Legacy

The
Ganzfield
Series

Minder

Adversary

Legacy

Accused
(August 2011)

For Mom and Olin

Dear Reader,

Legacy
is the third book in the Ganzfield series and, unless you put down
Adversary
yesterday, you might need a few reminders. I love reading book series, but often the first chapters in the later books are either slowed by the constant intrusion of reminders or confusing because there aren’t enough of them. I know there
’s
a fine line between, “I know all this already!” and “Who’s
that
guy, and how did he set that thing on fire?” I hope this refresher gives you what you need.

Previously, at Ganzfield…

GANZFIELD

Ganzfield is a secret training facility near North Conway, New Hampshire. A few months ago, an attack killed about half of the people living there, and the second book ended as a group was heading back to re-open it. Williamson’s office is in the main building, along with the dining hall and the library. Across the way, Blake House holds a bunch of classrooms, girls’ dorm rooms, and the infirmary. Maddie and Trevor live in the old church that sits back in the woods. The sparks sleep in a cluster of fireproof cottages at the edge of the lake. Other houses and cabins dot the property, as well.

MINDERS

Minders are telepaths; they hear other people’s thoughts when they are in range. Some can shield their thoughts from other telepaths, and a few can project words, images, emotions, sensations, and dreams to others. But only two have the ability to overload and kill people with blasts of energy.

Seventeen-year-old Maddie Dunn can do all of these things. She came to Ganzfield last October after killing three guys who tried to attack her. In
Adversary
, she got into a mental duel with Isaiah Lerner, the other telepath who can kill with his thoughts. They burned out the speech centers of each others’ brains, so Maddie can’t talk aloud anymore.

Maddie and her way-more-than-boyfriend, Trevor, connect as pure energy, something they call “soulmating.” It turns out this special connection has some interesting side-effects. They now can borrow each other’s abilities when they’re together, including shielding their minds from other telepaths so they can only be heard by each other, and Trevor can hear Maddie’s thoughts when she’s in range—unless she shields from him. The two of them also share dreams.

Dr. Jon Williamson is the head honcho at Ganzfield. He funds the place through a little inside-the-head trading in the stock market. He taught Maddie how to do it, too, but a mistake with stock options made her an accidental millionaire. Back in the 1990s, Williamson was one of the first people with the G-positive genetic marker to have his ability enhanced with the synthetic neurotransmitter, dodecamine. Williamson can hear, project, and shield thoughts. His niece, Ann, was a minder who stopped taking dodecamine and left Ganzfield shortly after Maddie arrived.

Seth Black has the largest range of any minder, although this doesn’t make things easy for him. His extreme sensitivity makes people’s thoughts—especially those of other minders—much louder to him, so Seth spends a lot of time alone in his cabin on the far side of the lake at Ganzfield. He can’t project thoughts to non-telepaths or shield his thoughts from other minders but, because of his huge range, he experienced the massacre from
within
the minds of the victims.

Isaiah Lerner isn’t part of Ganzfield, although he is telepathic. He learned about this ability back when he was a U.S. Congressman and Project Star Gate was still a secret government program. He has a huge mental range and can send killing blasts of energy into people’s heads, but he can’t shield. He forced Matilda Taylor to use her healing ability to enhance his brain structure, giving him the additional abilities of a charm and an RV. The charm part is now useless, though—Maddie burned out his speech center and he can’t talk anymore—but he
can
RV people over great distances. Isaiah views other G-positives as threats, so he kills them whenever he finds them. He used to run the Sons of Adam—a fringe group who think G-positives are dangerous—but nearly all of his followers were at the gathering in Peapack. He ordered them to freeze and then got tossed through a plate glass window. The Sons of Adam members remained frozen for days until Cecelia released them and charmed their “extracurricular activities” in new directions. Without his voice, Isaiah has no way to charm new people to do his dirty work, so now he’s on his own.

TELEKINETICS

Trevor Laurence is the only person at Ganzfield who can move things with his mind. He sleeps in a large, open space—the sanctuary of an old church—since his ability doesn’t shut down when he dreams. His two mental hands extend about fifteen feet from his body and he can widen and flatten them like a shield, or shrink them to do tiny work such as picking locks. They can lift several hundred pounds, reach through solid matter, and even stop bullets. Because his special connection with Maddie allows them to share abilities, she’s also telekinetic when they have physical contact.

