by Jill Sanders
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so alive. Or so connected. Even before Drew, she’d never felt this close to someone before.
She wasn’t sure if she could keep herself from opening up to him about it either.
“What’s on the agenda?” he asked, running a hand up her arm.
“I was thinking we could go over a few things before heading out to the lake. But first…” She leaned in and kissed him until she felt him respond to her. Then she pulled away and stood up. “I thought we could grab a shower.”
He chased her into the bathroom, but stopped outside of the shower to remove his bandages.
When he stepped into the shower, her eyes ran over his chest, over his scars. Two large marks ran along his shoulder, almost making an X. Reaching up, she ran her fingers over the mark.
“This looks much better.” She smiled up at him and stepped closer.
He wrapped his arms around her, both of them, and didn’t even feel the slightest twinge.
“How are you healing so fast?” she asked against his skin.
Suddenly, he froze. Taking a step back, he looked down at his marred skin and saw it for what it really was.
A wound that was almost completely healed. He shook his head and blinked his eyes a few times. “Whoa.”
“Ethan?” she said, moving closer to him. “What’s wrong?”
“This” he said, running his hand over his shoulder. “I need to see my brother.” He jumped out of the shower, leaving her standing there with the glass door open and the water falling over the tile floor.
Wrapping a towel around his hips, he grabbed his cell phone and punched his brother’s number.
“What?” Mike answered.
“Get your sorry ass over here,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Now.”
Less than ten minutes later, Mike and Xtina walked into the room. Mike was still using his cane, heavily.
“What’s going on?” Xtina asked first. They both looked like they’d pulled on the first thing they’d found. Xtina had a heavy hoodie on that looked like it was Mike’s.
“This,” he said, opening his shirt, showing them his scar.
“Ouch.” Mike shook his head. “Looks pretty bad.”
“No,” Brea said from the hallway. Her eyes locked with his as she walked into the room. “Trust me, it’s a lot better than it was two days ago, when I last changed his bandages.”
“What?” Mike said, turning towards him.
“Let me see yours,” Ethan said, nodding to his leg.
“Like hell.” Mike laughed. “This isn’t show-n-tell.”
“Mike, I need to see. I mean, I’m almost completely back to normal.” He pointed to this shoulder to make his point. “I was shot less than two weeks ago. And now, all I have is this scar. Hell, I could probably outlift Jacob at this point. That’s not normal.”
“Mike,” Xtina said, “show him.”
Mike’s eyes went to Brea.
“Don’t be shy. Just drop ’em.”
Mike rolled his eyes as Brea turned around.
“Better?” she asked.
Mike sighed then dropped his jeans and showed him his thigh. Slowly he removed his bandages. Ethan noticed there was still dried blood on them.
The nasty scar ran down his upper thigh. It was puckered, red, and looked like it was slowly on the mend.
He walked over and touched the mark, laying a hand solidly over it.
The instant he did, something powerful shot out of his fingertips, causing a strange glow under his hand.
Xtina gasped, and Brea’s eyes grew big. Everyone looked on as the light traveled down his fingertips, into his brother’s thigh.
Mike jerked several times, then Ethan watched in horror as his brother’s eyes rolled to the back of his head as he passed out.
“What the hell!” Ethan said, jerking his hand away. Then he too felt his head spin. Just before he passed out, he saw silver eyes.
Chapter 15
Brea sat across the room in total shock. What she’d just witnessed was even stranger than her teleporting.
“Did he just…heal me?” Mike asked after he woke, looking down at Ethan, who was still unconscious.
Mike’s jeans were still around his ankles. Xtina ran her fingers over the fresh scar on Mike’s thigh, which, oddly, looked almost identical to the scar on Ethan’s shoulder.
“It… It looks like it,” Xtina said as Brea shook Ethan, who was waking up.
“What the hell,” Ethan said, shaking his head and sitting up straight.
He looked down at his hand in disbelief. Ethan had yet to move. He just sat there, almost in shock.
Before their very eyes, they watched Mike’s wound finish completely healing, almost like magic.
“I need a drink,” Ethan said, but when he stood up, he fell back to the sofa.
Brea raced over and put her hands on his shoulders, keeping him in place when all his color left him.
“There’s some whiskey in the cabinet.” Mike pointed to spot over the stove.
Xtina poured a shot in four glasses, then walked over and handed one to each of them.
“Thanks for healing Mike,” she said before drinking.
Ethan laughed and then swallowed. He held his glass out, ready for another shot.
“It’s ten in the morning,” Mike said, shaking his head. He set his glass down, then after another glance at his healed leg, stood and pulled up his jeans.
He walked around, trying out the leg. “It feels good.” He did a squat, then another and smiled. “Really good.”
“How are you feeling?” Brea asked Ethan.
“Better,” he said after the second shot. “Guess I could use some food.”
“We’re out of pretty much everything. How about we all head into town?” Brea said. “Then, maybe you two would like to head to the lake with us?”
Mike’s eyebrows shot up fast. “The lake? The one Jacob and Jess saw last night?”
