Kindred

by Adrianne Lemke

  I met Dustin's eyes and continued, "His were the first footsteps I was able to feel, and when I rescued Sam, I stored them away for future warning," I took a breath, staring at the floor as I spoke. I wasn't ready to see Dustin's reactions yet. "As he approached, I could feel some of myself—my energy—flow into the ground and raise the earth in front of him and he tripped. It wasn't a conscious choice," I admitted. "He was already drunk and angry, the last thing I needed was for him to get even more upset," I stopped, still staring at the floor.

  "Jason… what did he do?" Dustin asked after giving me a few minutes to compose myself.

  "He dragged me into the house and beat me until I was unconscious. I tried faking it, but he just kept hitting me. He was gone when I woke up, and that's when I decided to leave. Unfortunately, I was in no shape to stay on the streets, so I waited until the bruises began to fade, and stayed out of his way as much as possible until about a week later, when he was at work. I grabbed whatever food and clothing I could fit in a backpack, and I left."

  "Where was your mother in all this?" Dustin asked. He was trying to sound disconnected, like a casual observer, but I could hear the anger in his voice.

  "She wasn't around. Got sick of how he treated her and ran shortly after Sam was born. She took him with her actually. It was when Sam was about five that my father got him back. My mother had been arrested for drug abuse and prostitution, and the courts sent Sam to live with our father. She died of a drug overdose not long after that. She never hurt me. Sometimes even tried to get him away from me, but it was always worse for me when she tried. Eventually, she gave up trying to protect me," I paused, taking a drink of water and just breathing for a moment.

  "He never touched Sam in a harsh manner, not while I was there anyway. I thought he'd be safe…" I trailed off and looked around the room again. I hadn't told anyone any of this before. It felt strange to talk about it. I still felt ashamed of myself for naively believing that my father would leave Sam alone in my absence, but I'd needed to get out. Once I'd discovered my ability, I'd wanted nothing more than to use it against my father, to punish him for how he'd treated me, and then to make him disappear… forever.

  "Hey, Jason. Come on back, bud," I blinked at him and cringed. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you, but…"

  "I was out again. Sorry."

  "It's okay. Can you tell me what you were thinking about before it happened?" Dustin looked concerned and curious.

  "I… uh…" I shook my head. I didn't want to tell him, but wasn't this the reason we were doing this to begin with? If I couldn't tell him, then what was the point in continuing? Dustin waited patiently, allowing me to think it over. "I was thinking that I needed to get out of my father's house, because I was afraid I'd become like him. I was afraid that the next time he came for me, would be the time I'd let my power loose and destroy him." I saw Dustin lean back slightly at the venom in my voice, but continued. "But I should have brought Sam. He never should have been stuck with that monster." I shook my head again, this time in disgust at myself; then I looked up at Dustin curiously. "That only took a few seconds to think about, how long was I out?"

  It was Dustin's turn to hesitate as he rubbed a hand over the back of his head. "About ten minutes. I was about to get Hannah. I could tell when you were gone, because your face went from thoughtful to completely blank."

  "Did you hear or feel any rumbling? Any sign that my power was in play?"

  He shook his head. "Not that I noticed."

  "Good." The blackouts were bad enough without my abilities escaping. "Can we be done now?"

  "Sure. I think you did a great job today, Jason. Thank you for opening up to me. If I may, I'd like to suggest that at some point you tell Hannah and Alice at least some of what you just told me. You don't have to do it right away, but they really care about you, and would be able to understand you more if you tell them."

  I hesitated, but nodded in agreement. Sometime, I would tell them. Not today.

  I watched Dustin leave the room and I sat on the bed, wanting only to hide from everyone for a little while. I glanced up at the clock on my wall and was surprised that it was just past noon. Alice would be home for lunch soon, unless she had a case, and Hannah would be going to her afternoon classes. My class with them was the next day, as were my other two. All of my classes were Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and even that was pushing it some weeks.

