“You’re a Natural, Kellen,” Chelsea said. “Your parents were both common.”
A memory clicked in Morgan’s mind and something Greg told her on Christmas floated to the top of her thoughts. “Before you went into hiding,” she said, looking at her mother, “you had a plan, right? To make it look like you were pregnant for a second time and that it was this fake kid who was the One? To take the focus off me? Greg said that you had a common man in on the illusion. It was Kellen’s dad, wasn’t it?”
Chelsea nodded. “After I was able to convince Dinah I wasn’t a lunatic, I grew close to her husband too. Connor. And when things about the Prophecy began coming to light, they were as afraid as I was. They knew about Orrick, about the things he did. Connor actually knew some people Orrick manipulated in some real estate schemes. And he also knew what happened when people tried to resist Orrick. One of Connor’s good friends was pretty resistant to Orrick’s Pushing and he was able to refuse some persistent offers from Orrick. He finally knocked Orrick over his limit and went missing for a few weeks. When the authorities finally found him, he was in pieces.” A shiver coursed through her body and she closed her eyes for a moment as if willing the memory away. “So when the focus came on Morgan, they knew as well as I did that something needed to happen to keep her safe.”
“How is it possible I don’t remember any of this?” Kellen asked. “Why do I remember my parents having abilities?”
“Orrick,” Chelsea said simply. “He’s wiped your mind of real memories and placed in the ones he wants you to have, the ones that benefit him the most.”
“What could he possibly gain by doing that?”
“Think about it. If the One really was your half-sister, he would want you on his good side. Then he could use you to get to her, if it came to that. And what better way to ensure your loyalty to him than to take your parents out of the equation and take you under his wing?”
“He killed them?”
“Not himself, I’m sure,” Chelsea said, her voice quiet. “But yes. They died on his order.”
Kellen’s mouth twitched and his eyes slid out of focus again. When he spoke, his voice was flat. “It was a car accident.”
“No, Kellen.” Chelsea pressed her lips into a tight line, taking a breath through her nose. “They died in a car crash, but it wasn’t an accident.”
A tear streaked down Kellen’s face and Lia slid her arms around his shoulders. As he allowed himself to sink into Lia’s small frame, Morgan turned her attention toward the front of the van, wishing she could offer Kellen more privacy to deal with this information.
Corbin removed himself from the back bench and slid beside Morgan. She scooted over to allow him more space, understanding why he would want to leave Kellen and Lia alone.
For several minutes, the only sound within the van was that of Kellen’s gasps and sighs and Lia’s reassuring murmurs. Morgan felt a flame of fury kindling within her. She knew Orrick Williams was a man who thought himself above the common of the world, but the idea that he had manipulated Kellen’s life to such a degree caused a seething rage to build in her veins. Kellen had insisted several times that Morgan would have to kill Orrick to fulfill her destiny, but now was the first time she considered that as a legitimate option. For the first time, she felt not only that Orrick’s death was justified, but that she was capable of causing it.
At the front of the van, Ellie turned in her seat to face the rest of the passengers. “We’re about five minutes out.”
A thrill of anticipation caused Morgan’s fingers to tremble. They were almost there; she was about to face Orrick.
Lia’s voice pulled Morgan from her thoughts. She turned toward the back seat to see Kellen holding his head between his hands and rocking slightly. He was murmuring something, his voice too low to make it out. But each time he repeated the sound, his voice grew louder until his words became clear: “No. No.” He lifted his face and looked over the seats toward the front of the van. “Wen! Wen, we’ve got to stop, man. This isn’t right. We can’t do this!”
Wen turned back toward him, a pained expression on his face. “Look, K, we’re almost here. You know we’ve gotta do this. Just… Just think about what he did to your parents, man. This is what’s right. You know it is.”
Kellen unlatched his seatbelt and stood. “No, you don’t understand. Wen, I… I did something bad. I didn’t mean to--I didn’t know I was doing it, but… Man, it’s bad. We’ve gotta turn around now.”
Lia tugged on Kellen’s arm. “Sit down. Kellen, what’s wrong?”
