The Mind Readers (12 page)

Lewis took hold of my suitcase
and started for the dock. I followed, weaving my way around the small group of
tourists who had braved the autumn winds. The scent of saltwater and fish was a
comfortable and familiar scent. Everything seemed clean, fresh, full of
possibilities.

I stepped off the dock and onto solid
land and my heart surged with hope. The visitors rushed off to their
destinations, leaving Lewis and me alone, just as I liked it.

“Come on,” he said, taking my
hand in his warm grip. I don’t think he realized it, but his touch was becoming
almost normal now. Instinctively I reached for his hand, when I shouldn’t have.
When his fingers wrapped around mine, it felt so wonderful.
 

His excitement was contagious.
He was coming home. He loved it here, and I knew I would too. My suitcase
thumped, rolling across cobbled stone. The place was picture perfect, like
something from a holiday card. I could imagine that in winter, with snow
falling, it would look even better. Down the main street, historic stone and
clapboard buildings lined the sidewalks. Grandma would love this place. I
squashed that thought just as quickly as it had arrived.

“There he is.” Lewis nodded
toward a sleek black car where a man stood, leaning against the hood. His arms
were crossed over a slate grey button up shirt. His blond hair was short and
trimmed neatly.

Seeing us, he pulled the black
sunglasses from his eyes and smiled a brilliant smile that showed perfectly
white, perfectly straight teeth. I almost paused, not expecting a man obviously
wealthy. So refined, so well-dressed. I wasn’t sure what I’d thought he’d look
like, maybe an old, wise-looking Dumbledore complete with a beard and
robe.
 

“That’s Aaron?” I asked, the
disbelief apparent in my voice.

Lewis nodded.

I felt suddenly nervous. This
man had known my father, known him well, when I hadn’t even known his middle
name. This man was going to teach me how to use my powers. This man was going
to change my life.

Aaron’s blue gaze went to me and
his smile widened. “Cameron.” He didn’t pause until he was in front of us. He
took both my hands in his strong grip, his palms warm and comforting in some
odd way. “It’s so wonderful to finally meet you.” He was silent for a moment,
his gaze studying mine until I blushed.

“My God, you look like your
father,” he said.

I took the words as a
compliment. Even though he was dead, I felt closer to my dad than I ever had.
Nervously, I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Thank you. I…I’ve never even
seen a picture of him.”

He frowned, his light blue eyes
narrowing. “Well, we’ll have to remedy that. I have plenty of pictures.” He
took the handle of my luggage and started toward the back of the car. “Come,
I’m sure you’d like to rest.”

I’d had little sleep in the past
twenty-four hours and was physically exhausted. But inside, I was as giddy as a
kid on Christmas Eve. I sank into the passenger seat, marveling over the
smooth, soft leather seats as Aaron threw my suitcase into the trunk.

Lewis settled in the backseat.
“You excited?”

“You could say that,” I beamed.

Lewis leaned forward, resting
his hand on my shoulder. “You won’t regret coming here, Cameron, I promise
you.”

I didn’t have time to respond.
Aaron sat behind the wheel and maneuvered the car down the main road. “I’m so
thrilled you decided to join us.”

I certainly was too and as we
drove through town, I knew I’d done the right thing. Call it instinct, but I
was meant to be here, on the cobbled streets with the clapboard and Victorian
homes. Here, where I would learn to thrive, instead of hiding.
 

“There are so many things I want
to show you,” Aaron continued.

The town ended and we started up
the hill that would lead toward the mansion Lewis had pointed out on the ferry.
“So many things you’ll be capable of, I just know it. If you’re anything like
your dad.”

Just like that, my excitement
faded. I shifted, feeling uneasy for the first time today. What if I wasn’t as
powerful as my dad? What if I failed them? But now wasn’t the time to worry. I
pushed aside depressing thoughts and focused on the scenery. There were only a
few oak trees that lined the road up the hill. It was a rather desolate place,
but not uncommon for the islands off Maine. Still, it made an isolated picture.
Isolation was fine by me. I was tired of being around people who didn’t
understand.

