Tangled Minds (Society of Exalted Minds Book 1)

by A. M. Mahler

Placing my hands on his wrists, I eased his hands down. “I may be in short supply, but I’m not any more valuable than you are. We all have strengths.”

  “But you could make someone—” Miles began, but he was cut off by Brody.

  “Invincible,” Brody said. “So goes the legend of the Healers.”

  “Well, I can’t,” I replied. “I couldn’t stop my grandfather from aging and dying when his time came.”

  “But it doesn’t really matter what you can do, now does it,” Brody replied. “It matters what people think you can do, and therein lies the danger.”

  Miles turned back to me with a nod over his shoulder toward Brody. “He’s a glass half empty kind of guy.”

  Jagger led me to a rich, dark-wood table everyone else was sitting at, giving Brody a wide berth. When I sat, he pulled his chair right next to mine. He was freaked out about what had been happening to me lately when I was healing people. As far as he was concerned, he’d be happy if I never healed another person for the rest of our lives—including him—as if that would ever happen.

  “What have I missed?” I asked the group, noting the tension around the table. Miles continued to glare at Brody, who looked like he could care less.

  “Pippa was just going to tell us how she pops in and out of existence,” Jagger said. Pippa raised her brows. That was obviously news to her.

  “Or whoever is posing as Pippa,” Brody grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. She sighed heavily.

  “I’m right in front of you, Brody,” she said, as if she had been repeating it over and over. “You can see me with your own two eyes.”

  Brody leaned forward, a look of menace on his face. “I don’t know who you are, but you are not the girl I knew and loved. And as soon as these are off, I’ll show you what happens to those who cross me.”

  “I’m well-aware of what you’re capable of and so is the Society. That’s why they instructed me to put those on you.” She shot back as he fell against his chair. Her voice softened to a near whisper with her next words. “And you’re right, I’m not the girl you knew. What happened to me ... there’s no coming back from it.”

  Bound around both Brody’s wrists were black bands. They circled continuously and didn’t look to have any sort of snap, clasp, button, or any other accoutrement to help open and close them. They looked simple enough, but Brody was definitely displeased to be wearing them. Other than a brief flash of pain in his eyes, he showed no other outward reaction to her words. Instead he merely turned away from her and disengaged himself from the conversation.

  “While this is fascinating,” Jagger said dryly. “Maybe we can get more answers. How do you pop in and out of existence, Pippa?”

  “I don’t,” she said simply.

  “Oh, come on,” Willow snapped. Her emotions were running high from the whole event with Miles, and she had a low tolerance right now for Pippa’s vagueness.

  “I do not have the power to do what you think you’re seeing. I can, however, make you think I’m invisible. A previously handy ability until only recently when I discovered it was fallible.”

  I didn’t miss the way Brody’s gaze snapped back to her. Something about what she had said was important. To me, it was just another wacky feat of physics happening around us.

  “What else can you do?” Miles asked. His face was still a little pale and drawn. He looked tired, and I wondered if he had gotten any rest after the trauma he’d endured—being shot and healed. The fast healing always tired Jagger out.

  “Nothing,” she said softly, looking down at her hands. “I can’t do anything else.”

  “And that’s how I know you’re a liar!” Brody spat, pushing out of his chair and pacing away from the table. This guy really had anger issues.

  Pippa popped up from her chair and followed. She showed no fear of him. If anything, she looked enraged. I could feel that she was infuriated. Pippa gave off emotions, and this was the strongest thing I’d felt from her yet. It was nearly all consuming.

  She pushed Brody in the chest, and he stepped back more in surprise than from her strength.

  “I thought you were smarter than this, you big ass!” She shouted. “I am different! And it’s because of this!” She jerked her sleeves up and thrust her hands out wrists up. Two black marks were burned into her skin on each arm. Whatever they were knocked the wind right out of Brody. In fact, they knocked him right to his knees. He sat back on his heels and pressed his hands over his face. The only sound in the room was his muffled, “Fuck!”

