Revival (The Variant Series, Book 1) (6 page)

Up above, two figures peered over the railing that surrounded the patio balcony. The first was a girl who was probably as old as Alex, with flaming auburn hair cut in a drastic swing bob—longer in the front than the back. She smiled down at Alex and held up what looked like a towel.

The other figure was a young boy with mousy brown hair and bright blue eyes made owlish by the large glasses perched atop his nose. He waved at her. She waved back.

“That’s Kenzie and Brian,” said Nathaniel, following her gaze. He eyed the towel. “Looks like Kenzie knew you were coming.”

Declan reached the top of the stairs and the boy, Brian, ran over to greet him, towel in hand. She watched as Declan ruffled his hair and the two disappeared from her line of sight.

Nathaniel picked up the fallen axe and gave it one final swing, lodging it into a nearby stump.

“Are you all … family?” she asked slowly. They were an odd bunch, with only Brian bearing any resemblance to Grayson.

“In a manner of speaking.” He untied the arms of the henley and slipped it over his head. “Grayson sort of… took us in… when we were kids. All but Brian. Brian’s his son from his second marriage.”

“You mean you, Declan and Kenzie are all…?”

“All orphans?” He seemed unfazed by the question. “Yeah. We are.”

He looked at her as though he wanted to say something more, but thought the better of it. “Come on. You must be freezing.”

Alex glanced back over her shoulder as she mounted the first step and was rewarded with a beautiful vista of the forest and the lake below. The view would have been far more inviting had she not just gone for an unscheduled swim in those shimmering black waters.

“You must be Alex,” came a voice from above.

At the top of the stairs, Kenzie stood waiting, her arm outstretched and a towel in her hand. Alex accepted it gratefully.

“I’m Kenzie.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Alex. “Thanks for the towel.”

The girl quirked a smile. “I’d like to apologize for my idiot brother.”

Alex couldn't hide her confusion. Which brother was she referring to, exactly?

“The moron that dumped you in the lake,” she explained. “We really
don't
welcome all our guests that way.”

The statement was a word-for-word echo of what Alex had asked Grayson earlier.

Kenzie’s cheeks blazed the same color as her hair. “Yeah, suppose I ought to explain… I've sort of been eavesdropping on your conversations since you got here.”

Alex glanced back toward the pathway. The lake was nearly a five-minute walk from where they now stood. How could she possibly have heard their conversation?

“I didn’t,” she said, answering Alex's unspoken question. “Well, I mean I didn't technically
hear
you, per se.
Technically
I read your mind. I've sort of been spying on your thoughts since you arrived.”

“
Kenzie
,” Nathaniel admonished.

“I know, I know.” Kenzie sighed. “Sorry, Alex. Promise to stay out of your head from now on. Curiosity got the better of me. When I heard Declan get back and I realized that he had brought you back with him… I couldn't help myself.”

Alex probably should have felt violated—or at least a little incredulous—but after having been transported from Florida to god-knows-where in a brilliant flash of light… Well, a nosy telepath seemed about par for the course. This whole situation felt surreal.

“You can read minds?”

Alex conducted a quick inventory of the thoughts she’d had since arriving.

Oh, geez. Declan’s abs. Nathaniel’s god-like good looks. She’d heard all that?

Alex turned ten shades of red at the realization.

Maybe the whole thing
was
just some sort of parlor trick. Maybe Kenzie had just made a lucky guess. Any explanation would be preferable to the alternative right about now.

“Not to worry, chica.” Kenzie winked at her. “Your secrets are safe with me. And I promise—no more going into your head without your permission. If you want, I can even teach you how to block people like me from getting in.”

“Hey, Nate!” Declan’s voice called from the cabin’s front entryway. “Heads up!”

A bottle of Gatorade spiraled through the air, heading straight for the back of Nathaniel’s head. He turned, but not quickly enough. There was no way he’d be able to get his arms up to catch it in time.

Alex’s eyes widened in surprise.

The bottle of red liquid had come to a complete standstill and now hung suspended, frozen in place, a few short inches from Nathaniel’s nose.

