The Supernormal Legacy (Book 1): Dormant

by McLennan, LeeAnn

  “What?” I said, not really caring what he said. I was feeling so let down and embarrassed by my lack of control.

  “Your ability hasn’t fully manifested yet” I stared at him as he continued, “so it’s probably not you destroying the landmarks.”

  Chapter 28

  I sat back on my heels, Ben’s words repeating in my head. My special ability hadn’t manifested yet. I couldn’t be doing these horrible things.

  “Really?” I said, a grin stretching across my face.

  He nodded.

  My feeling of relief at hearing Ben’s proclamation made me realize how much I’d believed I was the culprit. I drew in a deep breath and felt the muscles in my back relax for the first time in days as I released my breath. I held up my hand and saw it was shaking.

  “This is awesome news,” I said to Ben. I stood up, and he mirrored my actions. He stood framed by the doorway, watching me with a solemn expression. “I can’t wait to tell everyone. I won’t be under house arrest.” I grinned again. “Hugh won’t have to drive me everywhere.”

  Ben didn’t say anything. He just crossed his arms, pressed his lips together, and kept staring at me.

  I felt a flash of irritation. “Hey, you could be happier for me.” I tried to push down my annoyance and softened my tone. “I’m sorry I dropped my shield, but at least something good has come out of it, right?” He continued to look at me without speaking. My last words ran through my mind, and then I understood the dilemma. “Oh crap. We can’t tell anyone because they’ll know you read me. And that you broke the law.” I sat down hard on the floor, feeling like a deflated balloon. I looked up at Ben. “Would it matter if I told them I let you in?”

  He sighed and shook his head. I realized he was hiding fear behind his grim expression. And I realized how much bravery it had taken for him to tell me what he read in me. He’d put a lot of trust in me. I couldn’t betray that trust.

  “Well.” I ran a hand through my hair and discovered my ponytail was a mess from Ben’s hands. I pulled out the elastic band, looped my hair through it, and re-secured my ponytail. I dropped my hands into my lap and thought.

  Ben slid to the floor, still watching me. He started to speak, stopped, and then said, “If there were any way I could tell them without getting hauled off to prison, I would.” He dropped his gaze to the floor, flushing.

  “They would really send you to prison for accidentally reading me?” I couldn’t believe his punishment would be so harsh. “That’s terrible.”

  He sighed and turned even redder. “Well, um, ah. You see, well…” He spoke softly. “It’s not the first time. I read some of my family members. When they found out, I got a warning.” He rubbed his shoulder and blew out his breath. “I guess you’d call it a first strike.”

  “Shouldn’t you get another strike before you have to go to prison?”

  His lips quirked in a small smile. “Well, I kind-of did the readings on purpose.”

  “Why?”

  He shrugged and met my gaze. “Not sure I can really explain it. Maybe you’ll understand once your ability manifests. It’s the best feeling, kind of a rush, using your powers. Feels like nothing else in the world. Even though I knew my ability is against our laws, I wanted to use it.” He leaned back against the door jamb and rubbed his thumb on the palm of his other hand. “My dad was so angry, but I think he understood, a little. But if it comes out that I did it again, well…”

  “But it’s not your fault. This time, I mean.” I leaned toward him. Wanting to comfort him but knowing we couldn’t touch, I tried to make my words as convincing as possible. “It’s really mine if you think about it.”

  “Ollie.” Ben looked at me with exasperation. “I have to be able to control my ability at all times. No matter what.”

  “Okay, fine. Well, since I’m not going to tell anyone what you told me, there’s only one solution.”

  He swallowed hard and looked so relieved that I felt a lump in my throat. He said, with a slight quiver in his voice, “What’s that?”

  “We’re going to have to find out who is destroying the landmarks,” I announced.

  He looked puzzled. “Isn’t that what everyone is trying to do, as we speak?”

  “Sure, but they’re laboring under the belief that I’m a suspect.” It still hurt to think my family capable of believing I could be so terrible, but I tried to push my wounded feelings aside. “You and I know better, so we can focus on finding the real bad guy.”

  He gave a short laugh. “And how do you plan to do that?”

