Branded (The Branded Series) (25 page)

“Jake, we were
just talking. Why are you acting like this?” Anna pushed me back, which clearly
sent the message that I wasn't the boss of her.

“I saw the way
he was looking at you, Anna,” I protested.

“Really?” Anna
feigned interest.

“Anna!” I
warned. This was not the time for kidding.

“Oh, come on.
So what if he likes me?”

“So what?” I
was shocked that she wasn't taking me seriously enough.

“Yeah, so
what? What does it matter to you? If you don't want to be my boyfriend, what
does it matter who likes me?” Anna’s tone warned me that she was prepared for a
full-blown fight.

“Anna, it's
not like that,” I started, but then stopped short when I couldn't think of how
to say what I needed her to know.

“Enlighten me
then, Jake.” Her hands were on her hips and her head was held high. A
confident, independent woman. I loved that about her.

“Okay.” I hung
my head in defeat. “Meet me at the Coffee House today at four o’clock. We'll
talk then.”

Anna looked
pleased with that. “Okay. Don’t forget.”

“Please don't
give up on me, Anna.” I touched her cheek and felt the warmth of her skin
penetrate to my heart.

The day was
progressing
slowly. I found myself daydreaming in French class while working on an assignment
with Noah and Rachel. I was looking forward to having some time alone with Anna
at the Coffee House but I wasn't sure what I was going to say to her, exactly.
I couldn't be with her, but I didn't want her to move on quite yet. It wasn't
really fair, but I knew I couldn't handle it right now.

Suddenly Rachel
gasped, dropped her pencil and sat up straight in her chair. Noah and I froze
and stared at Rachel, waiting for an explanation.  She pinched her eyes closed
and breathed heavily.

“We have to
go,” Rachel whispered when she finally opened her eyes. Her hands were still
clamped to the edges of her desk.

“Why? What's
going on?” Noah urged.

But before
Rachel could answer, she grabbed her bag and bolted out the door. Noah and I
ran behind her and caught up just as she reached Ms. Peters' office.

“What is it,
Rachel?” Ms. Peters asked as we burst through the door.

“They’re here!
They're looking for me!” Rachel gasped with horror.

“Who the hell
are
they
?!” Noah shouted, protectively.

“Oh, no,” Ms.
Peters said as she sat down in her chair. “What do they want?”

“I don't know.
I just saw them here.” Rachel threw her hands up in the air and paced the room,
nervously looking up at the door every few seconds.

“Who?!” Noah
shouted, louder.

“Where did you
see them, Rachel? Focus. You can do this,” Ms. Peters calmly said as she took
hold of Rachel's arms.

“I . . . I
don't . . .” Rachel's voice became weak. “Home! They're going to our house.”
Tears started to stream down her face.

Noah’s fists
were balled and his jaw clenched.

“Ms. Peters?”
I interrupted. “Could you please fill us in? Maybe we can help.”

Ms. Peters
turned to us and sat down to explain. “This particular group of Defiers is led
by Rachel's ex-boyfriend Ryan. When Rachel discovered her gift a few months
ago, she broke up with him. Unfortunately, his anger led him to the dark side.
He is part of the reason we left California. For Rachel's safety.”

Noah put his
arms around Rachel. “It's okay. We'll figure this out. You can stay at my
house. He won't find you there.”

“No,” Rachel
said as she pulled away from him. “I have to confront him. He won't stop until
he finds me and I don't want anyone getting hurt.”

“That's
ridiculous.” Noah looked to Ms. Peters for support. “Right?”

Ms. Peters
added, “She's right, Noah.”

Noah shook his
head in frustration. “So what do we do then? I'm not leaving her alone during
this.”

Rachel smiled
at him. “I'll need you there to translate. They’ll speak to each other in another
language.”

Noah nodded.

“And I'll need
you, Jake, in case something happens to one of us. And Nick and Claudia,”
Rachel strategized.

“Good,” Ms.
Peters agreed. “I'll get Nick and Claudia down here and you can head over to
the house. I'll stay at the school in case they come here.”

Within minutes
we were piled in Ms. Peters' Jeep and Rachel was driving us to her house. Within
minutes we would be face to face with the Defiers. Anything could happen . . . within
minutes.

“This is it,”
Rachel said
nervously as we slowed down and pulled into the driveway on the right.

Her house was
tucked back off the road and surrounded by tall mature trees. The house itself
was a small white bungalow with an attached single car garage.

“Let's go
inside and wait,” Rachel ordered as we slowly got out of the car, surveying the
area for any impending danger.

Noah took a
few quick steps to catch up to Rachel. “It'll be okay, Rach. I won't let anything
happen to you.”

Rachel gave a
weak smile and thanked him. Then Noah bravely reached for her hand, but Rachel
pulled back quickly. “No,” was all she said.

Noah looked
hurt and a little confused but he kept his composure. Rachel unlocked the front
door and we followed her into the dark living room on our right. There was a
bay window in the centre of the room that overlooked the driveway and that’s
where we waited and watched. Rachel paced the floor behind us, massaging her
fingers into her temples.

“Rachel, why
don't you tell us a little about these guys so we know what we're up against,”
Nick asked, breaking the nervous silence.

Rachel took a
deep breath and sat down on the couch. “There will be five or six of them. Ryan
is the leader. They are all extremely powerful and dangerous.” Rachel shuddered
and then continued, “If they target any one of us, we don't stand a chance.
That is why you cannot, under any circumstances, reveal your gifts.”

I looked at
Noah who was growing more protective as she talked.

“Why are they
here, Rachel?” I asked. “What do they want with you?”

She looked up
at me with a tear-stained face. “I broke his heart. He wants revenge.”