SPARKS

Sparks, like Drew McFee, control fire—make it flare up, die back, and even move things telekinetically when they’re on fire. The sparks at Ganzfield all come from two families—the McFees and the Underwoods. Since the helicopter attack this past February, which killed most of the charms and RVs, this is the most common ability at Ganzfield.

CHARMS

Charms can compel obedience with their words. Nearly all of the charms at Ganzfield died in the attack—their killers used earpieces to block out the sounds of the charms’ voices.

Cecelia Mitchell survived because she’d just left Ganzfield to start classes at the University of New Hampshire. She uses her ability to keep the other charms from abusing theirs and has also been exploring how charm commands can help people with emotional problems like posttraumatic stress.

Nick Coleman is a corporate lawyer in New York City. Being a charm makes him
very
persuasive both in and out of the courtroom. Coleman takes care of financial and legal issues for Williamson and the rest of Ganzfield.

Zack Greyson is also a charm, although he has an extra gift—he naturally shields his thoughts from minders. Since hearing thoughts is what gives telepaths immunity from charm commands, this shielding
may
allow him to use his ability on minders.

HEALERS

Healers instantly mend cuts, burns, broken bones, internal bleeding, and other physical damage by revving up and controlling the person’s natural healing mechanisms. Matilda and Morris Taylor—siblings originally from Liberia—do most of the healing work at Ganzfield.

Hannah Washington is their only current student and she’s been training as part of Maddie’s team. Heather McFee, the sole healer in a family of sparks, studied with the Taylors before she left for medical school and her internship at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. In
Adversary
, she snuck some Ganzfield people into that facility for medical tests.

REMOTE VIEWERS (RVs)

RVs can see distant people, places, or things. Some—like Rachel Fontaine—have a nearly limitless range for familiar objects, while others—like Claire Ross—can only view things that are within a range of a few dozen miles. RVs find things uniquely—the visual representation varies from mind to mind. Charlie Fontaine—Rachel’s uncle—could locate other G-positives. Isaiah had him studied in a horrible vivisection and then based his own RV ability on the findings.

And now,
Legacy
…

Kate Kaynak

New Hampshire, April 2010

CHAPTER 1

Trevor and I had wanted to wait until dark to steal the car, but that would’ve been too late. As soon as the last of the dinner stragglers cleared the area around the old barn, Trevor telekinetically opened the large, double doors. We both winced as the old hinges creaked loudly.

Did anyone hear that?

I stopped breathing and listened telepathically for an endless moment. The late-May, New Hampshire evening suddenly felt too warm, and the pinkish-gold cast of the protracted sunset made everything look like it’d been dipped in honey. The sun stayed up until nine at this time of year, so it was later than it felt. Wiping my palm against my jeans, I tried to slow my heartbeat.

I cast a quick mental glance into the main building. William-son was up on the third floor, his head filled with financial forecasts. I couldn’t feel Seth, but that meant nothing—his telepathic range was so large, he’d sense me long before I’d feel him. And the newest minder at Ganzfield was the
last
person I wanted to explain myself to tonight.

Trevor grabbed the keys for the grey sedan from the rack by the door. I slid across the driver’s seat to the passenger side, never letting go of his hand. In the three months since we’d returned to Ganzfield, we’d practiced this shared mental shield frequently. It’d saved our lives when Isaiah Lerner had tracked us to my mom’s place in New Jersey.

Trevor eased the car out of the barn. The long driveway looped in front of the main building and wound through the trees to the front gate. He turned on the headlights once we entered the gloom beyond the treeline.

Where do you think you’re going?

Crap. Seth.

Trevor gave my hand a quick squeeze as a figure moved across the driveway in front of us. I focused on the shield, knowing that even Seth couldn’t get through it.

Of all the lousy luck.

I’d hoped he’d be at the power station or the back gate, out of range. If anyone else had been on duty tonight, we could’ve bluffed our way out with a mention of “minder business.”

Trevor rolled the car to a stop. The headlights illuminated Seth as he stood in the middle of the gravel drive, blocking our way. I glanced at Trevor, meeting his warm, chocolate-brown eyes. He gave my hand another reassuring squeeze as I bit my lip.
Maddie, I’ll talk to him. It’ll be okay.

Trevor slid the window down as Seth stepped into the shadowed space between the headlights. Shielding, I couldn’t broadcast thoughts to anyone other than Trevor. We’d have to talk aloud to Seth, just like normal people.