Tangled Minds (Society of Exalted Minds Book 1)

by A. M. Mahler

  Jagger walked barefoot back to the RV. When he opened the door, Willow could be seen moving around inside.

  “Hey,” Miles asked. “Can you ask her—”

  Before he could finish, Willow appeared in the doorway and hurled a banana at him.

  “She’s got a good arm,” Pippa said, impressed.

  “Just like her brother,” I replied, looking to her and Miles. “He was the starting quarterback and pitcher at our high school.”

  “I like the predicting thing,” Miles said, peeling the banana and shoving half of it in his mouth in one gulp. “That saves a lot of time and is turning out to be crazy efficient.”

  “Would you like anything, Pippa?” I offered, not wanting her to think we didn’t like her. It was obvious we didn’t trust her, and even though she’d brought us shocking news, that was no reason to be rude.

  “Thank you,” she smiled, raising her mug. “But I already ate in my camper. It has a small kitchen.” We fell into silence while we waited for Jagger and Willow to join us. When the door opened again, Miles jumped up and met Willow, taking one of the mugs of coffee balanced with a bowl from her.

  “That’s a lot of oatmeal you’ve got there.” Miles looked down at the bowl and up to Willow.

  “There are two spoons, Captain Obvious,” she said. “I thought we could share.”

  Miles looked dumbfounded for a second. “You made breakfast for me?” Memories of Miles’ childhood popped into my mind as they spun through his. As soon as I realized they were unhappy, I broke off. I got the impression that someone caring about whether or not he ate was an anomaly in his world.

  Jagger appeared with bagels, and the five of us moved to the picnic table to eat.

  “We’ll circle back to the witch thing,” Jagger directed. “I believe you were just going to start explaining the Society, the Order, and the differences between the two.”

  “Sure,” Pippa said, as we all dug into our breakfasts and she continued to sip at her mug. “As I told Olivia and Miles, the start of the Society dates to twelfth century Ireland. The rules, customs, and traditions have changed over time, obviously, but the structure and governing has not. The Council is made up of five members from the founding families: the Coreys, the Goods, the Bishops, the McTavishes, and the Brights. One person from each family has always sat on the Council. It is a seat passed down by the oldest child to the oldest child upon death. Since you were missing, Olivia, your seat is currently being filled by your uncle, Travis Corey. He’ll turn the seat over to you upon your return.”

  “And if I don’t stay?” I asked.

  She tipped her head to the side and furrowed her brow. “Why wouldn’t you stay?”

  “Because you may not be telling us the truth. It could all be a trap.” I would have thought my distrust would be obvious to her, given the fact that most of my life was a lie.

  Pursing her lips, Pippa nodded. “I can see why you would be suspicious. You’ll see that I am telling the truth. I’m not here to harm you. I’m here to bring you home. You’re very special, Olivia. There hasn’t been a Healer in almost three hundred years. You were born into the Society, but the Order wants you desperately. They thought they had you when Justin took you. The Mathers family is magically bound by the Order. Only Justin has been strong enough to resist. They are Protectors. When your parents were killed, Justin disappeared with you to protect you.”

  Jagger grabbed my hand under the table. “See, Livvy? He was good. He broke away from the Order to save you then sent you to the Society. He loved you.”

  Smiling in relief, I squeezed Jagger’s hand under the table. Hearing that Jeremiah never intended to harm me warmed my heart and set my mind at ease. I almost felt guilty for doubting him, but when I found out Jeremiah wasn’t who he said he was, I was devasted—debilitated even. My mind was weak, and I couldn’t allow that. Jeremiah had always told me growing up to have both a soft heart and a strong mind. I realized now that my heart was probably too soft.

  Willow and Miles continued to eat out of the same oatmeal bowl, making googly eyes at each other now and then. It was like some declaration was made by Willow’s simple gesture of making enough oatmeal for Miles. Jagger pressed a reassuring kiss to my temple. We were all examples of soft hearts and strong minds. I was starting to believe our tight little band of paranormal refugees could get through anything.