The sound of
gravel crunching under the tires of a vehicle could be heard outside. Rachel
jumped off the couch and ran to the window. Peering through the blinds, her trembling
voice whispered, “They're here.”

There were five
of them. All
were tall and very muscular. They climbed out of their SUV and carefully looked
around the property. The driver motioned for them to follow him as he walked up
the pathway to the front door.

Rachel
positioned herself between us and the entryway where they would soon be. Noah
tried to stand beside her, but she firmly said, “Noah, please. Get back.” She
pushed him behind her as the doorknob turned.

They didn't
knock. They walked in and down the hall and came face to face with us standing
in the living room. Rachel stood firm with her head held high.

The first guy
forced a crooked smile and removed his sunglasses. “Rachel, Rachel. I see you
were expecting us.” He tucked his sunglasses into the front of his white
t-shirt and folded his arms across his well-built chest.

“What do you
want, Ryan?” Rachel asked.

“What do I
want?” He turned to exchange smirks with his posse. “Is that any way to treat
an old friend, Rach?”

“Well, I know
you want something, so just get on with it and ask already,” Rachel said.

“I see your
gift has improved. I'm surprised you saw me coming, actually.” Ryan took a few
steps toward her and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. Noah
flinched. “And I see you're still as beautiful as ever.”

Rachel's body
tensed but she made no attempt to move away. “Get your hand off me, Ryan.”

Ryan's smile
quickly faded and he scowled as he checked out the rest of us. “You have a
boyfriend here, don't you?”

“No,” Rachel
answered.

Ryan caught
her eyes and stared for a few seconds, then smiled. “Which one is it, Rachel?”
He looked over at Nick who was standing close to Claudia. He ruled him out.
Then he looked at me, on Rachel's left, and then over to Noah on her right.

“They are just
my friends, Ryan. Is that so hard to believe?” Rachel seemed convincing.

“It kind of
is, actually. Given your reputation and all,” he chuckled darkly and walked
back toward his group. “Rachel, it's like this. I need something and you're
going to get it for me.”

“What is it?”
she asked, hesitantly.

Ryan paused,
looked her straight in the eyes and said, “A miracle worker.”

Rachel swiftly
moved a few steps closer to him and then looked back at the rest of us. “I
don't have one,” she said, holding her head high.

One of Ryan's
friends cleared his throat and said in a foreign language, “Ryan, O yalanci's.
O biri biliyor.”

“Emin
misiniz?” Ryan responded.

“Evet,” his
friend answered.

I looked
quickly at Noah, who I knew could translate for us what they were saying. He
grew a little uneasy, so I figured it wasn't good.

Ryan turned
back to Rachel and said, “I'm going to ask you one more time, Rachel, but
before you answer me this time, I want you to know that I will cause a great
deal of pain and suffering for you and your friends if I find out you're lying
to me.”

Rachel stared
him straight in the face and said, “I don't have one yet, Ryan. You know you
can't take them too soon when they're not ready, or it will be disastrous. You
should know that.” Her voice was both persuasive and pleading.

Ryan became
very angry. I wasn't sure if he didn't believe her or if he was just angry because
he couldn't yet fulfill whatever personal vendetta he had. He let out a loud
angry growl, grabbed the lounge chair in the corner of the room and hurled it
over our heads. The chair crashed into the wall behind us. Then Ryan went for Rachel.
Noah jumped in his way to protect her, which stopped him in his tracks.

“So you're the
one.” He grinned widely.

“No!” Rachel
shouted as she tried to push Noah out of the way, but it was too late. No one
saw it coming when Ryan jumped up and kicked Noah in the chest, sending him
flying across the room and into the wall.

My heart was
racing. I wanted to run to Noah and make sure he was okay, and heal him if he
wasn't, but I remembered Rachel's warning about exposing our gifts.

Ryan came at
Rachel again and before he could touch her, I jumped up and shouted in a loud
rumble, “Get back!” And with that, Ryan and his four, overgrown friends flew
back about ten feet into the entryway.

They were
stunned, as were the rest of us. I didn't realize that I had that much mind
strength.

“What the hell
was that?” Ryan asked, looking around at his friends who were equally perplexed.
Then he looked back at us and very slowly said, “We'll be back.” And they left.

I ran to Noah
first. He was still slumped over on the floor trying to breathe. There was
blood streaked down the wall from where his head had split open. I quickly laid
my hands on him and healed him. Noah slowly stood up and shook his head.

“Noah, I am so
sorry,” Rachel cried as she wrapped her arms around him. “That's why I didn't
want you standing next to me. I didn't want them to assume we were together because
he would destroy you.”

“Don't
apologize, Rachel. This is not your fault.” Noah pulled her chin up so he could
look her in the eyes.

Rachel
blushed.

I looked over
at Claudia and gave her a raise of my eyebrows. She giggled and elbowed Nick.

“Okay,” Nick
interrupted. “So, I was wondering if we might be able to talk about what just
happened here.”

“Yeah, Noah,
what did those guys say?” Claudia asked as Noah and Rachel turned to give him
their undivided attention.

Noah cleared
his throat, “Okay, so the guy in the blue shirt is a mind reader and he was
reading Rachel's mind.”

Rachel gasped,
“What? But I didn't think that was possible. He's not even gifted.”

“But if he was
gifted at one point,” Claudia answered, “then he could have been able to keep his
skills. It's like the strength and speed. It's a learned skill. I've heard of
it happening.”

“So, anyway,”
Noah continued, “he read your mind and told Ryan that you were lying and that
you knew a miracle worker.”

Rachel grew
uncomfortable and quickly walked over to the other side of the room and sat
down in the chair as she held her head in her palms. “This isn't good.”