As the car climbed the canyon in endless switchbacks and finally crossed the bridge, Elijah calmed himself enough to think clearly. And that meant he could separate what he wanted to do, go after Holly, from what Kaylee made him think he wanted to do. He was still under her power. But he knew he was under her power. If he could coax her to lift her power just for a second, maybe he could get out from under it.
“Rob,” Elijah said.
Kaylee jumped, startled at his voice, and could have kicked herself for jumping. “Yeah,” she said. “I didn’t see that coming.”
“How could you miss it?” Elijah didn’t hide his exasperation with her.
“I’m a mind changer, not a mind reader,” she defended herself. “But he must be a mind reader.” She huffed out a sigh. “When I first met him a couple of weeks ago, I thought he was perfect for Holly. I really liked him. He said all the right things. Of course he’s a mind reader. I can’t believe I didn’t see it.” Darkness was falling fast, but she gazed out the window at the inky mountains as if there were still a view.
“My mom said people with power don’t drink,” Elijah said. “Rob is a lush.”
“A lot of us pretend to drink,” Kaylee said, “because it gives us an excuse for bad behavior. We have a hard time blending in with regular people.” She shook her head. “It all makes sense now. His first date with Holly, he brings her over to your house, right?”
“Right.”
“Then he acts all weird, makes lewd comments, shoots a hole in your ceiling, scares her so bad that she jumps out the bathroom window.”
“Right.”
“The next night, you ask her to meet you at Glitterati, and there’s Rob. You know what he did to her in the parking lot, right?”
“Right,” Elijah said, feeling sick.
“Every bit of that was a ploy to get a reaction from you and a reaction from her. That’s what mind readers do. They mess with people so that their minds start spinning, which unlocks their secrets. That way he could read you, learn about your relationship, and use it against both of you. I hate mind readers.” She shuddered and folded her arms as if the eighty-degree evening had made her cold.
Elijah nodded, but he could hardly see the road anymore. His mind was too full of Kaylee’s terror and the horrible explanation of what Rob had been up to. Rob had insulted Holly repeatedly, even attacked her in his mind, just to read where Elijah’s thoughts went in response. Undoubtedly he’d seen how strong Elijah’s feelings were for her.
Then Rob had attacked her physically. But Elijah didn’t agree with Kaylee that Rob had been trolling Holly for information at that point. He knew Elijah like the back of his hand after a week of living with him, and in attacking Holly, he’d upped the ante with Elijah. Now Rob must understand with the certainty of sunny weather in a Nevada summer that if he captured Holly, Elijah would come.
“But what is Rob doing this for?” Elijah asked.
“Isaac and I used to talk about his diabolical plans to take over the casino from Mr. Diamond.” Kaylee’s tone was sarcastic, but her fear of Isaac made Elijah grip the steering wheel harder. “He said nobody knows where powers come from. We’re all so terrified of being discovered and jailed or killed that we don’t dare investigate our origins with too much enthusiasm. But the families with powers who end up in Vegas are originally from all over the place, which suggests that there are a lot more of us scattered around the country, even the world.
“Isaac said if he watched the news carefully, he bet he could pick out the mind readers and mind changers and levitators. And those are just the powers we know about. There might be more. Whatever powers people had, these folks would try to blend into society, but sooner or later they’d get themselves in trouble in a spectacular way, and the event would get written up in the news.”
“And he could go recruit them?” Elijah asked.
“Exactly. Imagine how easy that would be, if Rob was isolated in Chicago without knowing anybody else with power, or even knowing that a group of us existed, and Isaac came to him and said, ‘I can do what you can do. You’re in trouble, but my friends and I can get you out. Come with me and we’ll be millionaires.’ ”
“But what kind of trouble?”
“That’s just it. When Holly first introduced me to Rob and said she wanted to go out with him, I researched him. He did graduate from high school and the police academy in Chicago, and he did work for a short time as a Chicago cop. He does work for the Clark County Sheriff, and he hasn’t gotten in any trouble that I could find.”
