VOLITION (Perception Trilogy, book 2) by Lee Strauss, Elle Strauss

Simon. And Taylor who actually
squeezed my hand as he brushed by. I looked for Noah, but didn’t see him.
    “He’s in the shed,” Hannah said, noticing. She broached the
window along with Dorothy who was twisting a T-towel in her hand. They stared
hard toward the barn.
    “Does this happen often?”
    Hannah spoke without looking at me. “Every once in awhile. God
always heals her.”
    Clearly, my duty was done, so I headed back to the barn,
intending to grab my bag and meet Noah at the car. Hannah decided to follow me
and we reached it at the same time as Finn. I knew he’d just come from the shed.
    He ignored me as he hurried by, carefully holding a glass of
water in hand. I followed him in. Mr. Galloway was praying. Simon held
Rebecca’s hand and Philip stroked her hair.
    “Rebecca,” Finn said, reaching her. He pushed Philip out of the
way and lifted her head, feeding her the water.
    It sloshed over her face, mixing with the foam that had formed
at the corner of her lips. Soon she revived enough to gulp it all down. Her
eyelids fluttered open and she looked around at the faces of the men. Her
expression went from confusion to awareness.
    “Oh, no,” she sputtered. “It happened again.”
    “Praise the Lord,” Mr. Galloway said. “She’s been healed.”
    Noah joined us at that moment. “What happened?”
    “Rebecca had a seizure. God ‘healed’ her,” I said with finger
quotes. “With the help of Finn’s special water.”
    “Just because medicine is involved, doesn’t mean God isn’t,” Noah
said.
    Fine. “Can we get going?”
    “Yes. Let’s go.”
    I realized I hadn’t made it back to the stall to get my bag. “I
need to get my things.”
    Noah nodded. “I’ll wait for you at the car. We’ll wave good-bye
as we drive away.”
    I brushed by Hannah who was staring at Rebecca’s recovering
form.
    “Heard you in the loft last night,” I whispered with a knowing
grin. Hannah’s face almost burst into flames. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m not
going to tell.”
    She covered a look of true mortification with her hand and flew
out the barn door. I felt a moment’s remorse for teasing her.
    Everyone else cleared out, and I was left alone with only the baaing of sheep and oink ing of pigs to break the silence.
    I retrieved my bag from under the cot. A sound from outside
reached my ears that I hadn’t heard in a while. I rushed to a barn window and
peered out. My heart grew colder than the room.
    From this position I could see the driveway and the front of
the house. A black car with tinted windows was parked there. A man I’d hoped to
never see again in this life stepped out of the driver’s side.
    Agent Grant.

     
    Chapter 14
     
     
    The last time I’d seen Grant was at Grandpa V’s house as he’d
chased Noah up the stairs while some other moron held me tight. Just after
Grandpa’s big confession on how he’d financed Liam’s illegal experiments and
had his lab partner killed, and just before I was subjected to a mind altering
concoction created by my ex-boyfriend to steal all my memories related to Liam
and the experiment, which included all my memories of Noah.
    Grandpa V hadn’t counted on Noah getting away, and Noah had
been on the run from Grandpa’s lynch men since.
    And now, so was I.
    Finn and Dorothy huddled on the front porch to greet them, much
in the same way they did when Noah and I had driven up just three days ago.
    Finn’s bellow echoed through the air. “State your business.”
    Grant wore a high-tech jacket, and I imagined it emitted
sensors that scanned the property for live persons and ammunition. Another
agent, a woman, accompanied him. She was tall with an athletic build and
dressed similarly to Grant. Her dark hair was cut short and pushed behind her
ears in a no-nonsense manner. She walked stiffly away from the car as she
scanned the grounds.
    Grant strutted toward the Rangers with that arrogant gait I
remembered.
    “Have you seen these two