  Jagger

  The only sound to be heard was a clock ticking somewhere else in the house. The tension hung over the room as the rest of us waited to see what this revelation meant. The tattoos on Pippa’s wrists were an angry, Celtic-looking design that almost seemed burned into her pale skin. Whatever those symbols were, they were a game changer for Brody.

  A sob escaped him as he removed his hands from his face and revealed a broken man. Blood shot eyes stood out against his pallid, drawn face. In that moment, I knew he and I were brothers of a kind. That was how I felt when I sensed Olivia’s despair the day after she’d healed me from the accident—pure, unadulterated desperation so much so that I had to get her to me as soon as I possibly could. However much of an asshole Brody was, it was clear to me he loved Pippa with everything he had and that created a glimmer of respect for him inside me.

  “No,” he shook his head. “Baby, no.” Shuffling to her on his knees, he picked up each wrist and kissed the offending mark as delicately as he might a newborn baby. He raised his wrists to her. “Take these off,” the anguish apparent in his voice.

  “I can’t,” her voice caught.

  “Please, Pip,” he begged. “I can fix this. I know I can.”

  “I don’t have the ability to take them off,” she said quietly. “And even you aren’t powerful enough to fix this, Brody.” Lowering to her knees, she cupped his face. He brought his hands up to her wrists. Part of me felt like we should give them privacy, but the rest of me knew that whatever had happened to Pippa was important to all of us. Besides it was already difficult for us to get answers. So, bastard that I was, I didn’t suggest we leave the room—and neither did any of the others.

  “I won’t allow this to happen. Do you understand me? I will save you from this.” He was adamant in his vow. Getting to his feet, he pulled Pippa up with him. There was a shrewd determination in his eyes now that I was sure mirrored my own when protecting Livvy. I pitied whoever he was about to go to war with. Taking Pippa into his arms, they stood there ignoring us. Minutes went by and the remaining four of us exchanged glances. If we were confused before, we were downright bewildered now. All we knew about Brody before this was that he was going to be difficult. He was that, for sure, but Pippa had clearly left out a few details.

  Again.

  “I really hate to interrupt this moment,” Olivia hedged. “But I think some explanations are in order. What happened to you? What do those marks mean? What are those cuffs around Brody’s wrists? We have absolutely no idea what’s happening right now.”

  This time, when Brody and Pippa sat down at the table, their hands were joined. I thought I went to emotional extremes where Olivia was concerned, but I had nothing on Brody. Pippa wiped moisture from her eyes and Brody stared down at the table, making plans I assumed.

  “About six months ago,” Pippa began, clearing her throat. Brody’s fist clenched. “I was abducted by the Order. The Society thought I was dead.”

  “That’s when I left,” Brody added forcefully.

  She patted his hand and continued to speak. “The minute details don’t matter, but I was tortured by the Order, for months. They were trying to get information from me. They never got it. Instead of killing me like I and everyone else assumed, they did this.” She held out her wrists.

  “But what do those mean?” Willow asked.

  “It’s the mark of the spellbound,” Brody ground out, jaw clenched. Spellbound sounded bad, but I�
��d always heard it used in literature to refer to someone in love. I got the feeling that was not the case here.

  “And you’re a witch,” Willow tipped her head to Pippa, who nodded in return. “Bound, so that means you can’t use your magic, right?”

  “It’s more than that,” Brody said snidely. If I didn’t know he was in the worst kind of pain right now, I would plant my fist in his face for using that rude tone with my sister. “When you spellbind a witch, you sentence them to death. Magic is not something that disappears. It’s still inside of you. If it doesn’t get released, it eats away at you from the inside out like a cancer. It has to get out. And if it doesn’t, you’ll slowly go insane until you die. You will eventually be completely consumed by your own magic—by the one thing that was never supposed to hurt you.”

  Well, that sounded awfully unpleasant.

  “And there’s nothing to be done for it?” Willow asked.

  “No.” Pippa said the same time Brody replied, “There are ways.”

  “You’re talking about dark magic.” Pippa turned to him.

  “Dark magic put that there,” he hissed in return.

