The Mind Keepers (The Mind Readers) (7 page)

“What are you saying?” I
demanded, using what little strength I had left to sit upright. The room spun,
but I ignored it. Giving my body attention would only make it real. I would not
lose control of my body and my mind. Not again. “You no longer think this is a
dream?”

He shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s
something more.”

I didn’t want to dwell on his
words, but my aunt’s voice came wavering back to me.

“It’s you, Nora. You have been chosen to be the next carrier of the
source.”

“Damn it.” When my mother had
been alive, when she had been the carrier, Cameron had been next in line. But
her death had shifted the power to my aunt, and indirectly to me. Me. I tucked
my feet underneath me and stood. Obviously, Cameron still had her abilities,
but they must have been coming from her father.

Why? Why had the universe picked
me? I didn’t want the extra energy. I didn’t crave world domination like my
dear dad. Hell, I hadn’t even been trained for the power. Yet I was next in
line to inherit the source, whether I wanted it or not. And so I guess it all
made sense…why I could mind travel. Why my brain felt fuzzy. Why I could sense
things I hadn’t before.

I slid a glance Maddox’s way. He
leaned against the wall, watching me warily. This was different than Cameron’s
spying jaunts. I was actually bringing Maddox’s energy, his soul, whatever it
was, with me.

Frustrated, I paced the room,
stretching my stiff legs. Everything was a damn mess. Throughout my entire life,
I’d known I wasn’t the special one. I’d accepted it long ago. I was the warrior
in the family, the one who protected others. A guard. Brute strength and all of
that. But now, Aunt Lyndsey was telling me that I would one day carry the
source.
 
I’d be a leader. It was a bit
much to take in. I paused near the door.

The sad thing was that I wasn’t
sure which was more shocking, the fact that I would one day carry the source,
or that I was actually here, with Maddox. Annoyed, I turned to face him. Still
way too sexy for his own good, even half-dead. Why? Why was I doing this? Why
was I bringing him to me when I couldn’t even hear his name without flinching?

“I want out!” My voice echoed
sharply against the hard walls.

“That helps,” he said dryly.

“Please,” I snarled. “Like you
want to be stuck here with me anymore than I do you.”

He settled on a bench along the
wall and grinned. “Actually, you’re much better than the wardens. Prettier,
too.”

His flattery got him nowhere.
Still, I could imagine what he was going through. I could, but I wouldn’t let
myself. “Poor you. Sucks when your own people, the very people you trusted,
betray you.”

He stretched out his legs and
crossed them at the ankles. There was no guilt on his face. “Don’t worry, I
don’t expect you to feel sorry for me.”

I narrowed my eyes. “And why
would I?”

“Well, even if we dismiss our
past, you’re a woman. And most people expect women to be kind, gentle, caring.
But you aren’t most women, are you?”

A laugh escaped my lips before I
could stop it. “Kind, gentle?” Disconcerted, I turned my back to him, and I followed
the walls, running my hands over the cement. There had to be a way out. “A
myth, brought on by men.”

He sighed. “Or maybe a wish.”

Damn it all, I didn’t want to
feel sorry for him, but falling into our easy banter was making my reserves
crumble. I peeked over my shoulder. He’d closed his eyes and rested his head
back against the wall. Hell, he looked defeated. “How many women have you known
that were sympathetic?”

“Certainly not you.”

His words stung even as I
realized that in our line of business, no one was warm and friendly. We were
all reserved, untrusting. We had to be. “And why should I have any sympathy for
the man who picked S.P.I. over me?”

He released a wry laugh. “You
were so innocent? Let’s not forget that you were out to use me.”

“Before I knew you!”

He opened his eyes. “And that
makes a difference?”

“It makes all the difference.”

We were silent for a long, long
moment, both of us stewing in our righteous anger. He knew our situations were
completely different. How dare he act as if we’d done the same thing. Yet,
there was a part of me that wondered if my aunt was right? What if Maddox
hadn’t turned me in? More importantly, did it matter?

“You have me defined?” he asked
softly.

