Page 18

Chapter eighteen

Raegan

“It’s Reid!” I shout over my shoulder, and the others are around me in an instant.

“I’ll grab Cassandra,” Aiden says first, then leaves the room.

Thankfully, she’s only in the next room over, so the rest of us meet them outside over Reid’s body.

A trail of dark red blood spreads over the concrete from underneath him, his body still and quiet.

“Reid!” I yell, hoping for a reaction and getting none.

Cassandra kneels awkwardly with one arm still in a sling, then places her free hand on the side of his face and closes her eyes.

Her brows pinch, lips pressed together.

“He’s alive. Barely. I’ll do as much as I can to get him stable.”

“I’ll bring him to the infirmary when you’re done.” Aiden’s gaze circles to everyone else.

“The rest of you, get back to training. It’ll be at least a day before he recovers enough to give us some answers.”

“Are we sure he shouldn’t be locked up next to Harvey?” Dane questions, his expression serious.

“This guy lied to us from the beginning. He said that he and Tinsley joined GE a while back. And he had no information to give us about locations because he’d been portaled everywhere.” He jabs a finger at Reid.

“ He is the closest connection we have with the CEO of Gifted Enterprise.”

“He’s the reason we’re here right now,” I remind him.

“If not for his gift, Charles would have killed me and locked you away in a lab where no one could find you.”

Dane releases a frustrated sigh and runs a hand through his hair.

“I get that, but what if he disappears on us again? What if he gets healed like he wants, and then teleports away without another word?”

“You volunteering to hold his hand until we can talk to him?” Kellan drawls, a grin stretching his lips.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Aiden smoothly counters.

“He tried on his own, and this is where it got him. Back to us. We’ll let him recover first and then we’ll get answers. For now, all you need to worry about is training.”

Cassandra withdraws her hand, the glow fading from her eyes as she peers up to Aiden and nods.

I exchange a look with Dane, who still looks nervous that Reid will run the second he has a chance to.

I hope Aiden’s right, and he’ll stay.

He’s been the reason the guys have been able to save me as many times as they did.

I owe him for that.

Two days pass before Aiden calls us to the Guild infirmary to talk to Reid.

He’s sitting up in the twin bed at the far end of the room right next to the window.

He’s wearing a plain navy shirt, his legs hidden beneath the white sheet and blanket, as he stares out the window.

Aiden sits in a folding chair on one side, his suit jacket off on the bed behind him and his tie hanging loose.

Reid’s head spins toward us at the sound of our footsteps.

His blue gaze stops on me, and the small crease in his forehead clears.

Aiden unfolds another chair next to his and looks at me, silently but clearly indicating I should sit in it.

Once I do, Jackson perches on the bed behind us, lying on his side with his head resting in his hand.

Dane leans against the footboard of the bed across from Reid while Kellan takes up a spot in front of the window.

Aiden stashes his phone away in his pocket and laces his fingers together.

“We’re all here now, so you can begin.”

Reid pulls his stare from me to Aiden.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything,” Dane replies.

Aiden doesn’t look away from Reid.

“The truth.”

The teleporter nods solemnly.

His eyes return to me.

“I’m assuming they told you already that I’m your half-brother.” I give him a small nod.

“My mother died in childbirth, so I was raised by a nanny and Charles. He had me go with him nearly everywhere since I was five years old so I could learn the business.”

“You daddy’s heir, then?” Kellan asks.

Reid blinks, glancing his way to answer.

“If his first plans failed, then that was probably his last resort.”

“What do you mean?” I speak up, confused .

“If things go his way, and they usually do, he’ll find a way to become immortal. To never die. There would be no need for an heir, then. Just a right-hand man to carry out the work he gets tired of.”

Dane rolls his eyes and scoffs.

I agree. What big bad doesn’t go seeking immortality to keep everything they’ve spent a lifetime to build?

I haven’t heard of a gifted person with that ability yet, but it’s a big world.

And Charles’s annoying ability to steal gifts makes something like that even more possible.

