at Aussie Owned and Read, a blog designed for readers and writers of young adult and new adult fiction, as well as World of YA, a blog designed for lovers of young adult fiction.

Book preview

Act I

Lost

Chapter One

Mae

Gotcha!

The wooden stick thwacks into my calf, knocking my leg out from under me with a muted ache that makes me stumble, my free arm whipping round and round like a propeller. But it doesn’t help. My foot slides off the rope anyway. Will grabs my shoulder, hauling me back onto the slatted bridge, barely stopping me falling from the trapeze training area high in the tree canopy of The Ring.

We’ve been training like crazy since saving Dad from the Collective. I won’t be an easy target again. I’m resistance now, and I’ll fight.

Laughter booms from below, where Jax and Lilly sit at opposite sides of the cleared forest floor. Jax leans back on his elbows, peering up into the canopy, looking at me with the half-grin that makes my insides melt. I don’t let him distract me for long though. Instead, I swivel around and bring my padded stick up, crunching it into Will’s side. He lets out a grunt but barely sways on the rope. He’s too strong for me to budge. Jax says something I don’t quite catch and stifled giggling floats up like a tolling bell. Clearly Lilly’s trying not to laugh, but Jax’s humor is too much for even her steely grudge.

Right, this is it.

I’m not the helpless girl they think I am. I can best them all up here, I just need to concentrate on outwitting them. A quick glance around gathers my thoughts; ropes over there, down there, up there too. Yep, that’s the way. I spring off my feet, grab the support above me, pull myself up, and scurry along it while Will’s still looking around to see where I’ve gone. There’s no way I can win if he gets the upper hand. Play like a squirrel, quick and smart. My hand moves toward my neck, but I pull away before I touch the pendant that’s always there. I’ll play fair. Hanging upside down with my legs wrapped around the rope, the stick tucked between them and up over my shoulder, I pull myself along into the thick canopy. Lilly’s giggling continues joined by her dog, Ace, who yelps at the air.

I shuffle back, deeper into the tree, letting the branches and leaves close around me.

Ha, get me now, Will Avery.

There’s a wall of greenery in front of me, but I can peer through the branches to see the ground below where Jax still lazes back on his elbows. He looks straight at my hiding spot and closes one eye in a slow wink, flooding my chest with delicious warmth. Suppressing a smile, I hold my finger to my lips.

The leaves on the far side of me rustle. Damn, Will’s already passed. Pay attention, Mae. I swing down out of my hiding place and silently creep along in Will’s wake.

Using his training stick to poke at the branches in front of him, he’s oblivious to me behind him. This isn’t a game of hide and seek, Mae.

I creep so close if he spun around we’d both lose our balance and topple over the side of the ropes. Holding my breath, I bring the stick around to my side, just below shoulder height. It whooshes through the air and thuds against his right leg. The entire structure sways.

Ahhh! Fingers springing free of the rope, he grabs his leg, then, like he remembers, makes a grab for the handhold but it’s too late. He’s already falling off the side, and growling, Cheat.

Well, look at that … The safety attached to his makeshift harness snaps taut, twanging the walkway under my feet. I have to clutch the rope handrail with both hands to stop my laughter unbalancing me too. I win and I didn’t cheat.

Don’t get too cocky. He climbs back up the rope.

Still holding the handrail one-handed, I reach out and haul him up beside me where he sits with his legs hanging over the side. After a huge sigh, he says, I’m beat, let’s take a break.

Sure.

I walk along the suspended path, my bouncy steps matching my light mood as I jump down to the next level and swing to the ground, my feet thudding on a large fallen log. I’m way more confident in the crisscrossed rope training area than I was last month. The height no longer makes my stomach lurch or my eyes zoom in on ground. Thank small mercies.

Nicely played, Lilly says from her cross-legged position on the cleared forest floor. She tosses a water bottle back and forth between her hands, her eyes glued to it. Probably to avoid accidently making eye contact with Jax. Since finding out his true heritage, that he’s not only of Collective blood but Manvyke’s son, their whole friendship has changed. It’s like she doesn’t trust him anymore, like he’s not the same person he always was.

Thanks, I feel like I’m improving, I say, throwing my practice stick onto the ground and grabbing the drink from her outstretched hand. A swipe of the back of my arm across my forehead catches the dripping perspiration. This sure is thirsty work. I pop the top of the bottle, gulping water.

