Burn Read online

  “Stop that,” Rae scolded. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

  “What? The fact that I can’t control my power, or that I keep needing to be rescued?” I snapped.

  Rae stepped back as if I’d slapped her. “I think you’re mistaking me for Jade. I can’t read your thoughts, just your emotions. You don’t need to be embarrassed about anything.”

  She tapped her chin and eyed me thoughtfully. “Except maybe your attitude right now. We’re here to help. Don’t forget that, okay?”

  Her words stopped me in my tracks, and I turned to consider her. She’d been gentle and calm with me the whole time. I hadn’t suspected she hid an iron will behind her unruffled façade.

  I huffed, rubbing my hand through my spiky black hair in aggravation. “I… I can’t forget it. That’s the problem.”

  “Gotcha.” She tapped her fingers on the arm of the chair she sat in. “So, you think you need to be embarrassed that you had to ask for help? Even the strongest people in the world need help sometimes, Brennan. There’s nothing to be ashamed of in that.”

  Rae seemed to realize that wasn’t quite enough to sway my opinion, so she tried one last thing. “With our help, you may end up being more self-sufficient in the future. You can learn how to use your powers and keep yourself safe. You won’t always need to be rescued.”

  Therein lay the problem. I had needed rescuing for much of my life. It was part of what drew me to becoming a firefighter. I wanted to do for others what so many had done for me. Right now, though, it felt like I couldn’t be a proper rescuer if I always needed saving myself.

  “Sometimes I still feel like the little boy whose world was destroyed in one single night. Like I’ll never find my true path,” I spoke thoughtfully. I hardly realized Rae was listening intently.

  “I hate having these abilities. The only good thing is using them to help save people from burning buildings. If I couldn’t do that… I don’t know. It was like I was drawn to being a firefighter.”

  Rae nodded. “Makes sense. You use your powers the best way you can. Even if you think you don’t want anything to do with them, they’re a big part of who you are.”

  Rae was easy to talk to. She listened well and was not judgmental about what I said. For someone like me, who was reluctant to talk about personal stuff, it was nice to have an easy-going listener.

  “You seem more relaxed now.” She put a cool hand on my arm. “You’re also a bit cooler. How’s the burning feeling?”

  Taking a moment to figure out exactly how I was doing, I was surprised to note that I wasn’t feeling the normal afterburn of absorbing so much fire. There was still some lingering heat, but it was more uncomfortable than painful.

  “I’m good,” I finally answered with some surprise.

  A knowing smile crossed her face. “Yeah. It’s nice to let someone share the load a bit, isn’t it?”

  My answering glare lacked the proper anger to make it effective. “You used your power?”

  She answered with a nod, then waited expectantly for what I’m sure she thought would be a bit of an explosion.

  “And you’re okay?”

  “Better than. Felt a bit like a fever for a couple minutes, but it went away quickly,” she assured me. “Really, Brennan, I don’t mind the few minutes of pain I get from helping people. “

  Dropping the annoyed look, I smiled. “In that case, thank you, Rae. I feel great. Next time I’ll let you help me, so you don’t have to pretend you aren’t.”

  She grinned sheepishly. “You okay with that? Sorry. I just hate seeing someone suffer when I know I can help.”

  That I could understand. It was part of what drew me to firefighting. Other than the adrenaline rush I got from running into a fire, I couldn’t stand the idea of someone else meeting the same fate as my birth family. Any suffering I felt from using my powers to save someone was worthwhile. And nothing more than I deserved. I was, after all, a killer. Jade knew it. I knew it. And I suspected that by the end of this, the rest of her friends would know it too.

  If they didn’t already. I still wasn’t sure what they all could do.

  Speaking of her friends, Rae’s phone chimed.

  “Cade seems to be doing fine now,” she informed me. She sounded relieved. “Apparently, something at the house made him collapse. They aren’t sure what though, so they didn’t want Cole to check it in case it made him collapse as well.”

