EVO Shift: EVO Nation Series: Book Two (20 page)

Everyone is listening now; only Jude, Cooper, Leoni, and Kesh know the story of my un-manipulation.

Leoni has taken a seat across the aisle from us and pivots to face us, resting her elbows on her knees. “If you don’t mind, Teddie, I think I need to explain this one myself.” Her eyes flit to Adam, and I happily hand the conversation over to her. I don’t want to step on her toes where Adam is concerned. I need to get used to sharing him with her.

“It was me who manipulated Teddie’s memories as a child. Her mother contacted Rafe for help when Teddie started showing signs of telepathy at five years old. Rafe thought memory manipulation might have held off any further development and protect her from exposure. This was just weeks before Dad was killed in the accident. I manipulated you too. You knew things that might have jeopardised your safety. It was wiser that you thought I was dead, and that I wiped any memory that may have linked you to Shift.”

“I want those memories back,” he says. There’s a bite to his words.

“As soon as we get somewhere safe, I promise,” she says. “They won’t be pretty, Sweetheart.”

“The truth never is,” he says, quietly. “But I want to remember everything.”

Jude bumps the van down the lane at speed. My stomach cramps as I remember every bump and dip in the old track.

“Jude, slow down, there’s a pot—” The van launches down and up, throwing everyone around in their seats. “Hole,” I finish my sentence with my brain rattling in my skull. I could drive this lane with my eyes closed.

Instant memories of Dad teaching me to drive on the lane and in the fields grip at my heart. I’m mentally preparing myself to have my heart ripped from my chest as soon as I step foot in that house.

Dad’s shed is the first building I see. It’s more of an outbuilding- fully renovated with electricity and heating- or at least it was. He never worked on his architecture from home, but he did paint. We called it his man shed, but it was his studio for all intents and purposes. I would sit on a paint splattered stool for hours, chatting, singing, and watching the portable television, whilst he painted my portrait, or just to hang out with him away from Mum. Mum set fire to it when Dad moved out. She threw in anything from the house that could even remotely remind her of him, even the pictures from my bedroom. Mum had given me sleeping pills that night and I awoke to a scorched mess.

The house looms ahead of us in all its sentimental, horrific glory.

“You lived here?” Pug asks me. “Your folks must have had some money? “

“Her Dad inherited this place from a great Aunt just after Teddie was born,” Jude says, scanning the area through the windscreen with squinted eyes.

Everyone starts to get out of the van. I wait, unable or unwilling to move. Adam fusses with the rucksacks and guns. Still I sit staring straight ahead at the dark windows and the door covered with police tape.

Adam sits back down beside me. “We can stay right here if you want to. Me and you set up camp right here in the van, or we could go to the cove if—”

“No.” The word barks out of my mouth. “I can’t go to the cove. I’ll be okay, just catching my breath. A lot happened here.” I take his hand and allow him to lead me from the van.

The rhododendron bush has seen better days. The twigs have been bent and the earth around it stamped down. The frozen earth has preserved a boot print. I stop dead, examining the bush, the boot print, and the bare footprint beside it.

“Judging by the foot size and the depth of the impression, I would presume it’s yours,” Lizzie says from behind me. “Why were you bare foot in a rhododendron bush?”

“We were hiding from your father,” I say. Awkwardness ripples throughout the group. Lizzie may not be one for social cues, but she knows to shut up at the mention of her old man. I turn from her and stare out to the cliffs. “Then, we ran to the cove.  TORO appeared from nowhere, and... and ... well, you know the rest.”

I can’t stand out here going over everything. I’ll go mad. I rip the tape from the front door, grab the key from under the mat, and force it open. The stink inside catches in my throat. Adam enters into the dark hallway behind me, covering his nose and mouth with his forearm. Jude tests the lights and they flicker on, illuminating the striped wallpaper and mine and mum’s coats hanging on the rack. Bodies bustle pass me, gagging on the smell, and commenting on the flies.

“What the hell happened here?” asks Pug.