  A feeling of dread settled over me. I could feel it weave its way down my body, along my extremities and into my fingers and toes. The thought was so horrific it was like a black ooze seeping into all my pores.

  “Who put those marks on you?” I croaked. Willow gasped and Olivia clenched my hand. “Who specifically from the Order did that to you?” She wouldn’t answer my question, but I knew. Willow began to cry, and Miles murmured soothingly to her so no one else could hear. Brody’s gaze snapped back and forth between Pippa and me asking the question I already knew the answer to. She didn’t need to tell me what I already knew. “Preston did that, didn’t he? Those marks were put there by my father.”

  Brody burst out of his chair and lunged toward me, but my mind was faster than his body. I put him on his knees with the worst pain I could throw at him. I was dimly aware of screaming and a shouted curse, but all I saw was red. Glorious, consuming crimson filling my vision and focusing solely on the man I’d brought down. Brody was coming for me—for the people I loved. He’d already shot Miles. I would keep him down on his knees, clutching his head.

  “Stop! He can’t defend himself with those cuffs on!”

  The deep pride of power coursed through my body and ignited my blood. In that moment, I could control everybody in the room if I wanted to. I could bend whoever I wanted to my will. Power. Power like I’d never known before filled me. I closed my eyes as it tore through my veins and arteries, burning me inside as it went. My heart pumped the energy to every part my body.

  “Jagger!”

  This was what it was like to be a king. This was how you ruled. I could taste my dominion over my enemies. My need to control was supreme.

  Yes. Yes, this was what total control felt like, and I never wanted to let it go.

  I never truly explored the limits—or lack thereof—of the gift bestowed upon me. I felt my upper lip curl up as Brody shriveled in front of me—the pain so unimaginable that he couldn’t make any noise.

  And I was happy.

  “Jagger!” Dimly, I was aware of my name being called somewhere in the background behind him. It was muffled, like the person calling me was underwater. “Jagger!”

  I felt strong arms bound around me and hands clutch my chest.

  “Jagger! You have to let him go!”

  Olivia. My sweet Livvy. I saw her face beneath the red haze getting closer and closer until it finally broke free. With it brought a light so blinding in my mind, I nearly closed my eyes in reflex against it. Pixelated stars burst around her beautiful face and everything else fell away. The red dissipated, and I let all the rage inside of me go, leaving me with a deflated and lightheaded feeling.

  “Brody!”

  I focused only on my Supergirl. She snaked her arm around my waist as the arms that bound me in place fell away. I blinked and looked over to where Pippa was leading Brody out of the room with her arm around him. He stopped to look me up and down.

  “He’ll do,” he said simply and turned away. I didn’t know what that was supposed to mean and, frankly, didn’t care.

  “There are extra bedrooms ...” Pippa began.

  “We have a place to sleep, thank you,” Olivia said quickly before turning to Miles and Willow. “Everyone is in the RV tonight.” She wanted her family close. Or maybe we were considered a coven by now. Either way it didn’t matter.

  I straightened up and grabbed her hand as I crossed the threshold to the front stoop. Half-way across the yard, I saw the house for what it really was—large and ostentatious. It reminded me of my parents’ home. I had no desire to step inside it ever again. Hopefully, we would be back on the road in the morning.

  Willow had plugged the RV into a garage outlet earlier. The slide out was set, and the heat was on. Early October in New York was frigid at night and reminded me of Colorado.

  Except I could never go back there—especially now knowing who my father really was and what he was after.

  I waited my turn for the small bathroom. Willow helped Miles settle into her bunk, her face dry and tearstained. After everything that had happened today, I certainly wasn’t going to say anything about them sharing a bed. They needed to be close to each other, and I had no issues with that. I cut into the bathroom before my sister.

  When I was finished, I closed the privacy curtain to our room. Olivia was already in bed wearing a tank top and flannel pants. I toed off my shoes before pulling off my pants and sweatshirt, climbed into bed in my underwear, and immediately pulled her into my arms.

  I was scared, and I let her see it.

