Seclusion (33 page)

“Sorry, Taylor,” he said.
“These powers have always been a curse.”

“How could I possibly be
your son?” I yelled.

“Your mother couldn’t get
pregnant. She tried and tried. But she had a rare ability indeed. She was a
soul taker. She could take life force from others and give it to someone else
or keep it. Your father had a severe a
ccident
,” he laughed
.
“The
tragedy happened before they were married, and she had to steal life from
everyone in her immediate presence in order to bring your father back to life.
His health was never quite right after that, and he became infertile. I helped
them perform in vitro fertilization; I donated my sample since I was the
strongest on the island. So you see, I am your biological father.”

Terror seized me because I
believed him.

“Are you saying that Raegan
and I are first cousins?”

He chuckled, “Well, yes,
but I don’t see what you’re so distraught about, boy.”

“I don’t care if you are my
biological father. You will never be a real father to me. You killed my real
father and then you killed my mother, the woman you loved.”

Zach’s eyes bulged. “Then
you’ll be sorry, boy,” he said while heading toward me.

I had forgotten about Jay
and Chase. They seemed to have disappeared. Then I saw Carson hit the ground
and pass out. Taylor was backing away from where Carson was lying on the
ground. She hurried toward Zach.

“Taylor, do something about
those little boys. I need to teach my son a lesson,” he said.

“Zach, the only power I have
is healing. What do you expect me to do to them?”

“Do I have to do everything
myself?” Zach growled.

I looked over at Jay, and
he was pointing to his fingertips and then at Zach’s head, and then at me
again. I thought Jay was going crazy until I saw him walk over to Taylor. I could tell what he was saying to her with my ability.

“You can either let me tie
you up, or we can do this the hard way. You choose.”

Taylor
held her hands out in
surrender.

I looked up into one hell
of a scary zombie face. I couldn’t believe this thing was my father. He reached
his arm back and slugged me in the stomach. The force of the punch sent me
flying back, but then I used my power to float back down.
That’s right…his
ability is strength
, I thought as I hit the ground.

“Nice trick, son,” Zach
said.

My abilities told me that
Zeke and Elsie were getting close.

“Have you seen this trick
before?” I said as I used my power to lift him forty feet up and then let him
free fall. I heard a crunch and felt no guilt. I knew he’d at least be
unconscious if not dead…again. I started to walk toward Jay. He was tying
Carson and Taylor up, and looking for something to tie Zach up with.

I felt something slam
against my head, and I fell face forward. When I stood back up, Chase was lying
in a heap under Zach. I was pissed. I could tell Chase must have attempted to
defend me. Zach’s knee looked deformed and his shoulder was out of socket.

“We have just started,
boy,” Zach said as he walked toward me.

“Well, I’m finished, Dad.
Tell me, can you catch?”

He looked confused for a
split second, which was just what I’d hoped for. I lit my whole hand up,
circling the flames around each other until they were as big as a softball, and
threw the fireball as hard as I could at Zach’s head. Charging him, I swung
over and over again, feeling the flesh split under my knuckles. I was finally
thankful for all the time I had spent learning self-defense from my
grandfather.

At some point I realized my
fists were still on fire as I was slamming them into Zach. I could hear people
in the background calling my name, but the fury I had for Zach would not end.
Finally one voice called me back to reality.

“Damen, stop! It’s okay.
It’s over. I’m awake and so is my mother! Hurry! I miss you!”

“Okay,”
is all I could say. My
mind was still whirling.
Cousins?

Dr. Drake had finally
arrived with Sara and Elsie. Jay and I helped him rebury my zombie father and
get Carson and Taylor into his vehicle. Dr. Drake asked me to use compulsion on
Carson and Taylor so they wouldn’t escape, and once we got back to the school,
we took Chase to the nurse’s office.

“You were just so much help
back there, Jay,” I said. “You let Chase and me get our butts kicked.”

“If you weren’t so dense,
you would’ve realized I told you to use the fire first. I already knew that’s
the way you’d get him, and I don’t have flame throwing power.”

“Oh, that’s what you were
saying? I thought you wanted to paint your nails or something.”

“Does Raegan know you guys
are cousins yet?” Jay asked.

“I’m not sure. I was trying
to keep that blocked, but it’s hard to know what got through. I’d like to tell
her in person, and maybe you should be there, too.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” I said. “She loves
you.”

