She was back where she belonged.
Now it was just Xander and me.
I wasn’t about to turn him over to Child Protective Services, but the kid couldn’t spend the rest of his life camped out in a castroom. He needed a real home, and I only had one to give. I sent a message home through Maria, to see if it was okay to come to Gurnee. My family sent back two words.
Come home.
Except I wasn’t sure what waited for us there. I had spilled my family’s big secret, the one they had hidden for generations. The Feds were avoiding any obvious harassment of my family, but who knew what other fallout had rained down on my dad. I didn’t know if my family understood the choice that I had made. I only hoped they wouldn’t hold it against Xander.
If they let him stay, Xander should be fine with my family, like the other changelings with theirs. If the Feds openly arrested any of them, it would be proof that they had been sending jackers to camps and experimenting on them all along. The Feds could pretend they hadn’t been hunting down jackers, but they could no longer say that they didn’t exist. Especially now that more and more jackers were coming out every day.
The Feds couldn’t arrest me out in the open either, but that wasn’t the only danger in going home. Tru-casts or no, if Molloy ever escaped the Feds, he would hunt me down, and my home was the first place he’d look. Kestrel might be forced to give up the changelings I’d rescued, but if I was the genetic link he wanted, he would never stop searching for me. He’d have no problem with making me disappear one night without the formality of actually arresting me.
I wasn’t at all sure going home was a good idea. But I could at least drop off Xander and make sure he had a place to stay.
Maria arranged for a hydrocopter to take us to Union Station so we could avoid the protesters. I borrowed a tally card from her to pay for the train and transit fares from there to Gurnee.
The train out of the city was empty, with most commuters already at work. The bus arrived at the train transfer station shortly after we did. As soon as the bus door whooshed open, I linked into the driver’s mind. Does this route go to Gurnee? I need to get to Manor Road.
The driver crinkled a smile on her heavily lined face. Sure does, sweetie. There’s a stop real close to Manor Road. Her smile faltered, thinking she recognized me from somewhere. I hoped we could get through the trip before she realized my face had been all over the news for the last two days.
I gave her a smile and climbed the steps of the bus with Xander behind me. She swiped Maria’s tally card across the scanner and handed it back to me. There are a lot of stops before Manor. Make yourself comfortable, dear. She leaned away from Xander as he passed. He must be hesitating to link into her mind, not quite sure of his skills yet. Which wasn’t a bad idea, but it left the driver thinking he was a zero. She mentally commanded the door shut behind us, and we worked our way to the back of the bus.
Xander fidgeted in the bus seat next to me. He kept spinning a leather bracelet he’d managed to keep through the camp and the hospital. I wasn’t sure what the significance of it was, but I didn’t link in to ask. Privacy was different than secrets.
Fall had come to Illinois, and the leaves were starting to drop. There were splashes of color everywhere. As we wound through the side streets of my hometown, I spied a tree made entirely of gold, except for a single red leaf. A thousand tiny orange leaflets flew past on a gust of air.
It felt like a million years since I had been home.
The bus pulled to a stop a block from my house. I had already swept the neighborhood to make sure there were no jacker agents waiting to capture us, but there were only my normal neighbors doing their normal things. At least I guessed it was normal—I’d never kept tabs on the neighbors before.
As we approached my house, my mom flew out the door and met us halfway across the lawn. She nearly knocked me over when she hugged me.
“Hi, Mom.” I tried to say more, but my throat tightened up at having her close again.
She took my cheeks in her hands. “Kira, you can link with me, sweetheart. It’s okay.”
I linked into her mind and was overwhelmed with the happiness I found there. I’m so glad you’re home, Kira. And I’m so proud of you. She replayed images of me on the tru-cast, and I cringed.
I had to get them out, Mom, I explained, even though she wasn’t asking. I couldn’t let the Feds take them back to the basement.
I know, honey. I understand.
I pulled her hands from my face and peered around to the open front door. Does Dad understand? I had reached into the house when I made my sweep before, but I hadn’t lingered in the minds there, nervous about what thoughts I would find.
I’ll let him explain, she thought.
I motioned to Xander, who was watching us with undisguised longing. “Mom, this is Xander. I was hoping that, maybe, he could stay with you for a while.” She, along with everyone else, had to know what had happened to Xander. His mom had made sure of that on the tru-casts.
My mom beamed a smile at him and switched to speaking aloud without missing a beat. “Of course he’s welcome to stay with us.” She offered her hand, and Xander awkwardly shook it.
I wanted to be up front, so there were no misunderstandings. No more secrets. “There’s just one thing, Mom.” I cleared my throat to get rid of the quaver. “I’m really here to drop Xander off. I’m not sure it’s such a good idea for me to stay.” Her face twisted up like I had gone demens right in front of her. “It’s just that it’s not really safe. For me, I mean. Xander will be fine. If he stays with you. If that’s okay.” I stopped my stuttering because my mom seemed like she was about to cry, and that nearly killed me on the spot. “I… I want to stay, it’s just that…” I didn’t even know where to start. She shushed me by patting my arm and blinking back the tears.
