Butter Pecan 25, Strawberry 13, FOTD
Author: Marina
Story: Shifts universe (Shifts)
Challenge: Butter Pecan 25 (tight), Strawberry 13 (smoke), FOTD (imbroglio)
Toppings/Extras: Cherry (first person), Sprinkles, Brownie, Malt (smoke : Oriana, Rand : we always knew you was a whoopsie), Peaches (Discretion is the word for today. Any lack of it causes trouble), Pineapple (This one goes out to the one I love/this one goes out to the one I left behind), Strawberries (a head crash)
Word Count: 5,363
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Drew is missing, Lynne is confused, and Rand would have liked to talk about this a lot sooner.
Notes: This section was originally from Lynne’s POV and likely will be again, but Casey and I are experimenting, so I’m trying it from Rand’s. Also, there’s a couple of family trees linked in the index now! Thanks goes to Casey for looking this over and for giving me the thumbs-up on Grayson and Mariah.
After dinner, Dad left to go to the lab, so Mom and I cleared the kitchen table and sat down with our own work. We’ve done that almost nightly since I started college. I think she would have liked to sooner, but she and Dad didn’t want me knowing about their research before we found out about my passive abilities. Even then, it took her a while to be comfortable working on it with me in the same room. I didn’t really blame her for that-I’m used to doing my homework in solitude, too, and it was weird to have her there at first. Sharing the table with her has its perks, though. There’s almost always a cup of coffee involved when that happens, and I’m too lazy to make it when it’s just me.
That night I had a dense chapter to read for American History, and I was barely a page in when the phone rang. “Will you get that, Rand?” Mom asked absently as she flipped through her manila folder.
I tossed my highlighter onto the open book and got up to answer it. “Colemans, this is Rand.”
“Hello, Rand, this is Matt Henson.”
Drew’s father. I frowned. “Hey, Matt. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you’d seen Drew,” said Matt. “He didn’t come home for dinner.”
“No, I haven’t seen him since yesterday. Lynne or Grayson might know where he is, though.”
“I’ve already called both of them. Drew had detention today, so he didn’t walk home with them and neither’s seen him since then.”
I felt a rush of panic adrenaline. “And he’s not answering his cell phone?”
“It goes straight to voice mail. I’ve already tried five times.”
“Okay. Um…” I glanced at Mom, who was watching me intently. My mind immediately blanked on how I could reply to Matt-there’s no easy way to tell someone that you suspect that a magic-using psychopath had something to do with the disappearance of his son. “I’ll call you if I hear from him,” I said finally, turning away again. “And if he shows up will you let me know?”
“Sure thing. Thanks, Rand.” He hung up without waiting for me to reply, and I slowly hung the phone back on its hook.
“Rand?” Mom began to get up from her seat. “What was that about?”
I ran my fingers over my scalp and curled them in my hair, pulling it a little as if that would help me keep my head. “Nobody’s seen Drew in hours. Matt’s tried calling him, but his phone’s off.”
You wouldn’t expect it, since she’s a petite lady whom my female acquaintances have often described as adorable, but my mother is a very “take charge” kind of woman. She hurried over to me and took me by the wrists. “Have you seen Earl Johnson lately?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “Not for a few days. Lynne might’ve, but she hasn’t said.” The thought made me suddenly furious. Not that I suspected that Lynne would ever be angry enough with Drew that she could help Earl hurt him, but the fact that he had access to any of us at all was her fault, for trusting the bastard.
“Okay, honey, calm down,” said Mom. “I’ll call Isabelle and see if she can send someone.”
“That’ll take too long!”
“She has people in the area. They could be here in ten minutes. Just wait here and answer the phone if it rings again.” She hurried away to find her cell phone.
An agonizing thirty seconds passed while I waited for something to happen, hoping fervently that it had all been a mistake. I could hear my mother’s low murmur wafting in from the den, but it was so soft that it was unintelligible. Then the kitchen phone rang again and drowned it out entirely.
I snatched at the receiver. “Colemans.”
“Rand? It’s Lynne.” She sounded appropriately concerned, but my frustration with her only grew because she wasn’t Drew. “Did you hear that Drew’s missing?”
“Matt just called, yes. And no, I haven’t seen him, and I need to keep the line open, so-"
“Oh my God, will you just let me talk for a minute? I just talked to Bill. He says the twins are in hysterics because they think Drew’s in trouble.”
I paused to absorb this new piece of information. Mariah’s empathic powers and Joshua’s tracking abilities could probably tell us exactly what had happened to Drew. They liked him the least of the four of us, but they had probably become very aware of him since they found out he could shift, and that was more than enough to set them off.
“I’m going up there to help Bill and see what I can find out,” Lynne continued. “I just thought I’d tell you.”
“Do you need me to come?”
She hesitated. “Not right now. Grayson’s meeting me there. I’ll call again when I know more, though.”
“Okay, then.” I didn’t like it, but pushing it would tip her off that I knew more than I’d told her, and we didn’t know anything for sure yet. “Look, don’t leave the Harpers’ apartment without calling first, okay? And stick with Grayson if you can.”
“Nothing’s going to happen, Rand, you can hear everything in this building,” she said petulantly. My desire to strangle her grew. “Nobody could get away with anything in here.”
Earl probably could, I thought, but didn’t say it. “Just do it, Lynne. It’ll make me feel better.”
“All right. Talk to you soon, then.”
I almost broke the phone hook by slamming the receiver into it. “Damn it, Lynne,” I muttered, so Mom wouldn’t hear. “You are such a fucking moron sometimes.”
Mom walked back in a few seconds later. “They’re on their way,” she said, waving the hand holding the cell phone for effect.
“Who’s ‘they’?” I asked.
“Eleazar and Oriana Kopen,” said Mom. “Siblings who have been working for Isabelle for…near-on five years now, I think. Richard and I only met them a couple of times, but Isabelle says they’re reliable and trustworthy, and they’re equipped to help if it turns out that Earl had something to do with this.”
“We’ll probably find that out pretty quickly.” I relayed what Lynne had told me about the twins.
Mom nodded. “Hopefully we can find Drew fast, then.”
I leaned back against the counter and crossed my arms. “How likely is it that Earl attacked him or something?”
“I wouldn’t say attack. That would defeat the purpose of trying to gain your trust. Honestly, nothing he could have done makes sense if that was his goal, but I don’t have any other guesses. It could be something else that doesn’t have to do with magic at all. I just don’t like the timing.”
“Right, right.” I took a deep breath, and then looked at her. “Okay. If it does turn out that it was him, can we please tell them now?”
“We’ll have to. I don’t think we’ll be able to get around it anymore.” She put an arm around me, and for a moment I resented the fact that I was too tall to lean my head on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Rand. We’ve been asking a lot of you and I know it’s been hard for you to keep quiet all this time. You’ve been so patient and willing.”
