The Mind Keepers (The Mind Readers) (17 page)

“Why are you here?” she
repeated.

“You think this is it?” one of
the men panted. He was pale, as if he hadn’t seen much sunlight. He’d probably
been recruited early and stuck in those cinderblock buildings for hours, days,
only to end up here staring down the end of a pistol, his useless life flashing
before his eyes. “You think once you get rid of us it will be over?” He laughed.
“You should know better. They won’t let you go. You’re freaks, and you
shouldn’t be allowed on this earth.”

Funny enough, his harsh words
did nothing to me. In fact, if anything I felt sorry for him. To know such
bitterness, such hatred for another…I swallowed hard. I didn’t want that life—at
least not anymore.

I felt the shift in the air
again and knew Aunt Lyndsey was going to throw her energy. No more pain, no
more suffering. I was tired of it all. “Wait.”

Curious, she glanced back at me.
I could try to explain my sudden change of heart, but I knew she wouldn’t get
it. My sister had obviously influenced me more than I’d realized in the past
year. Damn her.
 

“There’s no point,” I tried to
explain.

Cameron rushed into the house, followed
by Lewis. “You’re okay?”

Aunt Lyndsey nodded. “Are there
more?”

Cameron shook her head. Her
ponytail had come undone, and there was dirt smeared across her forehead as if
she’d taken a tumble. Lewis looked just as ruffled. “No, but we need to get the
hell out of here now, while we can.”

I held up my hand, urging her to
wait. “I know what we need to do.”

My aunt looked leery, but
Cameron seemed merely curious. She knew me; she trusted me. I gave her a
wavering smile. Yeah, I had a plan. They might not like it, but Cameron would
have my back. That’s what family was for. Maddox was right. I wasn’t alone
anymore.
 

“What is it?” Maddox asked.
 

“The information.” My heart
pounded so hard in my chest it was almost painful. What I was going to suggest
was insane. “We send it out over the web.”

There was one long moment of
silence as they let the words settle in. I figured my aunt would be the first
one to protest. I was correct.
 

“You can’t be serious,” she said.

I knew why she was upset. We’d all
spent our lives hiding our powers, and now I was suggesting we throw it away
for nothing. “Think about it. We do the complete opposite of what they want.”

The two agents flicked nervous
glances toward each other. They were anxious. They should be. In that moment, I
knew my instincts were right. If we had nothing to hide, they held no power
over us.
 

“We let it be known what the
government has been spending money on, what they’ve been doing behind closed
doors,” Maddox added for me. “Whether the public believes it or not, it’s all
out there, and they’ll be heavily scrutinized.”

“And what if mind readers come out
to support the claim?” Aunt Lyndsey asked, crossing her arms over her chest, a
mulish look upon her face. She still didn’t get it.
 

I shrugged. “Then it will only
support the claim, and they’ll leave us alone.” I moved toward the computer. “We’ve
been trying to hide our powers for centuries, and it’s gotten us nowhere.”

“And what if no mind readers
come forward to support the story?” the agent sneered.

“If no one comes forward, then
the world will assume the government has spent thousands,” I explained, “even millions,
trying to find mind readers who don’t exist. There will be an uproar.”

“No way,” Henry whispered,
looking terrified. The poor guy was probably going to have a heart attack—either
from the stress or from his diet of pizza and beer. “It’s suicide.”

“Don’t,” one of the agents said.
“It will only destroy your lives.”

“You’ve already destroyed our
lives with your secrecy and lies,” Cameron said. “Nora’s right.” She looked at
me and nodded. “We should do it.”

I glanced at Maddox.

“Push the key,” he said softly.

Push the key. I glanced down at
the enter button, my heart racing. One little key and all of our secrets would
be revealed, the very secrets my mom had worked so hard at hiding. But with the
truth out, maybe we could finally be free. No more running, no more fighting.
 

“Do it, and we will destroy
you,” the agent warned.

“I don’t think so,” my aunt
said, turning toward him. “You’re going to leave. You see, we have allies who
are placed all around the world, primed to release even more information. Your
names and addresses. We’re done being your lackeys, got it?”