He plucked it from the air a moment later.

“For Alex,” said Declan. “Grayson thought she could use it.”

Alex blinked. Had she really just seen that? Or were her eyes playing tricks on her?

Nate offered her the bottle.

First Declan zaps her out of a burning bookstore and then Kenzie potentially reads her mind… Now Gatorade bottles were defying gravity and Newton’s first law of motion?

Gingerly, she accepted the beverage.

“You’re wondering what just happened.” Nathaniel’s smile was almost apologetic.

“Did you just…?” Alex couldn’t find the words to finish her question. What, exactly,
had
he done?

“Suppose I ought to explain.” He folded his arms across his chest. “You see, everyone here can do something kind of… special. Kenzie reads minds, Declan teleports, Grayson and Brian can see glimpses of the future—”

A gentle tug pulled the unopened Gatorade bottle from her hands and thrust it back into the air. It hung there for a moment before falling slowly back down to her.

“And I’m telekinetic,” he finished. “I can move objects with my mind.”

She stared at him dumbly, wondering if her day could possibly get any weirder.

“Oh,” said Alex. She had no idea what to say. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she never would have believed it. “Okay, then.”

Kenzie laughed. “Come on, Nate. Let’s get her inside before the cold air and all our weirdness sends her into shock.”

Alex allowed them to lead her through the main entryway and into the cozy warmth of the cabin. They stepped into a spacious living area, lined with hardwood floors, softly lit and filled with wrought-iron furniture. Comfortable-looking leather couches faced a large stone fireplace at the center of the room and a kitchen table sat off to one side. Against the left side of the far wall, an oval pass-through window offered a glimpse into the kitchen.

Her gaze traveled upwards.

A cathedral ceiling towered high above, one massive wrought-iron chandelier hanging from its center. The second floor was open to the living room, the banister-lined hallway offering those upstairs a birds-eye view of the downstairs living area.

Despite the intimidating beauty and size of the house, it was most definitely a
home
.

In the dining area, she noticed a backpack sitting next to the kitchen table, textbooks and a laptop spread out on the tabletop. A jacket was slung over the back of the loveseat, a variety of tennis shoes and boots were sitting next to the front door beneath the coat rack, pictures of the four kids and Grayson sat on the end-tables, and there was a fire roaring in the fireplace.

Fire.

Alex shivered despite the warmth, unable to look away from the crackling flames. Had she really almost died in that bookstore?

It all seemed so impossible. The way the fire had followed her down the aisles as though it had come to life and was determined to envelop her. The way the man had controlled it so completely, the flame not even burning his palm as it hovered less than an inch above his skin. The way Declan had transported them from the bookstore to the lake in a blinding flash of light.

A creaking sound interrupted her thoughts and she tore her gaze from the hearth.

Grayson was coming down the staircase.

From the corner of her eye, Alex could see Declan and Brian standing in the kitchen.

“Kenzie, would you mind finding some clothes for Alex to borrow? And show her to one of the spare rooms upstairs. Prove to her we’re not completely lacking in our hospitality when it comes to greeting guests.” Grayson sent Declan a pointed look through the pass-through window. 

Declan only smiled.

Kenzie took the now soaked peacoat from her shoulders and hung it on the coat rack. “Allons-y!” she said, making for the stairs. “Next stop: dry clothes and a hot shower.”

Alex had a million questions still to ask about what had happened at the bookstore, about where she was and who they were and about how she was going to get home—but right now, the offer of a warm shower and dry clothes was too enticing to ignore.

The aching cold Alex had been experiencing since their splashdown in the lake had left her feeling weak and increasingly disoriented, her thoughts becoming harder and harder to organize. A chill had settled over her and she was starting to think that even the heat being produced by the large fire wouldn’t be enough to warm her.

That worry she’d had earlier about suffering from hypothermia now seemed very real. She needed to get out of these wet clothes.

Shower first.

Then she wanted some answers.

— 6 —

T
he bathroom had become a sauna.