When I finally woke up, I
felt like I was still in a dream. It was hard to know what was real and what
was my imagination. I used my compulsion on Connor to undo previous compulsions
that Carson had placed on him. He felt horrible. Then I used my healing power
on my mother. By this time, I knew Damen was in control of the situation at the
graveyard. He was not even the slightest bit worried. I could sense he was
hiding something from me, but I didn’t care. I knew he loved me, and that was
all that mattered.

I really wanted a shower
and a change of clothes, but my mother was just waking up and I didn’t want to
leave her. I could see Damen burying the zombie. Boy was that freaky.
I’m
not raising anyone from the dead, that’s for sure
, I thought.

I saw my mother’s eyes
fluttering and I grabbed her hand. She opened her eyes and looked around, and
then focused on me with a confused expression on her face.

“Where am I?” she asked.
“And do I know you? You remind me of my daughter! Where is my daughter?”

“It’s okay,” I said. “This
is going to be a shock, but you’ve been in a coma for fifteen years, and I’ve
just found you. It’s me, Mom. Raegan.”

As I rubbed my mother’s
hand, I knew that what I was feeling was not typical. I should have felt like
she was a stranger, but my aunt had always made me feel so loved by this woman.

“Raegan?” she said. Tears
fell from her eyes.

I flew a washcloth and bowl
of water over and began to wash her face. Then I brushed her hair.

“Who is the daughter and
who is the mother here?” she asked.

I laughed. “You are just
like Aunt Janice!”

“Has she raised you all
this time?” she asked.

“Yes, and it’s been
wonderful.”

“It’s a surprise that you
aren’t enormous. I would be if I lived with her.”

I laughed again. “Well, I
was a little heavier before I came to school here.”

“School?”

“Yes, Dr. Drake’s Science Academy.”

“Ezekiel Drake?”

“Yes. He should be here
tomorrow to check on us.”

“Oh my, I must get up and
take a shower. You do realize he is your father, right?”

“Uh, no… Aunt Janice said
my father was a crackpot in a loony bin.”

“Oh well, that was the
compulsion Michael put on her.”

“Michael, Damen’s father?”

“Yes, do you know Damen?
Michael and Maddy’s son?”

“I do! I love him!”

“You do? He must be a
special boy.”

“I can’t wait for you two
to meet each other! He should be coming soon,” I said.

“Then you need to get into
a shower. Were you in a coma, too?” she asked, pushing a greasy strand of hair
away from my forehead.

“Yes, I was, but I’ll
explain all that later.”

*
* *

After my shower, I found an
old pair of my jeans in Damen’s spare bedroom, and I pulled out a hoodie of his
from the closet. It smelled wonderful! Finally, we were going to be together,
and forever this time!

I helped my mother sit up
in the bed and drink some chicken broth. I knew she would be on a liquid diet
for a few days until her system got used to working again. I sat on the couch
waiting.

“Are you coming yet? I’m so
excited to see you and touch you!”

“Yes, little one, I’m
almost there, and Jay is with me.”

“I can’t wait!”

The door flew open of its
own accord like I’d expected it to. I could not hold it together any longer. I
jumped up and ran to the door. I let Jay pass and jumped full force up onto
Damen.

He held me tightly, like he
wasn’t going to let go again. He cradled my head into his neck, rocking me back
and forth. I could tell he was breathing me in because I was doing the same to
him.

“You have to meet my
mother!” I said. I tried to drag him into the room, but he didn’t budge.

“Rae, we need to talk.”

My stomach fluttered nervously.
Why didn’t that sound good?

“Jay?” I asked, hoping he’d
give me a hint as to what was going on.

Jay shrugged and opened his
arms to me. I walked over and gave him a huge hug. I really had missed him.
Then I pulled back my elbow and let it fly to his chin.

“What the hell was that
for?” he said.

“You know what that was
for!” I said, wincing from the pain shooting up my arm.

Damen walked up to me and
grabbed my hand, examining it. Ice and a paper towel flew over.

“That was for slugging
Damen,” I said.

Damen looked up in surprise
and snickered. “He did deserve it, Rae. But I’m gonna deserve more.”

That concerned me even
more.

Jay pulled me onto the
couch next to him and wrapped his arm around me. I thought it was odd that it
wasn’t Damen sitting next to me.

“Raegan, you know I love
you, right?” Damen asked.

“Yes, you both love me. I
know that.”

