Yes, yes, we can, Eve replied excitedly. We’ve seen him before. In person. Remember? Just add a beard and glasses and you’ll—never mind. I’ll take you to him.
No, everyone shouted in his head at once.
“Aden?” Victoria asked. Her hand cupped his shoulder, hot, a brand. “What’s wrong?”
“No, Eve, no!” Aden roared, focused only on one thing: survival. “Please don’t do this to—”
But it was too late. His entire world faded to black. He was falling down…down…spinning and screaming and flailing for an anchor—an anchor that constantly danced out of reach. His stomach churned and sharp pains tore through him, burning, scorching.
His body began to melt, skin pouring away, muscle disintegrating, bone crumbling until he lost his hold on reality, losing himself completely.
CHAPTER 14
“Are you still hearing voices, Aden?”
The question jerked Aden from a long, dark tunnel, slamming him into something solid. A brick wall perhaps. His mind was not as quick to reach the wall as his body, so his awareness was gradual. Where was he?
He blinked, the world coming into focus little by little. He sat in a plush leather chair. All around him were bookshelves overflowing with books. In front of him was a desk cluttered with files and papers. To his left was another leather chair, this one occupied by a man with blue eyes, a beard and glasses.
“What’s going on?” Aden asked, the words garbled. Was he tanked? He didn’t remember drinking.
“We’re in my office, having our session.” The man smiled indulgently. “Have you forgotten already?”
“Office? Session?” He drew in a deep breath, slowly released it. As the air left him, his memory seeped into center stage. He’d been at Mary Ann’s house. Victoria had been looking at his neck with hunger. He’d spied a photo, picked it up. Eve had recognized the man.
I’ll take you to him, she’d said.
Eve.
His molars ground together. Obviously she’d tossed him back in time just as she’d threatened. But to when? Where?
He surveyed himself. Ugh. He wore a plain T-shirt, his scrawny, needle-ridden arms poking out of it. There was a sharp, persistent pain in his side. His pants had holes in the knees.
“Aden, is something wrong?” the man asked him.
“No, no,” he said, because it seemed like the safest answer. He probed his side, wincing. Were those…stitches? “I’m fine.”
“You’re still healing,” was the gentle reply. “And if you want to keep healing, you have to leave the wound alone.”
He forced his hands to settle in his lap.
We’re here, Eve exclaimed happily. You’re eleven. Do you remember this office? The doctor?
Eleven. The year he’d been forked by one of the other patients at the institution where he’d been staying. Dread sprouted wings and flew through him. “The doctor…” he said.
“Yes, Aden?”
His cheeks heated at having been caught talking to himself. The doctor. “Dr….” He couldn’t remember the man’s name. He was youngish, even though he had a beard—which was probably meant to make him look older. Tall, on the lean side.
“It’s Gray.” A patient sigh filled the void between them. “Dr. Gray.”
He stiffened. Dr. Gray. Mary Ann Gray. Mary Ann’s…father? He pulled the photograph to the front of his mind and compared it to the man beside him. Take away the beard and the glasses and the two men were an exact match.
He could have freaked out. He wanted to. But he remained where he was, as if rocks held him down, trying to absorb the shock of what he’d just learned. All those years ago, he’d had a connection to Mary Ann, albeit indirectly, and he hadn’t known.
I tried to tell you we knew her, Eve said.
Well, what d’you know, Caleb said.
“I know who you are,” Aden told the doctor, more emotion than he’d intended in his tone.
Dr. Gray only smiled. “I should hope so, Aden. Now let’s get down to business, shall we?” He propped his elbow on the armrest of his chair and peered over at Aden, expectant.
“I—yes,” he said, though he wanted to shout No! A thousand questions rushed through his mind, but he couldn’t ask them. He had to be careful to appear eleven years old, to answer as he had the first time this meeting had happened.
Losing his favorite foster family the last time Eve had done this wasn’t the worst thing to have happened. He’d woken up from that trip in a home he hadn’t recognized, with people he’d never seen. That “memory loss” had earned him another stay in another mental hospital. Everything you do earns you a stay in an institution.
Sometimes it did seem that way. Upon his return, Eve had promised never to transport him again. Of course, she’d promised that before. Her exuberance always outweighed her qualms, he supposed.
Unlike those other times, though, he couldn’t work up a good anger. To see eleven-year-old Mary Ann, to know if she dulled his powers, even as a child, might be worth any price.
Where was she now?
Did Dr. Gray know she was able to mute other people’s unnatural abilities? Would he freak if Aden asked? Probably. How much would Aden’s future change if he did? Would he ever meet Mary Ann?
Ah. There was his anger. White-hot, bubbling. If this session changed his future so much that he hadn’t moved to Crossroads, hadn’t met Mary Ann or Victoria…
I sense the direction of your thoughts, Elijah said. I wish I could reassure you, but…
Great. He was going to have to do his best to remember every little thing he’d said and exactly how he’d said it. Did eleven-year-olds talk like babies or grown-ups?
“Aden?”
He’d lost the thread of the conversation already; he’d have to be a lot more careful. “Yes?”
“I asked you a question.”
“I’m sorry. Will you repeat it, please?”
“I will, but I expect you to pay attention for the rest of our time together. All right?” Only after he nodded did Dr. Gray continue. “There have been reports that you’ve been arguing loudly with people no one else can hear. So I ask again, are you still hearing voices?”
“I–I—” How had he answered this? “Uh, no.” He wouldn’t have told the truth. Would he?
“Are you sure?”
Aden focused on the University of Oklahoma Department of Psychology diploma framed proudly between the bookshelves. More calmly, he said, “Yes, I’m sure.”
Dr. Gray frowned over at him. “We’ve had several sessions together, but you always keep me at a distance, telling me nothing more than what can be found within your file. This is a safe space, Aden, where the truth will never be used against you. I hope I’ve proven that to you.”
“You have.” The memories of this day, hazy though they were, finally began to flood him. Dr. Gray had been unbelievably nice to him, and for once, he’d been eager to please. “I just—I–I hate this place. I want to leave.” There. Now they were on the right track.
“Where would you go? I’m not asking to be cruel, but to make a point. No foster family will have you right now. Everyone thinks you’re dangerous, so you can’t be allowed to play freely with other children.”
Normal children, he meant. There were kids here, but they were all supposedly crazy like him.
“Has someone hurt you?” the doctor persisted. “Is that why you want to leave? Did you have another argument with a patient?”
Silent, he kicked out his stained tennis shoes.
I brought you here for a reason, Eve said. I don’t care what the others say. Ask him what you’re dying to know.
“I just want to go back to the ranch,” he said, ignoring Eve. Then he blanched. For a moment he’d forgotten to stick to only what he’d said the first time he was here.