Burn

  Burn

  Broken Minds

  ~book one~

  By Adrianne Lemke

  Author of the Earthshaker Series

  Copyright © November 2018

  All rights reserved

  Cover by: Covers by Christian- Christian Bentulan

  Edited by: Brittany King

  Also by Adrianne Lemke:

  Earthshaker Series:

  Tracker

  Kindred

  Hunter

  Oblivion

  Earthshaker

  Secrets of Sacorria:

  Secret Power

  Patient Zero:

  Ground Zero

  Anthologies:

  Bite-Sized Offerings: Tales and Legends of the Zombie Apocalypse

  When Disasters Strike

  Other Works:

  Fear

  Soul Warriors vs. Witches (with Joseph & Marisha Cautilli)

  Characters:

  Brennan: Pyrokinetic- Firefighter. Met Jade as a teenager, and decided to call her when he needed help

  Jade: Telepathic- Works with a group of other special people. Met Jason three years prior to the events in Burn. Helped save his life.

  Tray: Telekinetic- works with Jade and several others as consultants in difficult cases. Mostly working with others who have special abilities.

  Laurie: Empath- Leader of the group.

  Cole: Can connect with people by touching objects, whether the victim or the perpetrator. Older brother to Cade. Laurie’s second in command.

  Cade: Same abilities as his older brother Cole, but sometimes connects strongly enough to feel the pain the victim is going through.

  Rae: Empath- Stronger in ability than Laurie, can connect with others and take away some of their pain.

  Lena: Strong Empath, can also get into people’s heads and manipulate emotions. Friend of Jason (the Earthshaker).

  ONE

  Tray

  The phone call from Jade had been unexpected. Laurie and I had been attending a welcome home party for our new friend Jason when Jade’s urgent call came through. Her tone told me we were about to dive into the deep end once again.

  Along with Jason and some other new friends, Laurie and I had recently finished dealing with a powerful psychic, and I—for one—felt pretty worn out. Once we’d gotten off the phone, we’d said our goodbyes and left immediately. Jade—and the trouble she’d called us into—was in a city about five or six hours from Jason’s house.

  To be honest, I was happy for the quiet time in the car. My energy was dismally low after everything we’d been through, and the ride would give me time to build up the happy personality I’d worked hard to cultivate. I sighed and looked at the blur of passing scenery. No matter how hard I worked at it, I knew Laurie could see right through me. Rae and Jade too, for that matter.

  Despite the occasional less-than-happy feelings, I wouldn’t let myself show them outwardly. There was enough darkness in the world, and I’d seen a lot of it up close and personal. I wasn’t going to be someone who added to it unless I could see no other option. Being excited and happy was something I often had to fake, but the fact of the matter was: meeting the Earthshaker had been amazing! He was more powerful than I could have imagined from the short video I’d initially seen. As emotionally messed up as he’d been, he’d still been able to push through and stop the bad guy.

  My own happy personality had dwindled slightly in the face of such a powerful foe, but both Laurie and I had been able to contribute to stopping the Mastermind.

  As I considered everything we’d been through, I could feel Laurie’s gaze on me. “What?”

  She huffed. “You can always tell when my focus is on you. Are you sure you’re only telekinetic?”

  “Telekinetic with a sense of self preservation. I can always tell when someone is staring at me. Don’t need added power for that,” I told her with a smirk.

  Her mouth twitched, and I waved my hand to prompt her to answer my query. “I was wondering if you’re feeling okay,” she finally said.

  “You can sense feelings,” I hedged. “You tell me.”

  She scoffed. “You haven’t even taken your ball out this whole trip, and we’ve been in the car for hours. I don’t need to sense you to know something’s bothering you.”

  Fair enough. She had known me for a while now, and knew my normal behaviors well enough to tell when I wasn’t quite right.

  “You’re right. I’m just decompressing after everything with the Mastermind. And… I’m not sure how long that Kindred person will stay missing, or if he’s going to start causing problems. It worries me.”

  Laurie started shaking her head before I even finished speaking. “You can’t worry about what might happen. Focus on the now, or you’ll drive yourself crazy. We’re about to go figure out whether Jade’s pyrokinetic friend is also an arsonist, or if he simply needs to learn to control his powers. No matter the situation, he’s not going to be safe to be around. You need your head here, not worried about Lena’s cousin.”

  Lena’s cousin, aka Kindred, was a mental manipulator. He could get into your head and make you see anything he wanted you to see—a terrifying thought. He’d been on our side in the last fight, but only barely. His manipulation of the Earthshaker, the way he pushed and probed his mind, had caused the other man to have a mental break. Not the kind of guy we wanted around.

  However, I knew Laurie was correct. Jason, the Earthshaker, had been dangerous despite his control over his abilities. Brennan, the pyrokinetic, would be even more so because of his lack of control. Fire was a wild element, and would be hard to reign in.

  Especially if, as Jade had warned, Brennan had no desire to even acknowledge his powers.

  This was going to be a fun case.

  TWO

  Brennan

  The smell of smoke and burned plastic stung my nose as I entered my work place. Someone had melted a container in the microwave. Again. It wasn’t something one would expect from a group of firefighters, but somehow it happened continually.

