Legacy (14 page)

Archer looked out at the water. “This place is wonderful.” The view wasn’t the object of his admiration.
I should tell the people I care about what I think. You never know how long you have.
“Trevor, Ganzfield’s been good for you. I am so proud of you, son. Look at the man you’ve become.”

Trevor lit up as his grandfather’s praise warmed him like a burst of springtime. I couldn’t contain my smile.

Archer took another bite of his sandwich, washing it down with a gulp of the pale, flavored water we euphemistically called “lemonade,” despite the fact that no actual fruit was harmed in the making of the beverage.

My mother joined in, emboldened in the presence of an ally. “I completely agree!”
Finally, someone who sees things sensibly!
“You’re both much too young to be in such a serious relationship.”

Ugh.

Pressure pushed at the back of my eyes. Why couldn’t Archer have left it with the positive comments? His approval potently affected Trevor, but his disapproval wounded him even more strongly. And now my mother’s thoughts filled with all of the things she’d held back—concerns, disapprovals, things she didn’t say because she feared voicing them would drive me further down the “wrong road.”
Maddie needs to focus on going to college, not playing house in the woods with a boy with no solid prospects for the future. Her hormones are doing her thinking for her.

I rubbed my hands across my forehead and then down over my eyes. Did people actually use the term “prospects” anymore, or had my mom been reading too much Jane Austen? Oh, man. I was way too tired and wrung out to deal with this stuff today.

Can we have this discussion another time?
Like…never? Never works for me.
Trevor and I had patrol last night and we’re working on about three hours of sleep here.
I dove for the subject change.
How’s the thing with Dorothy going? Has she let you cook anything in her kitchen yet?
My mother loved to cook, but Dorothy guarded access to the Ganzfield kitchen like she’d sworn a sacred oath to protect it.

“And what about college?” My mom ignored my attempt to divert her. “How are you going to manage that? Will the two of you go to the same school?”
Will that get Maddie back on track? Really, though, boyfriends shouldn’t factor into college decisions.

Mom, no one’s going to college with Isaiah still out there.

“Nina, Archer, please understand. Maddie and I…this relationship isn’t temporary.”

“I know you two feel that way now,” said Archer, “but people change over time.”

My hands curled into fists as I forced myself to count to ten—slowly.
They’re double-teaming us!

My mom picked up the thought. “Now you understand how I usually feel. I know you two believe that you have a ‘special connection’—whatever that means—but what you want when you’re seventeen may not be what you want when you’re twenty-five or thirty.”

Arrrgh!
Splinters of orange energy poked behind my eyes and I smothered the impulse to pull out a couple of chunks of hair—my own or someone else’s. Did they think we were
stupid? That we couldn’t tell the difference between puppy love and the I-can’t-live-without-you kind? I really wanted to give them a piece of my mind—and with projective telepathy, that took on a whole new meaning.
Mom—

Trevor stood up quickly, yanking me with him. “Please excuse us.” He met my eyes.
Don’t say anything you’ll regret. After all, they mean well.

I folded my arms across my chest but kept my thoughts to myself.

“Maddie has a headache and we both need to get some sleep since,”
despite our immaturity
, “we have a twelve-hour patrol tonight then Archer’s surgery in the morning. Nina, can I please ask you to make sure Archer has a place to stay for the night?”

My mom nodded. Her eyes widened as his words registered.
He’s taking care of Maddie—watching out for her. And they do have a lot to deal with right now. Maybe I pushed too hard. But I’m her mother. I just want what’s best for her.

I felt their eyes and thoughts on us as Trevor and I walked away. As the church door closed behind us, much of the pressure of the outside world seemed to stay outside.

Sanctuary.

I groaned and rubbed my hands across my forehead in an effort to dispel the headache that pulsed at my temples.
I hate that they assume we’re going to break up.

Trevor pulled me close.
Let’s cut them some slack. It’s not like they know everything about what we have together. Next time either of them starts in, let’s just smile and nod.

And then keep doing what WE choose?

Exactly.
He brushed his lips across mine then dropped kisses along my neck.

I felt my tension unclench as dancing swirls of red energy licked my skin.
Trevor,
you’re making me melt.

He chuckled against the hollow of my throat, sending little eddies of electricity shooting down to my fingertips.
Then I must be doing this right. How’s your headache?

What headache?

He pulled me down on the bed next to him and looked into my eyes. “Maddie,” his voice became serious, “I’m going to spend the rest of my life with you. And as much as I want both of our families to give us their blessings, in the end, the only person’s opinion that truly matters to me is yours.”

Overwhelming, dizzying, amazing—a tear slipped down my cheek as my emotions overflowed.
I love you so much. Forever, then?

“I’ll be your date to forever.”

My date to forever.

The world dimmed around us, our souls connected, and forever started that afternoon in the church.

The giddy, residual energy of soulmating still buzzed through us as we started our patrol. Since we’d missed dinner, we brought sandwiches and coffee out to the little guardhouse. The metal folding chair creaked as I set the thermos down on the cinderblock “table.”

So, Williamson wants to use us as bait again.

“He really thinks Isaiah will come after us?”

I rubbed my hands up and down my arms. The air cooled as the light ran out of the sky, but that wasn’t why I felt a chill.
He really, really wants us dead.

“Your mental shield’s strong enough to keep Isaiah out. We should know the plan.”

If I were Jon,
I’d probably want to set up a trap for Isaiah. Make him come to one place, and then have a shielder there to attack him.
I gasped.
Zack!

Trevor frowned. “What about him?”

Zack’s been spending a lot of time in the main building. Maybe Williamson’s training him for this. Only a few of us can shield, and we’ve already been cast as “bait.”

