Legacy (9 page)

Saying our goodbyes at the door, I spoke into his head.
I hope you’ll come visit us—with or without Lilith. I think you’d like it—and you might have an ability like Trevor’s.

Archer’s eyes twinkled. “I’ve been thinking something along those lines myself.”

I know.
I smiled back at him and he laughed.

After he shut the door, Archer watched us through the window while Lilith’s agitation simmered in the kitchen. We picked our way through little clouds of moths around the lights along the front walk.

Trevor shifted the car into gear. “That went well.” He was surprised that he actually meant it.

I like your grandfather
. I couldn’t lie to Trevor so there really was nothing I could say about his grandmother—or his no-show mom. Really, how could they treat Trevor so callously? He deserved so much better.

We made a quick call back to Ganzfield as we drove away. Technically, I don’t think Trevor broke any traffic laws—he still had two hands on the wheel while he talked.

Hands-free.

Claire sounded tired when she answered the phone. I could picture dark circles shadowing her blue eyes almost as if I could RV her. Since the Davis family had been killed, the RVs had been working in shifts to keep track of Isaiah at all times.
“Rick’s got him now. He says Isaiah’s heading back toward Chicago.”

Brighton State Recreation Area was about twenty minutes from Trevor’s grandparents’ house; he’d been there a few times as a kid. We parked the car, grabbed our bags, and snuck in past the chain across the drive. Trevor pulled his pen-sized flashlight from the pocket of his bag.

We found a wide clearing that twinkled with the tiny lights of hundreds of fireflies. Trevor took my hand and pulled me down to sit with him. The hard ground pressed through the sleeping bag as I leaned against him.
They love you, you know.

Tonight’s visit still filled his thoughts.
Yeah, I know.

Really. Your grandmother’s primary reason for disliking me is that she thinks I’m a bad influence on you.

Trevor gave a single laugh.
They still wish that I hadn’t been born.

They wish their daughter hadn’t gotten pregnant so young. It actually doesn’t have anything to do with you.

Something healed a bit within him.
Really?

You know I can’t lie to you
.

Yeah, I know.
Trevor kissed my temple tenderly.
I’m glad we came.

And I’m glad your mom got knocked up by a charm at sixteen.

WHAT?
He was half-shocked, half-amused.

Well, c’mon. Look at the result! You’re amazing!

Freak.

Look who’s talking, Four Arms!
“Ay-eeeh!” A sudden attack of four-handed tickling could still get a noise out of me.

We rolled over until Trevor pinned me beneath him. Our eyes met in the dim light and we felt our chests press together with each breath. Then his lips were on mine. The starry sky faded and the electric flash pulled us together as energy, pulsing like ocean waves tumbling upon us. We built to a crashing, overpowering, cresting peak, and then floated together back to the world.

The travel alarm had been set for 6 a.m., but we didn’t make it that long. My little phone rang at 5:12, a time set strongly into my mind by my first thought of the day:
who the hell would be calling us at 5:12 a.m.?

I stared at the phone in my hand. The caller ID read “Ganzfield.” How was I supposed to handle this? I flipped it open before it went to voicemail. Across the clearing, Trevor was dreaming again. A nearby bush bent sideways, and dozens of tiny leaves flashed alternating sides of forest and mint-green in the pale light as they spiraled to the ground.

“I know you’re still in southern Michigan, so get moving. I checked as soon as I woke up and Isaiah’s bee-lining out 94 east, going at least eighty. He just passed the turn-off for Battle Creek.”

Crap.

“Hmm,” I said, completely aware of how little that told her. We could at least have worked out a code ahead of time for situations like this—one grunt for yes, two for no, or something. Wait, I could text her. I sent a quick Leaving now to her email address. I wondered when she’d check her email—she’d called from one of the Ganzfield land-lines.

I packed our bags in the two minutes it took for Trevor’s dream to end. When I could get close again, I gently shook him awake
. Isaiah’s coming. He’s on Route 94, just past Battle Creek.

Trevor shocked alert. “That’s less than an hour from here!”

We grabbed up Trevor’s sleeping bag and ran back toward our little rental car.

Archer and Lilith.
Conflicting anxieties tore at him. If we went back to Barton Hills for them, we’d cut into our lead against Isaiah. Trevor wanted to keep me safe, and he wanted to keep them safe—he couldn’t do both.

I can’t shield Archer and Lilith’s minds if he catches us with them
.

“He’s probably coming for the two of us. If we can draw him away—”

We arrived at the car.
Let me drive
. I dug into my pocket for the cell phone while Trevor pulled out the keys and we tossed them to each other.
You call and warn Archer and Lilith.

We sped into the sunrise as I practiced throwing a mental shield around us while driving. It wasn’t easy, especially without coffee. Fortunately, it was early on a Saturday morning so both automotive and mental traffic were light on the highway into Detroit.

“Isaiah Lerner’s in Michigan and is coming this way,” Trevor said into the phone. Archer had finally picked up after eight rings. He sounded groggy and confused. “He’s probably coming for Maddie and me, but you and Lilith need to get out of the house. Now. Go to Laurie’s. Get her and the kids moving, too.”

Archer mumbled something about Lilith refusing to have a part in what she called “all that nonsense.”

“Then get in the car without her, Archer. If he’s coming for G-positives, you’ll draw him away from her.” Apparently, Trevor had also concluded that his grandmother was a G-negative. “But Laurie’s a carrier and the girls might be, too. You need to stay on the move so he can’t find you. Drive on the highways. Change direction every half hour, but don’t double back. Call—” he fumbled with the phone, making it display the number back at Ganzfield, which he read off to his grandfather twice. “Ask them where Isaiah is. Tell them you’re my family. They’ll let you know when it’s safe to go home.”

