Tangled Minds (Society of Exalted Minds Book 1)

by A. M. Mahler

  “Not really,” I replied. “He’s only looking out for you, but he’s not trying to control your life. He doesn’t want to end up like your dad.”

  “He could never end up like that man.” She shuddered and crossed her arms over her chest. “I can only imagine how evil my father’s thoughts must be. I feel terrible for leaving our mother behind, but she always stays even when it’s really bad. And I know it’s not going to end well for her. I changed the scenario by leaving with Jagger, but it doesn’t change the outcome for her. I wonder if we could park Miles outside his office in Denver and drive my father insane with all the changing weather that only he sees.”

  “That would be interesting to see,” I agreed.

  “While Jagger increases his pain.”

  Okay. We were going down an unpleasant road here.

  “Anyway,” Willow continued as we reached our campsite. “It’s supposed to be a clear night with lots of stars. Miles has a sunroof and with that mattress in the back of his car, it’s a really cool way to look at the stars. We were going to try to check them out by a dark part of the lake. Then I’ll pretend to fall asleep, giving you and Jagger plenty of time for ... well, your gross things.”

  She happily trotted off down toward the bathhouse and I stood there with my face on fire. I hated that she could see that kind of stuff! Couldn’t she at least keep it to herself?

  On the upside, I did like being alone with Jagger. We were starting to get the hang of what I was calling—in my head when he wasn’t around—sexy times.

  June turned to July and July rolled into August. Soon, we were staring down Labor Day. Each weekend, Miles and Jagger walked the entirety of the campground listening in and trying to find anyone like us, looking for us, or otherwise anything out of the ordinary for normal human beings. So far, no such person had turned up. We were losing hope of finding someone here, but it was still a great place to lay low, so we were staying put for now. Willow had us going north in the winter. Pennsylvania was in the northeast. For all we knew, we could be right where we were supposed to be.

  We were sitting outside the camper one Saturday afternoon when Willow had another vision. I was sprawled on the picnic table bench reading another romance I’d picked up at the camp store. Miles and Jagger were playing chess while trying to block their thoughts, so they didn’t give away their moves. Willow couldn’t see a winner. This was how we spent most of our days. We remained vigilant and only ventured out when we needed supplies. Otherwise, we stuck to the campsite and surrounding area as much as possible. Of course, we did have to take the RV to empty the waste tank, but since we were near one of the bathhouses there wasn’t too much in there. It was mostly dirty water from the sinks.

  Willow sat up straight and removed her sunglasses. She said nothing, but we all stopped what we were doing.

  “She’s here,” Willow said.

  Miles left his place at the picnic table where he was playing Jagger and walked over to Willow, squatting down in front of her. “Who’s here?” He asked, taking her hand. “What are you seeing? Do we need to leave?”

  “No, she’s looking for us.” Jagger and I exchanged glances. We tuned in to Willow’s mind. “She’s driving a red pickup truck and towing a little white camper with red letters.”

  “Long blonde hair,” Jagger said. “Dressed kinda like a hippie.”

  I saw her in my mind, too. She had straight hair with the sides pulled back. She wore an embroidered red shirt with flowy arms and white shorts. She also had on black boots that came mid-calf. I never did understand how girls could wear boots in the summer. Didn’t their feet sweat?

  “I wouldn’t say she looks like a hippie,” I replied wryly. She definitely had more of a Bohemian style.

  Miles looked up at us, frustrated that we could see Willow’s thoughts and he was in the dark. He straightened up to his knees in front of Willow. With his free hand, he stroked his thumb over her cheek.

  “Look who’s getting friendly.” Jagger raised an eyebrow at me.

  “Fuck off, Jagger!”

  That didn’t come from me.

  “What does she want, Willow? Can you see?” Miles’ voice was gentle. Willow leaned her cheek instinctively toward his hand, but continued to stare ahead with the cloudy look in her eyes, shaking her head.

  “I can’t see. Just she’s looking for us.”

  “That’s what you said,” Miles said, keeping his voice low and soothing. “Do we need to leave?”

