Revival (The Variant Series, Book 1)

by Leigh, Jena

  She felt Kenzie’s leg kick out in Declan’s direction, heard the subtle thunk of her foot connecting with his shin, followed by the much louder sounds of Declan’s grousing.

  “Quietly, Decks,” Kenzie chided. “You’d feel like crap, too, if a thousand different voices just had a shouting match in your head.”

  She spoke just above a whisper, her voice low and soft.

  Not like Declan, whose voice would have been better suited for an outdoor sporting event. Or maybe talking over the sound of a jet engine.

  She was pretty sure those extra decibels had been intentional.

  Jerk.

  “Is that what happened?” Alex’s voice was raspy. “I was starting to think someone had just used my head for a soccer ball.”

  “Nah,” said Kenzie, patting her leg gently. “Trust me. That would have hurt a lot less.”

  “Good to know,” she said, covering her eyes again.

  “Most telepaths develop their ability slowly, over time,” said Kenzie. “We’re not very strong at first. The things we hear and see… they’re fuzzy. And quiet. Like barely heard whispers. Or like a radio that’s tuned to the static between stations.”

  Alex could feel Kenzie fidgeting with the frayed edges of her jeans.

  “Eventually, it gets louder, and as the thoughts become clearer, we learn to control what we let in. That way we aren’t overwhelmed by the thoughts and emotions of the people around us.” Kenzie paused. “And then, sometimes, the ability hits you all at once.”

  “When that happens,” said Declan, “you’re pretty much screwed.”

  “Judging from the amount of pain you were in, I’d say you were probably tapped into the inner-thoughts of every person in a ten-block radius,” said Kenzie. “All of them, all at once.”

  “That’s… a lot,” she said.

  “Honestly, Alex? I’m amazed you’re sitting here talking to us right now,” said Kenzie. “Most people don’t recover from what you experienced. They just check out. Get lost in the chaos and never make it back to the surface.”

  Alex swallowed.

  There’d been a moment in the car earlier when she’d almost done just that. The pain had been so intense. The darkness that lurked beneath the voices had felt so enticing. At the time, she’d wanted nothing more than to surrender to it and never feel anything again.

  And then she’d heard Declan’s voice, familiar and reassuring in the midst of the bedlam, and felt his warm hand gently graze her cheek. His touch had amplified the sound of his voice, causing his words to ring out crystal clear through the ocean of thoughts competing for dominance in her mind.

  The wall she’d created at his urging hadn’t helped much, but his voice, steady and persistent, had kept her from giving over to the darkness.

  Declan’s voice was the only reason she was still here. The only reason she was still whole.

  When they finally made it back to the cabin, the voices had vanished as quickly as they had appeared. Alex had been sent reeling by the sudden return to silence.

  “How come I haven’t heard anything since we got back?” she asked.

  “Because we all keep walls up,” said Declan.

  “The guys do it to keep me out,” explained Kenzie. “And I do it to keep from accidentally hearing anything I shouldn’t. Speaking of which. You’re going to want to keep one up all the time, at least until you get the hang of things.”

  Alex heard someone flip first one light-switch, then another.

  “It’s safe to open your eyes, Alex.” Nathaniel’s voice had come from somewhere behind the couch. “I turned off the light.”

  Cautiously, Alex raised her arm and blinked her eyes open. The painful glare of the chandelier overhead had been replaced by the dim glow of the light above the front entryway. She could just make out the shadowy form of Nate as he approached and knelt beside her.

  He took her hand and turned it over, shaking a pill from a small bottle onto her palm.

  “Only one?” Kenzie sounded dubious.

  “Two?” asked Nate.

  “Three,” said Kenzie.

  “Three?” echoed Declan. “The girl is five-two and thin as a rail. What are you trying to do? Knock her out for the next week?”

  “Three,” Kenzie insisted. “She’ll be lucky if that even takes the edge off.”

  “How about we start with two and if she needs more, we give her another one later?” Nate suggested.

