by Olivia Myers
“Forgive me, Cassie, but I had to do this so we could talk without you trying to murder me.”
“What?” I try to sit up, but he holds me down. Panic overtakes me and I wriggle against him. I can’t believe I just sat here like an idiot while he tied me up.
“Settle down. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t think I could if I wanted to.”
I stop struggling, but I can’t control my breathing. “What are you going to do to me?”
“How did you become connected to Phil?” he asks.
“What? He found me. When I was six. Don’t you already know that?” I struggle some more.
Evan lets out an exasperated breath and sits beside me. “This is going to be a long night. I found you, Cassie. Remember? I approached you in the Union cafeteria. I told you that you were pregnant.”
“Well, yeah, but Phil had already found me.”
“Does that even make sense? Does it make sense that he also found me when I was a child? My God. I don’t know who I really am. Of course he didn’t. How could I join the movement against him if he had?”
“You’re against him? Help!” I start screaming, but Evan quickly puts a hand over my mouth.
“Shh. I don’t want to have to gag you, Cassie. Listen to me. Just answer my question. Does it make sense?”
I struggle to think straight, but everything feels fuzzy. “No. I guess not.”
“Good.” Evan drops his shoulders in relief. “Remember what Phil did to the guy following Vicki?” he prompts.
“Yes. It was awesome,” I say. Phil is awesome.
Evan shakes his head slightly. “He did the same thing to you.”
“What? That’s ridiculous. Phil would never do that. He’s teaching me. I’m the one he trusts most.”
“How do you feel about me?” Evan asks, his voice cracking.
“I…I don’t know. I really like you. I might even. I think maybe I...”
“Love me? Because I think maybe I’m falling for you too.”
My mouth dries up. I nod.
“You’re going to try to kill me in my sleep. He told you to forget about it all until the time is right. The time is right.” He looks deep in my eyes.
Everything floods into my head. He’s a traitor. Evan’s a traitor and must die. Phil is my mentor. I have to protect him.
“You want to kill me now?” he asks.
“Yes,” I say. But I’m confused.
“To protect Phil?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you known him?”
“Since I was six.”
“How many weeks?”
“One.”
“Does that make sense?”
The world spins and I feel sick. I thought I was past most of my morning sickness. Since when would I want to kill someone, anyway? Especially someone I loved?
“What do we do?” I ask. “And how did you know?”
His hand finds my stomach and gently rubs. The baby inside flutters again. “Your son told me. He’s quite helpful, this kid.”
My baby?
“He’s worried about mommy, he said. The man made her feel funny. Told her funny things. He repeated them to me.”
My eyes tear up.
“What do we do?” I ask again.
“I already called The Rebels. They’re sending someone now to help.”
“I told him everything,” I say. It hurts but now I remember it’s true.
“You couldn’t help it,” Evan says, brushing back the hair from my forehead. “But this means we have to leave town. The Rebels will get someone else in place.”
“Actually we found the perfect person.” A woman’s voice startles me and I once again strain against the ropes.
Evan scrambles to his feet. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
The woman smiles. She’s tall and sexy with skin so dark it almost blends in with her long black braids. “I’m sorry you had to be detained, Cassie. We didn’t want you to kill Evan before he had a chance to talk to you. My name is Suza. I am one of The Rebels.”
“I’d shake your hand, but I can’t.” I hold up my bound wrists.
“Let her out.”
Evan unties me quickly, which causes me to wonder how often he ties up women in his apartment. But for now, I have to focus.
“Is your impulse to kill Evan gone?” Suza asks, sitting on the other side of the couch.
“The one Phil put there? Yes. My own? Not so much.”
She smiles again. “We have an opportunity here. With your permission, I can teach you tonight how to block your thoughts from Phil. How to give him just enough information. It’s not difficult, but it takes understanding of the mechanics. You can then go in and tell him you’ve succeeded in your task.”
“You can’t kill Evan!” I jump up, making myself dizzy. Evan grins at me from the ground where he sits on an oversized pillow near the mess he threw on the ground.
