Oblivion (11 page)

TWENTY-FIVE

Sam

My head throbbed
in time with my heartbeat. Every breath felt like needles tearing through my
lungs. Everything hurt, and I had no idea why.

“Sam, are you
okay?”

A woman’s voice
broke through the pain and I groaned. Not moving seemed like a great idea.

“Leave him. He
will rejoin us shortly.”

Another familiar
voice joined the first, but it was followed by wonderful silence.

It was dark by the
time I resurfaced, and I looked around the room in confusion. Nothing looked
familiar, and I felt the beginnings of panic before the mumble of voices broke
through the silence.

When I tried to
call out, my voice came out as a tiny squeak. Nothing felt right. Where was
Jason? He should have been sitting at my side waiting for me… Jason. The
memories rushed back, and I groaned. As I rubbed my hands over my face wearily,
the door creaked open.

“You awake?”
Hannah asked softly. “How do you feel?”

“Broken.” My voice
cracked and I wished I could wake up and everything would be back to normal.

Her breath caught,
and she moved slowly into the room and stood near the bed. “You’ll be okay.
Jeremiah said it was a warning attack to keep you from finding the Mastermind
behind the group who took Jason.”

“I don’t care
about the Mastermind,” I informed her bitterly. I sat up and rubbed my watery
eyes. “I just…I want my brother back.”

Hannah made a
small whimpering sound before sinking down onto the bed beside me and grabbing
me into a fierce hug. “We’ll get him back, Sammy. We have you and Jeremiah on
our side for this.”

Yeah, and wasn’t
that a kicker? Kindred, Trevor Mason’s cousin and former assassin slave, now
working with us instead of threatening us. Strange days.

“I still don’t
know if we can trust him, Hannah. Not completely, anyway. He does want us to
find Jason, but he is hiding something about his motives. I can’t quite put my
finger on it, but I don’t think he is purely on our side. Just not on the Mastermind’s.”

“I don’t know
either,” she admitted. Hannah shook her head and brushed some hair from her
face before continuing, “I think we all know to be cautious with him. He seems
to have changed his ways, but I still think he’s too willing to kill to solve
his problems. I’m afraid of what will happen if he decides
we
are one of his problems.”

“I assure you,
that will not happen,” a soft voice broke in, sounding dismayed. “You are now
my allies, and have never harmed me. In the last two years in my guise as Scott
Nickels, I have seen how to be a better person. My improvement may not be
complete yet, but I am trying. I hope you will allow me to prove it to you.”

I exchanged a
glance with Hannah, and replied, “Help us find Jason and try not to kill anyone.
Then we’ll see.”

A small genuine
smile formed on the man’s scarred face. “Helping is what I’ve been doing.
Without me, you wouldn’t have known where to look to begin with. As for killing…
I will not kill unless it is absolutely necessary. Self-defense, or the defense
of one of you. Is that satisfactory?”

“It beats you
killing randomly,” I answered with a shrug.

He chuckled. “I
may have killed many people, Oblivion, but they were not random. Although I
would not have chosen to kill Trevor’s enemies on my own, they were targets
given me by my former master. He didn’t exactly give me a choice in the
matter.”

The former
assassin fingered his neck where faint scars from his time with Mason could be
seen.

Jason had similar
scars, and I swallowed hard when I remembered that my brother could have easily
become another Kindred.

Jeremiah shook
himself out of his reverie, and fixed his intense gaze on me. “Trust that I
will do nothing to hurt your brother. Hurting you would hurt him. I don’t like
what you’ve done to him, but I am also aware that it was done without malicious
intent.”

“Ya think?” I
muttered sarcastically. “Of course I wouldn’t purposefully take away my
brother’s memories. At least not everything to do with me and our family. I’d
love it if he could forget about some of the horrible things he’s been through,
but everything worked together to make Jason who he is now.”

“That is true,”
Hannah agreed. “You can’t take away part of him without changing him
completely.”

Jeremiah shrugged.
“He seems pretty similar to me. Still a good man, and still wants to help
others.”

“So the basics are
there but lacking the knowledge of how to properly access his powers or know
his family and friends,” Hannah added, her head low and shoulders hunched.

Sadness permeated the
room, and most of it seeped from Hannah’s defeated form.

I slowly placed my
hand on her shoulder. “I’ll fix him, Hannah. He’ll remember all of us soon. But
I need to find him first.”

“I think he’s
nearby. I can still connect to him, but he won’t let me in. I could push
through, but that could cause damage,” Jeremiah told us. “He also could see it
as an attack.”

