Vision (14 page)

“Layla, I’m not here to play games. If I
wanted you dead, I would have killed you on Colonsay.” His eyebrows
rose into a diabolical arch. “On the contrary, you will be a
dynamic asset to our organization and no one will be harmed if you
obey my instructions. Now, telegraph something sweet to him so he
won’t come back because if he does he will be killed
instantly.”

Mom had been right. They wanted to use
me.

I forgot to ask if immortal souls can recover
from fatal gunshot wounds. This was not a good time not to know
this stuff, but bottom line I couldn’t risk losing him.

Goodnight, Fairchild.

Layla, are you okay? I’m headed back
over…

Don’t come back. Patrice is up. I’m drifting
to sleep. See you tomorrow.

He hesitated. Goodnight then, love.

“Okay done.” If I screamed, everyone in the
house became involved, and the last thing I wanted was for the
Brown’s to be exposed to this creep. “What instructions?” I
seethed.

Jasper’s chuckle made me taste death. “You’re
feisty. We like that! Your Mum would be so proud.”

“Don’t talk about my mother.” I seethed,
surprised by my boldness, considering he held the gun and I was in
my pajamas.

Of course he knows Mom and Colin and
Stonewall, and I wasn’t the only one in danger, yet I couldn’t stop
the sassy mouth from pushing the envelope. “Leave now or I’ll call
the cops.”

His amusement showed signs of fraying. “The
cops believe we are watching the house, dear one. Now, let’s
continue our chat, shall we? I hate wasting time. All we want is
you, Layla. Not your friends or family, you. Come with me and join
our happy group.” He stood in utter stillness, his flamboyant
delivery a contradiction to the disciplined way he appeared to
hover motionless in one spot. “Hhmm. I should clarify that wasn’t
really a question,” the devil laughed. “It’s more of a –
non-negotiable demand, or invitation, unless of course you want
everyone in your life, dead. But then you would go soon after so
there’s really no point in bloodshed. My way is win-win. The other
way is, well, just so much loss.” He gestured in the air with the
hand holding the gun.

I continued working hard to push out the
words that stuck in my impossibly dry throat. “What group?”

He shook his head making a ‘tsk tsk’ sound.
“Surely someone has told you by now?” My eyes dropped to his neck,
and while he wore a pricey designer suit, dress shirt and tie, I
could still see the red anarchy tattoo permanently etched on his
neck – the circled “A” – he neither hid nor boasted, half covered
by his collar. Colin explained Bane get this mark to identify
members.

His steel eyes held steady, unblinking and
without compromise. “You can get one of these too, dear – once you
swear fealty to the group. Regardless we need your talent, and
Andre misses you terribly.”

“Your son is a first class jerk!” A wave of
heat flushed over me.

Jasper laughed. “No, Andre is just…young and
careless. He has yet to learn control of his emotions, and his Bane
gifts are undisciplined but that will resolve in time. He sincerely
wants you and I can’t blame him. You are quite lovely – again, like
your Mum. A dazzling couple you would be – and very, very
powerful.”

“I said leave my mom out of this!” The hot
tears welling in my ducts were barely contained. Hysteria was
closing in, clutching my throat.

He shook his head. “Sorry, no can do. Liz is
– while good at her job – a…well, let’s just say she’s too involved
to be excluded, sticking her nose where she should not. So here’s
the proposition. You will live and work with us. Everyone in your
life will be unharmed, at least for now as long as they stay out of
the way.”

Fear consumed me as I stalled for time. The
reality of the situation was unfathomable. If I didn’t agree to his
terms, everyone I cared about, loved, would die. And while this was
all new to me, and while I couldn’t read the contents of Jasper’s
head, I had no reason to doubt his promise.

“What are you even talking about me doing?” I
asked, quietly.

