Touch No Evil
Page 15
“She’s our mom, and he doesn’t have a say in the matter. I’m an adult, you know.”
“Has he ever tried to use your talents as a futurist?” I ask.
“He has, and he did.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“A bit used, but I got over it. In the end, he’s a pretty good dad. Besides, there are worse things in the world than helping your president father make good decisions for the planet.”
“Good point, Julia,” I say.
“The Child of Anarchy and the Child of Peace are in one family,” she says. “What are the chances?”
I grin at that. “If you believe in that sort of thing.”
She laughs. “So, what does that make us, Ky?”
“Sisters of Awesomeness?”
“Okay, I don’t hate that. It’s kind of nice, actually.”
We are quiet for a few moments. My jaw, amazingly, is perfectly healed. Yeah, we’re a traveling freak show, for sure.
“So, is John really the father of…” Julia angles her head in a question.
I shush Julia before she says anything more. She and I are the only two people who know the identity of Jonah’s father. I’m not sure if John knows that his genetic material was used without his knowledge or consent. I will tell him soon, under the right conditions. He needs to know. Before we…
“Who’s going to raise Jonah?” Julia asks.
It is, of course, a good question. I look at the little bundle of chubbiness playing with Ayden’s nose and ears, and I know, without a doubt who will raise him.
“We’re working on that. And not just Jonah. Hope, too,” I say.
Julia catches my grin, and curls her hand through mine.
“Yes,” she says. “One big happy family.”
Chapter Thirty-two
It’s good to be back in Israel with my kindest, wisest friend.
“So, you got John back.” Sister Marie-Luce smiles as we stroll through the garden of Notre Dame de Sion. We’re alone while John and Hope move through the garden at the opposite end, identifying flowers, their heads bowed together over colorful, fragrant blossoms. Those two have a special connection.
“From what I understand, I never lost him,” I say, matching her stroll and smile. “Well, maybe for a little while, when Simms first made him into that horrible creature of death.”
“Not even then, Kylie.” Sister Marie-Luce takes my hand. “Even as Simms was trying to turn John into an instrument of evil, John’s good heart and spirit fought back against the serum and programming. Unless I miss my guess, much of his motivation and power comes because he was thinking about his love for you. That same love restored him.”
It’s been a few days since the events at the compound. For now, Julia has returned to her place next to her father, the president, concluding the worldwide hunt for the First Daughter. Julia’s public excuse for her disappearance was simple… she wanted a little freedom from her responsibilities and the media.
Luckily, only one Secret Service agent got chewed out for her disappearance, but he’s back on duty now, with no lasting harm to his career, but in another area far away from Julia.
Julia’s story that she purposely slipped away from her birthday party and headed into the nearby countryside to explore alone was incredible, but the President—and the world—had little else to go on. Turned out, for the most part, we’d managed to keep her away from street cameras and security cameras of all types. Although occasional, grainy pictures of her were shown on some news stations, for the most part, her brief disappearance fell prey to conspiracy theories that quickly died out. A popular story was that she had briefly been abducted by aliens.
I’d jabbed Ayden in the ribs about that one. Sadly, I don’t have to be psychic to know his budding relationship with Julia won’t survive the media attention. A spy, after all, has to keep a low profile. My one-time partner intended to apply for Secret Service training.
The GEPSI children and their mothers found safe and secret passage back to the States, where John will oversee their re-integration back into society, although some of the older children and mothers expressed interest in continuing their work with PSI—which, from what I also understand, John Herrel is positioning himself to oversee. He’ll make a fine leader for our group of misfits and spies. For better or for worse, spying is in my blood and luckily, I’m good at it. With the right leader in place, we can continue to do good things in the world with our covert operation. John is that leader we need.
I tell Sister Marie-Luce, “This entire ordeal has tested my trust in everyone around me. I’ve doubted each one of them at one point or another, well, except for Hope and you, but each of the others, for sure. I feel guilty for not holding on to my faith in them.”
“Maybe it is in the testing of our doubts and proving them unfounded which strengthens our faith,” Sister Marie-Luce says. “Although in the bigger picture, there is one faith, one trust that will never fail you.” Her eyes go skyward for a moment.
I consider her words. They ring true, which is one of the many reasons I have come to depend on her during my worst crises. It feels good to be able to talk with her about anything, especially since we’ve no longer got the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over us from Simms. Listening to her gentle wisdom and her profound perspective is as comforting to me as a grandmother.
“How is she?” Sister Marie-Luce asks, and I know who she means.
“Seeing my mother was nearly my undoing,” I say, feeling a lump in my throat and tears threatening to spill over the rims of my eyelids. “I mean, I remember her being so vacant and wishing that she showed any sign of life—any life at all. But seeing her screaming was not any better. It shook me. Until…”
She tilts her head at me. “Until what?”
I let out a long breath. “Until John said, ‘Let me try to help her.’ And he laid his hands on her, just like he healed others of physical ailments and injuries. Even me.”
Sister Marie-Luce doesn’t respond for a few moments. “It is a monumental task to heal a mind that has been through what amounts to a spiritual war,” Sister Marie-Luce says. “What happened when he tried to heal her?”
I smile. “She stopped screaming and suddenly lucid, she remembered giving birth to four babies.” I stop and look directly into Sister Marie-Luce’s eyes. “She remembered us. And she smiled. Smiled! We could see the love in her eyes for her children.”
“That’s the best part of memories, don’t you think?”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Love, of course. Your births are moments of joy that could not be taken away from her, no matter what she endured. Though the memories of your births were hindered by Simms’ emotional torture of her, those moments when she’d brought life into the world must have helped her get through the worst things. It is so beautiful, so compassionate that John was able to remove the blinders to joy with his healing.”
