Legacy by Kate Kaynak Page A

waited in the slow-moving line at the gate. I couldn’t stop shaking. I kept listening for Isaiah’s mind. Could he get past security somehow? Thank heavens he could no longer use charm compulsion. If he could still charm...
    Trevor called Rachel again. “I see him. He’s still standing outside the security barrier. He just seems to be staring down the hall.” Was he still watching the place where we’d moved out of his sight—like a parent seeing off a beloved child, killer-telepath style? I tried to swallow the lump in my throat.
    I’d frozen.
    I’d been face-to-face with Isaiah again and I hadn’t been able to move. I felt weak and broken, like when I’d been lying on the floor and he’d been about to kill me.
    Powerless.
    My heart didn’t stop pounding until the plane was in the air. We landed in Chicago about ninety minutes later. Trevor talked to the desk agent and moved up our flight back to New Hampshire. The cell phone battery was getting low, but he made a quick call to Rachel.
    “Isaiah’s driving back toward Chicago now.”
    “Good. That means he’s not going after my family. Maddie and I’ll fly out in less than an hour. We’ll be gone before he gets here.”
    I wrapped my arms around Trevor and pressed my cheek against his chest. Above us, a freakishly-large ceiling fan twirled among the white tubes and girders lining the ceiling. I felt the springs in my gut unwind as I watched it turn.
    Trevor then called his grandparents’ house and got an earful.
    “Young man, I don’t know what you think you’re doing.”Lilith’s tone made me cringe, even hearing it secondhand through Trevor’s mind. “Your phone call this morning scared the daylights out of your grandfather. He’s not in the best of health and shouldn’t have all this aggravation.”
    “Lilith, I—”
    “What did you say to him? He showed up at Laurie’s today and tried to convince her that the kids should skip their piano lessons and go for a drive with him.”
    “There’s a good reason—”
    “Something like this makes Archer look like he’s getting senile! Really, this whole situation is ridiculous. I know we raised you better. This must be the influence of that strange girl you brought to dinner.”
    I couldn’t help it—I started laughing out loud.
    “Am I on speakerphone?” Lilith sounded indignant.
    I clamped my hand over my mouth.
    “No, Lilith.” Trevor’s eyes danced with mine as we both held in our laughter. He ended the call as soon as he decently could without being abrupt.
    And that’s how I entered the Laurence family lore : “That strange girl Trevor brought to dinner.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 6
     
     
     
     
     
     
    When we finally got back to Ganzfield, I sought out my mom. I knew she’d need to see firsthand that I was safe. Her hug tightened as she read more of the details of the trip in my memory. I felt a small thread of panic weave through me when it seemed she had no intention of letting go.
    Once back in our church, Trevor and I both crashed and slept for nearly twelve hours. In the morning, we finally got up in time for Sunday brunch. Sheets of rain twisted across the lake and the field, winding like enormous kite-tails caught in the gusts. Fat splotches flattened against Trevor’s invisible arm “umbrella” over us.
    We joined Drew, Harrison, Ellen, and Grant McFee at the table. Grant still got freaked out by my mental-voice-rather-than-talking-like-a-normal-person thing. This morning he had a strange image in his head—me as Trevor’s ventriloquist dummy. I sighed and tried to remind myself of how little his opinion mattered. I bit my lip—it didn’t matter, right?
    Speaking of freaks…the mental temperature in the dining room shot up as pornographic thoughts erupted all around us. Three separate fires flashed around the room as some of the sparks lost control. The flames died back quickly, accompanied by the snickering of others at the tables.
    Someone