  “Uh,” said Alex. “What exactly are you giving me?”

  “Pain meds left over from when I broke my leg last August,” said Nate, shaking out another pill. He handed her a bottle of water. “They’re not all that strong. Especially with our metabolism.”

  “What’s wrong with our metabolism?” she asked, staring down at the bleary outline of the pills in her hand.

  Generally speaking, she didn’t make it a habit of taking other people’s prescription medications. Then again, generally speaking, she didn’t usually find herself suffering from excruciating pain that showed no signs of letting up, either.

  She swallowed the pills.

  “Variants’ metabolisms tend to run a bit faster than the average,” said Nate. “We burn things off more quickly than most people.”

  Well that explained why she never seemed to gain weight, despite her aunt’s valiant efforts and Alex’s borderline-unhealthy obsession with junk food. Cassie often joked that Alex could eat more than all four of her brothers combined.

  “Speaking of overactive metabolisms,” said Declan, climbing to his feet. “Getting chased by bad guys all night made me hungry. Is there any pizza left?”

  “Fridge,” said Kenzie.

  With that, he and Nate disappeared in search of a food, leaving Alex and Kenzie alone in the living room.

  “I know you don’t want to hear this,” said Kenzie, “but you’ve got some things to learn before it will be safe for you to leave the cabin again.”

  Alex sighed.

  “Now that we have both Brandt and the Agency to worry about, it would be better if I started your training tonight. You’re going to need to know how to keep out the voices before you even think about going anywhere populated.”

  Closing her eyes, Alex grudgingly admitted that Kenzie had a point. The wall she’d tried to put up when they were in DC hadn’t done a thing to help her.

  “When we were in the car earlier, Declan told me to put up a wall to block out the voices,” she admitted. “I did it just like you taught me this afternoon, but it didn’t work. I was certain I was just doing it wrong.”

  “Wrong or right, at that point it wouldn’t have made much difference.” Kenzie shifted on the couch, drawing her legs up under her. “You’d already let them all in. Hard to hold back the water when the dam’s already busted, you know?”

  Alex thought back to the sound of all those voices talking over each other and the amount of pain it had inflicted. The memory alone was enough to make her anxious… The thought that it might happen again absolutely terrified her.

  The lamp sitting behind Kenzie launched itself off of the end table and shattered as it collided with the wall, causing both girls to jump.

  Hand over her heart, Kenzie took a deep breath. “Spending a few minutes training with Nate tonight probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.”

  * * *

  “So,” said Declan as he popped open the BMW’s trunk. “Alex has three abilities. Only one other Variant has ever possessed more than two powers… And if Alex is like that psycho Masterson, then that means she’s able to absorb another Variants’ powers through touch.”

  Nate paused in his inspection of the documents inside Grayson’s briefcase.

  He could tell by the tone of Declan’s voice that his brother was working his way up to asking a question.

  “We can assume that she got her jumping ability from being around her aunt,” said Declan. “And she probably absorbed Kenzie’s ability this afternoon when Red went digging in Alex’s head for t
hat phone number…”

  Here it comes.

  “But how did she get your ability, Nate?”

  And there it was.

  The question had been laced with innuendo… and just a hint of accusation.

  “Grow up, Decks.” Nate closed the briefcase.

  Declan already knew the answer. He’d seen Nate holding Alex’s hand earlier when they were standing outside his window. He was only asking the question to be an ass.

  What Declan didn’t realize was that Nate had known exactly what he was doing when he’d taken Alex’s hand earlier. With Brandt still out there and Grayson missing, he’d wanted Alex to be as prepared as she could be—and that meant giving her his telekinesis.

  Nate had been relieved when the truth about Alex’s unique ability had finally come to light.

  It made for one less secret he had to keep.

  He only wished that someone would have mentioned the mental spelunking expedition Kenzie had taken into Alex’s thoughts that afternoon before they left for DC. Maybe then he would have been prepared for what had happened to her in the parking garage.

