Accused (Ganzfield) (20 page)

Invisible arms seemed to inflate around me, like sails filling with wind. Cool relief washed through Trevor as he flexed and stretched his ability. I ran my fingers along the golden shimmer and smiled. I imagined how those invisible fingers could—

You know, there’s no way we can go into a minder meeting with this in our heads
.

Trevor winced at the thought of my mom or Williamson getting a mindful. “I think you’re right.”

Geez, would I always have to shield us both whenever we were around other minders?
How much did Ann pick up from us before we left the infirmary?

He punched Ann’s extension into the phone.

“It’s no use,” said Ann. “Seth got a major mindful when he went to check on you two after you got darted. It’s been in all of our heads for days.”

I cringed.
Oh, my God.
My mom didn’t just know; she had… images. No wonder she’d been glaring at Trevor. My gut twisted sickly and I curled forward and covered my face with my hands. I wanted to shrink into a little ball and never look any of them in the eye again. How long could we stay isolated out here in the church? Forever? Forever sounded good.

Trevor hung up the phone. He placed his hands on mine and I lowered them enough to uncover my eyes, leaving my fingers tented over my nose.

“At least one more night, but not forever. Maddie, it’ll be okay.” He gently drew my hands from my face. “It’ll be okay because we love each other, and because we are going to spend the rest of our lives together. And because Nina and Jon and everyone know that already.” He gave a laugh and pulled me close. I buried my face in his shirt. “And because we were absolutely loopy from kryptonite darts. And we’ve been very good and responsible and everything up until now. And we’re engaged and everything. In fact, they should be apologizing to us for invading our privacy.”

I sniffed.
So, what you’re saying is that everything is going to be okay?

Trevor kissed the top of my head. I loved the way he did that. With our ten-inch height difference, the top of my head was the closest part of me to him much of the time.

Everything is going to be okay,
he promised. I relaxed, because Trevor was a man of his word.

I smelled the roses first. Then dozens—no, hundreds—of candles came into focus. Their warm glow cast flickering, amber light that reflected against the dark glass in the windows and danced over the red petals of the flowers that filled every pew of… our church. It was set up like a house of worship again with an open central aisle between pews full of roses and candles. A soft, red carpet ran down the center. Trevor stood at the far end of it, in front of the restored altar.

His face lit up when he caught sight of me, and phantom violins began to play a familiar song from somewhere in Trevor’s subconscious. The literal man of my dreams wore a dark suit so well it took my breath away. I just stood there, staring, until he grinned and held out his hand for me to come and join him.

White silk rustled around me as I took my first step. My dress was simple—floor length and strapless—and the fabric glowed gold in the candlelight. The single, perfect rose in my hand trailed a white silk ribbon from the stem. My hair was swept up from my neck, held back through some type of dream-magic.

Oh!

I gasped in wonder as I suddenly understood what dream Trevor had created for us. I heard my own words come back to me.
My dream wedding is just you and me in a beautiful place, promising to love each other forever.

When I reached Trevor, he took my hands in his. His whisper carried as the violins faded away. “Is this what you wanted?”

“It’s perfect.” My voice—my audible, spoken voice—quivered. “It’s absolutely perfect.”

I watched the joy fill his face and I felt so much love for him at that moment that it threatened to burst from my chest and soak us both.

“Maddie, you are the keeper of my soul,” Trevor said, “Before God, I pledge to be your loving and faithful husband and soulmate, for all the days of my life.”

My breath came in with a sob and two tears rolled down my cheeks.

My turn.

An icicle of panic stabbed through me.
What do I say?

Suddenly the words were there. “Trevor, you are the best part of me. I pledge before God to be your loving and faithful wife and soulmate, for all the days of my life.”

Trevor took a couple of deep breaths as he pulled a simple, gold band from the pocket of his coat. “Forever as one.” He slid the ring onto my left ring finger.

“Forever as one,” I whispered back as I met his kiss.