“Yes, we think it might have something to do with all this.”
Brea drove into town with Ethan beside her. He was moving his shoulder and looking down at his hand.
“Are you okay?” she asked as they pulled into the parking lot of the diner.
“Surprisingly, yes.” He got out and opened the door for her and then surprised her by pulling her into his arms.
“That was strange,” he said, into her hair. “Really strange.”
“Yeah, but no stranger than me zapping myself to different places.”
“We’re not necessarily what most would deem a normal couple.” He pulled back and smiled down at her.
“I’m beginning to think that, from now on, nothing is going to be normal again.”
Mike and Xtina arrived and they crowded into a booth near the back of the diner. Everyone remained silent until after their food was delivered.
Then Brea leaned forward and glanced at everyone. “Okay, is anyone going to talk about what happened?”
“What is there to talk about?” Xtina said between bites.
Brea shook her head and looked down at her food, not sure she could swallow anything. She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “How about the fact that I can teleport and Ethan can heal people. Not to mention the fact that you can… do what you can.”
“I’ve had a lot longer to cope with these things.” Xtina smiled at her. “Besides, we don’t know if Ethan can heal just anyone.”
“Wait, what do you mean?” Ethan said.
“I mean, it worked on Mike, but who’s to say that it will work on just anyone. Besides, gauging from what happened, we know it takes a lot out of you. Both of you.” She looked between Mike and Ethan.
“Yeah,” Ethan said, taking another bite of his steak. “But this is helping.” He smiled.
“Ditto,” Mike said, shoveling some meat into his mouth. “But there for a while, I felt like I had the night I got shot.”
Ethan nodded. “It was almost…”
“Like I relived that moment,” both men said at the same time.
“Whoa, they talk in stereo,” Jess said, standing at the edge of the booth. “Care if I join?” she asked, grabbing an empty chair and adding it to the end of the booth before anyone answered.
“So, what are you kids up to today?” She leaned in and grabbed a French fry from Xtina’s plate. “Because I was thinking of heading out to the lake.”
“We were going to head out there after food,” Xtina said. “You’re welcome to ride along.”
“Yeah,” she said, taking some more fries.
“Hey!” Xtina laughed. “You can order some more.”
“Yeah, but I like yours better. Besides, I’m not hungry enough for my own.”
“Here.” Brea nudged her plate towards Jess. “I’m not that hungry. We can share.” Jess picked up half of her turkey sandwich and took a bite.
When they left the diner, Jess piled into the back of Xtina’s car as Ethan and Brea climbed back into hers.
“What do you think her power is?” Ethan asked, watching them drive away.
“You think she has any?” she asked, pulling out of the parking lot and following Xtina’s car.
“Sure, I mean, everyone involved so far has.”
“What about Jacob?” she asked.
“Jacob?” He groaned. “Hadn’t thought about him.”
“Why not? I mean, it stands to reason that he’d have something before Jess.”
“Why would he? It’s not like Mike has…” He turned to her. “Do you know something I don’t?”
“No, other than the fact that he’s connected to Xtina. And he’s been seeing my aunt for over a year,” she added as they turned on the highway.
“Yeah, but this.” He looked down at his hand. “This is more than just seeing a spirit. This is…”
“Heavy.”
He chuckled, then reached over and took her hand. “We’ll get through this. I mean, how much weirder could it get?”
They pulled up and parked beside Xtina’s car.
“Great,” Ethan groaned. “He’s here.”
Brea glanced over and saw Jacob leaning against the hood of his police car.
“How did he know we were heading here?” he asked as he got out of her car.
“I called him,” Jess said, crossing her arms over her chest. “He needs to be here.”
“Okay,” Ethan said, looking at her. “Why?”
“Because he’s part of this.” She walked towards him.
Brea noticed the look Jacob gave Jess. It matched the look that Ethan had given her several times now.
“So,” Mike said, walking around the hood of Xtina’s car, without so much as a limp, “where do we start?”
For some reason, everyone looked to Brea.
“How would I know?” She shrugged and looked at him.
“You’ve been doing all the research,” Jess said. “For the article.”
“Article?” Ethan turned towards her. “What would the cult attacking them have to do with your aunt?”
“She’s doing an article on me.” Xtina smiled, then turned towards Brea. “I’ve known since the moment you showed up on my porch.” She sighed, then wiggled her hand in front of her. “Remember, I have this annoying thing.”
Brea sighed. “I may have started out writing about you, but after my first… disappearing act, I changed goals.” She leaned against the hood of her car and glanced around at the group. “Since then, I’ve been researching our parents. All of them.”
“Including mine?” Jess asked, something close to fear crossing her eyes.
“Everyone who was there… the night my aunt disappeared.”
“How would you know who was there?” Jacob asked.
Brea walked to the back of her car, pulled out her bag, and held out a folder. “Because of this.” She pulled out a newspaper article.
Everyone gathered around her and looked at the newspaper article that she’d found.
“It says here that your aunt drowned just off the docks,” Jacob said after scanning the article.
