Hero Reborn (Keepers of Justice, Book 3) (24 page)

Kale
puts his hand on my shoulder.

“But I kinda felt like something was missing, you know?” I continue. “Now I know they gave me up. I get why they did it, but I guess I would have wanted to know where I came from. I don’t know how I feel about it, honestly. I can’t resent them for giving me a good life with the Keepers.”

Kale and X smile a bit. Then Kale’s expression changes. “Oh, man. You went into the president’s dream.”

“Yeah…”

He gets up and marches around the room. “If we go with you into his dream again, maybe we can talk to him.”

“What?!”
             

“And convince him to take the cure and all the normies will follow him.”

“WHAT? We can’t just pop into his dream unannounced and demand things from him!”

“You’re his kid, man!”’

“It’s not like he’ll recognize me!”

Kale opens his mouth, then shuts it.

X gets up and he paces, too. “Your father cares about you,” he says. “He’s most likely been watching your growth.”

He thinks the president’s been checking up on me?
That means he and his wife still care and didn’t forget me. “You think Samson and Cindy know?”

X shrugs. Kale doesn’t seem to know, either.

X says, “We enter the president’s dream. You tell them you’re his son, Stretch. And you tell him about the cure.”

“But no one trusts the Keepers,” I say. “We’re the world’s number one enemy. He won’t want anything to do with me.”

“You’re his kid. He’ll listen to you,” Kale says.

I don’t know about this. It can’t work.
Can it? “Vlayne’s got her hold on him,” I say. “How can we change his mind when you and the telepaths couldn’t?”

Kale claps me on the back. “That’s why we have you. You can bypass that hold.”

“And then what? If she’s controlling his mind, how are we so sure I can convince him to do anything? What if all I can do is just enter his dream?”

They’re quiet as they think. “You’re right,” X says. “It’s possible that no matter what we tell him, he might be programmed to refuse.”

We all fall back against the wall. Back to square one. Crap.             

“Damn her,” X mutters, clenching his fist. “
Damn her
.”

Kale holds up a finger. “You know, when the telepaths and I tried tonight, we almost made it through. We passed through many doors and walls, but couldn’t get past the strongest one at the end. Maybe through Stretch, the wall can be broken. Maybe because of his power. Maybe because he’s the president’s son and shares his DNA.” His eyes shine as something hits him. “It’s like when I got my mom out of her coma. Her mind let me in and not the other telepaths because we share brain waves. Maybe the same could happen with Stretch.”

My entire body perks up. “You think?”

“I’m pretty sure. What do you think, X?”

He stares at the wall, like he’s deep in thought. “I agree with Kale.” His lips lift a tiny bit. “I think we found a solution to our problem. With the help of Stretch, the telepaths might be able to push Vlayne’s hold off the president. They could put a new shield, blocking her out.”

“Then we tell him to take the cure and the normies will follow!” I can’t stop the excitement from leaping off my body. “How are we so sure the telepaths can place a new hold on the president’s mind through my dream?”

X says, “I’m sure they can, just like Kale can erase their memory. But they can’t do it without you.”

It makes sense. I’m like the password.

“This is awesome! Let’s go tell my parents.”

I peer at the clock. “It’s almost
four in the morning.”

Kale waves his hand. “Pssh. Trust me. They’d want to be woken up to news like this.”

Kale sends his parents the message. Less than five minutes pass before they call us to their office. Kale wastes no time updating them on what we found. When he mentions the president and First Lady being my parents, they look more surprised than the three of us.

“You didn’t know?”
I ask.

“No,” Cindy says. “You were dropped off with no note
or information.”

It
pisses me off a little, but I kind of understand. I know they really loved me and did what they thought was best for me. I wouldn’t trade my life in the Tower for anything.

Kale tells them about our plan to go into the president’s dream with me and all the telepaths and try to remove Vlayne’s hold. Samson says, “We’re not one hundred percent sure this will be a success.”

“We don’t have many options,” X says.

“It worked on y
ou when you were in a coma, Mom.”

Cindy nods. “You’re right. It did.”

“Then let’s do it!

Samson holds up his hand. “We need to think this through carefully. The president may not trust us. We need you, Andrew, to talk to him first and earn his trust.”

“Yeah,” Kale says. “That’s what we were thinking. The president will listen to Stretch because he’s his kid.”

“And after he earns his trust, I as well as the other telepaths will push Vlayne’s hold off and place a new one,” Cindy says. “
Through Stretch, the hold may be so strong Vlayne will have a difficult time breaching it.”

“
Then what?” I ask.

“Then we meet with the president and
give him the antidote. With Vlayne’s hold no longer on him, we hope the humans will accept the cure as well.”

“Cool,” Kale says. “When are we doing this?”

“We’ll need to meet with the others and discuss this further. Dismissed.”

On our way to our room
, Kale holds up his hand for a high five. X and I slap it. “This is going to be awesome,” Kale says. “Imagine Vlayne’s shock when she realizes the president is no longer in her control.”

“She’s got to learn that nobody messes with the Keepers,” I say. “Outsmarting her is, like, the best feeling in the world.”

X nods. “She’s done hurting normies.”

***

We’re going into President Ashford’s dream tonight. Samson and Cindy need to gather the telepaths and we have to wait until after midnight. Kale’s parents suggested we take naps, but I can’t sleep. The only thing I manage to do is stuff my face with almost everything in the fridge.

I know I’ll have my friends and leaders with me, but…I’ll be speaking to my dad. My biological da
d. What if he wants nothing to do with me? He gave me up. True it was to protect me, but I don’t want to crash into his new life and screw it up.

