Chasing Power (Hidden Talents) (17 page)

“Oh sure,” Audrey said, “The further from puberty that a Talent goes through transition, the more likely they are going to go crazy.  The brain can’t take the pressure and implodes.  Didn’t they tell you?”

“No.”  Sam glared at Lane, who cleared his throat and looked down, “They did not.”

“It didn’t really come up...” Lane said, “I mean, there’s so much going on.”

“Argument for another time, guys, ‘cause I’m going to be late.  Look, if there’s one thing I’ve learned as a detective, it’s that the key’s in the loose ends.  Your father is the one glaring loose end left in your life.  At least, the one
breathing
loose end.  You need to see him.”

 Sam grumbled to herself about presumptuous and bossy teenagers who thought they knew everything.  But Al, Lane, and Harry were nodding like this girl was the Second Coming of investigatory brilliance.  Sam could see she wasn’t going to win the argument—at least, not while this girl was around.

“If nothing else, you can probably look up his medical records and doctor’s notes.  You’re his only surviving relative after all, right?  That oughta give you some rights.”

Mostly right.  Sam thought she might have an aunt or two in the south, but they’d never come forward to claim her so she assumed they were out of the picture.

“And with that, you can go.  And hurry—I’m going to be late for school.  You can leave the dishes.”

Obligingly, everyone stood up and started clearing the table.  They’d grabbed their bags and were halfway out the door when Audrey cleared her throat, “Actually, Lane?  I need to talk to you in private.”

#

Lane halted mid-step, hoisting his backpack to his shoulders.  Sam looked at him pointedly and he shrugged.

“Hello, I said private!”  Audrey said.

Al and Harry exchanged looks and left.  Sam was last to go, clearly reluctant.  When the door finally slid shut, Audrey didn’t waste time getting down to brass tacks.  She grabbed her cane, slid her sunglasses on, and pulled a chair out, gesturing for him to sit.

“Look, you like Sam, right?  I mean,
like
like her?”

“Yeah, I mean, I guess so.”  Why did he suddenly feel like he was back in high school? 

 “Cute.  That’s great and all, but from here on out, she’s off-limits.”

“What?  Why?”  Not that he hadn’t reached the same conclusion.  It seemed wrong to further romantic intentions with someone who needed your help.  But it also rankled to be bossed around by someone almost ten years his junior.  Audrey turned from him, opening the fridge and starting to feel around on the shelves.  

“Beyond the obvious fact that complicated relationship issues and road trips don’t really mix, my dreams last night involved a lot more than vague omens of danger.”

“What?  What do you mean?  Something happens to us?”

“No.”  Audrey paused, hand on a paper bag, and pulled it out.  She turned to face him, “Something happens to Samantha:
You
.  You’re going to betray her, Lane, in a big way.  And she’s going to die as a direct result.”

“No.”  Lane shook his head, “Are you saying you think I’m going to kill her?”

“No, not exactly—things happen, the way they go down, though, that’s what kills her.”  Grabbing her own backpack from off the counter, Audrey zipped it open and slipped her lunch in.

“Are you absolutely certain these things are going to happen?”

With a little huff of breath, Audrey slammed her foot down.  “Nothing is set in stone, that’s why I do what I do.  But you don’t know where things are going to go wrong.  You don’t know how life twists on you.  The world has a tendency to turn back to worst case scenario because you bought decaf coffee instead of regular.”

“If I know what to be on guard for, though, I can make sure it doesn’t happen.”

“The best bet is to cut it off clean, now.  Lane, of all the nightmares I had last night, in at least three of them you betrayed Samantha, and the last one was—” Audrey shuddered, “—terrible.  I recommend you leave.  Let Al and Harry take her the rest of the way.”

“I can’t do that.  I’m the only one around capable of helping her through her transition.  I made her a promise.”

Audrey shrugged, “Break it.”  Classic teenager.  If only the answer were that simple.

But if he left now, he’d confirm every terrible misconception Sam had ever had about mankind.  And she needed his help.  If he left, maybe he couldn’t betray her, but who was to say something else wasn’t going to happen, something even more terrible he could prevent by being there?  No, he’d made a promise.  And he kept his promises, god help him.

