Remembered

by Krista Street

  Father sighed heavily and shook his head. “We should turn in.” His eyes were glassy, his expression haggard.

  “What time is it?” I asked.

  Flint squeezed my hand. “Ten at night.”

  “Wow.” I’d been asleep for six hours. “So all of those months after the fire, when you two were locked in the basement, this drug is what you’d been working on? The drug to make us forget?” I still remembered that feeling of impending doom, that something bad was to come. I’d been right.

  Father nodded. “And the drug to make you remember. I wanted both on hand.”

  I glanced at Di. She stood by the cold fireplace, a brooding expression on her face. All along Father had planned to erase our memories, but…

  “Did you know, Di? What it was for?”

  She shook her head. “No. I only knew it affected memory, but I didn’t know it was going to be used on us.” Her tone was neither defensive nor cunning. I knew she told the truth.

  “Let’s go to bed.” There was an edge in Flint’s voice. A dark expression clouded his face. “Lena?” He pulled me toward the stairs.

  I followed him from the room. I glanced back when we reached the stairs to find Father watching us. His mouth was down-turned, his expression regretful. I knew now that he and Flint had never formed a close relationship. I also knew that was Flint’s choice. Not Father’s. Flint had always kept Father at arm’s length. He blamed Father for everything O’Brien had done to us when we were little. All of the drugs and experiments, even though Father did everything he could to minimize those experiences. Chewing my lip, I followed Flint down the staircase.

  WHEN WE WERE alone in our room, Flint closed the door. He raked a hand harshly through his hair. The energy in the air abruptly changed. That raw, powerful feeling that always rolled off him when he was angry increased.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  Flint sighed heavily. He sat on the bed and clasped his hands together on his knees. The bed was still mussed from us sleeping in it. Tentatively, I sat beside him. The energy coming from him was so strong.

  “It’s…him. Conroy.” Flint sneered, abruptly stood and paced a few times. “How could he have done this to us? Erased our memories, separated us? He took you away from me. On purpose. He had to know what you were to me, what you are to me, yet he did it anyway. That doesn’t sound like somebody who cares about us.” He stopped at the window and looked out. In a fierce voice, he said, “I’ll never forgive him.”

  For a moment, I watched him. The broad shoulders, the chestnut hair, the pulsing anger that hid a core made of steel coated in loyalty. It was all so…Flint.

  One of my earliest memories was of him and me outside at the cabin, right after Father took us from that place. The leaves were crimson and gold, the air crisp. At that age, Flint barely spoke. He often isolated himself from others. As the oldest, Flint had been more traumatized by O’Brien than any of us.

  That day he’d stood apart from everyone else, staring at the trees, refusing to interact while everyone else played together. I’d approached him, not relenting until he smiled. It was a small smile but still a smile. My innocent cheerfulness and innate need to include everyone in everything had been the beginning of our bond. I knew now that our relationship was so strong because it was based on friendship. For years we’d only been childhood friends, both of us loyal to the other, watching out for and protecting each other. Yet Flint took loyalty to an entirely new level.

  I knew he’d rather die than hurt me.

  Pulling him back to the bed, I practically forced him to sit beside me. A twinge of anger bubbled up in me. Flint was right. Father had purposely split Flint and me up. But I also knew Father didn’t enjoy doing that. He didn’t want to. All he ever wanted was to protect us.

  He felt he had no choice.

  I shook my head. I was still trying to process it all. It was all so surreal.

  The stress of trying to understand all that had happened made my headache grow. I rubbed the back of my neck. It still hadn’t abated. If anything, the throbbing had grown.

  “I don’t know what to say,” I finally replied. “I know what you mean, and I agree that Father had to know what he was doing to us.”

  “So you’re mad too?”

  I paused, frowning. “A little angry – yes. But, I’m not angry the way you are.”

  “You’re not?”

  I shook my head.

  “How can you not be?”

