and laughed, telling him stories about the planets, as she worked with the knife until it slipped and nearly sliced Jackson on the arm. At first, he didn’t understand why Rush would have bothered to take away that memory. Then, comprehension dawned on him. Rush hadn’t taken it, only given it back.
That knife would have cut him very badly had he been a regular little boy. But at that point, before he’d started training for the Service, his mother hadn’t understood how far his Talent ran. She hadn’t known that she couldn’t hurt him. No. In the last minute, she had used a Shift to deflect the knife. Rush had never even looked up from what he’d been doing. Rush hadn’t saved him that time. His mother had.
“Did you know?” Jackson demanded.
“Know what?” Rush asked truly bewildered.
“Know about Mom?”
Rush had started to turn away but he slowed his movements. His eyes focused on Jackson’s as he grasped for his brother’s memory. “I had a good idea.”
“You never said anything.”
“No.” Rush leaned back against the wall. There were dark smudges under his eyes. Stubble shadowed his jaw. There were beads of perspiration on his upper lip. He slid down the wall to the floor with his knees bent in front of him.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Please make her leave.”
For an instant, the new memory still fresh, Jackson believed Rush to be talking about their mother. But he wasn’t. Jackson took in the sight of his brother who wore fatigue and frustration like a badge. Rush’s appearance was as he saw it normally, but Jackson remembered what he really looked like. He was again amazed by what he had missed over the years. He couldn’t process it. He couldn’t. Instead, he focused again on the issue at hand.
“Please tell me why.”
The woman of discussion appeared in the doorway to the roof. Her bright blue eyes glowed and she smelled like fresh gardenias as she walked past Jackson. She squatted in front of Rush with her arms around her knees. They were eye to eye. “I’ve searched the world over and now I’ve found you, love,” she sang softly. Rush said nothing but returned her unwavering gaze. “Jacob Rush, I am your servant.”
“Really?” Rush asked dryly. Jackson almost identified a smirk on his lips. “Then tell my brother why you’re here and why I want you gone.”
Bright Star stood and approached Jackson with careful steps. She followed Rush’s direction. “Your brother has been given a very beautiful gift.”
“Yes,” Jackson stated just as dryly in a voice much like his brother’s. “I know. He reminded me of it just moments ago.”
“Yes,” she agreed with a soft nod. “You saw what he has done in this world so far. His Talent is more than just the power you have seen. Silly little Shifts that change a room, light a match, bend a spoon. He has the power of life. But it’s much, much more than that.”
“Again, I say, I’m aware.”
“No, Jackson, I’m afraid you don’t understand.”
“But—”
“Leave it alone, Jackson,” Rush said, standing. “Leave it alone. I thought I wanted her to tell you, but I don’t. I didn’t realize how… Never mind. I’m going to bed. You can sit out here all night if you want, Jacks, but I’m going to bed.” At the doorway, he added, “And, Jackson, I want her gone in the morning.”
He went back into the building. Jackson noticed that his brother did not look the same as he had just moments before: he had reverted to his natural form. Gone were the bags under his eyes, the washed out complexion, and the emaciated physique. They were replaced by a lean yet muscled body with its tall frame, toasted bronze skin, and those entrancing black eyes. Apparently, there was no point in hiding now or ever again.
Chapter 5
Resident
When Rush woke up the next morning, there was a pain between his shoulder blades. The pain was sharp and cleared the fog in his brain. Without concern for hiding his High Energy, he growled. Why is she still here? He inserted the question directly into Jackson’s dreams and woke him up.
“She wouldn’t leave.” Even to his own ears, Jackson’s silently uttered reason sounded pathetic.
Make her leave, Rush demanded.
“Why won’t you?” Jackson shot back. Then abruptly, the mental path was cut. Only with it gone did Jackson realize that he and Rush had always used a mental path to talk to each other. Never before had he thought anything of it. It hadn’t occurred to him that this indicated Talent in Rush. He had only accepted it. It was a part of the manipulation he learned of the night before.
Jackson couldn’t think of that anymore. Perhaps, if his memories had shown his brother being anything but honorable, or if he had seen even one act of aggression, one indulgence in vice or one time when his brother had not worked to protect their family, then Jackson would have been able to give rise to his anger. But he couldn’t because Rush had done nothing; nothing short of protect him his entire life. His brother had demonstrated a care and concern for him that was even stronger than the care and concern Jackson had displayed for others in the Service. Jackson’s brother was noble. There was not and would never be an argument to the contrary.
Jackson reached for the mental link again, but this time the mental path had been cut neatly. His brother had shut him out just like that. Jackson tried to open the line of communication again, but found he could not. He tried harder. His brow creased, his heart raced, the hair at his nape stood on end. His nose started to bleed. He stopped.
The door to his room opened and Rush entered carrying a towel. He threw it at his brother who pressed the soft material to his face. “You shouldn’t have done that,” Rush told him.
Jackson offered silence as he tilted his head back and applied pressure to his nose.
Finally, after he was sure the bleeding was subsiding, Rush told him, “You have to put her out.”
“Why?”
“Because she has to go,” Rush answered as if that was explanation enough.
“Rush.” Jackson sat, checked the towel, and pressed it back to his face. “Why?
“You don’t understand.”
“And I won’t understand if you don’t answer the damn question!” Jackson returned. He didn’t like puzzles. He had never liked puzzles. He didn’t like delays. He didn’t like for the people around him to keep secrets. It was rare that anyone could keep anything from him, but when they did... Talking around this subject was only making his patience wear thin. “Why does she have to go? And when you answer, try not to be cryptic.”
“I can’t tell you why,” Rush told him with muscles straining in his neck. “But I can tell you that she is trouble.”
“You don’t even know her.”
“Jackson, trust me when I tell you I know her,” Rush argued. Then in a softer tone, he added. “You know about me now. You have your memories back. You know I have certain… Talent… and…”
“Then you do it!” Jackson spat angrily. He wanted Bright Star to stay, but even more, he wanted to thwart the brother who had kept such an important secret from him. Rush certainly had the power to do it. And Jackson had no desire for her to leave. He didn’t completely understand why, but at that moment, he truly couldn’t say he cared. Rush should get rid of her. “This is part my place, too. And, I want her here.”
“You have to do it,” Rush explained, raking his hands over his face. He sat down in the recliner in the corner. “It’s not you she’s after. You don’t know why she was on that roof. You won’t hurt her, and…