Indigo Awakening (The Hunted (Teen)) (16 page)

She’d never seen so many beautiful things, not even in Mia’s closet.

The Church of Spiritual Freedom Headquarters—L.A.
Noon

After Fiona had shown Alexander Reese everything she had on the incident at the museum, the man sat in silence looking down at the stills she’d printed for him. His jaw tightened as he held up the blurred picture of a boy in a hooded sweatshirt, the best one they had. Everything in Alexander’s body language set her on edge as she waited for him to speak.

In her mind, the boy was clearly not Lucas, yet he had been in the company of Darby’s sister Rayne. She’d done her homework on the family, and Mia had talked about her sister, too. There was a definite connection between this mystery boy and the Darby family, something worth pursuing. Yet Alexander did not look satisfied.

“Are we any closer to finding Lucas?” he asked.

Fiona furrowed her brow.

“No, but I thought you’d be pleased. We may have found another boy like him, maybe more powerful. This one is an artist.” She flipped to the sketch of Darby and shoved it over to him. “Perhaps he draws what he sees in visions. I recognized the face of Lucas Darby from this sketch without running it through our Tracker software. Doesn’t the implication thrill you? We could use this boy to hunt them.”

Alexander stared at the drawing in uncomfortable silence before he finally spoke.

“I want the Darby kid.” He shoved back the sketchbook and the picture of the boy in the sweatshirt. “You’ve tested Lucas. He’s a sure thing, you told me. This boy could be no one, a boyfriend to the sister. You don’t even know if these drawings are his. I don’t want us chasing another target until we have Darby. Do I make myself clear?”

“I understand your concern, but I thought we could acquire this boy, too.”

“It’s not your job to manage our strategy and resources, Fiona. That’s my responsibility.” He swiveled his chair to face her. She had to admit it—the man intimidated her when he got like this.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm,” he told her. “But let me worry about this new boy when and if I see he is a viable target. Now you have your assignment. Get to it. I want Lucas Darby.”

Fiona clenched her jaw and stood to leave. When she reached for the knapsack, Alexander stopped her.

“Leave the bag,” he ordered. “Leave everything. I want you focused.”

Fiona did as he told her. She left his office without another word, but if he trusted her as his rock, she had to follow her instincts on this new boy. She’d asked his permission to pursue him and that had failed. Now all she had left would be to ask for Alexander’s forgiveness after she did what she
had
to do.

He’d left her no choice.

Bristol Mountains

Even with gowns and designer clothes to choose from, Rayne picked out the simplest outfit to wear, because the borrowed clothes weren’t hers. Mia would have no trouble playing dress up, but Rayne couldn’t do it. She’d bathed and washed and dried her hair, using all the fancy products they had, but the clothes were too much.

Dressed in dark slacks that fit her as if they’d been tailor-made and a powder-blue, long-sleeved blouse, she crept down the hall to Gabriel’s room. After she knocked softly on the door, she put her ear to it and listened. No answer.

“Gabriel?” She tried again, whispering his name.

When she didn’t hear him, she turned the knob and slipped into his room, with a peek over her shoulder to see if anyone watched her do it. In his room, she turned to see Gabriel. He was still in bed, sound asleep.

She inched toward him, unsure what to do until she got close enough to see him breathing. With his chest bare, she realized he could’ve been naked under those covers, and a rush of heat warmed her face. Rayne knew she should have turned and walked out, but seeing him like this, it wasn’t easy to leave.

Despite Gabriel’s powers and strength, she saw him as vulnerable, too. Maybe those feelings had started and been grounded over the guilt she felt about not protecting her brother enough, but she knew that whatever she felt for Gabriel now, those feelings were real and about him.

His childhood home had brought out his soft underbelly that she never would have seen if he didn’t allow it. When she first met him at the zoo and he’d let her see how he lived, she sensed that he’d been lost. Something was missing. If anyone knew that lonely feeling, she did, but Gabriel belonged here. He had his uncle and a past he couldn’t outrun. Whatever haunted him, the answers would be in this place. She watched the gentle rise and fall of his chest and resisted the urge to brush back the strand of dark hair that had fallen into his eyes.

She wanted to touch him, to kiss him. Every second she spent with him felt like a dream that she’d wake up from and he’d be gone. Watching Gabriel sleep, Rayne had no trouble seeing the child he had been—the extraordinary boy who had lived an odd adventure with his mother in a traveling circus.

But Rayne knew his story wouldn’t be that simple. Something had made him run and an unmistakable misery colored his eyes. Without waking him, she backed out of his room and shut the door behind her.