  I felt a familiar set of footsteps walking slowly around the house, and I tensed. It was one of the guys I'd noticed at the park a couple days ago… but what was he doing here?

  Concentrating any part of my ability through concrete is much harder than it is through loose dirt, but it is doable. There are some occasions where I can even manipulate the ground outside from my basement room. It was something I was hesitant to try, especially with all the emotions I'd just released, but I wanted… no, I needed to know why this guy was hanging around.

  I knelt on the floor; one hand resting on my knee, the other laying lightly on the cool concrete. I closed my eyes, focusing all my energy on one target and pushing the earth to do my will.

  It moved. Slowly at first, but it gained power as it rushed up to the surface, and I both heard and felt when my prey was trapped. He was near my window, and yelled when the earth suddenly rose up to his knees and solidified into nearly rock-solid boots. He wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. I could feel a smile forming on my lips. I felt powerful and in control, something I hadn't felt for some time. The smile died as I wondered: what do I do now?

  SEVEN

  Hannah

  After sending the boys downstairs to talk, I was at a loss. I wandered aimlessly for a while, and then joined Sam in the office where he was playing a game on the computer. I looked over his shoulder: Tetris. He was going old school today. He sniffled, and I realized suddenly that he was crying.

  "Sam? Are you okay?" I placed my hand on his shoulder, knelt down, and turned him toward me.

  He jumped a little, trying to cover his tears in the way that pre-teens do. "What's wrong with my brother?" he asked, giving up the attempt to hide his tears. "Why didn't he… why wouldn't he answer you? The other day you yelled his name over and over…" His voice trailed off.

  He'd overheard us two days ago when Jason had blacked out. Possibly eavesdropping or maybe he just got curious once I'd begun to frantically call Jason's name. Either way he'd noticed something that Jason had been trying to keep under wraps. And we’d thought we succeeded until now. Apparently, Jason wasn’t the only one good at hiding his feelings.

  "We don't know yet, kiddo," I admitted, sitting in a chair and pulling him closer to me, allowing him to rest his head on my shoulder. "Your brother went through a rough time last fall, and he's still working it out in his head. He's going to talk to Dustin now, like you did. It will hopefully help him, like he helped you."

  "Jase doesn't like to talk," the boy protested. "He said he didn't want to talk about it to anybody," his voice became stronger, more protective. Apparently, Jason wasn’t the only one with the desire to keep his brother safe either.

  I'd heard him say that also, so I nodded. "That was before he started with his… blackouts. He doesn't want them to continue, so he's going to talk through his problems." Sam looked doubtful, but I patted him on the shoulder with a smile. "He wants to be here for you, Sam. If that means talking about his problems when he doesn't really want to, he will." I gave him another squeeze and stood. "You wanna watch some TV while they talk?"

  He nodded and walked with me to the living room. I hoped I was right. Jason needed the help, but he needed someone who knew more about how to treat his PTSD. Dustin was great, but even after a couple days of research he didn't know the problem inside and out like a professional would. Sam's problems were not as deep running as Jason's, due largely to Jason being very protective of Sam. He hadn't dealt with the horrible childhood I suspected Jason had. Life on the street had been made easier for Sam by the fact that the other kids J
ason had 'adopted' had sheltered him from any problems in order to help their protector. Compared to his brother, Sam lived a charmed life. He had only a small scar on his side from a cut that had been deeper than the others.

  Jason's scarring was awful. He had scars all over his torso and arms, including the brand Mason had marked him with. He would forever be reminded of his ordeal. I was thankful Sam wouldn't hold the same physical and emotional scarring, and I knew Jason was too. But I had seen a peculiar look on Jason's face when he watched Sam while he thought no one was looking. I don't know what it meant, but I suspect he goes through times when he's angry about what he went through, and that he wishes he could be a different person, for his sake and for Sam's.

  The steps creaked and I looked up from the TV and saw Dustin coming up. "How did it go?" I asked softly, noting his pensive look and pale skin.

