I head in the kitchen just as Gram says, “It’s the right thing to do.”
I wonder what that’s about? “Sounds like I picked the wrong time to come down,” I say with a nervous giggle.
“Actually, Chloe, you picked the perfect time. We need your opinion on something.” Gram gets up from her stool to stand in front of me.
They need my opinion? “Oh...okay. Well, what is it?”
Gram turns towards the glum faces in the group. “I told everyone about your vision from last night, But Morgan thinks we should tell the Russo’s about the fire. Unfortunately, your brother and sister, as well as the boys, don’t think we should be so considerate.”
Seriously? “Why on earth wouldn’t you want them to know they’re in danger?” I look around the room at my shocking family members.
“I’m a firm believer in karma,” Aidan replies. “It’s because of Mr. Russo that we never knew our father.”
“Exactly. And it’s because of Mr. Russo that our mother had a broken heart for twenty-one years, so he deserves whatever comes his way,” Ash throws in, very matter of fact.
I can’t believe their reaction. It’s so out of character for them. “Is that really how you feel, or are you just trying to be a tough-ass? I realize what he’s done, but no matter what, he is still your grandfather.”
Everyone looks at me with a stunned, blank expression. “Who is this crazy girl standing before us, and what have you done with our Chloe?” Pap says.
“Seriously, Chloe. Where is that coming from?” Ash asks with a touch of attitude in his voice.
“Well, perhaps it’s because I understand how he feels. I’m not sure how much Gram told you, but this vision was different. I was seeing and feeling everything through Mr. Russo, instead of through myself. The man was in so much pain. He came over here that night to apologize for what he’d done. And he wanted to meet you two.
“But when he showed up at the worst possible time and saw the unbelievable things he did, he was scared out of his mind. He about had a heart attack. He fears what he saw...because he doesn’t know any better. So maybe we should tell him what he’s about to do. Maybe we need to make him realize we’re not evil and we do ‘good’ with our magic.” My words surprise even me, but deep down, I know it’s right.
The four non-believers look at each other. Dru and Dhelia shrug, nodding like they understand where I’m coming from. I’m not so sure about the boys, though.
No one breathes a word. I hate it when that happens.
Ash and Aidan look at each other as if they’re having a conversation in their minds; a secret language no one else is privy to.
After a few minutes of silence, Aidan says, “Look, we know you all think it’s the right thing to do, but we don’t have to agree with you. You can do what you want, but we’d rather not be a part of it. Considering everything that man has done to our mother, and to our father, we consider this ‘karmic retribution’. Whatever happens to him is of his own making. Not ours.”
This unexpected negative attitude baffles me. Normally, they possess more compassion and objectivity than anyone I’ve ever known. Somehow, I don’t think we’ll sway them this time.
Aunt Morgan stands up, walking towards her boys. As she lays her hands on their shoulders, she says, “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. No one is forcing you. Just try to understand I need to warn Michael. Chloe’s vision wasn’t clear on the fire, so we don’t have any idea who else might be there, or where it will be for that matter. If there’s even the possibility someone could get hurt by this—when we could have done something to prevent it—I would never forgive myself. It’s just not who we are. It’s not who you are either, no matter how just you might feel right now.”
Both Ash and Aidan hang their heads as she rubs their backs.
Dru gets up from his chair. “So, Chloe. Should I say ‘I told you so’, now, or later?”
Taken off guard by his comment, I can’t help but reply, “Huh?”
He struts around the room until he’s by my side. “Did I, or did I not tell you Hunter was hiding something?”
The second our eyes meet, I know he’s not upset. Something in his demeanor almost seems relieved, if that’s even possible. The smirk on his face seems like he even finds humor in the whole thing. Though I can’t imagine why.
I shake my head. “I guess I should have known you’d find a way to point out how right you were.” The sting from this truth goes right through my heart.
