She looked at him, taken aback. “No fair peeking.”
“Not on purpose,” he said, as if that excused him from knowing what she was thinking. When Morgan didn’t look mollified, he sighed. “Okay, I’ll give you a freebie.”
“That doesn’t make it okay,” she said. However, she did reach out with her mind to locate whatever thought Lucas was allowing her access to. Lucas was so good at keeping his thoughts and emotions in check that it was seldom that Morgan knew what was going on in his head. After a moment, she smiled, surveying the grounds around them. Most of the trees had dropped their leaves, and these littered the ground all around them. Some branches still held onto their leaves, however, and those burned with the autumn colors of reds, oranges, and yellows. “You’re right, it is really pretty out here.”
He nodded curtly. “Okay, we square?”
“Fine.” She stuck out her tongue at him before sobering. “I guess we should get started.”
“Yikes. Tell me how you really feel.”
She managed to smile. “It’s just… you’re so hard to Push! I don’t know why Greg can’t pair me up with someone else every once in a while, just to, you know, boost my morale.”
Lucas leaned toward her. “You can do this,” he said firmly. “And Greg’s putting us together because I’m the best one for you.”
Morgan’s pulse sped up. She looked at him, taken aback by his words.
Lucas shook his head, seemingly realizing how his comment sounded. “I didn’t mean…” He forced a laugh. “It’s just… I’m the strongest. You know that.”
She did indeed. Since they’d arrived at the cabin, there seemed to be nothing Lucas couldn’t do. Until then, he’d been having difficulty Moving objects during training—something he seemed convinced that, as a Feeler, he probably just wasn’t able to do. But now, Morgan figured he could probably Move an elephant if the mood struck him. Something within him seemed to have broken loose in the last two months. She knew without ever having been told that was why Lucas preceded her into the bunker during drills: if someone had infiltrated their safe room, Lucas would be able to protect her.
Not for the first time, Morgan wondered why, if she was supposed to be the One, Lucas was so much stronger than she was.
A sudden wave of comfort wrapped itself around her like a blanket. I believe in you.
Morgan glanced up at Lucas and gave a half smile smile. “Sorry. I didn’t mean for you to See that.”
“Morgan.” Lucas fixed his light blue eyes on her intently. “Seriously. Everything I am—everything I can do—I know you can do more. You are the One. You just need to flip the switch somehow and… you’ll be even more amazing than you are now. I believe in you.”
She just watched him for a moment, unsure how to respond.
He sensed her discomfort and rolled his shoulders. “We should get started.”
“Okay.” Morgan closed her eyes and centered her energy, the same way she had at every training before. She knew she was capable of more things than she could routinely do. When she was upset or scared, for instance, she had been known to Move things. But Greg had warned them many times that it was dangerous to depend on emotions. Emotions were fleeting and couldn’t always be relied on in a serious situation. If they could do something in a heightened emotional state, they could do it without the presence of those emotions. They just had to learn how to.
Now she focused herself on Pushing Lucas. At one memorable training session back in her old Journalism and Yearbook classroom, Morgan had assisted Lia in making Lucas stand up on a table. But such silliness was unnecessary now. Instead, Morgan focused on making Lucas move from the chair he sat in to the one beside it. There was no need for flash: if she could get Lucas to do something simple, she knew she could get him to do something more complicated.
Minutes passed and Lucas remained firmly in the seat he’d chosen. Morgan opened her eyes to see Lucas Moving two twigs so that they were enacting a sort of sword fight. When he realized Morgan was looking at him, the twigs stopped in their battle, hanging unmoving in midair.
“Give up?”
She shook her head. Just two months before, the answer may have been the opposite, but now she felt training was her duty—no matter how poorly she was doing at it. “I just… I feel like I’m going about it the wrong way.”
“Show me.”
“What?”
“Take me through your process. Let me See how you’re trying to do it. Maybe I can help.”
Morgan looked at him quizzically. “How can you help me Push yourself? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Just… Can we try?”
