Powerless (Bird of Stone Book 3)

by Tracey Ward

  We’re geniuses.

  “First order of business is the house and Naomi,” Nick tells the room.

  “Is this where we’re going to live now?” Trina demands. “Underground?”

  “That’s what we’re going to talk about. We have an alternative to that.” He gestures to Jonnie where she’s perched on the kitchen bar next to me, her shoulder brushing mine. Her knee bumping my leg as she swings her feet back and forth calmly. “Jonnie has agreed to open this bunker up to us to move Naomi inside where she’ll be safe, and so will we.”

  Britta glances around unhappily. “We’re going to lock her up? By herself?”

  “I don’t want anyone to think of it as putting her in a prison. That’s what she lived with most of her life and we know that’s not the answer. We don’t want to do that to her. She can come and go to the outside as much as she wants, and we’ve agreed that there should be someone with her at all times in case she needs help or to keep her from wandering off. But after what happened with Gwen, we know that shifts with Naomi need to be limited. We’ll keep them to two hours each before rotating out. And no one is to sleep when they’re on watch with her.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s not a good idea,” is all Nick will say.

  “What about Liam?” Justin asks. “What does he think of this?”

  “He doesn’t know yet.”

  A low murmur of dissent rolls through the group. We have to remember that half of the people here are Liam’s patients. They’re his people, and it looks an awful lot like we’re coming in, throwing his sister in jail, and effectively stripping him of all authority. They don’t like it, and they shouldn’t.

  “We’re gonna talk to him,” I speak over the rumbles, “but we wanted to talk to you first, outside the house and Naomi’s influence. You’re clear headed here. You’re yourselves. Do you really want to go back to the way it felt being in close quarters with her?”

  “No,” Brody answers quietly. Solidly.

  Justin shakes his head. “None of us do, but we don’t want to go behind Liam’s back either.”

  “It’s not going behind his back,” Carver assures him. “We’ll take a vote, and his vote will count as much as any of yours. But no more. He doesn’t get to decide for all of us. It’d be dangerous if he did. He will do anything for his sister.” His eyes meet Alex’s, his jaw hardening. “We’ve all seen it.”

  Alex purses her lips against the things she wants to say. The truth she doesn’t want to relive. The day Liam killed his dad was the first time Alex saw someone die. I know from Nick that she’s never taken that well. I don’t really blame her. It’s not an easy thing to take.

  “If we send her down here,” Britta asks carefully, “and she’s allowed to leave whenever she wants, can she come into the house?”

  “No. The house, the barn, and the stables will be off limits to her. She scares the animals and we all know what she does to us. It’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid.”

  “It’ll be like this for her forever? She’ll be secluded for the rest of her life?”

  “Hopefully not. Liam helped her learn to control herself before. I’m confident he can do it again. But he’s injured right now and he has to focus on himself and healing. When he’s back to fighting form, he can train her again, and if she reins it in, we’ll welcome her back into the house happily.”

  They look at each other sideways. Glances that read the room and mood of the people around them. Some are decided, some are wavering, but I’m surprised to see that none of them look solidly against it. And the questions they’re asking feel more like they’re trying to justify it than get away from it. Gwen was a wakeup call. It’s not just about their feelings anymore. It’s about their safety. Their lives.

  “Are we ready to vote?” I ask confidently.

  Some of my bravado seeps into the room. Heads nod, people mumble ‘yeah’ and ‘yes’ in a chorus of accord.

  “All in favor of moving Naomi down to the bunker until she can be safely integrated back into the group, raise your hands,” Nick orders.

  I raise mine immediately, mentally applauding Nick on his wording. It’s good to remind them that it’s not permanent. There are too many bleeding hearts in here. They need to see this as a temporary solution or they’ll never go for it. It feels too cruel.

  But sometimes cruelty is necessary for survival. More often than not, the right choice is the hardest one to make, and I’m more interested in being alive than being nice.

