Legacy (22 page)

I nodded, feeling moderately creeped out. Ann and I had known the enclosure area might put us into range to receive each other’s dreams, but it hadn’t occurred to me that she might be able to
enter
my dreams the way Trevor did. That had an icky
,
“three-way” connotation to it that twisted my stomach.

Ann’s confusion whirled in her head, distant but still readable. Her emotions pulled between a deep curiosity about what’d happened and a purple-hot
let-us-never-speak-of-this-again
. After a long half-minute, her curiosity won.
So, uh…was that your dream or Trevor’s? I couldn’t tell.

Um, both.

Both?

We share dreams, sometimes. It started as mine, though.

You can DO that?

Actually, I usually just share nightmares. Trevor’s the one who can change them like that
—
make them all wonderful.

Trevor gave my hand a squeeze. The physical contact allowed him to follow the mental conversation.

The first part—?

Crap. You saw that?
I sighed. She
would
have to have seen my worst memory, too.

Those three guys…attacked me last year. They died. I—I killed them.

Are you all right?

Before tonight, I would’ve said yes. But with that nightmare still fresh in my head…
Hey, we get access to a lot of personal stuff—um, can you just keep this thing private, too?

She understood.
Of course.

So, Trevor can—

Yeah?
he asked.

You can hear us?
She hadn’t noticed that he was following along.

Maddie and I have a special connection
.

And that turns you into a MINDER
? Her incredulity seemed to fill the empty field between us.

A little bit. When I’m with Maddie.

Oh,
she responded, although she was completely confused.
I wondered why you were at that minder meeting, and then Zack came in…
She trailed off, embarrassed at where
those
thoughts might lead.

We’ll talk more in the morning, okay? Right now it’s—
I had no idea what time it was.

Trevor checked his watch with the pen-light
. 1:48 a.m.

What he said.

Ann paused.
I think I missed an interesting eight months.

Trevor and I both smiled at that.
Welcome back.

CHAPTER 11

Coffee.

There was a serious, dangerous lack of coffee here. When Claire woke up, I planned to ask her to RV the closest coffeemaker in the surrounding buildings so I could break in and get some.

Instead, Drew and Harrison made a Dunkin’ Donuts run. They returned with ample supplies, which we inhaled with pleasure and relief around the little fire circle. Once the caffeine had reattached my soul, I grabbed my little notebook and started making a shopping list. I wrote down the coffee-making essentials, and then I passed the list around. Trevor got it first and added some luxury items like milk, cereal, bread, and sandwich meat. Drew added marshmallows.

Claire was worried. “Do we have money for these things?”

I never thought about how to pay for things like this anymore.
It’s covered,
I told her. Of everyone here, only Trevor knew about my dabbling with stock options.

Across the little fire circle, Ann nearly shot coffee out of her nose.
WHAT?

Okay, I guess two people knew now. There’s no privacy with another minder around.
Long story
.
Short version: Trevor and I are set for life.

She cracked up, surprising Zack, who was sitting next to her. “What’s so funny?”

“Maddie.” Ann didn’t explain further, which caused Zack to look at me searchingly. As usual, his thoughts were blank to me. It still creeped me out sometimes—it felt as though he was an empty shell.

Like a zombie or something.

I leaned against Trevor, making contact without even thinking about it. Trevor reacted instantly, locking eyes with Zack across the circle, suddenly wary and protective. I tossed up a shield around us both, but Ann had already felt a whiff of it.

What’s going on?
Ann looked from Trevor to Zack.

I really wished I could shield while still sending intentional thoughts. That’d be really useful right about now, as Ann’s mind filled with several unpleasant possibilities.
Please tell Ann it’s nothing
.

“Maddie says it’s nothing.” Trevor’s eyes still focused on Zack. Most of the others watched the silent exchange. Only Drew and Harrison remained oblivious as they inhaled donuts and discussed Fireball.

Zack let out a long exhale and looked at me. “I’m going to have to tell her, huh?”

I nodded, feeling my stomach sink. He was no longer the immature jerk who’d tried to charm me a few months ago after I’d broken through his shield and taken his voice.

Ugh.

Neither of us came off looking very good in that story.

Zack’s eyes widened as he became aware of the circle of onlookers. He bit the inside of his cheek as he looked at Ann. Tangled emotions choked her mind and closed her throat. Ann and I both flinched as his thoughts suddenly popped into our heads with air-horn blast intensity, and Zack inwardly cringed as he showed her memories of how he’d tried to force me to kiss him. I could feel the hurt building in Ann, purple-red and aching.

I dropped my shield.
Don’t be too angry with him.

The pain within her suddenly flared yellow and red as her eyes narrowed.

I drew a quick breath.
Jealous? Of…ME?
Geez! We had one twisted little love-square going on here, didn’t we?

Zack’s leaving out the part where I blasted his brain.
I flashed her the memory of how I’d broken through his shield and temporarily taken his ability to speak. It served the dual function of showing her that I had no interest in her would-be boyfriend and changing the subject.

Ann looked at me from under furrowed brows.
That’s what happened to you? Why you can’t talk anymore?

I nodded.
Except mine’s permanent. Isaiah did this to me—after I did it to him.

But Zack?

Zack’s not the same person who did that. I hope you won’t hold it against him. I don’t anymore
.

And Trevor?
she asked.

He still eyed Zack coldly.
I’m working on it.

Drew finally noticed that the circle had gone silent. “Whoa. What’s up? Minder-chick fight?” The image in his mind involved spandex costumes and professional wrestling moves. The ridiculous image broke the tension—sort of.

