Just then, Mica strode angrily from the kitchen into the living room. Jasper followed. I switched my vision. Their clouds appeared exactly as I predicted. Both now had pale green in them. I snapped my sight back to normal.
“How could you have done that to me!” Mica practically screamed. “I gave you my virginity and then you hook up with her?”
“I didn’t know, baby,” Jasper pleaded. “I didn’t know!”
Amber appeared from the hallway leading to their bedrooms. Her eyes were wide. It looked like she’d been crying. Mica sneered when she saw her.
“You couldn’t wait to sink your teeth into him, could you!” Mica spat. “I knew you always wanted him!” Mica’s face turned bright red. Her energy strummed to me. I felt it flow over me, like hot crackling electricity.
The force of it took me by surprise. I quickly tuned it out. When I did, it settled over me like a light drizzle of rain. I could barely feel it.
“Let’s all calm down.” Jasper held up his hands, his voice soothing. He looked at Mica intently, his gaze focused.
For a moment, her energy dimmed as if being doused. The second that happened, she stalked to Jasper and slapped him across the cheek. The loud crack made me jump.
“How dare you!” she seethed. “First you cheat on me, then you try to use your powers on me?” With that, she stomped from the room.
Mica swept past Amber on her way out. The youngest member of our group scampered out of the way. My heart went out to both of them, surprisingly. A week ago, I would have sided with Mica in a heartbeat, but now…
Since the memory antidote, my opinion about Amber had changed. My anger and annoyance with her over the past few months was still there, but so was my knowledge of the person she was before the memory drugs.
Before I could do anything to help either of them, Amber turned and bolted. The only person left was Jasper. He stood by the window, hanging his head.
Jet walked into the room from the kitchen. He ate a piece of toast. In the quiet room, the crunching noise was amplified. He sauntered over to Jasper and clapped his brother on the back.
“Nice one, bro. You’ve successfully pissed off half the women in this house. And nice try with your abilities. If Mica didn’t know you could do that, it might have worked.”
Jasper shoved him off and stalked from the room.
I sat there, wide-eyed.
We’d all had our moments growing up where we argued or fought, but never quite like that. Never so vehemently.
“This isn’t good,” Jacinda murmured. “Both Mica and Amber are crying in their rooms right now.”
Of course, Jacinda would know. She could probably hear the tears rolling down their cheeks.
I sighed heavily. “What a mess.”
Jacinda squeezed my hand. “It’s good to see you up and moving. Let’s catch up later. Right now, I want to check on Amber.”
A subtle push of energy rolled into my back as Jacinda walked away. Without turning, I knew who it was. The feel and warmth of it was so familiar. Flint stood motionless by the stairwell, staring down the hall in the direction Mica, Jasper and Amber had gone. I guessed he’d witnessed the entire scene.
Jet finished his toast. “Hungry anyone? I was thinking of making some eggs.”
I ignored him and joined Flint by the stairwell. He put his arm around me and steered me to the kitchen. “See what I mean?” he seethed. “Conroy’s drugs have really messed with everyone’s lives. A good person would never do that.”
I swallowed my uncertainty. “He couldn’t have known that would happen. He honestly thought we’d never see one another again and that we’d make new lives for ourselves. Remember?”
Flint snorted and opened a few cupboards until he found where the coffee mugs lived. “Where is dear old dad, anyway? Shouldn’t he be the one cleaning up this mess?”
I bit my lip. I wondered if Father knew what was happening. “I’ll go find him. I want to ask him a few things anyway.”
I FOUND FATHER in the study. He sat at a desk that faced a window, although instead of studying or working, he simply sat there, staring out the window, an unreadable expression on his face. The desert shrubs glowed in the morning sun, the mountains purple in the distance. A hot, steaming cup of coffee sat beside him. It appeared untouched.
“Father?”
He jumped. “Galena, you startled me.”
“Sorry.” I stepped into the room and eased the door shut.
He stood and approached me, a frown on his face. “How are you feeling? Any new headaches? Blurred vision? Balance issues?”
“No, I’m fine. Really, I am. I came in here to talk to you about something else.”
The concern on his face disappeared. He let out a relieved sigh. “Of course.” With the wave of a hand, he invited me to sit with him in the overstuffed armchairs in front of the cold fireplace. The study was decorated like the rest of the house. Modern, sleek and expensive looking. I was a little surprised when I sat down and the chair was actually comfortable. That was a first.
Father shifted in his seat. “Are you sure you haven’t had any new headaches?”
“Nope, none at all. I feel fine. Really. But…um…I’m not sure everyone else is okay.”
Father frowned deeply. “I overheard some of what was said.”
His energy rolled toward me. It was crazy how in-tuned I was getting to everyone.
Father glanced toward the door. “It seems I’ve made a mess of things. What I had hoped to accomplish was to give you all free, normal lives. However, we’re now on the run, our family is fighting and you almost died.” He glanced down. His hands shook. “Galena, I cannot apologize enough for what I did to you. I never anticipated any of you would have a reaction like you did. I’ve never seen a reaction that severe from a mild mind altering medication. The memory drugs shouldn’t have done that. It was incredibly bad luck that it affected you like that.”
