by Char Webster
Discovery
The Gifted Series
Book One
By Char Webster
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, places, characters, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © by Char Webster
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
Dedication
To my mom, Arlene Webster, who has always had much more faith in me than I have ever had in myself. I never would have done this without her constant encouragement, support and daily demands for more pages. Love you, Mom!
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
About The Author
Acknowledgments
It is completely humbling and awe inspiring to think about all the love and support my family, especially my mom, and friends have demonstrated during this writing process. I could not have completed this book without you all.
I want to send my most sincere thanks to my incredibly brilliant sister, Dr. Christine Webster, who in the middle of grading hundreds of college essays from her students, took the time to edit my book. You are amazing—I love you lots.
I want to thank Dawn Gorman, for all of the support and encouragement and for reading my pages every day and not giving me too hard of a time when I left things as a cliffhanger.
Thank you to Terry Sherwood and all of my other workplace family members. You all are amazing. I couldn’t ask for better friends and colleagues.
Thanks also to my preview readers, especially Audrey Dodge. You helped make this book possible.
Teresa Gonzalez, you are the best. I’m so glad we decided to take a chance on each other and try to figure out this crazy world of indie books.
Prologue
Twenty-three years ago. . .
“Sir, we found them.” The young man with messy brown hair shifted nervously from foot to foot. He kept his head down, hair falling in front of his face, not wanting to look at the slightly older man sitting behind the desk.
“Good. I want to know as soon as she has had the child.” The young man watched his employer sit at the expensive leather inlaid desk and lean back in his soft leather chair. The smirk on his employer’s face frightened him even more than his scowl.
The man at the desk got an evil look on his face. He knew he would find them. His father had left him with an almost endless supply of money and resources. No one could hide from him for long.
“Umm, sir.” Moving back slowly, he peeked up through his hair.
“WHAT, Joel?”
“Uhhhh.” He moved back even more, anticipating what would happen next.
“WHAT IS IT?” The man leaned forward in his chair menacingly. Joel blanched.
“She already had the baby.” Joel moved back another step, knowing that the next thing that came out of his mouth would set the man off in a rage.
“Why didn’t you bring it to me already?” The man huffed impatiently. He started to get up from his seat when Joel blurted out, “We couldn’t find the child.”
The man flew up, knocking the leather chair over as he swept everything off his desk in a violent outburst of rage. Papers and folders settled haphazardly on the hand-knotted area rug. The desk lamp ended up across the room, sparking against the wall. The man didn’t look at any of the mess as he stormed around the desk and out of the office. Without looking back, he said, “Clean this up.”
~*~*~
The man flung the door open, letting it bang against the interior wall with a crash. He stormed into the room, past the three men standing guard, and approached the young couple huddled together against the wall on the floor. He nodded to the leader of the three men. “Have they given you any trouble, Frank?” he asked impatiently.
The young man huddled on the floor had his arm wrapped protectively around the young woman who had been burying her face into his shoulder. They both looked barely out of high school.
“Not yet, but I’m ready for them to try something,” Frank sneered. Frank, a big man with wide shoulders, large muscles, and closely cropped hair, looked like he could have stepped out of a military brochure. Tattoos ran down both arms and disappeared above the sleeve of his too-tight golf shirt. A little bit of ink showed above his opened collar.
“They won’t try anything now,” the man replied. Frank and the other two guards moved away from the couple in the corner to give their boss some privacy.
“Where is the child?” he demanded, getting closer to the couple. He viciously kicked the woman’s thigh as he spoke. The man she was clinging to began to get up, but she held him close, looking directly into his eyes. Unspoken words passed between them and he settled back down.
“You’ll never find our child, Brooks. We've made sure of that.” The man looked intensely at the woman. She nodded and hugged him tighter. He ran his knuckles over her cheek one last time. “I love you,” he whispered.
Just as Mr. Brooks was ready to kick the woman again, the couple looked at each other longingly and the man drew on all of the power they both held within them and let it loose in a massive explosion that ripped apart the entire side of the mansion.
~*~*~
Eighteen Years Ago. . .
Mr. Brooks sat at his desk running his hands through his shoulder-length hair. He hated the length, but he had to wear it longer now that the right side of his face was scarred. It also helped to cover his mangled ear. Twenty-two surgeries and he still looked like a monster. It’s too bad that they died in the explosion, he thought. He would have liked to make them suffer greatly for what they had done to him; instead, he would make their child pay.
He picked up the phone on his desk and dialed Frank. “Get in here,” he demanded, and hung up the phone.
