The Mind Readers by Lori Brighton

abilities. He’d
want you to be protected and to know how to protect yourself and your
Grandmother.”
    I didn’t know what to say, who
to believe. Lewis, a boy I barely knew, wanted me to trust him, but I couldn’t,
not until I talked things over with Grandma. “No offense, but how do you know
what my father would want?”
    “Aaron knew your father.”
    My mouth dropped open. Over the
years, I’d thought many times about my dad; what he was like, what he believed
in. I’d never even seen his picture. Did I look like him? And here was Lewis,
telling me this man named Aaron knew my dad.  
    “Cam, you’re a sitting duck
right now. Think what you could do, who you could help. There would be no one
to judge you where we live. Come with me, Cam.”
    Leave Grandma? The thought was
shocking. “Where would we go?”
    “To see Aaron. He’ll train you,
he’ll protect you.”
    The urge was strong. I was like
a kid in front of a candy store full of temptation. It would be so easy to
merely slip back into my old life. To pretend I was normal. I could laugh off
Anne’s rumor, say she was as insane as her boyfriend, somehow get back into
Emily’s good graces. Yet, how happy had I truly been pretending to be someone I
wasn’t? Emily was turning into the bitter bitch her mom had become.  
    “Think of the people you could
help,” he insisted, but I was still hurt about Anne’s reaction.
    “Maybe they don’t want my help,”
I muttered, annoyed at the confusing thoughts rumbling through my mind. Too
much had happened in the last few days. I needed time to think and he wasn’t
giving me time.
    He was silent for one long
moment. “I’m leaving tomorrow, Cam. I’m going back.”
    I felt his words like a slap in
the face. He was leaving? Leaving me? I’d only just found him and already he
was leaving. “But you can’t!”
    “I came here for you.” His words
excited and scared me. He looked out the window and so I looked too. The rain
was tapering off, the sun breaking through the dark clouds, but I felt heavy,
drained. A police car parked in front of the building, reminding me of my
father’s supposed death.
    “What about school?” I
whispered.
    He smiled. “Cam, I’m eighteen. I
graduated last year.”
    Shocked, I could merely sit
there and stare at him. He’d lied to me? To the school? What else had he lied
about?
    His face grew serious and he
reached out, taking my hand in his. “Tomorrow, I’ll come by your house to pick
you up. Eight in the morning. Come with me…please.”
    “What about my schooling?” I was
frantically trying to find some reason to stay, fear of the unknown sharp and
bitter. Yet even as I fought for an excuse, I realized I had nothing holding me
here.
    “You’ll be home schooled, like I
was. You’ve only got half the year left anyway.”
    His gaze slid across the café,
landing on the waitress who was whispering something to a man seated at a
table. She looked upset, he looked angry.
    “Let me ask you something. Does
that woman deserve to die?”
    I jerked my head toward him.
“What kind of question is that?”
    “She has a child, a little girl
who’s five. It’s only the two of them. She wants to go to college, but can’t
afford it. She’s hoping if she keeps working, she can save enough. But she
worries that while she’s working, she’s not spending time with her child. The
worst thing she’s done is get pregnant at seventeen. She wanted to keep the
baby. Her parents didn’t want her to and kicked her out of the house. It’s only
been those two since.”
    He looked at me, his gaze
piercing and direct. “So, does she deserve to die?”
    “No,” I whispered, my voice
harsh. “Why are you asking me that?”
    “Because that man is her
ex-boyfriend. He’s jealous, ridiculously jealous. He’s hit her and she broke up
with him just last week because of his temper.”
    The words shocked and angered
me. I knew he was going somewhere with this conversation and I