Endless (6 page)

I climbed in, immediately surrounded by the
scent that was a mixture of leather and a light floral perfume.
Cathryn started up the car and pulled smoothly from the lot.

We didn’t speak as she drove, and every time
I tried to gingerly probe her thoughts, I got the same painful
static I had since the first time we’d met.

The café was on the main street of town.
There was an empty spot in front of it, and Cathryn pulled in
easily. She led me to table away from the few other diners.

“They’ll be by in a few moments with menus. I
suggest the lemon orzo soup and the tomato basil panini. Just
excellent.”

It had been a long time since I had felt this
awkward and out of my element. There was something about Cathryn’s
easy grace that made me feel as though my arms and legs were both
too long for me. I tried to avoid her eyes and sit up straight,
suddenly conscious of my posture.

Cathryn laughed. “Really, Tasmyn, try to
relax. There’s no need to feel so uncomfortable. I don’t bite.”

I glanced at her, thinking that I had no
guarantees of that. She only laughed again and rolled her eyes.

The promised menus arrived, and I ordered the
soup and sandwich without much thought. I was too anxious to be
hungry.

When the waitress left, Cathryn leaned toward
me. “Tasmyn, I’m glad we have this chance to talk. I feel like I
know you, because Michael has talked—and thought—about you so
much.”

I gaped at her in alarm. What did she know
about me? What had Michael thought? I swallowed hard and glanced
down. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Come on, Tas. Let’s not waste my time and
yours playing games. I’ll lay it on the table. I know what you can
do, and you’ve guessed the same about me.”

I tried to do anything I could think of to
block her from my mind. I didn’t trust her enough to confirm
anything, and I didn’t know what her endgame was.

“We could actually sit here and have a
conversation without speaking, you know, but I don’t think you
trust me enough yet. So I’ll do this the old-fashioned way.” She
leaned forward and dropped her voice slightly.

“I’m not here to make you uncomfortable or to
confront you. I’ve been asked to offer you an opportunity.”

Now every one of my defensive senses was
tingling. “An opportunity? No, thanks. I’ve had my fill of those
kind of ‘opportunities’.”

Cathryn waved a perfectly manicured hand in
front of her face. “Tasmyn, I’m not Nell Massler, and I’m certainly
not Marica Lacusta.”

My mouth dropped open before I could stop it.
My heart pounded; she knew so much. It frightened me.

“How do you know about them?” I
whispered.

“Some of it from Michael’s thoughts, some
from just plain research. Don’t worry, Tas. I am very discreet.
Your secrets are safe with me.” She quirked an eyebrow at me,
somehow undermining her own words.

“I don’t trust easily.”

“Of course you don’t. I wouldn’t either, not
after the way you were raised and the things you’ve been through
recently. But I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m merely presenting
you with an option.”

The waitress arrived with our soup, and I sat
back in my chair. While Cathryn was distracted, chatting with our
server, I zeroed in on her mind once more, using all the energy and
tricks Marica had taught me to break through her wall. She winced
slightly, just once, and then she smiled. The waitress moved away
from our table, and Cathryn shook her head.

“It’s no use, Tasmyn. I’ve been well-trained,
and I know how to keep people like you out of my head. I can teach
you how to do it. If you decide to join us, that is.”

I picked up my soup spoon and tried the lemon
orzo. Cathryn was right; it was delicious. “Who is exactly is ‘us’?
Are you part of some secret superhero group?”

Cathryn laughed, tossing her head back. “No,
not quite. Not that mysterious.” She reached into her shiny brown
crocodile bag and pulling out an ecru card, she slid it across the
table to me.

Carruthers Initiative Institute

I picked it up, noticing the thick, expensive
cardstock and the raised print. There wasn’t anything on it besides
the name; no number, no address, nothing. Dropping it back on the
table, I shrugged.

“Is this supposed to mean something to
me?”

Cathryn laughed again. “No, probably not. But
I hope it will. Carruthers is a very discreet organization of
people who have talents similar to our own, who use those gifts in
constructive ways.”

“Constructive? I think that’s a very
subjective term,” I snorted.

“True. Okay, let’s just say this. I know you
want to use what you can do in a positive way. I’ve heard Michael
thinking about it. But how do you make that happen? You can be like
those superheroes you just mentioned, waiting around for the right
opportunity to land on your doorstep, or you can join with us, with
Carruthers, and we can put you together with those who need your
help.”

I ate my soup in silence for a few moments,
considering. Using my mind hearing in a positive way was something
I had wanted for a long time, but the events of the last few years
had made me doubt it was possible. And in the back of my mind, I
could hear my parents’ warnings, that my ability put me at risk for
being exploited by the wrong kind of people.

“We’ll talk to your parents, of course,”
Cathryn said, as though we were still in the middle of a
conversation. “I have some other families they can meet, and we’ll
answer any questions they have. Michael’s parents, too, if you
want. I know you’re close to them.”

It was new and not so fun to have someone
turning the tables on me. I’d been careful my whole life
not
to answer unspoken questions, and even now, I only did it with
Michael, mostly when I was teasing him.

“Do you listen to everyone, all the time?” I
asked Cathryn. “And have you been able to do this you whole life,
like me?”

She carefully lay her spoon down alongside
the bowl and moved it to the edge of the table. “I listen when and
where I feel it’s expedient. Not all the time, no. I didn’t cheat
in school, and I don’t often listen to my family. And yes, I’ve had
the gift all my life.”

I leaned forward, suddenly curious. “I’ve
never met anyone else like us. Did you have trouble when you were
little? Sleeping and getting along in school, I mean? And did it
upset your parents?”