Will lands with an ungracious thud behind me. You only won because my knee’s not a hundred percent. He snaps the elastic brace wrapped around the knee I purposefully didn’t hit.

Whatever makes you feel better, Will. That’s why we’re training up there in the trees, gives us even footing. I smirk at the half-lie, tossing him the bottle.

Some more even than others, Jax says.

I’ll take you on, Will challenges.

Jax laughs.

We all know who’d win. Not the guy tipping his head back and squirting water into his mouth. As Will lowers it he grabs the bottle with his other hand and squeezes. Water spurts out its nozzle and hits me smack bang in the face.

Will!

My blond friend snorts and Jax chuckles as he pushes himself up, shooting Lilly a wide smile as he comes to join us. Who’s next?

She doesn’t meet his eyes. She just picks up a stick and drags it through the dirt making stupid patterns while she snubs him. Will eases himself onto the ground, without bending his leg, and squirts me again.

I think it’s time you went home, I tell my tormentor. Go back to school or something.

He chuckles. You know darn well I left school last summer.

Go back to work then. I grin. You know what I mean.

Dad’s cool with the time off. Besides, it feels kind of strange with your house being empty and all.

The thought of our abandoned house is heartbreaking. The photos of happier times, the memories of Mom, my dad knowing me, are all mere haunting memories. I’ve only been back once and Dad hasn’t visited at all. It’s safer here while he’s still—

I can’t believe you guys actually pulled that stunt off, Lilly says.

As if we couldn’t, Jax says.

Manvyke’s really off our case. Turns out he’s more scared of losing his council standing than going after me, but the thought of that makes my satisfaction slip. I’m not quite sure I trust him to keep his end of the deal.

Who’s next? Jax asks again.

I smile at him, trying to cover up Lilly’s obvious rejection. I’ll go again.

He shoots me a crooked smile in return and strides to the hanging rope. Grabbing a knot just above his head, he says, Let’s go. He scurries up the trapeze like he’s half-monkey. Before I’ve had time to move he’s in the branches hopping along the walkways and making it look far easier than it really is. I’ll make it fair, no weapons, he shouts.

I’m smarter than you, Jax. Weapons won’t make a difference. I scale the dangling knotted rope, attempting to follow his laughter as it moves through The Ring.

Whatever, Cupcake.

The nickname that once grated on me now brings a smile to my lips. I pull myself onto the lowest walkway, and peer up. There he is. Sitting right at the top of the concaved canopy, where the tree tops all bend together to create the domed roof. I blow out a long breath; to say this will be a challenge is an understatement. He’s so damn good.

Come on, if you want to be good enough to go up against Manvyke, you have to push your limits.

Manvyke. His name never fails to make my head throb with anger. The shell that once held my father now holds a shattered man that doesn’t know his own daughter, all because of Manvyke. The twined rope above me comes into focus, every fiber taunting me with his name. I grab it, swinging my legs up onto the twisted branch at its side, then to the next walkway above. I need to figure out a way up. If I come straight at Jax winding up the twine ladders I’ll be a sitting duck. He’ll see me coming, and wait in ambush. I need to use his high-placed advantage against him.

Yes, that’s it. Abandoning the walkways and ladders, I duck into the cover of the thick branches, grateful that these trees aren’t deciduous. Settling in for a long wait, I lean against the trunk and let the tang of crushed leaves and the frigid winter air numb my nose. How to win? How to win? Jax is so darn good. Will’s earlier taunt about cheating tickles my thoughts.

Tech.

I reach for my pendant, but my hand catches only the bare skin at my neck. I’m so used to wearing it I barely notice if it’s there or not. Guess it’s not today. My shoulders drop and a disappointed sigh gushes out. No invisibility in this game. I’ll need to get my cover-up back from Marcus though; surely he’s almost finished figuring out what activates the protection bubble.

I reach for the next highest branch and pull myself up, scaling the tree like I was born to do it. My body tenses with each move, trying to make the least amount of noise possible yet stay hidden. A slight rustle and I cringe, inhaling when Jax taunts, Tired of playing?

