by Cat Gilbert
“Feeling’s mutual.” I shrugged, getting up to grab a broom and clean up the mess I had made before Mama D beat me to it. It didn’t matter to me whether Brown liked me or not. I had bigger problems than that to deal with. Such as why I couldn’t get into his head anymore. I’d been able to communicate with him before we’d rescued him, been able to pick up on his feelings, his emotions, but for the last few days it was like he’d put up a brick wall. The only thing I got from him was that irritating buzzing noise, which was slowly driving me crazy.
“Well, regardless of Brown, I’m impressed.” Bryan’s words had me turning back to the table in surprise. “Oh, you’ve done bigger things, but you made a breakthrough this morning that you’ve been working hard to do and got insulted for doing it. I just want you to know, we all appreciate how hard this is for you and how hard it is to put up with Brown. We know you’re doing this for all of us and we do appreciate it.”
I bobbed my head, mumbling something incoherent and turning around to sweep before he could see the tears well up in my eyes. He’d caught me completely off guard. Bryan was my biggest skeptic and he’d just given me the support I hadn’t even known I’d needed.
Brown’s incessant harassment had gotten to me more than I’d realized. Even his acknowledgement of my success, his scornful imitation of Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady, had been a dig. A reminder of his superiority and my reliance on him to teach me. Not unlike Eliza, the poor uneducated flower girl.
He’d been teaching me, if you could call it that, and whacking away at my self-confidence at the same time. Not your usual teaching methods, for sure. I needed to learn, but there was a limit as to how much Brown could get away with and he’d reached the limit. Blinking away the tears that had threatened to spill over, I decided it was time to change the rules.
I finished cleaning up just as the buzzing from Brown began to increase, which meant he was on his way back in. I grabbed my plate and threw it in the microwave to heat it back up, just as he came back into the room.
“There’s more on the stove if you want it,” I told him. “Grab a plate and dish it up.”
I retrieved my plate from the oven and headed back to sit down. I’d cleaned up the mess and figured my responsibility ended there. I sure wasn’t going to serve him a new plate. I took my seat and noticed Mac and Bryan eying Brown and felt better that they didn’t trust him anymore than I did. I knew they were never far away during my supposed training and it felt good to know they had my back.
“Now that you’ve finally figured out some measure of control over this, we’ll work on honing your skills after breakfast,” Brown announced as he settled back down at the table with a full plate.
“No,” I answered, stopping his fork halfway to his mouth. “I don’t think so. We need to work on something else.”
“Oh? You think so?” His eyes narrowed, but his fork started moving again. “Any what, pray tell, in your opinion, would that be?”
“Today, you’re going to teach me how to block my mind from others, like you’re doing now.” His reaction was almost imperceptible, but I’d caught it. He might be blocking me mentally, but I had eyes and I knew what to look for. Can you say Investigator, Dr. Brown? Didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that there had to be some way to protect yourself and that someone had figured it out. That Brown hadn’t mentioned it before and that he wasn’t happy that I knew about it now could mean a lot of things. None of them good.
“You need to improve on your kinetic abilities first. We can save the rest for when you’ve got a better handle on it.” He kept his gaze down, pushing food around on his plate. “One thing at a time, Taylor.”
Bryan sat his coffee down and slid his chair back, eyes trained on Brown as Mac leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. I got the distinct impression that they weren’t happy with Brown’s resistance to my plan.
“Well, Dr. Brown, I disagree. We’ll be working on how to shield ourselves today.” I sat back in my chair and pushed my half finished breakfast away, finding I’d lost my appetite. “And Sean, here, will be joining us. I am sure that there are times, he’d like a little peace and quiet too.”
Mac nodded in agreement, watching Brown over the top of his coffee as he took a long sip.
“You know, I’d kinda like to sit in on this too,” Bryan piped in. “See how it works. Knowledge is always a good thing.”
Brown was clearly not happy, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He’d just gone from one on one to three on one. He was smart enough to figure out that the tables had turned and why. He stood up, resigned to his larger and definitely hostile class and headed for the living room.