I follow him into the kitchen, or what was a kitchen. It resembles a bomb site. The window has been boarded up by the government, or Roscoe’s people I presume, but everything else is exactly how I left it that night: the table smashed to smithereens, the fridge upturned, nothing intact.

“I happened,” I say, looking around at the disarray. “I couldn’t control my telekinesis because Mum had been drugging me.”

“We’ll get this cleaned up,” says Yana, lifting the bin back to position, and taking the broom from its new home- embedded in the back of the dresser. “And you guys can cover the windows. We don’t want to draw attention with the light once it gets dark.”

The others set to help her, and Crow barks orders about watch shifts and securing the perimeter. I slip out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and into my bedroom.

Nothing has changed. My bed is unmade from where Dad woke me the night Roscoe came for me. I lie down, gathering the sheets around me. I can still smell our fabric softener. I reach under the bed to pull out the wooden box I stashed chocolate in. I check the use by date, and it dawns on me that it has only been about four weeks since I was last here. It feels like a lifetime ago.

The wardrobe door is ajar, bursting with clothes and shoes. I pick up my fox slippers and drop them just as quickly. None of this seems real. None of this seems connected to me. I wore those fox slippers and thought they were the coolest thing since sliced bread, now they’re insignificant. Who gives a shit about fox slippers when the world is falling apart?

I shut the door and start at the sight of Adam standing behind it. “It feels like I’ve stepped into someone else’s life,” I admit, sliding my arms around his waist.

“I felt like that when I first stepped back into the club. It gets easier.”

“I don’t want it to. Things are forever changing and we don’t have time to get sentimental over anything.”

His lips purse when he is thinking. It’s his tell, and I like being able to read him without ‘
reading’
him. “Except each other. I worry when you talk like this. I worry that you’re allowing yourself to be swallowed up by it all.” He links his fingers with mine, pulling me to him.

“I don’t know who this Teddie is,” I say, gesturing to myself. “And I don’t know who this Teddie was.” I grab the bobble head toy on the shelf and hold it up between us.

“What the hell is that?” Adam asks, and then we both burst into fits of laughter.

“I’m not sure. I liked it because it was a little freaky. My kindred spirit, I guess.”

“Well, then it’s beautiful,” he says, grinning.

“Nah, he’s an ugly, little weirdo.” We start in hysterics again. “How do you do that?” I ask him. “How do you make me laugh when I want to cry?”

“Because I’m your kindred spirit too. Me, you, and creepy, bobble head dude,” he scoops me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist. He sits on the bed, so I’m straddling him. “What is that?” He pulls the box full of chocolate from under him. “Wow, that’s a lot of chocolate.”

I laugh at his wide eyed, comedic expression. “Don’t judge me. Chocolate was my only friend.” I snatch the chocolate from him and stroke the wrappers. “Did the bad man scare you?” I joke.

“How are you not thirty stone? Okay, I’ll make you a deal. I won’t breathe a word of this to the others if you promise to share with me,” he drums his finger on the edge of the box before taking one and tucking it into his pocket.

“Deal. I’ll hide them back under the bed.”

Adam grins and a mischievous glint sparks in his eyes. “You’re one of those girls, huh? A ‘hides stuff under the bed’ type.” He throws me off him and lifts the edge of the duvet. He pulls out my sketch pad and pencils, eyeing the pages with awe. “Did you draw these?”

I instantly flush red. Not even Dad was privileged enough to see all of my sketches. I drew him working in his studio and gave it to him as a gift, but otherwise my sketches were private. Adam continues to flick through page after page. “Um, yeah. It was kind of my thing, but it doesn’t matter anymore.” I take the pad and close it quickly.

Adam snatches it back. “These are amazing, Baby, of course it matters. This is who you are.” A slip of paper slides from the pad and lands on his lap. It was one of my earlier sketches and not totally finished. “Is that... lightning?” he asks.