After a moment, she nodded. “I guess it’s worth a shot.” She closed her eyes again, mentally guiding Lucas through her process. He allowed her to lead him, a passive observer, for several minutes. When she got to the point where she kept getting stuck, she Felt Lucas’s energy taking over. The sensation was odd, but not uncomfortable—something like a doctor pushing on a patient’s abdomen during a routine examination. Only Lucas wasn’t touching Morgan’s physical body; instead, his energy moved through the corridors of her mind, turning down paths she had never ventured through, tugging her consciousness along with him.
She remained quiet and focused as he worked, wondering only vaguely if he had any idea what he was doing.
If Lucas sensed her concern, he didn’t allow it to deter him. He continued to work at Morgan’s energy, shifting it somehow, causing it to move differently—much like placing a large stone in a river might divert some of the flow.
Minutes passed before Morgan Felt Lucas’s energy receding. When she opened her eyes, he nodded at her. “Try it now.”
Morgan didn’t pause to ask Lucas what he’d done; instead, she immediately focused on the goal she’d had for Lucas all along. She could tell instantly that something was different and she heard a shuffling sound on the deck in front of her. When she opened her eyes, Lucas was sitting in the chair beside the one he’d previously occupied.
It took a moment for Lucas to come back to himself, but when he realized what happened, he grinned broadly at Morgan, standing up. “You did it!”
“I did!” She stood, taking a step toward him.
Lucas closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. Morgan squealed as he picked her up and spun her around. “I told you—I told you you could!” he exclaimed, placing her back on the deck.
“You did.” She smiled, resting her hands on his forearms. “Thanks, Lucas.”
Before he could respond, a prickling sensation enveloped Morgan. Instinctively, she looked toward the cabin and saw Corbin through the windows, watching them. Realizing she was still standing within the circle of Lucas’s arms, Morgan took a hasty step backward, putting space between them.
Through the glass, Lia was also staring at Morgan and Lucas. It took little effort to determine that Lia hadn’t had any trouble Feeling that particular emotion from Corbin.
Lucas shifted awkwardly, drawing Morgan’s attention back to him. “So, we done for the day?” Something in the way he said it told Morgan he wasn’t expecting an answer. He started toward the door.
Morgan touched his arm, causing him to pause and look back at her. She glanced toward the cabin only briefly and saw Corbin’s eyes were still on them. Something in her bristled, but she pushed it down as she looked at Lucas. “Thank you. I don’t know how you did it, but…” She smiled.
“I told you,” he said, not quite meeting her eyes, “I believe in you.” He turned and started toward the door once more, but after a few steps, he seemed to change his mind. He made a sharp right and headed down the deck’s stairs out onto the grass.
Morgan sat down in the Adirondack chair she’d been occupying, watching as Lucas and his bare feet disappeared around the corner of the cabin. She stayed in the chair until she could stand the cold no longer and—most importantly—until she could sense that training inside the cabin had ceased. When she went insi
de, she saw Joss at the craft table in the corner of the living room, sorting through a plastic tub that contained various colors of embroidery floss. She couldn’t help smiling, remembering how much Joss had loved making friendship bracelets when they were younger. Lia was sitting on one of the couches, the cabin’s one laptop resting on her legs. There was no Internet access at the cabin; instead, they used the laptop to manage the music libraries on the iPods they’d received upon arriving. Ellie sat at the dining room table, sipping coffee and writing on loose leaf paper. Greg was in the kitchen, rifling through cupboards.
Neither Corbin nor Lucas were in sight.
Morgan didn’t make eye contact with anyone as she made her way toward the hallway to her left. When she got to Corbin’s door, she knocked twice before letting herself in.
He was seated on his bed and looked up as she entered, the palm of his right hand covering the strings of his guitar. His eyes followed her as she made her way to him and sat on the mattress beside him.
Morgan took in a breath and released it slowly. “Care to tell me what that was all about?”