I just shrugged, feeling like I would lose my grip if I responded to that. She probably thought she’d said something completely innocuous and appreciative, but I still heard expectations in it.
When the doorbell finally rang, it was as jarring as a fire alarm. Both of us jumped. Mom quickly recovered and went to answer it, but I waited a moment to follow her. My involvement with Isabelle’s organization up to that point had been minimal and still almost too much to handle. I knew instinctively that that was about to change. The pause before Mom opened the door and greeted our visitors was much too short.
“Has there been any news?” a male voice asked, as I pushed myself off the counter and walked out to the living room.
“None since we talked,” Mom replied. “Rand doesn’t think it’ll be too long before we hear something, though. His friends are with the twins, who probably know.” She turned to me. “Honey, this is-"
I glanced at the pair she had just let in-and promptly did a double take. “What the fuck?”
“Rand!” Mom cried, appalled.
“They tried to kill us!” I pointed accusingly at the dark-haired siblings, beyond caring about my language. “Are you seriously fucking telling me that they work for Isabelle?”
“That was a mistake,” said the man, in the impatient tone of a person who is much more familiar with guilt than he would like to be. “We were fighting someone else, and you were caught in the crossfire. You just happened to have shifted into the wrong world at the wrong time.”
“We’re really sorry about that,” the woman added. She shut the door behind her as she spoke. “We never intended to hurt any of you. Isabelle sent us here specifically to keep an eye on you.”
“Well, you did a pretty goddamn terrible job of it,” I said flatly. “And not just then, either-"
“Rand, that’s enough.” Mom got in front of me and seized me by the arms. “Calm down. Yelling about it is not going to help Drew, okay?”
“Are you fu-kidding me right now? Did you even hear what I just said?”
“Isabelle already told me. We’ve dealt with it.”
I stared at her. “And when were you going to tell me about it? Damn it, Mom!”
She tightened her grip. “Rand, I am sorry, but we need to talk about that later. Drew’s still missing. Focus on that first.”
I jerked away from her and started back toward the kitchen, unable to feel anything but overwhelming hurt and anger. Mom was right about Drew, though, so I made myself stop. “All right, fine,” I said, without looking at them, “but next time something like this happens, you’ve got to tell me, because I am sick of everyone keeping this shit secret.”
“We will,” promised Mom. “Now come sit down.”
I slowly complied, and she gestured the siblings to seats on the couch before taking a perch on the footstool in front of me. For the first time, I really studied Eleazar and Oriana Kopen and found that they didn’t look at all like I’d expected them to. Almost everyone Isabelle works with is her age or older, so I’m used to elderly librarian or mad scientist types. The Kopens were much younger, and their near-black hair, pale blue eyes, and fair skin made them seem almost unearthly. Oriana, with her pixie-like beauty and impeccable figure, didn’t look like she belonged in the organization at all. I guessed that she wasn’t any more than five years older than I was. Eleazar was clearly the elder of the two and his stern expression aged him further, but even he could not have been more than thirty. “You mentioned the twins,” he said, linking his fingers over one knee.
I nodded curtly. “Lynne told me they’re upset because they think Drew’s in trouble. They can probably use their powers to tell us where he is.”
He and Oriana exchanged a cryptic glance. “Then the next thing we should do is talk to them.”
“I’m waiting to hear back from Lynne. She’s with them now.”
“Is she? Then we should join them. Better to get their story directly.”
Mom looked up at me apprehensively, but I was done waiting. “Fine with me. Let me and Mom go first and warn them, though-Lynne and Grayson are still pissed at you, too.”
“And we’ll apologize to them when we meet them,” said Eleazar, with a dismissive wave. I rolled my eyes a little and got up without replying.
***
We discovered a pretty pathetic scene in the Harpers’ living room. Bill, looking utterly exhausted, sat hunched forward with his head in his hands. A little ways away, Lynne sat crosslegged on the floor with the twins cuddled tightly into her sides as if they were afraid to let go. Grayson perched in an undignified squat beside them. Neither he nor Lynne seemed like they had any idea what to do, and both looked up sharply when Mom and I walked in.
“Hey, guys,” I said, by way of greeting.
Lynne’s obvious fury at my coming died when she saw Mom. Confusion replaced it. “Molly? What are you doing here?”
“We decided that it’s high time I explained a few things to you,” Mom said, with a faint smile. “Can we come in?”
Bill lifted his head, appraised us for a moment, and then nodded. “Have a seat.”
We took the loveseat opposite him, and I leaned back and let Mom take the lead. Patting my arm, she straightened and looked Lynne and Grayson straight in the eye. “Bill already knows this,” she said, “and we probably don’t have a lot of time to waste, so I’m going to try to keep it as short as possible. I know about your magic. Richard, Rand and I moved here when you did, Lynne, to keep an eye on you, and our assignment extended to Drew when he came along.”
“Assignment?” Lynne repeated.
Mom pursed her lips. “Has your mother told you that you’re adopted?”
“Yeah, she told me when I was ten.”
“That’s right, I remember now. Your biological mother asked my cousin, Isabelle Wellingstone, to make sure that your birth father never found you if she could help it. Isabelle helped her find your adoptive parents and then directed them here at the earliest opportunity. She’s also the head of a magical organization dedicated to the study of the worlds, and she knew that it was likely that you would be a user of some kind and that your father would probably try to seek you out for that reason. Drew is a similar case.” Mom directed the next part of her speech to Grayson. “You’re a bit of a mystery, kiddo. None of us had any idea you were a user. But Earl Johnson knows about you, so you’re just as involved now as the others.”
At hearing Earl’s name, Mariah let out a cross between a sob and a hiss. “He’s a bad man!”
“Mariah, I already told you he isn’t,” Lynne said sharply.
“He is! He hurt Drew!”
“Lynne, let it go,” Grayson said, calmly.
She opened her mouth to protest, but I cut her off. “Just shut up for a minute and let Mom finish. You don’t know for sure either way and you don’t have the abilities to prove it like the twins do.”
“Don’t talk to me like you think you’re better than me,” she snapped, and it was all I could do not to roll my eyes. “I can’t believe you. Did you know about this the entire time?”
“Not all of it,” I said, “and believe me, Lynne, it’s been every bit as fun for me as it has for you, so you’ll have to excuse me if I can’t give a damn about your entitlement issues right now.”
“Enough,” said Mom, throwing each of us a quelling look. Lynne subsided, with bad grace, and I settled back again.
“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Grayson asked, before the silence could get too tense. I had to respect him for that. He can be completely irritating, but I will give him credit for the fact that he knows when to knock it off.
“There are a lot of reasons,” Mom said. “Lynne and Drew are both under closed adoptions and neither one of them displayed active powers, as the twins have, when they were toddlers, so we considered the legal repercussions not worth the risk. We were also told to keep you all out of it if we possibly could.”