  I’m relieved when just about every hand in the room goes up. Only Justin, Britta, and Beck hold back.

  Nick scans the room quickly. “With Gwen out of commission, Naomi’s vote rendered void at the moment, and assuming Liam will vote ‘no’ when we take it to him, we’re split seven to four. Naomi will be moved to the bunker.”

  “It’s not that I don’t agree that this needs to happen,” Beck explains awkwardly, like he’s apologizing for his opinion. “It’s just that I hate to do that to her. To anyone. No one should be a prisoner. I mean, isn’t that what we’re fighting to avoid?”

  “That’s how I feel,” Britta tells him ardently. “I get it. I just really hate it.”

  Carver nods curtly. “We understand that. But it needs to be done.”

  “We’ll make it as comfortable as we can for her,” Alex promises everyone. Mostly herself. “She won’t feel like a prisoner.”

  “When is it happening?” Justin asks.

  “After this meeting.”

  “Who’s going to tell Liam?”

  “You,” Nick tells him seriously.

  Justin’s jaw drops, his eyes panicking.

  Nick smiles warmly. “Sorry, man, I was just kidding. I’ll tell him. I’ll handle it.”

  Justin sags into the couch with relief.

  “Before we do that,” Nick continues, “we need to talk about another issue. Jokinen.”

  “Have we found him?” Brody asks excitedly.

  “No. Not yet. But that’s the issue. We can’t send Jonnie by the base every day to see if he’s there. What if he doesn’t show up for months? Or a year? We’re going to wait at the ready every day? It’s not an efficient system.”

  “It’s the only one we have,” I argue.

  “No, it’s not, because we have Alex.”

  She looks up at him from the couch, totally lost. “What do you want me to do about him?”

  “Find him. The same way you found Gwen.”

  “She was close by. It wasn’t that hard.”

  “You found me earlier today.”

  “That was totally different and I don’t even know how I did that!”

  “We’ll figure it out.”

  “Figure out how she did what?” Beck asks.

  “Alex was in my head when I went to Te Anau with Jonnie. It wasn’t for very long, but she saw everything that happened through my eyes. I had no idea she was there. If she could do that with Jokinen, we could narrow down where he is. We could track him and take our fight right to him.”

  Alex gestures to Jonnie. “That’s exactly what you wanted Jonnie to do too, but she said she can’t because she can’t find him. She doesn’t know him or even vaguely where he is. What makes you think I can do any better?”

  “Because you’re stronger.”

  “That’s debatable,” I mutter.

  “Why do you think that?” Jonnie asks Carver, genuinely curious and not half as offended as I’d be.

  “Because her powers have been growing. When we first met, she couldn’t even control her Slips. Now she’s mastered them-”

  “Also debatable,” I throw in.

  “-and she can go inside, not just people’s dreams, but their waking mind. That is huge.”

  “And scary,” Trina whispers, eyeing Alex suspiciously.

  “I didn’t do it on purpose,” Alex reminds Nick.

  “Not with him,” I correct, “but you did it on purpose with me.”

  She looks at me sadly.
“I thought we were never talking about that again.”

  “It’s relevant. It needs to be said.”

  “What does?” Carver asks, glancing between the two of us. “What happened?”

  “SB got mad at me and dove inside my brain, rifling around for embarrassing information.”

  “Please tell me you found something good,” he pleads with her.

  She sighs, not happy to be talking about this. “I’m not—it was an accident and I… I didn’t find anything and I didn’t mean to do it. I was all hopped up on Naomi’s fear fumes and I went too far.”

  “Morally, maybe, but not physically. You can do what Liam can do, only better. I think there’s strong evidence to say you can do something very similar to what Jonnie can do. Maybe better. We won’t know unless you try.”

