“Not you, sweetheart,” said Granger, moving to stand close to her. He looked down into her black-smeared eyes. “You’re here on a free ride.” He jerked his thumb toward Trilby. “It’s her and the other two. The pyro and the big guy.”
The weedy looking teenage male stepped forward. “You’re wrong.” He pushed his glasses up on to the bridge of his nose.
“Am I now?” Granger’s voice was heavy with sarcasm.
“Granger,” Lucas warned, but the rookie didn’t look at him, intent only on goading the patient.
“Yeah, they were after me.”
“Is that right?” Granger raised his eyebrows.
Jack puffed up his bony chest. “They’ve been trying to take me back to their planet for years.”
Granger burst out laughing. “Aliens?” He doubled over, holding onto his sides. “You think those guys were aliens?”
“I don't think it. I know it.” The other patients pulled Jack back closer to Trilby.
“You’re batshit crazy,” said Granger. “No wonder you were in that loony bin.”
“Hey,” cried Trilby.
Isobel pushed in front of Jack and stared at Granger with fire in her eyes. “Fuck you! You leave him alone.”
Lucas couldn't watch the train wreck unfold any further. He held up his hands. “Let me explain,” he said, his eyes trained on Trilby. She had her arms around Paige giving the timid girl comfort. He moved a little closer. “They were Noctem. Men who seek people with special abilities to use them for terrible crimes.”
“Special abilities?” asked Trilby, her gaze zeroing in on him.
He had her full attention and his body reacted. Gone were the old memories. Trilby became front and center. His heart accelerated. Although he spoke to the others, it was her he wanted to convince. “Yes, like Gabriel, like Paige...and like you.”
Her eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”
“I can sense your ability. You are Starborn. Like me. Like Granger.”
“Starborn?” Her cry echoed by her patients. All of them looked at him like he was the mad one.
“Yes, people who are gifted with metaphysical abilities that can’t be explained by traditional science.” He continued to hold Trilby’s gaze. “Like Paige’s pyrokinesis and Gabriel’s telekinesis…like your emotional telepathy.”
Now the Queensgate patients stared at Trilby, their mouths agape.
“Doctor Trilby?” said Isobel. “What does he mean?”
Granger crossed his arms and rocked back on the balls of his feet. “Yeah, Doc, why don’t you tell us all about your secret?”
Trilby ignored him and her patients, focusing on Lucas. She leaned forward, her face flushed. “Are you saying there are others? That you’re some specialist force?”
Jack blurted out, “Like X-Men?”
Lucas offered a small smile. “Not quite. But Granger and I belong to The Order of Orion. For four hundred years our society has sworn to protect the lives and identities of Starborn.”
“So you fight Noctem?” asked Gabriel.
“Yes, they’re the biggest threat to our people.”
“Why?” asked Isobel. “Who are they?”
Lucas curled his fists. “A sort of Starborn mafia. They’re Starborn who use their abilities for money and political gain. The more Starborn they have under their control, the more power they accumulate.”
Tiny Paige stared up at him with big brown eyes. “Why would they want me?”
Lucas decided to be direct. “Insurance fires with an untraceable cause.”
Paige shook her head. “I wouldn’t do that.”
Lucas softened his voice. “You would do it if they found the right inducement.” An image of Danny flashed before his eyes. “You’d be amazed at what you would do if they had your mother, your baby sister, or your grandmother, and were threatening to hurt them. You become their dog. Their animal to do with what they want.” He hated the bitterness that edged his voice. Fifteen years on and the memories still churned his insides.
“What Lucas is saying,” said Granger, opening his arms wide. “Is that we’re the good guys come to rescue you. We’re taking you back to our headquarters. Keep you safe.”
“And where is this headquarters?” asked Gabriel, crossing his arms.
“If we told you, we’d have to kill you.” Granger smiled like an idiot and tapped his nose. “Top secret.”
Trilby frowned. “You expect us to just blindly follow you?” The hope he’d seen in her eyes earlier when he spoke of Starborn had evaporated.