It was as if
he
could read
my
mind. Did he know I was questioning every damn thing in my life
at the moment? Probably, he’d always seemed to know me better than I knew
myself. “It’s pretty easy to read you, Maddox. You lived for S.P.I., and you’ll
die for them. Even though they have betrayed you, you’ll give your life for
them. You chose the wrong side. You chose the enemy.”

“According to you.”

My anger flared, and unable to
stop myself, I stomped toward him. “According to what’s right and wrong.”

“And you’re so sure you’re
right?”

I threw my arms wide. “You’re
the proof, Maddox. You, in your cell.”

Top of his class, I knew he
wasn’t stupid. Which meant he was so damn stubborn, he wouldn’t admit I was
right. This was bullshit. I was finding a way out of here even if I had to kill
myself doing it. I spun around and started toward the door.

“My half-sister and brother are
the proof.”

“You know about them?” he asked.

“Yeah, I do.” I paused, the
sudden tightness in my chest unbearable. I hadn’t actually known them, so why
did I care? Because they were children, just children, and like so many others
they didn’t deserve to be used because of S.P.I.’s sick addiction to power. “Just
tell me they died peacefully.”

“They did.”

He hadn’t even paused, but I
knew him well, too well. “Liar.”

I stared hard at the door. It would
be so easy to open it and jump. I couldn’t die, right? I mean, it wasn’t my
physical body that was here, just my energy, my soul. If there was one thing I
remembered from science class it was that energy couldn’t be destroyed.
 

“Maybe,” Maddox said softly and
slowly. “Maybe I’m not the monster you think I am.”

I released a wry laugh, not
daring to face him, because there was a part of me that wondered if he was
right. “I think I know you pretty well.”

“And how the hell do you think
you escaped, Sweetheart?”

His words were spoken softly,
but I still heard them. More mind games, or was he actually going to tell me
the truth? I took in a deep, trembling breath. Despite wanting to ignore him, I
had to know. “What do you mean?”

“You think it was serendipity
that the door to your cell was unlocked? A coincidence that the guard near the
fence was gone? Dumb luck that they didn’t even know you had escaped until an
hour after?”

My heart slammed wildly against
my ribcage, denying what he said. Maddox had made it possible for me to escape.
No, it wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. Slowly, I turned to face him, but I could
read nothing, for he hid within the shadows. Always a mystery. “What are you implying?”

“I think you know what I’m implying.”

Neither of us spoke. Years of
anger fought with the truth. He was claiming he’d helped me escape, but I
couldn’t believe that. My heart wouldn’t let me. He’d broken my soul once, he
wouldn’t do it again.

“The scar,” he said softly,
almost gently. “Your scar.”

I automatically reached up to
the line along the back of my head.

“You said it was a skiing
accident. When I started working for S.P.I. and saw some of the procedures, I
started to question your response. I realized—”

“You set me up,” I hissed.

“No.” He shook his head, looking
more serious than I’d seen him look in a long while. “I didn’t.”

“But you stayed,” I said, the
words an accusation. “If you really wanted to help me, why stay?”

“Why do you think?”

No, no more half-answers. No
more beating around the bush. I started toward him, but the intense pain in my
head brought me up short. I cried out, stumbling. Suddenly he was there,
wrapping a muscled arm around my waist, his touch so familiar that I
automatically sank into him. He led me toward the bench, and because I couldn’t
escape the pain, I let him.

“You okay, Nora?” he cupped the
sides of my face, forcing me to look at him. The familiarity of his touch, his
scent, the tone of his voice swept through me, warm and inviting. And it was
easy, so damn easy to fall into those gray eyes, that gaze so concerned, so
caring…I almost believed him.
 

But I couldn’t, damn it all, I
couldn’t let myself fall for him. Not again. “Maddox, I—”

“You have to believe me.” His
gaze slid from my eyes to my lips, and I lost my train of thought. I knew what
would happen, but I didn’t pull away. When he tilted my head back and lowered
his lips to mine, I merely closed my eyes. Just once. Just one more kiss…

“Nora?”
someone called to me, the interruption like a bucket of ice
water dumped over my head.

I jerked away from Maddox,
searching for the owner of the voice. I didn’t want to leave. Okay, I didn’t
want to leave Maddox. But it wasn’t because he’d just been about to kiss me.
No, I had to know the truth before I left, because who knew if I’d be back. Desperate,
I faced him once more. “Tell me.”