“But Bill knows.”
“He and Catherine have connections to the magic community. Mariah and Josh’s biological parents are both active users, which basically ensured that they would be active users as well, so we had to find them a family we knew could deal with that when the time came.”
“What does this have to do with Drew being missing?” asked Lynne impatiently.
“I’m getting to that.” Mom leaned forward a little further. “We won’t know this for sure until we talk to the twins and do a little investigation, but it might just have something to do with Wellingstone, Inc.”
Grayson arched an eyebrow. “That exports business based north of us?” he asked, looking like he wanted to laugh.
“The same one,” Mom agreed, seriously enough that it settled him. “Abraham Wellingstone and his vice president, Rupert Gardiner, are both powerful active users with a heavy investment in keeping the worlds from collapsing into just one main reality again. They will go to a lot of trouble to preserve their interests and they are constantly looking for magical assistance. Normally I don’t think they would branch out further than their immediate familial or financial connections, but Earl Johnson is Rupert’s personal assistant and he’s been around here so much that we think they know-" She paused, putting a hand on her lips. “I’m sorry, I got ahead of myself. Rupert and his wife are Drew’s biological parents.”
Lynne went red with fury. “So you’re saying Earl took him to them?” she demanded, before Mom could finish her info assault. “He couldn’t have done that! He was trying to help us!”
“I’m sure he seemed like he wanted to, Lynne,” Mom said quietly.
“He wouldn’t!” Lynne dislodged the twins and got to her feet. “I’m telling you, he wouldn’t do that!”
I straightened in my seat, preparing to argue, but a movement from Mariah in my peripheral vision stopped me. She and Josh looked at each other and scrambled quickly away, back toward their father. “Daddy, Lynne don’t feel good,” said Mariah, and her twin looked up at Bill expectantly, obviously hoping he could fix it.
Bill’s eyes darted between them and Lynne briefly. “I know,” he said, lifting them up beside him. “She’ll be okay in a minute when she’s calmed down.”
Mariah didn’t look convinced, but she snuggled into her father’s side, and after a hesitant moment, Josh followed her lead. Their sudden unease sparked something in my mind and I looked back at Lynne. She was still staring at my mother-not in anger, as I’d thought, but agitation and a little fear. Sweat had begun to drip from her hairline and her eyes had a glassy sheen to them that I didn’t like.
“Lynne,” Mom began.
“Why don’t you believe me?” my friend screeched. “I know him! He wouldn’t do it!”
Grayson hopped up from the carpet to help her as the front door opened and Eleazar rushed in. “Is everything all right?” he asked Mom.
“Lynne’s just upset, I think,” she replied.
“Wait,” said Grayson, actual disgust on his face for the first time since I’d met him, “didn’t he attack us that one time? Her, too.” He gestured to Oriana, who had slipped in behind her brother.
“That was an accident,” said Mom quickly. “They work for Isabelle. We’ll explain in a minute.”
Lynne’s head snapped toward the newcomers, and her eyes went round in horror. “Stay away!” she cried, backing up several steps and holding out her palms in defense.
Eleazar took one look at her and began to advance on her, alarmed. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked, so lowly I could barely hear it.
“Leave me alone!” In her haste to get away, she almost tripped backward over the coffee table. Eleazar stopped, but Lynne kept going until she hit the wall, never taking her eyes off him.
No one knew what to do. The twins watched with large eyes, clinging tightly to their concerned father. Mom made a move toward Lynne, but she didn’t get very far before Lynne’s flinching halted her. Eleazar looked frustrated. Oriana stayed by the door. Finally, Grayson crossed slowly over to Lynne and took her by the shoulders. “Lynne,” he said gently, “you can talk to me. What’s the matter?”
“I feel weird, Grayson,” she said, after a long pause. It was like someone was squeezing the air out of her, and it scared me.
“Weird, how?”
She was visibly struggling to focus. “My mind hurts. Everything’s fuzzy…like fog, or smoke. I can barely see you.”
“Mind control,” Eleazar murmured. I glanced at him. “Johnson must have done it.”
“That’s impossible,” said Oriana. It was the first time she had spoken since walking into my apartment earlier, and although she had a light voice I could tell it had risen with panic. “He’d have to be related to her, or…”
Her brother was not fazed. “Maybe he is, on Ms. Parker’s side.”
“Can’t be.”
“Well, the how doesn’t matter right now.” He turned to Mom. “Molly, are you blood related to Miss Williams at all?”
Mom shook her head. “No, I’m Isabelle’s cousin on the other side.”
Eleazar’s gaze flicked over Bill and the twins and came to rest on me. “Then that makes you the only person who can help her, Rand,” he said.
“Users who have a familial or sexual connection to other users can induce or remove mind control on each other,” added Oriana, at seeing my confusion. “You’re blood related to Lynne through Isabelle, so you can take it off her.”
I looked over my shoulder at Lynne, who was so lost in the haze of her mind that she wasn’t paying attention anymore. Grayson still had hold of her, and talked quietly to her in between puzzled glances at the rest of us. “Okay,” I said. “What do I do?”
“You have to be touching her. Take her arm, or something like that. Then concentrate on removing the mind control.”
It sounded simple enough, so I moved over to Lynne and Grayson to get it over with. “Lynne,” I said, waiting until she looked at me to continue, “I’m going to help you, okay? Just stand still.” She nodded, so I took her by the elbow and focused on it.
I don’t know how to describe what happened except that it was clear that the control had been set up by someone who was light-years more experienced at it than I was. It was almost like there was someone inside Lynne’s head who was trying to throw me bodily out of his house. It didn’t help that Lynne immediately tried to jerk away from me as if to protect herself. “Hang on to her,” I growled to Grayson, who nodded and tightened his grip.
The struggle was excruciating. I could hear first Mariah and then Josh whimpering in the background, but otherwise the room was silent and tense while I battled Earl’s influence. When I finally got it to give, it came away as slowly as molasses right up until the very last bit, which disappeared in a sudden rush.
Lynne inhaled sharply and gripped my wrist. I looked carefully at her eyes and found that they had cleared. “Did you get it all?” asked Eleazar.
“I think so,” I said. “Lynne?”
“I’m okay,” she gasped out.
Grayson smiled crookedly. “Welcome back,” he said.
She managed a look of slight annoyance. “I was never gone.”
I grinned, relieved. If she could snap like that, she was okay. “You were pretty close there for a second. Do you need to sit down?”
She nodded, so we guided her over to the loveseat. Mom got up so Grayson and I could both sit with her. I half-expected her to launch right into a rant of some kind as soon as she was settled, but she didn’t say anything, choosing to stare at her lap instead. I watched her, wondering what was going on in her head.
