The Other Brother (25 page)

Chapter 46

hen Pops and Isaiah entered the room, Nicole gave a t / strangled yip, like a frightened puppy.

Gabriel swung around to face Nicole. Her attention was riveted on Isaiah. Fear dilated her pupils.

He was right. Isaiah had done this to her.

Pops brushed past Gabriel with a perfunctory greeting and went to Nicole's bedside. But Isaiah hesitated on the room's threshold. His eyes had narrowed to challenging slits.

Although the room behind them was full of people, Gabriel was so focused on Isaiah that they might have been the only men in the universe.

The tingly psychic energy enveloped Gabriel's hands.

"You did this to Nicole," Gabriel said. "I know everything."

"You don't know jack shit," Isaiah said. "Sit your ass down, boy."

Gabriel noticed a prominent vein throbbing in the center of Isaiah's forehead-and suddenly a needle of pain punctured Gabriel's skull and stabbed into the core of his brain. He opened his mouth to scream but couldn't make a noise. His tongue was like a heavy, sodden sock.

What the hell is he doing to me ...

He felt his eyes swelling like balloons. His arms and legs grew leaden ... but they began to flex involuntarily. He was powerless to control his own limbs.

Isaiah 's doing this to me. He's hijacked my brain.

Moving sluggishly, Gabriel staggered toward a chair beside the door.

Isaiah winked at him. He strolled triumphantly into the room.

Gabriel's body moved to obediently drop into the chair. But he gripped the armrests and straightened his arms, fighting against sitting.

"No," he whispered, sweat dripping from his brow. "No."

Tremors rattled through his arms. Staying on his feet was like trying to resist a tremendous tide of water.

Across the room, Isaiah approached Nicole's bed. She squirmed in the sheets, whimpering. Dana had stepped away from the bed, her wary gaze on Isaiah, but Mom and Pops crowded around Nicole, trying to soothe her.

I have to tell them the truth.

But the powerful force pressed down on Gabriel, commanding him to sit.

He closed his eyes and concentrated every molecule in his body on fighting back, throwing off Isaiah's iron yoke. His tendons ached. His heart hammered. His head seemed to be pulsating like a bass drum.

No!

Gabriel spilled forward, face first, onto the tile floor. The fall knocked the breath out of him. Dazed, he lifted his head, moved his arms.

He was in control of his body again.

"Are you okay?" Dana came to him. She took him by the elbow and helped him to stand. "What happened?"

"I'm fine now." He brushed dust off the front of his shirt and jeans. Near the bed, Isaiah had his arm around Pops as though comforting him. Mom held Nicole to her bosom, instinctively turning her head away from Isaiah. Yet Nicole continued to whine softly.

Enough. I've seen enough of this shit.

Dana must have sensed the imminent explosion. She took her hand off Gabriel's arm and slowly stepped away.

Isaiah whispered something in Pops's ear. Pops nodded.

Gabriel thundered toward Isaiah. Isaiah glanced over his shoulder. Gabriel drew back his fist and caught Isaiah in the jaw with a vicious right hook. Isaiah's head snapped backward. He stumbled into the wall and slid to the floor on his butt. His head lolled, drunkenly, and he groaned. If they were in a boxing match, the referee would have started the knockout count.

Gabriel rubbed his knuckles. His hand hurt like hell, but that had been the most gratifying pain he'd felt in a long time.

Pops turned on Gabriel. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

"Isaiah did this to Nicole," Gabriel said. He pointed to Nicole, who stared at Isaiah in the corner with something approaching satisfaction. "Look at her, Pops! She was afraid of him. She's glad I knocked his ass out"

"Have you lost your mind?" Pops said. "Your brother has nothing to do with your sister's condition. I want you to apologize to him. Matter of fact, as your father, I'm ordering you to apologize to him."

"No disrespect intended, but I'm not apologizing. You should be apologizing to us for bringing Isaiah around in the first place."

Dana came to stand beside Gabriel. Mom, nodding encouragement at Gabriel, cradled Nicole closer to her.

Pops, observing all this, crossed his arms over his chest. "What's going on here?"

"Isaiah's been planning to tear our family apart from the beginning," Gabriel said. "He told me that, the first night he came to our house. He's been ruining my life and he's planning to fuck up yours, too. Our whole family."