  “We can be gone in an hour.” Jagger was always on the ready. He would send Willow and me out in Miles’ Jeep and follow in the RV once they had everything broken down.

  Calm down. I tried to soothe him with my thoughts. Nothing about this vision has been alarming. He drifted toward me and took my hand anyway, as if he were ready to yank me away at a moment’s notice.

  “She wants to talk to us.” Willow said, then cocked her head to the side as her eyes began to clear.

  “About what?” Jagger demanded.

  “Why don’t you just ask me?”

  We all turned our heads to the dirt road in front of our campsite. There stood the girl in question with hands on her hips, dressed just like Willow’s vision, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

  Jagger

  You would think by this stage of the game nothing would surprise me anymore, but I swear this chick literally appeared out of nowhere. Neither me, Livvy, nor Miles heard her thoughts until she was standing right in front of us, and now ... I only got impressions from her, feelings. Not formed thoughts, but more like her mood. She felt ... pleasant.

  I definitely did not feel threatened by her.

  For now, I would watch this play out. See what she wanted before I put her down and got my girls the hell out of there.

  “Can we help you with something?” Miles asked. I admit that I was wary of the guy when we first met him, but after spending the last few months together, I began to see him more as a brother-in-arms. Despite the fact that he had the serious hots for my sister, he was a pretty good guy all in all.

  “And where did you come from?” I followed up.

  She cocked her head in my direction. She didn’t seem at all intimidated by the four against one odds. “Maine,” she answered. “I’m here to bring you the rest of the way in. I’ve been looking for you. You haven’t been easy to find.”

  I tried to push Olivia behind me, but she poked me in the ribs—hard. “I appreciate the gesture, but I think we’ll be fine.”

  Miles boldly put himself between Willow and Miss Vague. I nodded my approval to him. Whereas Olivia was insisting she could take care of herself, Willow looked like she was about to swoon over Miles’ protective stance. I wondered what kind of environmental hell he was going to brew up for our new guest. I was concentrating too much on her to read him though.

  “Maine, Jagger. My grandfather mentioned others in Maine.”

  “In what town there?” Willow asked.

  Miss Ambiguous looked over to my sister now. “We live in a gated community near Bar Harbor. It borders Acadia National Park, so it’s very private. There are others like us there.”

  “Us,” I said. “How do you know what we’re like? We’re road-tripping before we have to go back to school. Are you traveling, too?”

  I knew that look she was giving. Willow gave it to me all the time. It was her “How stupid do you think I am?” look.

  Miss Vague stepped forward then. The four of us gave her a wide berth as she walked over to one of the canvas chairs and sat down. Miles’ traitor cat immediately joined her, weaving himself through her booted feet. She reached down and scratched behind his ears. I was pretty certain she was recognizing her familiar.

  “I’m Pippa,” she said. “I was sent to find you because ... well, I’m good at finding people.” She sat up from stroking the cat, crossed her legs, and folded her hands in her lap. “Jeremiah telephoned our leader, Mark.”

  Olivia squeezed my hand at the mention of her grandfathe
r. If Jeremiah was going to call these mystery people and tell them we were coming, why on earth hadn’t he just told us to go to them? Why the great mystery? Living in a constant state of fear was incredibly stressful.

  “Somehow you’ve stayed off the radar and out of any sort of media. There was that little blip where everyone thought you were going to Mexico, but then after that there was nothing. You’ve done an excellent job of laying low.”

  “And yet, you found us,” Miles said. My thoughts exactly.

  She turned her steady, serene gaze on him. “I already told you. I’m good at finding people.”

  “And that’s your talent?” He asked.

  “One of them.” She dipped her head once.

  “This is nuts, Jagger. She knows my grandfather. Willow told us she saw us at a big gate. That’s got to be this place in Maine. I’m not getting anything worrisome off of her.”

  Maybe that’s one of her talents, too.

  “What else can you do?” I asked.