“Can I ask a question now?” Grayson asked, breaking the silence again.
Mom smiled slightly. “Go ahead.”
“How the hell are Rand and Lynne related? No one’s explained that yet.”
“I was about to,” Mom said, with a chuckle, “when Lynne cut me off.”
Lynne’s head shot up at that. “I’m really sorry, Molly-"
“Forget it, dear. It’s obvious that Earl was conditioning you to respond negatively to everything we were just talking about. Do you remember everything up through then?” Lynne nodded, so Mom went on. “Abraham Wellingstone is your biological father. Isabelle, who is his cousin, is Rand’s birth mother. That makes the two of you second cousins.”
I could feel Lynne’s eyes on me, but I didn’t dare look at her. We could talk about that after the meeting was over.
“The Kopens,” Mom continued, gesturing to the siblings, “are also related to Drew through Rupert’s wife, but that’s a long story better saved for another time. They’ve been working for Isabelle for five years and they’re here to help us find him.”
My cousin looked at Eleazar and Oriana, and then at the rest of the room, finally settling on the twins. “Mariah?” she asked.
“Good,” said Mariah, with a confident nod. “They wanna help Drew.”
Lynne exhaled. “Okay. And you’re sure Earl did it?”
“Bad man,” the toddler agreed.
“Right, then.” Lynne slumped against the couch back and wrapped her arms over her stomach. Glad that she now seemed to be taking Mariah’s word for it, I focused my attention on the others.
“So that means Gardiner’s probably got him,” said Grayson.
“We’ll have to do some investigations to confirm it, but I’m pretty certain of it now,” Mom said, glancing at the Kopens.
Eleazar stepped forward. “We’ll start looking immediately. Mariah, Joshua, do you have any idea where Drew is right now?”
“Far away,” said Josh, sitting up importantly, “in a bad place.”
“Can you tell me what it looks like?”
The little boy concentrated hard. “S’a big building. It’s gray, and his room doesn’t got windows.”
“Doesn’t have,” murmured Lynne.
“Are there any others like it around?” Eleazar asked. Josh nodded. “Okay. That sounds like the Wellingstone Compound. It’s a start, anyway. Thank you, Joshua and Mariah, you’ve been very helpful.”
“You’re gonna find him, right?” Mariah demanded.
“We’re going to,” he said. “As soon as we can. And then we’re going to get him back.”
Satisfied, she subsided and then let out a large yawn she had probably been trying to hold in for quite a while. “Bedtime for you, kids,” said Bill, beginning to get up.
“Don’t wanna,” said Mariah, but Bill got his way and successfully led them both off after two minutes of goodnight hugs from me, Lynne, and Grayson. The looks they both gave us as they left pinned me with a little extra guilt. They expected us to fix it, would hold us responsible if we couldn’t. I knew it wouldn’t be that simple, but they would never accept that as an excuse, so the only thing we could do was take action as fast as possible and then hope for the best.
Fuck this, I thought, suddenly feeling about thirty-five years old.
“If we can get Drew out,” Eleazar said, after a silent pause, “or even if we can’t, you should all be prepared to pack up and run at a moment’s notice. I wouldn’t bet on any of your safety from this point on. There is no reason for either Rupert or Abraham to leave any of you alone now that they’ve started picking you off.”
Lynne let out a low moan, but we all shook our heads quickly in agreement. “What do we tell our parents?” Grayson asked.
“I’ll have Isabelle speak with them. The Hensons and Ms. Williams are already acquainted with her, and Molly can help explain the situation to your parents, since they know her. Anything else?”
“Can we help?” Lynne asked. “With rescuing Drew?”
Her request surprised me, but I was quick to second it. “I want to, too.”
“And me,” Grayson added.
Eleazar considered us, one eyebrow lifted. For a moment, I thought he would say no, but he surprised us with a simple: “Possibly.”
“I think that covers it,” said Mom, quickly, with a brief but significant look in his direction. “We just need to tell Bill the same thing, and then it’ll be the waiting game. Would you boys please walk Lynne home?”
“I’m fine,” said Lynne.
“It would make me feel better, Lynne,” Mom replied. “You’ve just been through a rough ten minutes.”
I didn’t really want to be in that room, or with the Kopens, a second longer than I had to be, so I herded the other two out of there without protesting. Through the closed door, I could hear Mom start talking very fast to Eleazar, and knew she wasn’t happy about us volunteering to help with the rescue. As far as I was concerned, she could deal with it. All of them had wanted me to be involved, and I was an adult, so no one could tell me not to go.
“Roof?” Grayson asked, indicating the door to the stairs with his head.
“Let’s do it,” I said.
We don’t live in a particularly cold area of the country, but in late January at night, it’s still unbearable to be up on the roof without a jacket. Lynne had a coat, but Grayson and I were shivering in our sweatshirts. We dealt with it because we were men and because the roof was the only place the three of us could have privacy. “Cold, darling?” Grayson asked, grinning at me around chattering teeth. “I’ll warm you up!”
“Fuck off, Grayson,” I retorted, but without venom.
“How long have you known about all this?” Lynne asked me.
I shrugged. “Depends. We found out I had passive magic when I was fifteen and I didn’t know anything about it before then. Isabelle didn’t want me knowing if I didn’t have to. After that, Mom and Dad gave me little bits of information when they thought it was appropriate, so I knew about the twins from the beginning. Not a lot else, though. The Earl stuff was new to all of us when he first showed up.”
“And you didn’t tell us.”
“They told me not to. I would have if it’d been up to me.”
She made a quiet noise of displeasure, stuffed her hands into her pockets, and looked away from me toward the alley beyond us. “Lynne, look,” I said, feeling irritated, “I meant it when I said it wasn’t easy for me. I don’t want to be involved at all, but I haven’t got a choice. I was born this way the same as you and Grayson and Drew and the twins. I didn’t keep it a secret just to screw with you.”
“But Earl still used mind-control on me,” she said, “and Drew still got kidnapped.”
“And I could kick my own ass for that now, believe me.”
“So just don’t keep secrets from us anymore,” Grayson suggested.
“I won’t,” I said. “My hand to God.”
Lynne finally met my eyes. “Okay,” she said.
It was really strange for her to just let it go, but I was very much not in the mood to fight her on it and wasn’t about to question her reasoning. “Good.”
For a few minutes, the three of us just stood there. I didn’t know what to say, and neither of them seemed to want to talk. Then Lynne said, “I hope he’s okay.”
“He’s fine,” said Grayson, with an irreverent smirk. “I bet he gave Earl hell the whole way. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s killed him with sarcasm by now.”
“Or at the very least, seriously maimed,” I agreed. “Not everyone can deal with Drew like we can.” The thought helped a little. We knew where he was, and he could hold his own until we could get there. I just hoped it wouldn’t take too long.