"I'm not listening to any more of this nonsense," Pops said.

"No, you're gonna listen, Pops. You've been making it too easy for him to do all this. Bringing Isaiah into the house and showing him off, trying to make up for your mistakes with him. It wasn't our fault you neglected him for his entire life. But how do you think Mom feels about you bragging about Isaiah and carrying on? How do you think Nicole feels? How do you think I feel?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Pops said. "You don't understand"

"I understand enough. Isaiah hates you. He hates all of us. Because of what you did to him and his mother. He's not here because he wants to be a part of the family. He's here for revenge."

Pops had beaten Gabriel with a belt only once in his life. Gabriel couldn't even remember what he'd done to enrage his father. But right now Pops looked angry enough to rip his belt out of his slacks and pop it against Gabriel's backside again.

Massaging his jaw, Isaiah slowly got to his feet.

Pops glared at Gabriel and then looked to Isaiah.

"So, Isaiah?" Pops said. "What do you think of these accusations? I think they're ludicrous, but what do you think?"

Eyes lowered, Isaiah stroked his chin, as though deep in thought.

"I think .. "' Isaiah said, raising his head to show his gleaming, excited eyes, "that Gabriel is telling the truth"

Isaiah flicked his hand forward. Gabriel glimpsed a sharp, metallic object leaving his fingers.

A knife.

The blade hurtled through the air toward his father, who stood as still as a paper dummy on a firing range.

By reflex, Gabriel raised his hand, invoking his telekinesis against the murderous blade.

The knife spun off course and twanged harmlessly against the opposite wall.

His eyes as huge as saucers, Pops touched his throat, feeling the flesh the blade would have ripped open.

Isaiah swiveled to Gabriel.

"You did that," Isaiah said. It was a statement, not a question. "Like in my dream .. °"

Gabriel waded forward. He swung a fist at Isaiah.

Isaiah blocked the punch and drove a cat-quick jab into Gabriel's solar plexus. Pain exploded through Gabriel's body. He dropped to his knees.

Isaiah took off running.

"Allen," Nicole said softly, her gaze resting on the knife on the floor. Her voice escalated into a shriek. "Allen ... Allen ... Allen!"

Allen was Nicole's sometime boyfriend, Gabriel thought. Why would the knife make her scream his name?

Unless ...

Isaiah was near the door.

"Call Security!" Gabriel shouted at his family. They huddled together, their faces confused and frightened. "Do it now!"

Then he chased after Isaiah.

Chapter 47

r saiah raced out of the room and plunged into the corridor. He crashed into a orderly carrying a tray of food. Dishes and silverware clanged to the floor.

"Move!" Isaiah shouted. He shoved the guy aside and kept running.

His plan was crumbling to pieces. Gabriel, just like in his dream last night, had used some crazy power to deflect the knife.

Isaiah had thought he was the only one with a gift. But Gabriel had one, too. Didn't that just figure? The golden boy still had the edge.

It didn't matter anymore. Soon, the cops would be after him. He wasn't going to prison again. No motherfuckin' way. He'd rather die.

He sprinted like a track runner down the hallway, feet slapping across the tile. Nurses and doctors and orderlies and patients-no doubt terrified at the thought of a black man on the run and probably thinking he had stolen something or killed someone-scattered like frightened mice out of his path.

He was on the fourth floor. He had to get to the exit and, somehow, back to his car at his father's crib.

The stairwell lay ahead. He couldn't risk getting trapped in an elevator. Within minutes every rent-a-cop in the hospital would be searching for him.

He glanced over his shoulder.

Gabriel was in the hallway, coming after him.

Isaiah felt in his pocket the pen he'd stolen from Gabriel's desk.

His plan might have fallen apart. But he still had a few tricks left.

Gabriel spotted Isaiah at the end of the corridor. Isaiah pushed through a door and disappeared into the stairwell.

Gabriel followed, wishing he had a gun, a knife, some kind of weapon. Then he remembered his telekinesis, which had thrown the spinning blade off course, saving Pops's life.

He already possessed the only weapon he needed.

Righteous anger pumped through his blood, juiced up his muscles. He was ready for a fight with Isaiah, had been eager for a showdown with this guy from the beginning. He didn't want to kill him. No, he wanted to beat him down, pulverize him as punishment for everything he'd done to him and his family and then, when he was finished with him, he'd turn him over to the cops, because he was certain Isaiah had murdered Nicole's boyfriend.

