She stared at me sadly. “I don’t blame you for that. But what about your brother?”
I blinked slowly, breathing out a deep sigh. “I don’t know. Jeremiah told me Oblivion took my memories. If Oblivion is my brother… how do I know he didn’t do it on purpose? How do I know I didn’t ask him to take them?”
Lena pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I don’t think so. If the boy I felt was Oblivion, and your brother, he didn’t seem the type to wipe his brother’s mind. And you aren’t the type to ask to forget.”
“How can you know that? I don’t even know that about myself.”
“It’s hard to explain. My abilities allow me insight and communication. I wasn’t fully honest with you about them earlier, but I can tell now that you are someone who will never betray a friend.
Jason, you are one of the most honest men I’ve met. And I know you are the type of person to take it upon yourself to do whatever is necessary to protect the people you love,” Lena spoke strongly, and it was hard to deny her conviction.
“But my brother…”
“Is young,” she interrupted. “Inexperienced. He likely had a moment’s lapse and pushed something into your mind that he now regrets. They are looking for you, Jason. And I think you should let them find you.”
“What about the Puppet Master?” I asked, accepting her arguments.
I shivered and realized I hadn’t replaced my old shirt yet. Suddenly ashamed, I rushed to cover the horrible scars.
“You don’t need to hide, Jason,” Lena said gently.
The girl moved to her pile of bedding and patted the blankets beside her. I slowly moved to join her. Some of the chill left my body when I sat on the soft blanket. She picked up a smaller blanket, wrapping it around my shoulders. I found it a surprise when she kept her arm wrapped around me as well.
It was almost as big a surprise as when, instead of moving away, I leaned into her warmth.
“Nothing you did could ever make you deserve whatever happened to you,” the younger girl assured me. “The scars are just a way to prove to the world that you are a survivor. You’ve been to hell and back, and you are not broken. If you remember anything, remember that.”
“Thanks, Lena,” I answered with a yawn.
“We should get some sleep, and then we should try to find your friends,” she answered with a smile.
I sat up straight, suddenly realizing it would be inappropriate to share the bed of a teenager.
“Relax,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m not trying to come on to you. It’s just that sleeping directly on the floor wouldn’t be overly comfortable, especially with that monster bruise you have on your back. And I’m not about to sleep on the cement either. For tonight we can share. I promise; your honor will still be intact in the morning.”
She wrapped up in another small blanket and turned away from me to settle on the makeshift bed for the night. I did the same, and we lay with our backs touching.
It took only a few moments for me to settle into a deep sleep, and only a few more for me to tense at an intrusion.
“You and your brother will be mine soon enough. Why not just come back?” the voice whispered in my head.
I was vaguely aware of Lena moving behind me.
“Leave him alone! He hasn’t done anything to you. Why can’t you just back off?”
Pressure was building in my mind and I squirmed uncomfortably, unable to fully wake. “Please get out,” I begged. “I just want to go home. I won’t hurt you, just leave me alone!”
“Can’t do that, Jason,” the first voice answered. “You have powers I want access to. You’re too dangerous to allow free.”
“Jason, concentrate on your walls. You have strong ones that can keep out other powerful minds. Fortify them and you should be able to keep the Puppet Master out too.”
It was good advice, and I strove to take it. Pushing against the attacking mind, I felt as though I was pushing a physical door against a much larger man. But there was suddenly another person on my side when Lena added pressure on my side.
Together we managed to slam the door, and I woke, breathing heavily. Lena was kneeling over me, her hands on each side of my head.
“There, that wasn’t so hard, right?” she asked flippantly.
I wanted to get mad, but my companion’s brave veneer was wearing off. Her eyes were wide, and her breaths came faster than normal. She also hadn’t removed her hands from my head yet.
“Right, sorry.” She quickly pulled her hands away from me and began fiddling with the corner of one of the blankets.
“So…”
She looked up at me expectantly.
“I guess sleeping may be difficult. Thank you, Lena. I don’t think I could have pushed him out without your help.”
“You are strong enough to keep him out while awake, and even asleep he can’t take full control. You have an interesting ability. Not sure how you ended up with it, though.”
“The tracking or the earthshaking?” I asked.
“Neither. Well… yeah, those are interesting as well, but your mental walls are too strong for you to not have some sort of mental power as well. Even if it is mostly there to protect you.”
I huffed. “Didn’t seem to help when my memories were stolen.”
Lena searched my face for a moment. “Not stolen; only misplaced. They’re still in there, you simply can’t access them. And once we find this ‘Oblivion,’ we should be able to fix that.”
I settled against the wall, a blanket covering my legs. “You might as well get some sleep. I’ll make sure no one sneaks up on us.”
“For a while,” the younger girl agreed. “Then I will stand guard for you. You can’t go without sleep.”
The vulnerability of sleep now scared me, but I nodded. She was right. I wouldn’t be able to actively guard my mind while sleeping.
