Legacy (33 page)

I was half-tempted to share full-sensation memories of the experience with him, but I restrained myself. I felt hollowed out. At the very least, I needed that vacation.

Something else occurred to me.
When did you get those holes put in?

When the crew was setting up the building. Williamson arranged it—made the work crew look like they were servicing underground electrical conduits. I just had to stop by at the end and make them forget what they’d actually been doing.

We had no clue
.
And you scared the HELL out of us when Isaiah looked into the guardhouse and it was empty.

Sorry about that. You weren’t kidding about how strong he was
.
Ambivalence wormed through Zack’s thoughts. His plan had worked—but he felt weak for not being able to hold off Isaiah.
I could tell that Ann had filled him in on what’d happened after he’d blacked out, including what Trevor had shown her. He pulled something up from deep within—a reluctant, yet genuine emotion.
Maddie?

Yeah?

Thanks.

I smiled.
No problem.

An hour later, Trevor began to dream. I pulled him awake quickly, but he still managed to thunk a dent into the van roof above him.

“Oops.” Chagrin blossomed within him—both for the damage and the noise that woke everyone else up. “Sorry.”

It was just before 3 a.m. and we were still only halfway home. We pulled into a 24-hour gas station in Massachusetts and refueled. Claire took the next driving shift and everyone resettled.

Do you want to get some more sleep?
Trevor asked me.

In a little while, maybe.
I tried to snuggle against him and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. It was harder to get close to him now—with the seatbelts and all. Everyone in the van buckled up now—running off the road had turned us into the safety patrol.

I had too much on my mind to sleep, anyway.

“Yeah, we still have a big problem up at Ganzfield,” Ann responded to my thoughts.

I nodded, projecting to Trevor and Zack as well.
Someone took those videos for Isaiah
. Ooh, a minder mini-meeting—how…alliterative.
Whoever it was did all that AT GANZFIELD, and we didn’t hear their intentions. None of the minders did. I thought it might be Belinda, but—

“I took care of Belinda. She can’t set foot outside that area behind Ann’s cabin.”

I nodded.
And Jon’s pretty sure she’s…
I couldn’t even think the word “trustworthy” in relation to her.

“Is there someone else who can block minders?” asked Zack.

I felt a pang of guilt for even thinking that he might’ve betrayed us.
The four of us—and Williamson. I missed your shield when you first arrived at Ganzfield, but Jon didn’t. If someone’s shielding up there, Jon would probably know it.

Zack nodded. “Then the person passing the information on doesn’t know they’re doing it.”

I frowned.
How is that possible?

Zack hesitated. “The stuff charms learn in practicals—it’s usually about getting people to think they’re acting on their own ideas. It’s not like we ever practice trying to fool minders.”

I had a few memories of charms trying exactly that. Fortunately, they’d sucked at it.

“So, one of the charms sent someone else—someone whose thoughts were innocent—to take the videos and gather information.” Trevor felt twisting nausea at the thought of such manipulation. “The real traitor stayed out of the minders’ ranges.”

Ann shook her head. “That’d be tough. Seth’s range is huge. Maybe someone who didn’t come to Ganzfield charmed one of the new arrivals to do it. Could they’ve sent someone in as a spy without them knowing it?”

But why would they? Why would any charm want Isaiah to have dirt on us? Wouldn’t they know that Isaiah wanted them dead, too?

“It just doesn’t make any sense.” Trevor’s words filled with a bleak sense of hurt.

We drifted into separate contemplations. Zack’s mind disappeared as he began to doze. Ann kept stifling yawns, but I knew she wasn’t planning to sleep. She didn’t want to share her dreams any more than she wanted to share her thoughts.

Dawn broke as we made our way off the highway and onto the smaller road that took us into our little corner of New Hampshire. Rosy light flashed across the pearl-grey sky, glinting off of Lake Winnepesaukee as we skirted along the shore. Things grew darker again after leaving the water and entering the endless gauntlet of trees that lined the winding road to North Conway. Trevor drove this last leg and I kept him company, riding shotgun and mentally scanning for danger as we came closer to Ganzfield. Yellow reflective tags stuck up from the median line, flashing hypnotically past. Diamond-shaped signs warned of moose crossing points, but in all of my months in New Hampshire, I had yet to sense the mental presence of a moose.

We pulled in through the front gate of Ganzfield a little after 7 a.m. A shadowy figure flickered in my peripheral vision, moving behind the trees.

So, you actually did it.

Yeah, we did it, Seth.
I sent him an image of the sparks burning Isaiah but his mental wince made me wish that I hadn’t. He already had enough nasty stuff haunting his memories.
Sorry.

Williamson wants to see you right away.

Any clue as to who’s been passing info to Isaiah
?

Not yet.
His frustration flashed orange and tasted like bile. Seth took pride in how much mental data he gathered from the people at Ganzfield. Missing this traitor made him question his value as a minder.

We parked the van in the barn. Ann, Zack, Trevor, and I grabbed our packs and headed to the main building. Everyone else trooped off to get a few more hours of sleep. I mentally checked in as we thudded up the wooden stairs to the third floor. Williamson was waiting for us. The additional chairs in his office made it seem smaller and too crowded. I let out a silent groan—the “silent” part being pretty much useless in present company.

Looks like we gonna be here a while.
So much for a quick debriefing and getting some sleep. I should’ve grabbed some coffee on the way up. Williamson’s eyes fixed on mine as I slumped into the chair next to Trevor.

Show me.

I knew what he needed to see. I put as much of the detail into my memories as I could—all the way to the point when Isaiah’s remains had flared to ash.