“Yeah, no,” I said
with a quick shake of my head. “I’ve done enough damage as it is. Wouldn’t want
to make anything permanent.”

Assuming, of course,
that what I had done could be reversed.

“So, where are we,
anyway?”

“Tessa’s other
property,” Hannah explained. “Normally rented out, but there are no tenants for
now.”

“Handy.”

“Yeah,” she
muttered. She ran a hand through my hair gently. “You feeling better?”

I forced a smile.
“Yeah, a bit.”

“Then we need to
get downstairs and figure out how we can find Jason while keeping you safe from
the Mastermind and his goons.”

Yeah, that would
be important. I shivered when I remembered the feeling of helplessness that
shook me when the Mastermind so easily pushed me aside. My power was not strong
enough to stand up to his, and I got the feeling he felt as if I were only a
pesky fly he wanted to swat. Why someone like him would want to capture me, I
couldn’t figure out.

We made our way
downstairs and found Mark and Alice moving around the kitchen making some sort
of pasta dinner. Paul was in the living room, the TV turned on to a news
station.

“You watch the
news now?” I asked with a grin.

He smiled. “Glad
to see you up. And yeah, I like to keep up with what’s happening. I was hoping
to see anything about what’s going on in this town, but there’s nothing.”

“There wouldn’t
be,” Mark called from the kitchen. “Not yet. Nothing has been noticed at this
point.”

“He’s right,” I
agreed. “They have the cover of the building being under construction.”

A picture on the
news caught my eye. “
Shh
. There’s a missing girl from
this area.”

“It says she’s a
runaway. Not sure how that would have anything to do with Jason or the Mastermind,”
Paul said after a moment.

“I’m not sure
either,” I admitted reluctantly. “It’s just a feeling. Somehow it feels like
she’s connected.”

Lena
Dunley
, a seventeen-year-old girl was considered an ‘at
risk teen’ after acting out at home and school, and then disappearing while on
her way home a few weeks earlier.

“It only says
she’s suspected of running away. She could have been grabbed by someone.”

Paul sighed and
rubbed his hand over his face. “Does it matter? We already have one missing
person to find, and for all we know this girl doesn’t want to be found.
Remember our own past, Sammy? We wouldn’t have wanted our families to find us.”

My tone sounded
dejected, even to me. “True.”

“
It’s
okay, Sammy. We’re all ready to grasp at straws, but I
doubt that girl has anything to do with what’s going on.”

A weak laugh escaped
me. “Yeah, I guess that’s probably true.”

“Tessa knows of
some places a runaway might hide that could also make decent bolt-holes for a
person on the run,” Mark said, entering the living room and sitting on the
sofa. “I think we’ll start driving around after we eat some supper.”

“And supper will
be ready in a couple minutes,” Alice said with a smile.

Surrounded by my
friends, I began to relax enough that the near-migraine headache eased to a
mild throbbing. The ache drove me to ask, “Is there any Ibuprofen available? Or
anything for a headache?”

“I have some
Tylenol in my purse,” Hannah answered. She moved toward the door and poured out
two pills. “What do you want to take them with?”

“What do we have
available?”

“Water and
chocolate milk. Mark had a craving,” the last was said in a stage whisper, her
hand cupped near the corner of her mouth.

My lips twitched
into a smile. “Yeah, who doesn’t crave chocolate milk? I’ll use some of the
milk. It’s always easier for me to swallow these things with something that has
some flavor.”

“Don’t get up,”
Hannah waved me off as I moved to stand. “I’ll get it for you.”

“Thanks, Hannah. ‘
Preciate
it,” I slurred. My head suddenly felt too heavy to
hold up, and my chin hit my chest. I couldn’t focus. Everyone’s voices blended
together.

“Who are you?”
a man’s voice thundered
through my head.

I was vaguely
aware of speaking out loud as I sent back,
“I’ll
answer if you do.”

“You already call me the Mastermind. Your
brother calls me the Puppet Master. I’ll accept either, as both are true.”

My lip curled. He
actually sounded like he was enjoying this.
“I
am Oblivion,”
I answered him in disdain. If he wasn’t going to give me a
real name, there was no reason for me to give mine.

“You are the Earthshaker’s brother. His true
name is Jason, and he does not hide it. Why do you hide yours?”

The man sounded
honestly perplexed, like he couldn’t imagine someone not wanting a dangerous
man to know their true identity.

