It was my turn to grin. “Hannah will probably be cutting out of work a bit early today to get you to your appointment. I’m going to call her, and you know no one wants you missing any therapy.”
He looked torn between being happy his girlfriend would be with him, and upset she would throw off her schedule for him. “You don’t—”
“I do,” I interrupted. “You need every therapy appointment you can get to if you want to ever get back to normal. Don’t fight us on this, Jase. Just do it, okay? Or I won’t leave until tomorrow. And I know you don’t want Kindred to hurt anyone else. You’re important, Jason. You just need to realize it.”
Some color rose on his pale cheeks, and he avoided my eyes sheepishly. “You’re my big brother, and big brother to all of your kids. Speaking of, Ginny wanted to come over after your appointment. You up for it?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I’ll call her after I’m done. Now, call Hannah and get going.” His eyes flashed with anger, and the ground rumbled under the house. “You have some hunting to do.”
TWENTY
Tray
A wide smile crossed my face at the message I received from Lena only a few minutes after I’d called her. “Lena is on her way,” I told the others.
Everyone else had gathered in the living room and were poring over the files from the police department. Something had to connect them to Kindred. But we were pretty far away from where he’d previously operated.
“Found something,” Cole spoke up. “The fire before last night’s was a place that traces back to a holding company that was previously owned by one Trevor Mason, the criminal leader of a large group out in Crandal County. The person who owns it now had been suspected of being part of Mason’s crew, but the police never had any proof of it.”
I grinned. “Apparently Kindred knew better.”
Cole nodded somberly. “As Mason’s assassin, he would know a lot about the hierarchy of the crew. And there was no love lost between him and Mason’s people.”
“Understatement,” Laurie huffed from her place at the laptop where she’d accessed police files. “From what I’m finding about Kindred—aka The Ghost, aka John Doe, aka Jeremiah Mason—he spent quite a bit of time hunting down the upper echelon of Mason’s crew. Several were found dead. A group of them apparently banded together to go after both Jason and Kindred in a failed attempt to earn leadership over the organization.”
I glanced over her shoulder and let out a low whistle. “Apparently, Kindred was presumed dead at the end of that particular adventure. Two paramedics, and Jason, claimed the man had died after being shot. Just how powerful is this guy? I’m beginning to think we haven’t even scratched the surface.”
Wasn’t that a pleasant thought? Even after working with the guy, I hadn’t had a clear picture of how much he was capable of. He could definitely manipulate people, and make them see what he wanted them to see. What had he done to make Brennan run from us?
“Has anyone managed to connect to Brennan yet?” I asked. I allowed my ball to slip out of my pocket again, letting it float around. Lately, I hadn’t been able to just let it settle without feeling like my power was going to explode out of me. Not a feeling I appreciated when my goal was to keep some levity in the group. Losing control of my power could end up being on par with someone like Jason or Brennan doing so. I could be just as destructive.
Again, not a thought I wanted to linger on. Unlike the others, I’d learned to get a handle on my powers quite a while ago. Only high stress or dangerous situations would make me waver in my control. At least I’d thought so. My control was definitely better than Brennan or Jason had managed, but lately I wasn’t as in control as I liked to tell myself.
As a teen, I’d been able to use it to impress my classmates. When I’d gotten good at juggling, they simply thought I had talent. When I used it to do bike tricks, or skateboard, they thought I was a daredevil.
When I’d used it to save a friend who might have broken his neck doing a bike trick, they had simply thought he’d gotten lucky. I hadn’t been able to stop the wipe out, but I’d caught him in just enough time that a potential broken neck had instead become a mild strain.
All of those little things working together had helped me to learn the ins and outs of working with my abilities. From what I gathered, Jason had used parts of his power growing up, as had Brennan. What they had in common was that for the innocent and positive side of their power, they also had a dark and dangerous side. Jason’s ability to track came with the ability to cause earthquakes. Brennan’s ability to absorb flame came with the ability to cause them. Both men had embraced the innocent side, and had tried their hardest to ignore the dangerous.
