The Mind Keepers (The Mind Readers)

by Lori Brighton

  Lewis started toward Olivia. “She might not be able to control her powers yet, but Cameron can control hers.”

  The younger girl flinched, shuffling back until she hit the car, trapped. “What are you doing?”

  Lewis ignored her. “Cameron?”

  Cameron stepped toward her, determined.

  “What are you doing?” Olivia repeated, as Lewis loomed over her. The fear in her voice made her sound more like the child she actually was, and I felt sorry for her…sort of. My powers were obviously making me weak.

  He didn’t respond, just latched onto her arms and jerked her to her feet.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she demanded, squirming in his grasp. But Lewis was strong, and he wouldn’t let go no matter how much she kicked.

  Cameron moved closer. “I’m giving you one last chance.”

  My aunt crossed her arms over her chest, looking anything but thrilled. “You sure you won’t kill her?”

  Olivia’s eyes went wide.

  “No,” Cameron said. “I’m not.”

  I almost laughed at her audacity. Whenever I discounted my sister as an emotional weakling, she always proved me wrong. Maybe we had more in common than I’d thought.

  Cameron leaned toward Olivia. “You have no idea what power we hold among the four of us. Either tell me the truth, or you’ll find out.”

  Olivia’s lips pressed firmly together. Good God, she was stubborn.

  Cameron glanced back at me. “Take my hand.”

  I shifted closer, uneasy. “Why?”

  “Just try it.”

  I hadn’t killed Aunt Lyndsey, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t kill this kid. Still, I wasn’t one to shy away from pushing the envelope. There was no other choice. I slid my hand into hers and waited. Cameron stared hard at Olivia. For a long moment nothing happened.

  Concentrate, imagine breaking through her mind.

  I’d tried before but had never been able to. Still, I hadn’t held the source then. I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes. I felt it almost immediately, as if the power had been waiting for its chance to escape. My body grew heated as the energy surged up from my gut and flared through my limbs. Olivia screamed.

  I opened my eyes. I swore I could see a golden glow coming from Cameron and me. Olivia arched back against Lewis, her face contorted with pain. But her face faded, and instead a variety of pictures flashed to mind, like someone flipping through a photo album. Flashes of Olivia as a child being taken from her parents and sent to Aaron’s compound. Pictures of Olivia leaving the compound with the other children…

  Tortured. Olivia crying, begging them to stop. I didn’t have time to feel any guilt.

  “You’re going to keep them occupied while we get him to the train station. Understand?”

  “Train station,” I muttered.

  Suddenly the images faded, and I was back in the parking lot of the motel.

  “Train station,” Cameron repeated weakly, sounding drained. “The town closest was called Covington.”

  “Find it on the GPS,” Aunt Lyndsey demanded.

  Lewis released his hold and moved toward the car.

  “I was…” Olivia was breathing heavily as she leaned against the hood. It had hurt, but not as badly as S.P.I. had tortured her. “If you won at the compound, I was to be backup. I was supposed to keep you here, and they would recoup and follow.”

  Her eyes fluttered, her body sinking, sliding down the car to the ground. Between the beating by S.P.I. and our little mind journey, she was exhausted. “I had no choice.”

  But we always had a choice, didn’t we? They’d tortured me, but I’d refused to speak out. Pain, so much pain, yet I hadn’t told them anything.

  “Some people aren’t as strong as you,” Aunt Lyndsey said, stepping close to me.

  I wasn’t sure if she had read my mind or could see the look of disgust on my face.

  “Is everything okay?” someone called out hesitantly. We spun around. The manager hovered near the corner of the building, the same guy who had found me on the ground. Crap, he was definitely suspicious. “You guys need something?”

  “Yeah.” My aunt tossed him two fifties. “This girl is underage and drinking. Get her to a room. She’s not feeling well. Hung-over. Her mom will be here to pick her up soon.”

  The money had eased his mind. He was already thinking of the pot he’d buy. He slipped his arm around her waist and started toward the nearest door. “Okay.”

  Aunt Lyndsey glanced at me, then Cameron. “You ready?”