“I have no reason to trust you with my name.
But you just gave me an opening into your mind. Take a guess why I’m called
Oblivion!”

On the last word I
pushed my fear and anger into my attacker’s mind and he recoiled. I sat up with
a gasp. When had I been moved to my back?

“Sammy! What
happened? Are you okay?” Paul asked, his hand hovering over my shoulder and
eyes wide open.

“The Mastermind
attacked me, but I think he underestimated me.”

“I wouldn’t
underestimate him, if I were you,” Alice warned. “You were pale as a ghost and
having difficulty breathing. We were about to drag you to the hospital.”

I looked around at
all the pale faces surrounding me. “I’m sorry. I know this guy is dangerous,
but I don’t think he knows as much as he wants us to believe.”

They all looked
confused, but Mark was the one who asked, “What makes you think that?”

“He knows Jason as
both ‘the Earthshaker’ and ‘Jason’ and I don’t think Jason could have told him
about the Earthshaker nickname. He had to ask my name, and seemed aggravated
when I wouldn’t share my true name. I also don’t believe he has a full picture
of what our abilities are, or he never would have entered my mind. All that did
was give me the ability to… well… mess with him, I guess.”

“What did you do?”
Jeremiah asked. He alone seemed unfazed by what was happening, and appeared
only mildly curious.

“Sent every ounce
of anger and fear I could straight into his mind. He is more powerful than
Hunter, but I think it should at least make him more hesitant to face me.”

Jeremiah smiled.
“Well done, Oblivion. He will truly learn to fear your name as my cousin’s
enemies feared Kindred.”

My eyes widened
and I felt goosebumps rise on my arms. To be feared as Kindred had been… it
wasn’t something I aspired toward. Neither should it be a thought that made
Jeremiah happy. Not if he was truthful in his desire to be a better man.

Schooling my
features into a stoic mask, I resolved to watch the former assassin more
carefully.

“Yes,” I answered
calmly. “I will be feared.”

TWENTY-SIX

Jason

After being
chained to a bed for a couple days it felt nice to be able to move around
whenever I wanted. To stretch my sore muscles and examine myself in an old
mirror I’d found in a corner.

Lena came up
behind me as I stared at my reflection, hoping for answers.

“Here.” She handed
me a small bundle of fabric, her eyes not quite meeting mine. “These might fit.
I grabbed them when I left… Anyway, I think they’ll work for you.”

My new friend
retreated to her bed corner and picked up an old paperback novel.

Unfolding the
bundle I saw two short-sleeved T-shirts. “Thanks, Lena.”

My gratitude was
genuine. I had been wearing the same dirty shirt since waking in our former
prison. The muscles around my ribs pulled uncomfortably as I raised my arms to
pull the old shirt off. I twisted to throw it into the corner near the mirror,
and Lena gasped.

“What?” I asked,
pausing with the new shirt in hand.

“Your back,” she
pointed. “Look in the mirror, Jason.”

Warily, I turned
my back to the mirror and peered over my shoulder. I had realized while at the Puppet
Master’s compound that I had scars, but I had no idea how extensive they were.

“Your stomach too,
and your arms,” Lena’s voice was horrified, and her face was white as a ghost.
She slowly moved toward me, her hand stretched as if she wanted to touch the
evidence of my abuse. “What… what happened to you?”

I sank to the
floor in dismay, and leaned against the cool concrete wall. “I have no idea.”

Her hand hovered
for a moment before she sat next to me and allowed it to rest on my arm. We sat
in silence for a few minutes. “I don’t know if I want to remember,” I admitted
softly.

She stared at me
sadly. “I don’t blame you for that. But what about your brother?”

I blinked slowly,
breathing out a deep sigh. “I don’t know. Jeremiah told me Oblivion took my
memories. If Oblivion is my brother… how do I know he didn’t do it on purpose?
How do I know I didn’t ask him to take them?”

Lena pursed her
lips thoughtfully. “I don’t think so. If the boy I felt was Oblivion, and your
brother, he didn’t seem the type to wipe his brother’s mind. And you aren’t the
type to ask to forget.”

“How can you know
that? I don’t even know that about myself.”

“It’s hard to
explain. My abilities allow me insight and communication. I wasn’t fully honest
with you about them earlier, but I can tell now that you are someone who will
never betray a friend.

Jason, you are one
of the most honest men I’ve met. And I know you are the type of person to take
it upon yourself to do whatever is necessary to protect the people you love,”
Lena spoke strongly, and it was hard to deny her conviction.

