The Complete Lost Children Series

by Krista Street

  The twins eyed one another. “We can alter thought patterns and affect people’s moods,” Jasper replied.

  An image of Mica slapping Jasper flashed through my mind. She’d accused him of using his powers on her.

  “Can you do it as strongly as before Conroy drugged us?” Flint asked.

  “Only one way to find out.” Jasper stepped closer to Flint and stared at him. His face grew serious. Similar to Mica, sweat popped on his brow.

  Flint stood beside me, staring at the twin. Ten seconds passed. Flint shuffled his feet. A few more seconds passed. He glanced over his shoulder. Then, his breath became shallow before he pulled me to him. His arms wrapped tightly around me, pressing my ear to his chest. His heartbeat reminded me of a jackhammer.

  A moment later, Jasper took a step back, panting. He bent over and put his hands on his knees, his breaths audible.

  A few more seconds passed before Flint shook his head. He looked down, seeming to only now realize he held me. “Wow, that was a strong one. I completely fell for it.”

  “So it’s just as strong as before the drug.” Di grinned. She turned to Flint. “Tell me what you felt.”

  “I . . .” Flint began. He shook his head. “I don’t know exactly. All I know is I felt fear. A sense that some kind of impending doom was upon me, that I needed to find someplace safe.”

  Jasper nodded. “I put emotions and images in your mind, triggering the primitive areas of the brain.”

  Di was still smiling. “Like a fight or flight response.”

  “Exactly,” Jasper said. “Couldn’t have described it better myself. But we can make things positive too, remember? It’s not all negative.”

  “I remember you doing that last year when you practiced on us. Jet, your turn,” Di demanded. “I want to know if it’s as strong.”

  Jet snickered. “Any volunteers?”

  I stepped forward. “You can use me.” It wouldn’t be the first time the twins had manipulated my emotions. At least this time, I was a willing participant.

  Jet’s wide shoulders blocked the rising morning sun. For once, the cocky expression that usually adorned his face was gone. His expression became like Jasper’s. Serious. Sweaty. It was obviously hard work for the twins.

  Similar to Flint, at first I didn’t notice anything unusual. I stood there, waiting for something to change.

  When it finally did, it was subtle. I almost didn’t notice it at first despite the twins having done this to me dozens of times before. To describe it, I became . . . content. Flint still held me in his arms. I slumped into them, a smile spreading across my face, but it didn’t stop there. Out of nowhere, a bubble of laughter erupted from me. Before I knew it, I was laughing uncontrollably in absolute joy. I had no idea why. It was as though someone surprised me with a present I always wanted or told me some joyous news I’d been waiting to hear. I giggled and hugged Flint, practically singing it felt so amazing.

  And then, it stopped.

  “Oh!” I almost tipped over it ended so abruptly.

  I shook my head, my eyes focusing on the circle of people around me. We still stood outside, at dawn, cold and hungry. Nothing happy about that. I blinked.

  “Oh . . .” I felt more aware as my brain slowly returned to normal. That short-lived instant happiness was gone. I shook my head. “I’ll never get used to that.”

  Jet grinned. “Good times, huh?”

  I rolled my eyes.

  Di’s mouth tightened. “All right, Lena. You’re up.”

  Her abrupt order made me stiffen.

  “Um, sure.” I stepped away from Flint and put a few feet between me and everyone else. I took a deep, unsteady breath and stared across the backyard. The rising sun brightened the pebbles and caused a hazy hue to erupt across the land. I smiled. So many plants. So many animals. So much untapped power just within my reach. Now, if only I could reliably harness all of that energy.

  A brief image of my struggles yesterday flashed through my mind. I pushed the nervousness away.

  “Come on, Lena,” Mica said. “You can do it.”

  “Right.” I wiped my hands on my pants. An image of O’Brien’s men tackling and capturing us flashed through my mind. They pinned me to the ground while they hauled Flint away. My insides grew cold.

  I can’t let that happen.

