by Laura Winter
My left fist landed on his jaw, sending him stumbling back into the Imperium. I didn’t have an outburst, but this was when I could finally show him what I was capable of. I tried to advance again, but a hand pulled me back.
I turned to see Nate looking confused with his hand in mine. This wasn’t part of my memory. I reached out and touched his arm. “Wait, you’re here? You’re really here?”
He smiled. “Of course I’m here. I wasn’t about to miss my fiancée beating the shit out of her uncle.” He let go of my hand and nodded toward Jackson who was trying to regain his balance. “Have at him, Finnley.”
I grinned and turned to face Jackson, loading my power into my head. This time I would dig into his mind. I focused on him and felt the power expand as he started screaming. Blood was running from his mouth as he crumpled to the ground.
I wanted him to suffer, to feel every bit of pain he had caused us, but something wasn’t right. I was torturing him, getting my payback, but I couldn’t end it like this. I sucked in a breath and forced us out of my head.
62
Finnley
Jackson lay in a crumpled mess on the ground as I stood over him. He was whimpering, finally weakened after what I had done to him, but at least he couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. I made sure of that.
Glitch and Luci ran up, out of breath. Nate let go of my hand when he realized we were out of my head. He looked between Jackson and I.
“What did you do to him?” he asked.
Jackson grabbed his knees and curled into a ball, looking up at us. “Where am I? Who are you? What’s going on?”
Glitch, Luci, and Nate stared at me as I knelt next to Jackson. I pulled out the cuff from my pocket, the one that Nate had stolen when we ran away from the Imperium, and stuck it on his wrist.
“It’s okay, we’re here to get you help,” I said, forcing a smile. I couldn’t stand to look at him any longer as he whimpered and started to cry. I stood up and turned back to my friends.
“Finnley?” Glitch asked, hesitating as he looked down to Jackson who had started humming to himself.
“I erased him,” I said, my voice struggling to recover after screaming for so long. “I had to do it, right? He hurt us, but am I really better than him if I did this? What does that make me?”
I was shaking as it hit me. Was losing everything worse than death? Part of me had felt like that before.
Nate reached out and took my hand. “You found a way to be better than him. He isn’t in pain and he can’t hurt us. He can’t hurt anyone.”
I stared back down at Jackson as he looked off into the distance. Around us, I could feel each of the remaining monkeys trying to run away. Without breaking eye contact with Jackson, I lifted my free hand and connected to each of their minds as I knocked them out simultaneously.
“I have an idea,” I said.
Everyone just stared in disbelief at what I had just done.
* * *
I shook the nurse’s hand and she turned away, oblivious to the tricks I had planted in her head. She didn’t remember that she knew me after I kindly removed that memory. I don’t think she’d mind. She would get six new helpers and a new patient who was more than willing to follow the rules. Even better, she’d never question the cuff on the patient and she’d never let anyone take it off.
Nate was leaning against the car as I walked out. “How’d it go?” he asked, standing up straighter.
“Went off without a hitch. I’m getting good at these Jedi mind tricks,” I replied, wiggling my fingers.
“Well, it’s been less than four hours since you figured out how to use them so it’s no surprise you’re already good at it.”
I scrunched my nose. “Do you think I could use this power to get good grades in my classes? Eh, I’ll be fine.”
“Can you stop bragging that you’re a genius for longer than five minutes?” he asked, reaching out to hold my hand. “Though I’m tempted to let you use your new power on our parents. They’re going to kill us.”
I groaned. Glitch and Luci had gone ahead to try to soften the blow with our parents but it wouldn’t do much. I reached for the door of the car. “Oh, I forgot,” I said, turning back to Nate. “It’s kind of about the whole marriage thing.”
“What about it?” Nate asked, concerned that I wasn’t letting him read my thoughts.
“I don’t think I want to buy a new ring with you,” I replied, biting my cheek to keep from laughing.
Nate wasn’t catching on. I felt his hand go limp in mine. “Are you breaking up with me?”
I sighed. “Nate, I don’t want to go buy a new ring because I’d rather marry you with this one.”
I smiled wide and pulled our original ring from my pocket. Before leaving the building, I raided Jackson’s old office and had found it tucked away in an envelope in his desk.
“You little shit,” Nate said, releasing a nervous breath. “That’s not funny.”
“It’s a little funny,” I laughed, dropping down to my knee. “Nate, I love you, you crazy insomniac, and I want to spend always forever with you. Will you marry me?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Did you just propose to me in front of a mental hospital?”
I shrugged. “It seemed appropriate given our last year together. So, what do you say? Think you can put up with me?”
