OBLIVION
Earthshaker Series
—Book Four—
By Adrianne Lemke
Copyright © July 2016 Adrianne Lemke
All rights reserved
Edited by: Brittany King
Proofread and Formatted by: Terri King
Cover Design by: Christian Bentulan
Also by Adrianne Lemke:
Fear
Earthshaker Series:
Tracker
Kindred
Hunter
Secrets of Sacorria:
Secret Power
ONE
Sam
“Where is he, Alice?” My voice cracked. Nothing was going the way it was supposed to. Hannah and I had gotten away from Hunter, only to have Jason disappear. We knew that he was with Hunter, a man who wanted to either hunt my brother or sell him. Now Hunter is dead, and we have no idea where Jason is, or who he’s with.
Mark Jones and Alice Farrow were investigating around the crash area, trying to determine the cause of the accident. “It’s possible he got disoriented and wandered away,” Mark suggested.
Possible… but if my brother was conscious and moving around, I would be able to feel him. “The accident was probably my fault,” I said softly. Sending all my anger into Hunter’s mind destroyed him. If he was driving at the time… he never would have been able to keep control of a vehicle.
Alice looked at me sympathetically. “You can’t know that, Sammy. And you can’t blame yourself. Everything you did was to protect your brother. He wouldn’t want you to blame yourself for this.”
I scoffed. “No, but he wouldn’t hesitate to blame himself. It doesn’t matter what you say, Alice. This part of what happened? It is most definitely my fault. But I can help find Jason. If my ability can be used to destroy a mind, I may be able to communicate with one as well. Just know that I will not give up on finding my brother.”
She smiled sadly, and glanced toward the car, where Mark was again exploring the vehicle. “Neither will we, Sam. Jason is our friend… our family. Just…,” she hesitated, looking a little nervous. “Let us know when you’re using your ability. Tell us what you’re up to, so we can help. Okay?”
My ability was mostly focused on trying to find Jason, but I could tell the idea of what I could do was making her nervous. And not just her, but Mark as well; both watched me now with trepidation. It hurt, but I could understand it. Jason’s ability, while dangerous and frightening, could not affect people’s minds. Mine? Mine could drive a man to insanity, and I hardly needed to try.
“We’re accomplishing nothing here. Where did Nickels disappear to?” Mark asked.
It wasn’t the first time he brought up the man’s absence, and I wondered what it was about the detective that raised Mark’s suspicions.
“I might be able to help you with that,” I offered. Nickels was familiar enough to me that I could potentially search out his mind. If his emotions were strong enough, I might be able to make a guess as to what he was up to.
“How? What exactly is it you can do?” Alice asked. She shook her head slightly. “I know it’s something to do with sensing emotions. Also that you believe you destroyed Hunter’s mind before we found the car. But I don’t understand exactly what it is you do.”
Shrugging, I answered, “I don’t know either. Until Hunter grabbed me, Jason’s emotions were the only ones I could sense. Then Hunter’s snuck in. While I was chained alone in the room, I eventually managed to start adjusting the levels of some of Hunter’s limited emotions.”
I paused. Talking about my abilities felt so strange after hiding them for so long. Now I knew how Jason felt when he was forced to share information he didn’t want to.
“Sammy, we love you. You know that, right?” Hannah put her arm around my shoulders. “Nothing you tell us will change that.”
I knew of one thing, but that part I wasn’t going to share; at least not until I was able to beg for my brother’s forgiveness. “I manipulated him. He felt a little trepidation at facing my brother, especially once he realized what Jason can do. So I amped up the fear. Gotta be honest,” I admitted, “I’m not sure that worked as well as I wanted. After making Hunter afraid, he became more determined to fight and beat Jason. I still don’t know why he grabbed me, when it was Jason he wanted. Or why he was so obsessed with Jase before he knew anything about his abilities. I honestly wish Jason could just forget everything he went through. The whole time we’ve been here, I wanted to go home! But he can never get his mind off his past, no matter how hard he tries.”
Alice appeared thoughtful, her eyes unfocused for a moment before answering. “Jason does seem to be a magnet for these people. Maybe it’s something to do with his abilities, or maybe it’s something else. Either way, he is in trouble, and if you can help us find him…” She left the rest unsaid, and I nodded.
“Once he wakes up, I’ll be able to get a picture of his emotional state. For now, I can focus on Nickels, and see if I can tell anything about what he’s up to.”
“Let’s get outta here first,” Mark said. “We should regroup at your house until we get a direction to go.”
Hesitating, I glanced at the crashed vehicle. “Jason isn’t here anymore, Sam. There’s nothing more we can learn from sticking around here. The police will call us if they find anything,” Mark’s voice was kind, and he understood my desire to stay in the last place I knew Jason had been.
He was right. “Okay, we can go.” I cast one last glance at the car, and followed the others to our SUV. Hannah seemed to share my reluctance to leave, but she was still ahead of me.
The drive back to my house was silent, and I dreaded going back to the place I shared with Jason. He wasn’t there, but everything there would remind me of him. It was a pretty long drive home, so I decided to relax and attempt a connection with Scott Nickels. The missing detective proved elusive.