“We will make it look like you succeeded. Not actually kill anyone,” Suza explains calmly. “He’ll have to hide out for a bit. But I have a safe house not too far from here. You can visit when we’re sure you aren’t being tailed. What do you say?”
“This is awfully fast,” I say, my head still spinning slightly.
Evan takes my hand and runs his thumb over my fingers. “It’s your chance to do what you always wanted. Be a superhero. I know it isn’t what you had in mind. It’s your decision.”
“We can give you both the money to retire somewhere far away if you say no,” Suza agrees.
“So I put myself and my unborn child in danger to help catch a psycho or run away rich with a hot guy?” I ask.
“When you put it that way.” Suza laughs.
“What does Jackson want?” I ask Evan.
“Is that his name now?” he asks, setting a hand on my stomach again.
I nod.
“He likes the name,” he says. “And he says Mommy should be happy.” He winks.
“Then I guess I’m doing it,” I say. “Let the lessons begin, because I plan to stop an asshole psychic.”
“That’s my girl.”
“Do you trust me?” Suza asks.
I look to Evan. He trusts her. I touch my bulging stomach. I can’t sense Jackson’s thoughts, but I can sense his approval. I nod at Suza. “Yes, I trust you.”
She gestures toward Evan’s kitchen table. It’s covered in papers and books on psychic abilities, and he clears it off for us.
“I’m going to teach you how to block and manipulate your own thoughts, and how to do the same thing to others.”
“That sounds like a lot to learn.”
“It is,” she says, and smiles. “But we need to act fast if we’re going to catch Phil. He’s going to sense something isn’t right as soon as he sees you, so it’ll take everything you have to keep him from figuring out what the real trouble is.”
We work together for hours and talk over the plan for tomorrow, until I’m thoroughly exhausted.
“She needs to rest,” Evan says.
Suza shakes her head. “She needs to work harder and get stronger.”
“She’ll be no use to us if she’s too tired to guard her own thoughts.”
“Um, hello,” I say, “she’s right here. And I’m tired and cranky, and I think Evan’s right.”
“I’m sorry,” Suza says. “I should have asked you. This kind of work is exhausting. Go ahead and rest. Evan?”
“I’ll watch over her,” he says. “Sleep now, Cassie.”
***
When I wake up in the morning, Evan is motionless beside me. His chest is covered in a sticky redness, and I hold a knife in my hand covered in the same goo. I know it isn’t really blood—this was part of our plan—but I can’t help the horror I feel at the sight of him.
Choking back bile, I rise from the bed. I wish I could rouse him, see his smile and make sure he’s alive. But that would ruin the illusion, and today will be all about illusions. Instead, I kiss his brow and smoot
h some of his sandy hair from his temple.
Then I shower off some of the red, blood-like liquid, and dress myself in an old shirt of Evan’s.
I’m shaking by the time I reach the door to Phantom Phil’s Quirky Books and Doodads. Inside, Phil is waiting for me. I try not to shudder, and I press one hand protectively to comfort little Jackson.
Phil’s at the front of the bookstore. “Cassie? Are you all right?”
“Phil…I’m so confused. I don’t know what’s happened, and I don’t know why—”
“It’s okay, shh,” he says. He puts what he probably thinks is a comforting arm over my shoulders, but it takes every power I have not to shrug it off in disgust.
“Phil, Evan was so awful. I killed him to protect you, to protect us. But…I don’t know why, and I’m confused about my childhood. When did you find me?”
He leads me up the stairs and into the room with the pentagram and the eye. There, he helps me sit in a comfortable chair, and he sits next to me. “Poor Cassie,” he says. “I can help you figure things out. Will you let me make a connection with you? It’ll help ease your fears. You can trust me, you know.”
“I know, Phil.” I lean into him as if he were a father figure, or a favorite uncle. It feels so wrong, but I won’t allow myself to shift away.