She lied, but they didn’t know
that.

“And if you don’t leave, I will
kill you.”

And we were back to murder and mayhem.

“You don’t have the power,” the
main agent sneered. “And there are more agents coming. Right now, in fact.”
 

She shrugged. “Maybe, but I bet
if we combine our powers we’ll have enough energy to kill you and all of your
friends. Want to give it a try?”

God, he was young, not much
older than me. And if he chose to attack or fight back, his life could be over in
moments. I was so sick of death and destruction. “Enough!”

Maddox rested his hand on my
lower back. I’d never allowed myself to find support through another, but for
the first time, I took strength in his touch. Slowly, I lowered my hand, my
finger hovering over the key.

Aunt Lyndsey glanced at me. “You
sure?”
 

I had a choice: I could cling to
all of the wrongs that had been done, I could whine about my sad childhood and
be miserable for the rest of my life, continuing to hunt down those I thought
were responsible.

Or I could start living…start a
new life with Maddox. “I’m sure.”

With that said, I reached out
and pressed enter.
 

Epilogue

8
Months Later

“Yet another person has come
forward claiming the government subjected them to months of torturous testing…”

I reached for the remote,
turning off the television before the children heard the broadcast. The
supposed mind reader being interviewed was an obvious fake, but the world
didn’t know that; they clung to the stories, hoping to find something
supernatural to give meaning to their lives.

Stories like these had been erupting
for months, and I wondered if they would ever die down. Thousands of conspiracy
theory websites peppered the web. But without proof, most of the population was
merely irate that the government had supposedly wasted millions of dollars studying
something that didn’t exist, all while torturing innocent people. The lawsuits
would keep S.P.I. busy for years. Even the president was getting involved,
bringing the incompetent government employees to task. Maybe someday the truth
would come out, and they would prove we existed. But when that day came, we
would be prepared.

“They’re here!” Colin called out
from behind the couch where he was lying on the floor, doing a puzzle with Kelly,
another mind-reading child. Colin had been sent to us from an orphanage in
Ireland when he’d started acting oddly, and he had an adorable accent to go
along with his freckled face. One of the adult mind readers there had been
fortunate enough to find the boy before the media uncovered his unusual
behavior, thank God.

“They’re here,” he shouted
again.

I grinned. “Thanks, Colin.”

He hadn’t heard the car or
looked out the window, but he knew. His abilities had really started to develop
in the past few months, and I had a feeling he was going to be more powerful
than most of us. I wouldn’t have been surprised if at least one of his parents
had carried the source, if not both. Hopefully, with our help, he’d be able to
retain control of his abilities.

Sure enough, moments later I
heard the crunch of wheels over snow. It was Sunday, the day we had a family
dinner like most normal people. Yeah, we were an odd group: me and Maddox,
Cameron and Lewis, and about fifteen kids. But on Sundays, at least, we
pretended we were normal. I moved toward the windows and brushed aside the
thick velvet drapes. Outside, the world looked cold and icy, but here in the
living room, the fireplace and central heating kept us warm and safe. Sierra
approached with Caroline, who was sporting a brilliant red coat. Lewis and
Cameron walked more slowly behind them, their heads bent close as they
whispered what were most likely romantic nothings in each other’s ears.
 

In that moment, a picture flashed
to mind: Lewis and Cameron some five years from now marrying on this very
island, the summer sun brilliant and warm. I didn’t know where the image had
come from, but I knew it to be true.

Grinning, I let the curtain fall
back into place and started toward the foyer. Maddox and I were going on a date
next Saturday, and I wanted to ask Cameron’s opinion on a dress I’d purchased. Believe
me, even I realized how ridiculous it was that in a year’s span I’d gone from
worrying about surviving to worrying about whether a dress made my butt look
big.