As much as I could understand it, I also had to shake my head. Putting that much power on a leash for so many years? All it could possibly do was blow up in their faces. And it had. Still could, in Brennan’s case. I could only hope we’d get him through the crisis point and on to the point when he gained control.
Jade put a hand on my shoulder and nodded. “We will. As soon as we figure out how to stop Kindred and get Brennan back; we will get him through this.”
I gave a short nod, and smiled. “I know.” I waved a hand around to indicate everyone. “With this group, we can’t fail.”
My smile faded when my attention was diverted to Cade. His eyes were rolled back, showing only white, and he wasn’t moving.
“Cole,” I called. “I think Cade is connected to someone.”
Jade touched the blond man’s arm, and closed her eyes. “Yeah. He’s seeing through Kindred’s eyes. I can’t tell specifics when he’s like this though.”
Cole sat and closed his eyes, most likely trying to focus on his brother and see what he was seeing. Which was nice for him, but the rest of us still had to wait.
“Anything?” I asked Jade, whose hand still rested on Cade’s shoulder.
She shook her head. Laurie continued reading files, but said, “Neither of them is anxious. They don’t normally stay connected for more than a few minutes. Just be patient.”
I made the ball bounce on the table in front of her, causing her to jolt and look up with a frown. “Patience isn’t my virtue,” I answered with a wry smile.
She grinned back at me. “We all know that, you child. Just try to contain yourself, okay?”
Rae stiffened slightly. “I think one of them just got a hit from Brennan. He’s not hurt, but he is feeling determined. I think he’s fighting against Kindred’s control.”
“Jason did the same, and ultimately was able to avoid direct control by Kindred,” I mused. “Maybe Brennan will be able to do the same? Eventually—”
I cut off my next statement when Rae, Laurie, and Cade gasped and grabbed their heads in pain. “What happened?!”
None of them answered me, and Jade only had a wide-eyed and slack jawed look on her face.
Another minute passed before Cole shook his head. The glowing white eyes now faded back to the normal dark brown. He took a moment to adjust before he finally spoke. “Based on what we just saw and felt from Kindred, I think Brennan just locked everyone out of his head.”
He glanced toward his brother and the two empaths, all of whom were still cringing in pain. “Apparently, with force. Not sure how Kindred is going to react.”
Cade opened his eyes, forehead wrinkled at the discomfort still in his mind. “Brennan just put a fire wall up in his mind. It’s a strong deterrent. One that almost drove Kindred off the road. He stopped. I couldn’t see much after that, but I’d imagine Brennan might have a chance to get away.”
“Kindred felt that pain more strongly than any of us,” Rae answered. “It was aimed at him. We just got a bit of the after-burn.”
“Brennan got out. Kindred wasn’t in any shape to go after him,” Cole informed us. “I was able to see that much before I couldn’t connect to either of them anymore. Hopefully Brennan will contact us.”
I looked around at all the people affected by the cur
rent event and saw that all were regaining their strength. The pain lines were easing, and they were breathing more easily.
Everyone was silent for now, and I realized my own breaths had sped up and my shoulders were tense. The ball was being pushed so hard by my power that even the hard rubber was beginning to crack.
I took a deep breath, and released as much of the tension as I could. I bounced the ball against the floor repeatedly until Jade nudged me. “You all right?” she asked softly.
“Just feeling the tension a bit,” I admitted, almost at a whisper. “I almost wrecked my ball.”
“Just using your power to squeeze it? It was just floating for the last several minutes.”
I nodded, but wouldn’t meet her eyes.
“Hey.” She waited until I looked up at her before continuing. “You kept your anxiety focused on the ball. Nothing else even jiggled. That’s some impressive control, Tray.”
My head tilted and I raised one eyebrow skeptically. “I shouldn’t have even been at risk of losing control to begin with,” I argued. “Nothing was even happening to me.”