We went back to the house that Jason and I shared, and I continued my attempt to find Nickels. Over the next couple days, reports from the accident scene began to come in, and there was still no sign of my brother. However, it did appear that Hunter’s car had been run off the road by another vehicle. Something Hunter likely could have avoided if I hadn’t destroyed his mind.
Three days after the accident I finally caught a hint of the missing detective’s emotions. What I felt was… unexpected, to say the least. Nickels seemed, protective, for lack of a better word. Some sense of dread was there as well.
Suddenly, it seemed as if the detective was looking back at me. “Get out of my head, little boy!”
With a gasp, I sat straight up in my seat, drawing the attention of my companions. “What happened?” Hannah was the first to ask.
“I don’t know,” I said breathlessly. “But I don’t think Nickels is who he says he is.”
TWO
Jason
My head is throbbing, and my whole body aches. A faucet is dripping, and each drop feels like an ice pick slamming through my skull. The water is all I hear. It is the only thing I can focus on, and it is driving me insane. All I need to do is get up and turn it off, but that is easier said than done.
First of all, opening my eyes is a trick I’m not sure I am feeling up to. And everything hurts. No part of me feels unscathed, although my head is definitely the worst. A door opened, and I hear footsteps entering the room. The door clicked shut quietly, as if whoever entered was trying to avoid waking me. Maybe it’s time to open my eyes and see what’s going on.
As expected, my first attempt at opening my eyes lead to a spike of pain, causing a hiss to escape me. I suspected it would ease eventually. I kept blinking, trying to clear my fuzzy vision, and was soon able to see shadows in the dim room. There was a window nearly blacked out to block o
utside light. Only a slight glow came in around the edges. I took a moment to be thankful for the darkened room, since bright light would have no doubt led to even more pain upon opening my eyes. My eyes adjusted to the near lack of light and I looked around the room. There were two doors, but both were closed. One likely led to the hallway, the other I suspected was a closet. The shadowy form of a dresser stood in the space between the doors, and there was a small table next to the bed. No pictures adorned the walls, and there were no knick-knacks around to prove anyone lived in this room.
My face contorted into a frown, and I slowly sat up, wincing at the muscles pulling as I moved. What happened? Where was I?
Standing was another challenge, but if I wanted to figure out what was going on, I needed to move.
“You don’t want to do that.” I jumped at the sudden voice, and glanced around the room. There was a man standing in the corner, watching me.
“Where did you…What?” I aborted the attempt to ask a question when my throat dried out, leading to a coughing fit.
The stranger handed me a glass of water. “Here; you haven’t had anything to drink all day. Take a moment, and you will feel better.”
I watched the man suspiciously through my watery eyes. Somehow, this guy literally showed up out of nowhere. I’d looked at the entire room before. There had been nobody here. The doors were still closed. So how did he get in? I’d heard someone come in before I opened my eyes. Where had this man hidden? The man continued staring at me, and it made me feel self-conscious. Why was I here?
“You gave me a scare,” he said, once my coughing stopped. “It’s been a couple days, and you hardly showed signs of waking.”
I narrowed my eyes at that, the pain in my head and throat receded slightly with the intake of water. “Days? What happened?”
Now the stranger hesitated, and I suddenly noticed a rhythmic thumping that seemed to be speeding up, I also noticed he took a deep breath before coming up with something I was sure would be a lie. “I don’t know everything, but you had an accident.”
An accident? If I wasn’t so sure he was lying, I would have believed him. My injuries—a sore back, neck pain, and headache, among other, more minor aches and pains—could have very well come from an accident. His hesitation told a different story. But I didn’t know enough about my situation right now to feel comfortable questioning him.
There was no way to know he wasn’t the cause of all my injuries. Until I knew more, I would need to play along.
“Can you tell me what you remember?” The stranger seemed reluctant to ask. He seemed anxious. Why, I was unsure, but he kept his voice quiet. Almost as if he was afraid he’d be discovered. Unfortunately, the cause of his fear wasn’t the only thing I was unsure of. “What do you remember?” he asked again, probably noting the confused, and possibly slightly lost, look on my face.
Thinking hard, I tried to figure out what happened. I got a flash of a cabin in the woods, and a strong feeling of both anger and fear but beyond that… “There’s nothing,” I whispered.
“I’m sorry?” the stranger asked. “What did you say?”
Speaking a little more clearly, I looked up at the man and said, “I can’t remember anything about what happened. I can’t remember anything.”
He looked surprised, his dark eyes widening. “You remember nothing? What’s your name?”
Narrowing my eyes, I wondered about how the man worded everything. It seemed as if he suspected there was something wrong. Through the conversation, he never mentioned my name. It seemed unnatural. Was he trying to figure out what I could remember? Did he suspect that I wouldn’t remember anything? “Who are you?” I asked back at him. “Why don’t you turn on the light and let me see your face?”