“Yes, apparently, there was a party at a lake house near here. She wandered away, and someone saw her fall off the dock. But before they could reach her, she’d sunk below the water and disappeared.”
“They never found her body,” Jacob added.
“Who claimed they saw her fall in?” Jess asked.
“Your mother,” Jacob answered, running a hand over her shoulder.
Ethan noticed the move, but as soon as it happened, Jacob walked away towards the dock a few hundred yards away. Everyone followed him.
They all stood on the dock, looking down at the dark water.
“She’s not here.” It was Xtina that spoke.
“How do you know?” Jacob asked.
“Trust me, she knows,” Mike answered, taking her hand in his.
“If she’s not here, then where?” Jacob asked.
“I told you, she’s not dead.” Xtina looked around at everyone.
“Yeah, you said that before, but what you didn’t say was how you know that,” Jacob said, tossing a rock into the water.
“It’s complicated,” she answered. “Why don’t we meet back at my place later.” Xtina looked over at Jacob. “After you’re off shift, so we can go over everything you’ve learned so far.” She turned to Brea.
“I’m done around nine,” Jacob said. “I can grab some pizza on my way.”
“Can you swing by and pick me up at the diner? I’m filling in for Carla. She’s gone into the city for the weekend,” Jess said.
“Still don’t have your car?” Jacob said.
“Those men call themselves mechanics,” she complained as they walked back to the cars. “Thieves is more like it.”
“How about I take you back into town,” Jacob suggested.
“I want to stick around here for a few minutes more,” Ethan said, nodding towards Brea. “If that’s okay with you?”
“Sure,” she said.
“We have an errand to run.” Mike looked at Xtina. “Then we’ll meet you back at the house.”
Ethan sat on a park bench with Brea and watched everyone else drive away.
“So?” She turned towards him. “What’s the plan?”
He reached over and took her hand, feeling power pulse through the connection.
“Do you feel that?” he asked her.
She looked down at their joined hands. “That’s new.”
“It feels like something has woken in me,” he said, feeling the pulse radiating between them.
“What do we do now?” she asked him, leaning her head against his shoulder. He smiled when he realized that all his pain was gone.
Chapter 16
They made their way back to the local grocery store. She’d never gone grocery shopping with a man before. With all her boyfriends, she’d never shared this simple domestic task.
She was basically living with Ethan now. And she liked shopping with him. Turns out that they liked the same foods. He made her laugh, which was something no other man had ever done. Most of her other relationships had been so serious. There had been passion, but not laughter.
By the time they drove back to the house, she had pretty much forgotten about their odd experiences. But then she stepped up to the porch and instead of walking into Mike’s house, walked into a dark, damp, smelly room.
This time, instead of just feeling her skin tingling, her head throbbed, and her shoulders, neck, and back ached like she’d slept on them wrong. Her lungs burned as if she were sitting around a fire.
She blinked a few times to get her bearings. It was dark and it took almost a minute for her eyes to adjust.
She took one step forward and then another and entered a large room. There were nine people in the room with her, laughing, drinking, and listening to music. She noticed that the full moon was high over the opening of the circular room.
No one seemed to notice her, so she w
alked into the room fully.
She noticed her father first. His younger self. Her eyes moved to the woman he was kissing and her heart sank. It was her aunt Misty, not her mother. Looking around, she found her mother sitting in the corner, writing in a small journal. The journal she’d discovered on her sixteenth birthday. The one that had inspired her to become a journalist.
She saw her mother glance up and sigh when she noticed the couple kissing.
Turning her eyes away, she took in as much as she could about the other three couples. Xtina’s parents were sitting along the wall, heavily making out. Jacob, Mike, and Ethan’s parents were in the corner talking quietly. From the looks of it, she was already pregnant with Jacob, but hiding it.
Their mother kept putting her hands on her flat stomach, with a sad and worried look in her eyes. Then she turned to Jess’s parents and moved closer to them.
They were talking, laughing, and drinking beer.
“Hey,” Jess’s mother said suddenly. “I’ve got an idea.”
Everyone in the room zoned in on her, then moved closer around the circle of water.
“How about we have some real fun?”
Suddenly, Brea was zipped back to the front porch. Ethan’s hands moved to her shoulders and pulled her in tight.
“You’re back,” he said, running his hands over her arms, rubbing warmth into them. “You’re freezing.” He pulled her into the house.
There was a fire burning in the fireplace and Xtina and Mike stood just inside.
“Is she okay?” Xtina asked.
“Yes, just cold,” Ethan said, moving her closer to the fireplace.
Mike handed them a blanket, which Ethan wrapped around her.
“Here, drink this.” Xtina handed her a beer.
Brea took a drink and instantly felt better. She sat down on the sofa, reaching out to the warmth of the fire.
“How long was I gone?” she asked when she felt a little steadier.
“Half an hour,” Ethan answered, looking worried. “We really need to focus on learning how to control this whole… thing.” He pulled her closer. “And the sooner the better.”