bolted forward, excitement churning her insides, spinning off snippets of detail long forgotten.
Her hand shook as she grabbed her purse out of the desk drawer, left the office and headed for a rendezvous with an ancient memory.
SAVANNAH DROVE into the old section of town, past rows of mature oaks and old row houses.
She hadn’t been back since she’d been removed by protective services on April 18th. Twenty-eight years ago.
Summoning her courage, she turned onto Palm Street and slowed her speed, taking in the sensation of familiarity that teased her nerves and edged her into the past.
A past that had been wonderful up to a point, the point where everything had changed and her destiny had spun out of control.
The house still belonged to her. Her mother had left it to her after she died, but it had been used as a rental ever since.
According to the agency, there was a new tenant moving in, but she hoped he wasn’t there yet.
She pulled into the driveway and killed the engine.
A lump squeezed in her stomach. She felt tears sting the backs of her eyes, remembering the frightened little girl she’d once been.
Breathing through the moment, she climbed out of the car, letting the memories consume her as she stepped onto the cracked cement.
Some were happy. Peddling her bike, listening to the click-clack of the cracks under her tires. Doing cartwheels and somersaults until she collapsed in exhaustion.
Then it had all ended, and hell began.
She pushed the painful images aside and headed for the backyard.
Her mood lightened as she walked around to the side of the house, intent on the memory she’d rousted half an hour ago.
The gate squeaked open, and she stepped through into the neglected yard.
The ghosts from her past were all here, resting comfortably.
She let the spring-loaded gate slap shut, moving along the fence, raking her fingertips over the rough board slats before stopping three-quarters of the way down the fence line.
This was the spot, she decided as she knelt down in the warm grass. The very spot where she and Kade’s lives had become intertwined. The how, she knew, but the why was much more illusive.
The four-inch knothole near the bottom of the board was weathered but just as she remembered it, only lower to the ground.
She’d been five years old that year. The year the boy next door had become her only friend. The only child on the block who didn’t think she was a freak, with a crazy lady for a mother. The memory was poignant and drove sadness into her heart.
She crouched down on all fours, ringed the knot with her finger and put her eye to the hole like she’d done as a child.
The yard next door looked the same. Short chopped grass, well kept. Abundant flowerbeds teaming with gladiolas, iris and snapdragons. Stuck in a time warp, like her wardrobe, she decided as she stared at the same set of urns flanking the back patio and overflowing with bright fuchsia petunias.
A wind chime tinkled, challenged by the hint of breeze stirring the muggy July air.
Sweat crept from her hairline at the nape of her neck and tickled down her back, but she was mesmerized. Glued to the past.
A shadow descended on the other side of the fence, and the tiny portal was blocked.
She swallowed, staring back at the hazel eye gazing at her through the knothole. The iris was ringed by tiny golden flecks, the color as smooth as dark honey.
“Savannah?” Kade’s voice cut into her hearing and she froze. Swaddled in the fabric of time. Transported back to the single thing that had joined them for twenty-eight years.
A kids’ game. An equal exchange of DNA. The origin of their psychic connection.
Blood brothers.
“Kade.” She swallowed and pulled back, relief liquefying in her veins. She wasn’t crazy; she was perfectly sane.
“Stay put, I’m coming over.”
She stood up, waiting for him, glad when the gate opened and he limped toward her, cane in hand.
“When did you figure it out?” he asked, stopping next to her.
“An hour ago.”
“I knew last night, the minute I saw your eyes. I’ve never forgotten them. I verified your name with my mom. She’s got a memory like an elephant. Reminded me of the whole story.”
He touched her arm, sending a jolt of electricity through her. She looked up into his face, as if seeing him for the first time.
The boy she remembered had turned into a man. His dominant features were still there. A distinct jawline, expressive eyes, but time and some sort of tragedy had changed his insides.
“Which story would that be? There are so many.” A hint of discomfort jabbed her heart as she swallowed her anticipation. Her memories of that day were cloudy; maybe his could help to drive the fog away.
“Children’s services came and took you. Mom remembered the insignia on the car…then someone from the state came for your mother.”
Sorrow, deep and raw, penetrated her soul. She’d been given the information by her adoptive parents. It had been so long ago that the story had lost its edge, but hearing Kade describe it brought it all back.
“They said she was crazy, that she couldn’t handle raising a child. But they were wrong. She was psychic, not mental. Did she fight? Did she struggle to stay?”
“I don’t know.”
Savannah hung her head, haunted by the whispers of the past. The despair she’d felt, the confusion and loneliness.
“What happened to her after they took her?”
His concern wrapped around her; she could feel it like a caress. “She died several years later in a mental institution. I was adopted by the Dawsons, and here I am.” She’d left out a dark decade, but it didn’t matter. There was nothing there she cared to revisit.
“You still own this place?”
“Yeah. My mom left it to me. It’s a rental right now. What about your house?”
“My mom’s place is going on the market…well, it was until the fire. She’s back until she finds another apartment building.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. It’s home.”
“Do you remember doing it?”
He hung his head, then looked up. “I remember the jolt, and I think I supplied the razor blade and you brought the Band-Aids.”
She had to smile now as she pulled the full memory into focus. The trouble she’d had slicing into her own finger without flinching, being shocked when blood oozed out of the cut. Feeling a wondrous sense of belonging as they locked their fingers together, mixing their blood and making a promise to one another. “A couple of silly kids trying to stay linked forever.”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
She swallowed, overcome with emotion, lost in the odd sensation generating between them. “Yeah, better than we could have imagined, but I’m not sure I like free passage on your train of thought.”
“And you think it’s a thrill ride for me? I’m new at this. What do you say we get a cold drink and you give me some pointers on mind reading?”
“I’d like that.” She let him take her elbow and steer her toward the gate. It took everything she had, but she put up a mental wall between them. She didn’t want to know his thoughts and feelings about that day