I laid my hand over his. “I know. You don’t need to explain again. I don’t blame you.”
“I almost killed you.”
“And you saved me too. You need to let this go, Father. Please don’t blame yourself.”
His hazel eyes misted over when he lifted them to mine. “You’ve always been so forgiving, always finding the good in others.”
“Who do you think I learned that kindness from?”
He wiped his eyes and squeezed my hand. “Now, what is it you sought me out for? I’m guessing if you’re done resting than you’re feeling better and want to talk about what you’ve remembered. Most of your brothers and sisters have.”
I nodded. There were two things I definitely wanted to talk about: colorful clouds and birth control.
“We have new colors in our clouds.” I leaned forward. “From when we last saw you – blue and pale green. I think we were right. The colors are from the drugs.”
Father cocked his head. Now that I had all of my memories, I knew this wasn’t the first time we’d discussed what I saw around others. Prior to my Seattle trip, I thought everybody had color in their clouds. So had Father. He’d had no reason to think our clouds were different than anybody else’s. However, when I switched my vision in Seattle and saw the sea of white and black around the general public I’d realized we were different. Not them.
“So it is from the drugs,” he said.
I nodded. “All of us have blue now, and from what I’ve seen so far, pale green too. The blue must be from the drug six months ago. Ever since I met, I mean re-met everyone in August, we’ve had blue in our clouds.”
“So the memory drug is blue, and the antidote is pale green.”
“It seems so.” I thought about the twins’ clouds. “Jet and Jasper must have metabolized their memory drugs similarly. Both of them have the same blue.”
“I used a different medium for the memory drugs. That would make sense.”
He was quiet after he said that. I could see the gears shifting in his mind. It was a common expression on
his face. Father was always thinking.
“The memory drugs must have been mind altering,” he said. “To have caused colors.”
We’d deduced years ago, following my trip to Seattle, that only the potent mixtures created by O’Brien Pharmaceuticals could create big enough changes in people to cause aura shifts. Normal drugs, like ibuprofen, heart and diabetes medication and so forth didn’t cause changes. Otherwise, everybody would have colorful clouds.
He tapped his chin. “Yes, they have to be but nowhere near as altering as the ones you received as babies.” He sat up straighter. Some of the fatigue left his eyes. His energy didn’t feel quite as heavy either. I knew if I wanted to pull Father from a sad mood, the best way to do it was science talk.
“So they didn’t permanently alter our brains?” I asked.
“No, they didn’t permanently alter your brain chemistries. Just temporarily until the antidote was given, but obviously enough to cause changes in your auras.”
I asked him more about how he’d felt after he’d taken the first memory drug. In typical Father fashion, he broke it down completely. Everything in the world could be turned into a science project, at least to Father.
“There’s something else I want to ask you,” I said after we finished talking about the drugs. I squirmed for a moment. It was silly. As soon as we’d all reached puberty and gone through health class in our home school, Father had laid down the ground rules very succinctly. No sex until eighteen. After that, birth control would be readily available. No questions asked.
“I don’t have birth control,” I finally said.
Understanding dawned in his eyes. “Of course, and you and Flint are together again.” He stood. “I’ll be right back.”
I stared out the window while he was gone, my shoulders slumping in relief. That hadn’t been as awkward as I’d feared.
He returned a minute later.
“Here you go.” He handed me a few packets. “We should really take you in for a proper exam. You and the other women. It’s something I’ve known for years I needed to do, but in the Hills it was impossible.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t thought of that either. I broke open one of the packets.
“Do you remember how to take them?”
“I think so.”
“Let me explain. Just to be safe.” He launched into a lengthy and thorough explanation about how the first course of medication had to be timed with my period so Flint and I couldn’t have sex right away. He also explained what the pills consisted of, side effects, its success rate, how it didn’t protect against STD’s, and so on. The conversation went on for at least thirty minutes.
I felt completely humbled and educated by the time he got done, even though it was all review. A short burst of relief flowed through me that I really did have all of my memories back, but in typical Father fashion, he educated me anyway. And to think I thought this meeting would be brief and awkward.
“Thank you.” I didn’t realize until that moment how much I’d missed him. His comforting manner did something to me that was very similar to Flint’s presence. I felt safe.
When I returned to the living room, it was empty. A few distant showers sounded in the bedrooms. I figured everyone was finally getting dressed. A figure appeared through the wall of windows overlooking the backyard. Mica appeared to be walking alone outside. I bit my lip. I was about to go to her when a voice stopped me.
“It went well?”
I spun. Flint sat on a stool at the large, granite island in the kitchen. A glass of orange juice and a plate of scrambled eggs and toast sat in front of him. A second full plate sat beside him. I didn’t have to ask to know that was for me.
“Yeah. It went well, very well.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Do you want to join me and tell me about it?”
I grabbed a piece of toast and kissed him quickly. “I’ll tell you all about it, but I need to do something else first.”
His gaze followed mine to the back windows. “She’s been out there for the last twenty minutes.”