I take the picture, examining every stroke of my pencil. I had drawn lightning, and not ordinary lightning, but lightning emanating from a palm. I laugh out loud to myself. “I had forgotten about this. Oh my god, it makes so much sense now.”

“What does?”

“Even back then I was trying to un-manipulate myself. I just never understood what was happening. These are my memories.”

“Teddie, you’re talking crazy. What memories?”

I jump to my feet and rush down the stairs to find Leoni. Adam bounds down behind me. “Once Leoni un-manipulates you, you will understand.”

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

A gentle stroke of my thigh and the crackle of electricity wakes me with a smile on my face. Adam kneels at the side of my bed with a tired but gentle look in his eyes.

“So, you’ve not turned into a chicken, yet?” he says, taking my hand and placing it against his own. His electrokinesis caresses my skin. “I guess we know why you find comfort in this. And why you were drawing pictures of electrokinesis.”

“How are you feeling?” I ask. “Do you want to talk about it?”

He shakes his head. “I’m alright. Knowing is better than imagining. Now, I can deal with it and move on. I’d rather talk about us. Since I saw you on the floor in that isolation cell at Facility One, I’ve always thought there was a reason it was you. This perfect girl was sent to me at exactly the moment when I needed her most. You have no idea how much I think about that, or how grateful I am for you. Then, to know you were given to me twice is just a mind trip. My Mum and Dad were scared of me, I started to fear myself, and then here was this kid like me who looked at me with wonder- who said I was gentle- who said I was her only friend.”

“Have you noticed that even without un-manipulation, it’s my important memories that were trying to break themselves free?” I pick up the sketch and hold it out to him. “This is for you. You were important then, and now, well, you are my life. You think that I was sent to you when you needed me, but you’re wrong. You were sent to me when I was drowning. You saved my life.”

Sliding his hands either side of my face, he brushes his lips against mine. He doesn’t take his eyes from me. There is the most intense connection between us, so intense I can feel it around me like a burning heat. I stroke my fingers down his cheek and across his lips, still not breaking eye contact. I know he feels it too. His hands spark uncontrollably, but I don’t pull away. I allow the electricity to reach into me. My telepathy flutters between us. His emotions roll through me, just as mine through him. Still, we don’t look away. We’re not harming each other; I don’t think we physically could. We’re linked in the most extreme way I have ever felt.

His hands slide up my sweater, and a breath escapes me. I move closer to him on my knees, lifting my arms, so he can slide it over my head. His hand trails down my neck and shoulder, leaving blue electricity dancing over my skin in his wake. I pull at his t-shirt until it slides free of his head. His torso is black and blue from the torture he endured at the hands of the government. I kiss the bruise on his chest, moving up to his throat. He groans, lacing his hand in my hair- tilting my head to him- forcing his lips to mine. The room is aglow from the electrokinesis enveloping us like a lightning orb. The hairs on my arms stand on end from static. I start to lift my vest over my head, but he pulls away.

“Maybe, I’m stronger too. I don’t know why, but this feels different. I’m losing control and I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t,” I say, kissing him again.

He succumbs a little to my persistence, and then forces me from him. “No, Teddie! How can you know that?”

“You didn’t scare me when I was five and you don’t scare me now. I want you.” I kiss his shoulder and on up to his neck. His rasping breaths and rising chest spurs me on. More sparks jump from his skin to my lips.

“No!” he snaps, getting to his feet. “I can’t. I won’t hurt you.” He throws open the door to the en suite. “I’m taking a shower,” he says, slamming the door behind him.

I flop onto the pillow in frustration. I can hear the water running in the shower, and I know he’s removing his clothes in there. I literally can’t think of anything else. Get a grip, woman. I pull the cushion over my face and growl with frustration. He won’t hurt me. I know he won’t. Yes, it felt different, stronger, but it felt right.

Sod this. I burst into the en suite. Adam stands under the stream with his forehead pushed against the tiles. He looks at me in bewilderment.