The door opened, and a cold
burst of winter air swept inside, piercing my woolen sweater and sending
flurries dancing gleefully into the hall. Cameron and Lewis had moved to the
mainland months ago when Maddox had arrived. We’d all agreed it would be a
little too awkward sharing a house. But every Sunday we met to have dinner.
Cameron and I had a true sisterly relationship, and we worked daily on
controlling our powers so that we would be better prepared when we inherited
the source completely. We didn’t need a phone because we could manage to mind
talk even across the bay. And I often went to the mainland to meet her for
lunch in between her classes at the university.
 

“Nora!” Caroline cried out,
doing a little twirl. “Look at my new coat!”

“Very pretty.” I took her jacket
and hung it on the coat stand in the corner of the foyer. “Did you get it for
Christmas?”

She nodded.

Sierra cupped the side of my
face and kissed my cheek. “My dear, how are you?”

She never judged, only loved. The
older woman had the uncanny ability to make a person feel better merely by
being in her presence. “Good, and you?”

“Wonderful, just wonderful.” She
floated into the living room, resting in her usual chair near the fireplace.
The children gathered around her, eager for the older woman’s attention.

Caroline had moved with Lewis
and Cameron to the mainland so they could integrate her into a public school,
and so far she was doing amazingly well. It wasn’t our goal to keep the kids
locked away, rather to train them to blend into society. They could still use
their powers, but they didn’t need to broadcast them. After all, as much as
Aaron had tried, we couldn’t keep them prisoner here forever.

“Hey!” Cameron threw her arms
around me in a tight hug. I hugged her back, her familiar vanilla scent
wrapping around me, comforting in its familiarity. “You good?”

I nodded as Caroline skipped up
for her embrace.

I ruffled the girl’s hair as she
pulled back. “How’s school going, brat?”

She grinned. “Good.”
 

“Good?” Lewis quirked a brow,
hanging up their coats. He’d started to warm up to us, the old Lewis slowly beginning
to return. He stuffed his right hand into his jean pocket, that gray sweater he
wore stretching across his shoulders. I didn’t miss the way his left hand lingered
on Cameron’s back. They always seemed to be touching in some romantic way. “Straight
A’s again.”

The girl shrugged. “It helps
when you can hear the answers coming from the teacher’s mind.”

“Caroline!” Cameron reprimanded.

“Just kidding.” Giggling, she
moved into the living room to find the other kids. It was a sweet picture they
made, huddled on the floor, laughing and playing together. My father hadn’t had
a Norman Rockwell life. No, we had that perfect family here. The kids looked
out for each other as much as any siblings. They knew how perilous our lives
were, and how lucky they were to be here.
 

“How are classes?” I asked,
slipping my arm through Cameron’s. Both she and Lewis were working on
bachelor’s degrees in biology and would go to graduate school for genetics,
hoping to understand our powers better. Honestly, I figured some things were just
inexplicable.

“Informative, and at times
exhausting.”

“You’ll do fine.” She’d even got
me thinking of going back to school and finishing my degree. Maybe. Someday.
Now, I was too content to leave the island. I’d spent so many years running
that I needed a year or two merely to stand still. As if sensing Cameron and
Lewis’ arrival, the kids came sprawling out of their rooms upstairs, their loud
chatter echoing against the walls, feet thundering across the floor and shaking
the chandelier above. I grinned as my massive Von Trapp family stumbled down
the steps, practically falling in their haste to reach us.

Drawn by the chaos, Maddox appeared
at the top of the steps, my own prince charming. The black sweater he wore
stretched across his broad shoulders and matched his tousled hair. The familiar
warmth I always felt when I saw him spread throughout my body, making my heart
skip a beat.
 

“About time you arrived,” he
grumbled, starting down the steps. “I’m starving.”

“I think you’ll survive,” Lewis
muttered wryly before heading into the living room. They weren’t exactly best
friends; he still blamed Maddox for putting Cameron in danger on more than one occasion.
I couldn’t fault him. Maddox and I had once brazenly lived life on the edge,
putting not only ourselves but others in danger. But not anymore. Life was full
of choices, and I no longer chose to put myself in danger or be bitter and
angry.