He touches my hand gently, and I see faint silver trails of psychic energy gathering around his fingers. My own faint yellow energy wisps respond, twining with his, and I feed him the images of Evan, motionless in the bed, covered in blood. I feed him the image of the knife in my hand, and the red liquid swirling down the shower drain. I feed him my distress and my fear.
He takes it in, and our energy wisps twine together even stronger. As soon as he initiates the bond to manipulate my psychic consciousness, I lock down onto him. Baby Jackson’s powers, combined with mine, make me stronger than Phil ever could have imagined. Instead of allowing Phil to manipulate my consciousness, I manipulate his.
I make him think he’s a little boy, dependent on his mother. I make him believe that I am his mother.
“Your favorite babysitter, Suza, will take you to the toy store now, Philip,” I say in a soothing tone.
“Yes. Yes, Mama, please!” His voice sounds younger, and less cynical and controlling. I almost feel sorry for him, until I remember he tried to make me kill Evan.
He follows me eagerly downstairs. “I can’t wait to see Suza again. What does she look like?”
“She’s very pretty. And she loves spending time with you almost as much as I do!” I feed him images of Suza’s dark hair and kind smile.
She’s waiting at the door, along with Evan. Phil stares at Evan in confusion. He recognizes Evan, but his childlike mind won’t allow him to even entertain the thought that he’d mentored Evan before trying to have him killed.
“It’s okay,” Suza says. “Evan’s a friend of ours.”
“Oh, okay,” Phil says.
Suza leads him away, and he reaches out to hold her hand. It’s a tragic image, and I lean into Evan’s strong chest, letting him hold me.
“Are you okay?” Evan asks.
“What’s going to happen to Phil? He’s just a little kid now…”
“No, that’ll wear off, don’t worry. He’ll go to trial. The Rebels have set up a system for dealing with transgressors. He’ll have a jury and a judge of other psychics.”
I nod. It sounds fair, and fitting. So unlike what Phil wanted to do to others—punishing them with death if he felt they stepped out of line.
“I was wondering about Tristan,” Evan says. “I know it’s not really the time for this conversation, but…”
“No, it’s okay,” I say. “I’ve been thinking about it, too. He might want to be involved with his son, but he’s not going to be involved with me. Not after what he and Sara did.”
“I think you’re making the right decision, especially because it means we can be together.” He gives me a kiss on the forehead.
Phil and Suza join a few other people, other Rebels, I assume. They get in a van and drive out of sight.
“So what now?” I ask.
“Now we can relax, until next time we notice a psychic or human about to start trouble. Didn’t you want to be a superhero? I’m sure they have downtime, too.”
I smile up at him. “And how do they fill that downtime?”
“I have a few ideas.”
He touches my chin, tilting it upward for a kiss. After seeing him pretending to be dead this morning, seeing him alive like this causes relief and joy to washes through me. Our lips meet and I melt into him, appreciating his joy, his loyalty, and his love.
I may not be able to see the future, but I have a feeling that things are going to turn out well for us, and for Jackson.
THE END
Bearly Saved Christmas
Krista Voss stood staring at her family ranch from the front porch. The lights were up, and the wreath was centered on the front door. The problem was, it wasn’t the same without her parents.
She had just finished filling up the barn with wrapped gifts, and decorating for Christmas. She wasn’t sure if her adoptive brother would stay for the holidays or not, but she hoped he would. With her adoptive parents recently passed away, and her biological father not at all interested in seeing her, she needed a familiar face around here, someone who understood what this ranch meant to her, and cared enough about her to smile when he saw her. She was sad and lonely, and she ached inside from losing the only parents she’d really known.
Growing up, she’d learned all their secrets. As bear shifters, they had reasons to be extremely private and very selective in who they let in their family.
She couldn’t wait for Leo to arrive. She could use his help with the toy donation she organized every year. The barn was full of gifts, waiting for Christmas Eve when she would drive them into town, hopefully with Leo’s help.