Story: Shifts universe (Shifts)
Challenge: Butter Pecan 25 (tight), Strawberry 13 (smoke), FOTD (imbroglio)
Toppings/Extras: Cherry (first person), Sprinkles, Brownie, Malt (smoke : Oriana, Rand : we always knew you was a whoopsie), Peaches (Discretion is the word for today. Any lack of it causes trouble), Pineapple (This one goes out to the one I love/this one goes out to the one I left behind), Strawberries (a head crash)
Word Count: 5,363
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Drew is missing, Lynne is confused, and Rand would have liked to talk about this a lot sooner.
Notes: This section was originally from Lynne’s POV and likely will be again, but Casey and I are experimenting, so I’m trying it from Rand’s. Also, there’s a couple of family trees linked in the index now! Thanks goes to Casey for looking this over and for giving me the thumbs-up on Grayson and Mariah.
After dinner, Dad left to go to the lab, so Mom and I cleared the kitchen table and sat down with our own work. We’ve done that almost nightly since I started college. I think she would have liked to sooner, but she and Dad didn’t want me knowing about their research before we found out about my passive abilities. Even then, it took her a while to be comfortable working on it with me in the same room. I didn’t really blame her for that-I’m used to doing my homework in solitude, too, and it was weird to have her there at first. Sharing the table with her has its perks, though. There’s almost always a cup of coffee involved when that happens, and I’m too lazy to make it when it’s just me.
That night I had a dense chapter to read for American History, and I was barely a page in when the phone rang. “Will you get that, Rand?” Mom asked absently as she flipped through her manila folder.
I tossed my highlighter onto the open book and got up to answer it. “Colemans, this is Rand.”
“Hello, Rand, this is Matt Henson.”
Drew’s father. I frowned. “Hey, Matt. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you’d seen Drew,” said Matt. “He didn’t come home for dinner.”
“No, I haven’t seen him since yesterday. Lynne or Grayson might know where he is, though.”
“I’ve already called both of them. Drew had detention today, so he didn’t walk home with them and neither’s seen him since then.”
I felt a rush of panic adrenaline. “And he’s not answering his cell phone?”
“It goes straight to voice mail. I’ve already tried five times.”
“Okay. Um…” I glanced at Mom, who was watching me intently. My mind immediately blanked on how I could reply to Matt-there’s no easy way to tell someone that you suspect that a magic-using psychopath had something to do with the disappearance of his son. “I’ll call you if I hear from him,” I said finally, turning away again. “And if he shows up will you let me know?”
“Sure thing. Thanks, Rand.” He hung up without waiting for me to reply, and I slowly hung the phone back on its hook.
“Rand?” Mom began to get up from her seat. “What was that about?”
I ran my fingers over my scalp and curled them in my hair, pulling it a little as if that would help me keep my head. “Nobody’s seen Drew in hours. Matt’s tried calling him, but his phone’s off.”
You wouldn’t expect it, since she’s a petite lady whom my female acquaintances have often described as adorable, but my mother is a very “take charge” kind of woman. She hurried over to me and took me by the wrists. “Have you seen Earl Johnson lately?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “Not for a few days. Lynne might’ve, but she hasn’t said.” The thought made me suddenly furious. Not that I suspected that Lynne would ever be angry enough with Drew that she could help Earl hurt him, but the fact that he had access to any of us at all was her fault, for trusting the bastard.
“Okay, honey, calm down,” said Mom. “I’ll call Isabelle and see if she can send someone.”
“That’ll take too long!”
“She has people in the area. They could be here in ten minutes. Just wait here and answer the phone if it rings again.” She hurried away to find her cell phone.
An agonizing thirty seconds passed while I waited for something to happen, hoping fervently that it had all been a mistake. I could hear my mother’s low murmur wafting in from the den, but it was so soft that it was unintelligible. Then the kitchen phone rang again and drowned it out entirely.
I snatched at the receiver. “Colemans.”
“Rand? It’s Lynne.” She sounded appropriately concerned, but my frustration with her only grew because she wasn’t Drew. “Did you hear that Drew’s missing?”
“Matt just called, yes. And no, I haven’t seen him, and I need to keep the line open, so-"
“Oh my God, will you just let me talk for a minute? I just talked to Bill. He says the twins are in hysterics because they think Drew’s in trouble.”
I paused to absorb this new piece of information. Mariah’s empathic powers and Joshua’s tracking abilities could probably tell us exactly what had happened to Drew. They liked him the least of the four of us, but they had probably become very aware of him since they found out he could shift, and that was more than enough to set them off.
“I’m going up there to help Bill and see what I can find out,” Lynne continued. “I just thought I’d tell you.”
“Do you need me to come?”
She hesitated. “Not right now. Grayson’s meeting me there. I’ll call again when I know more, though.”
“Okay, then.” I didn’t like it, but pushing it would tip her off that I knew more than I’d told her, and we didn’t know anything for sure yet. “Look, don’t leave the Harpers’ apartment without calling first, okay? And stick with Grayson if you can.”
“Nothing’s going to happen, Rand, you can hear everything in this building,” she said petulantly. My desire to strangle her grew. “Nobody could get away with anything in here.”
Earl probably could, I thought, but didn’t say it. “Just do it, Lynne. It’ll make me feel better.”
“All right. Talk to you soon, then.”
I almost broke the phone hook by slamming the receiver into it. “Damn it, Lynne,” I muttered, so Mom wouldn’t hear. “You are such a fucking moron sometimes.”
Mom walked back in a few seconds later. “They’re on their way,” she said, waving the hand holding the cell phone for effect.
“Who’s ‘they’?” I asked.
“Eleazar and Oriana Kopen,” said Mom. “Siblings who have been working for Isabelle for…near-on five years now, I think. Richard and I only met them a couple of times, but Isabelle says they’re reliable and trustworthy, and they’re equipped to help if it turns out that Earl had something to do with this.”
“We’ll probably find that out pretty quickly.” I relayed what Lynne had told me about the twins.
Mom nodded. “Hopefully we can find Drew fast, then.”
I leaned back against the counter and crossed my arms. “How likely is it that Earl attacked him or something?”
“I wouldn’t say attack. That would defeat the purpose of trying to gain your trust. Honestly, nothing he could have done makes sense if that was his goal, but I don’t have any other guesses. It could be something else that doesn’t have to do with magic at all. I just don’t like the timing.”
“Right, right.” I took a deep breath, and then looked at her. “Okay. If it does turn out that it was him, can we please tell them now?”
“We’ll have to. I don’t think we’ll be able to get around it anymore.” She put an arm around me, and for a moment I resented the fact that I was too tall to lean my head on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Rand. We’ve been asking a lot of you and I know it’s been hard for you to keep quiet all this time. You’ve been so patient and willing.”