Granger’s grin dropped. “Yes, otherwise you’re toast.”
Lucas sighed. “As much as we’d like to tell you, it’s protocol for us to not reveal the location until we arrive.”
“We’re supposed to believe your story of two groups fighting over people with special powers? For all I know you’re both ex-patients from Queensgate with a grudge against the hospital. Maybe you were in on it with the other guys.” Her blue eyes flashed. “Maybe you’ve seen my research and you’re using it to trick me…to trick us.”
Lucas gritted his teeth. “No, we’re deadly serious. It’s true, all of it.”
“Baby, are you forgetting we saved your asses?” asked Granger, raising his eyebrows. “How do you explain that?”
Trilby crossed her arms and her chin lifted. “I need proof.”
Her need for evidence shouldn’t have surprised Lucas. Her patients nodded and demanded the same.
He sighed. “Granger, give Willow the evidence her scientist mind needs to believe.”
Granger turned to face Trilby. “Doc, prepare yourself to be amazed.” He thrust his hands toward the ceiling and the room went pitch-black. The emergency exit sign and the bathroom lights simultaneously turning off as the power went dead. After a few moments they were blasted with lights and the sounds of electronic devices; the phone rang, the hairdryer roared to life, the television blared, overhead lights flickered, and the two bedside lamps blinked. The room pulsated with Granger’s power. Outside, the Beaver Motel sign flashed as though advertising their location. He frowned at Granger, who dropped his hands and the room again dived into silent darkness.
Trilby’s face was priceless. She stared at Granger as though he was a rare specimen that needed further examination. Her patients were more vocal in their response.
“Holy shit,” said Isobel.
“No way.” Gabriel’s face broke out in a bewildered grin.
“Like superheroes,” whispered Jack, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
Even the timid Paige let out a small sound of excitement.
“Convinced we’re telling the truth?” asked Lucas.
All five nodded.
“Good,” said Lucas. “We need to get going. Now that Doctor Tri—Willow is feeling better and you’ve all had a chance to clean up, we need to keep moving.” His mind still played catch up that she was no longer a target—that she’d be coming back with him.
“It’s Lucas, right?” she asked, her eyes searching his.
Awareness spread through him, a tidal wave of sensation. He had his shield held firmly in place so he knew it was his body reacting to her inspection. “Yes.”
“Please give us more time to think about this.”
Gabriel nodded in agreement. “Yeah, Doctor Trilby’s right, I want to see my family first and tell them I’m okay.”
“For fuck’s sake, haven't you been listening?” Granger threw his hands in the air. “If you stay here, all your families face a death warrant! Noctem will hunt each of you down. And once they have you, they’ll take anyone close to you.”
Willow’s chin tilted upward. “We need more time.”
Granger let out a curse. “You don’t get it. We’ve already told you too much. We gotta get out of here.”
Lucas held up his hands, trying to short circuit the escalating tension. “I understand it’s a lot to take in. But you must believe us. For your own sakes and your
families.”
“You expect us just to trust you?” asked Willow.
“Yes,” said Lucas, moving to stand beside her. Her patients parted allowing him to sit on the single bed. He needed her cooperation if they had any hope of getting Paige and Gabriel to come willingly. The bed creaked under his weight and he was acutely aware of how his thigh touched hers. She didn’t pull back, but instead waited for him to speak. But he was done talking. He grasped her right hand and gazed into her blue eyes. Taking a deep breath, Lucas dropped his shield. He knew the moment she connected with his aura. Her blue eyes widened and she leaned forward as though soaking up his metaphysical message of safety and trust. Their connection pulsated and he fought for a steady breath. It was too intimate, too revealing. But he couldn't let go. Didn’t want to let go.
6
Willow
Emotion thrummed through Willow—his and hers—the combination sending her into a tailspin of heart-pounding confusion. The logical part of her brain shut down. There was him, and only him, as his emotions poured through her. Swirling around, they threatened to consume her completely. Never before had she felt so safe. Secure. Protected. Never before had she sensed a person’s aura to be so pure of conviction and heart. His expression was unreadable, but his pale green eyes bore into her soul.