Less than a minute later, the door opened and Frank stepped through without looking up at his boss.
“Have they reported in yet?” Brooks asked.
“Not yet, Mr. Brooks, but I expect to hear something within the hour. This new lead appears to be sound,” Frank replied, looking at the wall behind the desk.
“It had better be. I’ve waited more than five years to find this kid. How hard is it to find one child?” Brooks demanded.
“We’ve found some very gifted children,” Frank replied, still not looking at his employer.
Brooks pounded his fist down on the desk. “Do you think that makes up for not finding this one?”
Frank hesitated a moment, then replied, “A few of them are very uniquely gifted. We wouldn’t have found some of them if it hadn’t been for this search. We have been following up on every report of unusual behavior or odd occurrences with any child across the country. We also have every family services agency and police department covered. The kid will be found.”
Frank felt guilty every time he looked at his boss. It was his job to protect him and h
e’d failed. He’d allowed that explosion to get too close to Brooks. Frank didn’t think Brooks blamed him completely for what happened, but he blamed himself.
Brooks had found him on the streets as a teenager after he’d run away from home. Brooks had taken him in, treated him like a younger brother, and had paid for his education and training. Frank owed Brooks everything, and he had failed to protect him. Those scars were a daily reminder of that failure.
He wouldn’t fail him again.
~*~*~
Six Months Ago. . .
Nick gripped the phone so tightly in his hand that the plastic was beginning to crack. “Sir, I can’t just leave them in foster care.”
He felt like he had been punched in the gut, the pain almost doubling him over. He had just returned from a three-month long undercover operation in Europe only to be hit with this devastating news.
“Nick, they are to stay exactly where they are and that’s an order. This is the only way for us to get the answers we need.”
The phone made another cracking sound from the increased pressure, but he was unable to let up. His emotions were too out of control.
“Did you hear me?”
“Yes, sir. I heard you.”
“Good. I expect a full report on this situation immediately.” The call was disconnected abruptly, ending any arguments he could have made.
He wasn’t going to let them out of his sight. They were his responsibility now. He was also going to begin monitoring the division of family services for any mention of the children.
~*~*~
One Month Ago. . .
“You’re a FREAK!” yelled the girl with short, straight, black hair, as she stalked forward. “How did you find out? I didn’t tell anyone.”
The boy with light-brown spiky hair backed up as the girl stormed toward him. “Zoe, I guessed,” he said, trying to calm her. “I don’t know anything.”
“You’re such a liar, Zach. You’re a liar and a freak. I’m going to tell the Murrays what a freak you are. I’m going to tell them how you spy on everyone to find out things you aren’t supposed to know.”
Zach winced when she called him a freak for the third time. “I didn’t spy on you, Zoe.”
“Then explain how you know!”
“I told you that I guessed,” Zach started to explain, but Zoe cut him off.
“You couldn’t have guessed this! No one could have. How did you find out?” Zoe demanded. “What else do you know? How long have you been spying on me?”
Zach was saved from answering when a petite girl with curly, light-brown hair walked into the room and stormed up to Zoe.
“Leave my brother alone,” the girl said menacingly.
“Stay out of this, Alex!” Zoe screeched. “He was spying on me! I’m telling.”
Alex rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips, facing the other girl. Suddenly Alex straightened, her eyes got huge, and she laughed.
“You think this is funny?” Zoe demanded.
Alex took a deep breath to try to stop herself from laughing. “You’re just upset because Greg Johnson caught you stuffing your bra.”
Zoe inhaled a huge breath in shock and screamed, “He told you! When did he tell you?”
Zach and Alex exchanged a charged look and Alex turned to Zoe. “Do you really think that Greg isn’t going to tell everyone at school?”
“Greg just left and he isn’t friends with Zach. There wasn’t any way for Zach to know unless he was spying.” Zoe challenged, crossing her arms. “I’m going to tell the Murrays and they’re going to throw you guys out and send you back to foster care again.” She had a mean look in her eyes as she taunted them.
“Zoe, if you calm down we can figure out how to help you,” Alex said, trying to defuse the situation.
“I don’t want anything from you, you FREAK! You’re both freaks,” Zoe screamed.
Alex stormed up to her. “You better watch what you say because you never know what freaks might do.”
“You can’t do anything to me,” Zoe countered.
“Want to try me?” Alex took a step closer to her.
Zoe looked around nervous, knowing she may have pushed the other girl too far. “I’m going to tell the Murrays that you stole her earrings. That will get you kicked out.” Zoe swiped the ruby earrings off the coffee table and ran out of the room screaming for Mrs. Murray, their foster parent.