Ignoring Lia, he locked eyes with Morgan, his face tight with fear. Regret. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know he was going to do it.” He lurched forward, leaning over the seat in front of him. “Greg. Greg, you gotta keep driving, man. Don’t stop.”
Greg tossed a glance over his shoulder before turning his attention back to the road. “Kellen, what are you talking about? We’re almost to the coordinates.”
“Don’t stop. Keep going.” The look in Kellen’s eyes was wild now, almost mad. He turned to Morgan. “He knows. He knows we’re coming, and I’m sorry, Morgan--I’m so sorry.”
It took a moment for Kellen’s words to register, but when they did, Morgan felt a weight settle in her stomach. Orrick knew. He knew they were coming. And Kellen had told him.
Corbin’s face twisted into a scowl. “You son of a bitch--you’ve been playing us the whole time?”
Kellen shook his head, eyes wide and pleading. “No, it’s not… I didn’t mean…”
Lucas groaned. “Failsafe. We should’ve known it couldn’t be this easy.” He turned his attention to Morgan, reaching out with his abilities to guide her to sense what he sensed. “Orrick set a kind of trap in Kellen’s head. After his location was accessed, he set Kellen up like an early warning system. He’s given away our location. Orrick knows exactly where we are.”
“K, what’d you do?” Wen rubbed his face with his hand.
Kellen reached toward his friend. “I didn’t know, man--you gotta believe I didn’t know.”
“Now that we do know, we can shut it off, right, Lucas?” Lia asked, her voice higher than usual. She bit her lower lip as she looked at Kellen.
“Maybe.” Lucas closed his eyes and connected his energy with Morgan’s. He led her to the source of the problem: Buried in Kellen’s subconscious was an impulse to broadcast what he was seeing to an observer—either Orrick or, more likely, someone in his employ.
Morgan imagined the impulse to be a blinking red light. In her mind’s eye, she located the source of the light’s power and took hold of it.
Kellen’s body went rigid. Lia turned wide, worried eyes in Morgan’s direction.
“Do it,” Kellen breathed through clenched teeth.
Guilt swooped through Morgan’s stomach. Would severing this connection cause Kellen the kind of pain unlocking him had done? She didn’t know if she could put him through that again. But if she didn’t stop the broadcast, the Veneret would know their every move.
Not letting herself dwell on consequences, Morgan set her attention on Kellen’s subconscious. She imagined snapping the beacon’s power cord in one swift motion. In response, Kellen’s body convulsed, sending him sprawling over the back of the bench in front of him. Lia stood so she could pull him to an upright position. It took her a few tries, but she finally managed it. Kellen looked pale, but when he made eye contact with Morgan, he managed a wink.
Morgan turned her attention to the front of the van. “Okay. Kellen’s not giving away our location anymore. That doesn’t change the fact that Orrick knows we’re coming, but it does win us back a little bit of the element of surprise.”
Ellie didn’t look convinced. “We’re nearly there. Maybe if we’d realized what was happening earlier… We’ve been severely compromised here. I think it’s in our best interest to abort.”
“Abort?” Morgan demanded, taken aback by the suggestion. “How can you even say that? We’re so close. We can’t turn bac
k now.”
Ellie pressed her lips together. “Morgan, if Orrick knows we’re coming—”
“He’s always known we’d be coming.” Morgan looked from face to face at the people in the van. “If we just keep driving tonight, what then? Off to the next safe house to wait until the Veneret close in on us again? Off to sit and hope Orrick stays put so we can try to sneak up on him another day? No. No—we’ve come this far; I’m not leaving. This is it. Now is the time, this is the hour. I’m in this.” She looked at Kellen, whose fevered gaze did not waver. “You can drop me off at the coordinates and leave me there alone if you want. But this ends tonight.”
Greg pulled the van to a stop at the side of the road. He turned around to face Morgan. “According to the coordinates, Orrick’s safe house is about a quarter of a mile through those woods.”
For a long moment, no one spoke. Morgan took in a breath, steadying herself to face the worst case scenario: going in alone.