We made ourselves scarce when the huge truck arrived with the components of the new building, but the driver’s thoughts hit me anyway.
This is the weirdest thing. I thought this building was going out to that farm in Clinton. It’s been on the schedule for months. Why are we putting it up here? And what’s the rush? Usually I drop this stuff off at least a day before the crane arrives, but it’s coming in right behind me.

I grinned.
Coleman strikes again.

Most of the group hung out in Zack’s trailer all morning, watching movies on someone’s laptop. Dave and Claire went to the supermarket on a food run. Trevor and I curled up in my tent, as far as possible from everyone. We read a book together, unsuccessfully trying to drown out the drama in the enclosure with the drama on the page.

I felt Zack’s thoughts pop into my consciousness a few times as he and Ann talked in her tent. He lowered his shield periodically, letting her see his mind clearly, and our stronger minder-to-minder connection sent me a big bundle of yearning, hurt, confusion, jealousy, lust…

Ugh—too much information.

I wanted to tell Ann to just forgive him, already!

Trevor pulled our shield up around our minds. Hey, he was getting pretty good at that.
Maddie, stay out of it
.

But I just—

Stay out of it,
he repeated.
None of our business.

But I feel partly responsible! And they both like each other! And they’d be such a good couple!

He looked at me bemusedly.
You really like matchmaking, don’t you?

Only since we met. I’m so happy with you. I just—I just want other people to be happy, too.

And it’s not because you think you know what’s best for everyone?

I laughed.
Okay, that’s part of it. But my meddling is kindly intended.

I know it is.
He closed the book with a smile.
But now you leave me no choice but to find something to distract you.

Little flecks of red energy began to ping off of his skin. He rolled above me, bringing his mouth to mine for a searing kiss.
Oh, yeah—sign me up for the deluxe distraction package!
My heart thudded wildly against my ribs as my legs slid around his, the fabric of our jeans suddenly rough and thick against our skin. Unseen hands turned my thoughts to jelly.
What had I been trying to—? Oh, never mind.
Trevor could do things with a single, invisible touch—

I was alive with a scarlet glow as the beautiful intensity washed through me in waves. The world began to dim and Trevor traced the edges of soulmating in delicious teasing. When we finally came together as energy, we were drawn into a passionate singularity that finally burst forth as an explosion of white light. Every cell in our bodies seemed to hum as we lay trembling, wrapped together, our minds still linked and filled with adoration for one another.

The crew completed the building by 3 p.m. We even got additional panels installed in the fence, enlarging the area by another forty-eight feet on each side. Would that be enough? I really hoped so. Ann and I had already had
way
too much “sharing time” today.

Once the construction crew was gone, we all checked out the new structure. The building’s metal sides accordioned in large, corrugated waves. The roof was over twenty feet above us, rising to thirty in the center. It was definitely large enough that Trevor wouldn’t bring it down in his sleep—if he slept in the middle, anyway.

“So, this is all for you, Trev?” asked Drew.

“Just at night.”

Ann turned to me.
Got a few minutes?
She’d arrived alone and I picked up that Zack had gone to check on something outside our little tarp fortress.
I need to…um, can we discuss a few things?
I sighed. I guess sharing time wasn’t over for the day, after all. Wait, maybe I could help them work through this. They really would make a great couple…

I gave Trevor’s hand a quick squeeze
. I’ll be back in a little while.

The two of us walked along the newly-expanded fence line. Ann’s tent looked lonely in the corner.

Think this is far enough?
She frowned with concern.

I don’t know. I hope so
.
I don’t like throwing nightmares.

Can I—?

I understood and nodded. We sat down cross-legged on the grass and looked at each other. The thoughts simply flew between us. This was the way that Williamson had instructed each of us—an intense transfer of thoughts, words, and images. However, our interaction included more emotion than we usually had with Williamson.

Minder “girl-talk.”

Her feelings for Zack bubbled up from her like a fountain.
I’ve never been…drawn to someone like this before. But…is he really a good guy? Am I making a mistake? Are we moving too fast? Do I really like Zack as a person, or am I just attracted to him because I can’t hear his thoughts? Are you really okay with what happened before? Do you really think he’s changed?

The euphoric excitement within her swept through me, making me grin
. You REALLY want to know what I think?

Absolutely.

Yay!
It’s not “meddling” if it’s requested. Our thoughts wove together in a tapestry of communication.
I think you two would make a good couple. He seems much better now than when I first met him. I don’t like not being able to read him—you actually LIKE that in a guy? And you know that he might be able to charm minders, right?

She gave a quick nod.
Yeah, but he’s told me he won’t try charming me. Do you think he likes me? I like not having his every thought in my head, but…sometimes I’d really like to know what he’s thinking, you know? Is he really interested in me?

Ann, he’s really into you. Even when you and I can’t read him, Trevor can tell stuff like that.
I found myself smiling, surprised that I felt energized by the exchange. It was…well, it was
fun
talking to Ann like this. Williamson and Seth were male—it was a different dynamic. My mom was
my mom
—there were things that I just couldn’t discuss with her. Ann and I shared a special perspective. Now that the stupid jealousy thing seemed to have simmered down all around, we could be friends.

I just love that I can be so close to him without being overwhelmed by his thoughts. It’s exhilarating and peaceful, all at the same time.

I’m really happy for you two.

When you met Trevor, how—I mean, how did you know?

I blushed. Among the many thoughts and images that flashed through my mind, soulmating featured rather prominently.

Is THAT what you were doing this morning?

I felt the heat tint both my thoughts and my face.
Sorry, I thought we were shielding.