Her emotional self was ensnared. Her breath hitched and then her physical being caught alight. She closed her eyes as heat flooded her. The places where their bodies touched burning like wildfire. He tugged his hand away and instantly the channel between them vanished. Dazed, she tried to marshal her thoughts. She couldn't look into his eyes and instead stared at her hands. God, she hoped she hadn’t projected her arousal onto him. That would be a humiliation beyond imagining. He was trying to communicate trust and she’d responded with desire. Her head wound was obviously worse than she realized. And maybe she had a large dose of white knight syndrome too. She took a steadying breath.
“Willow?” he said, his deep voice sending shivers through her body. “You can trust us.”
Unnerved, she glanced at her patients. “It’s up to the others.”
Isobel kicked at the carpet with her Doc Marten boots. “What just happened between the two of you? Emotional telepathy? What does that even mean?”
Willow flushed. “I don’t know where to start.”
“You don’t seem freaked out by all this,” said Isobel, waving her hands around. “You’re not saying everyone’s crazy like most doctors would be.”
“No, I guess not.” Willow swallowed hard, her throat dry. She hadn’t told a soul of her ability, always fearful of being labeled crazy. Just like the patients standing before her. She’d imagined telling it a thousand times over. She’d imagined telling her long dead mother and asking if she had the same ability. She’d imagined telling her foster parents, her university professor, and even random people on the street. But she’d never been able to come up with the right words, always holding back. She’d longed to tell the one person who she knew without a doubt would believe her; Eve. But they had been separated before her ability had started. Many times Willow had imagined their reunion, confiding in each other, telling Eve and asking her if she shared the same secret. She put her hand in her dress pocket, grasping the old Polaroid of Eve, her fingers clutching it tightly.
“There’s a reason I’ve been researching paranormal delusions. A personal one...”
When she didn’t continue, Paige reached out to touch her. “Willow?”
“I was twelve when I had the first inkling I was different. Different from before, and different from everyone else. Sometimes if I touched someone I felt overwhelmed with emotion. Sometimes anger, other times it was sadness or happiness. My foster parents took me to a therapist who helped me learn to cope. As I got older, I worked out it wasn’t my emotions I was trying to cope with, it was everyone else’s.”
Isobel put her hands on her hips. “So you can feel other people’s emotions?”
“Yes.” Willow nodded.
“All the time?”
“No, it’s unpredictable.”
Isobel stared at her hard. “Can you make other people feel your emotions?”
This was what she feared, more than being labeled crazy—people reacting with horror and fear when they realized she could access their inner feelings and manipulate their emotions. She took a deep breath. “Yes, sometimes I can project my emotions, but it’s erratic…touch helps.”
Betrayal radiated from Isobel. “All that talk in therapy about us gaining control of our own emotions—trust your feelings, you said. Accept them and yourself, you said! Have you done anything to me? Have you?”
Gabriel’s telekinesis had been accepted. So had Granger’s light show. The ability to mess around with people’s feelings was a big fucking no-no—even for a bunch of mental patients. Willow looked at the young woman and her haunted expression, and felt a fraud.
“No, I haven’t, I promise. My ability is hit and miss like Gabriel’s. I try to block it out but it’s hard. I’m sorry.”
After a few moments, it was Paige who spoke first. “No, don’t be sorry. You can’t help it any more than we can.” She raced a fingertip across her own arm, touching the burnt skin.
Granger gave a slow clap. “Okay thanks for sharing, Doc. Now we really do need to go.” He caught Lucas’ attention and nodded not too subtly at Jack and Isobel.
Lucas dipped his head in response. Alarm bells started ringing in her head as he walked toward Jack with lethal grace. She pushed herself up from the bed and stood on wobbly legs. “Lucas?”
He didn’t answer, didn’t pause. Instead he reached out and touched the teenager’s shoulder. Jack’s face instantly slackened and he stared vacantly ahead, zombie style.