“Are you going to tell her?”

Audrey sighed, “Let’s see, I tell her, she bolts.  She goes to Mexico or Canada.  Changes her name, maybe gets a job.  Then one day she goes to buy milk and winds up with a bag over her head, thrown in the back of a truck and dead in a ditch somewhere.  Sounds like a great idea.”

“I take it that’s a no?”

“Yes that’s a no.  But my recommendation stands.  At the risk of sounding cliché, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

#

“What did she say?” Sam asked as Lane came out into the hallway.

“Nothing much,” he said, “Just, you know, vague oracle-type stuff.  But it was kind of personal.”

Sam stared at him flatly for a long time, silent.  Al stood at the foot of the stairs, “Hey, guys, we’d like to leave today, if possible.  Are you coming?”

“Yes,” Lane said, “I certainly am.”

Chapter
14

The stripes of the road rolled by, hypnotic.  Lane struggled not to watch them.  There was nothing else to look at right now.  They were on the I-5, the freeway that would be blazing north, taking them towards Seattle and Sam’s father.  Scattered oak trees populated the rolling hills on either side of the freeway, gnarled and twisted.  The kind of trees that would have called to him as a kid: “Climb me, climb me!”  Now they just looked like broken bones and scraped hands waiting to happen.  Observation at the ER tended to sap the fun out of most activities.  He’d never look at a trampoline the same way again.

A minivan cut him off, the dad driving flipping him off: “Pick a lane!”

Oh, crap!  Lane yanked the SUV back into the left lane, realizing he’d been riding the middle of two lanes.  He overcompensated and ran up onto the gravel of the shoulder before correcting and finally putting the car back where it belonged.

He was starting to fall into a trance.  Since he was driving, he guessed this wasn’t a good thing.  Behind him, Harry snored softly, an open science fiction book in his lap.  Al leaned against the windshield, eyes half closed as he listened to his MP3 player; comfortable in that Zen mode he fell into while “watching” the car.

That left only one person to talk to.  Probably the person he most wanted to talk to.  But after this morning she’d steadfastly ignored him.  She’d been polite but non-engaged in typical Samantha fashion.  Lane sighed.  He’d been this close to kissing her last night.  Only good sense had prevented him from moving forward.  Had she sensed that?  Is that why she was pulling away?  Or was it something else?  He was a frickin’ empath, and girls still managed to confuse him.

His gaze slid over to her, where she sat primly.  Her feet were tucked under the seat, her hands curled on her lap, her head tilted back slightly.  She looked like an entombed Ice Princess.  Providing she was actually asleep.

He gently reached out to her, testing.  She’d taken to building shields with incredible skill, but he had more experience than she had.  He could still pick up the distinct stirrings of emotion that signaled she was awake.

“I felt that,” Samantha grumbled.

She was getting better with the mental stuff.  Lane didn’t bother denying.  “Are you awake?”
Samantha mumbled something along the lines of, “I’m not going to dignify that with a response.”

“I’m bored.  If you don’t want us to crash and perish in a fiery inferno, it’s best you open your sleepy eyes and entertain me.”

After a long moment, Sam pulled an eye open, “What do you want to talk about?”

“I don’t know.  Ask me a question.”

 “OK.  What did Audrey tell you when you two were alone?”

Oh.  He’d vaulted right into that one.  Sam brought her legs up under her chin, assuming a more casual pose, but it didn’t fool Lane.  Her attention was zeroed in on him, and his answer.

“She warned me.”  Lane decided to go for the half-truth.  “She caught on that you and I—and she told me road trips and relationships don’t mix.”

“Smart girl.”

“Yes, but she doesn’t have all of the information.”

“She’s not the only one,” Samantha answered primly.  The glance she sent him was clear in its meaning: she knew he was dodging.  And now she was going to be more suspicious than ever.  Wonderful.  One step forward, two steps back.  Lane turned his attention back to the road, calling it a tactical retreat.