  I switched my vision. Everyone’s clouds appeared. Like I’d predicted, all of us had pale green in our auras.

  I concentrated on them. Breathing deeply, I tried to center myself as I watched the beautiful, colorful images. I imagined them growing and coming together. A few seconds ticked by.

  Nothing happened.

  I tried again, willing our auras to join. When they refused to budge, I turned my concentration to the small plants and animals. Concentrating harder, I willed those clouds to appear. One by one, they lit up: a wispy haze around a creosote, a bubble of white surrounding a passing insect. Sweat trickled past my ear. I stretched my reach farther. Clouds bubbled around every life force in the backyard.

  My heart pounded. I breathed faster.

  Groaning, I tried to join the clouds nearest me. Again, they didn’t budge. Another image of O’Brien hauling my family away flashed through my mind. The small aura around a cactus lifted. I almost slumped in relief but pulled myself up just before I lost control.

  Knowing my family may depend on my ability caused anxiety to rise within me. I grabbed onto the aura around a beetle and joined it with the cactus. Keeping my sight focused on the joined clouds, I moved them as one and brought them to Mica’s cloud. What if they take Mica? What if I never see her again? With a mental push, I joined the three together.

  A brief triumphant surge burst through me. It worked!

  Breathing heavily, I carefully lifted Mica’s cloud from her shoulders. This time it moved. Sweat poured from my face. It felt as if my heart would leap right out of my chest, but I kept my focus. My entire world became the energy of all living things within the area.

  I closed my eyes and focused on that steady, subtle hum. I could feel them now. It was almost as if the electrons circling each nucleus, creating those infinitesimal fields of energy, called to me. They grew more and more alive the longer I focused.

  My entire body trembled. The energy grew. I felt its power as I joined more clouds. I could feel them lifting from everyone’s shoulders. A huge ball of energy that only I could feel formed in our midst. It crackled until it was a force that I could manipulate.

  With a burst of sheer determination, I flung the power as hard as I could.

  Someone screamed.

  The power left me.

  I snapped my eyes open. Amber lay on her back, ten feet away. My eyes widened.

  Everyone rushed to her side.

  “Are you okay?” Jacinda kneeled down.

  Amber sat up, rubbing the back of her head, a dazed look on her face. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  My mouth dropped. “Did I . . .” I swallowed. “Did I do that?”

  Di glanced up from where she squatted at Amber’s side. She grinned. “Yes. You did.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “But . . . how . . .” I shuffled guiltily at Amber’s feet.

  The others kept eyeing me, wide shock apparent on their faces, as if surprised as me by what I’d done.

  “You haven’t done that in four years!” Mica exclaimed.

  Jet gripped Amber under her arms and hauled her up while Jacinda brushed Amber’s pants off. “That was pretty wicked.” Jet grinned.

  I stuffed my hands in my pockets. “I’m sorry, Amber. Are you okay?”

  She rubbed her head. “Yeah. I think so.” Her pixie haircut was in disarray. Her hat sat a dozen feet away.

  Di’s eyes gleamed as she assessed Amber’s head. “It was just like that power you conjured when you threw Jet off you during Capture the Flag.”

  “But . . . I haven’t been able to come anywhere near that amount of power since then.”

  Di stopped inspectin
g Amber’s head. “What did you do differently?”

  “I . . . well . . .” I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

  “You were trembling,” Flint said. “And sweating. It was almost like you were in a trance.”

  “How long did it take me?”

  “A few minutes,” Mica said.

  “That’s way too long if I’m going to be of any use to us.” My shoulders slumped. “We won’t have that kind of time when we’re hurrying through the warehouse.”

  Flint’s energy pushed into me. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s no reason you need to go in.”

  Di didn’t seem to hear her brother’s words. That excited gleam was back in her eyes. “You need to figure out how you did it. That’s something you may need to do on a moment’s notice if we get in trouble.”

  Flint’s energy kicked up another notch. “Like I said, I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We haven’t decided who’s going in and who’s staying outside.”