  The image of Alex screaming in agony wasn’t one he’d soon forget. And it killed him to think that he might have been able to prevent it.

  “Hey, it’s a legitimate question,” said Declan. “If it’s physical contact that triggers the transfer, then how did she end up with your powers?”

  “Grayson’s stuff isn’t telling us anything,” said Nate.

  Declan slammed the trunk closed. “No,” he said. He seemed to have accepted that Nate wasn’t going to answer him. “And this car was the only lead we had.”

  “You know what that means,” said Nate.

  “Yep.”

  “For the record?” said Nate. “This is an awful plan.”

  “You have a better suggestion?”

  Nate started for the stairs.

  “Where are you going?” asked Declan.

  “I want to check on Alex again before we leave.” Nate could practically feel the heat from Declan’s glare. “And unless you want to settle for jumping back to the hotel or the parking garage, we’re going to need a little help from Kenzie.”

  He made his way down to the cabin and walked inside. Kenzie and Alex were still seated on the couch in the living room. Alex had her eyes closed.

  “You’re doing great, Alex,” said Kenzie. “See? I told you it was a piece of cake.”

  Declan walked in behind him.

  Nate opened his mouth to speak, but his sister held up a hand and gestured for him to stay quiet.

  Those pain meds must have done the trick if Kenzie had already started her training.

  Eyes still closed, Alex gave a wry smile. “Yeah, well. It helps when the person teaching me actually gives me a little instruction on how to do something instead of just telling me to do it.”

  “Yeah,” Kenzie agreed, fixing Declan with a look of amusement. “My brother could definitely stand to work on his people skills. You’d be better off with Nate training you. At least then you wouldn’t end up in the lake as often.”

  Kenzie gave him a wink. Beside him, Declan mouthed the words “bite me.”

  Alex laughed. “A girl can dream.”

  Nate smirked.

  Declan cleared his throat.

  Alex’s eyes sprang open. She caught sight of them standing at the front entryway and her cheeks blazed crimson.

  “In case you were wondering,” Declan sounded pissed. “We didn’t find anything useful in the car. Nate and I are going back to DC to see what else we can find out from Bartlett and—”

  “You can’t honestly be thinking about going back there,” said Alex.

  “Apparently my brother isn’t only lacking in people skills,” said Kenzie. “He’s also lacking in common sense. Stupidity, however, he appears to have in abundance.”

  “—And you two are staying here,” Declan finished. “Don’t even try to argue with me, Kenzie. It’s the only choice we’ve got. We have to go.”

  Kenzie glared at them. “You’re idiots,” she said. “The both of you.”

  “Hey, you won’t get any argument from me. I happen to think it’s a terrible idea,” Nate smiled. “We’ll be careful, Red. I promise.”

  Kenzie’s expression softened, but Alex still seemed worried.

  “Before we leave,” Nate continued. “We could use a little help.”

  Kenzie nodded, having already guessed at what he was about to request. “Come here,” she said. “We might as well let Alex do it.”

  Nate hesitated.

  The idea of giving Alex access to his memories when she didn’t know what she was doing made him more than a little nervous. He could trust Kenzie not to look beyond the memory he offered her.

  Alex might not have enough control yet not to look beyond it.

  There’s no telling what she might see.

  “Can’t you do it, Kenzie?” he asked.

  “What difference does it make?” asked Kenzie. “She’s got to learn sometime.”

  Declan had already crossed the room and was standing behind the couch. “You waiting on a written invitation, Nate? Come on. We need to get moving.”

  Alex chewed at her bottom lip and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. She looked nearly as anxious as he felt.

  “What is it you want me to do?” she asked.