  “I’m glad he’s okay,” I answered. “Are they getting him checked out at the hospital?”

  Her phone chimed again. After reading, she answered absently. “No. They’re on their way here, actually. They figured he could relax while the rest of us discuss what happened.”

  “Of course,” I rushed to agree. “I can get the guest room ready for him. He should be comfortable in there. I have clean sheets in the bathroom cupboard. The room should be ready when he gets here—“

  “Brennan,” Rae interrupted with a slight laugh. “Settle down. I’m guessing you don’t get a lot of house guests.”

  My mouth twitched into a half smile and I scratched my neck sheepishly. “Yeah… no. Not really. That obvious, huh?”

  “It’s fine,” she assured me. “Cade will be fine. If you want to set up the room, you can, but he would be just as happy hanging out on the couch.”

  “I should set it up anyway. Jade did mention that someone might end up having to stay with me. Just to keep an eye on things, you know?” I strove for nonchalant, but I think I missed the mark.

  From the sympathetic look on Rae’s face, I had missed it by a lot. I had to admit, the idea of having someone stay with me to watch everything that happened here was a bit off-putting. Since I’d moved out of Joe and Angie’s house, I hadn’t had much company. No close friends. Even my family had been keeping their distance. It was entirely my fault, but I just couldn’t step back from the disappointment and anger I’d felt when Joe had failed to keep me safe from Greg Anderson. He’d nearly killed me, and Joe hadn’t been there.

  But Jade was. She’d been the one bright spot in my life at the time. I hadn’t called before now, simply because I didn’t want to darken her light with my anger. She didn’t deserve that. All she’d ever done was help me.

  I left Rae behind and ran up the steps, taking them two at a time to get everything ready to host my first ever houseguest. Whether it was Cade or one of the others. I relished the time on my own while I got the room ready. It was the greatest feeling; calm and quiet, no expectations or fears. Just me and my thoughts.

  On second thought, maybe not the best thing ever. Jade was definitely the best part of this situation. Seeing her again… it felt like a rush of cool air after coming out of a burning building. A relief from some pain I almost hadn’t realized was even there until she came back.

  The doorbell rang, and I heard Rae open the door and allow her friends to come in. Six people. All with special abilities. All in my house at the same time. My breathing sped up and I sat on the now-made bed trying to calm myself. They would find out everything.

  How my parents died. How I’d been… less than safe with some of my foster families. That I’d become a killer at age seventeen. How I’d pushed away the one family who treated me as one of their own. Everything.

  The patter of footsteps rushed up the steps, slowing to hesitantly make their way toward me. “Brennan, calm down.”

  Jade’s voice cut through my panic. I looked up at her, pleading for help. “None of that was your fault. You can’t always help how you react to certain situations.”

  She took my hand in one of hers, and laid the other one on my chest. “Take a breath with me. In, and out. Try to let yourself relax. There’s plenty of air, and no one is here to judge your past. They want to help you figure out your future.”

  I could feel my breath coming more easily. The tightness in my chest loosened, and I finally felt like I could speak. “Thank you. How…?”

  “Your thoughts were screaming at me so
loudly that I actually thought you were yelling at first. I couldn’t let you continue to beat yourself up over things you can’t help or change. Rae and Laurie could feel your panic, but agreed I would probably be the best person to talk you through it.” Grasping her hand like the lifeline it was, I nodded. “Thank you, Jade.” My voice was raspy, but I could breathe again.

  She gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Have you had panic attacks before?”

  A panic attack. I’d seen others have them before, but never suspected I would have one myself. I shook my head wordlessly.

  “The idea of us being here scared you that much?” she asked sadly.

  I wanted to shake my head, but gave a slight nod instead. “I… I guess I’ve been alone for long enough that the idea of having other people find out about everything in my life kinda freaked me out. I’m sorry, Jade. It’s nothing against you. I promise.”

  She ran a hand through my somewhat sweat soaked hair. Her cool hand felt like heaven, and I realized that with my panic, my body temperature had risen again.

  “Don’t worry, your power isn’t coming out. Seems like a normal body temperature thing,” Jade assured me. “You should go take a nice cool shower and relax. We’ll wait downstairs for you, okay?”

  “Right. Yeah. I’ll do that then. Hey, let Cade know he can have the bed in here if he wants.”

  “Thank you, Bren. Now, go. Let yourself settle for a few minutes. Everything else can wait.”

  TWELVE

  Jade

  Even in the midst of a panic attack, Brennan’s thoughts had gone to an injured man he didn’t even know. He was a better man than he gave himself credit for. I waited in the guest room until I heard the door to the bathroom close and the water come on. Then I slowly made my way back to where the others were waiting.

  Everyone looked up at me as I came down the steps. I answered their question before they could ask. “He’ll be okay. Had a bit of a panic attack. He’s worried about what we’ll all think of him once we’ve been digging around for a while. I think he’s concerned we’ll think he isn’t worth our time or energy to help.”

  Rae sighed. “If that were the case, we wouldn’t be here. We already know he’s worth it.”

  The others nodded, but Tray broke in. “You know that, and we know that. Brennan doesn’t know us yet. Hopefully, once he gets to know us a bit, he’ll realize we aren’t going to give up on him.”

  A random thought drifted to my mind, and I thought it might have been from Laurie. “He wasn’t losing control. He was getting warm, but his power was pushed down again. No risk of fire.”

  “Good,” Laurie said. “From how he was at the station, I think it won’t take much work to teach him how to access his powers on purpose. We should definitely start with that.”

  At her statement, Cade shook his head. “I disagree. We need to start by figuring out what took control of him at that fire.”

  What took control, not who? “What do you mean?”

  “All I got was a general dark feeling that seemed to overtake Brennan’s sense of free will. Instead of forcing the power down, this power pushed it out. And the place it was aimed was that house,” Cade explained. “Also, from what you told us, Jade, Brennan wouldn’t have the ability to set a mental trap.”

  “Do we know anything more about the owners of the properties that were burned?” Cole asked. “Do they have a common enemy, or someone they might have crossed paths with?”

  Laurie shook her head. “We don’t have a lot of information just yet. But we definitely need to dig deep into everyone involved. If someone or something is taking over Brennan’s power, we need to put a stop to it. Preferably before someone is killed.”

  Footsteps came down the stairs and Brennan said. “I may have someone who can help with that. Joe isn’t investigating, at least not that I know of, but he could probably get us in contact with whoever’s in charge.”

  He made his way to an open chair and sank down. His next question was aimed at Cade. “Do you really think someone is controlling me?”

  Cade huffed out a quick breath, glanced at his brother, then slowly nodded. “Not to sound melodramatic, but I don’t think someone is, I know it. Everything I managed to sense points to it.”

  It was believable. Other than Brennan’s power simply pushing through his mental blocks, it was the only way him setting fires made sense to me.

  “So, we have another Mastermind on our hands?” Tray’s voice was incredulous, and he shook his head as he spoke.

  Laurie ducked her head thoughtfully, and I could tell the minute she figured it out. “What’s a Kindred?” I asked.

  Tray’s eyes widened and he spun to face Laurie. “You don’t think…? Would he? I thought…”

  Cole and Cade laughed at the incoherent string of thoughts, but Tray and Laurie appeared deadly serious.

  “For those who don’t know,” Laurie began. “Kindred is a powerful psychic we met while working with Jason—the Earthshaker.”

  Tray picked up the story here. “He… well, I don’t really know how to explain Kindred. His real name is Jeremiah, but don’t call him that. He gets… upset.”

  “He was an assassin. Someone who can project images and situations into people’s minds. Including making them do something and then making them forget it happened.”

  Rae glanced between the two as they traded off talking about the man. “So… why does Tray think he wouldn’t do this? Sounds like he fits the bill so far.”

  “Because… at least at the time, it seemed as though he was trying to help. Like he wanted to be better than he’d been before,” Laurie explained.

  Tray shrugged. “Honestly, the dynamic between him and Jason was super strange. And complicated. It was hard to work out exactly what was going on, and which side the guy was actually on.”

  Laurie scoffed, and shook her head. “Kindred is on Kindred’s side from what I could figure.”

  “So, how do we hunt down a guy who can do all that?” Cole asked.

  I glanced at Brennan, who stared at all of us with wide eyes. After refusing to believe his abilities existed beyond absorbing fire, finding out about someone with mental powers to this extent must be hard to handle. I took a step backward and took his hand in mine. It felt warm, but no longer had the potential to actually burn me. We watched together as Laurie and Tray exchanged a glance and we finally got an answer.

  “We call someone who has a connection to him,” Tray answered. “We get his only living blood relative to help find him.”

  THIRTEEN

  Tray

  “Lena?” Laurie sounded skeptical. “You think she’ll actually help us hunt down her cousin?”

  I shrugged. “Dunno. She seemed more solidly on Jason’s side than on Kindred’s. Most likely she would want to stop him from causing more problems here.”

  After a moment, I got out my rubber ball and allowed it to float around the room, absently directing it with my fingers. The little ball spun around the room, dipping and rolling in intricate patterns as I worried over the situation. To lighten the mood, I spun it toward Cole, allowing it to bounce on his head.

  When he swiped at it in aggravation, I pushed it toward his brother. Jade swiped a hand over her mouth to cover an amused smile, and Cole’s annoyance turned to a smile when Cade snatched the ball and whipped it toward me. Of course, I caught it with my power well before it hit me, but it did accomplish my goal. I grinned. “Sorry.”

  “But not really, right?” Brennan said. Surprisingly, even he had a smile on his face. The dark pyrokinetic with a tragic past, and he still found amusement in a childish show of telekinetic power. Cool.

  “Right. Not really,” I agreed, my grin widening. I sensed I might have a partner in crime with this one. Once we figured out his problem, anyway. He was quicker to lighten up than Jason had been. Although I thought Jason might have been less serious if he hadn’t felt so much pressure to be responsible for his brother and the other kids.

 
; Brennan’s smile faded, and he looked back toward Laurie. “So, this Lena person—you think she’ll come here? I mean, we can’t say for sure this guy is even here.”

  “No, that’s true,” she agreed. “But we do know Kindred disappeared after everything with the Mastermind. He hasn’t been seen since. She’s definitely interested in figuring out what happened with him.”

  I shuddered. The Mastermind had been one thing. We had Kindred working with us to stop him. We didn’t have another person on his power level that could help us stop him.

  “What are Lena’s powers?” Jade asked, looking between me and Laurie.

  “Emotional manipulation and other mental powers,” Laurie answered. “She managed to help put Jason’s mind back together after he’d been messed with by several people. She has a fair amount of power. I couldn’t even get through the first layer of Jason’s walls, and she went right into his innermost thoughts and feelings.”

  “So… powerful enough to combat her cousin?” Jade asked.

  Was she? She was young, not even technically an adult yet, although definitely more mature than most adults I’d met. She’d been a prisoner of the Mastermind for quite some time from what I’d been able to figure out. She’d only escaped with help from Jason and his earthshaking abilities.

  I shrugged doubtfully even as Laurie nodded with some reservation.

  “That seems like a resounding ‘no’ to me.” Brennan’s shoulders slumped.

  Realizing we weren’t exactly helping to fill the guy with confidence, I shook my head. “Not a no, per se. More like an ‘I don’t know’. I believe she has the potential to help us find him. Stopping him may take us all.”

  “But we will stop him, if he’s behind everything,” Jade said.