“Oh, Sis, come on. You knew I’d have to pick on you a little bit.” He wraps an arm around me, pulling me close to his side. “Look, as bad as this seems, it isn’t that bad. Didn’t you tell Gram he defended us to Mr. Russo? And didn’t you also say he was closing the case?”
“Well, yeah...that’s what I saw.”
“He was doing his job. It must have been hell for him considering his feelings for you from the get-go. He couldn’t tell you the truth about who he was, any more than you could have. I sure wouldn’t have wanted to be in his shoes.”
I can’t believe Dru is the one defending him. The one person who never trusted Hunter. Wow. “You’re defending him? Seriously?”
“Look. If I thought for a second he was pretending to like you, just so he could get close to the family, I’d be the first one in line to rip his throat out. The fact of the matter is, I know how he feels about you—and I know how he feels about the family. I guarantee his feelings kept him from looking for dirt on us. Regardless of how much he may or may not know, at the end of the day, he knows we’re good people who aren’t here to hurt anyone.” Dru crosses his arms over his chest, pursing his lips.
“I don’t disagree with what you’re saying...I’m just shocked you are the one who’s defending him. The irony is killing me.” I jab him in the ribs as we laugh.
The doorbell rings and I jump.
“Oh yeah, Hunter’s on his way over, dear.” Gram winks, walking to the living room to answer the door.
My stomach twists into knots. “Ah, okay,” I mumble, even though I know she can’t hear me.
Is that him already? My heart races as I hear his voice in the living room.
Sitting down might be smart about now—before my knees give out from under me.
As they walk in the kitchen, my stomach flip-flops. I’m not sure if I have the strength to look at him yet. How can I be prepared to see him so soon? I’m not. I’m not prepared.
Give me strength!
Hunter drags his feet, moving to the open stool beside me. “Morning, Chloe. Did you sleep okay?”
The absence of confidence in his voice bothers me more than I’ll ever admit, but I’ll be damned if I’m letting him off the hook so easily. No matter what my family chooses to do.
Breathe Chloe—you can do this. “How do you think I slept, Agent Payne?” I glare at him for a few brief, but painful seconds.
“Whoa. Looks like I’m rubbing off on my big sister.” Dhelia chuckles as Dru smacks her arm. “Ouch!” She swats him back.
Gram puts her hand on my shoulder. “You two can work out your issues later, dear. Right now, there are things the family needs to know.” Gram’s serious tone forces me to put my personal feelings aside for the time being. I bite my tongue, nodding in compliance.
She clears her throat, sitting down in the seat opposite Hunter. “The reason we asked you here today is first and foremost, to thank you. We understand you were only doing your job, but your personal feelings must have undoubtedly gotten in the way.”
She sends me a sad smile. “Regardless of what you heard from the Russo’s, you took the time to get to know this family. Then once you did, you defended us. Sometimes people don’t understand us, so it scares them. The Russo’s never gave us a chance. From the bottom of my heart, Hunter, thank you. It means so much that you gave us the benefit of the doubt, regardless of what you were told.”
He blushes. From guilt no doubt. “You don’t have to thank me, Aurora. This is
the most amazing family...so it was no trouble at all. I know you’d never hurt anyone—and that was the entire reason for the investigation in the first place. Once Mr. Russo heard Sam was sick, he pretty much figured it wouldn’t be long until Morgan came back to town. Within a week, he called us to say she was here. The FBI devised a plan to see if he was out of his mind, or if there truly were ritual sacrifices happening at the Crawford house.
“After we found out which hospital Sam would be in, we had my partner moved to North Shore. Trevor really was hurt on the job. It just wasn’t in a fire...it was in an explosion.” He pauses, rubbing his hand across his stubble. “I swear to you all, my only intention was to observe the family to see if I noticed any suspicious activity. I never planned to meet Chloe and fall for her. But I guess some things are out of our control.” He leans his elbow on the counter, resting his forehead in his palm.
I’m not used to seeing him so stressed. But it’s not my problem. It’s just not!
“Hunter, we believe you. You don’t need to defend yourself. We know you’re telling the truth.” Gram looks to Dru. They share a smile.