I just shrugged, feeling like I would lose my grip if I responded to that. She probably thought she’d said something completely innocuous and appreciative, but I still heard expectations in it.
When the doorbell finally rang, it was as jarring as a fire alarm. Both of us jumped. Mom quickly recovered and went to answer it, but I waited a moment to follow her. My involvement with Isabelle’s organization up to that point had been minimal and still almost too much to handle. I knew instinctively that that was about to change. The pause before Mom opened the door and greeted our visitors was much too short.
“Has there been any news?” a male voice asked, as I pushed myself off the counter and walked out to the living room.
“None since we talked,” Mom replied. “Rand doesn’t think it’ll be too long before we hear something, though. His friends are with the twins, who probably know.” She turned to me. “Honey, this is-"
I glanced at the pair she had just let in-and promptly did a double take. “What the fuck?”
“Rand!” Mom cried, appalled.
“They tried to kill us!” I pointed accusingly at the dark-haired siblings, beyond caring about my language. “Are you seriously fucking telling me that they work for Isabelle?”
“That was a mistake,” said the man, in the impatient tone of a person who is much more familiar with guilt than he would like to be. “We were fighting someone else, and you were caught in the crossfire. You just happened to have shifted into the wrong world at the wrong time.”
“We’re really sorry about that,” the woman added. She shut the door behind her as she spoke. “We never intended to hurt any of you. Isabelle sent us here specifically to keep an eye on you.”
“Well, you did a pretty goddamn terrible job of it,” I said flatly. “And not just then, either-"
“Rand, that’s enough.” Mom got in front of me and seized me by the arms. “Calm down. Yelling about it is not going to help Drew, okay?”
“Are you fu-kidding me right now? Did you even hear what I just said?”
“Isabelle already told me. We’ve dealt with it.”
I stared at her. “And when were you going to tell me about it? Damn it, Mom!”
She tightened her grip. “Rand, I am sorry, but we need to talk about that later. Drew’s still missing. Focus on that first.”
I jerked away from her and started back toward the kitchen, unable to feel anything but overwhelming hurt and anger. Mom was right about Drew, though, so I made myself stop. “All right, fine,” I said, without looking at them, “but next time something like this happens, you’ve got to tell me, because I am sick of everyone keeping this shit secret.”
“We will,” promised Mom. “Now come sit down.”
I slowly complied, and she gestured the siblings to seats on the couch before taking a perch on the footstool in front of me. For the first time, I really studied Eleazar and Oriana Kopen and found that they didn’t look at all like I’d expected them to. Almost everyone Isabelle works with is her age or older, so I’m used to elderly librarian or mad scientist types. The Kopens were much younger, and their near-black hair, pale blue eyes, and fair skin made them seem almost unearthly. Oriana, with her pixie-like beauty and impeccable figure, didn’t look like she belonged in the organization at all. I guessed that she wasn’t any more than five years older than I was. Eleazar was clearly the elder of the two and his stern expression aged him further, but even he could not have been more than thirty. “You mentioned the twins,” he said, linking his fingers over one knee.
I nodded curtly. “Lynne told me they’re upset because they think Drew’s in trouble. They can probably use their powers to tell us where he is.”
He and Oriana exchanged a cryptic glance. “Then the next thing we should do is talk to them.”
“I’m waiting to hear back from Lynne. She’s with them now.”
“Is she? Then we should join them. Better to get their story directly.”
Mom looked up at me apprehensively, but I was done waiting. “Fine with me. Let me and Mom go first and warn them, though-Lynne and Grayson are still pissed at you, too.”
“And we’ll apologize to them when we meet them,” said Eleazar, with a dismissive wave. I rolled my eyes a little and got up without replying.
***
We discovered a pretty pathetic scene in the Harpers’ living room. Bill, looking utterly exhausted, sat hunched forward with his head in his hands. A little ways away, Lynne sat crosslegged on the floor with the twins cuddled tightly into her sides as if they were afraid to let go. Grayson perched in an undignified squat beside them. Neither he nor Lynne seemed like they had any idea what to do, and both looked up sharply when Mom and I walked in.
“Hey, guys,” I said, by way of greeting.
Lynne’s obvious fury at my coming died when she saw Mom. Confusion replaced it. “Molly? What are you doing here?”
“We decided that it’s high time I explained a few things to you,” Mom said, with a faint smile. “Can we come in?”
Bill lifted his head, appraised us for a moment, and then nodded. “Have a seat.”
We took the loveseat opposite him, and I leaned back and let Mom take the lead. Patting my arm, she straightened and looked Lynne and Grayson straight in the eye. “Bill already knows this,” she said, “and we probably don’t have a lot of time to waste, so I’m going to try to keep it as short as possible. I know about your magic. Richard, Rand and I moved here when you did, Lynne, to keep an eye on you, and our assignment extended to Drew when he came along.”
“Assignment?” Lynne repeated.
Mom pursed her lips. “Has your mother told you that you’re adopted?”
“Yeah, she told me when I was ten.”
“That’s right, I remember now. Your biological mother asked my cousin, Isabelle Wellingstone, to make sure that your birth father never found you if she could help it. Isabelle helped her find your adoptive parents and then directed them here at the earliest opportunity. She’s also the head of a magical organization dedicated to the study of the worlds, and she knew that it was likely that you would be a user of some kind and that your father would probably try to seek you out for that reason. Drew is a similar case.” Mom directed the next part of her speech to Grayson. “You’re a bit of a mystery, kiddo. None of us had any idea you were a user. But Earl Johnson knows about you, so you’re just as involved now as the others.”
At hearing Earl’s name, Mariah let out a cross between a sob and a hiss. “He’s a bad man!”
“Mariah, I already told you he isn’t,” Lynne said sharply.
“He is! He hurt Drew!”
“Lynne, let it go,” Grayson said, calmly.
She opened her mouth to protest, but I cut her off. “Just shut up for a minute and let Mom finish. You don’t know for sure either way and you don’t have the abilities to prove it like the twins do.”
“Don’t talk to me like you think you’re better than me,” she snapped, and it was all I could do not to roll my eyes. “I can’t believe you. Did you know about this the entire time?”
“Not all of it,” I said, “and believe me, Lynne, it’s been every bit as fun for me as it has for you, so you’ll have to excuse me if I can’t give a damn about your entitlement issues right now.”
“Enough,” said Mom, throwing each of us a quelling look. Lynne subsided, with bad grace, and I settled back again.
“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Grayson asked, before the silence could get too tense. I had to respect him for that. He can be completely irritating, but I will give him credit for the fact that he knows when to knock it off.
“There are a lot of reasons,” Mom said. “Lynne and Drew are both under closed adoptions and neither one of them displayed active powers, as the twins have, when they were toddlers, so we considered the legal repercussions not worth the risk. We were also told to keep you all out of it if we possibly could.”