  "He opened up. I can't tell you about what, but he definitely jumps into things with both feet. I need to go home and think through some of this. He may take some time to himself before he comes up. Most likely he'll want to try to repair some of his walls…" He was going to keep talking, but the ground outside began to rumble, and we heard a shout from the yard.

  "What the…" Dustin pushed me behind him and headed to the window, glancing out. "There's a guy out there, but I guess Jason noticed him first. He's stuck," he looked back at me. "Call your sister. If Jason felt like he needed to trap this guy, she should get here and find out why."

  There was some clunking up the stairs and Jason poked his head around the corner. "Hey, guys… One of Mason's guys is outside. Is Alice going to be back soon?" He spoke matter-of-factly and seemed calmer than he should in this situation.

  "Jason, how did you do that? Is there a hole in our basement floor now?" I asked curiously. As far as I knew, he didn't have the ability to control his power that exactly.

  He looked a bit sheepish as he replied, "I've been practicing. No hole. I can sense the ground under the foundation and push it up to the surface, which is what I did when this guy showed up. Could we call your sister?"

  "Working on it," I said heading to the phone. He seemed almost confident. It was an attitude we hadn’t seen from him since last fall, and I hadn't expected him to feel that way after Dustin had come up looking so upset. I dialed and Alice picked up after two rings. "Ali? Jason caught a guy that he says worked with Mason. He's currently trapped in our side yard between the house and the bushes. We haven't talked to him yet, we figured we should wait for you."

  "Good call, little sis. Dan and I will be there shortly. Stay in the house in case he gets free," Alice replied calmly. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that Alice and Dan could handle a lot of problems, and that Jason would most likely not allow this guy to get out of his dirt trap until they arrived.

  "We'll stay in the house," I promised, meeting the eyes of all three boys as I said it. They nodded agreement and I hung up. "She's coming," I said unnecessarily.

  Jason nodded. "I'll go back downstairs and make sure he doesn't go anywhere. See you guys when Alice gets here," he waved and disappeared back down the steps.

  "We should email our professor," I said to Dustin. "With filing police reports and stuff, we probably won't make it to class today."

  He was staring out the window at the trapped man and back to the steps where Jason had gone. "He shouldn't be feeling like that," he said softly. "Go email the professor. I'll be down with Jason."

  I frowned at him in concern. "What's wrong?"

  "I'm not sure, but Jason seems almost too carefree. Considering it was about five minutes ago that he was spilling his guts to me about how helpless he's felt… sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I just need to talk to him real quick again. I'll be back shortly."

  All I could do was nod. Helpless. It was a good word to describe how Jason had to feel during his ordeal with Mason. Hanging in a shed blindfolded and gagged. He had been completely helpless. And we had all felt helpless when we'd realized he'd been taken. But I'd gotten the sense that Dustin had meant more than just recent events. Jason had never mentioned his childhood or his parents to me. I wasn't sure if Alice or anyone else knew exactly how he'd been raised, but the lack of comment was enough to hint at all sorts of problems.

  Sam was looking at me wide-eyed and scared. "What's going on? Is Jason in trouble again?"

  "No, sweetie. Dustin just needs to talk to him and make sure he's feeling okay."

  "But they just got done talking," the boy protested. "He shouldn't have to talk about things again so soon!" He seemed too angry for the situation and I wondered how much he knew about what Jason was going through. Sam was more observant than we like to give him credit for, and he could very well know more about Jason's issues than he let on. The brothers protect each other. Jason was just more obvious about it. Sam would try to keep Jason from having to relive his experiences; Jason would fight tooth and nail to keep Sam safe from any danger. He literally moved the earth to protect the ones he loved.

  EIGHT

  Jason

  It was an odd feeling I was having right now. I was going back and forth between feeling confident in my ability, and worrying that I was going to lose control again. The successful use of my power after fearing it for so long gave me an adrenaline rush and a burst of confidence that I knew wouldn't last long. I had to make use of it while I could. I kept my main concentration holding the man prisoner, ignoring his yells outside my window as I extended my awareness around the house. If this guy had a partner, I wanted to know about it before he caused any problems.