  “I’ll help you,” Jonnie offers without hesitation, her reaction to the conversation the exact opposite of mine. If it were me, I’d be pissed that people thought someone else was better at my skill than me. I’m sitting here pissed off on her behalf, and Jonnie seriously doesn’t care. It doesn’t matter to her at all. “I can show you how I do what I do, and maybe Nick is right. Maybe you’ll be able to go farther with it than I can. The same way you Slip better than Liam does.”

  “You really think I could do it?” Alex asks hesitantly.

  Jonnie smiles. “Only one way to find out, right?”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “Does that mean you’ll try?” Nick presses gently.

  Alex grins at Jonnie before nodding to Nick. “Yeah. If she’s willing to tutor me, I’ll give it a shot. But, speaking of shots, if I get injected with anything by anybody, I’m cracking skulls. Not kidding. My last tutor burned me. I’m not going through that again.”

  “No needles,” Jonnie vows, drawing an X over her heart. “I promise.”

  “Yeah, that’s right where he got me. Syringe full of adrenaline straight to the chest.”

  “I remember.”

  Alex pauses. “You were there?”

  “I—uh,” Jonnie stammers, her face flushing red. Her eyes drop her to her feet that have fallen still. “I was there a lot.”

  “I guess you would have been.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I don’t mind,” Alex promises her earnestly. “I know you feel guilty about watching me, but honestly, I’m almost glad you were there. I felt so alone most of the time. It’s weird, but it’s kind of nice to know I wasn’t. Not really.”

  Jonnie looks up at her with a small, sad smile. “Yeah. Me too.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  NICK

  After the meeting, I go to talk to Liam. Alone.

  But we’re not alone, are we? Naomi is there, even if she’s not all there. She’s present in other ways that are less productive. Painfully destructive and maddening, the feel of her power pushing down on me the second I open the door. It’s like I run into a wall, and nearly everything in me demands that I go back. That I retreat. And I’m no coward. That’s how strongly she’s broadcasting right now. She can make a fearless man afraid.

  The inside of the house is nearly as dark as it is outside, but a light is glowing faintly in the kitchen. I hear the clatter of a drawer full of metal shutting, drawing me in. Slowly, I make my way there through the living room. As I go, I check the chairs and the shadows. The corners and the couches. No Naomi.

  Liam has his back to me as he rifles through a bowl of fruit on the counter. He’s wearing a wrinkled blue T-shirt and a pair of gray sweats. His hair is a mess, standing at all angles on top of his head. He’s slouched over the counter, bracing himself with one hand. It’s the most messed up I’ve ever seen him and I’m not sure how much of it is the stab wound in his gut and how much is his sister. Whatever the ratio, it’s a bad cocktail.

  “Good to see you up and around,” I tell him.

  Liam startles, turning to face me with a grim line on his lips and fire in his eyes. It dims when he recognizes me. “You scared me,” he accuses breathlessly.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He picks up an apple and a knife off the counter, sluggishly shuffling to the dining room table with them. “Where is everyone?” he grunts as he sits.

  “In the barn.”

  “What happened to the barn?”

  “The barn isn’t the problem.”

  “Hmm,” he hums vaguely. He won’t look at me.

  “You know what the problem is.”

  “I assure you, I don’t.”

  “It’s your sister,” I tell him bluntly.

  He hesitates, the knife embedded in the thin red skin of the apple. “Yes, I know.”

  “Then why did you lie just now?”

  “I didn’t. When I said I don’t know what the problem is, I meant I don’t know what’s wrong with her. I don’t know why she’s acting the way she is.” He looks up at me, his face sallow and worn. “I assumed with things in the state that they are that we were beyond denial of her condition. She’s very obviously using her ability. Why she’s using it so strongly is the real question, isn’t it?”

  “One I’d like an answer to.”

  “You and me both, mate,” he sighs, pulling the blade through the flesh inside the fruit, cutting it in two.

  “Do you think it’s on purpose?”

  “I honestly don’t know.” He takes a small bite of apple, chewing it slowly. His eyes far away and unfocused. “It wasn’t this bad before. At the house in Belfast I was able to sleep every night. Gwen and I have both been having trouble with that lately. Terrible trouble.”