We worked through lunch, had a late dinner and finally called it quits at 10 p.m. Brown had rambled on for over ten hours and most of it was worthless information. I could only hope that there were bits of truth hidden somewhere in the middle of all the nonsense that Brown had doled out. We’d done countless mental exercises with no success whatsoever. My brain had turned to mush nearly two hours before we ended, and I found I was running on autopilot alone as Brown droned on. The only thing I knew for certain when we finally stopped for the night was that lessons from Brown were officially over. He had nothing more to offer. At least nothing he was sharing.
By 10:30 I was standing in a hot shower, letting the scalding water pound into muscles that had stiffened from sitting in a chair for hours on end. After ten minutes of steaming hot water, my muscles felt almost as limp as my brain did. I did a half baked job of drying off, content to let the sheets finish the job as I crawled under the covers. I snuggled down under the plump quilts, making a comfortable nest. Still warm from the shower, I was asleep before my head had settled on the pillow.
It seemed like minutes later that I woke up. As much as I could tell, I hadn’t even moved and I was still so tired that I didn’t want to. I lifted my head just enough to see the alarm clock, which told me it wasn’t time to get up. Nowhere even close to time. It was just after midnight. I’d been asleep less than an hour. No wonder I was still feeling groggy.
I listened, trying to make out any sounds that might have woken me up. The house was quiet, with the exception of the light buzzing sound coming from Brown. Apparently he was still awake, but I wasn’t too concerned. Mac was on watch and would keep an eye on him. Reassured, I closed my eyes and wished myself back to sleep, trying not to think about anything. The last thing I wanted was to start thinking about things. If my mind got started up, I’d be awake the rest of the night.
Instead, I just laid there listening to Brown’s endless buzzing, trying to block it out of my mind. We had him bunking downstairs, but I could still pick him up. Punching my pillow into shape, I regretted that we couldn’t just put him outside somewhere so I wouldn’t have to listen to him. On the up side, at least he wasn’t in one of the neighboring bedrooms. I really didn’t know how Mac got any rest, sleeping on the same floor. Maybe that was why he always volunteered for night duty. Poor guy.
I’d been listening for a few minutes, when I suddenly realized that his buzzing was changing. It was gradual, but it was definitely there. I listened for a few more minutes, hearing the small changes in pitch and strength. I’d heard them before, but it had always been extreme swings, when Brown’s emotions were off the chart. These were small variations. but now that I’d noticed them, they were obvious. Brown was not only awake but he was either worried or nervous about something. After the past few days of torture he’d put me through, I couldn’t help but hope it was something I’d done to give him a sleepless night. I smiled at the thought and snuggled down into the bed, intent on getting back to sleep, when the buzzing from him surged.
Suddenly, I was wide awake. Something was wrong. I rolled out of bed so fast I made myself dizzy and had to stop for a second to let the room settle back down. I’d left my clothes on the floor where they’d dropped earlier and quickly threw them back on. I didn’t know what Brown’s problem was, but I knew I wa
sn’t traipsing down there in my pajamas. Not bothering with the light, I stuffed my feet into my shoes sans socks and moved quickly to the door. The house was dark and quiet as I stepped out into the hallway, easing the door closed behind me. I stayed there, frozen in place, waiting for my breathing to slow and my heartbeat to return to normal, listening intently for Brown.
I was at the end of a hallway that ran the length of the cabin with two other bedrooms and a bathroom separating me from the stairs at the far end. Candice and Mama D shared one room and Bryan and Mac had the other. We’d made a bed in the study downstairs for Brown and that’s where he was supposed to be now, sound asleep. Except he wasn’t. The buzzing was getting louder by the second, which, if I was right, could only mean one thing. Brown was coming up the stairs. Slowly and in the dark. He had no business on this floor. No reason for him to come up here.
I stepped back into the far corner of the hallway opposite the door to my room and melted into the shadows, waiting to see what he was up to. I was pretty much positive it was nothing good. As he moved quietly up the stairs, I drew in a deep breath and held it, praying I was wrong. Then I crouched down and waited.