He turned his attention to his guitar, the fingers of his left hand sliding up its neck. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Please.” He began picking at the strings with his right hand while the fingers of his left hand pushed down on strings one by one. He was playing scales.
Morgan knew Corbin well enough to read his mood without having to use her abilities. “Hey, you don’t get to be mad at me right now,” she said placing a hand on his arm. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
His fingers didn’t stop in their work.
“Corbin.”
He palmed the strings, closing his eyes. After a moment, he turned to her. “I know,” he admitted quietly. “I just… It bugs me when I see you with him.”
“It bugs you when you see us training together? Since when?”
He snorted. “That’s not what I saw you doing.”
She glared at him. “Who are you? You’re not like this.”
“Like what?”
“A jerk. Territorial. This is hardly the first time I’ve hugged Lucas. It’s never bothered you before.” She crossed her arms, waiting for him to explain himself. But before he could speak, an emotion radiated off him with such strength that she was sure its conveyance had been an accident. “Corbin?” she began, her gaze softening. “Corbin, you’re not… jealous?”
She expected him to snort again, to roll his eyes, but instead he just stared at a fixed point across the room. For a few moments, she just watched him, the outline of his face, the way the muscle in his jaw twitched as though he were biting words back.
Moving her hand from his forearm to his back, she snuggled closer to him. “Because, if you’re jealous, you don’t need to be.”
Corbin released a breath and shifted toward Morgan. “It’s not that simple…”
“But it is. Lucas is my friend. You saw us celebrating because I finally made him Move. And I know we’re…” She paused, unsure, as ever, how to categorize their relationship. Dating wasn’t the correct term. Boyfriend-and-girlfriend sounded hopelessly infantile. She sighed. “But this isn’t Amish country. Lucas is my friend and you’ve gotta be okay with me hugging him. I mean, would it bother you like this if it was Wen I hugged?”
Corbin looked at her. “Well, no. But Wen’s weird.”
“And Lucas isn’t?”
“Fair point.” He sighed, leaning forward and picking up his guitar again. His fingers began working over the strings, but it was a simple riff he played instead of scales. A good sign. “It could be, you know,” he said after a minute.
“Hm?”
“Amish country. It could be.” He glanced at her and smiled. “Unless you’ve figured out where we are.”
Morgan smiled too. In the two months since their arrival, neither Greg, Ellie, nor Wen had let slip where their hideout was actually located. Morgan assumed, based on the weather and the familiarity of the trees surrounding them, that they were somewhere in northern Michigan, but she really had no idea. “I suppose we could be in Amish country,” she agreed. She watched Corbin’s fingers as he played another riff. “We’re okay, right?”
Corbin continued playing for a few moments before letting out a long breath. “I’m okay. You were never not okay.” He set his guitar down in its stand and angled himself toward her. “It’s just…” He broke off, his mouth twitching.
Morgan waited for him to collect his thoughts and continue. As the moments passed and he remained silent, Morgan touched his arm. “Corbin? What is it?”
He shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
Images flashed in Morgan’s mind: the look on Lucas’s face last night when he’d caught her outside Corbin’s door, then Greg and Corbin leaving training together earlier that morning. “Did Greg say something to you? About… about me sleeping in here last night? Or—”
Corbin shook his head. He turned toward Morgan and planted a kiss on her forehead. “I’m just having a day. But I’m good now.” He looked down at her and smiled.
“Okay, then.” She smiled back.
Before either of them could say anything else, Ellie’s voice rang through the cabin. “I have messages.”
Morgan glanced toward Corbin’s bedroom door, then back at Corbin. “Ready for news?”
He exhaled heavily. “I doubt I’ve got any.” He stood regardless and led the way to the hall.
Morgan followed, sorry she’d said anything. Corbin rarely received communication from the outside world. Since they’d arrived, as far as she knew, he’d only gotten one letter from his older brother. Morgan’s father wrote nearly every week, and so did Joss’s parents. Lia often received multiple notes. Lucas also heard from his family with regularity.