  “Who was the genius this time?” Jim Davis, a veteran fire fighter, called.

  He was answered by a chorus of voices. “Nick!”

  Nick Delgado had been the rookie before me. He was friendly and well-liked by most of the people who met him. Never met a person he couldn’t charm, and oddly, never seemed to take advantage of his ability to do so.

  “Hi Brennan, how’re you today?” Jim asked, giving me a pat on the shoulder as he and I headed toward the locker room.

  I stepped away from his touch and plastered a smile on my face. “Fine.”

  Realizing my response could be seen as a bit curt, I added, “And you?”

  Jim eyed me, an unreadable look on his face as he scrutinized me. “I’m good. Thanks,” he answered.

  I met his gaze for a quick moment before looking away and toward my locker to prepare for the day. My answer to Jim had been a lie—and not a very good one, if his response was anything to go by. I was shaken by the dream I’d had the night before. The one I’d had off and on whenever stress took over, since I was about six years old. The one that wasn’t truly a dream, but a vivid memory.

  The burning pain brought to life overnight made me rub at the back of my shoulder with a slight wince. Phantom pains from an injury sustained as a child. Still scarred, but no longer actively painful.

  “What happened to you?” Jim asked softly.

  My head whipped around toward him. I’d almost forgotten the other man was there when I’d pulled off my T-shirt. The scar was obvious. The tattoo I’d gotten a couple years ago accentuated it, rather than hid it. A dragon with its mouth agape, breathing fire. But where its mouth ended, the scar began.

  No, it wasn’t surprising that the scar had been noticed. What cause
d my shock, was that someone had actually asked about it. Most seemed unwilling to breach the subject with me. Maybe because they were uncomfortable asking about something that had been so painful. More likely—if I were to be totally honest—it had a lot to do with my prickly attitude. I didn’t appreciate people asking me questions. Especially such personal ones.

  “You don’t have to say anything, Brennan,” Jim said after nearly a minute of silence passed. He held one hand up as he began to back away. “I’m not trying to push.”

  I shook my head, trying to hold back the emotions brought so near to the surface. “It’s fine,” I answered softly. “Just…”

  “Personal?” he supplied when I paused to find the right word.

  “Painful,” I corrected.

  Jim was the first one, besides my adoptive parents, who tried to get to know things about me without pushing too hard. He was good to me at work, and tried to involve me when the other guys had seemed too easy to push away.

  “The burn happened when I was a kid. It was caused by the fire that… the fire that killed my parents.”

  I blinked, looking away from the other man as I finally covered the scar with my work shirt with quick, purposeful movements. I hoped to convey that I was done with his question.

  “I’m sorry,” he said simply. Jim finished getting ready in silence. We both ignored the banter of a couple other guys who walked in after us.

  I was just closing my locker when I heard one of them mutter my name. A quick glance showed me that they were eyeing me suspiciously. I huffed and ducked my head as I walked by them to make sure the truck was fully ready to go for the shift.

  The stress that led to my memory dream last night had less to do with what my coworkers thought of me, and more to do with the fact that I couldn’t say whether they were right or wrong.

  What they believed—or at least what it seemed like they believed—is that I was an alleged arsonist. Of course, they had no proof. No one came out and said anything directly to my face. Lack of proof had never stopped people from jumping to their own conclusions, however. And after three fires in a row where I’d been there before the other firemen while off duty, it had given my coworkers plenty of reason to be suspicious.

  It was only a matter of time before the people in charge did something about their suspicions. When they came at me with formal charges, I wouldn’t have a valid argument one way or another. I knew I’d been at each fire, but I had no memory of leaving my house or arriving at the scene. Not an altogether new feeling. After my adoptive parents took me in, I had been found near multiple small fires over the course of several weeks. Most thought I was acting out. My new parents hadn’t questioned my innocence when I told them I hadn’t set the fires.

  Now, I wondered... As unsure as I was, I’d called a friend to come help. I hadn’t seen Jade for about three years, but I’d never forgotten her. She’d saved my life, after all.

  “They’re full of crap,” Jim said, coming up behind me as I worked on inventorying the truck. “They hear rumors and form opinions without facts. Don’t let it get to you.”

  Why Jim was so concerned with me today, I had no idea. My confusion must have showed on my face, though, because he chuckled a bit.

  “Sorry. Just figured you’ve been here a while, and none of us have made much attempt to get to know you. Thought it was about time.”

  “Right,” I said. “Look, if you’re feeling bad, or trying to get a read on my guilt or innocence, you can back off.”

  At my sudden defensiveness, he took a step back. The friendly smile slipped for a second. “Someone did a number on you, huh, kid?” He paused for a moment before continuing. “No. I’m not trying to do anything other than get to know someone I’ve been working with for months. You slink in and out of here like a ghost, doing your job and keeping quiet. I can respect that. Just want to know you better.”

  I studied him for a moment. He seemed sincere, but I’d been fooled before. “You know Joe Hanson?” I asked.

  “The detective?” he seemed confused, but nodded. “Yeah, I know him. Dealt with him at a fire scene on one of your days off recently.”