THIRTY-FOUR
I STARED AT the landing where Brown would appear. The curtains must have been open downstairs, letting in some light, because the opening was a few shades lighter than the pitch black of the hallway. I knew the instant Brown reached the top stair, his shadow a darker black for an instant before he stepped into the hallway and disappeared into the blackness completely.
The buzzing that accompanied him grew louder inside my head and I could just make out the faint sound of his footsteps as he made his way down the hallway toward me. I pressed back into the darkness and willed myself to disappear, wishing desperately for something to hide behind. He stopped suddenly and I held my breath as he stood quietly, mere feet away from me.
I couldn’t see him, the hallway was too dark, but I knew he was there. I could feel his presence and I was certain he must be able to hear the loud buzzing he was setting off in my head. I pressed back further and braced myself against the wall, holding my breath.
He stood there for what seemed an eternity, frozen in place. Then I listened in disbelief as I heard the doorknob turn quietly, and felt the brush of air as he slipped silently into my room, closing the door behind him.
The were a number of things that went streaking through my mind as the door clicked shut, the first being that Brown had just snuck into my room in the middle of the night. A close second was that he hadn’t known where I was. Either he wasn’t able to pick up on me, as I had feared, or I had somehow managed to block him from sensing me and had no idea how I’d done it. Now I was afraid to move, afraid I would somehow undo whatever it was I had done and expose myself. Something I really wasn’t ready to do yet, because the third that had registered with me was that I had no idea where Mac was. He was supposed to be keeping an eye on Brown. He should have been on him before he was halfway up the stairs but he wasn’t. That fact probably bothered me the most, because the last thing I’d noticed was the gleam of light that bounced off the gun in Brown’s hand as he disappeared into my room.
I instinctively reached for my gun, intending to follow him in and surprise him, only to find empty air instead. For a second, I was stunned before the realization hit me that in my haste, I’d left it behind safely tucked away in the nightstand.
The one thing I knew for sure, was that Brown was going to be coming back out that door as soon as he realized I wasn’t in there and he’d be on alert. There was no surprising him now. I had to move and move fast. I just prayed that I stayed invisible to him while I was doing it.
I pushed away from the wall, making my way as quickly and quietly as possible down the hallway. I could feel Brown moving around my room and knew the instant he headed for the door. I grabbed the handle to Bryan’s room, and slipped inside, quickly easing the door shut, just as the buzzing increased in my head, telling me that Brown was back out in the hallway. I still had the handle in my hand, afraid to let go for fear that Brown would hear it, as I held my breath, waiting for the inevitable. Brown moved quietly down the hallway. He hesitated by the door and I braced, but he kept moving. He still couldn’t sense me, but I could hear him, the buzzing fading as he moved toward the stairs.
Bryan’s hand closed over mine on the doorknob, causing me to jump in reaction. If he hadn’t had his hand over mine, I probably would have jerked the door open. We were so close I could smell the oil he had used to clean the gun that was now in his hand.
He waited a second and then pulled back on the door, easing it open. I could just make out Brown’s outline as he poised at the top the stairs, listening for movement below. I’d been hesitant before, unsure of myself, but with Bryan beside me for backup, I felt safe in doing what I’d ached to do earlier. I gathered my thoughts and shoved Dr. Caleb Brown headfirst down the stairs.
Bryan flung the door open and flew past me heading after Brown. I followed close on his heels, hitting the lights at the top of the stairs. Brown was at the bottom, staggering to his feet, the gun still somehow in his hand. Bryan launched himself off the last few stairs into Brown as a shot rang out and they both went flying out of sight into the living room. I heard a door opening behind me and whirled to find Candice charging out of her room, armed with her taser. I held up a hand in defense as she swung it toward me. She drew up instantly and dropped in behind me as I raced down the stairs toward the sound of battle.