“We should find anyone with a gift like that and keep them hidden before he finds them,” Dane remarks.

“No,” Jackson immediately responds, and Dane frowns at him, but it’s Aiden who elaborates.

“We could lead Charles right to them if we go looking too. It’s better to take him out as quickly as possible before that person is found.”

“Hopefully there’s not more than one of them out there,” Kell says.

“Hopefully there’s no one out there with that gift right now,” I add.

“What else can you tell us about him? About Gifted Enterprise?” Aiden steers the questions back to Reid.

“He’s ruthless. And calculating. He’s always one step ahead of you, no matter what you try. He maps out every possible scenario and comes up with plans for each of them. When one plan doesn’t work out, he moves to the next one. And so on. His contingency plans have contingency plans. Even if his plan doesn’t take the original direct route to get there, he’ll still have enough backups in place to get him to his end goal regardless.”

Well, fuck.

Superpowered and smart.

“What else?” Aiden presses on as if that last piece of information wasn’t already terrible news for us.

“He’s charming. He can win people over with a single conversation. It’s how so many in the government are in his pocket. How all those children can disappear without a paper trail, or murders become accidents or tragedies instead.” Reid rubs the back of his neck.

“Not to mention, he’s a master manipulator with control over his emotions. You won’t be able to get him by making him angry to trip him up. The guy’s only modes are relaxed and smiling or disappointed and straight-faced. He’ll kill you without hesitation in either.”

“You sound afraid of him,” Jackson muses.

Reid’s jaw tightens.

“Of course, I am. You’d be a fool not to be.”

Jack smiles chillingly.

“I can acknowledge his strengths without being afraid of them. Everyone still has a weakness.”

“He doesn’t. There’s no one he cares about other than himself. He’s not impulsive or emotional. And he has six gifts at his disposal, which he masters as quickly as if he’d been born with them. He’s a goddamn prodigy.”

“He wants Dane,” Jackson throws out, and Dane glares at him.

“Thanks,” he snarks.

Jack shrugs.

“To a point,” Reid answers.

“He’d never risk himself or GE over anyone. If he feels cornered when it comes to Dane, he’d rather kill him for the emotional blow it will have on Raegan than allow someone to threaten him.”

“He sounds like a real peach,” I grumble.

Dane’s frowning hard at his palm as if he can see and mentally curse his own gift.

I can see the anger and frustration in him building through his tensed arms, tight jaw, and the look in his eyes.

They’re like windows straight to his heart, overflowing with emotion that’s impossible to contain.

I get up and take the hand he’s glaring at, holding it in mine.

He smiles tightly, trying to pretend he’s fine but failing miserably.

“It’s alright,” I murmur just for him.

“He’s never getting close enough to reach you again,” I promise.

“I’ll break the world to pieces if he tries.”

A genuine smirk tugs at the corner of his lips.

“You’re such a badass. I fucking love you.” He kisses my cheek, but my heart’s too occupied skipping and then performing somersaults in my chest for me to react.

Did he just—

“I’m confused,” Reid says, bringing me back to the infirmary.

“I thought you were dating Aiden.”

Kellan chuckles and opens his big mouth.

I rush to cut in first before he says something mortifying.

“I am. I’m with all of them.”

Reid’s expression hardens.

“What?” He looks at each of the guys, his face darkening as that information sinks in.

“No.” He throws the blanket and sheet off him like he’s preparing to grab me and leave.

Aiden stands to block him.

Dane squeezes my hand, and Jackson sits up, a knife flipping between the fingers of one hand.

Kell’s grin sharpens to bared teeth, his eyes locked on Reid.

“Excuse me? What do you mean, no?” I demand sharply.

“I mean, no. I’m not letting these guys—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” I interrupt, stepping forward and sticking a finger at him.

“I just found out you’re my half-brother last week. You have no say in anything in my life. This is my choice. You don’t even know me.”

“I did once. I was around when you were born. I played with you when you were little before your mother took you and ran. You’re my baby sister I looked after for four years.”