Alone in Gabriel’s childhood home, she felt the mystery of him everywhere.

Minutes Later

Rayne had a strong urge to wander the hallways of the vast estate on her own, but without leaving a trail of bread crumbs, she believed getting completely lost was a distinct possibility. Even though she wanted to eat, she retraced her steps downstairs, back to the great room, and stood under the circus posters of Gabriel and his mother.

She stared into the eyes of Gabriel as a boy. It was as if he stood before her now. He had a way of captivating her, and his mother must have had the same ability. Even now Rayne couldn’t turn away—from mother or son.

“Good morning, my dear.”

Rayne jumped at the sound of a loud male voice and footsteps behind her.

“Uh...hello.” She gulped a breath and turned.

Uncle Reginald appeared and didn’t notice that he’d startled her. The man wore dark slacks and an open-collared white shirt with rolled-up sleeves. He looked happier—and younger—than he had last night.

“Is he still sleeping?” the man asked. After she nodded, he said, “That’s not like him.”

Rayne could have told him what happened at the museum—that Gabe had a right to be tired—but it wasn’t her place to tell him.

“When he was a boy, he haunted these halls on his own in the mornings. Every day was a big adventure. Before I knew he had the gift, I thought he had a vivid imagination that kept him entertained for hours, but I soon realized his fanciful friends and peculiar pets weren’t of this world. He’s a special boy.”

Rayne had to grin at how Gabriel’s uncle talked in such an openly amused way about his abilities. She couldn’t imagine saying stuff like that to Mia. Her sister would lose it. When Lucas used to say he saw their mom and dad after they died, Mia told him to stop. She acted like he’d been cruel. At the time, Rayne figured that was Luke’s way of dealing with his grief, but if he was like Gabriel, maybe he had really seen them.

In truth, she wished they would’ve come to her, but they never did.

“Are you like him?” she asked. “I mean, you live here with Frederick. Can you shotgun through animals, too?”

“Shotgun? Is that what he calls it?” Uncle Reginald smiled. “I see he’s confided in you. Not having anyone to talk to can make this existence lonely.”

“I didn’t exactly give him a choice. Seeing him lit up like a Bunsen burner was a real icebreaker.”

When the man laughed, really loud, the sound echoed through the estate and nearly made her jump. She’d gotten used to the quiet, but she had to admit that she liked the sound.

“For the record, I don’t ‘burn, baby, burn.’ We all manifest in different ways.” He winked and slumped into a chair near her as she stood under the circus billboard. “I’m afraid I’m rather boring and old-school. Gabriel surpassed my abilities long ago. He’s an absolute marvel.”

“Did he get this way from his parents? I see that he traveled with his mother in the circus. Did his dad go, too?”

Uncle Reginald’s expression changed as fast as a dark storm blowing in. His jaw tightened and his brow furrowed. Rayne thought she’d done something wrong. She sat in a chair across from him, but the man had a hard time looking her in the eye.

“Kathryn, his mother, was my dear sister. Our side of the family had the gift. Gabriel’s father never understood.” He crossed his arms and shook his head. “I’ve said too much. Gabriel is a deeply private boy. I’m afraid that revealing any more about him, without him being here, feels like a betrayal. I’m sorry, my dear. Nothing personal. I quite adore you, actually.”

“Ditto.”

Rayne returned the smile that eventually warmed the man’s face, but with every question she asked him about Gabriel, she had misgivings about going too far. Above all, she wanted Gabriel to share his life with her because he wanted to.

She hoped one day he would.

“I know you must be hungry. Come on.” He breathed in the air and said, “Can you smell that? I’m famished.”

Rayne hadn’t noticed before, but the amazing aroma of food made her stomach grind. She smelled fresh-baked stuff and bacon. When she actually saw the buffet set up in the dining room, she couldn’t wait to dive in. A long serving table held chafing dishes of hot food, bowls of fresh fruit and pitchers of juice, with the aroma of coffee in the air. When Uncle Reginald let her go first, she grabbed a plate and filled it. She picked a topic to talk about that she hoped would be neutral. She didn’t want to intrude on Gabriel’s privacy.

“Letters from the dead? What was that?” she asked, as she sat at the table with her loaded plate and juice. “If you can’t talk about it, I understand.”

Uncle Reginald’s face clouded over as he thought about the past. He set his plate and coffee on the table and sat across from her.

“He and his mother created an astonishing act. Quite touching, in fact. I’d never seen anything like it before or since.” His deep voice trailed off. “Kathryn embellished their act with circus flair, and Hellboy did his part, but Gabriel became the real star.”

“How? What did he do exactly?”