“Google ‘Chicago subway station bomb.’ ”
“Okay,” she said dubiously, her fingers flying across her laptop keyboard again. “You think he blew up a Chicago subway station?”
“I think he saved a Chicago subway station. The police caught the terrorist. The terrorist wouldn’t tell them where the bomb was. Rob read his mind.”
She whacked a key with finality. “Oh, shit, you’re right. See?” She turned the keyboard toward Elijah so he could view the screen, which was difficult while he was negotiating the winding road up the mountain. “No, wait.” Disgusted with herself all over again, she remembered that his brain registered whatever she was reading.
She scanned the online news article about a bomb that had been set by terrorists to go off during rush hour in a crowded downtown station. An unnamed police officer had saved countless commuters by locating the bomb at the last minute, as if by magic. At the time of publication, the police department had no coherent information about how the police officer had made this discovery.
“I’ll bet his bosses started to get suspicious,” Kaylee said out loud to Elijah. “They had no evidence to tie Rob to the terrorists, but he couldn’t tell them how he’d known where the bomb was. Just when they started to turn up the heat on him, Isaac appeared to save him from himself. Isaac and the rest of the Res banded together to help get Rob a job as a sheriff’s deputy down here, despite his being blackballed in Chicago. That was smart, because we all assumed he was a good guy until it was too late, and cops naturally have access to all sorts of information that the rest of us don’t.
“Then Isaac sent Rob into the casino to snoop. He heard us thinking about taking you and Holly off Mentafixol. He found ways to get close to both of you. He moved in with you, and he asked Holly out.”
Elijah set his jaw. “That won’t work anymore, though. He can only use our minds against us if we let him.”
“There is no ‘let’ at the Res,” Kaylee said. “Put you and Holly together at the Res, with those bullies egging you on, and you won’t stand a chance. I’ve seen that happen so many times there. Couples fall in love. Then they hurt each other. I mean physically and mentally and emotionally hurt each other as badly as a person can be hurt. That’s why we’re not going after her. I can’t risk losing both of you to the Res and making things worse for Holly there.”
“What are we going to do then, Kaylee?” Elijah shouted. “Why don’t you just hire some sharpshooters to go to the Res and pick these people off?”
“It is extremely difficult to get rid of a body,” Kaylee said. “Extremely difficult.”
Elijah got the distinct and unnerving impression that Kaylee had some experience with this.
“People start talking,” she said. “The Res doesn’t want to attract attention. And I don’t want bad PR. If customers are scared to come into our casino because they think it’s run by murderers or witches, we’ve all lost our ability to make a living in a safe environment.”
“I don’t care about that shit,” Elijah insisted. “We can’t leave her out there. That’s not an option. I can’t let Rob put his hands on her.”
“I guarantee you that is going to happen before we get back to Vegas,” Kaylee said.
Elijah felt like murder. “Consensually?” His voice broke.
Kaylee swallowed and took a long breath. “With mind changers thrown into the mix, it’s so hard to say where consent ends and force begins.”
“And you’re abandoning her to that because of PR?” Elijah demanded. “Why, Kaylee, why? What is so important about PR, more important than Holly?”
And suddenly it flashed into Kaylee’s mind, so it flashed into his. “You found Mr. Diamond dead, and you’re afraid the whole casino will fall apart without him.”
“Don’t you dare!” she shrieked. “Get out of my mind and don’t you dare tell anybody what you know. The casino can’t show weakness. The Res will take us over in a heartbeat!”
Elijah let Kaylee’s words pass over him like the dust over the Pontiac. He concentrated on her mind. The louder she shouted, and the more flustered she got, the more the blinds she’d pulled down over her thoughts inched upward.
“Just try me,” she dared him.
Elijah relaxed against the seat and let the headlight beams blur in front of him. He tugged at the blind. It didn’t budge. But it was still a millimeter up. He peeked underneath. He saw her struggling. She should let go and change his mind now. Change his mind about reading hers. That would protect her. But if she did that, she’d have to abandon the blind keeping him out, and in that moment he might see something he could use against her, such as—
“Holly is your half sister,” he said.
