I close my eyes, her face flashing through my mind. Her dark brown wavy hair falling to her shoulders with light, nearly white, blonde roots showing. The waves of hair frames an oval shaped face, the pale blue-grey eyes that always seemed to look into me. Her melodic voice. Smooth, with just a hint of an accent, a little southern lilt thrown in there. Her long lashes framing almond-shaped eyes and dramatic eyebrows arching perfectly. The moment I saw, I wanted to taste her bow-shaped lips, with just enough pout in there to make me want to bite them. She’s gorgeous, despite the grime, despite the exhaustion, despite her fight to survive, she’s gorgeous.
My heart rate spikes with just the thought of her. My body is ready to run for days if need be as long as she’s at the destination. Every cell in my body screams for me to find her, hold her, and never let her go.
“We need to find her fast. If anyone can make her disappear, it’s us. We can get her off the grid. Protect her,” Jackson says. His dark brown eyes are wide, the panic trying to set in. If his emotions are anywhere like mine toward Lyn, then he’s about to go into a tailspin. I can’t let that happen. So I do what I can to distract him because the last thing I want is him to do something that will only make him hate himself even more.
“And then what?” I ask to keep him from going into a tangent.
All three of my guys look at me. “We find her, we hide her, then what? They’ll search for her for the rest of her life. She’ll never have any peace.”
“Then we give it to her,” Jackson practically growls out. “We hunt anyone after her and return the fucking favor.”
“You want to go after anyone who could potentially be untouchable?” DJ asks.
“She calls to you, doesn’t she?” Eli speaks up.
Everyone’s silence is an answer in and of itself.
Eli continues. “She calls to me. We know she isn’t a siren, and we know what her ability is, so we know it isn’t a trick. There is a pull there.”
“She does,” I admit. “I can’t get her out of my head.”
“She’s a risk,” Jackson says with hooded eyes, giving none of his thoughts away. Always hiding his thoughts from us when it gets too personal.
“Dude.” Eli glares at him.
Jackson doesn’t back down. “She’s a risk, but I can’t leave her alone. Not like this. Not knowing she’s in danger. Something about her makes that impossible.”
“So we all agree. We help her.” I meet each of my men’s eyes, seeing the determination set in each expression.
“And fuck the elephant in the room,” Eli says. I send him a glare. He just cocks an eyebrow.
“You mean where we all die?” DJ asks. “Is that the elephant we’re ignoring?”
I sigh. “Yes, DJ, we’re going to ignore that fact. We’ve faced worse odds. We should be dead a hundred times over. This is no different.”
“Even when The Seer says we’re going to die?” DJ leans forward in his seat.
“Does her warning scare you off?” Jackson asks, his voice lowering into a near whisper. The sign he’s about to do something dangerous.
“No, it doesn’t. I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page.” DJ crosses his arms, getting defensive.
“Okay, enough,” I say. The last time Jackson got into a fight with someone, I had to replace the table. These tables aren’t cheap. “Eli look into the three, Alby, Holsen, and Redfield. Read through all the rumors. Maybe they’ll point us in the right direction to find her. Jackson, get in touch with your contacts. We need to find some location where she was and then we can trace her from there.”
“I know a man who works on Holsen’s team. Maybe he’ll know what’s going on,” Jackson says.
“Good.” I nod. “We need to meet with a client. DJ, you’re going with Eli. We also need to meet with an archivist to figure out how Lyn is getting into your dream realm without your permission. After you meet with the client, see if you can meet with him. The old man likes you the most.”
Eli snorts. “Only because DJ is the only one who hasn’t threatened him yet. Do you think they’ll know?”
“They’ll know more than we do,” I say. Archivists are know-it-alls. They’re a bit reclusive, surrounded by information. I know a particular one who, if it’s on the web, he knows about it.
“Maybe we’ll get a name,” DJ says. “A real name.”
“Come on, Jackson. I’m with you on that contact you know.” I stand up, already going through different scenarios in my head. I don’t have Lyn’s seer ability, but I can still come up with possibilities and make contingencies to counteract those possibilities.
While I check in with the client to confirm some details and mention the changes, Jackson approaches, his hands shoved into his jean pockets with keys rattling. His dark expression makes me wary.
“Are you ready?” he asks.
I nod and he leads the way out to his Jeep.
The ride to our destination is quiet. I keep busy going back and forth with the rest of the other guys, making sure the meeting with our client goes well.
When we pull up to an older building with a bookstore sign missing a couple of letters, I tuck my phone away.
Jackson just sits there for a while, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles.
“Are you sure he’s here?” I asked, looking up at the sky. It’s mid-morning now and the place looks abandoned.
His only response is a sharp nod, eyes distant.
“What’s up?” I ask, tucking my phone away so I can give him my complete attention.
“This doesn’t feel right,” he says in a low voice. I raise an eyebrow, knowing better than to speak. Jackson will say what he wants to say in his own time. While rubbing his hand over his face, the exhaustion in his expression is more pronounced. “The only other times I felt like this were when we were in the compound.”