  I drummed my fingers on my thigh, trying to come up with the beginnings of a plan. Through the open door, I could hear Kevin and Hugh challenging each other to lift heavier weights. I remembered how Kevin stood up for me and how Hugh was scrupulously fair. And the outline of a plan came to me.

  I turned to Ben. “Any chance you can ask Hugh for a ride home after we finish training?”

  “Sure, I guess. Why?”

  I looked past him in the direction of my cousins. “I think it’s time to form our own investigative team.”

  Chapter 29

  Getting Hugh to give Ben a ride back to the hotel where his family was staying proved to be a little more complicated than I expected. I’d forgotten his parents were also training at the warehouse. Mr. Hallowfield was in the weightlifting area with Kevin and Hugh arguing about who was stronger when Ben asked Hugh for a lift.

  Mr. Hallowfield gave Ben a puzzled look. “Why do you need a ride from Hugh?”

  Ben shrugged. “I guess I thought you and Mom were going back a different time than me.”

  I almost groaned at how lame of an excuse that was.

  Jeremy lifted up a dumbbell and began doing bicep curls. “We’ll all go back soon. There’s no reason to trouble Hugh for a ride.”

  Ben looked flummoxed. I sighed inwardly and sidled over to Kevin who was selecting a weight on the leg lift machine. I spoke softly. “Hey Kev, help me out here. I really want Ben to ride home with us.”

  Kevin stopped in the middle of placing the pin in the weight machine and stared at me with his eyebrows raised. He glanced past me at Ben and back at me. “You mean?” He frowned. “Ollie, I don’t think it’s a good idea to –”

  Feeling my face flushing, I interrupted him. “Please?” I smiled appealingly.

  He continued to frown, and my stomach clenched. He wasn’t going to help me. But before I could plead again, Kevin said to Mr. Hallowfield, “Hey, I haven’t had a chance to catch up with Ben since you got back into town.” He grinned. “I believe we have some gaming scores to discuss.” Kevin glanced at his brother. “Hugh, you okay with that?”

  Hugh looked from me to Ben and nodded with a half-smile. He picked up a towel and rubbed it over his face. “We can head out in about thirty minutes.”

  Mr. Hallowfield shrugged one shoulder. “Okay, if you like.” He turned his attention to the next weight machine, saying over his shoulder to Ben, “I’ll see you back at the hotel for dinner.”

  Ben waved a hand in salute at his father, glanced at me, and then headed for the locker rooms. Hugh followed him, but Kevin said quietly, “Be careful; there are more reasons not to go out with Ben than you know.”

  I wanted to tell him that wasn’t the reason for Ben riding with us, but I didn’t want him to question me right then, so I stuck my tongue out at him. He just rolled his eyes and said, “I’m going to shower.”

  I stood in the weight area for a moment, thinking about the best way to broach the subject of doing our own investigation to my cousins. I couldn’t tell them that my ability hadn’t manifested. Would it be enough to simply ask if they would help out? I went to take my own shower.

  Zoe came into the locker room as I was tugging on my pullover. “Hey, you guys heading out?” she asked. She was barefoot and wearing yoga clothes.

  “Yeah.” I sat down to pull on my boots.”What about you?”

  “Nah, Uncle Alex wants me to run the Springwater Corri
dor and check out a spot where Dad is getting some reports of weird sightings.” She pulled her running clothes out of her locker and began changing into them.

  “Just you?”

  “Nope, Lange’s going with me.” She sat beside me to lace up her running shoes.

  “Okay.” I was glad she wasn’t going alone, though she could probably handle herself in most situations. “What’s Emma doing?”

  “Don’t know.” Zoe regarded me with a curious expression. “She left a while back. In fact” – she sort of leered at me – “she left not long after you and Ben disappeared.” She pulled on a light jacket. “What was that about? Mmmm?”

  I covered my embarrassment by standing up and taking my backpack out of my locker. “Nothing, we were just talking.” I turned to see Zoe grinning at me with disbelief. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Really, it’s nothing.” I sobered up. “You know he’s the very definition of ‘it’s complicated.’”