#

Sam carefully maintained her block.  She didn’t want the group to know how frustrated she was.  Lane, specifically.  What had that little charade been about?  She wasn’t empathic or whatever Lane was, but more than four years of life in foster homes had made lie detection a survival mechanism.  Lane was lying.  Audrey had told him something important, but he didn’t want to share it with her.  He might think he was doing it for her own good, but it was Sam’s right to make those decisions for herself.  She didn’t need a man swooping in and dictating her life when she had been handling it perfectly well up until now. 

This
, she told herself,
is why it’s smart that I’ve decided to keep my distance. 
Schoolgirl crushes had no place in the real world when there were real lives at stake.  It was better to pound that into her brain now, before she went and did something really stupid.

Al leaned over the seat, startling Sam out of her reverie, “Where’s your dad being kept, anyways?”

“Al,” Lane warned, “This may not be—”

Sam’s eyes narrowed dangerously, but Al barreled on, unheeding, “Because if we’re going to drop in on him, we need to know now, so we can set a course.”

“We’re not going to see my father.”

They did it again.  That oh-so-annoying exchange of looks between Al and Lane that very patronizingly said, ‘Here we go again.’

“No, no we aren’t,” Samantha said, “I said no and that’s it.  That’s the end of the argument.”

“I don’t think so,” Lane said, “You heard Audrey.  It’s important we go see your father.”

“You said it yourself, Audrey doesn’t have all of the information,” Sam said calmly.  But her knuckles were white.  She couldn’t see her father.  She had spent the majority of her life quite successfully avoiding any thought or mention of him.  Seeing her father when she was already feeling mentally and physically unstable would be a disaster.

“Sam, seeing as our lives are also at risk here, I think we all get a say in how we proceed,” Al said.

“This is ludicrous!  Don’t I even get a vote?”

“Of course you get a vote.  But it’s still three against one,” Harry piped up.  He’d sure chosen to speak up at an inconvenient moment.

“Damn your logic.”  Sam turned her head to the window and took a deep breath.  God, democracy sucked sometimes.

#

“Dude, I’m not eating at Lucky’s again.  No way.”

“Al, it’s the only place to eat at this po-dunk little town.  Unless you want Tic-Taco,” Harry said.

“That’s why I think we should drive to the next po-dunk little town.  We had Lucky’s for lunch today and lunch yesterday.  I’m not eating here again.  You know, I have dietary requirements I have to meet.”

“Oh, here we go again with the dietary requirements.  Get the chicken nuggets!”  Harry snapped.

“I’ve
been
getting the nuggets!  And I don’t think
those
are all that great either.  Who knows what they fry them in?  Or if they’re even really chicken.”

Lane turned to Sam, “You hungry?”

She nodded.  Knowing she would most likely be snide if she spoke out loud, Sam decided it was prudent to make as little conversation as possible.

“Why don’t you go get yourself some food?  They’ll probably be bickering for a while.”

The cell rang and Lane flipped it open to answer, waving Sam into the restaurant.  Grumbling, Sam complied. ‘Sam, do this, Sam, do that.  Sam, listen to us, we know what’s best...’ She wasn’t too thrilled with Lucky’s herself.  She couldn’t remember the last time her body had been forced to digest so much saturated fat.  She was actually starting to miss her strict diet of peanut butter for lunch and canned whatever for dinner.  Looking over the menu, she decided on a chicken-something salad, which was exactly healthy enough to justify getting two hot apple pie pockets and an extra large Dr. Pepper.  She’d just placed her order when Lane popped his head through the door.

“Sam?” he said, “Get out here.  Right now.”

Sam huffed to herself.  She would not stamp her foot.  She would not stamp her foot.

“
Now
.”  The added depth and pull to the words gave Sam a sense of urgency.  Lane was using his influence to try and goad her into obeying.  Seething, she stormed towards him.  It was time she set the record straight once and for all: she was not to be bullied, pushed, or prodded any more.  She’d just opened her mouth to deliver what she was certain would be a cutting put-down when she saw a massive, orange and yellow ball of fire blooming out from a car on the other side of the parking lot.