He watches their interaction. “Yeah, I sort of figured that. You guys always seem to be one step ahead of the game.” Hunter smiles in return, as if he knows why.
“So that brings me to the other reason I asked you here.” Gram looks my way—then back to Hunter. “We know you’re closing the case and that’s wonderful. But we’d like to find out what you do know about our family. Chloe’s still upset, but if you stand any chance at all with her and this family, we need to be on the same page. Which means, no more secrets—from either side.”
A tiny smile curls up on the edges of his mouth. “You honestly want to know what I’ve been able to figure out?”
Gram nods. “Yes, dear. We need to know everything. It’s the only way to move forward. We’ve done an incredible job over the years of protecting this family. Very few people know our secrets, and we’d like to keep it that way. So it’s important we find out exactly what you know about us.”
“Fair enough. I can respect that.” He pauses, looking around the room at the curious faces watching him. “I haven’t been able to figure everything out, but I’ll tell you what I did—and when.” Hunter takes a deep breath. “Right off the bat, I figured out Dru is some sort of Empath or Mind Reader. He’s the only one who had his guard up in the beginning. I could tell he didn’t trust me. Plus, he always seems so in tune to what the people around him are feeling. I don’t know the degree of what he can do, but I know he can somehow read what people feel.” He looks to Dru and smirks, nodding his head in approval.
Dru breaks out into laughter. “Good job, dude. It seems you might have some sort of power of your own.”
“Well, we can get into that later.” He nods at Dru. “The next thing I figured out was Dhelia.” He glances her way. “The night at the party in The Hamptons, she didn’t realize I was watching out of the corner of my eye when she moved a piece of driftwood into Chloe’s path. Thank you by the way—I still owe you one for that. But the thing I found the most interesting though, was the way your eyes flashed bright blue when you used your Telekinesis. Really cool.” He smiles, giving her the thumbs up.
“We all do the ‘eye thing’, but I didn’t think you saw me. I never took my eyes off you.” Dhelia sounds shocked he fooled her.
Hunter smiles, triumph glinting in his eyes. “Let’s just say, I have impeccable peripheral vision.”
“What did you figure out next, dear?”
He turns to me, looking down at the ground for a second. “Well, Chloe was a tad more difficult. I had my suspicions on the second day when I saw her outside on the bench at the hospital. But it wasn’t until a few days later when I saw her sleeping in Sam’s room that I knew for sure.” He locks eyes with me. “You ‘see’ things. I get the feeling it’s both past and future things, but I’d say mostly future. You talked in your sleep about ‘masked strangers’, but I still have no clue what it means. When I’ve been around you and you’ve seen something, your body language isn’t always consistent. The one thing that is, though, is how you stiffen up...as if you’re preparing yourself for pain.” He pauses, unease spreading his taut mouth.
“The night Ash and Aidan came to town and we were all sitting here talking, I noticed you doing it. Then you asked me to go to the store for you. I figured it must have been something you needed to tell your family right away. Then when I came back and things were so intense with Michael, I figured you must have seen him coming. And then there was last night, of course. You really freaked me out, you know. I knew you were seeing something by your closed eyes and body language, but the way you thrashed like you were in pain scared me.” He puts his hand on my knee while searching my eyes.
I look away, his hand automatically retreating.
“I was in pain, but not the way you think. I was seeing and feeling things through Mr. Russo. Something horrible happened to him and I felt it all.” I shiver at the memory.
“I’m so sorry you had to find out about me that way. I swear I was planning to tell you. I needed to be sure the case was closed first, and then I was going to tell you everything.”
His eyes appear glassy. Are they filling up with tears? God, I can’t take seeing him this way again. And I can’t let him get to me right now.
I look away, desperate to avoid his eyes.
He takes the hint, focusing his attention back on the family.