“What?”

“What did you do? How did I
escape?”

“Nora,”
that voice called again, pulling at me like a rope tied
around my waist.

“Maddox,” I pleaded.

He parted his lips to respond,
the words coming out muffled, inaudible.

“Maddox?” But the room began to
fade. I tried to reach out, but my body was gone. Maddox shimmered away, along
with the virtual reality I’d somehow created.

“No!” I tried to surge forward,
but he disappeared. Gone. The bench, the room, everything disappeared while I
floated in an inky world of nothingness. “Maddox!”

“…need to leave soon…”
Cameron’s voice wavered in and out of
focus as I fought my way through the cloud of unconsciousness. Where was she?
Why couldn’t I see her?

“You can’t just run in there
without knowing the facts, especially when she needs time to gain her strength,
get used to her powers,” my aunt replied.

They were arguing about
something. I tried to concentrate, tried to forget Maddox. Slowly, ever so
slowly, I felt my consciousness begin to take form, a thickening of matter, the
weight of my body pulling me down. I cracked my lids just enough to see the
ceiling. It was darker, dusk crawling across the walls. For a long moment I
just lay there, not speaking, not moving, attempting to understand what had
happened, what was reality and what was dream.
 

“I’ve been there,” Cameron
replied, hovering near the windows with arms crossed, that stubborn look upon
her face a familiar and welcome sight. “As a visitor and as a prisoner.”

I understood now why I’d been
pulled back. They were talking about Maddox and the compound where he was kept.
I understood, but it didn’t make it any easier to accept. I wanted to sink back
into sleep, to find Maddox within that unconscious reality and demand answers.

But Cameron was on a warpath. She
couldn’t go there alone, she would need my help. More than ever I was
determined to find Maddox—the real and solid Maddox—and get the truth once and
for all. I started to shift, but my body ached like I had the flu, and a groan
slipped unheeded from my lips.

“Nora?” Cameron rushed to my
side, her brows drawn together in sisterly concern. “Are you okay?” When I
didn’t immediately answer, she settled on the bed next to me and pressed her
hand to my forehead. The slight jarring of the mattress sent my world spinning.

I shoved aside her hand, her
touch only making the ache worse. Even the air hurt my skin. “What is it? What
happened?”

“You fainted.”

I stiffened, my pain almost forgotten
in my shock. “I don’t faint.”

“You did this time, Sweetheart,”
my aunt said wryly.
 

Sweetheart.
The word reminded me of Maddox. I glanced around the
room, confused. “How long?” My voice came out husky, while my body felt heavy,
not my own. What had happened to me? The source. I knew without doubt it was
the source taking over my body like a damn virus. I resisted the urge to
shiver.

“About forty minutes.”

I managed to sit up with
Cameron’s help. Forty minutes, I’d been out for forty minutes. But no, not just
out. I’d been with Maddox. If I truly had these new powers, if I could truly
mind travel, then that meant I’d truly been with Maddox.

“How long will it take for her
to get used to the abilities?” Cameron asked our aunt.

She just shrugged, ever helpful.

Cameron frowned, returning her
gaze to me. “I was born this way,” she said. “Guess that’s why I didn’t go
through all this.”

“Lucky me,” I muttered.

“Your body just needs to get acclimated
to the power,” my aunt explained, settling in the gingham pink and white chair
near the window. “I was the same way the first couple months.”

“You all right?” Cameron
whispered, ignoring our aunt.

“Your sister here,” Aunt Lyndsey
started, “thinks we are going into the compound, guns blazing.”

Cameron rolled her eyes. I knew
the look well; Aunt Lyndsey was annoying her as much as me. Cameron was hoping
for my support, and she’d get it. “Aunt Lyndsey, can you, um, get me some water
or something?”

She lifted a brow, the smirk
upon her face indicating she knew exactly what I was asking: Can you leave me
and Cameron alone so we can talk in private? Sorry auntie dear, but I trusted
you about as much as I trusted Maddox. I waited until she finally left the
room, waited until she was so far away I could barely sense her energy. Only
then did I speak.