He raised an index finger like a game show
host. “Excellent question. You will use your “powers” to help us.
Just think, Layla – dream with me, if you will. We have connections
with global leaders that will allow you to travel and be in the
same room with presidents, diplomats, prime ministers, kings and
queens. You will read minds, what you do best. You will tell us
what plans are underway – government plans, battle strategies,
weapons manufacturing. That is all I can tell you. But I will say
this: we will know in a very short time if you lie about anything
you read. If facts clash with reality, we will hold you responsible
– which circles back to the unfortunate deaths we discussed,
including yours.”

It took every ounce of will power to control
my trembling, and keep my voice from shaking. “Why me?”

His animated façade melted to cold
ambivalence. “Why not you? You are strong, youthful, unspoiled,
smart and a very powerful Clear. Perhaps the most powerful one
alive considering your ancestry.” He smiled again, if you can call
it that. “Oh lighten up, Layla. Isn’t it every girls dream to be a
double agent?”

“But what you offer is impossible. How can I
leave everyone I love? I’ll be miserable and grieving…” I didn’t
want him to see me cry, which made me cry more.

The sly grin returned. “You’ll grow
accustomed over time. Expectations in life tend to eventually match
what you are given. New people replace old ones and so forth.”

“Nothing can replace…you do bad things. You
are asking me to compromise everything I believe in.”

In the moment death would be better than his
offer.

“Perhaps, for the time. But belief systems
can change too. Layla, I’m afraid we are out of time. I will give
you three days. You will disappear with nothing but a letter
telling everyone you are fine, but not to look for you or they will
put your life in grave danger. Tell no one about tonight or your
plans. You know the consequences. Have your bags packed Friday at
midnight.”

The sobs shook my shoulders. “They know where
you live. And no matter where you take me Stuart will be there. He
will stop this, you.”

Jasper shrugged and acted bored. “We have a
new, very robust security system. And if he follows, he dies.
Goodnight, Layla. Choose wisely.”

He left out the window without a sound,
scurrying down a ladder he erected for the occasion that I had
never heard or sensed. Some Clear I was turning out to be.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Relief swept over me when I saw Stuart safe
the next morning. I had already started thinking about what needed
to be done. No one could know, and blocking my plans would require
intense concentration until Friday.

How I now hated the very life I had just
grown to love. But no lives could be lost on my account. I had to
do it, I had to go.

“Everything alright love?” He frowned as if
he knew I might try to lie.

This was going to be nearly impossible, and
if I did manage to fool him, at least I could prove good acting
skills.

I kissed him between his brows, smiling. “Oh,
last night. I was just – restless and sleepy after you left, you
know, a horrible combination, missing you the second you left.”

Despite my flirting, his eyes narrowed.
“Hhmm. Okay, well I sensed you were very anxious.” He continued
contemplating me after I broke my gaze, unable to look him in the
eye and speak untruths.

“Don’t turn paranoid on me, Fairchild,” I
teased.

This was a living hell I could not escape,
and as much as I thought about my options, the less I seemed to
have.

Class participation was purely mechanical and
the few remaining days were spent staring out the window at the
sheets of rain. There was no point. My goals were abolished with a
sweep of Jasper’s hand. My Clear skills were to be exploited by
Bane in order to keep those I cared about safe. In that regard I
didn’t mind – the thought of losing anyone was too much to bear. I
was completely trapped and fearful Bane watched my every move, and
to some extent they were – the prior security patrol outside the
Brown’s permanently replaced with Jasper’s Bane squad. Colin didn’t
know, and I couldn’t say anything.

The plan for the remaining few days developed
in my head. Thinking about what I was going to do was not an
option. Writing a note would need to be done without absorbing any
of the words, so instead of thinking about what to write and what
to pack, I practiced emptying the thoughts from my head at will –
similar to when I block people’s thoughts from intruding, only now
with intention. I remembered our time in the Botanical Gardens
while doing laundry, recited poems by Oscar Wilde while tossing
clothes in a duffle bag.

Like burnt-out torches by a sick man’s
bed

Gaunt cypress-trees stand round the
sun-bleached stone;

Here doth the little night-owl make her
throne,

And the slight lizard show his jeweled
head.

And, where the chaliced poppies flame to
red,

In the still chamber of you pyramid

Surely some Old-World Sphinx lurks darkly
hid,

Grim warder of this pleasaunce of the
dead.