  Pippa’s mood changed slightly, and we all tuned in to it. She was apprehensive almost as if she didn’t want to continue with whatever she had to say.

  “You were found, Olivia,” she began. All our gazes snapped to hers, and we stopped what we were doing. Found? Was it the day Jeremiah died?

  “By who?” Jagger demanded. He was ready to go to war for me. He was always my hero.

  “The Order of course,” she said. “You were just a child, but while Justin watched over you, raised you, protected you, it was under the ever-watchful eye of their leader.”

  “They lived in our town?” Willow was incredulous. “All that time Olivia was in danger from the Order?”

  I tensed under Jagger’s touch. All my life, someone who wanted to hurt me was close by. Did my grandfather know they were there? He had to have. Of course, I knew there was a threat, but I never realized they were in the same town as me. As I went about my life, driving myself to and from school, someone was watching. Waiting?

  “Who?” Jagger asked with force in his voice.

  Pippa looked between Willow and Jagger in surprise. “Well, of course, you know, don’t you?” She asked. When they continued to look bewildered, Pippa’s jaw dropped. “How can you not know? You lived with the man your entire life. The leader of the Order is Preston DeWinter.”

  Jagger

  Aaanndd ... scene. Fade to black. Cut. That’s a wrap. Whatever words you wanted to use I was done. Whether or not Pippa intended to cause destruction with her bomb, that’s what she did. Willow took off running into the woods. Miles immediately followed her. Pippa wisely retreated to her camper to give us space and time or get out of swinging distance. Olivia sat in her chair stunned. Every so often, she would open her mouth like she was going to say something, but snapped it shut again. She didn’t know what to say any more than I did.

  All I knew was that my father wanted my girlfriend for the Order. I alone was woefully ill-equipped to protect her. Jeremiah likely kept Preston at bay by letting him think when Olivia grew to a certain age, he would hand her over to the Order. My father must have thought it was Christmas morning when he saw her at my hospital bedside. All this time, I had thought Jeremiah brought me in for her protection. He trained me, gave me his power. Was I really supposed to bring her to my father instead? Did he expect that?

  I have loved this girl nearly my entire life. She was with me through everything I have ever had to deal with. Healed all my aches and pains, injuries, and illnesses. When we were younger, she soothed me when my father’s rage was too much, and I was overpowered by him. I am nothing without her. I’d be dead right now if it wasn’t for her.

  All the times I cowered in my closet hiding from my father’s wrath, she was with me talking me through it, reading a book to me, just letting me hear the sound of her voice so I knew I wasn’t alone. She healed me against every punch, hit, slap, and kick that the most hated man in my life dished out. Somehow, she made it so I could endure all of the abuse.

  The fire was beginning to die out. The day had barely started, and already everything was irrevocably changed. We had wanted answers, and we got them. For better or worse, we now knew what and who we were dealing with.

  The thought of being considered a witch was unsettling. I was a baseball pitcher, a football quarterback, a teenager, a brother, and a boyfriend. A telepath, yes, but that didn’t seem so weird. It was, more like, science.

  Then again, Pippa said telepathy was a form of witchcraft, not that we actually were witches. I preferred to think of myself as supernatural. That’s what I was most comfortable identifying as. Though
witchcraft made abilities like Olivia’s make a little more sense. My ability was mind-to-mind. As soon as I let my victim go, they were fine, if not freaked out and physically exhausted.

  There was silence around us. We were the only two on the campsite. There were no sounds from the woods, no cars or people going by—or if there was, it wasn’t something I was attuned to. The sun peeked through the leaves and the morning chill hadn’t burned off yet. I was in the middle of the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, far, far away from home. On the run from my very own father. How was this my life? All I’d ever wanted was for Olivia and me to head off to the same college, get an apartment off campus, graduate, and live happily ever after. Instead, we were pawns in a centuries-old power struggle between another species of human. Correction—we were another species of human.

