We walked into the house, and Mark greeted us. “Sam, did you have any indication that this person would be able to sense you if you use your power? Anything at all that could help us gauge their limits would be useful.”
I shook my head. “The only thing I know for sure is he or she is stronger than anyone we’ve come across so far. He doesn’t control all the guards, but he has a good number of them under his thumb. He can probably take over the others if he needs to as well. I didn’t get the sense that he was straining too hard over it, either.”
There was a slight hitch to Mark’s breath, and he cringed before responding. “In that case, I don’t think we can risk you using your abilities. There is too much potential for it to lead them here. Jason wouldn’t thank us if in the process of finding him, we lost you.”
Alice nodded and put a gentle hand on Mark’s shoulder. “I agree. I’m sorry, Sam, but if he can sense you it simply isn’t worth the risk.”
My shoulders slumped and I stared at the ground, tears gathering. “I just want my brother back. Is that really so much to ask?”
Alice gathered me in her arms. “It isn’t,” she answered. “I promise you we will find him. But it will have to be without the use of your abilities. Jeremiah,” she spoke over my head at our new ally, “can you use your powers to find Jason? You’ve done it before.”
It took a moment, but he answered, “I believe I may be able to lead you in the right direction. I can’t pinpoint his location, but I should be able to get us close.”
“Anything is useful. At this point we have no idea where he is,” Alice replied gratefully.
“Probably not too far away yet,” Mark interjected. “He hasn’t been out long, and has no idea where he is. It may take him a while to find a good place to hide. If Jeremiah can point us in the right direction, it could be that Tessa may know some areas someone could use as a bolt-hole.”
We all jumped as the doorbell rang. Mark put his hand near his holster and cracked the door. “Paul,” he said, relaxing his stance.
Seeing my other big brother, I ran to him, burying my face in his chest like I had so many times when we lived on the streets.
“Sammy, what happened?” he asked gently, running his hand over my hair.
He was still bigger than me, and I felt safe with him. Alice and Hannah had become a part of our extended family, but Paul was my brother in every way but blood. “Jason is still missing. We tried to find him, but he was gone when we got there,” I explained.
Pulling out of the hug, I kept a hold of his hand to keep myself grounded. I could feel my body trembling with emotion, and needed the solid presence next to me.
“The people who had Jason are now after Sam. Whoever is leading this group has abilities of their own, and is quite powerful,” Jeremiah added.
Paul eyed the man distrustfully, pulling me slightly behind him as he spoke. “And you are?”
“My name is Jeremiah. You may remember me as ‘Kindred.’ I am here to help Jason.”
Casting a confused glance toward Alice and Mark, Paul asked, “Can we trust him?”
Alice had a moment’s hesitation before nodding. “He seems to genuinely want to help. And Sam says he’s sincere.”
“My only goal has ever been to help Jason. I realize now that I went about it all wrong at first, and have a better idea of how to properly protect him,” Jeremiah explained. He obviously noted Paul’s protective stance, and made no move to get closer to us.
“How would Sam know…? How would you know he’s sincere?” he asked me.
It was my turn to hesitate. I’d been keeping secrets from my family, and they were beginning to come out. The others filed out of the room to give me time to explain myself to him. It didn’t take too long to catch him up, and I waited with bated breath to see his response.
“I guess it figures you would have some sort of power since your brother does,” he said. “So you know Jason is still okay right now?”
“I’m not supposed to actively use my ability. We don’t know if the Mastermind can sense me if I do, but I can’t turn it off completely. I’m not trying to reach out to him, but if he has a spike of emotion I can tell. He’s not spiking, so I can assume he is doing fine for now.”
Reaching an arm around my shoulders he assured me, “We will get our big brother back, Sammy. And we will keep you safe. I’m just getting you guys back; I won’t lose you again now.”
Paul’s confidence was entirely sincere, and I had a hard time disbelieving him. “You’re right. Jason got out on his own, now all we need to do is find him. Once we do that, I should be able to figure out how to return his memories.”
“Sure hope so,” Paul responded. His huffing laugh showed a distinct lack of humor. “I want to be able to yell at him for leaving, but it won’t have the same effect if he can’t remember doing it.”
“Funny,” I answered with a darkly amused smile. “I think Hannah and Alice have the same inten…”
My voice trailed off; something was happening. “I think someone is coming.”
“I concur,” Jeremiah broke in, striding toward the door. “I believe we were followed, despite our efforts.”
Alice and Mark approached, both holding their service weapons. “Paul, Hannah, Sam, go upstairs now. Tessa is already in her safe room, and I want the three of you to join her.”
“I can help,” I protested as Paul grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the stairs.
“They’re after you. I won’t risk them getting you. Go!” she yelled.
Hannah stood near the top of the stairs, “We should all go. Jeremiah is the only one who stands a chance against these people.”
Alice smiled gently at her sister. “This is part of my job, sis. I love you. Now go!”
TWENTY-THREE
Jason
As we ran, I spent some time studying my new friend. She appeared to be about sixteen or seventeen, although she could have been a little older or younger. Her short black hair had a pink stripe near the front, giving her a punk look. She wore loose fitting pajama pants and a form fitting tank top.