  “Sure I do, but he’s still smoking hot.” She stood and stretched her arms over her head. “I wouldn’t blame you.” Without waiting for me to answer she waved at me and jogged out of the locker room.

  I left more slowly and found Kevin, Hugh, and Ben waiting near the exit. Hugh jiggled his car keys thoughtfully while he talked to Ben. When they saw me coming, Kevin opened the door, and we headed to the car.

  Kevin opened the door to the backseat and said to Ben, “You can ride shotgun.”

  As I slid into the back seat, I rolled my eyes at Kevin’s obvious attempt to separate me and Ben. Was it just because of Ben’s forbidden ability, or was there more? Kevin’s statement about there being more reasons not to go out with Ben made me curious.

  I realized Ben had said my name a few times. I’d been lost in thought. He gave me a strange look when I jumped slightly. “Olivia, are you ready?”

  I swallowed and nodded. “So, Hugh and Kevin, could you guys come in when we get to my house? Ben and I have something we want to talk to you about.” I twisted a lock of my hair around my finger nervously.

  Hugh pulled up to the stoplight at SE Stark and MLK. He looked at me and then at Ben but didn’t say anything. Kevin shifted in his seat. Finally Hugh said, “Sure. Why do I have the feeling this is not about you two getting together?”

  “Geez, can you guys stop with the lovelines talk already?” I said, annoyed and embarrassed. “Just…just listen.” I rubbed my shoulder and tried to come up with the right words to convince my cousins to help me.

  The light changed and Hugh drove up SE Stark.

  After a moment of heavy silence, Kevin nudged me. “So if it’s not about you and Ben, can I guess what it is?”

  “Sure.”

  Kevin spread his hands wide. “You want to do your own investigation into who is destroying the landmarks.” He smiled at my surprised look. “Come on, it make sense, right?”

  “Yes, yes, it does. How did you guess?”

  “I didn’t, not really. I just want to figure out what’s going on and was hoping you did too.”

  Ben said, “We were talking, and we both think that everyone is so focused on whether or not Ollie is the bad guy” – I winced at the phrase – “that they aren’t looking anywhere else.”

  Hugh turned the car onto SE Sandy and swerved to avoid a skateboarder in the bike lane. He muttered, “Idiot.” In louder voice, he said, “How do you know it’s not you? Have you remembered anything?”

  I spoke quickly before Ben could look guilty. “I don’t know for sure, but don’t I deserve the chance to find out?”

  Kevin leaned forward. “Come on, Hugh, just this morning you were saying that everyone was too focused on Ollie.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Hugh grinned. “Just wanted to see if she remembered anything.”

  We were all silent for the rest of the drive until Hugh parked in front of my home. The house was dark and quiet.

  “I’m assuming your dad isn’t home.” Hugh turned off the ignition.

  “No, he’s at work.” I got out of the car. “We’ve got about an hour. Come on.”

  As I lead them through the living room to the kitchen, Kevin stopped and picked up a photo of Mom. He said softly, “She was really nice to me.” He met my gaze. “I still miss her, you know?”

  I took the picture from him. “Yeah, I know.” Kevin put a hand on my shoulder in sympathy while Hugh put his hand on my other shoulder. We stood for a moment until I noticed Ben standing awkwardly near the door with his hands shoved into his jacket pockets. I stepped away from the comforting hands of my cousins and set the picture back on the table.

  They followed me into the kitchen and settled around the big farmhouse table. Figuring they were as hungry as I was, I waved at the fridge and the pantry. “Dig around for whatever you want.” I opened a bag of potato chips and sat down at the kitchen table. “So, investigation. How do we start?”

  Kevin opened the fridge and considered the contents. “Okay, I think we should do a timeline and figure out where you were for each incident.” He pulled out a leftover container of chicken, then reached back in for a block of cheese.

  “Aunt Kate already did that. Twice.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Each time appears to correspond with a time when I’m upset.” I leaned forward, putting my hands on the table. “But that doesn’t prove anything, cause I’ve been upset other times since these incidents started, and nothing has happened.”

  Hugh poured water into his glass as Kevin sat down and opened the cheese and chicken.

  “And you’re sure you don’t have your ability yet?” Hugh raised an eyebrow at me.