Cathryn looked over my shoulder into the
distance. “I didn’t have the same difficulties that you probably
did. The gift is in my family, and my grandmother had it. So my
parents were more. . .prepared than yours were. They were able to
take measures that made my life easier. And since my
great-grandfather was one of the founders of Carruthers, I had that
resource early on, too.”

“What do you do for Carruthers? I mean, what
kind of good stuff? How do you help people?”

Cathryn smiled slightly. “I recruit. I find
people who have gifts, and if they are a fit, I connect them within
the institute.”

Something struck me, and I cocked my head.
“So do you have many people from King at Carruthers? I mean, that’s
a town chock full of your kind of people, right?”

“Not quite. We’ve reached out to a few people
from King’s first families, but mostly, they decline to join us.
They tend to have their own support system, I guess, and they don’t
think they need us.”

The waitress returned with our sandwiches,
and we both ate in silence. If Cathryn was listening to the turmoil
that was my mind, she didn’t comment.

She picked up the check when we were both
finished, and when I fished in my purse, she shook her head. “This
is a business lunch, Tasmyn. My treat.” She stuck a few bills in
the folder and stood. I followed her back to the Thunderbird.

As we approached the college, I felt an
abrupt shift near me, as though a curtain had parted, and I heard
Cathryn.
So Tasmyn. . .are you interested? Are you ready to take
the next step?

I took a deep breath as she parked the car in
the lot near my dorm. “I have to talk to Michael first, and my
parents, too. And I want to know more. I need to understand exactly
how Carruthers works.”

Cathryn grinned. “Looking close before you
leap these days, huh? I don’t blame you. Okay. Talk to them, and
then why don’t you invite your parents up here for a weekend? I can
arrange for some of our people to meet with them, answer any
questions you all might have.” She handed me yet another card, this
time a thinner white one with her name and a phone number on
it.

“Call me when you’re ready. I’ll be waiting,
but I won’t bother you.” I nodded and reached to open the door. As
I climbed out of the car, her last thoughts drifted toward me.

Be sure and tell Michael I said hi.

“So do you think you can trust her?’ Michael
sat across the table from me, a frown deeply etched on his
forehead.

“Nope.” I dropped my fork into the empty
salad bowl in front of me. Michael and I were catching the very end
of dinner service at the dining hall, and there were only a few
other stragglers finishing their own meals. Most of them sat by
themselves with books open and headphones on, deep in study. Still,
I kept my voice low. I didn’t need to open this up to general
discussion.

“No, I don’t trust her, and I don’t trust
whatever this ‘Carruthers Initiative Institute’ is. Made me think
of all those times my parents told me the government was just
waiting to exploit me if I told anyone what I could do.”

Michael smiled. “Well, look what happened
when you finally did open up and tell me your secret. Talk about
exploitation.”

I shook my head but couldn’t help smiling
back. “That’s okay. I like the way you exploit me.” When he waggled
his brows at me in a faux leer, I swiped at his arm. “Cut it out,
clown. I need to be serious.”

“I know.” He pried open the lid on his
Hoodies ice cream bowl and dug in with gusto. “So Cathryn really
can do the same thing you can. Huh. Well, just tell her thanks but
no thanks. If that’s what you want.”

I sighed. “I don’t really know what I want. I
mean, the way she described it. . .well, actually, she didn’t go
into details, but the idea of using what I can do to help people?
That’s pretty much a dream come true.”

Michael licked his spoon. “I guess so.”

I listened to what he wasn’t saying and
answered him. “Marica never claimed that I could learn to use my
powers to do good. She just wanted me to. . .to use them, I guess.
She was going to haul me off to Romania to make all her dreams come
true, but I don’t think good deeds were part of her plan. World
domination, maybe.”

Michael snorted. “Yeah. That’s true.” He
piled trash on our tray and pushed it to the middle of the table.
“Did Cathryn say exactly what powers she wants you to use?”

I tilted my head, thinking. “Not really, I
just assumed she meant--” I tapped my forehead. “You know. My very
acute hearing.”

“She probably did, but she did see a little
display of what else is in your repertoire the other night at Dr.
Sorrel’s house. She never said anything to you before now, and I
was just wondering if that was what caught her attention.”

I made a face. “I hope not. I’m not nearly in
enough control of that kind of stuff to use it for anything good. I
might set someone on fire or toss them against a tree.” A pang
struck deep in my heart, and Michael covered my hand with his.

“Not your fault,” he murmured. When I didn’t
reply, he asked, “Have you heard from Amber this week?”

I brightened a little. “Oh, yes. She is a
very faithful emailer. She loves school. She’s making lots of
friends, and she’s even dating a little.”

Michael laughed. “Our little Amber, all grown
up.”

“I’m just glad she’s around to be grown up.
When I think of what I did—oh, Michael, sometimes I still see her
face, so white. . .I thought I’d killed her.”

This time he gripped my hand. “You didn’t.
She’s fine, and she loves you. She doesn’t blame you one bit. So
stop beating yourself up.”

I shrugged one shoulder and rubbed Michael’s
fingers. “But maybe. . .when I think of the bad things I’ve done,
maybe I should be doing some atonement. Some good stuff to balance
out the bad.”

“Redemption?” Michael questioned, meaning and
memory ingrained in his tone.

“Not quite. I was redeemed when you took me
back. This is trying to balance my karma, I guess.”

He laughed again, dropped my hand and swept
up our tray. “So now you believe in karma, huh? Well,
whatever.”

We threw away our trash and dropped off the
trays. Outside the dining hall, the early fall air had only the
slightest hint of cool. We lingered in the dim lights, delaying our
parting.

“I might talk to my parents about this—about
Carruthers, I mean. And why don’t you mention it to Marly and Luke,
too. Find out what they think. And I was considering. . .” I
hesitated. “I wondered if I should call Mrs. Brooks and ask her
what she knows about them. She has contacts everywhere, and she
might have some insight.”