Her mouth quirked, and she looked almost… disappointed. “You were stressed. Worried about what was happening with Cade, Rae, and Laurie. Not to mention that the person we’re here to help is still MIA. Sure, what’s happening isn’t exactly the worst thing we’ve been through, but you probably weren’t expecting to feel quite so stressed over it. After all, the others usually have a good handle over their abilities. They don’t often run into trouble.”
All of what she said was true, but I still couldn’t help but feel frustrated at my lack of exact control.
She laughed at the look on my face. “You’re a bit of a perfectionist, aren’t you? Everyone loses it now and again.”
I grinned wryly. “Yeah. You’re right. And, like you said, at least I didn’t break anything.”
“OR shake it,” she emphasized. “Which is quite good, considering.”
Yeah, and she didn’t even know about the people I’d thrown around at the Mastermind’s compound. Although, judging from the amused smirk on her face, she did now.
“Yeah. Not a lot of secrets around here, bud. Keep that in mind.”
I snorted and fluffed her red hair. “How could I forget it, miss nosy?”
She huffed in amusement and pushed my hand away. “I don’t really know, but you keep trying anyway.”
The others remained silent as Jade and I bantered back and forth. Cole kept his eyes on his brother, but Rae and Laurie were watching us with some concern that slowly turned to amusement as our conversation lightened.
Cade stood and touched the bag that was on the floor just inside the front door. Brennan’s work bag. “You’re trying to connect again?” I asked. “Not sure that—”
“Not a good idea, little brother,” Cole gently pulled him back. “That fire wall will burn you again. Just wait patiently. If he got away, he will call us. And if not…”
Laurie sighed. “If not, he’s in trouble. As long as he keeps the wall up, Kindred won’t be able to control him with his powers, but he’s still a dangerous man.”
“And if he keeps his wall up, none of you can reach him,” I sighed. “Connecting to either of them now seems like an unnecessary risk. Kindred is likely on guard now after the fire wall burned him. His mental powers can lash out at attackers. And Brennan’s wall is clearly meant to hurt anyone who attempts to breach it.”
This was my family. Kindred would not harm them. I may not be able to track him down, or block him from my mind, but I would do everything in my power to keep my family safe.
Brennan got a pass this time. His fire wall hadn’t been intended to hurt my friends, but to get away from Kindred. An understandable goal, for sure. One he shared with pretty much everyone who ever came into contact with the assassin.
We waited in tense silence for several more minutes before the phone finally rang.
TWENTY-ONE
Brennan
My whole body felt hot. The worst of seemed to be focused around my head, but the burn flooded through my veins and made my skin itch. I lowered my hand, only just realizing I’d been rubbing at my temple for several minutes. I would blame the crash, but the burning had begun a few seconds before the accident.
The only benefit I could see to the fiery pain was that at the onset of it, I’d regained control of my body. My controller had cried out and veered the car off the side of the road. As far as I could tell, he’d been unconscious when I stumbled from the vehicle.
A thought crossed my mind, and I struggled to connect it with action. Find a phone. Call Jade for help. I needed to get back to them and stay far away from the man who’d used me as a weapon.
As I pushed through the pain in order to turn thought into action, I felt more fluidity in my formerly jerky movements. My thoughts made more sense, and I was able to put together an idea of what happened. My power no longer turned on me. Instead, I could see it was what now protected me from outside influence.
I found a gas station that still had a pay phone outside and made a collect call to my house. If no one answered, I would slowly make my way back home and get in touch with someone from there.
The phone rang twice before someone picked up. “Hello?” The woman sounded uncertain, but it could have been because she was answering someone else’s phone.
“It’s Brennan,” I said, surprised at how rough my voice sounded. I must have breathed in some smoke when I’d gone into the fire earlier. “I’m away from Kindred. At the gas station right on the edge of town. It’s a BP. Out on thirty-two. Please come.”