“Gabriel had always been a sensitive boy. Even in a crowd of people, he found it hard to shut out their thoughts and...especially their pain. One day, he simply stopped the act and scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to a woman in the audience. When she read what he wrote, she hugged that boy. I thought she’d never stop crying.”

“What did he write?”

“He never told anyone. He said later that what he’d written was meant for only her, but I heard from others that the woman’s daughter had committed suicide and never left a note. Gabriel wrote what the daughter had always meant to say to her mother. And so began his new act.”

Goose bumps raced across Rayne’s arms. She couldn’t imagine being connected to the dead like Gabriel and hearing voices that were impossible to ignore. How could he block them out? Would he even want to? Maybe Lucas had been like him, but the drugs and the doctors took his ability away. A part of her felt sad for Luke, but another part wasn’t sure if he could’ve handled the torment.

If she had been in his place, what would she have wanted? Rayne honestly didn’t know.

Being around Gabriel, and seeing his version of normal, helped her understand Luke in a way she never had before. Love hadn’t been enough. Her brother had always needed her to fight for him and accept him as he was. Maybe not keeping Luke a secret would be a good first step in changing how things were to how they could be.

“My brother, Lucas, is like Gabriel, I think. He’s in trouble. That’s how I found your nephew.”

She blurted out the words as they came to her, like tearing the bandage off a cut. She wasn’t after his sympathy, or his pity, but she had to get everything out into the open—including the big question she still had on her mind about Gabriel.

“My parents are both dead. If I could do what Gabriel can, I would’ve wanted to see them one last time.”

Uncle Reginald didn’t say anything. He only listened.

“Frederick stayed here...after he died,” she said. “Is Kathryn still here?”

The man narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but when he stopped, Uncle Reginald looked beyond her and another voice answered.

“No, I’ve never felt her.” Gabriel had entered the room and must have heard enough.

Rayne turned in her chair. She wanted to apologize for anything and everything, but she didn’t get the chance.

“Every time I shotgun, a part of me looks for her, but she never comes. I don’t know why.”

Chapter 13

Bristol Mountains

“My dear boy, I know you must miss her. I do, too,” Uncle Reginald admitted with a grave look on his face. “I suppose that’s why I still live alone in this mausoleum. Every inch of it reminds me of Kathryn, but surely you can’t want your mother’s spirit to haunt you. I know you don’t really want that for her, either, do you?”

Gabriel didn’t answer his uncle right away. He stepped into the dining room and collapsed into a chair near Rayne. Dressed in jeans, a black T-shirt and a brown plaid shirt over it, he stared across the room and clenched his jaw.

“Maybe not for an eternity,” Gabe said. “I’d settled for...a week.”

This time his uncle grinned.

“A week. I’d love a week, too.” The man shook his head. “You’re right. Terribly inconsiderate of her, I must say. Always thinking of herself, that one.”

Even Gabe smirked, a gesture Rayne found contagious.

“Rayne, please eat before your food gets cold,” Uncle Reginald said. “Gabriel, load up, my boy. Have to keep your strength up. Off you go.”

After a trip to the buffet table, Gabriel looked as if he wouldn’t eat much, until he took his first bite. Rayne almost laughed after that. Living at Griffith Park, he couldn’t have eaten well. Now it looked as if he would scarf enough to last him. When he slowed down, his uncle directed the conversation to more serious stuff. Rayne and Gabriel caught him up on how they met. They told him everything, including the sketchbook visions and what happened at the museum library—his connection to Lucas and the others that latched onto him, too.

“What do you suppose happened to Lucas?” his uncle asked him.

“Don’t know. I do sense danger. He was definitely scared. I saw him...beaten.” Gabe stopped and turned to Rayne. “Sorry. I don’t mean to worry you.”

“No, go on. We have to talk about this. That’s why we’re here,” she said.

“The second time I saw him...in a vision, he was with a girl. He’d been hurt. We think he’s hiding in some tunnels in L.A. We can’t be sure until we go there, but after my mental train wreck at the museum, I didn’t want to make things worse for him.”

“The thing is, my brother has been protected his whole life. Luke being on the streets alone scares me and we have no idea who this girl is. I have to find him.”

“Of course you do, my dear.” The man smiled. “Then it’s a good thing you crossed paths with Gabriel. Quite fortunate, indeed.”

Gabe had come to his uncle for answers. Now that Rayne met the man, she had a pretty good idea why. The guy knew things and he didn’t hold back. He didn’t treat either of them like kids. Uncle Reginald reminded Rayne of her own father, or maybe the guy he would’ve turned out to be if he had lived.