By the time they arrived in the living room, Lia and Joss had already approached Ellie. She sifted through the notes she’d transcribed, flipping one to the back before handing another to Joss. When Ellie glanced up and saw Morgan, she beckoned her over and handed her a note written in Ellie’s handwriting but in Morgan’s father’s voice. With an appreciative nod, Morgan followed Joss over to the couches.
There was no note for Corbin.
Morgan reread her note several times. Though her father relayed only a brief greeting and an anecdote from work, his words made her feel connected to him, if even only for a few moments. She wouldn’t be able to write back—they never could. Instead, there were Watchers who sent edited photos of each of them standing in different European settings along with brief anecdotes and well-wishes on their part. Though Morgan never asked, she had an inkling that the Watchers feared that eventually the separation from their families might cause them to attempt to send out some sort of code. Morgan knew very little of how the messages reached them, just that Ellie was the conduit through which they were received.
Lucas arrived and fist bumped Corbin upon learning that he didn’t have a note either.
“Oh, my God!”
Lia’s voice was an octave higher than usual. Morgan and Joss locked eyes for a moment before turning toward the kitchen where Lia and Ellie stood.
“Calm down. It’s okay.” Ellie placed a hand on Lia’s shoulder, which Lia immediately shook off.
“It’s okay?” she demanded, pressing away from Ellie. “How can you say that?”
Morgan and Joss exchanged glances. “What’s going on?” Morgan asked tentatively.
Ellie met Morgan’s eyes momentarily and shook her head. She turned back to Lia. “Everyone’s okay—don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry? Don’t worry?” Lia’s voice remained high, verging on hysterical.
“Okay, for real,” Joss said, standing and moving toward the kitchen. “You guys are freaking me out.”
But neither Lia nor Ellie was paying attention to her. “We’ve already had Watchers investigate the crash—there’s no evidence it was related to the Veneret. And he’s
fine—”
Lia snorted. “Fine? I highly doubt that. Trevor is very sensitive—I bet he’s still having nightmares! I should be there with him!”
Joss glanced helplessly at Morgan, who could only shrug. Trevor was Lia’s little brother, she knew. Had Trevor been in some sort of accident? She pushed this information into Joss’s mind.
“What would you do if you were there?” Ellie asked quietly. “Comfort him? Your parents are already doing that.”
“If I had been there…” Lia didn’t seem to be speaking to anyone in particular. She rocked gently back and forth. “I could’ve stopped it if I…”
Ellie shook her head. “No, it was an accident. It still would’ve happened, no matter where you were.”
“You don’t know that! And stop!” Lia flailed her arms around wildly, as if attempting to throw off a blanket that had been placed around her shoulders. “Lucas, Miss—stop it! Stop trying to calm me down!”
Ellie held up her hands innocently. Lucas looked entirely unabashed.
Lia glared at them both a moment longer before letting out a strangled noise and stomping from the room. Her bedroom door slammed shut and those left in the room just stared at one another.
Corbin let out a low whistle. “Maybe I’m glad I didn’t get a letter.”
The comment sounded innocent enough, but Morgan knew Corbin better than that. When he went to sit down on a couch, she followed and sat beside him. “So, I was thinking,” she said, her voice coming out a little more bubbly than normal. She caught herself overcompensating and cleared her throat before continuing. “Maybe today we should go give it another try.”
Joss cast a furtive glance in their direction. “It?”
Morgan pointed at her cousin. “Mind outta the gutter, you.” She turned her attention back to Corbin. “C’mon, what do you say?”
His green eyes flashed indecision momentarily before a smile graced his lips. “Yeah, let’s go.” He glanced at Joss. “You can come too, if you’re so curious.”
Corbin started down the hallway toward his room and Morgan followed. After a beat, Morgan heard the distinct sound of Joss’s footfalls behind her. Corbin opened his door and gestured for Morgan and Joss to enter. Morgan went immediately to one of the two chairs in the room and took a seat. Joss lingered by the doorway.
The Naturals Trilogy Page 42