“She was pretty upset when she left.”
Flint sighed and dumped my eggs onto his plate. “Good thing I’m hungry.”
DOWNSTAIRS, I COULDN’T figure out how to open the door or wall or whatever the hell it was to the backyard. Kicking it in frustration, I raced back upstairs and asked Father the password. After another annoying five minutes, I finally figured the damn thing out and was in the backyard.
Mica was nowhere to be seen.
Bright sunlight streamed down as I hopped along the stone walkway. I dipped around shrubs, trees and cactuses. The trickle from the fountain reached my ears a few minutes later.
When I rounded a turn, the fountain appeared. Mica sat close to it, throwing pebbles into the water.
Her gaze snapped to mine. They were rimmed with red. “Lena! You’re up.”
I sat beside her. The ground was ridiculously cold. Again, I wondered how long this fountain would keep running. “How are you doing?”
Her eyed widened. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You’re the one who almost died.” A flash of guilt crossed her face. “I’m sorry I haven’t spent more time with you in your room while you’ve been resting. It’s been…I…”
“I get it. Really, I do.”
We sat in silence for a moment. She picked up more pebbles and threw them. I inched closer to her. Another moment of silence passed before I said, “I’m sorry about what’s happened with Jasper.”
She sighed humorlessly and tried to smile. “Bastard, not Jasper. Let’s call him Bastard from now on.”
I flinched. “You must be pretty pissed off.”
She flung another pebble into the fountain. It hit the base and skittered into the water. “I’m more than just pissed off. I’m freakin’ irate!” Her chest rose and fell heavily.
I waited a moment before saying, “Have you talked to him about it?”
“No. He keeps trying to get me to ‘discuss it’ with him, but then he tried that crap this morning with his powers. What did he think? That if he couldn’t talk to me like a normal person, he could persuade me to not be mad at him anymore?”
“That wasn’t a smart thing for him to do. I completely agree.”
Mica picked up more pebbles but her throwing grew less and less. Tears streamed down her cheeks again. “It hurts so damn much.”
I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.
“I mean, the rational side of me is saying that he didn’t know we were together so I shouldn’t be mad at him, but my heart keeps breaking.”
I squeezed her harder.
“And then I look at you and Flint. I mean seriously, even when your memories were gone, you still only had eyes for each other. That’s true love. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. So what does that mean? That Jasper and I aren’t right for each other? That we shouldn’t actually be together?”
“I don’t think that’s what it means.”
Mica sniffed and wiped her tears. A breeze ruffled her shoulder length hair. “Then what do you think it means?”
I shrugged awkwardly. “That you were two people who met as strangers and didn’t have the memories of your history anymore. That you started new, like when we were kids. Friends first.”
“Until Amber came along,” she said bitterly.
“Have you talked to her?”
“No, and I have no desire to talk to her ever again.”
I softened my tone. “You’re hurting, I see that, but Amber didn’t know what you and Jasper had. None of us knew.”
“Do you really think it would have changed things if she had?”
I sighed. Mica had a point. Memories of how Amber behaved when we first re-met swirled through my mind. Within two days of picking her up at the airport, Amber had tried to come between Flint and me. She’d lied and hurt me intentionally, but I also knew she’d never done anything like that growing up.
“The drug changed her,” I finall
y said. “She never acted like that before.”
Mica snorted. “Changed her or revealed who she always was but we just never saw it?”
I had no idea how to respond to that. It was another intricacy we may never explain. There could be truth in that. Growing up, Amber had always been a kind, sweet girl. The petty, malicious one I’d known since Hideaway Hills was a complete one-eighty from who I knew her as.
“I haven’t seen any of her immaturity since this latest drug.”
“Well, you have been rather preoccupied the past few days, with almost dying and all.” Mica’s voice caught. “God, I’m such an awful sister! I should have been with you for the past two days, seeing what I could do to help you, not moping around because of Jasper.” She turned to face me. Tears filled her eyes again. “I’m sorry.” She pulled me into a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
I hugged her back. “I’m fine. Seriously, I am. And you don’t need to be sorry and you don’t need to worry about me.”
Mica pulled back and smiled when my hair tangled around her ear. “You’re really not mad at me for being so selfishly preoccupied?” She pulled another strand of my hair off her face and rolled her eyes. “Jeez, girl. You always had too much hair.”
I chuckled and pushed my hair behind my shoulder. “I’m really not mad. Okay?”
She gripped my hands in hers. “Okay, but please know that I’m really happy you’re okay. All of us were really worried.”
“I seem to be causing a lot of worries with my injuries lately.”
Mica just sighed. “And here I am, crying about a stupid boy.”
“That boy happens to be your first love. There’s nothing stupid about that so stop apologizing.”
She smiled then, a real smile. “You’ve always been able to make me feel better. I’m glad that hasn’t changed.”
We stood and strolled back to the house. By the time we returned, Mica’s tears had dried and she was smiling again. I had no idea what the future held for Mica, Jasper, Amber and the rest of us, but if we were returning to O’Brien we’d need to find a way to all work together again.
Remembered Page 12