  Doing my best to ignore the throbbing in my skull, I tried to articulate how I felt. “Father has always loved us, I know that. And he’s only ever wanted to protect us. That I’m certain of. Surely you can relate to that?”

  Flint stared at me with disbelieving eyes.

  I placed my hand over his. “If you thought something was going to harm me, and the only way to guarantee I’d stay safe was to leave me forever, you’d leave, wouldn’t you?”

  He frowned, his expression grim. “I can’t imagine anything being so significant that I’d have to leave to protect you. It seems to make more sense for me to stay to protect you.”

  “No, we can’t imagine anything that significant, but Father can.”

  Flint’s brow furrowed.

  I rubbed my neck again. “I barely remember that place we came from when we were kids. It’s all foggy. I only have one or two clear memories of it, but Father remembers all of it. And he knows more about those people than we ever will. Of all of us, Father knows what that group is capable of. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I know he wanted to keep us together, but in the end, he knew the safest bet was to split us up. I truly don’t believe he ever wanted to do that. He chose the lesser of two evils.”

  Flint raked a hand through his hair. His energy kicked up a notch. “So you’re really not mad at him?”

  I shook my head. “Not really.”

  He sighed.

  I put my arm around his shoulders. They were so wide I could barely get my hand cupped around his deltoid. He turned and pulled me to him. He easily engulfed me in his embrace.

  “I love you,” he whispered. “No matter what we both think on this matter.”

  “I love you too.”

  “But I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him.”

  “I know.” After a lifetime of blaming Father, what happened this year would only make it worse. Flint and Father would probably never see eye to eye.

  “Yet you forgive him so easily.”

  “Yes.”

  He pulled me tighter to him. His hands roamed up and down my back. I peeked up at him. His eyes were distant, unseeing as if lost deep in thought.

  I rubbed against him, trying to pull him from the mood he was falling into. It took a moment before he seemed aware of what I was doing.

  His eyes darkened when he looked down. His voice grew husky. “Just what are you doing, babe?”

  “Helping you remember a few things.” I rubbed against him more. If nothing else, this new distraction helped me ignore my pounding headache.

  Hot energy rolled off him. “I think I’m going to like remembering.”

  “Me too.”

  He groaned and crushed me to him. He kissed me. Hard. I could feel his anger and rage over Father, but his desire and need were there too. The heavy emotions swirled around me like a boxer throwing punches. Quick bursts hit me every which way. I never knew where I was going to be hit next.

  I pushed back from him. “Holy crap.”

  I kept him at arm’s length. His shoulders bunched under my fingers. They felt like iron.

  “What?” Confusion laced his words. His eyes were dark with desire.

  “It’s…” I shook my head. Now that I had my memories, things were coming back to me at lightning speed. This is what Father was talking about! My ability wasn’t limited to seeing clouds around people. I was able to do so much more. Father was right. The latest drug brought back all that I learned. What I had felt right now was so much stronger than anything
I’d felt since waking up in April.

  “Holy crap!” I said again.

  Flint tensed. “What’s wrong?”

  I smiled. “Your cloud…your aura…it’s so strong right now. It’s different feeling. More.”

  He blinked and then slowly, understanding dawned. “That’s right. You can do more than just see clouds.”

  “All of the years Father helped me work on it…I’d forgotten. Just like my identity. I’d forgotten how advanced my ability is.”

  “And it’s not just you.”

  I nodded. “Right, the twins, Di and Mica can do more too.”

  During the past several years, Father began working with us more aggressively on our abilities. He hypothesized we’d be able to do more the older we became. Like learning a sport or musical instrument, it could be strengthened and honed. With time, absolute control and coordination could be learned. However, that training stopped once the fire hit. Father’s obsession with the memory drug had taken precedence. I understood now what he and Di had been doing in the basement all of those months.

  I shook my head as my memories lined up. It all made sense now.