Something clatters as it hits a branch above me, then another tap to my left and the noise continues falling, clacking against branch after branch until it thuds on the ground. Frozen in place, I peer down at the thick stick and my heart doesn’t even race at the height. I’m proud that I can control myself to stay calm.

I’ll make it worthwhile. Jax’s voice is closer now.

A tingle runs through me—a longing for the feel of him: our hands touching, his soft lips against mine, the warmth of his chest against my cheek. Leaning forward, I take a small step almost out of cover then pull myself back.

Dirty cheat.

He knows the effect he has on me. Not this time, Jax Belfry. I’m onto your sneaky tricks. I wriggle back against the tree, dropping my legs over the branch with a newfound patience setting in. I can’t win this by reaching him, by climbing up to his exposed, high position. The climb would make me a clear target. Best to wait, yes, make him come to me. Which I’m sure he’s already doing.

Will and Lilly’s chatter echoes up into the canopy in sharp contrast to the earlier silence between her and Jax.

Edging leaves back, I peek up through the foliage trying to see where he is, but it’s so dense I can’t. My eyes close, the sounds around me becoming clearer as I concentrate with every ounce of my being. He’ll be moving. Jax can never stay in one spot for long. Especially now he realizes I’m not playing his game.

Leaves rustle. I knew it. My eyes spring open and I stare at the branches around me. The only movement is a slight swaying. It’s too rhythmic to be him, must be just the winter wind. I try to focus on other sounds, but it’s impossible to hear anything over Lilly’s laugh. So I let my eyes drop closed again, silently urging her and Will to shut up.

Snap. There it is, the dry crack of a branch breaking underfoot. It comes from just above and I smile. He’s coming. Then silence. Hurry up, come closer. I edge away from the trunk and shuffle forward until I’m just barely under cover, waiting in the deafening silence. He’ll come soon. I can almost sense him in the air shifting a little with each step he takes closer to me. I pull my legs up and crouch on the branch ready to pounce.

A soft thud and a small whoosh of expelled breath sound right near me. Aha! I spring out of cover. His green eyes widen then narrow right in front of me, barely inches away. Grinning, I move to push him to the side but his hand darts to close around my wrist. My other arm comes around from the side ready to strike, but as it flies toward him his hand darts out faster than I can blink, snapping around my second wrist. A frustrated grunt slips from me while a smirk tugs at the corner of his mouth.

Found you.

He leans in pressing his firm chest against my wrists which are bound by his grip, pushing them onto my chest. My feet give a few inches as I’m forced to step back. I shove against him, leaning all of my weight into it, but it’s no use. He’s too strong. I stumble backward and have to give another step to regain my balance.

Come on Mae, you can beat him, Will yells.

Jax angles his mouth to my ear. Ah, but does she want to?

You bet she does. I push again.

He chuckles and gives a slight shove. Then I’m stepping back again in an attempt to hold my ground.

Give up?

No.

He smiles, his eyes twinkling jade. His finger pokes into my chest, prodding me back under the leaves which brush over me, closing first me then him in their wintry embrace. Each individual leaf tickles my skin, or at least seems to, making me tingle all over. His hands, steady and firm and warm, grip my wrists loosely. He chuckles, and I know I’ve lost as his lips brush against mine. They suck the tingle in from the rest of my body to an intense focused burning where our lips touch.

Damn, he’s playing me. I shove again, pushing him off me, my hands sharply digging into my chest where he holds them against it. Argh, I can’t budge.

He pulls back with a teasing smile.

Two can play this game, let’s see how you like that, Mr. Smooth. I lean in, pressing my lips against his in more than a mere teasing brush. He responds; searing heat through my body as my mouth moves with his. Hard, needy, and urgent. Yes. I can still win this.

A tug against his grip releases my wrists. Easing them back, I wrap my arms around him and our bodies press together, closer than can be. Lips against lips, chest against chest, thigh against thigh, arms around waists. His hand moves to my cheek, runs down my jaw. His tongue slips into my mouth and slides against mine. Sweet feelings spread through my veins, totally erasing our game from my thoughts.

Hey! Will’s voice breaks our moment. We can’t see. Who’s winning?

I sigh against Jax’s kiss and slowly, reluctantly, pull away. These stolen moments are never long enough. Always cut short by someone or something. Jax smiles his crooked smile, full of promises for later.

Shouting, clashing, the bang of what could only be gunfire.