“But Bill knows.”
“He and Catherine have connections to the magic community. Mariah and Josh’s biological parents are both active users, which basically ensured that they would be active users as well, so we had to find them a family we knew could deal with that when the time came.”
“What does this have to do with Drew being missing?” asked Lynne impatiently.
“I’m getting to that.” Mom leaned forward a little further. “We won’t know this for sure until we talk to the twins and do a little investigation, but it might just have something to do with Wellingstone, Inc.”
Grayson arched an eyebrow. “That exports business based north of us?” he asked, looking like he wanted to laugh.
“The same one,” Mom agreed, seriously enough that it settled him. “Abraham Wellingstone and his vice president, Rupert Gardiner, are both powerful active users with a heavy investment in keeping the worlds from collapsing into just one main reality again. They will go to a lot of trouble to preserve their interests and they are constantly looking for magical assistance. Normally I don’t think they would branch out further than their immediate familial or financial connections, but Earl Johnson is Rupert’s personal assistant and he’s been around here so much that we think they know-" She paused, putting a hand on her lips. “I’m sorry, I got ahead of myself. Rupert and his wife are Drew’s biological parents.”
Lynne went red with fury. “So you’re saying Earl took him to them?” she demanded, before Mom could finish her info assault. “He couldn’t have done that! He was trying to help us!”
“I’m sure he seemed like he wanted to, Lynne,” Mom said quietly.
“He wouldn’t!” Lynne dislodged the twins and got to her feet. “I’m telling you, he wouldn’t do that!”
I straightened in my seat, preparing to argue, but a movement from Mariah in my peripheral vision stopped me. She and Josh looked at each other and scrambled quickly away, back toward their father. “Daddy, Lynne don’t feel good,” said Mariah, and her twin looked up at Bill expectantly, obviously hoping he could fix it.
Bill’s eyes darted between them and Lynne briefly. “I know,” he said, lifting them up beside him. “She’ll be okay in a minute when she’s calmed down.”
Mariah didn’t look convinced, but she snuggled into her father’s side, and after a hesitant moment, Josh followed her lead. Their sudden unease sparked something in my mind and I looked back at Lynne. She was still staring at my mother-not in anger, as I’d thought, but agitation and a little fear. Sweat had begun to drip from her hairline and her eyes had a glassy sheen to them that I didn’t like.
“Lynne,” Mom began.
“Why don’t you believe me?” my friend screeched. “I know him! He wouldn’t do it!”
Grayson hopped up from the carpet to help her as the front door opened and Eleazar rushed in. “Is everything all right?” he asked Mom.
“Lynne’s just upset, I think,” she replied.
“Wait,” said Grayson, actual disgust on his face for the first time since I’d met him, “didn’t he attack us that one time? Her, too.” He gestured to Oriana, who had slipped in behind her brother.
“That was an accident,” said Mom quickly. “They work for Isabelle. We’ll explain in a minute.”
Lynne’s head snapped toward the newcomers, and her eyes went round in horror. “Stay away!” she cried, backing up several steps and holding out her palms in defense.
Eleazar took one look at her and began to advance on her, alarmed. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked, so lowly I could barely hear it.
“Leave me alone!” In her haste to get away, she almost tripped backward over the coffee table. Eleazar stopped, but Lynne kept going until she hit the wall, never taking her eyes off him.
No one knew what to do. The twins watched with large eyes, clinging tightly to their concerned father. Mom made a move toward Lynne, but she didn’t get very far before Lynne’s flinching halted her. Eleazar looked frustrated. Oriana stayed by the door. Finally, Grayson crossed slowly over to Lynne and took her by the shoulders. “Lynne,” he said gently, “you can talk to me. What’s the matter?”
“I feel weird, Grayson,” she said, after a long pause. It was like someone was squeezing the air out of her, and it scared me.
“Weird, how?”
She was visibly struggling to focus. “My mind hurts. Everything’s fuzzy…like fog, or smoke. I can barely see you.”
“Mind control,” Eleazar murmured. I glanced at him. “Johnson must have done it.”
“That’s impossible,” said Oriana. It was the first time she had spoken since walking into my apartment earlier, and although she had a light voice I could tell it had risen with panic. “He’d have to be related to her, or…”
Her brother was not fazed. “Maybe he is, on Ms. Parker’s side.”
“Can’t be.”
“Well, the how doesn’t matter right now.” He turned to Mom. “Molly, are you blood related to Miss Williams at all?”
Mom shook her head. “No, I’m Isabelle’s cousin on the other side.”
Eleazar’s gaze flicked over Bill and the twins and came to rest on me. “Then that makes you the only person who can help her, Rand,” he said.
“Users who have a familial or sexual connection to other users can induce or remove mind control on each other,” added Oriana, at seeing my confusion. “You’re blood related to Lynne through Isabelle, so you can take it off her.”
I looked over my shoulder at Lynne, who was so lost in the haze of her mind that she wasn’t paying attention anymore. Grayson still had hold of her, and talked quietly to her in between puzzled glances at the rest of us. “Okay,” I said. “What do I do?”
“You have to be touching her. Take her arm, or something like that. Then concentrate on removing the mind control.”
It sounded simple enough, so I moved over to Lynne and Grayson to get it over with. “Lynne,” I said, waiting until she looked at me to continue, “I’m going to help you, okay? Just stand still.” She nodded, so I took her by the elbow and focused on it.
I don’t know how to describe what happened except that it was clear that the control had been set up by someone who was light-years more experienced at it than I was. It was almost like there was someone inside Lynne’s head who was trying to throw me bodily out of his house. It didn’t help that Lynne immediately tried to jerk away from me as if to protect herself. “Hang on to her,” I growled to Grayson, who nodded and tightened his grip.
The struggle was excruciating. I could hear first Mariah and then Josh whimpering in the background, but otherwise the room was silent and tense while I battled Earl’s influence. When I finally got it to give, it came away as slowly as molasses right up until the very last bit, which disappeared in a sudden rush.
Lynne inhaled sharply and gripped my wrist. I looked carefully at her eyes and found that they had cleared. “Did you get it all?” asked Eleazar.
“I think so,” I said. “Lynne?”
“I’m okay,” she gasped out.
Grayson smiled crookedly. “Welcome back,” he said.
She managed a look of slight annoyance. “I was never gone.”
I grinned, relieved. If she could snap like that, she was okay. “You were pretty close there for a second. Do you need to sit down?”
She nodded, so we guided her over to the loveseat. Mom got up so Grayson and I could both sit with her. I half-expected her to launch right into a rant of some kind as soon as she was settled, but she didn’t say anything, choosing to stare at her lap instead. I watched her, wondering what was going on in her head.