The sun was lowering, sending
brilliant orange and pink rays across the ocean to my left. On my right, a high
stone fence rose up along the road and followed us, ending at a set of large,
iron gates, complete with a gatehouse. It seemed a bit extreme, but I knew rich
people liked their privacy and Aaron was obviously rich. I couldn’t help but
wonder what he did for a living. I should have asked Lewis more questions on
the way here, but had been too emotional to think straight.
 

We paused at the closed gates.
“Don’t worry, it’s mostly for show,” Aaron said, giving me a reassuring smile.

I wasn’t sure what he meant but
nodded like I understood. Two guards came forward, glanced inside the car, then
opened the gates for us. I noticed the guns strapped to their sides almost
immediately. My stomach lurched. Lewis had said S.P.I. was a real threat. Was
the fence here to keep S.P.I. out or us in?

The car rolled through the iron
gates and Aaron’s home came into view. For a moment I forgot my unease. “You’re
our honored guest. Anything you want, anything you need, we have it here. In
fact, there’s no reason to leave.” Aaron laughed after he said that, as if he
was joking.
 

I kept my smile in place, but it
was hard to do. I was tired, I told myself, merely exhausted from the day’s
events. Yet, as the gates closed behind us, I couldn’t help but glance back.

I might have been an honored
guest, but I was a guest who was apparently going to have to get permission to
leave.

Chapter 9

I felt like I’d slept on a cloud
of soft loveliness. Last night the wind didn’t seep through the windows and
rattle the glass panes, keeping me awake. The floorboards didn’t creak and
moan. And I didn’t have to listen to Grandma’s kitchen noise. Even though I’d
expected to feel odd in a strange house, I’d slept silently, deeply,
wonderfully.

I lifted my arms above my head
and stretched my muscles until they eased. The room was dark, only a sliver of
light pierced the thick drapes that hung over the floor to ceiling windows. It
was a large room, as big as our living room and kitchen combined. I pushed my
down comforter away and rolled off my Queen sized bed. The warmth of my cocoon
called to me, but the room wasn’t chilly, even though the house was atop a hill
and the wind was battering the island outside. They must have had some amazing
heating system to keep this huge place warm when even the smallest of homes got
cold during fall and winter in Maine.

I went immediately to the
bedside table and picked up my cell phone. No messages. No one from school
calling to ask why I hadn’t arrived for history class. Not even Grandma had
called. I dampened down my disappointment. That blue light of my cell merely
mocked me.

Well, screw them. I wouldn’t
think about Grandma, I wouldn’t think about school. I was starting over. Last
night I’d had a wonderful dinner with Lewis and Aaron. We’d talked until
midnight, discussing when I’d start my studies and what I’d learn. He’d even
given me some CDs on meditating, apparently the first step on my road to
success. I’d felt safe and for the first time in my life, I’d felt like a
normal person…comfortable in my own body. No more hiding, no more pretending.

With a sigh, I set my phone down
and walked toward the windows. Would anyone even care that I’d moved away? How
would Grandma explain my disappearance? My feet sank into plush, white carpet.
It was so warm I didn’t need my typical double layers of socks. Managing to
avoid the shadowy furniture, I gripped the thick blue curtains and threw them
wide.

The rooftops from the buildings
in the town below glimmered under the morning sun. And there, just beyond, the
brilliant blue ocean shimmered, sparkling like a million diamonds trapped in a
mermaid’s net. The few trees sprinkled across the large yard wavered and weaved
under the autumn wind. To the left the sky was gray. A storm was coming, but
that wasn’t uncommon along the coast. Here quickly and gone just as fast.

I started to turn away, when a
sudden movement drew my attention back to the yard below. A small girl stood
upon the brilliant green grass as if she’d appeared like some fairy from the
books I’d read as a child. She couldn’t have been more than eight. With blonde
hair and a round face she was far cuter than I’d been as a gawky child. What
was she doing down there alone?

The dress and jacket she wore
wrapped around her thin legs, the material pulled fierce by the wind. As if
sensing my attention, she tilted her head back and stared directly up at me. I pressed
my hand to my heart, feeling her gaze as if she’d reached into my chest and
squeezed my very soul. Who was she? Lewis had said Aaron took in people with
our abilities, was she another Mind Reader? Or maybe his daughter? I felt an
odd and completely ridiculous sense of jealousy at the thought that Aaron might
have a daughter. Was I so pathetic and needy that I was already thinking him as
some sort of father figure?