My blood runs cold at the reminder of that place. Our childhoods are filled with nightmares, the only problem being they weren’t from our dreams but from our reality in that place. Jackson had it the worse because of his gift.
“What do you mean?” I ask slowly.
“I don’t know. I’m anxious, my body is vibrating with excess energy. Something I don’t understand is going on. The only time this has happened to me was at that place when we were young. I’m still not even sure what set me off then and they put me into isolation for a week because of it.” His face morphs into a snarl near the end.
“Okay.” I nod. “Okay. Do you think she’s from the compound too?”
His eyes meet mine, his bleak. “You know that’s impossible. We found everyone already.”
I close my eyes briefly, thinking of every soul who was unfortunate enough to pass through that dreadful place. Once we escaped when we were teens, we trained hard, and the moment we were strong enough, we took that place down. Afterward, we spent a long time finding anyone who had ever gone through there, both gifted and non-gifted. We untangled all the webs of that place. He’s right. She was never at the compound. We would have noticed someone like her and none of the research ever talked about a seer being there. That would have been a big deal there and we found the hidden files for cases they tried to hide.
“We’ll be cautious,” I say. “We’ll do our research. We won’t be blindsided by anything.”
He nods before climbing out of the Jeep, his massive shoulders slope down as he heads to the bookstore. He needs to turn his thoughts away from the compound and all those memories, I’m just not sure how to do it for him. That’s something he needs to do on his own.
Jackson leads the way into the building, not bothering to knock. Inside looks just as bad as the outside.
“He just bought this place. He’s going to gut it and rebuild it. He flips as a hobby. I help him sometimes,” Jackson says in a low voice.
Ah, that makes more sense.
We work our way to the back where someone is banging away on something. Once we pass through the doors in the back, we go
into a short hallway. Jackson goes right and to the end and we step into what looks to have been an office.
“Raid,” Jackson calls out.
The man freezes and then turns to us. His long black hair is pulled back into a ponytail to showcase his sharp features. A long pointed nose, high cheekbones sharp enough to cut, and a pointed chin.
“Jax, what are you doing here? I was just about to give you a ring,” he says and freezes when his eyes flicker to me. His eyebrows furrow as he looks me over slowly.
“And you must be Colt?”
“Colton,” I correct.
He nods. “Well, Colt, nice to meet ya. I’m guessing there’s a purpose to this visit?” He puts the hammer down on the table and walks around to lean back against it.
“Information,” Jackson answers.
“What’s in it for me?” Raid asks.
“You know what I know. I’ll continue to be the only person to know.” Jackson’s cryptic answer has my curiosity, but I hold my tongue. This is his contact and he knows what he’s doing.
“Damn, when are you going to stop holding that against me?” the man asks.
Jackson grins, though it’s more on the wicked side. “Probably when you stop being affected by it.”
Raid snorts. “You’re lucky I like you. Otherwise, I’d need to try to kill you. What do you want?”
“Is Holsen searching for someone? Or the other two?” I ask.
Raid’s focus switches to me. “He’s always searching for someone. If anyone can help him move up in the world, then he wants them.”
“Raid,” Jackson warned
“Fine!” Raid holds his hands up. “Fine. But I better not get killed. If this shit comes back to me, I’m murdering your ass.”
“You can try.”
“Too fucking true.” Raid rubs at his neck. “People are talking about a seer. A couple years ago, Holsen got his hand on a low-level seer. A vision was involved. Since then, Holsen has been on the warpath. He has everyone searching.”
“Why aren’t you?” I ask.
Raid glowers. “Because I don’t even want to be working for Holsen. If I can get away from that bastard, then I will. But,” he glances at Jackson, “I have commitments, and I’m not in the position yet to be able to pull out.”
“He keeps his work with Holsen simple. Think more like part-time and only small stuff, basic security for a building or escorting people. Covering security when there are events,” Jackson fills in.
“But people talk, and I like listening. When I leave, I want to be able to leave without issue and to do that, I need to know what is going on. Right now, Holsen is after a young woman rumored to be The Seer.”
“Do you have a name?” Jackson asks.
I hold my breath, waiting for his answer.
“Adalyn Kabos.”
Adalyn.
Lyn.
I smile.
9
The next day I reach the village and bypass it. Staying on my feet is a challenge. I didn’t even stop to get sleep last night, I just pushed on, urgency telling me to keep moving.
The little village is located near the base of the mountain so everything evens out for the most part. I stay along a winding road, but not close enough for others to spot me. I just need to go a few more miles and then I’ll hit a big enough town with a bus system. The problem is, I need to catch the third to last bus tonight. Any later, and I’ll be in trouble. That means I need to be there in a couple of hours. At my pace, I’m going to be cutting it close, way too close.
I push forward, keeping one eye on the sky and the other eye on the ground so I don’t trip and impale myself with a branch. That would be just my luck.
When I find a small stream, I take a moment to rest, giving my exhausted legs a break. The water is cool, and I take a drink before splashing my face, hoping to cool off my heated face.
I kneel down, not caring that my knees sink into the mud. The exhaustion pulls at me, and I’m not able to keep all my defenses up. Images seep through.