As we reached the bottom, the sound of fighting suddenly stopped and an eerie silence filled the void. Suddenly, Brown appeared from around the doorway, and Candice let loose with the taser. She missed, but not for lack of trying. Brown dove back into the living room, rolling away from the pronged spikes, giving us time to cut into the kitchen, taking the first cover we came to.
I looked at Candice, her eyes big in disbelief as she looked at my empty hands and realized that I was unarmed. I couldn’t blame her a bit. Mac was missing and Bryan apparently was out of the picture, Brown was on the loose with a gun and here we were, hiding in the kitchen and me without a weapon. I was none too pleased myself.
I motioned her to keep quiet and to move further down the wall of cabinets we were hiding behind. I didn’t think Brown would rush us, or he probably would have done it by now. As far as he knew, I was armed and dangerous so he wouldn’t expose himself, but I wanted her out of the way just in case he came running through the doorway. She slid down the wall and crab crawled quickly to the corner of the kitchen between the refrigerator and the stove. She reached up and grabbed the skillet that had been sitting on a burner, ready to fry up the mornings bacon and gave me a nod that she was good. I gave what I hoped was a reassuring nod back and waited for Brown’s next move. We didn’t have to wait long.
“Taylor,” Brown called out. “We need to talk.”
I didn’t bother answering. I could feel Brown moving around in the living room. He didn’t have much room for cover in there. It was a fairly small room, with basically three walls. Where the fourth wall would normally be was pretty much open access to the entrance door and stairway. There was very little wall space to provide any cover so he was limited as to where he could go, which was a good thing. I might be able to throw something at him, but not if I wasn’t sure where he was. That was the problem with this kinetic ability. It had limits. You couldn’t just do things. You had to know what and how and where and when. I might not know much about it, but I knew that much.
“Taylor, there’s no sense in anyone else getting hurt. Just come out and let’s talk.”
Anyone else getting hurt? I didn’t dare look at Candice, afraid to see my own thoughts mirrored on her face. I had no idea where Mac was or what had happened to Bryan, but Mama D was still upstairs. Brown could get to her in seconds and there was nothing I could do to stop him.
I glanced behind me at the kitchen, searching for options. I was just inside the open doorway to the left, squatting d
own behind cabinets. The table was across from me, sitting between me and another wall of cabinets and the sink. On the far end of that wall was the door to the outside. The end furthest away from where Candice now hovered with her frying pan.
We had a way out, but to get to it, we’d have to cross the open doorway and skirt the table, and I was pretty sure that wherever Brown had holed up, he’d made sure he’d have a good view of the outside door. We were pretty much trapped.
“Where’s Sean?” I asked, stalling for time, frantically looking for a way out.
“I’m afraid Sean met with an unfortunate accident.”
He was moving again, coming forward through the room. I could feel him, almost see him in my mind. I tried to ignore what he’d said about Mac and concentrate on escaping, but his words had shaken me. I didn’t dare ask about Bryan.
I looked back over at the kitchen entrance, hoping something had changed and saw the dishes piled up on the drying rack next to the sink. Dishes, pots, pans and knives. I could see the handles peeking out from under the pots that were air drying. I felt Brown still moving forward through the living room. He’d figured out that if I hadn’t made a move by now, I wasn’t going to.
I gave Candice a look and nodded my head towards the drying rack and then the back door. She looked over, frowning and then understood. She turned back nodding. I shifted position, ready to move. I had no idea where Brown was, but had to think that the sight of a knife coming at him would have him diving for cover. If he was distracted, I might be able to get to him and buy Candice enough time to get out the door.
I looked back over my shoulder and reached out for a knife. I saw the handle wobble and closed my eyes. God help me, I prayed as I grabbed hold of one of the knives and threw it where I hoped Brown would be standing. I watched as it sailed through the opening and lunged to my feet, ready to follow. The sound of it striking the fireplace, followed by Brown’s laugh stopped me in my tracks. Candice had started moving for the door as soon as the knife flew, but I motioned her quickly to stop and go back. I had clearly missed.