“Don’t ask me how I know, but I just know that you won’t hurt me. Call it Telepath’s intuition,” I say. The water runs from him, and I can’t avert my eyes. I remove my vest and trousers, so I’m in nothing save my bra and knickers. With one click my bra falls to the floor.

He bites at his lower lip, fighting with his self-control.

“We’re linked, so to hurt me would be to hurt you. And more importantly, I am not going another minute without you touching me.” I step out of my knickers and kick them to the side of the room.

In one step he is out of the shower and pulling me to his wet skin. As he kisses me, I feel a shift inside me, an unfamiliar power coursing through my veins. I dig my fingers harder into his flesh, pulling him closer unsure of what to do with this power I feel. He exhales loudly. I’m not sure if it’s from pain or pleasure, but he grabs at my legs, wrapping them around his waist.

In the next instant, I’m under the hot stream of water. Adam smooths my wet hair out of my face- kissing me- pushing himself up against me. He takes my wrists, pinning them above my head with the one hand and searching my body with the other.

I glide my hands over his wet skin, the blue of electricity following my fingers.

“I love you,”
I say straight into his mind. It doesn’t even feel like telepathy. It feels like we are one mind.

“I love you too, Baby,”
he replies, but I already knew he was going to say it. I can pre-empt him, and him me.

As the rhythm builds, I can barely contain my abilities. I look up, and the droplets of water that fall from the shower no longer rain down on us; they hang in globules in the air above. Our entwined bodies are suspended in an orb of electricity and telekinetic energy. Only, the telekinesis is not my own- I’m not in control. I am linked, but separate at the same time. The bathroom furniture starts to shake violently, and everything lurches into the air.

As his name bursts from my lips, Adam gasps, and we drop into the tub. The water falls on us in a torrent. The window shatters outward, and the crash sounds like thunder rolling throughout the house.

“That was me. I did that,” he says, panting. “How?” He holds out his hand and lifts the shattered mirror back onto the wall with an invisible force.

I watch in amazement; my heart beat drumming in my ears. I hold out my own hand and blue tendrils shoot from my palm. The mirror light blinks on before exploding in a shower of sparks. Adam holds my hands palms up, examining every inch of my skin and his. He ignites a blue spark in his palm just to ensure he still can.

“Have we gained each other’s abilities?”
he says in my mind without me having to link
. “Shit, I never meant to do that. Shit, I can’t stop.”

I’m as scared as hell, but I know how wayward my abilities can be. If he has the full force of my ability, he’s probably frightened to death. The telepathy alone can be like a hammer to the brain.

He clenches his eyes shut for a few moments, his breathing gradually slowing. When he opens his eyes they blaze straight into me.
“What does this mean?”

He helps me out of the tub with shaking hands. My legs don’t want to behave and I’m not sure if it’s from shock or Adam’s lasting effect on me.

The door swings open and Crow and Cooper enter, guns raised. The others pile in behind. I jump behind Adam’s naked body and fold my arms across my bare chest, shielding myself with a small hand towel. Adam can do nothing, but cup his manhood. They avert their eyes, resting instead on the destruction and the rain lashing into the room through the non-existent window.

“Are you okay, Teds?” Cooper asks. His look of concern makes Adam bristle. “Teddie, are you hurt?” he asks with more force, ignoring Adam’s glare.

“We’re fine,” I reply.

“Did you have some technical issues?” Brick says, laughing. I know they’re all thinking the same thing- we were getting down to business and I lost control. I suppose they’d be right, but it wasn’t just me.

“Don’t say anything,”
I say to Adam.

Adam rubs at his lips. “Something like that.”

I sidle closer to him and can feel his uneasy breathing and pounding heart. I look to Jude and Leoni and blow out my cheeks, hoping they’d understand my meaning from the look in my eye.

“Okay, let’s give them a little privacy, shall we?” Jude says, clapping his hands and ushering everyone out of the room. “Teddie must be embarrassed enough without you lot ogling her.”

Thanks for that Jude. If I wasn’t embarrassed before, I am now.