Even now it was a struggle to keep the Puppet Master out, but Lena needed to sleep, so I smiled at her until she turned away, settling in to get some rest.
I let my eyes drift closed and concentrated on fortifying my barriers against our attacker.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Jeremiah
For a brief moment I felt Jason’s mind, but before I could take advantage his wall slammed up. I hissed in aggravation. He was not making it easy to help him. His brother was easier; somehow less distrustful, despite knowing my feelings about certain activities.
Seething, I wandered through our hideout, not pausing when I came across any of the others. I could tell they were giving me odd looks, and I overheard Sam telling them to leave me alone for the moment. He did the same, although he was hovering. Always near me as I paced in impotent fury.
“What?” I finally snapped when he appeared in my sight for a third time.
Without hesitation he stepped in front of me. “What happened?”
Unable to adequately explain my anger, I shrugged one shoulder.
“Don’t give me that. What happened? I can feel your distress as if you were yelling and screaming, so I know something happened.” He’d started off sounding angry, but his voice calmed near the end.
I felt uncharacteristically hesitant. “I… You know I’ve been alone for a long time; separated from normal people by what Mason did to me?”
He nodded and gestured for me to continue. His face remained impassive, but I saw some sympathy in the way his eyes softened.
“Your brother is the first person I connected to once I was free. Inadvertently or not; he saved my life. When I became Scott Nickels, I learned more about him. For a while it felt as though we were becoming friends. Now he’s in trouble, and believes I am nothing more than a killer. Because of that, he will not allow me to access his mind or to help find him.”
“And this is just occurring to you now?” he asked, his face twisted in confusion.
“It struck me when his mind opened for a brief moment, but I was unable to connect. Now he is more closed off than before.”
; The kid grunted; a grim smile on his face. “Yeah, he’s good at that.”
With a wry smile of my own, I nodded. “Unfortunate, but yes.”
“Have you picked up on any kind of threat since we’ve been here?” he asked.
“Nothing specific, although someone was pushing at me earlier. I can make a guess at who it was, although I have no proof.”
“The Mastermind? If it was him, then we know now he has limits.”
“All of us have limits,” I mused. “Jason’s seem the least restrictive for some reason.”
“What do you mean?”
I thought for a moment before explaining, “Your brother seems to grow more powerful as he gets older. My abilities have remained the same for years, despite my effort to grow and become more powerful. He also has the ability to defend his mind from attack, which also seems to become more powerful each time someone attempts to penetrate.”
“Can’t others do the same?”
“To some extent you can block out thoughts. Your abilities are also growing, as evidenced by what happened to the Hunter. However, his mental walls are much stronger than yours. It’s almost as if they are part of an altogether separate ability.”
“Keeping people out… sounds like my brother,” Sam acknowledged with a sigh.
Regarding him curiously, I assured him. “He does it as much for you, as for himself.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
Sam
When we discovered that Kindred was still alive, I never anticipated him actually being helpful. Sure he wanted to help Jason, but he never seemed to care about the rest of us, and never hesitated to threaten us when the urge struck. So the idea of him attempting to comfort any of us came as a surprise.
More of a shock was his willingness to comfort me. After his reaction to the discovery that I had harmed Jason, I hadn’t expected any sympathy.
“You are growing, Jeremiah,” I muttered. “Maybe not your powers, but your people skills are definitely improving.”
He nodded once in acknowledgment.
“I don’t understand though; how can his being closed off be helpful to me? He does it to me too.”
Alice stepped behind me, but I continued to stare at Jeremiah waiting for his answer.
“He believes that by keeping people out he is protecting both himself, and you. He feels he knows what’s best for you, and in a lot of cases, he is correct. As for keeping you at arm’s length? I believe he thinks he will not continue to survive the situations he finds himself in, and wants you to feel… less lost when you find yourself separated from him.”
I felt tears well up and swallowed hard. “How… how could he…?”
Alice put her hand on my back. “How sure are you of Jason’s reasoning?” she asked suspiciously.
Jeremiah stared at the floor for a moment. “I was in his mind before he knew how to protect himself. At the time I had full access to his thoughts,” he hesitated and looked me in the eye. “He never believed he would last this long. After everything with Mason, he decided keeping people at arm’s length would protect them. After me… well… I finally realize that I did him no good by what I was doing. For my part in his withdrawal, I am sorry.”
Swallowing again, I asked, “So you’re certain then?”
“As certain as I can be. He has changed in the last couple years. Without the Hunter’s interference, I think he would have returned home by now. Or at least soon.”
“We’re going home after this,” I stated. “After everything that’s happened, I will not be separated from any of our family again. He has to know how we would feel if… if he…”
Alice put her arm around my shoulders. “If the worst happens you will be with us, Sam. But Jason isn’t one to give up. He’ll be back with you before you know it.”
“In the meantime, what are we going to do? We need to find Jason, and he’s not letting us talk to him.” I let some frustration bleed through, but tried to shed the heavy emotions that threatened to weigh me down.