  Another image of O’Brien hauling Flint away flashed through my mind. If I had the power to stop that from happening, I needed to help. Memories of the past four years surfaced, where I’d tried to replicate the power I’d conjured during Capture the Flag. I’d never been able to create that much power again . . . until now. But how did you do it? And can you do it again?

  “I think I should practice more. Di may be right.”

  Flint placed his hand on my back and leaned down. “I know you can do it. I’ve always known you have it in you, but I don’t think we need to rely on you to stop O’Brien’s men. We’ll get guns. You can always stay outside and guard the door.”

  I met Flint’s gaze. “But I need to do my part in this. I can’t hide outside just because it’s safer.”

  Flint’s brow furrowed. Rolling energy was his only reply.

  “You need to keep working on it.” Di gave Flint a haughty glare. “Guns can jam. We can’t rely only on firearms. Practice, Lena. You’ll get better.”

  Flint scowled at her while I wrapped my arms around myself. That’s what Father had said. Only thing, in the last four years despite how many times I’d tried, I’d only been able to do it twice.

  DI TOLD EVERYONE to return to the house. She said we’d done enough for one session.

  “What about you, Di?” I said as we stepped inside. “How reliably can you see the future?”

  “I’ve been practicing. Don’t worry.”

  Di’s additional power was her ability to control her visions. At times, she was able to foresee the future in a certain area or for a particular person. Not like the random visions that usually pummeled her. However, like all of our enhanced powers, it wasn’t reliable.

  “So . . .” Jet chimed in. He closed the door behind us. It automatically locked. “Will you be able to see if we get into some deep stuff? Like if we make a wrong turn and start walking down a dark tunnel, would you know that at the end lurked a giant alien, ready to eat us for lunch?”

  Mica rolled her eyes. “Back on the alien topic, I see.”

  Di gave Jet an annoyed glare. “Something like that.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief when we trudged upstairs and thoughts of breakfast lured everyone to the kitchen. I hung back in the stairwell, though, letting everyone pass. When they all disappeared, I stopped and leaned against the wall, wringing my hands. Despite wanting to do my part in this, I didn’t know how much help I’d be.

  Four years.

  In four years, I’d only been able to conjure power worth using twice. And each time, I’d had no idea how I’d done it. That didn’t make me a reliable asset. It made me a liability. I wanted to practice to get better, but that didn’t mean it would do any good. How can I possibly learn that kind of control in such a short amount of time?

  Sounds filtered down the stairwell—pans banging and the fridge opening in the kitchen as everyone chatted among themselves.

  “Are you coming?” Flint appeared at the top of the stairwell. His chestnut hair was mussed as if he’d been running his hands through it. He frowned. “You look worried.”

  I stayed slumped against the wall. “That’s an understatement.”

  He jogged down the steps until he stood at my side. “Want to talk about it?”

  I sighed heavily. “I need to figure out how I harnessed all of that energy, and I’m not sure if I can.”

  “Hmm.” I felt the conflicting emotions in his cloud. While he wanted me to learn more about my ability, since it meant so much to me, he didn’t want me in harm’s way.

  I felt the pleading in my eyes when I glanced up. “What if I never learn how to control it? You saw how long it took me to do it out there. We could have been dead by then if it had been up to me to save us.”

  “Keep practicing. With time, you’ll get better.”

  “But I’ve been practicing for four years and what do I have to show for it? Knocking around rocks, small kitchen items, maybe a book or two? I’ve only been able to form two powerful energy balls, and I have no idea how I did it. How can I possibly be ready?”

  It all seemed so impossible. There was no way I could learn that much control in the little time we had. Amber’s form laying dazed on the ground flashed in my mind. The last thing I wanted was my family sprawled in front of me while men from O’Brien came at us. If by some miracle I actually learned how to form energy balls reliably, there was no guarantee I could learn to control them. I could just end up hurting those I loved.

  Flint placed his hands on my shoulders. His dark eyes bore into mine. “We’ll have guns too.” He tugged me. “Now, come on. Let’s have breakfast.”