I
go to Furball’s room. “Hi.”

She pats the spot next to her on the bed.
“Hi.”

I
sit down and take her in my arms.

“You’re shaking,” she says
. “Is everything okay?”

I tighten my arms around her. “No. I’m really nervous.”

She pulls off. “To see your dad?”

“I’ve seen him a few
times, but he’s never seen me. Am I stupid for being nervous?”

Her
eyes soften as she strokes the side of my face. It sends shivers all over my body. “It’s totally normal to be nervous. He’s your biological dad. You share his blood and genes. There’s this whole part of you that you don’t know. I’d be scared, too.”

“Yeah. But there’s more. What if
I can’t convince him to take the cure? I mean, Cindy won’t allow us to control him without his permission, would she?”

“I don’t know. It’s not like her to do that, but maybe she’d bend her rules to save the
normies.”

I stare at the wall as I think about it. She’s right. Cindy would only force the president to take the cure if it’s a last resort. I don’t want her to have to force him. I want to talk him into it. But what if
I can’t?

Furball touches my chin, tilting my head so our eyes meet. “You’ll do great, Stretch.
You’re brave and smart.”

That makes me smile. “
T-thanks! You’re awesome, Kelly. Really, you are.”

Her face gets deep red.
“I like when you call me Kelly.”

“I like
when you call me Stretch.”

She gazes at the wall, like she’s deep in thought.
“What you’re doing—going into the president’s dream—is it dangerous?”

“
Um…it could be. If Vlayne senses us in the president’s head, I guess she could fry our brains or something.”

“No!” She pushes against my chest. “You
can’t
die again.”

“
It’s going to be okay, Kelly. Many telepaths are coming along. They’ll protect us.”

“But there’s still a chance something could go wrong.”

“Yeah. There’s always a chance.”

She thrashes against my chest again. “Why
do you have to go? Why can’t someone else do it? I don’t want to lose you again.”

I press my nose to her hair and breathe in her sweet Furball scent. “It’s gotta be me because
I’m the only one who can bypass Vlayne’s telepathic hold.”

She doesn’t say anything
.

“Do you see how important it is?” I ask. “To save all the humans?”

Her eyes fill with tears.

I
hug her. “Please don’t cry. I can’t do this if you’re so upset.”

She wipes her eyes. “Can you blame me for being upset?”

I kiss her cheek. “I’m gonna be okay.”

She turns her head and her mouth meets mine. She kisses me hard and long.
I’m so thrown off that I pull away immediately. But then I kiss her back, shoving the worry out of my head and burying myself in this kiss. In this awesome, amazing feeling that I never knew existed.

Furball pulls off. Her eyes are red and sad.

“The first thing I’m gonna do when I come back is run to you,” I tell her. “Promise.”

She forces a small smile.
“I’ll wait for you.”

I lie down with her in my arms. Snuggle her close. Holding a girl is the best
thing in the world. We don’t have to kiss. All we gotta do is be with each other. It’s weird to think that had I not died, we wouldn’t be like this right now. She’d probably be growling her teeth at me and I’d be thumping basketballs on her head and sneezing on her.

It’s also weird to think that had the League not been attacked, we wouldn’t be this close. I’d be dreaming about my first kiss with her instead of experiencing it.

If Lightning wouldn’t have killed me, I wouldn’t have been resurrected and I wouldn’t have this new power.

I guess something good always comes out of something bad.

“I’m really proud of you,” Furball says. “I know I keep saying it, but you’re so brave.”

“No. I’m a wimp.”

She lightly slaps my chest. “Stop calling yourself that. Do you want me to make a list of all the brave things you did?”

“Sure. Boost my ego some more.”

She slaps me again, making me cough. Turning onto her side, she gazes into my eyes. “I really love you, you know.”

My whole body gets so hot. “I love you more.”

“Sure.”

She traces her finger across my shoulder blades, down my chest, to my arms. It tickles and I tremble, trying to hold in my laughter.

“You’re cute when you’re ticklish,” she says.

I move my hand to her stomach and dig my fingers in it. She rolls into a fit of laughter. “Stop. Stop!”

I don’t. I just dig harder, prompting more giggles from her. She pulls my hands off and sits up. “Hey. You haven’t been entering my dreams.”

I grin. “Yeah, I guess it’s ‘cuz I’ve been trying so hard not to think about you before falling asleep. Maybe I’ll have better control one day so I won’t have to keep doing that.”

“Thanks. You also haven’t been sneezing.”

Yeah. And my nose isn’t itchy. I beam at her. “The more time I spend with you, the more my body understand
s how much I love and need you and can’t bear to be apart from you.”

She snorts, then smiles widely. “You say the goofiest things. But I love them.” She encircles me in her arms. “Don’t die again, okay?”

I rest my head on hers. “I won’t. Promise.”

“Andrew, ready?” Cindy asks.

We’re
gathered in an abandoned subway station. It’s dark, dirty, and smelly. Cindy brought blankets and sleeping bags for us to lie down in. She rests her hand on my arm. “Take as long as you need, but remember: each second we waste will only put the humans in greater danger.”

She’s right. I can’t be selfish. “I’m ready.
I can do this.”

There are ten of us altogether. Samson, Cindy, Scar, Kale, X, me, and four
other telepaths. We settle in our sleeping bags and the telepaths begin connecting everyone. It feels stronger than when Kale did it. It’s like we share one body, their energy flowing through me.