“Not sure,” she answered. “But we can assume he hasn’t gone far yet and is potentially holed up somewhere.”
I began to feel a strange pressure at the edge of my awareness, but tried to ignore it in favor of figuring out our plan.
Something must have shown on my face, because Alice and Jeremiah had stopped talking and were watching me curiously.
In an attempt to ignore the feeling I waved off their concern and said, “I can’t see how walking the streets in hopes of finding a hidey hole will help. He can feel people coming. All he’ll do at that point is dig in further.”
“Probably true,” Alice agreed. “But I don’t see any other option at this point. Neither of you can use your powers to find him. The old fashioned way is all I can see.”
“Let me in!” A voice suddenly rang through my head.
I cringed, and almost dropped to the floor at the intrusion.
“Sorry about that, but I had to get through to you. I’m with Jason,” the woman’s voice continued.
“Where is he? How is he? Can we come to you?”
“Sam, what is it?” Jeremiah’s voice broke my concentration for a moment.
“Someone who claims to know where Jason is. She says she’s with him.”
“Who is she?” Alice asked.
I shrugged. “I was about to ask. Keep quiet for a bit, and I’ll get back to you.”
“He’s doing ok, but is refusing to attempt sleep because of the Puppet Master. Any suggestions?”
“Who are you? Can you tell me where you are? I can help him.”
“I need to know we can trust you before I answer your questions. You are allied with a killer, and that makes us nervous. There is also the question of whether you are the one who caused his memory loss, and who you are to him exactly.”
My breath caught and I let myself sink to the floor. My head was in my hands and I considered how to respond.
“I am his brother,” I finally said. “My power got away from me when I wished he could forget everything bad he’d gone through, and he forgot everything. I never intended to take the memories from him.
As for the killer… he has been trying to help us. He is changing for the better.”
The skepticism was clear in her response. “He can’t have changed much. He killed several guards as he escaped. Now Jason is terrified of him.”
“More likely terrified of being like him,” I answered. “Kindred is the only person he knows right now, other than you. He’d be worried about the implications of that.”
“You do know him,” the woman’s voice sounded amused. “Very well. My name is Lena. We’re hiding out at the old factory at the edge of town. Once Jason feels your approach I will come out. It will be up to him whether he wants to go with you or not.”
I raised my head out of my hands, my eyes wide. “I saw you on the news! You are said to be an ‘at risk teen’ and you’ve been missing for months.”
“Some of that was by choice. Some of it not. Tell you what, you help your brother and share your story, and I may share mine. Deal?”
“Works for me. I’ll fill in the others, and we’ll be there soon.”
I was about to break the connection when she pushed in again. “Don’t bring the killer. If you bring him, Jason will not come out.”
At this point I was ready to abandon the other man altogether if it meant getting my brother back. But he had been helpful. However, it was an easy choice. “He’ll not be happy about that, but ok. We’ll leave him here. Thank you, Lena.”
“Come quickly, Sam,” she urged. ”You’re both in danger.”
TWENTY-NINE
Jason
Lena wasn’t sleeping, but I wasn’t going to call her on it. She remained facing the other direction on the blankets and gave a good impression of sleep; her breathing was slow, eyes closed, and body relaxed. It was her elevated heart rate that gave away her ruse.
I took the quiet time to take stock of the situation. It was hard
to accept being free, since all I knew currently was being a captive. My arm throbbed from our impromptu surgery, and I rubbed it absently as I continued looking around the room.
Hiding out in an abandoned building seemed almost familiar. I spent some time hoping the familiarity would lead to some memories, but nothing more came. My fist clenched at my side and my jaw tensed. If I ever met Oblivion, I wanted to punch him. And if he was my brother, I would follow that with a hug. But the punch would definitely come first.
“Relax. You’ll know everything soon enough,” Lena’s quiet voice broke through my thoughts.
“I hope so,” I answered softly. The dim lighting seemed to lend itself to speaking quietly. “Living without knowing anything about myself is… hard.”
She turned to face me, blinking sleepily under her dark eyelashes. “You are stronger than you think, Jason. I can tell. Your memories are gone, but your character is the same.”
My eyes crinkled curiously. “How would you know what I was like before?”
She glanced away and admitted, “I contacted Oblivion. He was able to fill in some blanks for me. You also stopped to help me, when doing so could have cost you your freedom. From what I learned from him, you would have done that before as well. You have never been the killer you’re worried you are.”
“And what about you?” I asked. It was uncomfortable always being the focus of the conversation. “What is your character? I know you’re a runaway, but why?”
It was as if a mask came down on Lena’s face. Where she had been openly showing concern for me, she was now emotionless. Her eyes were shuttered, and I worried I knew what that meant.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to pry. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
She didn’t answer, instead, turned away from me again.
“I am really sorry, Lena. I have a feeling I have many things in my past I wouldn’t want to talk about.”
The younger girl snorted, and I shifted uncomfortably. Nothing I could say would make her forgive me any sooner, so I resolved to sit quietly until she was ready to speak.
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