Chelsea shifted in her seat before rising. “This ends tonight.” She reached toward Morgan, clasping her hand around her daughter’s upper arm. “I came here to stand with you, and that’s what I’m doing.”
“I think that goes for all of us,” Wen said.
Lucas stiffened, his jaw set. “Look, everyone. As beautiful a moment as this is shaping up to be, if we’re going, we’ve gotta move. Now. Someone’s coming.”
Morgan stretched her abilities and encountered what Lucas sensed. “The Veneret. They’re closing in on our position. They’re coming through the trees.”
Kellen buried his face in his hands. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Corbin grabbed Kellen by the shoulders, shaking him. “Pull it together, man. You’re sorry? Prove it. Help us.”
Lia shot Corbin a reproachful look before brushing her fingers against Kellen’s jaw. “He’s right. You’ve got to snap out of this if you’re going to do us any good.”
Kellen raised his head, catching Morgan’s eye before looking at Wen. “She’s right. If we’re gonna do this, we’ve gotta move.”
Quickly and quietly, everyone made their way out of the van. Eyes on the tree line beside them, Morgan pressed her abilities outward. A dozen Veneret were making their way toward the road, spaced at even intervals. It was dark, and if they were both stealthy and lucky, they might be able to make their way between two of Orrick’s henchmen without them noticing.
Greg started for the woods, beckoning for the rest of them to follow him. Morgan slipped her hand into Lucas’s as they made their way toward the trees.
Moonlight filtered through the bare tree branches, dappling the ground with just enough light to keep them all from tripping as they wove around tree trunks and over fallen logs.
Morgan Felt the vicinity for encroaching energies. She determined the twelve approaching energies were still about a half mile away. Beyond them, she perceived a large void. That had to be where Orrick’s safe house was.
Ellie pressed a plan for avoiding the Veneret into Morgan’s mind and the minds of the others. As one, the group turned to the right, intending to make their way around the rightmost guard instead of taking their chances passing between two. It wasn’t the most direct route, but there was less risk involved.
Morgan kept her breathing steady and even, focusing on the placement of her feet on the ground. She didn’t allow her mind to drift to Orrick or the very real possibility that she would have to end his life before the night was over. Instead, she kept herself tethered to the moment, afraid that if she allowed herself to think about what was to come, she might turn around and go back into hiding. As much as she wanted all this to be over, she couldn’t convince herself that facing Orrick was something she wanted to do.
In front of her, Lucas froze. Morgan stopped too, and the others also went still. There was something wrong with the energies emanating from the Veneret who were approaching. There was a sort of flickering in the abilities they projected. Then, one by one, the twelve energies ahead of them disappeared.
“Oh no,” Chelsea whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Morgan’s mind spun, landing on the ridiculous suggestion of a teleporter Kellen mentioned earlier. She looked at her mother. “Do you know what’s happening?”
“They were projecting those energies,” Chelsea whispered, her eyes darting at the trees around them. “What we were picking up? They were never there. They wanted us to think they were there while they snuck up on us.”
“We’ve gotta start moving again,” Greg said, his voice low. Abandoning the former plan to circle around on the right, he started moving straight toward the void on the other side of the woods.
Joss let out a surprised cry as she fell, face-first, onto the ground. It took only a split second for Morgan to realize her cousin hadn’t tripped: As if it had sprung up out of the ground, an energy appeared only yards from their position. Her stomach dropped as she realized that the Veneret had found them.
Above her, a hollow cracking noise sounded. Lucas turned to her, his eyes wide, and leapt at her, pushing her to the ground just as a thick tree branch landed where they had been standing.
A voice pressed itself into Morgan’s mind, sending chills through her body. Silly child. He knew you’d come. He’s waiting for you.
Morgan pushed herself into a crouch, Lucas righting himself beside her. “What do we do?”
He looked at her, a grim smile on his lips. “We retaliate.”