  Delicious scents floated in the air when we finally entered the kitchen. Sausage sizzled in a pan while pancakes cooked on the stove.

  Father appeared a moment later, freshly showered. “I see you’ve all been up for a while.”

  Mica downed a glass of orange juice. “Di made us get up early.”

  “I saw from the window. If I had known you were getting up, I would have joined you.”

  Di ducked her head. “I didn’t want to wake you. We need to figure out how to work together without you.”

  Father frowned. “Without me?”

  She gripped his arm and pulled him from the kitchen.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. I was glad I wasn’t the one to break it to Father that him joining us in the warehouse wasn’t a good idea.

  Ten minutes later, they still hadn’t returned. The rest of us sat down for breakfast. No one said much, but a nervous, eager energy buzzed around the room, like a fly that couldn’t sit still. Several times, I switched my vision. Everyone’s clouds appeared. I forked food into my mouth and studied their auras. I concentrated in between bites, trying to make the clouds join again.

  It didn’t go well. Most of the time I couldn’t move them at all.

  IT WAS MID-MORNING when we returned to the backyard. Bright sunshine streamed down. A few vultures circled overhead. A falcon cry sounded in the distance. Gone were the towering aspens and scampering sounds of forest creatures. The dry, cool air and desert horizon had a completely different form of beauty.

  Father was with us this time. From his grim expression, I guessed he didn’t like the thought of us venturing into the warehouse without him. However, I hadn’t heard arguing when he and Di discussed our viewpoint. Perhaps he accepted that above all else, we needed him safe.

  “Show me what you remember,” Father said to Di, the twins, Mica and me.

  Flint, Jacinda and Amber sat in the patio area to watch. A rather extravagant outdoor barbecue and bar area sat off to the right under a large pergola.

  Mica stepped forward, offering to go first again.

  Much the same happened as earlier. She closed her eyes, sweat popped on her brow, while her hands fisted at her sides. Exertion was apparent in every line of her body. After a few minutes, her eyes flashed open. They looked identical to Father’s. Almost. She held it for longer this time. Maybe ten seconds, befor
e she doubled over and gasped for breath.

  “Good,” Father said. “Try again. This time, I want you to concentrate on the individual cells in your irises. I know that sounds impossible, but I think . . .”

  And so the morning went.

  Father spent time with all of us, helping us hone our skills and remember the abilities we’d learned in the past years. It went better with him coaching us. I felt surer and more capable under his guidance. However, I quickly realized my success earlier in the morning was as I predicted—a complete fluke of good luck.

  After a few attempts, I still wasn’t able to form an energy ball. I was able to see clouds around the plants and animals easily—my entire four years of practice wasn’t a complete waste. However, my continued efforts drained me. By the end of the day, it was only out of sheer determination, that I was able to form a small ball from three shrubs, but it wasn’t strong or powerful. I also had little, if no, control over it. Forget about throwing it. All of my concentration required keeping the energy together.

  Once again, success seemed impossible.

  BY SUPPER TIME, I felt as if I’d run a marathon while being intermittently dragged by a truck. We’d never worked this intensely before. In the Forbidden Hills, Father would spend an hour with us here and there, when he had time outside of the lab. Never had we done ten hours straight of grueling practice. I was tired, sore and was pretty sure I’d pulled a muscle or two. It was bizarre. Everything I did was with my mind, yet my entire body felt the effects. Even my toes hurt. That was a first.

  “I think we’ve done enough for today,” Father said.

  Di, Mica and the twins were in no better shape. Mica complained of a pounding headache while the twins said they could barely stand. Di insisted she could keep going, but after Father’s insistence, she quit too. If Father hadn’t been there, I was pretty sure Di wouldn’t have stopped until exhaustion rendered her unconscious.

  Flint, Jacinda and Amber stood from their lounge chairs.

  Di gave them an irritated glare. “Watching is hardly helping us. You’d all be more useful if you did research on O’Brien.”