  I’d tried to practice my new skills on my own, while Father was too preoccupied in the lab with the memory drug, but it had been hard. I didn’t know how to grow my ability. Not really at least. Sometimes I’d get lucky and be able to move small things. Usually, I just ended up with a headache for my efforts, very similar to how I felt right now.

  That’s probably why I’m feeling this way. It’s from remembering my ability.

  Flint took a deep breath. His energy relaxed. It no longer felt like a punching bag. Of course, it didn’t have to be that way. One thing I had mastered was how to diffuse other’s energy so it didn’t affect me so much. If I concentrated, I could control Flint’s cloud, keep it pushed back.

  I hadn’t known that until now.

  I thought about all of the times over the past few months when those steady pushes and waves off Flint barreled into me. How at times it had taken my breath away from its sheer force and heat. I hadn’t known then that I could stop it.

  “That’s definitely going to make life easier.”

  “And more interesting.” He grinned. “Remember that time you knocked over the salt shaker on the table?”

  I laughed. I’d done it as Jet sat down for lunch. He hadn’t known that I was working on my ability. He’d jumped up, practically shrieking when the pepper shaker knocked over next.

  Flint chuckled. “He started raving about poltergeists, saying one had taken up residence in the cabin.”

  I laughed harder. “And I didn’t tell him until the next day.”

  “He barely slept that night. He was convinced the “spirit” was going to smother him in his sleep.” Flint chuckled more loudly.

  I fell back on the bed, clutching my sides. “I’d completely forgotten about that.”

  My words were like water dousing a fire. Flint’s grin vanished. He was quiet for a moment, his eyes hard. “That’s right. We forgot everything because of Conroy.”

  His energy picked up again, but I let it wash over me, like the bow of a ship pushing through waves. His energy dispersed around and behind.

  I sat up. “But we remember now.”

  He pushed a stray curl behind my ear. A muscle clenched in his jaw. “I forgot about that night at the cave. The night we first made love.”

  I fingered my bracelet. “That was the night you gave me this, on my eighteenth birthday.”

  His eyes darkened. “It’s been a long time.”

  Even though we’d been together for the last two months, we hadn’t had sex. In a way, I’d liked that. It built the suspense, heightened everything since we were still building toward the final show. But now, knowing we had been doing it, for years, in fact, was…weird.

  I knew every inch of his body, every way to drive him crazy. I knew that the spot behind his left ear was more sensitive than the right. That he loved when I ran my hair along his chest while I trailed kisses down his stomach.

  Flint moved closer. His thigh brushed mine. That sparse contact sent electricity racing along my nerves. “It’s been a very long time.”

  My breath quickened. “Months.”

  “I never thought I could go a day without having you when we first started.” He kissed me softly. “I thought I’d go crazy from seeing you across the room and not being able to touch you.” He trailed a finger along my thigh.

  Heat exploded inside of me. A deep throbbing took root.

  “I’d pass by you in the kitchen, but someone would be sitting at the table, not knowing how your smell and the feel of your bottom brushing against me as I passed behind you made me want you even more.”

  I closed my eyes and tilted my head back.

  “I soon learned I had to wait, that sometimes we couldn’t get to the cave for days at a time. And in that time, I learned how to drive you crazy with just a look, or a soft kiss on the neck when I brushed your hair back, or how you liked when I bit your upper lip in a quick kiss.”

  I pulled him back on the bed with me.

  “You especially loved when I’d tease you.”

  He slid out of his pants. The sound of my jeans unzipping sounded next. I lifted my hips as he shimmied them off me.

  He bent down and kissed me, and using his fingers, he proved exactly how much he remembered pleasing me.

  When he finally withdrew, I opened my eyes. His pupils were dark and dilated. Pent up longing and need shown in them. I felt like a puddle of liquid honey.

  “You were on the pill at one point,” he said.

  When I turned eighteen, Father gave me birth control, like he gave everyone else in the house some form of protection.

  “Do you know when you last took it?” he asked.