As far as decorations, all that was missing was the topper for the tree. She was saving it for Leo. She was hoping that he’d put it on the top of the tree like he’d done when she was a child. She needed good memories right now. Losing her parents and being rejected by her birth family had broken her spirit. She was already judged enough, being one of the only black women in the small rural Texas town. Some people might have thought that being adopted by a white family would have changed the way people treated her. Those who’d known the family well treated her pretty well, but she stood out like a sore thumb whenever she went into town. What was worse, Cory Boyd was in town, always mouthing off about what an abomination Krista and her adoptive family were. “Whites and blacks, living in the same house, it’s a sin,” he’d grouse, just loud enough for her. It used to fill her with shame, but now it just made her sad that such a racist man had the support of at least a small handful of townspeople.
There were times where she wondered if she should just sell her half of the ranch and go to a bigger city where she wasn’t a minority that drew attention every time she turned around, someone who could stay out of Cory Boyd’s radar. Her chocolate skin was a huge contrast compared to the blond haired, blue-eyed people who dominated their small town.
A small blue Porsche pulled up to the main house. Krista’s heart pounded in anticipation, and her brother Leo got out. He pulled two luggage bags and a computer bag from the passenger seat and she wondered how he’d made it all fit in such a small car. Krista was used to driving the big pickups from the ranch. A tiny car like Leo’s made her giggle inside. It would get ruined out here on these bumpy, dusty roads.
“Hi, Leo, hope the drive was okay?” she asked as she took one of his bags from him.
“Yeah, it was fine,” he said, looking down at her.
She was tall at five foot ten, but Leo towered over her at almost six and a half feet tall. He had dark blue eyes, which seemed to gaze right into her. His light brown hair was streaked with blond and looked soft to the touch. She realized that the years had turned him into an attractive man, and he stirred
something in her that had her taking a step back and catching her breath. She shouldn’t feel any attraction to her adoptive brother, even though there was no blood relation. It wasn’t socially acceptable. Trying to push the attraction she felt for him when she saw him out of her mind, she helped him carry his bags in to his old room.
“You doing your gift giveaway again this year?” he asked. There was something in his eyes, something about the way he was looking at her.
No, she must be imagining it. “Yeah. I was hoping you’d go into town with me again.”
“Sure thing. It’s really sweet of you to do that.”
“I just want to help other kids, the way you and your parents helped me.” She tried to keep her voice even, although he looked up sharply, probably hearing subtle cues. Shifter senses had made him and his parents too keen on her feelings, but she was used to it.
Brushing up against him when she took the bags and set them on the bed, she gasped when he put his arm out to give her a half-hug and press a kiss to her temple in greeting. It was innocent enough, but it stirred her passions and had her face feeling hot. She was glad that her skin was dark and he wouldn’t easily see her blushing. The last thing she needed was to make her brother feel uncomfortable around her.
What was wrong with her? Krista hurried away from him before even asking him to put the tree topper on the Christmas tree. She needed to put some space between them and let her brain reset.
***
Leo stayed in his bedroom the rest of the night. Seeing Krista all grown up had surprised him. She was tall and lithe in a way that a dancer would be, agile and feminine looking. She moved with a grace that had him wanting to touch her in ways that weren’t appropriate for a brother to be thinking about. Lying down on his childhood bed, he really missed his parents. His natural instinct was to go out on the ranch and shift to his bear and scratch at the trees and roll in the dirt to mourn their loss. It was an animal instinct thing, and he felt his family’s loss all the way through his heart to his gut.
Krista wasn’t a shifter but she knew about him, which gave him an advantage over staying with his girlfriend back home in California. They were in the “off” phase of off-again-on-again, and he knew that when the holidays were over, he really needed to end it with Melody. If he was attracted to his adoptive sister, there was no way Melody was the girl for him anyway, and it wasn’t fair to keep dragging it out. He was ready to settle down, start a family. Especially after losing what was left of his. He had been considering leaving his company and coming home to his family ranch. He needed to think about it. Krista had mentioned trying to buy his share out if he didn’t want to help run the ranch, and he’d come here to make a decision either way.