Williamson felt oddly let down.
I thought I’d feel more closure at Isaiah’s death.

I know what you mean.
I also felt the same…ambivalence.
Incomplete victory.
We hadn’t stopped Isaiah from exposing our secrets. Dangerous people might now know all about us—and we didn’t even know who they were. But the recipients were high up in the military, and Isaiah’d thought they’d want to hurt us.

Not good.

I set Isaiah’s smart-phone on Williamson’s desk. I didn’t want to deal with it anymore. Williamson picked it up like he was handling a poisonous snake. He keyed up the email message and read it twice.
We need to figure out our next move.

That’s easy. Find out who’s been sending stuff to Isaiah. Someone here’s probably been charmed to gather information and videos and they don’t even realize they’re doing it. We’ll need to figure out which charms didn’t come to Ganzfield, but had contact with people who did.

Ann? Why are you shielding?
Williamson had noticed as soon as we’d arrived.

Cracked rib, some broken fingers, a bunch of bruises, and killer headaches, but we’re good now. Just tired
.

“With Isaiah gone, a lot of people are planning to leave today,” said Williamson. “But if someone’s being charmed to spy here at Ganzfield, we’ll need to…um, interview everyone before they go.”

Ann and I both groaned.

Ugh! That’ll take most of the day
. Minder interrogations. I hated “thought-police” duty.

“Seth, Nina, and I will handle the people who want to leave this morning. Why don’t you both grab a few hours of sleep now?” Williamson shifted. “Zack, please stay a moment. We need to discuss how you’ve been using your ability.”

Zack frowned. “Is this about Barry Petras?”

The blood drained from Williamson’s face. “
Barry Petras
found you? What did he do?”

The four of us glanced at each other. Ann’s lip twitched and I put a hand over my mouth. We tried and failed to hold back our laughter. A giddy second wind filled us with quivery energy.

Williamson didn’t share our amusement. He locked his gaze on me.
Start from the beginning—and tell me everything.

I took a deep breath.
Okay, Barry Petras charmed his way past Allexor security and came and threatened us. Did you know he was plotting the murder of a federal witness? Then he told Trevor to hit me in the face, and—

“Trevor hit you in the face?” Williamson interrupted.

Of course not. Trevor’s not vulnerable to charms when we’re together. So, Barry Petras then thought up some porn and made some rude comments about us, and Trevor grabbed him with that throat thing he can do to charms, and—

“Throat thing?” Williamson interrupted again. I flashed him an image of Trevor grabbing Barry Petras’s larynx with an invisible hand.

Then Zack charmed him, and—

Do you want me to tell the story or not, Jon?
I asked.

“What did you tell him to do?”

“Well, first we had to stop him from killing us,” said Zack. “He was planning to have us shot by a sniper at that point.”

“Then we took that one step further and got him to stop killing
anyone
,” Trevor said.

And I got to thinking about the whole hit-me-in-the-face thing and decided that Barry Petras was going to start…giving back to the community.

Williamson’s eyes widened. “You didn’t.”

We started laughing again.

Yup. He’s writing ten-thousand-dollar checks to the regional battered women’s shelter every time he even THINKS of hurting someone.

“Or telling someone else to hurt another person,” added Trevor.

It’s like a compulsion, Jon. He can’t help himself.

“But it makes him feel really good inside when he gives something to the community,” Zack grinned. “Barry’s
much
happier now.”

“And Zack made sure he couldn’t hurt someone else or try to take off the charm commands,” Ann said.

If and when he shakes off that charm command, he’s going to come after you
. Williamson’s glare—a mix of anger and concern—deflated our shared manic bubble.

I frowned back at him.
If that charm command ever wears off, he’s going to be out of dodecamine, so he won’t be a threat. Honestly, Jon. Why were you supplying that guy?

Williamson exhaled. “Because he knows where we live and he
is
a threat. He doesn’t need dodecamine or charm ability to have people killed.”

Our security is much better now. And really, do you think Barry Petras’ll start a war with us when he no longer has his ability? Besides, he was a BAD guy! I think it’s worth taking a little risk on ourselves to stop people like him from doing terrible things.

Trevor nodded. “Jon, we need to be using these abilities to help people. And part of that is making sure that G-positives don’t harm others. Like what Belinda did to me to hurt Maddie—that sort of thing shouldn’t be tolerated.”

My jaw tightened at the memory.
Where’s Belinda now?

“She’s right where I told her to stay.” Zack’s chin came up. “No way she shook off my charming.”

I turned to Williamson.
Jon, think about it. A charm who wanted

to hurt us; a charm who could send unwitting agents to gather information and take video clips; a charm who was out of our mental range; a charm from Washington, D.C. with inside information on exactly who in the government and military would be most dangerous to us.

Williamson frowned as he considered my words. This time he didn’t dismiss them.

Does Belinda have an internet connection out where she is?

He nodded.

I’d been filled with fury when Belinda had charmed Trevor. The intensity had been hot and red in my head. I’d wanted to kill her. This current feeling was cold, but just as intense. If Belinda had done this—had given this information to our mortal enemy so he could blackmail or expose us…

I felt the killing energy surge within me. I didn’t want to
murder
her, but part of me wanted to
execute
her. Not a big part—I was
so
sick of killing. If I didn’t have to use deadly force, I wasn’t going to. A soundproofed cell in a basement wouldn’t have stopped Isaiah—but it
would
stop Belinda.

Williamson’s jaw muscles jumped as he processed my train of thought. He looked at me through narrowed eyes.
You’re in control of yourself?