  Whatever Jeremiah’s intentions may have been, they didn’t matter now. Only my intentions did, and she’d only be given to my father over my cold, dead body.

  “Say something.” She always sounded different in my mind than she did speaking out loud. I don’t know what it was, but her voice somehow sounded sweeter in my head. Sitting forward in my chair, I rested my hands on my knees.

  We need to leave in the morning. I have to get you to Maine. You’ll be safe there.

  “We’ll be safe there, Jagger.”

  You understand that our families are sworn enemies, right? My father expects me to hand you over to the Order.

  “And you would never do that.” Her loyalty and devotion to me were always humbling. The fact that my destiny was linked to hers was something I’d always known. However, now I was questioning if we were linked in a good or bad way.

  Hear me out. What if this isn’t it for me? What if there is something else inside me that wakes up and I turn out just like him? I could be the biggest danger to you.

  “Impossible.”

  I was arrogant and naïve to think that I was all the protection you needed. We need the others. Pippa is telling the truth I can feel it. In Maine, there will be people who can protect you from me, if need be. Also, there could be more Mathers with the Order that can do the exact same thing Jeremiah could—and I can do. It would make sense. If they’re Protectors, they can probably all do the same thing. If they can get to me before I realize it, you’d be exposed.

  I watched her as she rose from her chair, wearing black leggings and my football sweatshirt that she was swimming in, hair piled on her head in one of those messy knot things that girls spent hours learning how to do. Her appearance reminded me of how young we were. I imagined her looking just like that at one of my games up in the stands sitting with Megan and Stacey, cheering for me and waiting for me after the game. I’d come out of the locker room afterwards, ignore everyone else, and kiss her.

  Only that was somebody else’s high school or college life. Once I thought it would be ours, and I liked the look of it. We were only eighteen years old, but I felt twice that. By now, my friends from school were at parties, rushing fraternities, and living in dorms.

  I was living in an RV with my girlfriend and sister, finding out I was descended from witches, and rushing to get Livvy to safety before my father found us.

  And somehow, I preferred this uncertain and danger-filled life over that expected normal one that everyone else my age was living.

  Kneeling on the ground in front of me, Olivia reached up and cupped my cheeks with her hands. “I love you, Jagger,” she said out loud. Closing my eyes, I let her voice fall over me, her touch soothed. “Jeremiah gave you his power to protect me. You are nothing like your father. Now that we understand things better, we know why he waited to expose me to you. He was making sure you weren’t like Preston. When he was positive, he told you my name. Whoever Jeremiah was, he loved me. I’m certain of that. You and I are meant to be together. We’ve always known this. Don’t let your father shake your confidence in us.”

  She was right, of course. I was giving my father power over me still. This was the time when I needed to be the strongest for her—for us, and, of course, for my sister. Though it looked like Miles had that well in hand. The four of us were a team. A rag tag little band of powerful misfits. I had been at the top of the food chain in high school, but I never really fit in. I never felt truly complete until I had Olivia on my side.

  Rising to her feet, she reached down for my hand. When I placed my hand in hers, she linked our fingers and tugged. Standing up, I followed her back to the RV. Once inside, she locked the door. Wherever Willow was, she wasn’t nearby. She was likely letting Miles console her, but hopefully not in the same way Olivia was about to console me.

  I was Olivia’s and she was mine. In order to truly keep her safe, I was going to have to beat my father at his own game.

  “WE WERE BORN on the side of evil.” Willow said to me sometime later. I was fully relaxed now after spending time with Olivia, followed by a nap. I never thought I really needed a physical relationship with her until I had it. Now, it wasn’t just my mind that was at peace, but the tension in my body was gone too. Olivia was laying down in our room reading another romance novel. Miles took her to a nearby Walmart once a week to get more.

  I was sprawled on the couch with the remote control in hand searching for a baseball game through the VPN on Willow’s computer hooked up to the television. Brian McCaffrey had opened an Amazon account with the campground’s address, and we were finally able to watch TV again. Now that Brian had an Amazon account, maybe he should buy Olivia a Kindle and the romance book world would be her oyster.