“Conspiracy theorists continue to weigh in on Indigos and Crystal children. They even link the CIA, the Pentagon and other governmental agencies across the globe to the phenomenon,” Uncle Reginald said. “Query the topic online and I’m told you’d get millions of hits. I prefer books over the internet, but I’m ancient.”

“I’ve never heard of an Indigo or a Crystal kid.” Rayne finished the last of her biscuit with jam.

“You wouldn’t be alone, dear girl.”

“So what
are
they?”

“From what I know and believe, Indigos are highly intelligent, gifted psychics. Most are your age. They’re named for their bright ‘indigo’ aura and some have a fascinating, almost obsessive mission to save the world. Quite remarkable, really.”

“Lucas. He saw our mom and dad after they died. I...didn’t believe him, not really.” Rayne shook her head. “My sister, Mia, had him doped up so she didn’t have to deal with him. Eventually she had Luke committed to a mental hospital.”

“Sad, but these children are frequently misunderstood. As with your brother, they’re diagnosed by therapists and doctors as having attention deficit or behavioral disorders, and medication is too easy a solution, I’m afraid.”

“I’ve seen what Gabriel can do, but are these kids for real?” she asked. “Are they like him?”

“Many people dismiss the phenomenon,” the man said. “They attribute it to nothing more than overindulgent parents who prefer that their children be recognized as ‘special’ than label them as ‘peculiar.’ They’d rather their children be considered saviors of our planet than be called dysfunctional misfits.”

Uncle Reginald shrugged and went on.

“Are they real? Since I believe that I’m an earlier version of Indigo, perhaps you shouldn’t ask me.” The man winked. “My duty is to protect those who come after me, if they will allow it. Despite what’s best for them, some of these children can be quite stubborn and determined to be on their own, or so I’m told.”

He raised an eyebrow at his nephew.

“So if Gabriel is a new-and-improved version of you, does that make him a Crystal child?”

“No, not with my temper.” Gabe was quick to answer. “I’m an Indigo, like my mother and uncle.”

“Your connection to the dead always made you the strongest Indigo I’ve ever seen, Gabriel, but from what you’ve told me about the museum and your undeniable connection to Rayne’s brother, I think I’ve been wrong.”

“Wrong? About what?” Gabriel asked.

“You’re not an Indigo. Not anymore. I believe you’re becoming what you were always meant to be. A Crystal child, but not like one I’ve ever read about. I’m not even sure what to call you. You could be a hybrid, of sorts. In an evolutionary process, it’s not easy to see what lies ahead.” Uncle Reginald leaned an elbow on the table and fixed his gaze on his nephew. “Your mother always said you were destined for greater things. Now I think I know what she was talking about.”

Gabe’s uncle sighed.

“Early on, Kathryn encouraged his abilities. That caused friction with his father, but she believed in her son,” the man told them. “Perhaps she saw our side of the family in him and it excited her. You were always your mother’s son. The Stewart clan had grown up with our peculiarities and had learned to embrace them. It made sense to us since all species evolve. It’s the natural process. Why not for human beings, too? Are we so special that we’re perfect just the way we are? I think not.”

As the conversation shifted, Rayne saw Gabriel got quieter. His eyes almost seemed to change color, from honey-amber to darker. He’d stopped eating, too, but his uncle hadn’t noticed and kept talking.

“Kathryn believed that children like her Gabriel, and perhaps your Lucas, are sensitive beings who rely and trust their feelings first, Rayne. Their psychic abilities can be quite powerful. They go with their gut instincts and what they sense, even if that flies in the face of what others accept as fact.”

“Before they took Lucas away, I remember he questioned everything, especially when he was a kid in school,” Rayne said. “That used to drive his teachers crazy, mostly because they didn’t know how to answer him. They always wanted to put a label on him, like being different was a bad thing.”

“Unfortunately, these children are frequently misunderstood,” the man said. “Instead of being considered gifted, most are ostracized or recommended for medical treatment. They don’t fit into the norm. Some actually see guardian angels, and as you’ve seen, we have an affinity with the dead. That’s why the dearly departed seek us out. I have no doubt that Indigo children are the next progression of mankind.”

“But kids like me are freaks. Haven’t you heard? We’re mistakes, broken beyond repair.” Gabriel shoved his plate aside and crossed his arms. “I should be locked away. Controlled. I’m an embarrassment.”

“Your father never understood, Gabriel.”

When the conversation switched from Gabe’s mother to his father, everything changed. Rayne had only seen him angry when he brought on his power, the time she’d seen him at the zoo and in Griffith Park. Everything else about him had been kindhearted and sweet. She chose to see him as the boy who could conjure the miracle of fireflies in L.A. to calm her. But seeing him flip out over his dad scared her.