“No!” cried Willow, panicking.
Isobel surged forward but was held back by Granger. “Get your hands off me. What the fuck did he do to him?”
“He’s giving him another chance, that’s what,” said Granger, turning Isobel away from Jack and making her look at him. “Lucas memory wiped him. His memories of Queensgate, of this little escapade, of any of us, are all gone.” His voice softened. “He’ll come to in a few minutes with a headache and have no idea what the fuck he’s doing there.”
“No! We can’t leave him here.” Isobel struggled to look over her shoulder to see Jack.
“He can’t come back with us. Our Elders would have him executed. Ordinaries aren’t tolerated in our Sanctuary.” When Isobel didn't stop struggling, Granger shook her hard. “It’s not safe. For him…or you.”
Isobel’s eyes widened in fear. “No!” She began to fight him in earnest, but Granger easily deflected her blows.
With a curse, he pulled her up against him so that her back was against his chest, his arms wrapping around her like a prison. Isobel kicked at his shins but he held firm.
“Stop this!” Willow took a few steps toward them, dizziness making her stumble. “Please, don’t hurt her.”
Granger swore as he fought to hold Isobel still. Gabriel took the opportunity to surge forward and crash tackled them both to the ground. Isobel scrambled away and Paige began crying as the two men wrestled on the ground. Granger flipped Gabriel over, forcing his face into the fetid motel carpet. The ominous sound of a gun cocking made everyone freeze.
Willow turned to see Lucas aiming his weapon at the two men of the ground. “Get up, nice and slow.”
Both picked themselves up and took ragged breaths as they glared at each other.
Lucas turned away from them to look at Isobel. “Jack is okay. Just like you will be,” he said in a softer voice. “It doesn’t hurt and it will keep you safe. After we’ve left, we’ll ring the hospital and they’ll pick you up.”
“I don't want to stay here. I want to come with you.”
“Granger’s right. It isn't safe for ordinaries to come back with us. The Order of Orion protects its secrecy at all costs.”
“With murder?” cried Willow. “Wha
t sort of place can that be?”
Lucas visibly blanched, but he said nothing. Instead he slowly walked to Isobel, who began cowering in fear.
She placed her hands up as if to ward off his metaphysical attack. “Wait,” said Isobel, her voice low and hoarse. “What if I was one of you? A Starborn?”
Granger snorted. “Nice try.”
“No, listen to me. I can do things. Crazy things that I can’t explain.”
“Yeah, that’s why you're in the nut house,” said Granger, smirking.
Anger filled Willow. “Have you no compassion?”
Granger shook his head, his golden eyes glittering. “No, Doc, I don’t. Long ago I did, but now I know better.”
Isobel ran her fingers through her blue hair. “Please listen to me. I’m not crazy. I just haven't been able to prove it.”
Lucas’ expression softened. “Tell us then.”
“I make people sick, real sick. People I don't like. They end up with terrible diseases.”
Granger raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, well you don't like me I reckon. How about you give me something?”
Isobel shook her head. “That’s what I’m telling you. I can’t do it when I want.”
Willow’s heart began to pound. She was terrified for Isobel. She was obviously unwell and her delusion was playing out with these events. “Isobel,” she said softly. “You’ll be okay here. I’ll make sure they call the police and Queensgate when we leave.”
Isobel’s face paled. “No, Doctor Trilby, you’ve got to believe me. I’m the same as you guys. Please? You need to trust me.” Isobel rushed over to Willow and took her hand. “Check me, see if I’m telling the truth.”
Willow held Isobel’s hand and detected the utter conviction Isobel projected. But it didn't mean anything. Of course Isobel would believe her own delusion—that was Psych 101. The statistical odds of four of them having a metaphysical ability was almost zero. “I know you believe it.”
Isobel jerked away. “Don’t spout that psych bullshit. You’re a fraud and we all know it now.”
Starborn (The Order of Orion Book 1) Page 4