Alex turned to Zach. “Why can’t you keep your mouth closed? Did you have to say anything to her?”
“Lex, all I did was ask her if she needed any more tissues,” Zach said with a half laugh.
“You’re going to get us kicked out of another house, Zach. Why can’t you just stop repeating everything you hear?”
“Sorry, Lex,” Zach muttered.
Mrs. Murray came into the room with her ruby earrings in her hand and Zoe trailing behind her. Zoe had a smug look on her face.
“Alex. Zoe told me she found you and Zach trying to steal my earrings?” Mrs. Murray asked.
“We didn’t try to steal anything,” Alex told her.
“She also told me that you both have been spying on the whole family. I can’t have that kind of behavior around her. If you want to continue living here, then you need to straighten up. You both are grounded. No going out anywhere, no TV, no video games, and no radio.”
“But we didn’t do anything,” Zach said, getting upset.
“I don’t want to hear it. We didn’t have any of these problems before you both got here.” Mrs. Murray and Zoe turned around and left the room.
Alex stood still staring at the place where they had both left. Her hands were in fists at her sides and she was taking deep breaths to try to calm herself.
Alex looked over at Zach just as he lashed out in anger, waving his arm in a big arc. The movement caused the two lamps on the end tables on either side of the sofa to fly across the room and smash against the opposite wall. They hit with such force that they stared sparking.
~*~*~
“What happened this time, Alexandra?” Dawn Johnson, Director of Family Services, asked the petite girl slouching in the chair in front of her desk. She appeared to be younger than her actual age of twelve, but had the bad attitude of a teenager already.
The girl folded her arms in front of her and frowned deeply. She refused to acknowledge the woman behind the desk. She gave her hair a shake and looked over at the wall.
Dawn sighed and looked at the file in front of her. Will Not Answer To Alexandra, was written in big bold letters at the top of the front page. Putting the papers down, Dawn tried again. “Tell me what happened this time, Alex.”
Alex looked over at Dawn with a smirk and made a big show of sighing heavily. “Nothing happened.” Alex rolled her eyes and turned away again.
Dawn wanted to laugh at the dramatics but was able to contain her smile. “The Murrays would not pack you three kids up and drop you off here if nothing happened.”
Dawn sat back and rubbed her temples. The Murrays were one of the better foster parents in the system and Dawn had placed Alex and her brother and sister with them personally. The couple had already taken in two other foster children, but had agreed to have the three siblings live with them as well.
“Mrs. Murray said you purposely broke two lamps,” Dawn told Alex, studying her for a reaction. “She also suspects that you tried to burn down the house.”
Alex squirmed slightly in her seat. She still didn’t look at Dawn.
“I didn’t try to burn down the house,” Alex muttered mutinously.
“But you did throw the two lamps at the wall and smash them,” Dawn prodded, and Alex glared at her.
“Mrs. Murray couldn’t figure out how you managed to throw them both at the same time. She claims to have only heard one crash, but the lamps were more than ten feet apart at the time,” Dawn told her. “Want to tell me how you managed that? Did your brother Zachary have something to do with this?”
If Dawn hadn’t been
watching Alex so closely, she would have missed when the girl’s eyes got huge for a second before she continued her angry expression. So Zachary did have something to do with it, Dawn thought.
“Zach wasn’t even in the room,” Alex challenged. She began to fidget in her seat.
“Stay right there for a moment,” Dawn told her and walked to the door. She leaned out into the outer office and addressed her receptionist. “Sheila, would you please get the other two children and bring them in here.” Sheila looked up at her boss and snorted when she had to stop texting and put away the phone to go get the children down the hall.
A moment later, a skinny, messy-haired pre-teen waltzed in holding an adorable little girl in his arms. The little girl was holding on to him so tightly that their hair seemed to blend together, with her darker brown curls melding into his lighter, almost golden-colored waves.
Zach took a seat next to his sister but transferred the little girl into Alex’s arms. The two older children stared at each other for several moments without speaking.
Dawn watched in fascination as the two children in front of her seemed to have a silent conversation with each other. Her suspicions were confirmed when Zachary nodded his head and turned forward in his seat. There is something weird about these kids, Dawn thought.
Chapter One
“Kill her. Slowly and painfully,” Brooks sneered, kicking the woman sobbing on the dirty garage floor. He noticed that the skirt from her navy business suit had ridden up on her legs, and her white blouse was untucked and ripped up the one side.