“Can I ask a question now?” Grayson asked, breaking the silence again.
Mom smiled slightly. “Go ahead.”
“How the hell are Rand and Lynne related? No one’s explained that yet.”
“I was about to,” Mom said, with a chuckle, “when Lynne cut me off.”
Lynne’s head shot up at that. “I’m really sorry, Molly-"
“Forget it, dear. It’s obvious that Earl was conditioning you to respond negatively to everything we were just talking about. Do you remember everything up through then?” Lynne nodded, so Mom went on. “Abraham Wellingstone is your biological father. Isabelle, who is his cousin, is Rand’s birth mother. That makes the two of you second cousins.”
I could feel Lynne’s eyes on me, but I didn’t dare look at her. We could talk about that after the meeting was over.
“The Kopens,” Mom continued, gesturing to the siblings, “are also related to Drew through Rupert’s wife, but that’s a long story better saved for another time. They’ve been working for Isabelle for five years and they’re here to help us find him.”
My cousin looked at Eleazar and Oriana, and then at the rest of the room, finally settling on the twins. “Mariah?” she asked.
“Good,” said Mariah, with a confident nod. “They wanna help Drew.”
Lynne exhaled. “Okay. And you’re sure Earl did it?”
“Bad man,” the toddler agreed.
“Right, then.” Lynne slumped against the couch back and wrapped her arms over her stomach. Glad that she now seemed to be taking Mariah’s word for it, I focused my attention on the others.
“So that means Gardiner’s probably got him,” said Grayson.
“We’ll have to do some investigations to confirm it, but I’m pretty certain of it now,” Mom said, glancing at the Kopens.
Eleazar stepped forward. “We’ll start looking immediately. Mariah, Joshua, do you have any idea where Drew is right now?”
“Far away,” said Josh, sitting up importantly, “in a bad place.”
“Can you tell me what it looks like?”
The little boy concentrated hard. “S’a big building. It’s gray, and his room doesn’t got windows.”
“Doesn’t have,” murmured Lynne.
“Are there any others like it around?” Eleazar asked. Josh nodded. “Okay. That sounds like the Wellingstone Compound. It’s a start, anyway. Thank you, Joshua and Mariah, you’ve been very helpful.”
“You’re gonna find him, right?” Mariah demanded.
“We’re going to,” he said. “As soon as we can. And then we’re going to get him back.”
Satisfied, she subsided and then let out a large yawn she had probably been trying to hold in for quite a while. “Bedtime for you, kids,” said Bill, beginning to get up.
“Don’t wanna,” said Mariah, but Bill got his way and successfully led them both off after two minutes of goodnight hugs from me, Lynne, and Grayson. The looks they both gave us as they left pinned me with a little extra guilt. They expected us to fix it, would hold us responsible if we couldn’t. I knew it wouldn’t be that simple, but they would never accept that as an excuse, so the only thing we could do was take action as fast as possible and then hope for the best.
Fuck this, I thought, suddenly feeling about thirty-five years old.
“If we can get Drew out,” Eleazar said, after a silent pause, “or even if we can’t, you should all be prepared to pack up and run at a moment’s notice. I wouldn’t bet on any of your safety from this point on. There is no reason for either Rupert or Abraham to leave any of you alone now that they’ve started picking you off.”
Lynne let out a low moan, but we all shook our heads quickly in agreement. “What do we tell our parents?” Grayson asked.
“I’ll have Isabelle speak with them. The Hensons and Ms. Williams are already acquainted with her, and Molly can help explain the situation to your parents, since they know her. Anything else?”
“Can we help?” Lynne asked. “With rescuing Drew?”
Her request surprised me, but I was quick to second it. “I want to, too.”
“And me,” Grayson added.
Eleazar considered us, one eyebrow lifted. For a moment, I thought he would say no, but he surprised us with a simple: “Possibly.”
“I think that covers it,” said Mom, quickly, with a brief but significant look in his direction. “We just need to tell Bill the same thing, and then it’ll be the waiting game. Would you boys please walk Lynne home?”
“I’m fine,” said Lynne.
“It would make me feel better, Lynne,” Mom replied. “You’ve just been through a rough ten minutes.”
I didn’t really want to be in that room, or with the Kopens, a second longer than I had to be, so I herded the other two out of there without protesting. Through the closed door, I could hear Mom start talking very fast to Eleazar, and knew she wasn’t happy about us volunteering to help with the rescue. As far as I was concerned, she could deal with it. All of them had wanted me to be involved, and I was an adult, so no one could tell me not to go.
“Roof?” Grayson asked, indicating the door to the stairs with his head.
“Let’s do it,” I said.
We don’t live in a particularly cold area of the country, but in late January at night, it’s still unbearable to be up on the roof without a jacket. Lynne had a coat, but Grayson and I were shivering in our sweatshirts. We dealt with it because we were men and because the roof was the only place the three of us could have privacy. “Cold, darling?” Grayson asked, grinning at me around chattering teeth. “I’ll warm you up!”
“Fuck off, Grayson,” I retorted, but without venom.
“How long have you known about all this?” Lynne asked me.
I shrugged. “Depends. We found out I had passive magic when I was fifteen and I didn’t know anything about it before then. Isabelle didn’t want me knowing if I didn’t have to. After that, Mom and Dad gave me little bits of information when they thought it was appropriate, so I knew about the twins from the beginning. Not a lot else, though. The Earl stuff was new to all of us when he first showed up.”
“And you didn’t tell us.”
“They told me not to. I would have if it’d been up to me.”
She made a quiet noise of displeasure, stuffed her hands into her pockets, and looked away from me toward the alley beyond us. “Lynne, look,” I said, feeling irritated, “I meant it when I said it wasn’t easy for me. I don’t want to be involved at all, but I haven’t got a choice. I was born this way the same as you and Grayson and Drew and the twins. I didn’t keep it a secret just to screw with you.”
“But Earl still used mind-control on me,” she said, “and Drew still got kidnapped.”
“And I could kick my own ass for that now, believe me.”
“So just don’t keep secrets from us anymore,” Grayson suggested.
“I won’t,” I said. “My hand to God.”
Lynne finally met my eyes. “Okay,” she said.
It was really strange for her to just let it go, but I was very much not in the mood to fight her on it and wasn’t about to question her reasoning. “Good.”
For a few minutes, the three of us just stood there. I didn’t know what to say, and neither of them seemed to want to talk. Then Lynne said, “I hope he’s okay.”
“He’s fine,” said Grayson, with an irreverent smirk. “I bet he gave Earl hell the whole way. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s killed him with sarcasm by now.”
“Or at the very least, seriously maimed,” I agreed. “Not everyone can deal with Drew like we can.” The thought helped a little. We knew where he was, and he could hold his own until we could get there. I just hoped it wouldn’t take too long.