  There was something… I tilted my head, reaching and concentrating…

  "Jason, I'm coming down," Dustin interrupted, and I felt my focus and energy snap back, and I lost the hint of an echo I was feeling.

  "Come down," I said, trying not to sound impatient. He couldn't know that I was trying to figure something out right when he was coming down. "What's goin' on, bud?" I asked as he walked into my room.

  He met my eyes, staring down at me as I stayed crouched on the floor monitoring the man outside. "What's going on with you?" he countered urgently. "One minute you're spilling stuff you haven't told anyone, and the next you seem more confident than you've been since I met you. What's going on?" he asked again.

  I shrugged. "Dunno. But for now it feels pretty good. It might just be a reaction to controlling my power for the first time in months, or I might be on some kind of high from talking about that stuff to you. I don't know," I repeated, subconsciously tightening the bonds on the guy outside as he wiggled and tried to get loose. Dustin seemed worried, but I couldn't concern myself about something that made me feel good for the first time in months. Perhaps if I worked it right, I'd be able to gain more control over my abilities and no longer have to be afraid of hurting someone accidentally.

  "Someone else was here," I said after a few minutes. "I was trying to concentrate on their steps when you came down. If you'll just give me a few minutes to concentrate, I'll try to figure out where they’re going and if they're familiar."

  "Sure," he said with a nod, the concerned look still on his face. I put him out of my mind and sent my concentration across the street to where I'd picked up the odd footsteps. They were light, almost non-existent, but they hadn't been there before. To try to clarify them, I poured more energy into reading the prints and I followed them to the house and then back around to the road where they disappeared again. "He was here, but only for a moment," I said, my confidence from a moment ago almost gone in the face of what I realized. "He dropped something off again. How could I have missed his approach? We were here! How could he have come up to the door unnoticed?"

  "Who? Jason, who was here?" Dustin asked. I jumped when he spoke; I'd forgotten he was there.

  "Kindred. The footsteps were the same; almost impossible to feel. They were nearly non-existent. I don't know how he does it, but I noticed it in the woods that day. I was so out of it at the time that I almost didn't notice, but I remember n
ow. It was also him in the warehouse, I think. I’m still a little fuzzy on that one, but I felt someone, and there were no echoes that felt familiar when Alice and I went back to check."

  "We should check what he dropped off, if he left something at the door. Is anyone else out there?"

  "No. Just Mason's guy, but he's not going anywhere," I stood up, feeling shaky. Kindred seemed to be the one person who was able to sneak up on me; all the confidence and good feeling I'd been having drifted away. "He must have… removed another supposed threat to me. I don't know. I…" I shook my head, not sure what I was about to say and allowing my discomfort to show.

  "None of it is your fault, Jason. Just remember that, and you should be able to get through this. Don't let his actions affect how you see yourself. You are a good guy, and even good people have bad thoughts once in a while. The best person in the world would have dark thoughts after what you've been through."

  I nodded, not sure I believed him in spite of his urgency, but wanting to drop the matter. "I should check," I said gesturing upstairs. "Keep an eye on him and yell if he starts getting loose."

  He gave me a thumbs up and I headed upstairs slowly, not at all eager to see what Kindred had left for me. Sure enough, there was an envelope sticking out of the edge of the door, 'TRACKER' written across the front of it in big block letters. He’d called me that before, but it struck me now that I had never told him what I called myself. How had he known? The only people I’d told besides Sam were Alice, Hannah, and Dustin. Not even Dan or Agent Jones knew. If Kindred was one of Mason’s employees, he should only know the name Mason had given me: the Earthshaker. As far as I knew, Mason never even knew about my tracking abilities. It was a question for another time, and one that was perhaps destined to be unanswered.

  I opened the envelope and stared at the picture in confusion. I didn't know the man, why would he send me a picture of someone I'd never seen before? The note fell out onto the floor and I picked it up. I read it to myself: