Burn Read online

  “Look, I know my issues with Jason don’t quite compare, but I don’t think you should take on so much responsibility when it comes to Kindred. He’s basically a stranger who happens to be related to you. He was a mess long before you came along, and you are only seventeen. No matter how well you can handle yourself, you can’t take on his issues too.”

  As much as I would have liked to contradict him, I couldn’t. It pained me to admit it, but Paul was absolutely right. The realization didn’t change what needed to be done. Jeremiah still needed to be stopped. All it adjusted was my motivation for doing so.

  Instead of taking on responsibility for what Kindred was doing, I intended only to help stop him. While I accepted it was in no way my fault that my cousin used his abilities to hurt others, I still felt like my connection to him gave me the incentive to do what I could to contain him. I knew him better than anyone in Tray and Laurie’s group.

  Paul hadn’t spoken again. Instead, he apparently chose to allow me to consider his words.

  “You’re right,” I finally admitted. “What he does is not a reflection on me.”

  He gave a nod, acknowledging what I said.

  “But, I still have to help,” I continued.

  He shrugged as he made our next turn. “I didn’t expect you not to. Just wanted to make sure you weren’t taking his actions as a reflection against yourself.”

  I waved off his concern. “We’re good on that note.”

  We drove in silence for a while. Only the voice of our GPS interrupted the sound of the whirring tires and engine noises.

  “We should be there within an hour,” Paul eventually informed me. “Anything new from Tray?”

  My phone had been silent for most of the drive, so I got it out to double check. “We must have had low signal at some point,” I said. “I never got an alert, but Tray texted that Brennan is back, and they were heading to the hotel to get some sleep.”

  “How long ago?”

  “About three hours. Guess they’re all asleep. But everyone is meeting at Brennan’s in the morning.”

  He tapped the steering wheel thoughtfully. “So, do we get rooms for the night, or is there something else you want to do first?”

  As much as I would have loved to get started right away, it was late. “We’ll get rooms and meet up with the others in the morning,” I decided.

  “No problem,” Paul said. “Just find a place and set the GPS, would you? I don’t want to get lost looking for a place to stay.”

  I checked my earlier correspondences with Tray, and found he’d given us the name of the hotel they were staying at. “We’ll go to the same place, as long as they have an opening,” I told Paul. “I’ll text him that we’ll be there and will meet him in the morning.”

  We finally reached the city and followed the directions through the streets on the way to the hotel. But before we could reach our destination, something caught my eye. “Stop,” I ordered urgently as we passed a building that still had smoke rising from it.

  “What?” Paul asked. He glanced over, and his eyes widened. “Oh. Did Brennan…?” He pulled the car to the side of the road and stopped.

  “Yeah,” I answered. “I think he did.”

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Tray

  Most of the night passed without interruption. Only about a half hour after I’d managed to get to sleep, my phone chimed with a message from Lena. She would be at the hotel in about an hour and would meet up with us in the morning. I was barely awake enough to send a thumbs up back, before I fell back to sleep.

  Morning came too soon, and I forced myself to get up after my phone alarm sounded. Why had we agreed to meet so early again?

  Right. Brennan had to be at work. He needed some way to be shielded while at work. A way that wouldn’t make him look like some sort of alien creature or movie superhero.

  And a way that wouldn’t require Cole or Cade to be stuck to him like glue. It wasn’t exactly something that was possible with his job. The trucks weren’t meant for civilians, and I had no idea how close the brothers would need to be in order to successfully shield him.

  After pulling on some clothes, I glanced at my watch and grabbed my wallet. Time to get going. Grab a quick breakfast then head over to Brennan’s house with Jade, Rae, and Laurie. I assumed Lena and her friend Paul would try to meet at the same time.

  My phone chimed, and I saw a message from Jade asking if I was ready to go down. I grabbed the room key from the bedside table and slipped it into my wallet before replying that I was heading down.

  Seven AM. Not a time I liked being up at regularly. However, this was a special circumstance. After getting a couple pancakes, sausages, and a muffin, I sank down onto a chair by my friends.

  “Morning, Tray,” Jade said brightly. “Sleep okay?”

  I raised an eyebrow at her cheeriness. Probably the only time of day she would out-cheer me. “You mean after finding out the guy we’re after is perfectly capable of taking over any of us to get what he wants? Yeah, I actually slept better than I thought I would.”

  We ate in silence for a few minutes before I spotted a familiar face. “Lena!” I rose and waved.

  Her young face lit up at seeing us, and she stopped next to me. “Hi strangers,” she said to Laurie and me. “I’ll be back shortly. I’m going to grab a little breakfast. What time do we need to leave to get to your friend’s house?”

  “About fifteen minutes,” Rae answered.

  Lena nodded, and she joined Paul at the food line. She motioned to us as she spoke to him, and he looked up and waved. In direct opposition to the smile on Lena’s face, Paul’s held a darkly somber look. After everything he’d seen and been through, this young man wasn’t one to put a bright spin on a negative situation.

  I frowned at the thought. Such young people turned so cynical. The world had taken their youth and destroyed it, leaving behind hardened shells where happy children should be.

  That dark look is exactly why I worked so hard to maintain a happy demeanor. You know… most of the time. There were too many people who were taken by the darkness in the world and made… harder. Angrier. More aggressive than they should be.

  Jade smiled gently and rested a hand on my shoulder. “You’re a good man, Tray,” she whispered.

  I grinned. “I try. It is hard sometimes, though.”

  Lena and Paul sat at the table next to ours and ate their meal. “You guys seem… tired,” Paul said. A frown crossed his face, and he looked at Lena. “What exactly went on yesterday? I mean, I know the basics, but…”

  “We almost lost Brennan to Kindred yesterday. Then we found him because Brennan was able to make a wall of flame around his mind to protect himself. Unfortunately, his wall makes his powers visibly apparent, even to normals,” Laurie answered. She spoke loudly enough for the two to hear, but not so loud that any of the other patrons could follow the conversation.

  Lena frowned, and stabbed her waffle. “Yeah. My cousin does tend to cause problems wherever he goes.”

  “So, we now need to find a way to keep Brennan’s secret while also protecting him from a psycho with mind control powers?” Paul summarized.

  I nodded. “Yeah. Sounds awesome, right?”

  Paul scowled at the food on his plate. “Sounds like we could use Jason,” he countered.

  I snorted around a bite of sausage. “Can’t really argue there,” I agreed. “Unfortunately, our resident tracker is a bit under the weather.”

  “Understatement,” Paul said, his tone glum as he thought about his friend. “He can barely walk.”

  Lena took his hand, causing him to look up at her. “But he can walk,” she said. “He’s getting better every day.”

  Paul’s hard look softened in the face of Lena’s optimism, and he nodded. “You’re right. He is. Physically and mentally.”

  She smiled and glanced around. “Yes. We helped him. And now we’re going to help Brennan as well. And stop my cousin before he can hurt anyone else.�
�

  “Have you been able to sense anything from him yet?” Laurie asked. “I know you just got here, but I figured you’d have tried already.”

  The girl’s smile faded, and she nodded. “You’re right. I did try. As soon as we got into town, I searched out the pattern of my cousin’s mind. Unfortunately, I felt nothing from him. He may have been shielding, or simply out of my range, but I can’t help in that respect. At least not yet.”

  “Maybe once you connect with Brennan’s mind,” I suggested. “Kindred may have left something behind that could help you find him.”

  “Speaking of Brennan,” Jade said. “We should head over there. He’ll be expecting us.”

  Those who still had food left hurried to finish it before clearing our garbage and leaving the hotel. We’d be a little later than the planned seven-thirty, but I didn’t think it would be an issue.

  The drive was uneventful, and we found Cole, Cade, and Brennan finishing up their breakfast when we arrived.

  Brennan let us in with a slightly dejected air. “Come on in. We might as well get started.”

  Jade looked at him and tilted her head thoughtfully. “Feels like Cade’s shield is holding. That’s good.”

  He snorted. “Yeah. I love having other people right there in my mind. Let’s get to work, so I don’t need it anymore. Please?”

  The please at the ended was given in a lower tone, almost desperate. The guy was clearly unhappy about needing any outside help to protect himself.

  Jade sighed, but agreed. “Yeah. Let’s go to work. How do we want to proceed?”

  “I think we need to have him put his shield up and down several times, so we know he’s able to,” Laurie said. “Cole, Cade, be ready to shield in case Kindred takes advantage of any lack of protection.”

  She turned to Lena and added, “Lena, stay alert to any sign of Kindred. If he tries to attack, do whatever you can to turn it against him. Use his attempt to back track and find him.”

  Did her power work that way? I was uncertain, but it seemed from Lena’s tight nod that both Laurie and Lena thought it might work.

  “Cade, drop your shield,” Laurie ordered.

  I watched as Brennan visibly relaxed when the other man’s shield was removed. He really didn’t like having someone else in his mind.

  The pyrokinetic took a couple breaths and seemed to try to concentrate but after a couple minutes shook his head. “It’s not working. I don’t know how to make the wall. It kind of happened automatically last night.”

  “When your mind felt the attack, right?” Lena asked.

  He nodded and watched the younger girl curiously. “Good. So, protect yourself,” she ordered.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Brennan

  When the others had talked about bringing in a stranger to help with Kindred, I hadn’t expected such a young person. And I certainly didn’t expect her to launch a mental attack on me five minutes after we met.

  I sank to my knees at the assault on my senses. Whatever she was doing made everything so loud. Every touch seemed amplified, and I could only squeeze my eyes shut to lock out the blinding light. Of course, since it was all in my head, the attempt was unsuccessful.

  “Protect yourself, Brennan!” a voice cut through the turmoil.

  With some concentration I realized it was Lena’s voice. Anger rose up. She was doing this. She was attacking my mind. I could feel my power, but was having trouble accessing it.

  My hands were squeezing my ears against the screaming noise, and I pushed at the glowing ember at the center of my mind. I needed to reach it. I just needed to…

  A cry of shock and pain came from outside my mind, and the noisy mental attack ceased. After a moment of silence, I pulled my hands from my ears and opened my eyes. The warmth in my head was familiar. I’d apparently managed to put my wall back up.

  “Yikes,” Lena said. “I maybe should have gotten a bit more information from you guys about that wall of his.”

  I glanced at her. She was rubbing and shaking her head. Paul held her up. The girl seemed a bit unsteady. After a few moments, she finally looked at me.

  “You definitely have some power locked up in there, Brennan. The glow is an interesting phenomenon. I think if you control the flames enough, you should be able to block its visibility from the rest of the world.”

  I raised an eyebrow over my apparently glowing eyes. “What are the chances I can do that in the next two hours?”

  The newcomer exchanged a look with Laurie and Rae. She sighed and shook her head. “I can’t say for sure. We can only keep trying to have you learn how the power works. Ideally, you should be able to shield your mind before an attack, not just push attacker out.”

  Speaking of… “You’re okay, right? From what the others said, the fire wall burns anyone trying to intrude.”

  She smiled wryly and nodded. “Yeah. I’m good. Thanks for asking. Now, you need to drop the shield and do it again.”

  Great. Just what I wanted to do.

  “Now, focus on relaxing. Take deep breaths and focus on extinguishing the flame,” Lena said.

  I nodded and focused on the power burning through my mind. The small ember I’d felt before the wall went up is what I tried to hone in on. From what I could tell, it was the center of my ability. Through the flames, I had a hard time locating that center.

  “Try to picture yourself absorbing the flames, Brennan,” Jade said. “Relaxing. You know you’re safe here, so just let it die down.”

  My mouth twitched with dark amusement. “You know when I absorb the flame, it gets stuck in me, right? I have no idea how to go about absorbing a flame that is in my mind already.”

  “You’ve gained more control already, whether you’re aware of it or not,” Laurie declared. “Yesterday, when the wall went up, you were hurting and confused. Today, it isn’t hurting you.”

  I cocked my head to the side, considering what she said. She shifted uncomfortably until I lowered my eyes.

  “Sorry, Brennan. With your eyes glowing like that, you seem pretty intimidating,” she said. Even through my walls, she seemed able to read my insecurities.

  Scaring my allies was not my goal. I shifted my focus inward again, hoping to push the flames back and let my new friends relax.

  “I think it’s working,” Jade said. “His eyes flickered. It was almost out.”

  “Good work, Brennan. Keep it up, and I think you’ll have the wall down shortly.”

  Down? Maybe not the best option here. Instead of trying to extinguish the flame, I should go right for trying to hide the flames from the public eye.

  “Wait… one eye is normal,” Jade sounded confused. “Bren, what are you up to?”

  She hissed suddenly, and I glanced at her in concern. “I’m good,” she assured me. “Just tried to get a read from you. I won’t do that again until I know your wall is down.”

  “Not taking it down,” I answered with a grunt of exertion. “Hiding it.”

  I closed my eyes to assist in my focus. The look of pain on Jade’s face was distracting. There had to be a way to keep the wall up while not giving myself away to everyone.

  I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before I finally felt what I’d been searching for. My power’s center. It was no longer the glowing ember, but a raging flame. I needed to turn it down so the wall was still there, but hidden. Or… Maybe instead of trying to protect everything, I could retract the wall to protect my innermost thoughts and actions. My surface thoughts would still be vulnerable, but it might be enough to keep Kindred from taking control again.

  “I can sense you again, Bren,” Jade finally said. “What did you do?”

  I opened my eyes and answered her question with one of my own. “Are they glowing?”

  She shook her head and seemed to push for more. Laurie and Lena watched, their eyes wide with surprise. “You… You pushed the wall back,” Lena said. “How…?”

  “I found the source of my power,” I explained.
“I think I might be able to exert at least a minimal amount of control for now. But I need to know I can still extinguish flames. I need to be able to use it to save lives.”

  Lena nodded. She appeared a bit impressed with my new-found control. “Gotta say, I wasn’t sure you could do it so quickly. After suppressing yourself for so long, it didn’t seem likely that you could take control so easily.”

  “Easily, huh?” I said. “I’ll have you know that this is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”

  “Someone start a fire in the fireplace,” Jade suggested. “We should let him see if he can absorb the flame.”

  Tray found a lighter and started a small fire as directed. “Before long, you should be able to do this without help,” he said, slapping me on the shoulder with a grin.

  “Go ahead and put it out, Bren,” Jade said, waving her hand toward the growing flame.

  I could feel the tension in the room as everyone seemed to hold their breath when I stuck my hand into the flames. My body stiffened, and I felt the burning as the fire absorbed into my body.

  The new fire seemed to go directly to the center. I fell back with a cry of pain. I curled in on myself, trying to stop the burn I could already feel through my whole body. This was far worse than anything before.

  TWENTY-SIX

  Jade

  Why could nothing ever go smoothly? Brennan had seemed stronger, more confident when he’d said he found the center of his power. Now, he was writhing on the ground as if burning from the inside. And we could hardly approach him. The heat coming off him was a definite warning sign.

  His eyes opened, the flames within now glowing an angry red. “Something… something went wrong,” he panted. “Never… it’s never felt… like this.”

  I wanted nothing more than to see exactly what was going on in his mind, but with his normal wall now acting like a guard dog, I couldn’t even aim my thoughts in his direction without the heat from his mind seeking me out as a threat.