“So, we sit somewhere, wait for Isaiah to arrive, and then Zack…what? Just pulls out a gun and shoots him?”

It may be just that simple. If we look vulnerable, I think Isaiah will come for us. He really wants to kill us.

“What else does he want?”

Ah, the Christmas list of a homicidal maniac!

Trevor snorted.

The idea hit me with a nearly audible ping.
Wait, you’re completely right.

“I suspected as much.”

Dodecamine. He needs to keep his supply up or he’ll lose his abilities.

“So, we just need to cut him off?”

Cut EVERYONE off. Anyone who needs a booster has to come to Ganzfield to get it.

“How do people get it now?”

I think the healers FedEx it out a few doses at a time.

“So, if we cut off the shipments, he’ll be forced to come to where we are. No more killing people to re-supply.”

We’d also need to protect the supplier. Hannah said it’s made in New Jersey.

“Okay, so two places where he could get dodecamine. He’ll have to come to one of them.”

And we’ll be there, seemingly alone and defenseless.

Grey tendrils of anxiety snaked through Trevor’s thoughts. “I hate putting you in danger.”

I squeezed his hand.
You know I feel the same about you.

Trevor humphed a half-laugh. “We’re really doing a bad job of staying out of it then, huh?”

Terrible
.

His thoughts shifted.
Archer—I didn’t get a chance to talk to him again this afternoon. Will the procedure work? Will he be okay?

You know, it’s because of you that Archer even has this chance
.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Something in his voice sounded like a young child, lost and alone.

I took his hands in mine.
Matilda’s a genius. She can heal anything.

He rolled his eyes. “Except comas, apparently.”

I laughed.
Yeah! What’s up with that?

“Actually, I had a lot of time to think about that, once.” I knew the exact nine-day stretch to which he referred. “I think G-positives may have a unique reaction to an overload of our abilities. It kind of resets the brain and it takes a while to boot up again.”

I considered that.
We do a lot with energy. I wonder if Matilda senses all the different forms we use? Maybe something happens in a range she can’t detect—that none of the healers can detect. Like it’s causing a seizure or something, keeping us off-line.

“I just never,
ever
want to see you like that again.”

I’ll do my best to avoid it
.

We grabbed breakfast with extra coffee before searching out Archer in one of the spare rooms in Trevor’s old dorm. Orange bursts of trepidation sparked like tiny fireworks from his mind.

“I’ve been worrying about it all night,” he confessed. “How, exactly, are they going to do this without drugs?”

The pain in his side stabbed, hot and sharp. I cringed with every step as we walked to the infirmary. I hadn’t realized how heavily medicated Archer must’ve been yesterday—or how much more he’d hurt after stopping the pain meds in preparation for the procedure.

Guilt flavored Trevor’s anxious mind.
I should’ve stayed with him. I could’ve explained more about how the healers work.
“The healers can knock you out with a touch—overload the brain. They’ll repair the incisions before you wake up, too, so you shouldn’t have any pain with recovery.”

“Amazing!” Archer’s eyes brightened. “I’m so glad I had a chance to see this place. I never imagined such things were possible.”

“Once you’re okay again, we’ll take you to see a Fireball game. I think you’ll like it.”

I swallowed hard, trying to focus through the secondhand pain.
You also might want to try dodecamine. See if you can move things with your mind.

Archer’s face lit up at the prospect and for a moment, he looked much younger.
Wouldn’t that be something?
We clomped up the stairs at Blake House. “I called Lilith last night and told her about this.”

And she thinks we’re all insane,
I finished for him.

He laughed. “How did you know?”

I tapped the side of my head.
I have my ways.

The other healers barely glanced up from the notes and charts spread across the desk—their battle plan. Matilda settled Archer on the exam table then shooed us out. “I’ll call you when we’re done. I think this will take several hours, possibly most of the day.”

Back to the church?
I asked Trevor.

“Can we just walk a while, first?” His thumb chafed circles against the back of my hand while jangled emotions scampered like squirrels just under his skin.

I nodded.
Sure, lead the way.

We crossed the field and went out to the lake, taking our time before settling on the dining table rock in the little alcove. I’d come to think of this as one of “our” places. Trevor ran impatient fingers through his hair as he gazed over the water.
He has to be okay. If this doesn’t work…
The thought made his stomach heave.

I leaned my cheek against his back, wrapping my arms around his waist. Nothing I could say right now would help. We just had to wait. My eyelids drooped and I forced my eyes extra wide, fighting to stay awake.

I didn’t win the fight.

I dreamed the existence of G-positives had become public knowledge. Most of us were herded into camps. Sinister men in dark uniforms threatened to kill Trevor unless I helped them hunt down the charms hiding in the State Department. I woke up with a startled gasp.

“That was a weird dream.”

You saw that?
I looked up to meet Trevor’s eyes. He’d rearranged us out on the rock and now my head was pillowed on his leg. Trevor ran nervous fingers lightly over my hair, as though stroking a cat.

He nodded. “Don’t worry. There are still enough Ganzfield charms out there to keep that from happening.”

Actually, the scarcity of reliable charms did worry me. What if the wrong people found out about us? Could the few remaining charms act quickly enough to keep our existence secret? No wonder that stress came out in my dreams.

I shook off that line of thought—we had enough to deal with today.
I meant to stay awake with you. How long did I sleep?

“About three hours.”

I winced.
I’m sorry. I left you alone.

“I enjoy watching you sleep. It’s peaceful.” He smiled.
Except for your bizarre dreams, of course. But I’m used to them.

Should we go back and get an update?