  “No.” I still felt like liquid warmth in his arms. A distinct bulge pressed against my thigh. I rubbed against it.

  Flint groaned and reached out, stilling my hips. “Until you’re on birth control again, we’re not doing it.”

  “Are you sure?” I rubbed more.

  He sucked in a sharp breath. “Lena,” he growled.

  “Oh, all right.” Raising my arms, I took my shirt and bra off. Cool air washed over my naked body.

  His eyes flashed. “Damn, woman.”

  I pulled him down on the bed and then sat up. Naked, I lifted my leg over him, as if I was going to straddle him.

  “We can’t. Lena…please…” His jaw clenched.

  “I know, I know, but it doesn’t mean I don’t like teasing you.”

  Settling on his thighs, I wrapped my hand around him. Love shone in his gaze as I moved my hand up and down, faster and faster. It was amazing the feelings that washed over me through his energy. I let it hit me – the hot sexiness of it and his deep love and adoration rolled into one.

  He came quickly, his energy spiraling out of control. Closing my eyes, I pushed the headache back and focused on our power.

  Using what I could remember, I harnessed the auras around us. I worked it together, concentrating deeply and groaning at how much effort it took. Slowly, it formed into a ball, but just as that ball became complete, something in my mind snapped.

  I screamed, wrapping my hands around my head.

  I collapsed onto him. My headache exploded. Stars shone in my gaze as another scream of pain ripped from my mouth.

  “Lena?” Flint pushed up, pulling me to him. “Lena!”

  His face faded in and out. I clung to him, pulling him toward me before I whispered, “Get Father.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Flint was off me and out of the room before I could blink. Somehow he managed to throw a blanket over me in the process. I moaned and cradled my head. Pulling myself into a ball, I turned on my side. The pain in my head was excruciating. It felt like my head would explode.

  “Galena?” Father’s voice sounded.

  A dip in the mattress told me he’d sat down. Gentle hands gripped my wrist
s and pried them from my head. “Galena, tell me what’s wrong.” His voice was quiet yet firm.

  “My head…” I moaned. “My head hurts so badly!”

  Father’s grip tightened for the merest second before he let go and gently pushed hair from my eyes. I could barely make out his features. My vision wasn’t right.

  He felt along my skull and then down my neck. “When did this start?”

  “It’s hurt since I woke up.” I winced when he touched the base of my neck.

  Flint reappeared on my other side. “It’s hurt since you woke up?” His voice rose.

  I winced.

  “I’m sorry, babe.” Flint turned to Father. “Do something!”

  Father ignored Flint and kept probing me. When he realized I had nothing on under the covers, he stood.

  “Please wrap her in the blanket.”

  Father turned just long enough for Flint to shimmy my panties back on and secure the blanket around me. I moaned again. The movement made everything throb.

  “I’m sorry, babe…I’m trying to be gentle.” Flint’s tone and fingers shook. “She’s dressed.”

  Di appeared behind Father. She wore pajamas, and her hair was mussed. “What’s going on?”

  “Lena?” Jacinda’s voice called from the doorway.

  “Everyone, please stay back,” Father said. “Except for you, Diamond. I’d appreciate your assistance.”

  I opened my eyes to see fuzzy figures in the doorway. Everyone seemed to be awake. I wasn’t sure if Flint had woken the entire house on purpose or accidentally.

  Di picked up my arm and felt my pulse. “Her heart’s ticking along pretty fast. Lena, what’s hurting?”

  “Um…my head…it hurts. It’s pretty bad.”

  My vision cleared just long enough to see Di and Father share a look. In that second, my insides grew cold.

  “But I’m going to be okay, right? It’s just a bad headache.” I winced when a particularly hard pounding hit.

  Flint took my other hand while Di continued to feel my pulse. He kissed the inside of my palm and smoothed the hair from my forehead. “Of course, it’s just a headache. You’re going to be fine. Right, Conroy?”