Gabriel shouldered through the stairwell door. Dim light illuminated the staircase. He heard Isaiah's footsteps beneath him, clapping down the steps.

Gabriel pounded down the first flight of stairs. He reached the landing and rounded the corner for the next flight.

He almost stepped on a water moccasin.

He screamed, lost his balance, and tumbled down the stairs.

The snake was sprawled over the top half of the steps, as though it had been dumped there out of a sack. Gabriel rolled down the stairs, having the presence of mind to shift to avoid the reptile despite his rough fall.

He crashed onto the landing below, his body knotted in pain. He'd bitten his tongue. Salty blood filled his mouth.

"Got you, motherfucker," Isaiah said.

Isaiah seized him by the front of his shirt and hauled him upright. He shoved Gabriel against the wall. Gabriel threw a punch at him but was so disoriented that his aim was off the mark. Isaiah smashed a fist into his stomach. Agony forced Gabriel to bend double, clutching his abdomen. Isaiah rammed his knee underneath Gabriel's chin and Gabriel's teeth clacked together like dry bones.

Gabriel collapsed to the floor, his head spinning.

"That's how we do it in the hood," Isaiah said with a cold grin. Looming over Gabriel, he held a silver pen in one hand, rubbing the tip with his thumb.

Gabriel recognized the pen as belonging to him. He thought he'd misplaced it. Now he realized Isaiah had stolen it. But why?

"This here pen gives me the power to hack into that fat head of yours," Isaiah said. "A personal item. That's all I need to work my magic."

Pulling himself upright, Gabriel lunged for the pen. Isaiah kicked him in the ribs. Gabriel let out a yelp, sagged to the floor again.

Coiled on the stairs above, the snake hissed. Although Gabriel had learned how Isaiah was creating the hallucinations, it made the snake no less frightening. It began to slither toward Gabriel, evil eyes hungry.

"You told me how much you hate snakes, little brother," Isaiah said.

"It's not real," Gabriel said in a weak voice. But his heart pounded so loudly the vibrations seemed to transmit to the cement beneath him, making the entire floor tremble. "Not real."

The snake undulated over the last of the steps and drew closer to Gabriel's legs. Dull light gleamed on its scales.

"Your mind makes it real," Isaiah said. "If it bites you, you might die."

Gabriel tried to scoot backward.

Isaiah grabbed him around his neck and wrestled him into a headlock. Air wheezed through Gabriel's nostrils. His stomach hurt, his ribs and jaw ached, and he struggled to maintain his hold on consciousness.

The snake touched Gabriel's foot. It rose, preparing to strike.

Isaiah gripped the pen in his free hand. Gabriel, his palms afire, strained to lift his arm. He concentrated on pushing the pen out of Isaiah's grasp.

The snake opened its mouth, exposing long fangs dressed in venom.

Move.

The pen spun out of Isaiah's fingers and clinked down the stairs below.

"Shit!" Isaiah said.

The water moccasin had vanished.

It was never there to begin with.

Gabriel drove his elbow backward, thrusting it into Isaiah's gut. Isaiah gasped, and his hold on Gabriel loosened. Gabriel dropped to one knee and flipped Isaiah over his shoulder. Isaiah hit the floor and bounced down the steps like a broken doll.

Sucking in painful breaths, Gabriel went after him.

Although he had to be hurting, Isaiah quickly got his legs under him. He retrieved the pen from the floor and scrambled to the next flight of steps leading down.

Gabriel reached the bottom of the landing and hustled around the corner.

Another water moccasin awaited him on the stairs.

Stifling a scream, Gabriel froze in midstep.

Come on, damn it. You know it's not real.

Already at the bottom of the steps, Isaiah glanced up at him and grinned. He waved the pen in the air like a victor's flag.

He was going to get away.

Hissing, the snake slithered toward Gabriel. Gabriel retreated against the wall.

He heard a door open below. Isaiah's footsteps dwindled into silence.

The water moccasin glared at Gabriel for a few seconds, daring him to make a move. Then it dissolved into nothingness and Gabriel was left gaping at the empty stairs below.