“You should talk to your father. He’s waiting to see you.” She looped her arms through Xander’s and mine. I let her tow us toward the house. The second floor window had been broken, and two large boards crossed over it with plastic wrapping hanging from the edges.
I cleared my throat. “What happened to the window?”
“Oh, that. Um, nothing.” It was a wonder my mom had kept our family secret for so long, because she was so fantastically bad at lying.
I linked gently into her head. The truth?
The truth is that some hateful people threw a rock through it. Your father didn’t reach them before they sped off. Her lips made a tight line. No one was hurt.
The hole in my parent’s house gaped at me. My dad was not going to be happy about this. At all.
We stepped through the darkened front doorway and climbed the stairs to the living room. Seamus hovered at the top, all gussied up in his cadet uniform. A grin broke across his face, and he swept me up in a hug.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” I asked while trying to pull in a breath.
“Aren’t you supposed to be staying out of trouble?” he replied. My laugh came out strangled because of his hold on me. He set me down with a thump and cocked a look to Xander. “I see you have a follower.”
Xander froze, scanning up Seamus’s towering height.
“Just ignore him,” I said to Xander. “He’s oversized, but mostly harmless.” Xander kept his distance.
My father was waiting at the far end of the room. I bit my lip. “Hi, Dad.”
He seemed to be fighting to keep control of his features. I didn’t know what he was holding back, but I didn’t want to link in and find out. He unfolded his arms and strode across the room. I wasn’t sure of his intentions until he hugged me harder than Seamus had.
Tears sprang into my eyes. I told myself it was because he was squeezing me so hard. “Kira, I’m so glad you’re home.” His voice was rough.
We didn’t say anything for a while, just held each other.
Then I linked into his mind and asked the question I didn’t want to say out loud, for everyone to hear. You’re not
mad at me?
Kira, I was never mad at you. Worried sick. But not mad.
I pulled back. What about the Navy? They have to be upset that you didn’t bring me in. That I went public and embarrassed them, and I thought they might take it out on you and…
“I quit my job, Kira,” he said aloud.
“What?” I asked in horror, finally noticing he was wearing civilian clothes. “They fired you? Because of what I did?”
“No. It wasn’t like that,” he said. “I quit. When I found out what they were doing, in that hospital. I knew it was bad, Kira, but I didn’t know…” He looked pained. “I’m sorry I didn’t quit sooner.”
I linked back into his head. You weren’t part of Kestrel’s Task Force, Dad. It’s not your fault.
No, but I didn’t stop him either, he thought. Not like a certain strong-willed daughter of mine.
My face grew hot. I hadn’t stopped Kestrel. If anything, I had probably just pushed him underground.
My dad smiled. “In any event, no one can hold my position over me anymore. And I needed a new job, anyway. It’s rather difficult to be a spy with a world-famous mindjacker for a daughter.”
“Dad… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s better this way. The government can’t control jackers like they used to, not with more and more of us coming out all the time.”
My shoulders sagged. “Better? I’m not so sure. What about the jackers in the camp? Do you know what happened to them?”
“No.” His face turned hard. “I tried to find out more before I quit, but the Fed’s aren’t owning up to the camp. They must be holding the changelings somewhere new. And if they released them, it would be admitting that they held them in the first place.” He took my hands in his. “You did everything you could, Kira, and I’m proud of you.”
His words brought a queasiness to my stomach. “I didn’t do everything I could, Dad,” I whispered. His hands still held mine, but I had a hard time meeting his questioning look. “When I escaped…” I stopped. Spilling this secret would make him a lot less proud of me. I sucked in a breath. “When I escaped, I could have let them go. All of them. Everyone in the camp. But I didn’t.”
My dad’s face clouded and water started to pool in my eyes. “So, you see,” I said, “it’s my fault they’re trapped…”
“Kira.” My dad wrapped his arms around me and I wilted into him. “It’s not your fault. It’s Kestrel’s fault.” He pulled back to look into my eyes. “He put them there, not you. And… and I did too.”
I blinked. “What? But I thought…”
“I didn’t have anything to do with sending changelings there,” he said quickly. “But there were some bad guys I helped catch. They were jackers and they were dangerous. There was no other place to send them. So I know there were a lot of monsters in there, Kira. That’s why I was so desperate to get you out.” He dropped his voice. “Sometime, you’re going to have to tell me exactly how you did that.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding.
“I’m just glad you finally came home,” he said.
I swallowed. “Right. Um, about that. I’m not sure I should stay.”
My dad’s face had the same disbelief as my mom. “Kira, it’s safe now. The agents are gone,” he said, gesturing out the broken window, “and the Feds can’t come after you any more, not when you’re the face of their scandal.”
How I wished that were true. “It’s not that simple, Dad.”
His shoulders sagged. He rubbed his chin like he did when he was puzzling something out. Of course, he wouldn’t remember the conversation we had about how I was Kestrel’s genetic link. And he couldn’t know Kestrel woke up with three darts in his chest and me to blame for it. But my dad was right—I was the face of the hidden jackers. Kestrel could make me disappear and have it look like backlash from the hate groups. And if Molloy found me first, well, it probably would be a hate crime.