“Anger is not the legacy your mother would have wanted for you,” his uncle said. “I know it’s been hard, but—”

Gabriel interrupted, “He took everything from me. He took
her
from me. How can you not feel rage at what he did to
us?
”

Uncle Reginald watched as his nephew left the table. Gabe turned his back and stared out a window that looked onto a courtyard. Rayne didn’t know what to do. She wanted to help, but she knew nothing of Gabriel’s pain. That was when it hit her.

That was why he had come to his uncle. Whatever his abilities were, they were also wrapped in a rage that had been with him for a long time. She had no idea what his uncle could do. One thing she
did
understand was anger and frustration over things she couldn’t control. Mia had taught her that lesson.

Maybe she wasn’t that different from Gabriel after all, but dealing with years of his pain felt hopeless.

“You asked for my help to deal with what’s happening to you,” Uncle Reginald said. “I’ve got an idea how I can do that, if you’ll allow it.”

Rayne did a double take. She hadn’t expected optimism from his uncle. Gabe hadn’t, either. He glared at the man as if he’d been punched.

* * *

Uncle Reginald had a plan. Gabriel looked skeptical as hell and Rayne got a vibe that wouldn’t quit. Her cell phone had gone off again. She excused herself from the table and left the dining room long enough to check it out.

She’d turned the sound off because every message had been from Mia. She’d texted. She’d left voice mail. Before Lucas went missing, Rayne might not have heard from Mia for weeks, but Luke and the museum fiasco changed all that. Rayne hadn’t sent one word in response.

She didn’t know what to say. If she acknowledged she’d been at the museum, Mia would freak. If she denied being there, Mia would freak. Rayne saw no upside, but now her sister had resorted to lying. At least, that was what Rayne believed. She’d texted that she only wanted to make sure she was all right. In another message, she told her that she’d gotten into her apartment, this time through the property manager.

Mia had the gall to even forward Rayne’s home phone so she’d get all her calls. Had she done that to spy on her, or had she hijacked her home phone with good intentions? Rayne didn’t know. She didn’t care about her sister fielding her calls. Mia already admitted to spying on her, but if Lucas tried her number again, he’d get Sister Dearest. What would he think? He could only believe one thing—that she’d turned against him and was now on Mia’s side.

“Damn!” She could only imagine what her sister had told her apartment manager to play on her sympathies.
My baby sister is missing, blah, blah, blah.
Okay, so that part was true, but Mia was all about drama and she wasn’t above slanting the truth to get what she wanted.

She even stooped really low on one of her texts. She used Floyd Zilla to get to her.

Fed your lizard. Should I call animal control?

Rayne knew how Floyd ate and she’d left her iguana plenty of food and water before she left. Plus she had a backup plan. A friend in her apartment building had a key to her place and owed her a favor. Since her cell-phone battery had run low on juice, she took care of Floyd. One text to her friend, one reply back, problem solved. She shut down her cell.

Mia had pulled out all the stops to make her feel guilty. Yeah, it worked, but still.
So not fair.

Burbank

“Where the hell have you been?” Boelens bellowed as he stood at the threshold of O’Dell’s office in the underground operations bunker. He had a file in his hand. “You look rough.”

Boelens had his unblinking reptile stare back. O’Dell would’ve taken that as a good sign that the guy was back to normal, except that he was on the receiving end of that unrelenting glare.
Normal
wasn’t any way to describe his man Boelens.

“Shit happens. Get over it.” O’Dell had downloaded the extra file information he’d been sent from the head cheese, Mr. Roboto. “I got more intel on that Darby kid.”

“Good. That kid pissed me off.” He plopped down into a seat in front of the desk. “Think I found the girl, too.”

O’Dell narrowed his eyes at the man until he remembered what girl Boelens was talking about. He’d ordered him to look for her in their database of targets. She had a face he said he’d recognize. He guessed he hadn’t lied.

“You mean the girl who hijacked our boy out from under your nose?
That
little girl?” He smirked. “What about her?”

“Found her in our archives. She was a target that got away. Guess no one went after her. She got lost in our system or maybe she wasn’t important.”

“Until now.”

“Yeah, until now.” Boelens twitched his lip, his version of a smile. “I ran a report on her known associates, too. Only one name came up. Raphael Santana. Some punk with a rap sheet and a sealed juvie record, but he earned a spot on our hit parade. A loser
and
a head case.”

Boelens tossed a file folder on O’Dell’s desk. A photo spilled out, the face of a Hispanic kid and a young girl.