Tangled Minds (Society of Exalted Minds Book 1)

by A. M. Mahler

  Everything in my body hurt, and when I tried to open my eyes, nothing was in focus.

  “Jagger! Oh, thank God! I’m on my way! You’re scaring the hell out of me! I felt what happened, but when you lost consciousness, I couldn’t get a link to you. I’ve been trying to wake you up. Tell me what’s wrong. Never mind. Just lay there. I’ll figure it out.”

  I think Chloe hit me with her car.

  “Don’t try to maintain the link. Just let me see what’s going on. Jesus, you’re mess.”

  Did you say you were on your way?

  “Yeah, I’m almost there. Just hang in there.”

  Hurts.

  “I know. I’m working on it.”

  I felt the warmth inside my body but couldn’t pinpoint where it was. My back hurt, my side hurt, my arm hurt, my chest hurt, and my head felt like it was split open.

  “It is. That’s going to need stitches.”

  Crap.

  “Almost there, Jagger.”

  “Oh, Jagger! Oh, God, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see him! He just ran out in front of me! Oh, God. Oh, God, I killed Jagger DeWinter right before the game.”

  Sure felt that way. I could feel myself drifting again and Olivia yelled in my head to stay awake.

  “I can see the crowd, Jagger! Stay with me! Don’t go to sleep. I think you have a concussion, and a pretty nasty one, too.”

  I thought I could hear the ambulance sirens, but I still couldn’t open my eyes. There were more voices gathered around, but I was focusing on just one. She said she was on her way, right? My Supergirl was coming to save me?

  “Yes, Jagger. I need to be with you.”

  I need you to be with me, too. I love you, you know.

  “You’re delirious. You always say you love me when I’m healing you.”

  It’s true. But I really did love her.

  Olivia dropped to her knees next to me. I’ve only been able to touch her for a few days, but I’d know her touch anywhere now. Finally, the sirens were bouncing around inside my head. It was like I was hearing them in stereo. The tension in the crowd eased some as Livvy’s soft hands landed on either side of my face.

  “Anyone call his parents?” A voice asked.

  “The principal went inside to do it,” Chloe tearfully said.

  Great. My parents were going to have puppies. My father would see this as my fault, but already I was feeling better and could open my eyes. When I looked up, it was right into the soft blue eyes of Olivia. She was here. It was real. All of it had really happened. We were together and everybody knew.

  I closed my eyes and gave myself over to her touch as warmth spread through me. I felt better and better with each passing moment she stayed in direct contact with me. She wasn’t kidding her touching someone directly really did heal them faster. If we weren’t careful here, I was going to bounce right up and freak everyone out.

  “It isn’t safe. Just keep quiet, okay? Keep your eyes closed and do not look at me. If you do, I’ll lose my concentration.”

  Oh, really? I filed that bit of information away for later when I wasn’t laying broken, bleeding on the pavement and I was in a position to do something about it.

  “Don’t be stuck on yourself.”

  I’m not stuck to anything but the pavement right now. I’m really tired.

  “You’ve got some internal bleeding. I’m working on that first. You know the drill. You’ve really done it this time. Broken ribs, definitely a concussion, a punctured lung, I’ll reinflate that next.”

  Then can I watch you pull a rabbit out of your hat?

  “Clever boy. Hush now. Let me concentrate.”

  I tried to do what she told me, but the better I felt, the more my emotions started to get stronger. Olivia. Pretty, tiny Olivia with brown hair, pale skin, and deep blue eyes. Shy as the day was long, super smart, and an artist. Finally mine. She was the most important person in my life and was going to be treated like it.

  “Okay. Let’s have a look here.” The ambulance crew pushed through the crowd. I squeezed Olivia’s hand, indicating I wanted her to stay with me.

  “I have to step back. I’ll sit next to you in the ambulance, hold your hand, and keep working on the way to the hospital.”

  Don’t leave me, Olivia.

  “Not on your life.”

  My angel.