Morgan needed no further persuasion. The energies of all twelve Veneret were now visible, encircling the group. Morgan focused her abilities on the tree to her immediate right, focusing her entire being on the task of Moving it. A satisfying crackling noise told her the effort was working, and she directed the tree toward two Veneret who were closing in on her location. Hoarse cries in the darkness confirmed that the tree hit its mark.
Morgan focused on the scene around her. Wen and Joss held hands, using their collective energy to send fallen logs at the Veneret as they attempted to advance. In midair, many of the logs deflected, veering off course and impacting tree trunks instead of their intended targets. Greg and Ellie were locked in hand-to-hand battle with two Veneret. Chelsea leapt impossibly high, jumping from one person to another, landing a punch or kick before moving to the next person.
Kellen in tow, Lia made her way over to Morgan, Lucas, and Corbin. “Push them,” she murmured. “Maybe we can convince some of them to go away.” She held her hands out to them.
“Lia, I won’t do you any good,” Kellen insisted, attempting to pull his hand free. “My abilities are still all messed up from the meds I’ve been on. Let me go so I can at least punch some people in the face.”
“You had enough ability in you to broadcast a message to Orrick. Who knows what else Morgan knocked loose when she unlocked you.” Lia cast a glance around the circle and, after ensuring everyone was holding hands, she centered herself and connected energies with the others before pushing a wave outward, the force of which left the whole group gasping for air.
After a moment for recovery, Morgan Felt for the Veneret around her. Several of the energies flickered, seeming confused, before starting off away from their location. Others, unaffected, began to close in on them.
Kellen finally managed to wrench himself away from Lia. He ran full tilt at the nearest Veneret, throwing himself at the man at the last moment and connecting with his middle. The two of them fell to the ground and Kellen lost no time beginning to pummel the man.
Corbin linked his energy with Morgan and focused on a woman approaching their position. Accessing every memory of pain and fear he could, he projected them at the woman, who crumpled to the ground, dissolving in tears. Morgan dove into the woman’s mind and led her into unconsciousness.
Corbin’s hand was pulled from hers in a flash and Morgan felt the crushing press of arms around her chest. She exhaled sharply and the grip constricted, making it impossible for her to inhale. Shifting her weight from foot to foot, she att
empted to loosen the hold on her, but it was to no avail.
A force collided with the person holding Morgan, shoving them both to the forest floor. The arms adjusted enough to allow Morgan to jab an elbow in her captor’s ribcage. A groan emanated from the man’s lips and Morgan used his surprise to escape. After putting several feet between, she turned toward him, surprised to see Lucas atop the man, landing punch after punch onto his face until he stopped struggling.
Once the Veneret man was unconscious, Lucas crawled to Morgan’s side, eyes scanning her body. “You okay?”
She nodded. “You’re bleeding.” She pressed the sleeve of her coat to the cut above his eye, but he pushed her arm away, eyes darting around their immediate area.
Panting, Morgan surveyed their surroundings. The woods were quiet. She pressed herself to standing. “Is that all of them?”
“For now.” Greg sat on the ground several yards away, Wen crouched over him. He winced as Wen tightened a belt around his thigh, which was bleeding.
“He’s right.” Ellie glanced behind her, in the direction they had come from, her eyes narrowed. “There are more people coming.”
“Veneret?” Joss asked, eyes wide.
Ellie bit her bottom lip. “I’m not sure. The energy is obscured. It’s strange—not like anything I’ve sensed before.”
“We’ve got to move,” Morgan said. “We can’t just sit and wait here for another attack.”
Greg put weight on his leg and winced. “You go.” He nodded toward Morgan and the other Naturals. “We’ll stay here and fend them off. Buy you a little time.”
Morgan met Greg’s eyes, nodding once. It occurred to her that she could argue, but that would waste precious time they couldn’t afford to lose. In a way, it made sense that she and the other Naturals would be moving forward without help from the Watchers. It was the way it was supposed to be. “Let’s go, then. Orrick’s safe house should be this way.”
Joss bounced on the balls of her feet, eyes darting between Morgan and Wen. “Is separating now really the best idea?”
The Naturals Trilogy Page 63