“John is helping her a lot, healing her with his powers, but she is still struggling, finding it hard to communicate, though the terrified screaming has stopped. And she is finding comfort in everyday things.”
Sister Marie-Luce says, “If there is going to be complete healing for her, I believe it will be found in the lives of those four babies, which, of course, includes you, not just John’s healing hands.”
I’m not sure exactly how she thinks this can be accomplished by me and the other kids. Without John, my mother’s fate would be hopeless.
“What do I do?” I ask.
“Her memories must be recovered,” the sister says.
“Even the bad ones?”
“Though it is sad, it seems better to help her remember than to allow her to live without any memories at all, except when you were all born.”
“Simms kept her drugged up for years. I want to be there for her, but it will take a miracle for her to recover from all this,” I say, not sure I believe in miracles, in spite of all of the unbelievable and impossi
ble things I’ve recently witnessed.
Heck, Kylie, I think. Aren’t you are a walking, talking miracle?
Sister Marie-Luce says, “Our lives are made up of a number of small miracles, which we take for granted on a regular basis. And powers can be taken for granted, too. You may not even yet know what powers, through Him, you are capable of, unless you test them. Do it. Go forward. Grow.”
I really can’t argue with her on that point, so I don’t even try. My mind skips to Hope, Julia, Jonah, and John. For a time, I’ve gotten away with thinking mostly about myself, the use of my gift, how I now fit with the guys on the team, with PSI. It seems that my focus has shifted dramatically, especially with the addition of Julia and Jonah. And I don’t want Ayden to leave the team to become a Secret Service agent. It weighs on my heart that he might leave the team.
I see Hope running toward us with a bouquet of wildflowers she’s picked and I know they’re for me. Her face is flushed, happy and full of love. John follows close behind her, the little flower identification book in hand and his face flushed. And equally full of love for me. Hummingbirds are all around us, flitting in a dazzling display. It is a perfect day.
“Here they come. Ready or not,” I warn, knowing Hope is going to launch herself at me for a huge hug.
Sister Marie-Luce says, “I think you better collect Hope and John and get back to the guys. Ayden and Noah are probably not equipped to be taking care of little Jonah.”
I smile at the thought. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
She takes my hands. “Letting me help once in a while is thanks enough. I have always wanted to be a spy, you know.”
“You’re full of surprises, sister.”
She winks. “You have no idea.”
“Like when you summoned me here to see Hope’s birthmark.”
“Oh, was that me?” she asks innocently.
“It was. You’re a psychic in your own right.”
“Maybe. But first and foremost, I’m a woman of God.”
“Did the Archangel Raphael really visit John?”
“In the Bible or here?” she teases and adds, “What do you think?”
“I think maybe our John got a visit, too.”
“Then I think maybe he did, too,” says Sister Marie-Luce.
I smile and take in some air, and watch Hope skip through the garden, John right with her.
Our small wedding is in the planning stages, and John and I already talked about adopting Hope and Jonah. Yes, we’ll be one big happy family. The world at large doesn’t need to know that Hope, Jonah and I are biological siblings. And that John is, indeed, the biological father of little Jonah. Yes, it’s all weird and it hurts my head, but that’s us. One big, weird, happy family.
We’re a family who’s managed to prevent the end of the world. Truth is, I’ve been dreading all sorts of weird off-the-wall things like demons coming up out of the ground or rains of fire and whatnot. Now that I think about it, had Simms’ plan succeeded to assassinate the president using Jonah’s touch, it very well could’ve caused the end of life on Earth as we know it.
Humanity’s destruction doesn’t necessarily have to come from paranormal means. Nuclear warheads would have done the job rather well.
It’s so weird thinking about how someone way back when the scrolls were written could’ve foreseen that. But, after watching Hope blip around time, I start to wonder if she’s not the first person to ever have such a gift. I abruptly stop wondering because thinking about time travel is something else that seriously hurts my brain.
Geryon is still on the run, and there’s always the potential of Echidna showing up again, but we aren’t too worried that she’ll escape her time-travel containment in the past. We have two audial psychics in the family, a healer, a time traveler, a futurist, and a powerful mother who might just pull through all of this once she gets her head on straight, with help from John and us, and from above. Oh, and God only knows what force of nature little Jonah will grow into. Yeah, we aren’t all that worried. Yet.
After all, we’re just one big happy family.
And we’re kind of badass, too.
The End
This is also the end of the PSI series.
We hope you enjoyed it!
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Also available:
Dark Horse
The Jim Knighthorse Series #1
by J.R. Rain
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Daddy’s Home
A Holly Jennings Thriller #1
by A.K. Alexander
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About the Authors:
A.K. Alexander dreamed of being a writer since the age of nine, earning a degree in journalism from the University of Southern California before tackling fiction. Today she is the author of almost two dozen books—women’s fiction, paranormal novels, mysteries, and thrillers—including her recently re-issued debut novel, Covert Reich. A lifelong equestrian, she helps to run her family business manufacturing sports-medicine products for horses. She is a native of San Diego, California, and still lives there today with her family, which includes three kids, nine horses, four dogs, and a cat. A.K. Alexander is the pen name to mystery and young adult author, Michele Scott. She can be found at: www.michelescott.com.
J.R. Rain is an ex-private investigator who now writes full-time in the Pacific Northwest. He lives in a small house on a small island with his small dog, Sadie. Please visit him at: www.jrrain.com.
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