“Did they take you from your home?” I asked, slightly breathless from running.
She sent a look of confusion my way. “No. I don’t… No. Why?”
“The pajamas. They look too normal for that place,” I explained, my face heating slightly at her raised eyebrow.
Her mouth quirked up into a half-smile and her dark eyes lit up. “I guess I’ve been a good enough prisoner that they bought me a couple items to make my stay more comfortable. Didn’t stop them from chaining me to the bed though.”
I had to give her that one. We paused at a corner and I finally glanced around to see where we were. It seemed to be the end of a residential area, and the start of a business district. “Where are we going?”
She pointed to the left. “That place has a basement that no one ever goes in. We’ll start there and figure out our options. Can you tell if anyone is following us?”
“You’re the mind reader, can’t you tell?” I asked, curious to learn more about the girl.
“I can only affect some of the guards,” she answered after a short pause. “There are… special ones. The ones the Doctor and the Boss took interest in, and affected in some way. At least that’s what I assume. When they came in, I could manipulate them. They were not necessarily nice people, but in some ways I think they were starting to see what was being done to people like us was wrong. The ones I could affect eventually changed, and now I can’t control them. It’s as if their minds are hidden from me. I’m hoping they can’t hide from you. It’s harder to hide footsteps than to block a mind.”
Unsettled by the fact this girl knew my abilities, I felt myself begin to tremble. It hit me that I was out in the world with a girl I’d just met, and I knew nothing about… well, anything. Nothing here appeared familiar, the girl was a stranger, and we would be hunted by those who’d held us prisoner. I started scratching at my arm where the Docto
r had injected me with—
“Don’t fall apart on me yet, Jason,” she ordered, interrupting my thoughts. She was not unsympathetic, but was firm. “We’ll have time for that soon. Please check.”
I stopped scratching my arm and looked at her in horror. “They put something in my arm,” I told her. “Something they said would make it easier to find me if I tried to escape.”
She let out a frustrated groan as she peered at the needle mark. “GPS chip, I’d bet. We need to find a way to disrupt the signal. Although the thick walls in the basement should weaken it enough for now. Just make sure no one is nearby when we go in, and hopefully we’ll have some time to deal with the chip.”
I took a deep breath and knelt with one hand touching the ground. Sending my power in all directions, I was shocked at how far I could feel, and how many people were around. “I… I don’t…”
“It’s okay. I know it can be overwhelming. Try to concentrate on anyone heading in our direction.”
Her voice soothed me, and allowed me to focus my power on the people closest to us. “I don’t think anyone is interested in us. There is someone in the house behind us watching. They’re at the front window. Probably wondering why we’re just standing here.”
“Probably. We should circle around the building so they don’t see us go in.”
“Why aren’t they following us? They should have noticed the cameras were down and come for us right away.”
“Discussion for later, Jason. Let’s go, before we get the cops called on us.”
She started moving before I could protest. I had no option but to follow.
We managed to sneak into the building easily, and made our way to a small room in the basement. As I looked around I realized someone had stayed here before. A small pile of blankets was in the corner, and a medium sized cooler sat next to it.
“Help yourself to some water. I’m betting they haven’t given you much since you woke.”
Her observation made me realize how dry my mouth felt, so I grabbed a bottle and chugged almost the whole thing before I took a breath. The rest I drank more slowly.
Sliding down the wall to sit near the pile of blankets, I observed, “You live here, don’t you.”
“Up ‘til they grabbed me, yeah. This was home sweet home. Great, right?”
“What’s your name?” I asked finally. It was time to get to know the only nice person I’d met so far.
“Lena. It’s nice to meet you, Jason. Welcome to my place.”
“What happened? Why do you live here and not with your family?”
“That seems like an awfully personal question, Jason. Besides, from what I can tell in your mind, you aren’t one to talk about living with family.” Her tone was defensive, but there was a vulnerability to her.
Raising my arms in surrender I answered, “I can take a hint. I won’t ask again, but if you ever feel like talking…”
“I’ll let you know.” She answered in such a way that said she was unlikely to do so.
“So,” I started, unsure what to say.
She smirked at me. “What?”
“I think it’s time for you to tell me what exactly you know about me. You said just now that I’m not one to talk about family, what did you mean by that? And I need to know more about the group of people who were holding us. I need information, and I need it fast.”
“Yeah. You do,” she agreed. “But we should get that chip out of your arm first. The walls will help for now, but if we want to leave this building without you popping back up on the radar, we need to destroy it.”
I was all for that, but I had no idea how to go about it. “How exactly do we do that?”
“We could try finding a magnet, and seeing if they can find us again, but I think the best thing would be to take it out.”
I looked at her, my mouth hanging a bit open. “T-take it out? You mean… we’d—”
“Cut it out,” she interrupted with a quick nod. “Yes.”
She grimaced a bit, probably a reaction to the sick look on my face. “Yeah, I know it sounds bad, but I think it may be the best way. I have some aspirin, a knife, and a lighter. We can make this work.”