I don’t remember any of that.

But I don’t remember anything before my time with Grams, so I’m not surprised.

“That doesn’t change anything. Look. I’m happy you think of me as a sister. I think I might like to have a brother. If you aren’t a pain in the ass about it. So, are we going to have a problem, or can you respect my decision as a grown-ass adult?”

Reid’s hands fist, his jaw working as he stares at the group of us with a new understanding.

I silently will him to let this go.

I’m shocked he’d been upset about it at all, considering I didn’t think I meant much to him.

Harvey had said that he knew about me, but we’d never met.

Knowing that Reid had been around me as a toddler, I guess, makes some things different.

For him, at least, since I remember nothing of him.

I feel a little bit guilty that I don’t, considering his concern for me.

If he’d played with me and looked out for me, I should have some memory of him buried somewhere .

Finally, he sits, and the room relaxes.

“Alright.”

“Glad we have your blessing, big brother,” Kellan chortles, and I chuck a pillow at him.

“We got off track,” Aiden says while returning to his seat.

“Can you help us with GE locations? Maybe the homes or offices of the GE Board members?”

Reid shakes his head.

“I went to the few recent ones I knew of to find Tins. They’ll be shut down by now. GE rents spaces for a month at a time, then picks up and moves somewhere else if they feel their location has been compromised or if it’s been ninety days. The islands are the only constant, but there are so many of them, and I don’t know which ones GE owns or uses.”

“What about Charles’s office, where he brought Dane and me?”

“Already gone. I’d tried there first. As soon as we rescued you, I’m sure he had his things moved by the end of the day.”

Aiden rubs his hand over the five o’clock shadow on his jaw and sighs.

“Any other offices of his that you know of?”

“Aside from the ones I’d just tried, I haven’t been around him in months. I have no idea where the others are. They could be anywhere in the country. He just teleports to the next one. As for the Board, they always come to him, not the other way around. So, I don’t know that, either. I’m sorry, but when I told you before I don’t really have any locations to give you, I was telling the truth.”

“I’ll have you mark all the previously known offices of his or GE, then, and see what we can get from that. Maybe we’ll find a trend in the building or location that can lead us to potential sites,” Aiden says, leaning into the small backrest of the folding chair.

“Is he the one who injured you like that?”

Reid’s lips tighten.

“No. I never found him or Tinsley.”

“Then who?”

“Royce and his puppets.”

The memory of what it felt like to be under his control sends a cold shiver through me.

Aiden tugs his jacket free from under Jack and wraps it around my shoulders.

“Here.”

“I’m not actually cold,” I murmur, even though my hands grasp the lapels and pull it tighter.

His cinnamon body wash surrounds me, cocooning me in that safety like an invisible ward.

“I know,” he practically purrs under his breath before he slowly withdraws to his seat.

A light burn creeps up my neck, and I bite my inner cheek to force myself under control.

“What can you tell us about Royce? He seems like a big player we’ll need to address before Charles,” Aiden continues the conversation as if there’d been no interruption.

Reid’s gaze jumps between us before finally sticking to Aiden when he answers.

“He’s loyal to Charles. Would do anything he asked of him, just for a word of praise. And, unfortunately, GE has amassed a stockpile of dead people for him to…play with.”

Kellan straightens.

“So, wait. When I joked about a zombie army before…”

“He has one.”

Aiden leans over his thighs, his dark brown eyes focused intently on Reid.

“How does his gift work? What are his limits? ”

“No one talked about it in detail, so take anything I say with a grain of salt. It’s just based on what I’ve seen first-hand or overheard.” He waits for Aiden’s nod of understanding before he continues, “He can control souls to varying degrees based on whether they’ve been detached from their body at some point. For anyone alive, he can only manipulate a couple at a time, and he can’t do it remotely. He has to be nearby. For anyone who’s died, he can summon their soul back to their body, and then he has full control over them.”

“By full control, do you mean their mind too? What they say?” Dane asks slowly, his fidgeting hands in his hoodie pocket giving away his uneasiness.