My aggression seemed to surprise him, and he slowly moved to the wall to flip on the light switch. The man in front of me was dressed normally enough: jeans and a T-shirt with a leather jacket worn over it. But his face… his face was scarred. Half of his face was burned, and disfigured to a point that I wondered how he managed to survive what must have been agonizing pain. The eye on the left side… the burned side, was a milky white. The unburned side of his face was unremarkable, but there was a look in his eye… a dangerous gleam I couldn’t help but see. As unassuming as he was trying to be, I suspected this man was dangerous.
He watched me expectantly. “Who are you?” I asked again.
A frown appeared on his marked face. “You truly don’t recognize me? I was not expecting…” The man shook his head before finally answering. “You can call me Jeremiah.”
Jeremiah. I searched my nearly blank mind for any reference to the name, but came up with nothing. But he had said… He said, ‘you can call me…’ Did that mean he gave me a false name?
“Am I…? Do I know you?” I narrowed my eyes and frowned.
“The real question, my friend, is do you know yourself?” The question was asked with a hint of concern, but he still watched me with his predator’s eyes.
The gaze was disconcerting, but the answer to his question was even more so. “Honestly?” I said, my voice wobbling a little. “I have no idea.”
THREE
Jeremiah
Hiding in plain sight is something I am very familiar with. Watching the Tracker… No, Jason; he is Jason. Over the last few days I watched him, making sure those who held him did no further damage to him. The Hunter had fallen to insanity, but they caused the so-called ‘accident’ that killed him. Whether they meant to or not, the accident had injured Jason as well. Reinjured, I should say. He had still been sporting injuries from his fight with the Hunter. That he had been unconscious in the trunk may have saved his life. He hadn’t been severely injured by the crash, but had been unconscious for most of the last few days.
Every time one of them came near the boy… the man… I now considered a friend, I wanted to destroy them. But attacking would only inform them that I was there, and stall any plans I may have for rescuing Jason.
So far, my presence remained unknown, and I couldn’t risk Jason’s escape by attacking prematurely. He could get hurt, and I can’t carry him out of here. Not while he’s unconscious anyway.
When he finally stirred, I hid myself out of habit. It would be interesting to see his reaction to my appearance.
After all, he still thinks I’m dead.
He looked around the dark room, his eyes briefly settling on the corner where I hid, although that was probably nothing. As I was not moving, he shouldn’t be able to sense my presence.
But someone else was. A presence was in my mind… searching. Jason’s little brother. Unexpected. Unwelcome. The boy was searching for me… or rather the person I’d been pretending to be for almost two years. Right now, the boy could be no help.
“Get out of my head, little boy!” my mental voice pushed into his mind.
While I was dealing with my unwelcome intruder, Jason was trying to get up, and beginning to panic when the pain hit him. I wanted to help him; to unlock the door or window and simply remove him from this place. From what I’d seen so far, escape wouldn’t be that easy.
What was revealed in the following conversation was almost completely unforeseen: Jason couldn’t remember anything. He had no idea who he was, what he could do. He didn’t know our connection, or why I would risk my own safety to help him now. It was more of a blow than I expected. I had suspected something happened in his mind before the accident, but I had no idea what it was until he told me.
Before we could delve into why he’d lost his memory, Jason turned his head toward the hall as if hearing something. His eyes were wide with fear. He didn’t know what he was feeling, and still he knew whatever he sensed was to be feared.
“I’m with you. If they do anything to hurt you, I will stop them,” I tried to assure him.
Jason’s mouth gaped open as he watched me fade from his sight. I turned off the light so his captors would have no reason to suspect anything was amiss. His breaths came f
aster as the room darkened. I wanted nothing more than to get him out, but what I told him earlier was correct. His legs are not yet steady enough to get him out. Soon. “Soon, Jason. We’ll get out of here and figure out a way to stop these people.”
Before I appeared in all my scarred glory, Jason was the one person I thought would recognize my true face. I thought about keeping the persona of Scott Nickels so he would wake to a friendly face. It had taken nearly two years, but Scott managed to break through at least some of Jason’s walls. He was becoming a friend.
I thought about it, but decided against it.
Maybe I hoped he could view me as a friend too. But he thought I was dead. Everybody thinks I’m dead. Death is a great way to gain freedom. But it also prevented me from proving myself to Jason. If I had remained alive, the Tracker would have hunted me down. The Earthshaker was afraid of me, and—as the one person in the world who could sense when I was near him—he would likely have killed me. Now, Jason has the potential to be a friend.
It took a few minutes for the kidnappers to show. Jason may not remember anything, but apparently his tracking ability is alive and well. The man who entered wore a medical mask and a cap, along with surgical scrubs. His identity was unknown, but he appeared to be the man in charge of taking care of Jason as he recovered from his fight with the Hunter, and the car crash.
Jason tensed, obviously uncomfortable with the silent scrutiny, and the inability to tell the man’s identity. “Who are you?” he asked. “Where am I?”
He didn’t ask the obvious: Who am I? Perhaps he didn’t want these people to know just how vulnerable he truly is. Always a master at protecting himself. “It’s okay, Jason,” I said. “He can’t hear me or see me, but I will protect you if he tries anything.”
Even not knowing anything about what was happening, Jason was incredibly good at pretending I wasn’t there. “What do you want?” he asked again, his tone more demanding this time.
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