Alex sat on the tiled floor, wrapped in a terry-cloth robe she’d found hanging on the back of the door, wondering what she should do next and trying hard to feel warm again.

She was currently weighing the pros and cons of making a break for it.

Sure, Grayson and his family
seemed
nice enough… But who were they, really? And could she trust them?

A simple look around earlier had made it clear that she was far—
unbelievably
far—from home. They didn’t make mountains like these in the Sunshine State.

So how was she going to get back home again, without Declan’s help?

She could sneak out and pray that the others, Kenzie especially, failed to notice…

But then what?

The cabin was surrounded on all sides by an ocean of trees—a forest so vast she hadn’t been able to see to the end of it. If she chose the wrong direction, she could end up hiking for days before she found help.

Alex frowned.

They’d given her no reason
not
to trust them. If anything, Grayson and his family seemed like they genuinely wanted to help. And she
liked
them. Especially Kenzie and Nathaniel.

As for Declan… Well, he might be an incorrigible jerk, but he
had
saved her life. That should count for something, right?

Her mind made up, Alex stepped out of the en-suite bathroom and back into the sizable guest room. Grayson had promised her answers, but she wasn’t going to learn anything by hiding out in there.

Alex breathed a sigh of relief. Laid out on the bed were a pair of jeans, a black camisole, a hairbrush and a zip-up hoodie.

Dry clothes!

As she slipped into them she made a mental note to thank Kenzie… Then wondered if the other girl hadn’t just heard her, anyway.

Moving to exit the room, Alex had made it halfway to the door before something caught her eye—ten feet away, standing upright in its charger atop one of the mahogany dressers, was a cordless phone.

By her count she was almost an hour late for meeting Cassie back at the house. Knowing her overprotective aunt the way she did, the odds were good that half the town had already taken to the streets in search of her. And if they knew about the fire in the bookstore…

On impulse Alex crossed to the phone, plucked it from the charger, and dialed.

 Her aunt answered on the second ring.

“
Hello
?”

“Aunt Cil? It’s me.”

“Alexandra! Thank goodness! Where are you, honey?”

Alex hesitated.

She suddenly had no idea what to tell her.

“I’m… I’m not exactly sure,” said Alex. “Before I tell you what happened, you need to promise me that you’re not going to freak.”

“
Freak
? Why would I freak, Lee-Lee? What’s happened?”

Alex grimaced. “I went to Ballard’s like you asked.”

“I am aware of that, Lee-Lee.” Cil’s patience had obviously worn thin. “Cassie told me as much.”

“Well, I was at the bookstore,” said Alex, deciding in that moment to give her aunt the Cliff’s Notes version of the story, “and this crazy Scottish guy started torching the place while I was in it—”

“
What
?”

Whoops. Definitely could have worded that better.

“But it’s okay!” Alex said hurriedly. “This other guy sort of… well he
showed up
, out of nowhere, and he managed to get me out of the building before I was hurt.”

“Where are you now, Lee-Lee? Why didn’t you just come back to the house? Oh, god. You’re in the hospital, aren’t you?”

Alex could hear her aunt snatching up a set of keys on the other end of the line. 

“No, no!
Imnotatthehospital
,” she said in a rush. “I’m fine!”

This was definitely not going the way she’d hoped.

“Then where
are
you? Why haven’t you come home?”

Alex let out a slow breath. How do you go about telling someone that you’ve pulled off the ultimate disappearing act and
teleported
to the middle of nowhere, with the help of some mysterious stranger… and
not
sound like a prime candidate for the psych ward?

Yeah.

Alex didn’t know either.

“See, that’s the thing. This guy… He can sort of disappear into thin air and reappear somewhere else.” Alex winced.

Her aunt was going to think she was nuts.

“He took us someplace safe,” she finished lamely.

Alex waited for her aunt to say something. When no reply came she kept going, the words tumbling out.

“I know it sounds crazy, but he sort of…
zapped
me here.” She glanced around the elegantly decorated spare bedroom. Wherever
here
was. “I’m pretty sure I’m a long way from home right about now.”