He pulled back from me slightly and rested his forehead against mine. “We’re both going to remember this one.” He grabbed one of the candelabra with his ability and threw it hard.

I felt the dream dissolve with the sound of the crash below me. I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on the dream, setting every beautiful detail into my memory.

Our dream wedding.

The mattress tilted while my eyes were still shut. Trevor’s mind sparkled green with effervescent joy. I blinked from the sudden brightness as he turned on the light next to my bed.

A tiny, red box rested in his hand. Twin threads of gold traced a simple pattern around the top.

Is that…?
My eyes widened.

An extra layer of thrill flowed through Trevor. “I did it! I actually surprised you!” A delighted smile lit his face and the little box made a thunking pop as he opened it. “Read the inscription.”

I didn’t need to.
“Forever as one?”

He slid the ring onto my finger, just as he had in the dream. Tears ran down my cheeks and I sniffed hard to keep my nose from joining the drip-fest. Now was so not
the time for mucus.

“Forever as one.” Trevor kissed me. “We still need to do the paperwork to make it official, but… but Maddie… in my soul, we’re… I’m married to you now.”

I took a couple of sobbing gasps and tried to think something coherent back to him. All I could do was nod. Then, the silver-white glow that’d been building within me went supernova and the world faded away. We became one as pure energy in the joy that we’d be together forever.

CHAPTER 12

It doesn’t really count.

Shut up, Seth.
I gazed down at the back of my hand. I kept touching the underside of the ring with the tip of my thumb, watching it bounce up from my finger.

My preciousss…

Trevor snorted. He and I sat on the floor of Williamson’s office with our backs against the wall near the door. We’d come up after lunch—Jon’s nonverbal invitation had been a command. The whole minder family was here—or listening in from outside in Seth’s case. Trevor’s arm circled my shoulders and I rested the side of my head against his chin. Tendrils of giddy joy spiraled through him as he watched me play with the ring.

Is it even real gold?

Trevor rolled his eyes and sighed.
Yes, Seth, it’s real gold
.

Trevor had been right—despite the fact that all of the other minders knew about what’d happened, we weren’t catching hell for it. We’d been drugged, after all. Images of our dream wedding had leaked out in the first minute of the minder meeting, and then Ann and my mom were all over those for a while. We’d braced for stern reprimands or when-I-was-your-age lectures in some form or another, but instead, all we’d gotten was well-I-suppose-it-was-inevitable resignation.

Then a single memory from Ann had gotten out and the Trevor-and-Maddie show was old news
.
Good thing for Zack that Williamson couldn’t fry people’s brains or he’d be medium-well between the ears right about now.

Ann and Zack had gotten careless. Their relationship had been physical since the end of the summer and Zack had been charming Ann to avoid the memories of it when she was with other minders. One problem: they’d forgotten to charm out their activities from last night. Williamson’s stony rage for the double-whammy they’d accidentally exposed shot through all of our minds. Ugh. First Seth had spread our private stuff through the minder-net, and now we all had additional brainfuls of the Ann and Zack thing.

This is one strange, telepathic Brady Bunch thing we have going here.

You’re telling me.
Seth’s disgust billowed around his thoughts.

Actually, I was telling Trevor, but you really don’t know how to mind your own business.

I’m just sick of all the drama, brat.

Hey, that’s my wife you’re calling a brat!

Wife.
I grinned like a fool as a shiver of joy tingled through me.

Fake wife,
said Seth.

I shook my head.
Real.
My connection to Trevor was the most real thing in my life.
We just need to do the paperwork in January. We’ll do it earlier if Coleman comes back before then with my emancipation docs.

“It’s
okay
, Uncle Jon!” Ann repeated. Her voice was heavy with exasperation. “I ASKED him to charm me! I wanted him to! He wouldn’t have been able to charm me if I hadn’t wanted him to!”