Crow looks over his shoulder. “You’re good, right?”

“Golden,” I reply without hesitation.

Jude, Leoni, Wheeler, and Cooper remain and wait in the bedroom whilst we dry and dress.

“What was that about?” Leoni asks when we re-emerge.

Adam lifts the vanity table back to its correct position with an outstretched hand. Wheeler almost falls over, scrambling away in shock.

I step out from behind him, holding out my glowing hands; the electricity dances like flames in my palm.

“I have telepathy too, but I’m too bloody scared to use it. If Teddie struggles, I don’t stand a chance.” Adam adds.

“What the hell happened?” Jude asks.

I simply shrug.  “It’s the link.”

“I hate to say I told you so,” Leoni says to Cooper.

Cooper holds his hands up and steps away. “You called it.”

“This has happened before?” Jude asks, mouth gaping.

“No,” Adam replies.

I twist my sweater in my hands. “Well...” Adam raises his eyebrows at me. “Kind of.”

“Teddie was linked with Adam during a nightmare whilst asleep in the van. She blew a pylon,” says Leoni.

“And you didn’t think to mention this?” Jude asks.

“I wasn’t certain until now.”

Jude sits on the bed, rubbing a hand over his unshaven chin. “This is beyond anything I experienced with Tess. I’m worried for you guys.”

“Me too,” says Leoni, straightening out my jumper. “You did nearly kill us in the van, Teddie. I’m not sure that un-manipulating you was such a wise idea.”

“Manipulating her in the first place wasn’t a wise idea,” says Jude. He’s not angry, just drained. “But the un-manipulation wouldn’t have made a difference. She was already un-manipulating herself. You just sped up the process.”

Leoni sits beside Jude, her shoulders sagging. “We need to think about this logically. This has gotten worse since you both have been reunited.”

Jude looks from Leoni, to Adam, and back to me. He nods his agreement, chewing his lip.

“Nothing you can say will make me leave her.” Adam takes my hand, pulling me toward the door.

Jude grabs Adam’s forearm. “No one is asking you to.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You saw how wary Crow was, and rightly so. Maybe Adam and I should-”

“Should what? Leave?” Jude laughs at the thought. “Where would you go? You have no money, no contacts, and the world knows your faces. You’re safer here with us- with Shift.”

“But you might not be safe with us,” I say, sighing.

Leoni takes my face in her hands and kisses my forehead. “Just don’t admit that to anyone but us, okay? Jude’s right, you’re safer here. And I know how strong you both are. You can handle this.” She hugs us both, placing a hand on each of our faces, finally looking like the mother she has longed to be. “We’ll head out if needs be, but for now we stay.”

Lizzie rushes into the room in a fluster. “TORO soldiers have just broken twenty-nine EVO children out of a detention centre just fifty miles from here. That’s why they’re killing them. They’ve lost control of them.”

The scorched pile of TORO burns in my mind. That’s it. That’s why they’re murdering them. “Oh my god. There is no one to maintain the TORO any longer. They’re un-manipulating themselves. That’s why they’re killing them.”

“How do you even know that?” Cooper asks Lizzie.

“Kesh has used his technokinesis to link to the device that I received all my communications from- Towley’s. Anytime that device sends a message or makes a call we will know about it. Crow has called a meeting. I think he wants to go after them and bring them back to Syndicate?”

Adam takes Leoni’s hand. “Those men will need your help, Mum.”

“I know, Sweetheart. I’ve seen the horrors locked inside your mind,” she says, following Crow and Lizzie out of the room.

It feels as if someone has tipped a bucket of water down my back. The icy chill spreads through my skin. I look to Adam, knowing the colour has drained from my face.

“I know, Baby,” he says. “Now that I have the telepathy, I’m going to start un-manipulating my conditioning memories from Facility One.”

My lower lip trembles, and I clasp a hand to my mouth. “I’m so sorry, Baby.”

He places his hand over my heart. “We have time to figure something out.” He smiles, but I know it’s purely for my benefit.