“But my brother…”

“Is young,” she
interrupted. “Inexperienced. He likely had a moment’s lapse and pushed
something into your mind that he now regrets. They are looking for you, Jason.
And I think you should let them find you.”

“What about the Puppet
Master?” I asked, accepting her arguments.

I shivered and
realized I hadn’t replaced my old shirt yet. Suddenly ashamed, I rushed to
cover the horrible scars.

“You don’t need to
hide, Jason,” Lena said gently.

The girl moved to
her pile of bedding and patted the blankets beside her. I slowly moved to join
her. Some of the chill left my body when I sat on the soft blanket. She picked
up a smaller blanket, wrapping it around my shoulders. I found it a surprise
when she kept her arm wrapped around me as well.

It was almost as
big a surprise as when, instead of moving away, I leaned into her warmth.

“Nothing you did
could ever make you deserve whatever happened to you,” the younger girl assured
me. “The scars are just a way to prove to the world that you are a survivor.
You’ve been to hell and back, and you are not broken. If you remember anything,
remember that.”

“Thanks, Lena,” I
answered with a yawn.

“We should get
some sleep, and then we should try to find your friends,” she answered with a
smile.

I sat up straight,
suddenly realizing it would be inappropriate to share the bed of a teenager.

“Relax,” she said,
rolling her eyes. “I’m not trying to come on to you. It’s just that sleeping
directly on the floor wouldn’t be overly comfortable, especially with that
monster bruise you have on your back. And I’m not about to sleep on the cement
either. For tonight we can share. I promise; your honor will still be intact in
the morning.”

She wrapped up in
another small blanket and turned away from me to settle on the makeshift bed for
the night. I did the same, and we lay with our backs touching.

It took only a few
moments for me to settle into a deep sleep, and only a few more for me to tense
at an intrusion.

“You and your brother will be mine soon
enough. Why not just come back?”
the voice whispered in my head.

I was vaguely
aware of Lena moving behind me.

“Leave him alone! He hasn’t done anything to
you. Why can’t you just back off?”

Pressure was
building in my mind and I squirmed uncomfortably, unable to fully wake.
“Please get out,”
I begged.
“I just want to go home. I won’t hurt you,
just leave me alone!”

“Can’t do that, Jason,”
the first voice
answered.
“You have powers I want access
to. You’re too dangerous to allow free.”

“Jason, concentrate on your walls. You have
strong ones that can keep out other powerful minds. Fortify them and you should
be able to keep the Puppet Master out too.”

It was good
advice, and I strove to take it. Pushing against the attacking mind, I felt as
though I was pushing a physical door against a much larger man. But there was
suddenly another person on my side when Lena added pressure on my side.

Together we
managed to slam the door, and I woke, breathing heavily. Lena was kneeling over
me, her hands on each side of my head.

“There, that
wasn’t so hard, right?” she asked flippantly.

I wanted to get
mad, but my companion’s brave veneer was wearing off. Her eyes were wide, and
her breaths came faster than normal. She also hadn’t removed her hands from my
head yet.

“Right, sorry.”
She quickly pulled her hands away from me and began fiddling with the corner of
one of the blankets.

“So…”

She looked up at
me expectantly.

“I guess sleeping
may be difficult. Thank you, Lena. I don’t think I could have pushed him out
without your help.”

“You are strong
enough to keep him out while awake, and even asleep he can’t take full control.
You have an interesting ability. Not sure how you ended up with it, though.”

“The tracking or
the earthshaking?” I asked.

“Neither. Well… yeah,
those are interesting as well, but your mental walls are too strong for you to
not have some sort of mental power as well. Even if it is mostly there to
protect you.”

I huffed. “Didn’t
seem to help when my memories were stolen.”

Lena searched my face
for a moment. “Not stolen; only misplaced. They’re still in there, you simply
can’t access them. And once we find this ‘Oblivion,’ we should be able to fix
that.”

I settled against
the wall, a blanket covering my legs. “You might as well get some sleep. I’ll
make sure no one sneaks up on us.”

“For a while,” the
younger girl agreed. “Then I will stand guard for you. You can’t go without
sleep.”

The vulnerability
of sleep now scared me, but I nodded. She was right. I wouldn’t be able to
actively guard my mind while sleeping.

Even now it was a
struggle to keep the Puppet Master out, but Lena needed to sleep, so I smiled
at her until she turned away, settling in to get some rest.

I let my eyes
drift closed and concentrated on fortifying my barriers against our attacker.