  The RV was dark. Not even moonlight could be seen tonight. The creaking sound of Willow’s bunk as she climbed up and settled in with Miles were the only sounds. Rolling to my side, I faced Olivia.

  I lost control.

  “You sure did.”

  It was like that time with Mason. I wanted him to suffer. I’m no better than my father.

  “It’s not the same.” I didn’t believe her. “You sensed a threat and neutralized it. That’s your natural reaction. But you have to learn to control it. You can’t always go for full power. You’re right, you weren’t in control and that makes you vulnerable.”

  It makes you vulnerable.

  “Jeremiah worked with you. He gave you exercises to help you practice. Have you done them?”

  No. I was ashamed to confess that to her. I stopped in Pennsylvania. I shouldn’t have, but I let my guard down.

  “We need to pick them up again.”

  By we, she meant me. She couldn’t help me with this. That was the second time I was weak when she needed me to be strong. It was unacceptable. Jeremiah had made me a Protector. He’d counted on me and I let him down. I wouldn’t do so again.

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself.” She trailed her hand up my chest and cupped my cheek. “You haven’t had years to grow accustomed to this new ability only months. It can’t happen again, but you’re not alone in this.”

  Turning my head, I pressed a kiss to her palm then told her my deepest shame.

  I know what it’s like to be my father now. She shook her head in denial, but we both knew it was true. Part of him was in me—the ugly part. Jeremiah gave me the ability to protect Olivia, but it had awakened an evil inside me I never knew was there.

  “You are a good person, Jagger. You are nothing like your father. All our lives, you’ve been my cheerleader and best friend. You’ve made me laugh. You still make me laugh. You were the guy in school everybody loved and wanted to be friends with.”

  People change. What if I’m changing?

  Sighing, she ran a hand down my chest and laid her palm over my heart. “This is who you are. This heart is what I fell in love with. Just you being scared to change, being aware of ways you may be like your father, means you’re not. This heart is good, and you will never convince me otherwise.”
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  Gently, she guided my head to her chest, and I pressed my cheek to the soft, pink skin exposed by her sleep tank. Closing my eyes, I listened to the comforting thump of her heartbeat and let out a cleansing breath. She grounded me in a way that gravity couldn’t. Loving Olivia was always easy. With her behind me, at my side, inside me, I was invincible. I could and had overcome any hurdle in front of me, and this one would be no different.

  IT TOOK US about eight and a half hours to drive to Maine. The RV towed Miles’ Jeep and we all rode together with me at the wheel. I tended to do most of the driving. Olivia filled in now and then, but Miles and Willow were never interested in attempting to drive “the Big Beast,” as we had taken to calling it. Pippa led the way with Brody who still had those strange cuffs on. As best as I could reason, they were some kind of paranormal time out. He couldn’t seem to do, well, whatever it is he did, with them on. I didn’t have the slightest clue how they came off, only that Pippa was unable to do it herself.

  We were driving to a whole new world that we knew precious little about.

  It was a mostly quiet ride, but for a bit of necessary speaking—where we were going to stop for lunch, whether we were going to put on makeup, things like that. Mostly, we were all lost in our own thoughts. I did my best to block Miles and Willow out—I always had and planned to continue having an open link with Livvy. I didn’t know how to function without her constant presence in my mind. Even when we weren’t communicating, we were there for each other. It was a mental default that we—or I, at least—had to try very hard to block out.

  Miles and Willow were worried. Miles worried about how he would fit in. He didn’t know his family’s history having grown up in the foster system and didn’t really know where he belonged. Willow was afraid she and I wouldn’t be accepted since we were Preston’s children. She repeatedly tried to see into the future for answers, but was unable to make any kind of connection.

  Olivia was content. Though she was wary of what we would really find in Maine and how welcoming her family would be. She was hopeful, wishing to leave our RV days behind us. Knowing what we now did, she didn’t want us to be on our own. She would hide out with me if Willow and I weren’t accepted in Maine, but she liked the thought of being in a community. I know she never really felt like she belonged in Alpine Valley, despite my repeated offers to publicly be her friend. I didn’t know then all that I did now, but looking back, I still would have insisted.