I wasn’t beyond begging at this point. I just wanted to be home. Whoever answered spoke to someone softly enough that I missed what was said, before coming back on the line. “Brennan, we’re sending Jade and Cole. They should be there soon. Try to keep your wall up so Kindred will have a harder time locating you.”
Despite the woman being unable to see me, I nodded. Then, my reflection in the glass made me freeze.
“What is it? Brennan, what’s wrong?” I must have gasped, because the woman… Laurie, I thought, sounded panicked.
“My eyes,” I reached to touch the reflection of the oddly flickering orange glow.
She sighed. “What about your eyes? Are you okay?”
“They’re… glowing.”
“It’s okay, Brennan. Some of the others have a physical manifestation of their powers as well. Cole and Cade’s eyes sometimes turn completely white. If they’re deep enough, they seem to glow.”
I nodded again, absently. Still staring at the alien glow. “It’s like a living flame.”
“Keep it burning, Brennan. At least until we can find another way to prevent Kindred from affecting you.”
Kindred. My whole body trembled at the memory of being under someone else’s control. Like a marionette, I could only move when he allowed me. No matter what, I couldn’t allow that to happen again. Not only had he prevented me from saving a man, he had actively used me to kill him.
“The fire!” I spoke up again suddenly. “There was a man. Did he…?”
Laurie sighed, her voice sad when she answered. “He died. Unfortunately, he was stuck in the worst part of the fire.”
I snorted angrily. “By design, not by accident. Kindred knows what he’s doing. He… he made me turn around and leave someone to burn. I k… I killed him, Laurie.”
“You tried to save him, Brennan,” she countered. “You didn’t want to hurt him. Your power was just… convenient.”
“No.”—I shook my head.—“I’m his toy. He doesn’t need me. He just enjoys playing with people. Not sure why he decided to come to me, but I’m not necessary for his plans.”
“His toy…” Her voice was dripping with disgust at the thought of it. “This guy is seriously messed up.”
Letting out another snort, I answered. “You’re telling me.”
“Where is he? Could he have followed you?”
Feeling s
uddenly paranoid, I quickly looked around. No one was near. Probably a good thing, since orange, flickering eyes weren’t exactly an everyday occurrence. Someone would notice.
Whether they’d do anything about it or not, I had no idea. Nor did I want to find out.
“How much longer?” I asked. “I don’t think he followed me, but I don’t know.”
“They should be with you soon,” she answered. Her calmness soothed me, and I could feel the flickering pain easing further.
Wait. I couldn’t let it. If the fire disappeared, Kindred could take over again. “Don’t calm me too much,” I warned. “If I feel too comfortable, I don’t know if I can keep the wall up.”
“Got it,” Laurie said. There was a moment of silence before she continued. “Keep your guard up, Brennan. Until the others get there, at least. Then maybe you’ll be able to relax a bit.”
I grunted in response. I’d been with the others when he took control earlier. What would be the difference now? He would still be able to get into my mind if I dropped the flaming wall. Staring at the flickering reflection of my eyes, I realized I couldn’t keep it up for long. If I did, I would end up a hermit. Unable to leave my house for fear of being discovered as a freak.
“Brennan? You still there?”
“Yeah. And there’s a car coming. Would it be Jade already?”
“Could be,” she answered. Her voice had the same tone as someone talking down a skittish animal. Not a correlation I appreciated, but it was understandable. After all, I had been a bit wary of them so far.
The car pulled into the parking lot, and proved my guess correct. “It’s Jade and Tray,” I informed Laurie. I’m going to hang up now. See you at the house shortly.”
“See you soon.”
I hung up the phone slowly. Despite her informing me that some of the others had similar manifestations of their powers, I felt self-conscious due to the odd glowing. Jade rushed toward me, slowing when I failed to turn toward her.
“Bren. You’re among friends now,” she said, a tone of sadness in her voice. “You don’t have to hide from us.”
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