“Only because you have great taste in music,” he said, pulling me up off the ground and into his kiss.
63
Nate
The mid-April sun was a welcome relief to the last several months. It had been a brutal winter, and Finnley finally got her snow to play with. She had been more excited about it than Madeline was, but now we were enjoying the chance to be outside. We had spent a lot of our weekends helping our parents rebuild The Complex using the Imperium’s facility. Turns out most of the people in there were held against their will. Jackson kept them in line with cuffs and monkeys, so they were more than happy to turn over all their resources when they found out we beat Jackson. A lot of them even stayed around to help create a new, functional Complex with our parents.
And now we were out in the spring heat, waiting for Caden’s baseball game to start. Madeline was hanging on the fence, trying to get his attention while Finnley and I sat up in the bleachers listening to music.
Into the Storm. BANNERS.
“I’m kind of offended she wanted to spend her birthday at Caden’s baseball game,” I said, frowning.
Finnley laughed and leaned into me, bunching up the headphone cords we were sharing. “She doesn’t have any friends except us, and she sees us more often than Caden.” She found my hand and stuck her fingers through mine. I think she did it on purpose so I could feel the ring on her finger, reminding me not to be jealous.
Madeline came running up the seats, hopping excitedly in front of Finnley. “Caden said I could be a bat girl if I wore a helmet. Can I? Can I?”
“Listen to Caden and follow the rules,” Finnley replied, wagging a finger. She caught Madeline’s hand before she ran off. “And tell him he’s dropping his back shoulder too much on his swing.”
Madeline’s face lit up as she sprinted around to the dugout. We watched her pull Caden’s face down so she could tell him what Finnley had said. He looked up at us and rolled his eyes before sticking a helmet on Madeline.
Finnley shouted at him. “Listen to me or you’re gonna keep popping up to second base!”
“You’re a bad influence on Madeline,” Glitch said, dropping down into the seat next to Finnley while Luci waved to Madeline.
“I’m exactly the influence she needs,” Finnley replied, sticking her tongue out at Glitch.
“You guys are gonna adopt her, right?” Luci asked as she sat down.
I nodded. “Ellie’s going to keep an eye on her until we graduate and get settled somewhere.”
Finnley shrugged. “We still have three more years of college and a marriage to figure out. Who knows what else could happen.”
G
litch groaned and put his arm around Luci. “The last time we thought we were out of this shit, we got pulled right back in. It’s hard to sit back and not feel like we’re about to be hit with another plot twist in our lives.”
Finnley sighed. “We’ll be ready this time. We have crazy powers, a new Complex that might be more functional than the others, and a lot of experience. Plus, I think I’m out of relatives to come after us,” she chuckled.
“We’re the four best friends, right?” I asked, smiling as I leaned my head on Finnley.
The last year and a half had been a crazy mess. We had grown up so much having to deal with the shit thrown our way. But it had brought us all closer. No matter what, we were always going to find our way back to each other.
I found my way to you without any memories. I won’t let anything tear us apart anymore. Finnley adjusted her grip in my hand.
I kissed the top of her head. Always forever, right? I can’t believe I get to marry you. I’m the luckiest guy ever.
I can’t believe you’re going to be my overnight guest for the rest of our lives. She let out a laugh unintentionally.
Glitch looked over, watching us talk in our heads. “Do you think things will ever be normal for us?”
Finnley looked up at me with a big smile before answering him. “We are anything but normal. But at least we have each other.”
Something New. The Score.
◆◆◆
More from this series
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The Soul Series, the first trilogy in the Blue Star Series, concludes with Soul Obscured:
The last three quiet years were too good to be true as a new enemy organization emerges. After a shocking betrayal and alliance with Apex, Nate and Finnley are separated and forced to deal with the ramifications of losing their Blue Soul connection. As Finnley's supernova abilities become more unpredictable and her behavior turns erratic, she's forced into a role she never wanted to play. But is there something worse going on that could bring it all crumbling to the ground?
COMING SOON:
The Blue Star Series continues with Star Collapsed, a brand new spin-off to the original trilogy. Follow Kiya, Ryder, Isobel, and Declan as they navigate powers and the pressure of living in a power community.
Kiya has grown up around powers her entire life. She trained for the day she'd get to choose a power source and discover her own hidden abilities. But when that day came, something far worse happened.
Join my tribe at sendfox.com/laurawinter to get updates on this new series - I’ll send you some free stories and you’ll get inside looks at some of my new books. You can also read the prequel story for Star Collapsed or by checking out my website at laura-winter.com
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