Reid frowns, considering.

“I don’t think he can make them say anything. Mostly, he keeps their mouths closed and manipulates their bodies. Especially the older souls, who’ve either lost their minds or gifts already.”

“And the newer ones?” Aiden questions.

“If he gets the soul within twenty-four to forty-eight hours of leaving the body, then they’ll be almost like new. They’ll maintain their gift and their minds.”

“Thorne died a few times. He looked like shit each time he came back,” I comment, my nose scrunching in disgust at how he’d looked when Gordon had me.

“It was why he wanted a new body. But Royce said something about using other souls to…freshen him up.”

Reid nods.

“The body can only be healed so many times after death. And the soul can’t keep being stuffed into bodies before it also degrades. Usually, the mind goes first, followed by the gift. But he can do something with combining souls that reverses some of that, though it can mess with the original soul’s mind and gift.”

“I thought you didn’t know much about it,” Kellan drawls.

“Sounds like you know a hell of a lot.”

My half-brother’s gaze cuts to him.

“I’m observant. And he hangs around Charles pretty often.”

“Why?” Aiden asks.

“Who is Royce? How and why is he so close to Charles?”

Reid grimaces.

“He’s no one. Supposedly after his wife died, he learned about his gift but fucked up bringing her back. Then he went nuts testing his gift on entire graveyards of people to get it right, and he’s been obsessed playing with his puppets ever since. Of course, he was arrested for grave robbing with some wild reports no one believed. Someone with connections to GE and involved in his case reached out to Charles about it. They faked his death, and now Charles helps supply and cover up bodies for Royce to play with. So long as Royce does as Charles says, he’ll get to do what he loves without anyone trying to stop him.”

“Creep,” Dane mutters.

“There are a couple rumors I overheard about him, but I don’t know if any are true. One is that he sleeps next to his dead wife and plans to figure out a way to find and bring her soul back. He’s also been alive for over a hundred years and survives by eating souls.”

I tighten Aiden’s jacket around me to stave off another chill.

“Anything else?” Aiden prompts, and I chime in with a question of my own.

“Is there a way to break out of his control once he has you? ”

Reid shakes his head, his face solemn.

“Once he’s got you, that’s it. Unless someone picks you up and takes you far enough away from him, and he doesn’t follow. And before he has you kill that person.”

Swallowing that uncomfortable imagery, I nod.

“I think that’s plenty for now.” Aiden stands, and the rest of us shift to do the same.

“You still need to rest. When Cassandra’s given the green light, we’ll take you to meet another half-sibling and see if there’s anything more between the two of you we can use to help us win against GE.”

Reid’s brows knit in confusion.

“Another half-sibling?”

“Harvey. He was spying on the Guild and sending information to Charles,” Aiden replies, but there’s no moment of recognition of his name.

“The one who came on missions and could become invisible. He and fourteen other invisible siblings spied on Charles’s Board members and electees, ten of whom we now need to rescue.”

His gaze swings to mine.

“Does he know about you?”

“Yeah. Apparently, he knew who I was the moment we met.”

Reid’s face tightens further.

“Where is he?”

Aiden fixes his tie.

“He’s somewhere safe, for now, and he’s not going anywhere. He’s planning on helping us.”

“If he was a spy for Charles, you can’t trust anything he says,” Reid argues, his eyes still on me.

“Well, you can hear him out yourself in a day or so. That is, if you’re intending to stick around this time,” Aiden adds.

Reid turns to Aiden.

“I have to get Tinsley back. I can’t wait for your big fight. She won’t last there long on her own.”

“You dropped everything to help us get Raegan back on multiple occasions,” Aiden says, then tilts his head forward in affirmation.

“Helping get Tinsley back is the least we can do.”

Relief eases the tension in Reid’s face as he blows out a breath.

“I can—”

The lights cut out, and all the machines in the infirmary suddenly become still and quiet.

Jackson is the one to say what we’re all thinking. “They’re here.”