  “Yeah.”

  She started for the car. Cameron glanced back at Olivia, and I could see the worry in her eyes. A year ago I wouldn’t have looked back. I wanted to leave without conscience, didn’t want to care. Maybe it was my mom’s death, or the powers coursing through me, but I couldn’t help myself. Slowly, I glanced over my shoulder. The manager had settled her on a bed and was leaving the room. He was more interested in calling his dealer than the fact that my aunt was covered in blood and Olivia was unconscious.

  “She’ll heal,” Cameron said.

  Yeah, but would she escape S.P.I.?

  Lewis started the car.

  I pushed Olivia from my mind and settled in the back seat with Aunt Lyndsey, trying not to dwell on the blood staining the leather, a harsh reminder of how close we’d come to losing our aunt. Funny, only a few days ago when I’d imagined seeing Maddox again I had pictured us locked in battle. It sure as heck had never crossed my mind that I might be saving him. But things had changed. I had changed.

  I tapped on the roof of the car. “Let’s go kick some S.P.I. ass.”

  Chapter 8

  Two hours. For two hours we’d been sitting on a stump in a small patch of woods along a railroad track just waiting for the right time. For two hours I’d been swatting at mosquitos, listening for the sound of a train whistle on this barely used track. And for those two hours I’d been thinking about Maddox.

  I tried to ignore the pounding of my heart, knowing that at any moment that train would arrive, and we would know for sure if Maddox was there or if finding him was a lost cause. I tried but failed. I scraped my hair back, putting it into a quick ponytail. He’d insisted I not save him, he’d told me to try and have a normal life. But what sort of life could I have if he died? Especially knowing what I now knew? With a sigh, I rested my face in my hands. I’d been taught to be a warrior and not let my emotions get the best of me. Where was that warrior now when I needed her most?

  When the shrill whistle finally pierced the evening sky, it startled me so much that I jumped to my feet. Cameron jumped up beside me. Lewis stood much more slowly, reluctantly almost, his gaze pinned to the tracks. The only one who didn’t seem all that interested was Aunt Lyndsey.

  “I’d say they’re about a mile away,” she said. She’d changed into a clean shirt and looked the female version of Rambo again instead of the zombie she’d resembled after the compound attack.

  We had dumped the car on a side road about a fourth of a mile north. A year ago, this little excursion would have been considered pointless. Putting our lives in danger for someone who wouldn’t benefit the team in some way? Not a chance. Mom never would have given permission. I wouldn’t have wasted my time or energy, yet here I was. How things had changed.

  “We’ll need to pool our resources and get the hell out of here before Olivia wakes up or they find her,” Lewis whispered.

  “Should have just killed her,” I muttered, although I didn’t really mean it. Maybe I would have a year ago. But unfortunately my new powers, or maybe it was the past year, came with a conscience. S.P.I. certainly would’ve killed her. But we weren’t S.P.I., or so I was continuously trying to prove to myself.

  Cameron sent me a glare. “You don’t mean that.”

  Yeah, I got it. Olivia had been tortured. People did crazy things when someone was threatening to drill into your brain. I could admit to myself that if I’d been with S.P.I. even another day, I mig
ht have folded, too.

  “If they haven’t already found her.” I knew what she was saying: this could be a trap. Aunt Lyndsey started toward the tracks, her steps carefully placed and silent. “7:30, right on time.”

  Lewis and Cameron followed, but I glanced back, making sure we were still alone. The town—if you could call it that, as it contained one bar and one gas station—was empty and quiet. We followed the woods alongside the road and shifted into the trees, hidden within the shadows. We all knew how to blend in with our surroundings. Half an hour ago, when a group of teenage boys had walked by not twenty feet away joking about their hot substitute teacher, they hadn’t even noticed us. I could only hope the boys and anyone else in town were safely inside their homes.

  “You’re sure you can stop the train?” I heard my aunt ask Lewis as I caught up to them.

  He lifted a low-hanging oak branch for us. “With Cameron attaching her powers to mine…yeah.”

  “Good, because we can’t do this without that train coming to a full stop.”