“About time,” an unfamiliar
voice mumbled from behind me.
 

I spun around, the curtains
falling back into place and shadowing the room in darkness.

An older girl, perhaps a year or
two younger than me, sat in the wing-backed chair near my stone fireplace. Her
jean-clad legs were curled up underneath her and a strand of her dark hair was
between her lips. It wasn’t surprising I hadn’t noticed her until she’d spoken;
she was dressed in black, even her hair and eye shadow were dark. She blended
into the shadows like some sort of ghost in a haunted mansion. Another Mind
Reader?

Daring to look away, I glanced
back out the window. The little girl was gone, as if she’d never been there. I
sighed in frustration. There was way too much mystery going on this early in
the morning. I turned back toward my intruder. “Uh, hi.”

She spared me a quick glance,
then pulled the damp strand of hair from her mouth and began to play with it,
twisting it over and over around her finger. “I’m Olivia.”

She didn’t look me in the eyes,
only quick glances up, as if to make sure I was still there. “Cameron.”

She unfolded her legs and stood.
She was a couple inches shorter than me. “I know.”

Taken aback by her response, I
flushed. She apparently knew about me, but I didn’t know a thing about her.
“Okay.” Why the heck was she here? Did everyone know who I was? Did I have no
privacy? A million questions rushed through my mind at once.

“Aaron wants to see you in his
office.” She moved toward the door, only to pause and glance back. “You don’t
hide your thoughts very well.”

Confused, I frowned. She pulled
open the door and disappeared into the hall. It was only after she’d left that
I realized I hadn’t been able to read her mind.

“Oh God.” Like Lewis, she’d
learned how to block her thoughts.

I was so not used to having to
worry. Annoyed, I opened my suitcase and pulled out a pair of jeans, a t-shirt
and a green hoody. I dressed slowly, my mind spinning with the possibilities
and irritation quickly gave way to wonder. The place had seemed so quiet last
night, internally and externally, that I hadn’t thought there was anyone else
in residence. How many other Mind Readers lived here?

I moved into my huge, private
bathroom, barely aware of the marble tile and massive tub that had so impressed
me last night. As much as I wanted to enjoy my new day, two things nagged at
me: the fact that I was basically locked inside a fence and the fact that
people seemed to appear and disappear like haunting spirits.

I brushed my teeth, then pulled
my hair into a ponytail. Usually I put on a little makeup, but I was too eager
to know what Aaron wanted. Realizing my natural look would have to do, I moved
into the hall, only to pause. Carpet ran the length of the corridor, and it was
a long hall. Small, crystal chandeliers twinkled above. I was so tired last
night, I hadn’t gotten a good look. Now I could study every detail and one
realization remained clear; Aaron had money, but how had he made his
fortune?
 

I made my way down the wide
steps that led to the foyer where more marble tile lay upon the entryway floor.
I knew where Aaron’s office was as we’d had dinner there last night. Still, I
paused, feeling odd now that it was the bright light of day. Things seemed
harsher, more real under the sunlight. As much as I wanted to belong, it would
take a while for this mansion to feel like home.

Much to my surprise, the door
opened and Aaron stood there. “Come in!”

I flushed again. Of course, he’d
heard my thoughts. God, it sucked being the only person in this place who
couldn’t hide her feelings.

“We’ll get to it.”

Confused, I stumbled as I moved
into the room. “What?”

He grinned, looking just as rich
in jeans and a sweatshirt as he had yesterday in his button up shirt. “I know
how you feel. But I promise we’ll teach you how to block your thoughts. First,
though, I have something for you.”

I didn’t have time to feel
embarrassed because he left me standing in the middle of his office as he went
to the bookshelves that lined the far wall. The room was just as beautiful as
the rest of the house, with rich burgundy carpet, a dark wood desk and plenty
of bookshelves full of novels. No pictures. Not of Olivia. Not of the young
girl I’d seen outside. Maybe they weren’t related.