“I’ve got all these new powers,” Cora said, almost thoughtfully, “and I got to wondering which ones might work without touch.”
Reece tried as hard as he could to keep his emotions off his face.
“A scientist like Dr. Whitman appreciates that I need more information.” Cora looked at Whitman. “And of course, atest subject.”
Whitman whimpered.
“You’re trying to control her emotions without touch?” Reece said, in horror. “You’re practicing your new abilities on innocent people?”
“Innocent,”Cora repeated, voice dripping with scorn. “Who’s innocent here? Jason Owens, Hathaway, those men on the boat—none of them were innocent and neither is Dr. Whitman.”
Not a lie. Reece furrowed his brow. “I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you? Places like Stone Solutions, and the people who run them, don’t think twice about hurting someone else if it leads to their own gain. I was a path to profit; theywantedthis.” Cora gave a delicate little shrug. “I just wasn’t supposed to fight back.”
She still wasn’t lying. Reece looked at Whitman again. Blood was welling in the corner of one glassy eye, a scene straight out of Reece’s nightmares.
This had to be his fault. He’d become corrupted first, and he’d spread his corruption to Cora. “You wanted me here,” he said. “So here I am. And you can have whatever you want from me, just don’t hurt anyone else.”
“Oh, I don’t think I should promise that,” Cora said sweetly. “Especially considering who we’re waiting for.”
Reece stilled. “We’re waiting for someone?”
“The next piece of the plan.” The glint in her eyes intensified. “Your sister.”
“Park here,” said Grayson.
Jamey hit the brakes, bringing the Charger to a halt on the street, just before the main entrance to the marina. Squinting into the dark, she could see the red i8 and big black pickup truck about fifty feet away, parked in front of the marina’s dry dock. “Why so far?”
“You might have some natural defenses, but once you get close, Ms. Falcon will sense your emotions. Some corrupted empaths can even project their own emotions, spreading them to anyone nearby. I don’t know if Ms. Falcon is able to do that yet, and I don’t know if it will work on you, but let’s not test it.”
Great. Jamey killed the engine and looked down into the marina’s parking lot. It was a ghost town, the SPD tent and yellow tape still up, but as props on a stage, just for show. Everyone had been pulled off the scene hours ago in the sweep of orders from the Dead Man. Grayson had probably saved a lot of lives.
“So Cora can sense when people get close.” Jamey kept her eyes on the truck Reece had stolen. “She can thrall people’s emotions and fuck up their limbic and endocrine systems, and she might be able to project her own feelings.Pleasetell me that’s the fucking limit?”
“Not quite,” said Grayson. “She can hear you lie.”
Jamey’s heart stuttered. She snapped her head in Grayson’s direction. “She can what?”
“She can hear it when someone decides to lie.” Grayson was looking at the dry dock, not at her. “All corrupted empaths can. It’s usually the first new power they get.”
Oh hell. “Can an empath get only certain new powers? A new ability like hearing lies but not the sadism?”
“No.”
Jamey tightened her jaw. “No, because you’re positive it can’t happen, orno, because you’ve never seen it?”
Grayson paused. He turned hazel eyes on her. “Because I’ve never seen it,” he said slowly. “But I’ve seen most everything there is to see involving empaths.”
Jamey faced forward again. Fine.Most everythingwasn’t everything, and unless she saw Reece murder someone with her own eyes, she’d keep faith.
There was one other question she needed to make herself ask, because Reece had admitted Cora had read him yesterday. “Is it contagious? Can empaths spread the corruption to each other with a read?”
“I don’t believe you’d want Ms. Falcon to get her hands on your brother, regardless.”
Jamey scrubbed a hand over her face. That hadn’t been why she’d asked, but now she had a new tension crawling up her spine. “What does she want with Reece?”
“Hostage, if we’re lucky,” Grayson said. “The other option’s worse.”