“There’s something else about Chloe, but I haven’t been able to put my finger on it. It’s the same for you, Aurora. I feel power in you, but I can’t tell exactly what it is. As far as Morgan, Ash, and Aidan go, I’ve never been around you when you’ve used your power, but I know it’s there. There’s a strong energy that radiates from you.”
“Wait a minute,” Aunt Morgan interrupts. “What aren’t you telling us, Hunter? How do you feel these things?”
Hunter clears his throat. “I have a few more secrets I suppose.” I feel his eyes on me, but I don’t look. “I’m able to ‘read’ people, but not in the same way any of you can. If someone uses magic around me, I know what it is right away. Other people can take a little longer, but I read it on them eventually...which is why I’m on the unit I am at the FBI. Once they figured out I could read people, they found the perfect place for me. Granted, they don’t realize the extent of my ability, but they know it’s a quality few possess.” He looks at me for a reaction, but I have none. At this point—nothing surprises me.
“Well, that’s very interesting indeed.” Aunt Morgan nods. Then she gets up from her seat, walking around the table to where Hunter sits. She places her hand on his shoulder then closes her eyes.
What on earth is she doing?
Hunter’s face lights up with excitement. A few seconds later, Aunt Morgan opens her eyes, pulling her hand away.
“I had no idea you were a reader. Yours is different though. You can see where I’ve been...what I’ve done. That’s awesome!” His face glows with anticipation.
How is that even possible?
Shouldn’t he be running for the hills by now?
“Well, this one is new to me. I only found out a few days ago I could do it. It also works on objects. I can touch anything and tell you whatever you want to know about it,” Aunt Morgan reveals with a joyous voice.
“Oh, really? We sure could use someone with your abilities on our team at the bureau. Imagine the murders we could solve if you could read the evidence.” Hunter sounds like a little boy who just got his first video game.
“You’re right. You know, I never thought about it that way. Well, maybe we can talk about it some other time,” Aunt Morgan says, glancing at the spectators.
“Wait a minute. You said ‘this one’ is new to you. Does that mean you have another power?” Hunter asks, a curious twinkle lighting up his eyes.
Aunt Morgan shrugs, modesty written across her rosy cheeks. “Yes, I do. But I haven’t used it for more than twe
nty-one years.” She takes a deep breath. “It’s Mind Control.”
Hunter’s eyes widen. No doubt from the same surprise I’m experiencing. “Mind control? If you’ll forgive me for asking, why didn’t you use your power on the Russo’s then? Couldn’t you have forced them to accept the family and not be afraid?” His brows scrunch together.
“Of course I could have, but there are two reasons why I didn’t. The first is because of the whole ‘personal gain’ rule, which we take very seriously. The second is because I wanted them to accept us on their own.” She picks at the label on her water bottle. “Sure, there’s a lot we could have done to change the outcome—but at the time—I guess I didn’t want to. After I received the letter I thought was from Michael, I didn’t care anymore. Thinking he no longer loved me broke my heart. I gave up on everything. Perhaps the path would have been a different one, if not for that.” She shrugs again.
“Letter?” Hunter asks.
“Oh, that’s right. You don’t know about that. Long story short, Mr. Russo wrote letters to break up Michael and me, which is why Michael didn’t know about the boys.” She rubs her hands while staring at her sons.
“I suppose I can understand that.” Hunter sounds somewhat embarrassed.
“Now that I’ve answered your question, don’t you think it’s time to share what I saw when I touched you?” Aunt Morgan eyes Hunter like an impatient mother.
“Yes, yes. I was planning to tell them at the end, but I guess now works, too.”
“You have another secret?” Are you kidding me? My god, I don’t think I can take anything else today.
“Well, it’s not really another secret, but it’s the reason why I’m able to read people. It’s something very different from the powers you all have, so I hope it doesn’t freak anyone out.” With timid hands, he touches my arm with his fingertips. “I’m still me, Chloe, so please remember that.”
What’s that supposed to mean?
Hunter gets up. He takes a few steps back, giving himself room for something. But what? As we wait to see what he’s up to, a strange crackling sound comes from his direction.
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