  I nodded, very deliberately not looking at Ben, who sat beside me, grabbing some chips from the bag.

  Hugh took a sip of water before continuing. “Does anyone know what else Aunt Kate is looking into? I mean related to the destruction.”

  We all pondered Hugh’s question. Kevin drummed his fingers on the table while Hugh drank more water. Ben sighed and began dicing the cheese into little pieces. I noticed our cheese knife had a small burn on it and it reminded me of something, but I couldn’t quite recall what. I watched while Ben arranged the pieces of cheese on a plate with crackers. He pushed the plate to the middle of the table with a flourish.

  “Oh.” I remembered. “Aunt Kate keeps asking about the sticks from each scene. Burned sticks of wood with the same symbol of an M on them..”

  “You’re right. What’s up with that?” Kevin asked.

  Ben reached for a notepad and pen. He shoved it at me. “Can you draw the stick? The size and amount of burn? And the symbol?”

  “Um.” I hesitated, thinking about my pitiful drawing skills. But it was just a stick, should be easy to draw.

  Before I could move, Kevin pulled the pen and pad towards him. He drew for a moment before pushing the results to the middle of the table. I was impressed by the detail; the drawing looked almost real. “Nice job, Kev.”

  He gave me a shy smile. “Fallback career: artist.”

  I snorted with amusement before leaning over the drawing. It was of the stick of wood from the most recent explosion. Kevin had even written down an estimate of the length – about a foot and half long. The charred area covered half the length of one side. The M was an elegant calligraphy etched into one end.

  Ben pulled the drawing closer and studied it with an expressionless face. Finally he sat back and grabbed a piece of cheese. Kevin burst out with, “Dude, do you know something about this or not?”

  “Yeah, but I think it’ll be easier if I show you.” Ben swallowed the cheese and said to me, “Got a computer I can use?”

  I gave him a hard look and answered, “Yes, in my room.” I stood up and waved for them to follow me.

  As they filed into my bedroom, I was acutely aware that I never had guys in my room. I winced when I saw a bra and panties on the floor, and I quickly kicked them under the bed. And I’d never noticed I had so many dolls. To cover my discomfort, I pointed to the laptop on my desk. Ben sat down and pull
ed up Google.

  Kevin sat on my bed beside the desk so he could look over Ben’s shoulder. “So what are you looking for?”

  Ben kept typing and clicking. “Conspiracy sites.”

  Hugh said, mirroring my confusion, “Conspiracy sites? Why? Aren’t those written by a bunch of whacked out people?”

  Ben clicked on a link. “Sure, mostly.” He looked up at us as a site came up on the screen. “But, sometimes, every once in a while, they get something right.” He pointed at the screen. “I like to follow some of the sites because I want to know if they know about us, the supernormals.”

  I leaned forward to stare at the screen. Emblazoned across the top were the words, ‘Are they among us?’ in bold, flashing font. Underneath, the subtitle wondered, ‘Are the sightings true? Are they aliens or super-human?’ There were drawings and fuzzy photos of what could be a man flying and a woman holding up a car. And there were statements from people claiming to have seen people doing impossible things.

  Hugh snorted with derision and sat on the bed beside Kevin. “You aren’t seriously checking out these sites. How do you think they’ll help us? I mean, come on, we read these to get a laugh.”

  “Yeah, I know, I get it, but look at this.” He clicked on a link under a photo of what looked like a pile of dirt. The next page had the title, ‘Mountain of Ash’ with several long paragraphs of text. My heart skipped a beat when I saw one of the photos was of a stick of wood similar to the ones Aunt Kate was collecting.

  “What is ‘Mountain of Ash?’” I touched the screen lightly on the photo of the stick. “Looks like the stick.”

  Wondering why Kevin and Hugh were silent, I looked at them. My cousins wore matching expressions of shock.

  “What?” I asked, frightened. Ben watched with confusion.

  Hugh swallowed and said slowly, as though he didn’t want to say the words, “Mountain of Ash is the name of the evil guys who caused the explosion…” He stopped and gave me a cautious look.

  I gritted my teeth, afraid to ask, but the words came out anyway. “What explosion?”