  I was glad they were so positive, because I sure as heck wasn’t. Cameron and Aunt Lyndsey moved toward the tracks. Just as Lewis was about to follow, I reached out, latching onto his arm. He glanced back curiously.

  “If things go south, grab Cameron and run.”

  “You know she won’t leave you,” Lewis said softly.

  “You love her, right?”

  “You know I do. She’s everything to me.” Although Lewis rarely showed emotion, mention of my sister brought up a passion he never otherwise gave into. The guy practically came to life when she was near, as if she held the damn sun.

  I nodded, knowing the feeling well; it was exactly the way I’d felt around Maddox. Cameron had paused and glanced back, searching for us. “Then get her out. If you love her, save her.”

  He nodded, and I knew he would because although Lewis valued his honor, and cared about me, he breathed and lived for my kind, compassionate and completely selfless sister. The ground shook, trembling with the approach of the train and commanding our full attention. My heart leapt into my throat. Closer. Closer. We paused just inside the trees near the tracks. We all knew that this was our only chance to save Maddox. If we failed, he was as good as dead. And if he wasn’t actually on this train, then he was lost to us forever.

  “Once the train stops, they’ll suspect something,” my aunt whispered. “Who knows how many soldiers they have. Best case scenario is less than fifty.”

  “Can we take that many?” Cameron asked as we all crouched down, hiding behind the trees and the overgrown vegetation that lined the track.

  Aunt Lyndsey shrugged. “Not without killing some.”

  We were silent for a moment, all of us tense and waiting as the ground trembled underfoot, warning of the approaching train.

  “Cowards like S.P.I. tend to surround themselves with public shields,” I said. “If innocents are hurt, they can paint us as some monster terrorist group.”

  “True,” Aunt Lyndsey muttered. “Let’s hope there are no innocents aboard. Lewis and Cameron, get the train to stop. I’ll try to hold back as many agents as I can.” She looked at me. “You think you can locate Maddox by sensing his energy?”

  “Maybe.” My unease grew. What if this was a set-up? What if they’d already found Olivia and knew we were here? What if Maddox was already dead? “I don’t know.”

  She gripped my shoulders and looked directly into my eyes. “If you love him like I think you do, then you can sense his energy. You know his energy, you know him.”

  Wow, wait…love? How the hell would she know what I felt?

  “Last chance,” she said. “This is our last chance to save him.”

  My heart squeezed painfully, the feeling odd and unfamiliar. Fear, the word whispered through my mind. I wanted to scoff at the thought, deny my worries. I was a warrior. A warrior. I was never afraid, but I couldn’t deny the feeling that swept, ice-cold, through my body. Our last opportunity, our last chance. “If he’s on that train, I’ll find him.”

  She nodded and released her hold, focusing on Cameron and Lewis. “Ready?”

  They headed toward the rails, leaving me with my thoughts and worries. I stood just outside of the trees, my nerves growing the closer the train got. Those few moments seemed to stretch into hours, and just when I thought I might snap, the brilliant light from the approaching train flashed around the bend, piercing the evening and momentarily blinding me. I lifted my arm, shielding my eyes.

  Focus now, Nora, my aunt called out mentally as she stopped next to the tracks, so close that I was sure the thing was going to barrel by and knock her over. Lewis moved into the opening between the tracks and woods, Cameron’s hand in his. Both of them were concentrating so hard I was surprised the train didn’t explode. That deep whistle called once more. The locomotive was coming fast. Everyone was in place, concentrating. Everyone but me. Could I do this? Could I find him?

  “Now or never.” I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes.

  At first I felt everything at once: the energy from the trees, pure and calm. The energy from the animals, wild and hunted. Even the energy from the train barreling down the tracks straight toward us. I focused on the train as I heard the wheels screeching, a horrible, high-pitched sound that made the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

  Lewis and Cameron had done their job. Now it was my turn. But it was all happening too quickly, like a movie on fast forward. Frantic, I searched the train, tossing aside one energy field after another. I could sense the typical mechanical chips S.P.I. placed inside their soldiers’ heads, but then something stuck out…something different, something more that gave me pause. The train stopped, the area going creepily silent.