  They loaded me into the ambulance and let Olivia ride with me, holding my hand as the EMT’s worked. She was making their job easier and easier every second. No one else in the back of the ambulance said anything about her continued contact or the fact that she was there.

  Even when she was not fixing some pain or ailment of mine, she was a constant source of comfort. Anytime I needed someone, she was there, quietly offering support when I needed it most. She understood me like no one else in my life.

  I frowned as I heard a sniffle off to my side. Baby, are you crying? Are you all right? I wish I could hold you.

  “This is different than the other times. You’ve never been hurt this badly, and it hurts me. I can’t concentrate with you in my head.”

  I fall back on my earlier statement that girls were confusing. I kept my eyes closed. If she wouldn’t talk to me, I wouldn’t talk to anyone else. I couldn’t answer their questions anyway. I wasn’t able to tell them what was wrong or what hurt because it was constantly changing. Things were hurting less and less, thanks to my own personal witch doctor.

  When we arrived at the hospital, Olivia momentarily let go of my hand while the adults took my stretcher out. I got a brief glimpse of her as I was being wheeled into the Emergency Room and was shocked to see how exhausted she looked. It was as if she was going to fall over any second and sleep for a whole day. As soon as we were through the ER doors, I heard my mother.

  “Jagger! Oh, honey, are you all right? I called your father. He’s on his way.” My mom looked over at Olivia. It was obvious how surprised she was to see Olivia move to my side and clutch my hand again.

  “It’s not as bad as it looks, mom. I feel okay. Stronger every second.” She looked at me funny. It was the first time I came close to acknowledging my strange ability to heal quickly. Thankfully, there was no way to take x-rays at the school. No one really knew how bad I’d started out from the accident. It was all just assumption.

  “The principal said you got hit by a car!” My mother was outraged. I was, too, to be honest. I could swear that Chloe was looking right at me right before she hit me. I was uneasy and not entirely sure it was an accident at all.

  “Yeah, my prom date. She said she didn’t see me.”

  “She was probably on her damn phone!” My mom was still going on about Chloe.

  I was wheeled into an exam room and the curtain closed. One of the EMTs started to pull Olivia out, but I wouldn’t let go of her hand.

  “I want her to stay with me.” I tried to be forceful to get my point across, but my words came out whiny. That was a little embarrassing. Get your shit together, DeWinter.

  “It’s okay, Jagger,” Olivia said, trying to back away. She knew it looked weird that she was there. My mom didn’t know we were friends and was probably wondering just how well I even knew Olivia since I’d never mentioned her before.

  “No!” I insisted.

  “Jagger, you’re well on the mend. I can continue working without being by your side now. The internal bleeding is done. Your leg is healed. It’s just the broken ribs and concussion. I need to sit down for a little while.”

  I want you with me because you’re YOU! Not because of what you can do for me. Break off. I’ll heal the rest on my own. I would be out for the rest of the baseball season, but I could live with that.

  “If I don’t heal the rest, you’ll miss the big game.”

  This isn’t about baseball! This is about you and me. I’m hurt. I want you with me because you’re my best friend. Please?

  “I don’t mind if Olivia stays with us,” my mom said. “As long as she stays out of the way, she can sit with Jagger. We
’ll get her home later.” Way to go, mom! I was going to have to answer twenty questions later. No doubt my mom would want to know all the details of why I was so obsessed with a girl I had never once talked about staying with me after my near-death experience.

  The ER doctor nodded his approval and Olivia stepped off to the side near my mom and out of the way of the medical team. She leaned against the wall and dropped her head. I tried to poke into her mind to get a read on her, but it didn’t work. I felt her, but I couldn’t connect with her. I didn’t understand what was going on.

  “Mrs. DeWinter, I really don’t want to be trouble. You shouldn’t have to add worrying about getting me home on top of taking care of Jagger. I can call him later to check in,” Olivia said. “My grandfather can come pick me up.”

  “It’s no problem at all, honey. If Jagger feels better having you here, I certainly don’t mind.” She patted Olivia’s hand, like an old aunt might do and Olivia raised her brows.