As her body jerked in astonishment, he stomped the brake and hauled the steering wheel to the right. The tires screamed in protest and a cloud of dust filled the car. He opened the door and dove out. The car was still moving. The heels of his hands hit sharp rocks and he tumbled into the dirt.
He got up and ran for his life and Holly’s. He knew he wouldn’t get far. He was wearing flip-flops, and the dark landscape was littered with scrub. He only hoped to stay far enough away from Kaylee that she couldn’t control him. But even that was futile. Before he’d gotten more than a few yards away, he changed his mind about running.
The headlights cut his legs in half and stretched his shadow all the way to the distant barren mountains. The car stopped beside him, engine rumbling. Kaylee left the driver’s seat and scooted back into the passenger side.
He put his hand on her door and leaned down to talk to her. “You’re scared to go back to the Res,” he said gently. “You would do anything to save Holly except go there yourself.”
She looked down at her hands. “No, you’re right.” She sniffled. “They’ll probably catch us both, but I couldn’t live with myself if I left her out there without even trying to save her. Let’s go.”
Elijah bounded around the car and slipped behind the wheel. He stomped the accelerator and sped back toward Holly.
Kaylee muttered, “I hate mind readers.” She took something out of the pocket of her suit jacket and handed it to him. “Here.”
He peered at the object in his palm and then the road and then the object by turns in the dim glow from the headlights and the stars. It appeared to be a jawbreaker covered in powdered diamonds, with TWO MILE HIGH CANDY CO. stamped on it.
“Uh-oh,” he said. “What’s this?”
“A very high dose of Mentafixol,” she said. “Take that and your power will be erased permanently.”
“Why are you giving it to me?” He tossed it back into her lap like a live grenade. Then he realized he’d rudely thrown it at her crotch, but damn. “Kaylee, don’t change my mind and make me take this pill. That’s morally wrong on so many levels. You can’t do that to me.”
She handed it back to him. “I’m not going to make you take it, Elijah. I want you to take it on your own. Your life and Holly’s will be hell from now on. The Res will sic you on each other and use you against your own parents, everybody at the casino. If you take this pill, they won’t be able to use you at all, and they won’t have nearly as much fun manipulating Holly.”
“Talk about hell!” he exclaimed. “Why would I want to live my life without power?”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad before, was it?”
He looked over at her. He couldn’t see her face clearly in the night, but he could feel her thoughts. She knew the answer to his question. A wave of guilt washed over her, and she looked away.
He peered at the pill in his hand again. He rolled it along the lifeline in his palm. “It’s like a spy movie. You’re giving me arsenic in case I’m captured.”
“I’ve lived at the Res, Elijah. You haven’t.” For a split second, she opened up her mind to him and let him see what had happened to her. A split second of violation in the hot dark.
19
Holly didn’t wait to find out whether Violet and Nate were hurt. As soon as the SUV stopped tumbling and crunched to a stop upright, she broke open the hatchback with her mind, jumped out on her high heels, and ran. She tripped over a low bush. Stumbling, she wondered whether she could fly? She could, propelling herself forward with her toes inches from the ground, but her mind was even more tired and sore than her body. She set herself down and ran again.
As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she realized she was on a dirt road. Rounding a curve between cliffs, she saw a weathered sign for a subdivision.
Meadgate
The Gate to Lake Mead
Civilization, thank God! And just beyond the sign was a two-story rock house of recent design with perhaps ten cars parked in the yard, dust trembling underfoot from the cranked-up bass beat of a rock song.
With her eyes fixed on the glowing windows, she didn’t notice three teenagers sitting in lawn chairs in the road until she was only a few feet from them. She stopped short, unsure whether she should warn them about the crazies from the SUV somewhere in the darkness behind her. These kids were only fifteen or so. Maybe they lived in the Meadgate subdivision.