  She turned that gaze on me. Her eyes were a sharp green. Up against the backdrop of the forest, it almost looked like she didn’t have any eyes at all. “That’s not something I show people in public. Not unless it’s a life or death situation.”

  Miles looked over at me and arched a brow. “What, like a tramp stamp? A tattoo she doesn’t want mommy and daddy to know about? What is with this chick?”

  Olivia stepped around me. I reached out to grab her arm, but she shook me off. She went right up to this Pippa chick and sat down in one of the canvas chairs. Willow followed suit and took another one. What the hell were these girls doing? Miles and I immediately stepped behind Olivia and Willow.

  “How do you know my grandfather?” Olivia demanded. Her tone was curious, but the look on her face advised Pippa that messing with her right now would be a very bad idea on her part. Olivia wanted answers and wasn’t going to stop until she got them.

  Pippa gave Olivia a gentle smile. One of condolence? Pity? “Everyone in the Society knows of Jeremiah Miller.”

  “What Society?” Willow demanded. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her expression was the same as Livvy’s. My girls had a very low tolerance for bullshit.

  “The Society of Exalted Minds.” She said this as if it should be obvious to us.

  The four of us exchanged looks. I saw my feelings reflected in their faces—confusion, skepticism, interest.

  “You say that like it should mean something to us.” Miles said.

  Pippa looked over to Olivia. She was confused. This girl threw off her emotions instead of thoughts. I had to admit I was intrigued by her.

  “Didn’t Jeremiah ever tell you about us?”

  Olivia shook her head. “He hardly told me anything. He drilled the idea that people were after me, but to my knowledge, no one ever came. Nor did he tell me who to be aware of, just that I needed to be constantly vigilant. I lived my life in constant fear of the unknown.”

  Pippa blew out a long breath and looked up to the sky. “This isn’t the way it was supposed to go.” She looked back to Olivia. “We knew that Jeremiah took you away after your parents were killed. You are part of a founding family, and he wanted to keep you away from the Society until you were old enough to assume your position on the council. The Society has been looking for you, but we are not after you. Your rightful place is on the Society’s leadership council. It is made up of one representative from each family, but your family hasn’t had a representative since your father died. Your uncle has been filling the role while we waited for your return.

  I squeezed Olivia’s shoulder in support and comfort. As far as Olivia knew, Jeremiah was her only family. Neither of them had ever mentioned family anywhere else.

  “Jagger, I don’t have an uncle. My grandfather always said it was just the two of us.”

  It’s okay, baby. Let’s hear what she has to say. Maybe there was some kind of falling out in your family or something. She said the Society knew Jeremiah took you away and they’ve been looking for you. Maybe he had a good reason for not telling you about the rest of your family.

  Though the more we learned, the more I got the feeling that maybe Jeremiah wasn’t working in Olivia’s best interests.

  “That can’t be,” Olivia said, shaking her head. “I don’t have any other family. It was just my grandfather and me. He never mentioned anyone else. He always said it was just the two of us.”

  “Oh, no.” Pippa hopped up and began to pace, agitation wafting off her in waves. “This is bad. This is very, very bad.”

  “Listen, Pippa,” I said. “You’re going to need to start talking to us like we don’t know anything. Because we don’t know anything.” She stopped pacing and looked at me. “Everything we know, we’ve pretty much just learned from you. So, please tell us who Jeremiah is to your Society and what the hell is going on.”

  Pippa looked to Olivia in surprise. Willow, Miles, and I shared concerned glances. I didn’t have a good feeling about this at all.

  “Jeremiah isn’t a member of the Society. He belongs to the Order of the Just and Divine. They’re the ones looking for Olivia, and they don’t want her to reunite with the Society. They’re the ones responsible for killing her parents. Olivia, Jeremiah wasn’t your grandfather.”

  Olivia’s mind went completely blank. All color drained from her face as she stood up on shaky feet. I was by her side instantly, wrapping my arms around her. I didn’t know what to do—what to say. I frantically sought for our connection, but it wasn’t there. The link felt almost grayed out, like a button on a website you couldn’t get to work. When her knees collapsed, everything about her shut down.