  Ha! Take that.

  Olivia sighed and took a seat out of the way. She couldn’t hold my hand anymore, but I could feel her continuing to work on me inside, her familiar warmth running through my body. The longer I felt her, the more she started to slump in her chair. Something was wrong. I had never tried to sever our connection before, but the anxious feeling in my gut told me it was imperative I do so now.

  I tried to envision the pathway between us. The form of a tunnel appeared before me in my mind and that’s where I felt the connection the strongest. I’d never done this before. I was afraid of permanently severing the link. I couldn’t live with that.

  “Jagger! What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy?”

  I need you to break off, baby. I need you to stop. I don’t know why, but I feel like it’s imperative that you do.

  And that’s when I saw it. I was horrified and hella pissed off.

  She was in pain.

  You can feel this!? Livvy, what the hell. Break off now. Or I’ll do it on my own. I can see the pathway. I can close it.

  Pain returned to my body and the warmth disappeared. I grunted and flinched with the sudden onslaught, but it was less than what I’d felt before. How did she hide this from me? How did I not know that she would feel what I did? I was the worst kind of scum. All these years she’d been curing my ailments and what? Was she taking them on herself?

  The hospital team took over while my mom filled out all the forms and answered their medical questions. The doctor asked me how I felt. I told him I’d got my bell rung, but other than that, I felt fine. He was skeptical. He told me I needed stitches on the back of my head. Crap. They would put me on medication that would make me loopy and I needed to be coherent for an argument I was about to have.

  “I had to leave something, Jagger. You can’t get hit by a car, thrown a dozen feet and not have anything wrong with you. Even you aren’t that supernatural.”

  I suppose she was right. This would definitely keep me out of the game, and I wasn’t sorry about it. Ever since I’d discovered Olivia’s identity, I wanted all my time to be spent with her.

  As the orderlies led me away to get x-rays done, I was already making plans.

  Olivia

  I had never been so exhausted in my life. Before when I healed Jagger or my grandfather, I felt discomfort and a little fatigue, nothing too awful. Only this time, I actually felt everything he did while I took the injury and pain away from him. I didn’t understand what was going on. Why was this time so different? Was it because I touched him? I had direct contact with my grandfather during the healing process, and I didn’t feel it to this magnitude.

  Jagger’s testing revealed a concussion and two broken ribs. I had to leave something injured. No one would believe he didn’t get hurt, especially having been knocked unconscious after being thrown through the air.

  Chloe was responsible. At the scene, she claimed she didn’t see him, but I dipped into her head. When she saw him, she was so enraged, she had just acted. She’d hit him on purpose, and now I needed to figure out how to draw her out to confess. His injuries had been severe. She could have killed him—she almost had. She didn’t plan to cause him harm before the opportunity presented itself, but when it did, revenge was the only thing on her mind.

  Now, I waited by Jagger’s bed, my head resting on our joined hands. He was asleep. They were going to keep him overnight for observation, and I wouldn’t be allowed to stay. There was nothing to be done about that. Jagger’s parents were also here, but they didn’t ask me any questions or talk to me much. They were saving all their questions—and in his father’s case, disapproval—for their son.

  Preston DeWinter, Jagger’s father, was a successful corporate lawyer in Denver. He was also a high functioning alcoholic and physical abuser. I had healed Jagger enough times growing up from the damage caused by his father’s fists. Once Jagger got bigger than him though, the physical abuse stopped, but the emotional abuse continued. The DeWinters had loads of money. Jagger’s mother, Janet, didn’t work outside the home. Her only responsibilities were Jagger, his sister, and keeping the house. Preston arrived home at seven o’clock each evening and Janet had a gourmet dinner on the table. The children were clean, homework done, and sitting at the table waiting for their father.

  If there was a deviation in the plan, there would be hell to pay.

  Jagger hadn’t enrolled in any college yet, but it was already decided for him that he would be going to the University of Colorado and follow his father into law.