  “Tonight was the first time Declan had been to DC,” explained Kenzie. “So the only places in the city he can jump to are the places we visited tonight. Seeing as how those sites are probably crawling with Agency goons by now, they need a new location. Nate’s been there plenty of times with Grayson, so they’ll use his experiences to pick a different destination. Nate’s going to focus on a memory—a picture of a place he’s been before. You’re going to find it in his thoughts and memorize it as best you can. Then you’re going to give the image to Declan. That way he’ll know the place well enough to teleport there.”

  “Finding the image sounds easy enough. I just read his thoughts, right?” asked Alex. Kenzie nodded an affirmative. “But then how do I give the image to Declan?”

  “It’s easier than you think. All you have to do is concentrate on Declan and the image at the same time,” said Kenzie. “Oh, and I hate to say it, but until you know what you’re doing, you’ll need to touch him for it to work. Sorry about that.”

  Declan rolled his eyes. “Can we just get this over with?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Kenzie huffed. “You’re in a rush. We know. I’ve never seen anyone in such a hurry to get shot at. It’s not natural.”

  Before the comment could spark an argument, Alex interrupted. “Have you got that image ready, Nate?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “Ready when you are.”

  He tried his best to clear his thoughts of anything he didn’t want her to see and keep his focus solely on the image of the park.

  But that was a little like telling someone not to think about a pink elephant.

  Alex’s stare became vacant, then sharpened as she met his gaze, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

  Shit.

  What had she seen?

  He slammed his mental walls back into place, shutting her out before she could stumble across anything else.

  “You get it, Alex?” asked Declan.

  “Y-yeah,” she stammered. “Yes. I’ve got it.”

  She shot another cautious glance toward Nate before shifting on the couch and reaching up to press her fingers to Declan’s temple. He pulled back a second later and Alex dropped her hand.

  “Got it,” he said, grabbing Nate by the arm. “Let’s go.”

  Declan’s cell phone rang.

  Releasing his hold on Nate’s jacket, Declan pulled the phone from his pocket. He checked the caller ID and then answered it in a blur of movement.

  “Grayson!” he said brusquely. “Where the hell have you been? We’ve—”

  Grayson’s reply was muffled to the point that Nate couldn’t make it out. He risked an
other glance at Alex. She was staring back at him, looking puzzled.

  Whatever it was she’d seen, he’d have to deal with it later.

  Next to him, Declan’s eyebrows had shot toward his hairline in an almost comical look of surprise.

  “You’re where?”

  — 18 —

  “Honestly, Johnny-boy. Did you have to hit me quite so hard? I think you might have cracked a rib.”

  “And can you blame me? You snuck up behind me in a parking garage, for god’s sake.” Grayson rubbed his aching jaw. “Not to mention the fact that, at the time, I’d been convinced you’d lost what few faculties you still possessed and attacked Alexandra. Incidentally, I’m not entirely sure I believe your claim that you had nothing to do with it. Declan’s description of the man he saw in Florida matched you perfectly.”

  Brandt shook his head and took a seat at the bar. Grayson settled onto the stool next to him, grabbed a cocktail napkin from behind the counter and pressed it against his still bleeding lip.

  Brandt motioned to the bartender. “As if I would ever harm that girl,” his tone was indignant. “After everything I did to help you lot keep her safe back then, why in heaven’s name would I try to kill her now?”

  “I don’t know, Carson,” said Grayson tiredly. “Maybe because you’ve spent the twelve years since then killing people for a living?”

  It was difficult to keep their voices low and still be understood over the roar of conversation and country music. Grayson glanced around at the peanut shells littering the hardwood floors, the row of pool tables off to one side, and the primarily blue-collar clientele in their faded flannel shirts and worn-in trucker hats. He looked down at his own Savile Row tailored suit and Burberry trench.

  Bloodstained collar or no, he was definitely overdressed.

  The bartender, an attractive young woman in her mid-twenties, came to a stop in front of them. Taking their disheveled appearance in stride, she greeted them with a smile. “What’ll it be, boys?”

  Brandt returned her smile with something bordering on a leer.

  Nice to see some things never changed.

  “Glenlivet,” said Brandt. “Neat, please.”