  “He’s my adoptive father. I met him when I was about thirteen, after being in the foster system for years. Not going to get into it right now—and maybe not ever—but you can maybe imagine why a police officer would get involved with a foster kid. The burn isn’t my only scar.”

  I hoped… well, I’m not sure exactly what I hoped to accomplish by opening up even that much. Maybe to make him uncomfortable enough to back off. Maybe to make him see why I was a bit of a social mess.

  Or maybe… maybe I wanted him to push past my walls. Maybe I just wanted a friend.

  THREE

  Jade

  The call had been a bit of a surprise. Okay… more than a bit. It had been years since I’d even seen the pyrokinetic kid, although he’d never been far from my thoughts. A young man with pyrokinesis, unable to fully control the power? Yeah… not a great combo.

  The age difference between the two of us was only a couple years, but at the time, I’d definitely felt like the adult in the new friendship. Or maybe “friendship” wasn’t the right word. He’d made an impression on me.

  I found the past creeping back into my memory, recalling the heat of the fire I’d so recklessly run into. Of course, seeing a middle-aged man dragging a teenaged boy into the building at gunpoint a few minutes earlier made my actions a bit more understandable.

  The fear on Brennan’s face had made me wish I’d remembered to grab my phone that day. I had no way to call for assistance, and his voice was in my head, screaming for help. Outwardly, he was oddly silent, as if part of him had already given in to the hopelessness of his situation.

  A gunshot cracked through the stillness of the afternoon, and my heart sank with the thought that I’d just stood there and let a kid be murdered. When smoke and flames suddenly poured out the cracked window of the old warehouse, I’d finally convinced my frozen muscles to move.

  I could remember the burning sensation of smoke scorching my lungs and the extreme heat of the fire surrounding me when part of it simply vanished, allowing me to see the injured teen standing as if nothing was wrong.

  Brennan, I knew, was behind the explosion of flames. His powers had been clear to me as soon as I’d seen him. As had the fact that he had no idea how to consciously control the ability.

  A problem that seemed to plague him even now, I mused, as I prepared to assist him. I’d already called Laurie and Tray to meet me at a hotel near Brennan’s home. The brothers—Cade and Cole—would meet us there as well. I would pick Rae up on my way out of town. Hopefully, all of us together could help him learn to control the power.

  We could also be of assistance in figuring out whether Brennan was as out of control as he seemed to think he might be. The arsons sounded odd, but I couldn’t say much about how they started until I saw the reports. Laurie’s and my abilities together usually made certain we were able to get the access we needed to whatever situation we felt needed our input. Our little group was starting to make a name for ourselves in certain law enforcement circles, despite our lack of affiliation to any specific law enforcement agency.

  It remained to be seen whether Brennan’s fire chief or the police would have heard of us. Either way, I had confidence we could convince them to accept our help.

  With my clothing packed, I grabbed my phone to send a quick text to Rae that I was on my way to her apartment to pick her up. I knew she’d be curious why I was willing to drop everything and go for a guy I hadn’t seen in three years, but her curiosity would be satisfied fairly easily.

  Brennan needed help. Even now, he stumbled over his explanation, avoiding any words that indicated his powers except in the vaguest of terms. His desire to avoid any mention of his powers would not help in my desire to have him learn to accept and use his abilities.

  I rushed out the door, locking it behind me and hitting the button on my key
to unlock my car. Carelessly tossing my bag in the back, I climbed in and made the quick drive over to Rae’s apartment. She was already waiting outside when I pulled up. Her short, dark hair blew around her face in the breeze as she opened the door and placed her bag in the back seat before climbing in next to me.

  “Who is this guy, and why do you care so deeply?” she asked immediately, eyes narrowed in curiosity. “You haven’t even mentioned him since I met you.”

  Hadn’t I? Thinking back, I realized she was probably right. “Brennan Peterson is a young man I met three years ago when his former foster father tried to kill him. Instead, Brennan lost control when he was shot in the shoulder, and his powers took over, killing the man.”

  A glance over at Rae showed her wide eyes and gaping mouth. “So, he made an impression.”

  “You could say that. He’s about two years younger than me, but ages behind any of the rest of us when it comes to managing our powers. He’s scared of them.”

  She nodded, and waved for me to start driving.

  “A pyrokinetic afraid of his powers. Not an ideal situation,” she agreed. “So, what’s the full situation? Why does he need all of us?”

  “There’s been a serial arsonist operating in Napakiak for the last several weeks. He’s ended up at the scene of several of them without knowing how he got there. So what Brennan wants is for us to prove to him whether he is the one causing the fires. And if not, he wants help figuring out who is, and why he’s been blacking out.”

  Rae was quiet for a moment; her fingers tapped a beat on her leg. “That doesn’t sound good,” she finally said. “I know I’m risking your everlasting wrath,” she joked lightly, “but is it possible that he is behind the fires, and is somehow just using us to try to provide an alibi for him?”

  I started shaking my head before she even finished. “He knows he can’t lie to me. When we met before, I explained my telepathy in the hopes that we could connect and I’d be able to help him accept his own power. If he was truly trying to hide, he wouldn’t have called me.”