The strange noises draw my attention away, to another direction.

Jax stiffens in my arms and his eyes meet mine, morphing from darkened with desire to wide and still. His hand drops from my face and he darts through the branches back onto the ropes of The Ring.

A scream cuts through the air, and a single thought pounds through my mind, my chest, my being.

Dad.

Chapter Two

Mae

I dart out of the branches, swing down a rope and scuttle to the ground without conscious thought. My body moves quicker than my mind but not quick enough to catch up with Lilly and Jax, who are already running. Will slices me a fraught look and I take off. My feet pound against the hard packed earth out of The Ring, past the burnt orange barn. The homestead in the distance surrounded by its half ring of tall poplars doesn’t look right. There’s something off, but I can’t pin what it is.

It’s not until we’re closer that I can make out the bunch of shadowy dots moving around just outside the house.

There’s something strange going on. Too much movement.

I try to catch Jax and Lilly. Her long dark hair streams out behind her kite-like, while Ace lopes along between them like it’s a race. Jax clutches something in his hand.

A silver knife shoots out the top of his closed fist—his compacted blade, no doubt.

There’s no more yelling or gun shots, but I can’t hear a thing over the pounding of my feet on the hard earth, and the whoosh of air in and out as I pant. So maybe there is more, I can’t really be certain.

Heat sears through my legs as I push on. Past the cows grazing, heads down like nothing out of the ordinary is happening. Through the long grass which tickles my pumping fists, straight down the hill toward the farmhouse. The Ring never felt so far away. The shadows move: some hunched over, a few up straight. My gut clenches.

Dad.

The need to get to him, to make sure he’s safe, spurs me to run faster. He’s still so lost and disorientated he won’t know what’s happening. That thought pushes a surge of energy through me and I gain on Lilly who’s fallen behind Jax. A sideways glance as I run past her, shows a panic ridden, flushed face that must mirror my own.

Dad.

I sprint up the other side of the hill. We’re almost there now. The black shapes emerge into figures standing outside the house—dark pants, dark shirts, black from head to foot—circling like predators in a hunting ring.

Collective.

Jax stops.

I can’t let them get Dad again, so I run even faster.

A thwack to my stomach jolts me to a stop and Jax’s arms swoop around me just in time, thick and strong, breaking my fall inches from the unforgiving earth. Squirming, I try to break free, but he restrains me from running on.

I struggle against him, for once not wanting to be in his hold. I have to get to my father. Let me go.

Look at them, Mae, Jax hisses near my ear. They’ll overpower us. His words rush out through puffed gasps. We’ll be more help if we scope it out first.

He doesn’t get it. He just doesn’t get it. I twist against his hold, wriggling downward in an attempt to escape. There’s no way I’m letting them take Dad again. Will skids to a stop beside us with Lilly hot on his heels. And like he hasn’t noticed everyone else stopped, Ace keeps powering past us.

A series of curse words I never realized she knew slide right off Lily’s tongue.

Anger, desperation and need drive my elbow toward Jax’s stomach, but it doesn’t connect with its target. His hold is too tight. Let me go.

He leans close, whispering in my ear, You’re not rushing into a hopeless situation which, I’d bet is an ambush.

The harder I try to break free the tighter his hold becomes.

They can’t take Dad again.

You don’t know that’s what they want, Jax says. Manvyke’s probably after the Tarlequin.

Tarlequin, cover-up, my pendant.

Crap, the outhouse with peeling flecked paint. My breath barely has time to hitch before I notice no agents are near it, not yet. My tech is safe for now, but Dad’s not, nor are any of our people.

How did they find us? Lilly says, eyes wide, breaths bursting in and out. They shouldn’t be able to find us. It’s not right that they found us.

The hide-all, maybe … Relax Mae. Jax’s arms loosen slightly as I stop struggling. We won’t let them take him. We need to work out what to do.

He’s right, even though I don’t want him to be, and even though everything inside me screams to run, logic kicks in. We need to figure it out. I close my eyes and his hold loosens from the tightness of restraint to the firmness of support. Relaxing against him, his chest steadies my trembling body.

A grunt and scuffle beside us, draw my attention to Will’s flushed face. If not for the creases along his brow, I’d think the redness was from our mad dash. Let her go, he practically growls.

Jax doesn’t.

