There went my pretty pink collage for Olivia.
Groaning, I followed Hayden back to the garage. He opened the door of the Infiniti SUV and motioned me in.
I mumbled something halfway coherent and climbed into the car. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gabe and Phoebe jump into one of the Porsches. Gabe yelled something that earned a laugh from Hayden.
Phoebe’s eyes lingered a few seconds too long on Hayden as he made his way around the front of the car.
“Where’s Parker?” I asked, curious.
“He’s homeschooled.” He backed out of the garage.
The way he said it left no room for questions, but I went there. “Why not?”
“It’s too hard on him.” He went on before I could push for more information. “You look tired.”
My pale reflection stared back at me in the side mirror. The pale blue of my eyes looked even more watered-down than normal. I sank down in the seat and faced forward.
“Have you’ve been sleeping okay?”
I nodded. The ride into town was one giant fail boat. Hayden tried to make small talk, but I ignored him and focused on my surroundings. Petersburg was the kind of town people missed if they sneezed. I spotted a McDonald’s, a couple of pizza shops, several strip malls, and little else on the way to school.
After I got over my self-imposed bitterness, I could admit the town had a cute look about it.
I broke the silence. “How did you guys end up here?”
“My father is originally from here, but I’m from Montana. He wanted to come back home and he gave me an option to come with him. I’m glad I did.” He stopped as if he’d said too much. “I’m into hiking. The Seneca Rocks are a big thing around here. They’re the mountains you can see from the house.”
I shuddered. “I hate heights.”
“I guess rock climbing is out of the question, then.” He slid me a sly glance.
I ignored that. “What about the other kids?”
“Over the years Cromwell kinda found them.”
“What? He found them? Like he found Olivia and me?”
Hayden frowned. “Yeah, just like he found you and Olivia.”
“What about their parents?”
“They didn’t want them, Ember. If they had, Cromwell wouldn’t have taken them.”
“So none of your parents wanted to keep any of you? All of you are adopted by him?” I paused and pictured parents throwing their kids out by the handful. To me, something wasn’t right about that. “That sucks.”
Hayden gave a low laugh. “When you say it like that, then I guess it does suck, but yeah, we’ve all been adopted by Cromwell.”
“What can they do? I know what Gabe can do, but what about Phoebe and Parker?”
He nodded, his fingers tapped along the steering wheel. “Phoebe is an empath—she can sense emotions and sometimes control them. Parker is a telepath.”
I scrunched up my nose. “He can… read people’s thoughts?”
“When Cromwell first brought them home, Parker was a mess. Didn’t talk to anyone and screamed when anyone came near him. He couldn’t control it. Can you imagine always hearing people’s thoughts?
Never being able to shut it out?”
“No,” I turned back to the window. “So that’s why he doesn’t go to school?”
There was a pause. “There are just too many people—classrooms so small and people crowding him.
Liz is doing the whole homeschooling thing.”
“And Cromwell is helping him control it? Like he doesn’t do it all the time?”
“Yup. Parker still doesn’t talk much, but he can block most of the chatter out as long as he’s not around a lot of crowds.”
I let out a heavy sigh. Cromwell was just super. “What is he anyway? What can Cromwell do? Walk through walls? Fly? Leap tall buildings?”
“We aren’t superheroes, Ember.”
“Then what is the point of gathering all of us together? What does Cromwell want?”
“He just wants to help us.” A thoughtful look crossed his face as he concentrated on the road. “You’re having a hard time believing that, aren’t you?”
“Obviously,” I said.
“Cromwell has psionic ability,” Hayden said as the SUV slowed.
“What’s that?” My eyes grew wide as the school came into view. The one-story, brick building was surprisingly large for such a small town and looked newly built.
He was quiet for a moment. “It’s the ability to make someone… believe what you want them to, among other things.”
I twisted in my seat, facing him. “Are you kidding me?”
Hayden parked and cut the engine. “He doesn’t use it, Ember. Not on us. If you doubt that, then ask yourself why you are having such a hard time accepting him. He could have easily changed that.”
I admitted he had a point, but my stomach tipped over when Hayden opened the door. Cromwell was no longer my concern. School was.
Hayden dropped a crumpled paper in my hand. “I forgot. It’s your class schedule.”
I took it from him and looked over the schedule. It mirrored the one I’d had in Allentown. I clutched it to my chest and followed Hayden across the campus. Out of habit, I kept my eyes glued to the ground.
“You don’t have to do that here,” he said softly.
Flushing to what I was sure was an attractive shade of purple, I peeked at him through my lashes.
His eyes met mine. “You’re going to do fine, Ember. I don’t think you’re going to run around and start throwing people into chokeholds.”
Unable to help myself, I laughed at the mental image. “No. I guess not.”
A wide, stunning smile appeared on his face. And there
“Do what?”
“Laugh.”
I pressed my lips together and managed a weak nod. As soon as we crossed the entrance, the familiar smell of aftershave and too much perfume choked me. All around, people talked, laughed, greeted one another. Girls giggled with boys, and a few threw insults around. No one really paid any attention to me.
“I’ve got math in the other wing.” He leaned over my shoulder, studying my schedule. “Your English class is down the hall and then to your right. It’s room 104. Come on.”
The old habit of staring at the floor was hard to overcome, but I managed to keep my head held high as I carefully navigated the crowded hallways.
“Here you go.” Hayden propped himself against a locker. “I have lunch with you and bio in the afternoon.”
“Okay.” I swallowed, suddenly wondering how Olivia was doing. Then I thought of Adam. My throat closed up.
He leaned forward. “I’ll see you at lunch, okay? You’ll do fine.”
Then he was gone.
Somehow, I found my way into the classroom. Taking a seat in the back, I discreetly studied everyone while I scribbled in my notebook and pretended I wasn’t the new girl.
A clapping sound drew my attention. “All right kiddos, turn around. Time to get back to good old Holden Caulfield,” announced a youngish teacher from the front of the classroom. “I know you guys have missed him over the weekend.”
One of the guys up front snorted. “I wouldn’t say we actually missed him.”
A couple of kids laughed.
The teacher’s smile was easy and friendly. “Now, come on. Everyone wants to catch kids as they fall off a cliff.” His dark eyes drifted over the classroom, stopping on me, and his easy smile faltered. “Oh, we have a new student today.”