  “IS THERE ANY change?”

  I looked up at Willow’s voice. She quietly poked her head through the privacy curtain to check on Olivia and me. I brought Livvy inside when she fainted and stayed with her in our bed. Her eyes were open now, but she wasn’t responding—verbally or telepathically. She lay almost catatonic on my chest staring at the wall while I stroked her hair. Darkness outside had fallen—unless Miles had given us the dark, never could tell these days. The lights in mine and Livvy’s little nest were dimmed. I didn’t feel any mental pain from her, like she had a migraine or something, but maybe the soft light might help soothe her.

  “I think she’s still processing it all,” I said. I had tried to reach out to her mind numerous times, but decided to wait for a bit before trying again when I seemed to get the equivalent of a busy signal. She moved her body on her own, so I wasn’t too worried, but at the same time, I was terrified. Since the day she first spoke to me telepathically, I had never not been able to reach her. I didn’t like this at all. I felt like there was a huge, echoing chasm inside me where she usually was.

  “I don’t know if we’re equipped to handle this, Jagger.” Willow sat down at the end of the bed and pulled her legs up, wrapping her arms around them. “We have these ... powers ... that we thought were just kind of strange, but really are part of a much bigger ... uh, I don’t even know what to call it. A different world? A different breed of human? We’re talking about things beyond scientific understanding. That makes us supernatural.”

  “I’ve been communicating with and being healed by Olivia since we were five years old, Wills.” I said. “I never once thought of us as being supernatural. Even in my superhero phase, it never occurred to me that I might qualify. But I guess you’re right.” I have to admit I felt sort of stupid for not having considered it, but if Olivia didn’t bring it up, then why would I think any different? She was the one I always thought had all the answers.

  “But think about it, Jagger. It’s something that must run in our family. Does it come from mom or dad? Or maybe both? Are they part of this Society?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m certainly not going to ask him.” The thought of speaking to my father ever again made me sick to my stomach. As far as I was concerned, he was dead to me. The man was evil incarnate.

  But what if he could hear th
oughts, too?

  My stomach felt like lead and my pulse sped up as I snapped my gaze up to my sister’s wide eyes. Pure horror settled into my bones.

  “You understand, right?” She asked, nodding, wisdom in her eyes. “If dad could read our thoughts, he knew our plans. He may have enough information to head us off somewhere.”

  “He could be a member of the Society.”

  “Or that Order. They didn’t sound so nice. They even killed Olivia’s family.”

  My arms tightened involuntarily around Olivia. Willow and I kept our voices low, but Olivia was right there. She could hear it all. I don’t know if she was acknowledging what we said, but she should have been able to hear us. I didn’t want to set her back any further.

  “Why wouldn’t he have stopped us though?” I asked. “If he was in this Society, wouldn’t he have tried to get Olivia back to them? And if he’s in that Order, why did he hate Jeremiah so much?”

  Willow shrugged. “Maybe because he took Olivia away from the Order.”

  All of this was a game of never-ending questions. When we got big answers, a thousand questions followed. If the Order was responsible for Livvy’s parents’ deaths and Jeremiah was part of the Order, at some point he must have gone rogue if he took off with her and changed their names. I began to think that this little road trip was Jeremiah’s plan of getting Livvy back to the Society without the Order getting to her first.

  The good news was, we finally knew who we were running from.

  If Madame Mysterious were to be believed and so far, I hadn’t gotten anything nefarious from her. Willow also didn’t see anything dangerous upon our future arrival “North.” At least not yet.

  “Where’s your boyfriend? What does he have to say?” I asked her, nudging her with my socked toe.

  “He’s not my boyfriend ... yet.”

  “Oh, so he’s going to be? Does he know that?”

  She gave me her ‘How-stupid-do-you-think-I-am’ glare. “I think he should come into his feelings on his own.” Sounded fair. “He’s outside with Pippa. She moved her truck and camper onto the vacant site next to us. We figured we should keep her close—be she friend or foe.”