  I sit down at the opposite end of the table, folding my hands neatly on its dark, shining surface. “I need to tell you something about Gwen. Just know now, before I tell you what happened, that she’s alive.”

  Liam’s eyes flash with an emotion I can’t name. Something fierce. Something close to fear. “What happened to her?”

  “Campbell and Alex found her floating in the Sound. She snuck out in the storm with no coat, no shoes. We’re pretty sure she did it on purpose.”

  “Have you asked her why?” he asks breathlessly.

  “She’s not awake yet. Campbell did CPR on her. She’s alive but she’s unconscious.”

  “Where? Not in the house?”

  “No. In the barn.”

  Liam relaxes visibly, his body falling into the chair. “Christ,” he whispers miserably.

  “We can’t live like this,” I prep him. “None of us can. Especially not Gwen.”

  He puts his hands to his face, breathing into them deeply. It almost sounds like he’s crying, but when he lowers them, his face is dry. His eyes clear. “No, of course, you’re right. Naomi will have to leave the house. We can’t have anyone hurting themselves. If we’d lost Gwen, I don’t—” He takes a shuddering breath. “I don’t know what I’d do.”

  “Probably better not to think about it. Not while you’re in the house, at least.”

  “Knowing you, I assume you have a plan in place for what will be done with us.”

  “You can’t go with her, Liam. You’re too weak.”

  “Where is she going, Nick?” he fires back, his temper finally flaring.

  I’ve been waiting for it.

  “Jonnie has a bunker behind the house. It’s big, it’s comfortable, and it’s far enough away that Naomi loses her effect.”

  “She has a bunker?” he asks carefully. “You mean a box? A cell?”

  I put up one hand, telling him to stop. This is closer to what I was expecting. Some level of hostility. Some sort of pushback against the idea. “Take it easy, man. No one is locking the door on Naomi. I would never consider it. The door will be open. We’re going to have someone with her at all times, for two hours maximum. Then we rotate out. She’ll be able to leave the bunker to go outside any time she wants, but she can’t come back in the house. It’s too dangerous.”

  He nods his head slowly, his eyes on the apple quickly browning on the table. “You have it all s
orted, it seems.”

  “You knew I would.”

  “Yes. I did.”

  “I’m willing to discuss it with you, but we’ve taken a vote. It’s happening.”

  “It wouldn’t be much of a discussion then, would it?”

  “No,” I concede. “But you’ll feel better knowing you fought for her.”

  His body jerks with a quiet chuckle. “Yes, I always do. It feels like it’s all I’ve ever done.”

  “You don’t have to do it alone anymore. We’re here to help you, both of you. But you have to let us. And you can’t keep putting her before everyone else. I’m not saying you give up on her, but I am saying she stands on equal footing with the rest of us.”

  “As Alex does for you,” he hits back sarcastically.

  I don’t take the bait. “If I was debating Campbell’s life versus Alex’s comfort, I wouldn’t hesitate to do what’s right. I’m asking you to do the same today.”

  “Do you hear me arguing?”

  I frown, realizing he’s right. He hasn’t argued. He’s barely gotten irritated with me, let alone wrathful the way I expected. He’s slouched in his seat looking half his height, his eyes bloodshot and burning. His apple, the first thing he’s eaten in over twenty-four hours, all but untouched in front of him.

  What’s worse for a person’s well-being than constantly being afraid? Being angry?

  Giving up, that’s what. Just go ask Gwen.

  “No,” I admit, worry rising in my chest. “You’re not arguing at all.”

  He swipes at his nose, closing his eyes briefly. “No matter what your beliefs about me may be, I trust you. If you say Naomi will be free, I believe you.”

  “Thank you. For the faith and for taking this so well.”

  He grins weakly. “I’m British, Nick. We’re bred to take everything on the chin.”