  Jagger had no such plans. In fact, Jagger didn’t have any plans, and that was entirely my fault. He wanted to follow me wherever I was going, but I didn’t know if going away to college would be an option for me. If Jagger didn’t follow his father’s plans for him, he would be cut off and disowned.

  In spite of that Jagger would be all right. His grandparents had left him money in an irrevocable trust that his father couldn’t touch. Jagger got access to it when he turned eighteen. So even if Preston made good on his threat, Jagger could still pay for college. Personally, I think it was his plan to push his father’s bluff. He needed to be free of that family. There was something inherently evil about his father.

  When my grandfather came to pick me up, I thanked Mr. and Mrs. DeWinter for allowing me to stay. Janet smiled, but Preston stood up with a large smile on his face when my grandfather came in and shook his hand. Jeremiah and Preston stared each other down, hands still firmly clasped. All the while, Preston still had a smarmy smile on his face. I wasn’t sure what that was about and was too tired to ask my grandfather about it as we left the hospital.

  Preston turned to me. “It was so very nice to meet you, Olivia,” he said. For one horrific moment I thought he was going to hug me, and that idea made my skin crawl. “Have Jagger bring you around for dinner when he’s recovered. I’d love to get to know you .”

  Yeah, pretty sure it would be a cold day in hell before Jagger allowed that meet and greet to happen.

  I nearly fell asleep in the car on the ride home. I wanted nothing more than my bed and to sleep forever. I felt weak and exposed.

  I leaned my head against the cool glass of the truck window and watched the darkened town go by. “Why did it hurt this time?” My voice sounded hollow in my head. I could feel Jagger hovering in my mind, but he was still asleep. His presence soothed me. There was no doubt in my mind that I’d saved his life. If I didn’t have this ability, he would have died.

  “An excellent question.” My grandfather said. “I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it, reach out to others. We don’t know anyone else with your talent, so I have nothing to go by. I’ll have to go back and study the evolution of it. See what kind of course it has progressed on. You didn’t take on the injuries, just the pain.”

  My grandfather was a scientist. He was a psychiatrist—long retired now, of course, but he still studied. He sounded intrigued by what had happened, and I just didn’t have the energy to discuss theories now. I never knew who thes
e mysterious “others” were. I was kept so isolated from anyone else with psychic abilities—other than Jagger. Yet, somewhere out there, my grandfather had people he trusted, whether they knew about me or not.

  We pulled up to our dark house. I waited in the car the required time while my grandfather scanned the area for others. Once all was declared safe, I got out of the car and started walking for the house. Since we moved here, no one had come for us. After my parents died, my grandfather had changed our names. He was ever on the alert and knew one day they would come, and I believed him.

  He thought this mysterious “they” were waiting until I reached adulthood. Was I protected while I was in high school? My grandfather shared precious little with me, and I felt ill-prepared. Something had to have spooked him though to out me to Jagger, and he wasn’t telling me what that was. He was leaving me vulnerable, and the entire situation made me uncomfortable. Jeremiah was an expert at blocking me from his thoughts when he wanted to, and it got frustrating.

  “Jagger needs to be trained.” My grandfather announced as soon as we closed the door behind us, and he hit the living room lights. I stopped in my path to my bedroom and turned around to face him.

  “Trained?” That was an interesting word. “What do you mean?”

  “He’s undisciplined. He needs to learn how to identify other pathways—to hear more than just you. To control his mind. And he also needs to learn how to push thoughts into the minds of others. I left him alone all these years. It was the right decision, but now it’s time to bring him into the fold. I’m not going to live forever, Olivia. When I’m gone, you’ll be vulnerable.”

  I sat down on the couch, a feeling of hopelessness overwhelming me. Jagger wasn’t the only one unprepared. If something happened to my grandfather and he died tomorrow, what would I do? Did I continue with high school? Did I move? As far as I knew, I didn’t have any other relatives. I was eighteen, so I was too old for the foster care system, thankfully. My future was so unclear.