It was an honest toss-up as to whether the sex-with-the-niece-he’d-raised-as-a-daughter or the charming-another-minder-to-fool-him was the bigger deal to Williamson. He viewed both as violations.

I met Trevor’s eyes.
Is it really selfish for me to be glad he’s chewing out Ann and Zack and not us?

If it’s not legal, it’s not real,
Seth stated flatly.

I dropped the shield.
You’ll never find a girlfriend with that attitude, Seth.

I’m not looking for a girlfriend.

I laughed.
Oh, please! Do not try to lie to me! I’m telepathic, too, you know! Although I think you’d improve your odds if you got a haircut. You’d look better without the hippie-hair.

I think he’s got more of a Paul Revere, the-British-are-coming look. Not in a bad way,
Trevor added to Seth.

There’s a good way to take that?

You know, Seth,
I told him,
if Zack can charm you into learning to shield, he might be able to do the same for a future girlfriend of yours. No more “too loud” issues. You might even be able to hold someone’s hand… or more! 

Seth’s thoughts churned with unreadable confusion.

Trevor cracked up.
Did you just render Seth speechless?

I believe I did.

“Zachary Greyson, you will NOT use your ability on telepaths!” Williamson’s anger draped him in red.

Unless they ask you to
, I chimed in. It was time to rescue Ann and Zack.

“Stay out of this, Maddie.” Williamson was still furious.

Then don’t reprimand them in the middle of a minder meeting, Jon.
Williamson was normally better than that.
They’re together. They’ve been shielding together—or haven’t you noticed? You know what that means, right?

Williamson inhaled sharply as his cold shock poured through the group.
When did THAT happen? I’d just assumed they were both shielding! But that means—

C’mon. It’s a done deal. Soulmates. Minders mate for life. We’re like swans or something.

Bright yellow surprise splashed up from the others, but I’d been thinking about it. The connections we made were too intense—too all-encompassing. A minder who survived the death of his or her soulmate just wouldn’t
fit
with a new partner. Look at my mom, widowed more than a dozen years ago. She hadn’t even been enhanced then, and yet her grief still ghosted through her like a fog. Williamson’s wife Elise had died seven years ago; neither had had any inclination to find someone else.

Williamson’s emotions jackknifed within him and he stared at Ann and Zack. “You two can shield together?” His voice had become tentative.
Do they really have that kind of connection?

Ann’s grip on Zack’s hand tightened as her gaze remained on her uncle’s face. One second, her mind was broadcasting embarrassment and dismay and a bit of defiance; the next, she was invisible. He couldn’t even feel the shield.

Just like Zack.

My mom had been watching all this silently. In the firestorm of drama, her thoughts hadn’t been loud enough to properly register. Now, in the sudden break, I could feel her sadness.
My daughter got married and she didn’t invite me.

Ah, hell.
That’d been really selfish of me. I should have known she’d want to be there. It hadn’t even entered my thoughts—I’d just been thinking about what Trevor and I wanted.

It wasn’t a real wedding, anyway.

Shut up, Seth!

At least the two of you made an effort. Ann and Zack are just shacking up.

Williamson’s thoughts crystallized back into anger.

Not helpful!
I sent to Seth.
Do you have anything useful to contribute here or is your sole function to piss everybody off?

I can multi-task. What do you want to know?

What happened after Trevor and I were darted?

You went home and did the nasty.

I squeezed my eyes shut in frustration. If I had line-of-sight on Seth right now, I might’ve blasted him a little bit.

The army guys chasing you stopped when Trevor did a Spiderman over the gate with you. One of them really hated you, Maddie.

Hunter
. I supplied the name with a cold sense of dread. Trevor’s invisible arms tightened around me. The other discussions in the room trickled away as everyone listened to Seth.

Yeah, that’s him. He had some really sick plans for you two. He figured the antagonist would kill your abilities and give him time to break you. I’m pretty sure he planned to make you into assassins. He had a couple of foreign dictator-types in mind that he hates almost as much as he hates you. Why is he so pissed?