They glanced over at her with bored expressions. One of the girls said, “Hey, Holly.” They turned away from her and gazed off the road, where the shoulder tumbled into a canyon.
“I’ve got one,” a boy said.
Holly heard screeching close by, echoing against the canyon walls.
A second boy opened his hand. A cigarette lighter floated into the air in front of him and flicked into flame of its own accord. It zipped toward the screeching and illuminated the source, a small bat flying erratically as if held in place and struggling to free itself. The flame touched the bat and licked across its skin. The bat screamed.
“Birds are easier,” said the first boy. “Bats aren’t as flammable.” He turned to Holly. “Did you wreck the SUV? Do you think you could gather up some gasoline for us? That would help.”
“I’ve caught another one,” the second boy called over the screams of the bat.
Holly wanted to run. Her whole tired, aching body drew taut with adrenaline and the need to escape, but it didn’t seem like a good idea. As she walked toward the house, the girl’s eyes followed her.
Reaching the yard full of cars, Holly thought again about escape, searching the darkness for what lay beyond the lone house. But as quickly as the idea entered her mind, it left again. A twentyish man lounged in the driver’s seat of a car, watching her pass, as she yanked open the door of the house.
“Holly!” called a woman’s voice. The dark room was crowded with people, but in the red glow from a lava lamp, Holly recognized April’s red hair. She sat on a couch. A man’s hand was between her legs. “We thought you’d never get here,” April said.
Leaving was not a good idea.
“Hello, Holly.” Rob was right behind her in the doorway. He moved even closer to let Nate and Violet in behind him. They were miraculously unhurt. Violet must have protected their bodies in the tumbling SUV, the way Holly had protected her own.
The heat from Rob’s body sank into Holly from her shoulder blades to her butt to her calves. She could feel the hard shapes of his cuffs, his gun, whatever equipment was on his police belt. He set his chin playfully on her shoulder. Close enough to her ear that she could hear him clearly over the thumping music, he whispered, “Welcome to In Medias Res.”
Hitting him was not a good idea.
Talking to him was a g
ood idea. “This is the Res?” she asked. It looked more like a middle school Halloween party.
“Harmless, right?” He chuckled as he walked around her body to face her. “I can only imagine what ridiculous stories Kaylee told you about us. Come into the kitchen. You must be hungry.”
He took her by the hand. Following him was a good idea. They made several attempts at dodging around a couple making out violently in the doorway. Finally they stepped into the spacious marble-tiled kitchen, a suburban dream with stainless steel appliances and vaulted ceilings.
Rob opened the refrigerator. The sudden bright light played across his handsome features and made the remnants of a black eye jump out at Holly from a few steps away. The goons had done that to him. She had ordered that attack on him.
“Don’t feel bad.” He looked up from the refrigerator and poked out his bottom lip at her in sympathy. “I scared you at Glitterati. That was my fault.”
“You did more than scare me,” Holly seethed.
He nodded. “Your parents were still drugging you. You weren’t ready, and I jumped the gun. I’m sorry, Holly. All I ever wanted was for us to be together. To feel good together.” He put his shoulders back in the refrigerator and brought out a large bakery box. “Other parties have a keg. We have a cake.”
“Really?” she asked. “I thought you were more of a keg man.”
“What?” He looked at her blankly. “Oh, the drinking! Yeah, mind readers have to do that sometimes. We’re under this crush of other people’s thoughts all the time, you know? It makes us act a little crazy. Pretending to drink gives us an excuse.” He set the box down on the marble-topped island. “Cake?”
She peered into the box at the white icing sparkling with sugar. “It probably has Mentafixol in it.”
Rob laughed shortly. “We wouldn’t do that to you, Holly. The casino does that. We don’t.” He took plates out of a cabinet and forks out of a drawer and cut them both big slices of cake. “Hey, you’re tired, and you’re wearing heels. Hop up on the counter to eat this.” He made a motion as if to lift her on both sides of her waist.