“Zach gave me some news
that I wasn’t expecting…”

“And?”

“Well, first, did your
mother tell you Ezekiel Drake…”

“Is my father? Yes, she
did. I’m still trying to figure that one out.”

“Okay, well Zach told me
he
was
my
father…”

“Huh, how can that be? You
are an Abbott Catalano Carbonel!”

“Well, we didn’t read her
whole journal. Apparently my dad had an accident and he was infertile, and Zach
donated his sperm, so he is my biological father.”

“Wait…so…soo…”

Tears welled up in my eyes,
and I felt Jay’s arm wrap around me even tighter.

“So we are both Drakes?”

“First cousins.”

“This isn’t possible. It’s
not fair!”

I saw the pain in Damen’s
eyes and felt the sorrow through our link. We switched to our mind talk.

“
You and Jay will be
happy!”

“Jay and me? What are you
talking about?”

“He loves you, and you love
him. You told me and showed me over and over again.”

He started flashing the
memories I had shown him. I hadn’t realized what those memories would look like
to him.

“Damen, Jay and I love each
other, it’s true, but we don't want each other. Both of us would be unhappy.”

“No, Jay wants you! You two
will be happy together. I’ll keep to myself.”

Tears were falling down my
cheeks rapidly now. I pushed out of Jay’s embrace and went to my mother,
slamming the door behind me. When she saw my face, she immediately jumped up
from the bed, her muscles tense and eyes narrow. I knew nothing would stop her
from protecting me.
If only she could…

“Who has made you cry like
this?” she asked.

I heard something smash in
the other room.

“What was that?”

“I don’t know. They’re
probably fighting,” I said through a sniffle.

“Tell me what has you so
upset…”

“Taylor Remington brought
Zach Drake back from the grave, and Zach told Damen that he was his son through
IVF.”

“Okay, and that means?”

“Damen and I are first
cousins!” I cried.

“Don’t cry. Don’t cry,
honey! You aren’t cousins! Zach was never Damen’s father! Maddy had a
miscarriage with the IVF baby. Zach could never get over it. When Maddy got
pregnant naturally with Michael, Zach went crazy. He believed Damen and the IVF
baby were the same baby! Maddy was one of my best friends. I’m Damen’s
godmother. Trust me, sweetie, you two aren’t related.”

“DAMENNNNN!!!”
I yelled through the link.

He was in the room in
seconds, ready to kill something or someone.

He looked around the room.
“What’s wrong?”

He walked over to me,
checking all my limbs.

“We aren’t cousins!” I
shouted. “You are a Catalano-Carbonel!”

“Is that true?”

He looked at my mom and
heard the truth through her mind.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms.
Miller, but I need to borrow your daughter.”

She smiled in agreement.

Damen swooped me off the
bed and headed for his room.

“Jay, you can leave now,”
he said as he twirled me around in circles.

“I take it you aren’t
cousins after all,” Jay said. “Hey, man, don’t make her puke. She just came out
of a coma.”

The door flew open and
Damen pointed.

“Damn, I can take a hint,”
Jay said.

While lying on the bed,
Damen wrapped one arm over me and began caressing my cheek.

“You are finally mine!” he
said.

His kisses were light and
gentle with the promise of more to come. If I hadn’t just come out of a coma and
my mother wasn’t in the room next door, I’m not sure that we could have been
trusted.

“I don’t know why I
believed a crazy zombie,” he said.

“Me neither.”

Damen jumped up from the
bed. “Wait here,” he said.

“You are leaving me
already?”

“Never. Close your eyes,
love!”

He set something light on
my stomach. I opened my eyes, and there was a blue Tiffany box again.

“You aren’t proposing at
seventeen are you? ‘Cause there is no way my mother is giving me away right
after she got me back. I’m not Bella.”

“Just open it, twi-tard.”

“HUH! That’s offensive!”

I opened the little box.
Nestled inside was the sweetest, most delicate white gold band with pave
diamonds in the shape of a heart and key. It matched my necklace.

“Raegan Ann Miller Drake –
I promise to never leave you again, unless you force me to. I promise to do
good for you and to help you always be a better person. I promise to put your
needs above my own. I love you, little sun Rae.”

My tears were spilling
over. I picked up the ring and saw an engraving on the inside. It read:
These
promises are forever and unconditional
.

“I have always loved you,
too,” I said. And nothing I have said has ever been more true.