  “And are we?” I asked her. “Evil? Do you see anything?” Maybe I could breathe better if Willow were able to give me some sort of confirmation with a vision of us in the future happy and not under the constant threat of our father.

  She shook her head sadly, and I tried not to let stress begin building back up in my body. “Miles has been trying to help me focus more on my visions. We’ve been working to deliberately see ahead by concentrating on one specific person or issue, but so far it hasn’t helped. Do you think there will be another person in Maine that can see the future? Maybe they can help me.”

  “Maybe,” I said. In reality, I had no idea what we would find in Maine. Would there be people walking around waving wands? Or circles of salt in the center of the community where the witches went to practice, or worship, or whatever it was they did? I knew very little about Wicca, if that was even what the people we were about to be introduced to were. I’d always thought of Wicca or Paganism as a sort of lifestyle or religion. To be honest, that was just when I had even thought about it, which was maybe only a handful of times in my life.

  “Jagger, what are we going to do?” She whispered, helplessly. “Mom’s got to be involved in this too. Dad could have been reading our minds our whole lives. He probably knows exactly where we’re going. What if he’s there waiting for us? What if he brings people from the Order ... and there’s a fight between people we don’t even know because of us? What if someone gets hurt, because of us? I can’t see anything.”

  “Maybe you can’t see anything because nothing’s going to happen,” I suggested, reaching one hand behind my head. “Maybe you can’t see anything until someone decides they’re going to do something.”

  “Maybe,” she said quietly. I pulled my legs up when she sat down at the end of the couch, pulling one knee beneath her. “This is beyond anything I had ever imagined. When I think that he knew everything I thought, but wouldn’t dare say out loud—”

  “Then we probably would have gotten beaten a lot more than we did.” I finished.

  “That’s a pleasant thought.”

  Sitting up, I turned my body toward the back of the couch so I could face her head on. “But think about it. If he were reading our thoughts, he would have known that you have visions of the future. And if he knew that, you can bet your ass you’d have been homeschooled or sent away somewhere where no one could influence you in any way and he could feed you all the Order stuff he wanted t
o. You would have been a prisoner.” She cringed at that thought. The very idea of a father keeping his own children prisoner ... let’s just say there are a lot of lucky kids out there in the world who never have to fear something like that.

  “I don’t think he could read our minds,” I continued. “And now that I look back on it all, I wonder if that’s why he was always so angry with us. I was a straight A student, captain of the football team, starting pitcher on the baseball team, the quintessential American kid. No matter what I did I could never do anything to please him. I didn’t interest him at all until I started dating Olivia.” It made my stomach turn when I thought about all the ideas he must have had about acquiring her for the Order. He would become invincible, and I would never allow it.

  “What if the Society doesn’t let you and me in?”

  That possibility hadn’t even crossed my mind. Pippa already knew we were DeWinters, which meant Jeremiah probably told them who Olivia was traveling with.

  “I don’t think that’s an issue.” I shook my head. “Pippa would have said something. Jeremiah probably already told them we aren’t like Dad.”

  Sighing, Willow looked out the window next to us. I didn’t invade her mind. If I did, I was sure it would reflect everything I was already thinking. Pulling her legs up, she propped her chin on her knees.

  “I’m glad you took me with you, Jag,” she said. “I don’t think I ever really thanked you for it. I know what a risk it was for you, especially if we’re caught. If you had left and I stayed, it would have been just like you said. We’ll fight him someday. I know we will. I can’t see if we’ll win or when it will even take place, but I know we’ll have to face him in the future.”

  “I don’t think you have to be a seer to know that.”

  Reaching out, she clasped my hand and squeezed. “At least I know we’ll do it together.” She rose and stepped toward the door. “I’ll leave you to your baseball, fellow witch.”

  I groaned and fell back into my original position.