Come on, we can’t stay in the open, they’ll see us. Without another glance, Will sinks to the ground and scurries along on all fours, his back well under the height of the swishing grass.

Jax grunts and pulls me down, spinning me around to face him as we sink to our knees. His fingers trace my jaw, cupping my face. I won’t let them take him, he says. You won’t lose him again.

I nod. Even though Dad is here in body, he’s still not with us in mind. Manvyke and the Collective robbed me of my father when they altered his memories, erasing me from them. Jax’s lips brush my cheek then move to the other one, dropping a soft kiss. He lowers his arms and slips his hand into mine, his touch calming my mind and my nerves, making everything clearer.

Jax gives my hand a quick squeeze then releases it, darting away on all fours like Ace when he slinks through the grass. Frig, Ace. Glancing around for the dog, my attention catches on the outhouse which holds the workshop, and again I hope to God that my cover-up is safe. We can’t afford for something that powerful to fall into Manvyke’s hands and, regardless of its power I can’t lose it. The pendant is my only tie to my mother. I huff out a breath, wishing there was tech that could split me in half so I could go two ways at once, and rush after Jax. As much as I don’t want to risk losing it, there’s really no question. Right now, Dad’s more important than the Tarlequin.

The grass swishes around us, at least two feet above my back. Being so close to the ground fills my nose with dust, its rich, earthy scent tickling my nostrils. A held breath suppresses the threatening sneeze, thankfully.

We circle around, coming to the small orchard behind the vegetable gardens where Will crouches behind an orange tree, peering around the trunk. He points to the ground indicating we should stay low then holds two fingers up, balls his hand into a fist, and opens up five more. Seven agents. Seven of them and four of us. Those odds aren’t good.

I mouth, Anyone else?

He squeezes his brows together. Is that a no? If only we had the telcom, I’d be able to speak into his mind. Are our people out there too, or is it just agents? So hard to tell. The yelling, the shots, the single scream. Anything could have happened.

Jax scurries past Will to the next tree, crouching behind it with his back to its trunk, then he peeks over his shoulder at the dreaded scene.

Lilly shuffles beside me, her breath still loud and labored, obviously concerned. Her hands fist so tightly her knuckles whiten. The realization of what she has at stake—her mother, father, little brother, and all of her people; the only home she’s ever known—slaps me out of my self-centered worries. This is about more than just me and Dad. I give her arm a gentle squeeze. We’ll get them out, Lil.

Her dark eyes jerk to mine and I greet them with a smile, trying not to let my half-hearted hope show. Right now my friend needs to believe. My attention swings back to Jax. His weapon still in his hand, the clarinium blade shining in the sun now it’s released from the hilt.

Will sneaks away from the tree and drops onto the ground between me and Lilly, his stomach flat against the hard packed dirt. There’s seven of them but I can’t see any of ours. They must all be inside.

What are they doing? I ask.

No idea, and hell knows how they found us.

But there was a scream—

And yelling. Dad and Sam would’ve fought, Lilly says. Where are our people?

I glance at Jax, who’s still surveying the situation. Yeah, whe—

I told you I don’t know where he is. Beau’s voice cuts through the afternoon, loud and clear.

Lilly tenses. Her arm trembles, just a little, and I place my hand on it. Four of us, seven of them. We have no tech and only Jax has a weapon. How the heck are we going to help Beau? I keep my expression calm, for Lilly.

On your knees, commands a voice I don’t know.

A sharp glance at Jax reveals his face masked with anger. I rise onto my heels and peer over the grass like a farm cat stalking a field mouse. A cluster of people, our people, resistance people, march out of the house and form a small group on the lawn surrounded by agents. Beau stands a little away from the group, an agent pointing a tech gun at his chest.

I said, on your knees.

Beau continues to stand, glaring at the agent even though his eye level is a full foot lower. The agent brings the butt of his pistol down hard, and a loud whack followed by a thud crumples Beau to the ground. Lilly whimpers and shoots to her feet.

Damn.

Lilly, no! Will grabs her by the ankle and she face plants the ground, her hands barely breaking her fall in time.

A scream comes from the group followed by a grunt that sounds loud even from here. I peek up again and Martha’s hands cover her face as if to protect herself from witnessing the beating Beau’s surely about to take. My stomach crumples. We’ve got