Interesting choice with The Grave of
Shelley.

I shook my head back and forth, trying to
loosen up. Fearful thoughts would only raise alarm, placing lives
in danger. There wasn’t time to feel sorry for myself, or wonder if
I would see anyone again. Jasper’s arrangement had no expiration
date. When Stuart was around the focus was kissing – the one
activity that shut down my brain activity without effort, and
perhaps the last days we would be together. The cold truth that I
may never taste his lips again could not be dwelled on so I stayed
in the moment, always in the moment. I became a calculating
methodical robot like Mom, hating myself for the deception.

I faked a migraine after classes Friday.
Without the luxury of emotions, there would be no good-byes, no
closure. Nightfall approached with great anxiety that I tried to
instantly squelch before it was picked up on two continents. The
note was brief and written without even looking at the paper – I
even hummed “do do do, da da da” by The Police.

Don’t look for me, it’s dangerous. I love you
all.

On the bright side, if the whole eternity
thing was real, maybe my time with the Bane could potentially be a
drop in the bucket. It was probably in my best interest to start
viewing time void of starts and stops. People tend to place timers
on their lives – at this age I will do X, at this age, Y. Plans no
longer had purpose. Study today for this test tomorrow. Plan here
for there. Do this for that, always a cause and effect, an action
and reaction. From now on it would be about here and now, otherwise
insanity would consume me.

That was the best I could come up with.

After making excuses not to see Stuart,
claiming to be ‘lying in a darkened room with a cool rag over my
head’ I also skipped dinner, unsure eating was possible anyway, but
also to avoid interaction. The Brown’s weren’t literal mind
readers, but Sienna knew me well and Patrice had the uncanny mom
instinct teenagers found utterly annoying.

After dinner I heard Sienna talking to Stuart
on her phone through the door. She was speaking low but I could
read their conversation fine. He was worried, she was reassuring.
He suggested coming by anyway, she said I was resting and probably
couldn’t move from the migraine. He asked Sienna to ‘keep an eye on
me’ and she agreed to do just that. And when my heart started
aching, physically aching from the pain of leaving them behind, I
stopped it immediately, knowing a pity party would transmit
disaster signals.

The midnight text to my personal cell read,
‘Car downstairs waiting.’

Super, now I’m texting with Bane.

I tucked my private cell to Mom deep in my
duffle, hoping they wouldn’t find it. Without much thought given to
an exit strategy, I contemplated whether I should leave out the
window, the front door or the back door. The window would be tricky
without Stuart’s help, and the front door may bring attention. If I
headed to the back door and anyone heard me walk that direction,
they would sleepily assume I was going to the kitchen.

Floors tend to creak more when you’re
sneaking out but thankfully no one woke, and I walked away from the
Brown’s toward the waiting car with enough angst to fill a small
country.

Behind the dark tinted windows of the sedan
my future waited to carry me to an ugly place. As I approached, I
thought of something that had not previously occurred to me.
Jasper’s story could be fabricated and I could be walking into a
death trap. He said he wanted to use me, not kill me but seriously?
Had I on some level actually believed those words?

What a bloody freaking bloody freaking
idiot.

If this were the end, I would never know if
Jasper’s Bane thugs had truly stayed away from Stuart et al. I
would die with an empty, broken heart, and tons of regret. I doubt
my soul would return again.

“Hi, Layla.”

Andre. He had sent Andre alone to get me.
Well not exactly alone. There was a driver and some big burly bald
dude in the front seat. But in the backseat, just Andre and me.

Just freaking brilliant, Layla.

“Andre,” I said coldly not meeting his eyes,
“Long time no see.”

The smirk on his face like I was some sort of
victory needed to be smacked off but I lacked motivation. I did
look over my shoulder as we drove off in time to see Stuart leap
through the air, through my window like a night shadow, my heart
stopping forever knowing within seconds he would read the note and
realize I was gone.

Layla!
I heard him silently cry out,
the agonizing sound of the final coffin nail.