My first reaction was to back away from the crazy girl with a knife, but I could tell she wasn’t any more excited about this than me. I nodded curtly. “Let’s do it.”
She moved to get the supplies and also ripped a strip of cloth from a shirt in a bag I hadn’t noticed earlier.
As she approached, I could feel my body tensing. “Wait!” I held up a hand to stop her as she touched the knife to my skin. “I… I need a distraction. Tell me what you know.”
“Fine,” she agreed. “What I can tell in your mind is that in one section it feels like there is a scar over it. Apparently, that’s over the area controlling your memories. I know that you are more powerful than you are aware.”
“What do you mean?” I asked; teeth clenched against the burning pain of the careful incision she was making. “I… Ahh! I already know I can destroy stuff with my power. In fact, I almost completely wrecked the courtyard at that place.”
I took a breath when she pulled the knife away, but tensed again when she pulled the edges apart to find the implant.
“Yeah. Not impressive,” she informed me with a slight shake of her head. “From what I can tell, you could have destroyed the whole place. You might have even managed to stop the Puppet Master if you had done so… Gotcha!” she said triumphantly, pulling a small microchip from my arm.
I winced, but my confusion trumped my pain. “Who is the Puppet Master?”
She raised an eyebrow and answered as she placed a piece of tape across the edges of the wound and wrapped my arm with the strip of cloth.
“That is the question, isn’t it? I have no idea. There was a time I thought it was the Doctor, but I have never sensed that kind of power from him. The Puppet Master has the strongest mental abilities I have ever seen, and that includes your friend.”
“He’s not my friend,” I argued, flexing my arm to test how it felt. “He’s just…”
“The only person you know, apart from me,” she cut in. “Yeah, I know.” She waved a hand, clearly showing her disinterest in the distinction.
“He’s a killer. That’s not me,” I insisted. For some reason I didn’t want this brash young girl to think poorly of me. “I lost my memories. If he has the mental powers you say he does, then couldn’t that mean he has something to do with my memory loss?”
She thought about it briefly. “No, I don’t think so. From what I could tell from him, he was there to help. There was another person with him whose powers felt similar. He may have been the one.”
“Oblivion,” I muttered softly.
“What?”
“Oblivion,” I repeated. “It’s a name Jeremiah mentioned to me. I almost didn’t believe he existed.”
Lena smiled slightly. “He exists. And I think he is more important to you than you know. I couldn’t get a good read on him, but he definitely cares about you. If he’s behind your loss of memory, I can’t imagine he did it on purpose.”
“What about you, Lena?”
“What about me?” she asked, her eyes narrowed.
“How powerful are you? I already know you can read minds, and use it in some way to distract people. Is there any other aspect to it?”
“You’re asking if I would be capable of wiping memories? That I may have done it either maliciously or by the direction of someone else?” Her eyes widened, either in amusement or surprise. “The answer is no. I can’t do that. Unlike this… Oblivion person; that is not how my power works.”
She sighed. “And now you’re wondering if you can trust what I say. That’s going to have to be up to you. I can’t make you decide whether to trust me or not. I’m hoping we can help each other. You are one of the only people I feel I can trust.”
“Why?”
Lena shrugged, suddenly self-conscious. “Dunno. I just know you’re a good perso
n; even if you were hanging out with a killer. You weren’t given much choice in the matter. I think you have people out there who care about you, and Oblivion is obviously one of them.”
“So do you think I should try to find them? Go back to a group of people who are working with a murderer?”
Shrugging again, the girl narrowed her eyes at me. “How should I know? I got a quick glimpse at the killer and the kid, and you expect me to…”
“Kid?” I interrupted.
“Yeah. Oblivion. He’s a kid, probably no older than me.”
The only kid Jeremiah had mentioned to me was my little brother. The only name he’d given me was Oblivion. And he had been angry when he mentioned my brother. I felt my breath quicken, and Lena’s heart rate sped up as she watched me.
“What is it?” she asked urgently. “What’s wrong?”
“Oblivion is the one Jeremiah told me wiped my memories. He told me I have a brother, but he said it as if it was a bad thing. I think… I think maybe Oblivion is my brother.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Jeremiah
I couldn’t remember a time when I’d stood against a potential enemy with friends at my back. Every time I had entered a fight, I’d known nobody would help me but me, and nothing was at risk besides myself.
Now? Now I stood ready to defend the Tracker’s family and friends. I stood with two officers of the law ready to fight for our lives against an unknown threat. Officers who—under different circumstances—wouldn’t hesitate to arrest me for a plethora of felonies. Including multiple counts of first degree murder, stalking, and I’m sure several other things I am forgetting. Most were done under the influence of Trevor Mason, but some… some I did for fun.
There was nothing keeping me here. The realization struck me as someone crashed through the kitchen window. Jason was no longer in the hands of the Doctor, and I had no reason to risk myself for these people.
Except for friendship. These people are Jason’s family. Jason is my friend, even if he doesn’t know it. My resolve strengthened.
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