“I’m impressed with the way you’re handling this, my boy.” Something in Trevor’s soul blossomed at Archer’s approval and, in spite of everything, I smiled.

After Trevor finished the call, he stared at the phone in his hand, trying to figure out what to do next.
Should I call Laurie? Should I call back and try to talk Lilith into going with Archer?

Let Archer take care of that. Can you call Rachel to let her know we’re moving and to see where Isaiah is?

Rachel was relieved to be able to speak with someone who could talk back, and she confirmed Isaiah was coming straight toward us. What would he do if he caught up with us? I could block his ability and Trevor could shield us from bullets but...would Isaiah simply run our car off the road? I doubted it. Isaiah was sociopathic, not suicidal. But what if he attacked us in front of witnesses? Could his actions “out” all G-positives?

If I tried to blast Isaiah, he’d be able to channel along the energy I released, giving him a way past my mental shield. That would be bad. Nothing good could come from a confrontation with him.

We have to run.

My heart pounded as I remembered Isaiah—predatory and cruel—as he’d moved in to kill me. I imagined him gaining on us, drawing closer, trapping us against the cold shoreline of whatever Great Lake Detroit was on.

Next to me, Trevor heard that thought and released a long-suffering sigh.

The stupid rental car map was useless. Little tendrils of panic began to run through me, but then I saw the airport sign and zeroed in. I threw the car into park at the curb on the Arrivals deck, and then tossed the keys to the clerk behind the rental counter as we ran past and up the stairs to the Departures area. There was probably a huge fine for abandoning the car in a tow-away zone—but that was what the dirty, dirty stock money was for.

The screens showed a flight to Chicago leaving in less than an hour. We grabbed two tickets—putting the charge on my credit card—and then ran to the security checkpoint.

Trevor called Rachel again. “He’s at the curb. He’s getting out of his car.” There was a pause. I guessed that Rachel was checking our location against Isaiah’s. “He’s almost to you guys! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!”

My eyes met Trevor’s for a panicked moment. I tightened my grip on his hand and threw the strongest shield I could around our minds. He pulled me with him as he calmly asked the people ahead of us, “Hi, do you mind if we cut ahead? Our flight’s boarding now and about to leave.” His voice was all Midwestern and polite, even in the face of danger.

Then we were at the head of the line, walking shoeless through the metal detectors, holding up the boarding cards that allowed us to pass. Isaiah didn’t have one. If we could just get past here and out of his range…

I clutched Trevor’s hand and pulled him behind the mental shield again as soon as we were both through the checkpoint. We grabbed up our bags from the collection area behind the x-ray machine and booked down the long hall beyond the security barrier toward the boarding area. I felt Isaiah’s mental presence at the end of my range behind us as the glow built around me.

Oh, God. He’s found us again.
I risked a glance back.

There he was on the far side of the security checkpoint, looking right at me. I stopped breathing and went deer-in-the-headlights, frozen by his gaze. His fury at being blocked when so close to his prey lashed orange-hot through his mind.

Even with the distance and the mental roar of all of the other people around us, his thoughts blared into my mind.
How far could I get if I just killed everyone standing in my way?
Isaiah didn’t care about avoiding detection anymore. He wanted us dead and he didn’t care who he hurt—security people, other passengers, transit cops—so long as he accomplished that goal.

I’d never felt the mind of someone that…
deranged
. He hadn’t been this far gone in New Jersey. Was this the result of Matilda’s changes to his brain, or had I destroyed the remains of his sanity along with his voice?

No. Killing that many people would slow me down too much and those two would probably get away. I’ll need to be closer to kill them through that mental wall of hers.
Murdering innocent people wasn’t an issue for him—only his calculation of the low odds of success held him back.

Trevor nearly pulled my shoulder from its socket as he tugged me around the corner and down the long hallway. I gasped as the connection with Isaiah snapped.

Our flight was boarding. Trevor held me close as we waited in the slow-moving line at the gate. I couldn’t stop shaking. I kept listening for Isaiah’s mind. Could he get past security somehow? Thank heavens he could no longer use charm compulsion. If he could still charm...

Trevor called Rachel again. “I see him. He’s still standing outside the security barrier. He just seems to be staring down the hall.” Was he still watching the place where we’d moved out of his sight—like a parent seeing off a beloved child, killer-telepath style? I tried to swallow the lump in my throat.

I’d frozen.

I’d been face-to-face with Isaiah again and I hadn’t been able to move. I felt weak and broken, like when I’d been lying on the floor and he’d been about to kill me.

Powerless.

My heart didn’t stop pounding until the plane was in the air. We landed in Chicago about ninety minutes later. Trevor talked to the desk agent and moved up our flight back to New Hampshire. The cell phone battery was getting low, but he made a quick call to Rachel.

“Isaiah’s driving back toward Chicago now.”

“Good. That means he’s not going after my family. Maddie and I’ll fly out in less than an hour. We’ll be gone before he gets here.”

I wrapped my arms around Trevor and pressed my cheek against his chest. Above us, a freakishly-large ceiling fan twirled among the white tubes and girders lining the ceiling. I felt the springs in my gut unwind as I watched it turn.

Trevor then called his grandparents’ house and got an earful.

“Young man, I don’t know what you think you’re doing.”
Lilith’s tone made me cringe, even hearing it secondhand through Trevor’s mind. “Your phone call this morning scared the daylights out of your grandfather. He’s not in the best of health and shouldn’t have all this aggravation.”

“Lilith, I—”

“What did you
say
to him? He showed up at Laurie’s today and tried to convince her that the kids should skip their piano lessons and go for a drive with him.”

“There’s a good reason—”

“Something like this makes Archer look like he’s getting senile! Really, this whole situation is ridiculous. I know we raised you better. This must be the influence of that strange girl you brought to dinner.”