  “Mind reader,” I called out. “They have a mind reader, at least one.”

  “On their side?” Cameron asked. “Or as prisoner?”

  I squeezed my eyes shut harder, as if that could help me concentrate. Where the hell was he? Damn it all, if this was for nothing…

  “We’ll assume any mind readers on that train are our enemies,” my aunt muttered.

  Doors screeched open. Startled, I lifted my lashes. It had begun. There was no going back now.

  “Ready?” Aunt Lyndsey called out.

  A fine pattering of rain began to fall, peppering my face and chilling my skin. Soldiers poured from the train, stumbling from the metal machine, guns raised like they were in a real-life version of Call of Duty. “Crap.”

  A sudden explosion lit the sky to the left of the train. I stumbled back, shocked. I wasn’t the only one. At least ten men flew through the air with cries of pain, landing injured or worse, scattered around the tracks.

  Don’t worry, my aunt’s voice whispered through my mind. Merely a diversion.

  Another grenade? She’d thought of everything. I brushed aside my surprise, ignored the cries of pain from the injured agents, and frantically searched the many energy fields for Maddox. I couldn’t sense him. I ducked into the trees, evading the soldiers, and headed down the tracks, following the train. He had to be there; I wouldn’t give up.

  Nora! No! You can’t get that close!

  I ignored Cameron’s mental voice and continued my search, attempting to keep in the shadows as much as possible. The soldiers pouring from the train didn’t notice me, they were too intent on reaching the cause of the commotion: Aunt Lyndsey. It was obvious by their shouts of outrage and the chaos of their movements that they hadn’t been expecting us. But they were prepared. Always prepared.

  “Find him?” Cameron’s face glistened with rain as she stumbled up beside me. Lewis watched her back, fighting off the few guards who came our way. But stopping the train had taken its toll. They were pale, trembling, depleted and wouldn’t last long.

  Everyone had done what they were supposed to…everyone but me. If I didn’t find Maddox soon, we were as good as dead. “Not yet.”

  I swiped the rain from my face and paused, breathless,
near the middle of the train. He had to be here. His energy might not be apparent, but instinct told me he was on the train.

  “Aunt Lyndsey needs help,” Cameron said. “I know she’s the source, but even she has her limits.”

  “I’ll go. You stay with your sister. Nora, touch the sides of the car,” Lewis said as he spun around, headed back toward our aunt. “It helps.”

  It sure as hell couldn’t hurt. Every car was windowless, as if it was merely carrying supplies. We knew better. I stumbled over the tracks, slick with drizzle.

  “Hurry,” Cameron urged.

  I pressed my hand to the damp metal car and closed my eyes. A shiver of awareness whispered over me, energy…living beings, but nothing familiar. “Not here. Just agents.”

  Agents who would be leaving the comfort of their car to help their comrades as soon as they realized they were overpowered. We raced to the next car, tripping over the gravel that lay between the tracks. The shouts around us grew, and I could feel their frantic energy coming closer, closing in. Aunt Lyndsey and Lewis were fighting a losing battle. I pressed my hands to the next car. Hollow. Empty. “Nothing.”

  I started down the line when a tingle of familiarity rang a mental warning bell, pulling me up short. I froze, staring hard at that closed door. The grunts, the sounds of fists hitting flesh and cries of pain from those fighting around me faded. All I could focus on was that familiar energy.

  “What is it?” Cameron asked, her voice holding a frantic edge that brought me back to reality.

  “Mind reader.”

  “Who?”

  But I didn’t have time to answer. The door screeched open, and suddenly Father Myron appeared. My heart constricted, denying what I already knew to be true. I felt Cameron’s shock beside me. Another betrayal. Another person we had trusted with our secrets, our hopes, our dreams.

  “Traitor,” Cameron whispered.

  We didn’t have time to prepare. As he stepped from the train, he threw his energy at us. The very man who had held our hands when we’d mourned our mother’s death. The man who had prayed for us every Sunday. The man I had admitted things to that no one else knew.