Colton, dying to protect me.
Jackson, losing himself because of his grief and anger.
DJ, lost.
Eli, unfocused, overwhelmed with senses.
I shake my head, using everything I have to shut down my gift. I don’t need to speak to the guys to learn about them. I just need to have these premonitions, and I’ll know all I need to know.
These guys are determined. They won’t give up. They are also a tightly knit group, with Colton as their leader. Each member looks up to him and if anything were to happen to Colton, their group would crumble. He holds them together. He’s been their constant caregiver, their rock, and now I’m putting him specifically at risk.
It’s always him I keep seeing, him dying more often than the others, him putting himself between me and my death.
That says a lot about the man.
He’s willing to throw himself into danger for those around him. He’s protective, and by the way the others always react to his death, he cares deeply. He takes care of everyone around him.
I cover my face and moan. Why the hell won’t they just let me be? Why do they think my life is worth more than theirs? How do I break this connection between us before it’s too late? There is no way they’ll get everything perfectly. Someone will die, if not all of us, and it’ll be my fault, because of my gift, because I’m no good.
To clear my thoughts, I shake my head and straighten up. I’ll figure out why I keep going into DJ’s dream realm, but for now, I need to move on. My muscles scream for retribution as I continue walking through all the brush, determined to get to the town as soon as I can. The sooner the better.
The sun is starting to go down when I finally see the first signs of the town. There are more cars on the road. They’re loud as they whoosh by. There are also scattered buildings I carefully skirt around. The longer I stay out of sight the safer it is.
When I finally have no choice but to come out of the woods, I pop out by a small hair salon. The door is propped open to allow fresh air inside and laughter comes out of the building.
I swallow. This town might be just a bit too small, but it doesn’t matter. I need to get out. I walk past the salon, glancing briefly into the window. The seats are filled with people getting their hair done, the stylists expertly working away. Seeing them work reminds me that I’ll need to dye my hair again to hide my roots. The white blonde is a beacon to anyone searching for me.
Needing to continue, I glance away and search for signs of the bus station. I know there’s one here because I’ve seen buses drive in and out, plus this is the only big town near the mountain. Hikers will have to come in here to check in and then get access to the trails.
I stay on what has to be the main street until I hear the loud rumble of a bus. My speed picks up, and I turn a corner and grin wide, relief washing over me. I glance at the clock in front of the bus terminal. Still time.
Keeping my head low, I rush inside and stare at the map, trying to determine where to go. There are bus routes going all over. I didn’t realize there were so many different routes leading to this one location. This is good. It’ll trip up Holsen’s men. Hopefully, they’ll think I’m heading east or west.
When I find the one that goes just far enough without being the farthest, I go to the ticket window, finding a pamphlet listing their bus times.
“How may I help you?” the older man asks.
I smile, reminding myself to remain friendly and not look like I’m a runaway. I can’t make an impression on people and acting shady will do that.
“Yes, I just need a ticket for the next bus out to Little Rock.” I add a slight accent to my voice to sound foreign.
“Of course.” The man smiles as he rings me up. I pay with the cash, and before I know it, I’m set to get on the bus and out of here. I just need to waste two hours.
I make a mental checklist of everything I need. More clothes, some food. I don’t have a phone to make it easie
r to stay off the grid, so I’ll need to find some maps of Little Rock and the locations I want to go to.
Since I plan to rest on the bus, I explore the small town, hoping to find some clothes. There’s a small thrift store only a couple blocks down the street. The woman inside is younger than me, still just a teen, probably only here because it’s a summer job and something to do.
I duck into the thrift store and do some light shopping, picking out three outfits, buying clothing more for sturdiness and not for style. I need the clothes to survive being washed often, considering they are my only outfits, and with how things have been going lately, I’ll need to wash these more often.
Once I finish, I head over to the local pharmacy and grab some basic necessities and more hair dye, packing everything into my bag carefully. Happy with my load, I head back to the bus station and wait.
I keep an eye on the clock as I scan my surroundings, carefully casting out my senses. Nothing feels out of the norm and slowly the minutes tick down to my way out of here.
When the bus pulls up, it unloads all the passengers. Still, there is time until they let the next group board. I carefully pay attention to everyone. No one is paying me any mind and none of them feel like Holsen’s men.
I’m in the clear.
When they call for the passengers, I don’t look too excited, putting myself near the middle of the group boarding. There are eleven of us getting on the long bus ride to Little Rock.
And as expected, it’s a long, quiet ride. Peaceful. I use the time to doze a little and to collect my thoughts and come up with a game plan.
By the time I get to Little Rock, I have some ideas, it’s just a matter of implementing them. I need to turn the tables, to bring this hunt to Holsen. I need to take an aggressive approach and fight for my life. Running for as long as I have is impossible.
I can’t let him win.
I think of my father, of everything he did for me. Of all the sacrifices he made for me. He couldn’t settle down because of me. We never talked about it, but I knew he was lonely, I knew he met some women he could have potentially loved.
Fate Foretold (Gifted Anomalies Book 1) Page 8