“If you’re in some kind of trouble, sis,” Seamus said quietly from his spot next to Xander, “we’ll help you get out of it.”
I really didn’t want to cry again.
“What Seamus is saying,” said my dad, “is that family sticks together.”
I put on a bright smile to ward off the tears and stepped over to put my arm around Xander. “Which is exactly why I brought Xander here. If it’s okay with you, maybe he can stay here a while? He can have my room, if he can tolerate the pink bed.”
“Xander’s welcome to stay here as long as he wants,” he said. “But this is your home. It’s where you belong.”
I strode over and threw my arms around him. “I know, Dad.” Then I had to stop because my throat was closing up. I linked my thoughts to him. I’m afraid Kestrel won’t stop looking for me. And there are some other bad guys you should know about.
“Let me help you, Kira.” I could feel his shoulders tense as he held me tighter. “Bad guys are something I know a little about. And I’m not going to let anyone hurt you anymore.”
My tears burned my eyes. I wished my dad could help me, more than anything. I ached to stay here, in my house, with my family, and believe that everything would work out okay. That Kestrel would forget about me. That Molloy would stay in prison forever. I didn’t know if staying was a good idea, but in that moment, I couldn’t force myself to leave.
I took a shaky breath. “Okay.”
My dad’s smile was almost as strong as the hug he wrapped around me, and I could hardly breathe when Seamus and my mom piled on. Their thoughts rang with happiness.
I just prayed my family wouldn’t pay the price for my wishful thinking.
~*~
Later that afternoon, Raf came by.
I knew he was coming before he reached the door, before my mom or anyone else in all the quiet levels of the house had any idea. All day, I had been keeping a nervous watch, periodically scanning down the street, and even around the corner, to the limits of my reach. Just checking. Making sure that no one was coming.
I linked in to Raf’s thoughts before he reached our house. I heard the jumble in his mind as he tried to decide what to say to me. How he was worried about the hate groups and how strange it had been seeing me on the tru-casts, telling the world secrets I had only just told him. How he was a little afraid he wouldn’t have the right words when he saw me.
He rapped softly on the front door.
Hi, Mrs. Moore. Is Kira home?
She’s upstairs, Rafael.
Raf’s soft footfalls padded up the stairs. Partway up, I pulled out of his head, not wanting him to know I had linked in without asking. I busied myself with rearranging the few items left on my shelves, my hands shaking more than they should just for Raf.
He appeared in my doorway, a hand on each side of the frame. “Hi.”
I swallowed. “Hi.”
Raf gazed past me to the near-bare shelf. “You know,” he said, “I could swear I won more of those for you.”
I picked up the green monster that he had won for me over the summer, what felt like a zillion years ago. “You did.” I examined the creature for a moment and put it back on the shelf.
He stared at me from across the room. “Where did they go? Did you not want them anymore?”
I gaped. I had thrown them away in a fit of fury of wanting to be grown up. Tough. Not pitied by the world. Now I would give anything to have them back. “I, um…”
He sauntered into the room, flashing his brilliant smile. “Relax, Kira. I’m kidding.”
“Right.” I tried to regain my composure. “I knew that.”
He reached out and touched my hair, like Simon used to. My heart squeezed, not wanting that thought right here, right now.
“Maybe if you do your jacking trick,” Raf said softly, “you’ll know better what I’m thinking.”
I looked into his dark brown eyes, wanting to know if he was thinking the same thing I was. That I wished I had been honest with him from the beginning. That I hoped he wo
uld still want to be with me, now that the entire world knew what I was and what I could do. I linked gently inside, and immediately the scent of his mind filled me. Soft linen and sunshine-warmed air.
I like the way your hair feels when I touch it, he thought. I swallowed as he leaned closer. I wonder if I try to kiss you if you’ll knock me out again.
It depends. How good a kisser are you? My heart thudded erratically.
Maybe you can let me know. He pressed his lips to mine. They were soft like a summer’s breeze, and his kiss reached down to my toes.
Seamus once told me that when readers touched, they shared feelings as if they were joined into one person. He said it was a very intimate experience. I would never be like the normal readers of the world.
But, for the first time, I knew exactly what he meant.
If you enjoyed Open Minds, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes&Noble and/or Goodreads. Or recommend it to a friend! Every bit of word of mouth helps!
Book Two of the Mindjack Trilogy
Kira wonders if telling the truth and outing jackers everywhere was the right choice after all. The world has erupted into protests and violence. A new movement is gaining ground to identify jackers and lock them away. Kira’s family has avoided the worst of the haters by moving, and Kira hopes her famous face won’t give her away at the tiny diner where she works to keep her family afloat. But when former jacker Clan leader Molloy shows up at the diner and Raf slumps lifeless in her arms, Kira realizes with chilling certainty: telling the truth has put everyone she loves in danger.
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