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Chapter 1
Last night when I went to sleep, I had a different life. Last night when I closed my eyes, I laid my head on a man I had come to care for more than words could say. Remington (Remy) Murphy was my quiet, gruff, yet protective guardian. We went running every Saturday morning. Sometimes our routes took us up in the mountains where he found solitude. I felt privileged that he had shared that beauty and awestriking view with me. Sometimes we ran the quiet country roads, watching as the wild life continued their daily routines, barely noticing us. Our last run had been in the city, a city that was forgotten but now, because of him and other likeminded people, was coming back to life again. He had just opened a restaurant on that side of town and renovated a charming warehouse, making it his home.
This morning I woke up in the bed of a man I barely knew. He had been one of my first crushes in high school, but after his crazy ex-girlfriend started harassing me and making my life miserable, I knew I couldn’t pursue my interest in him. The last time I had seen him, he was hooking up with a girl that was supposed to be in love with one of the kindest, gentlest, most thoughtful men I have ever met.
The second man in my life, Drake Bell (the last name he took after he was adopted), was going to school to become a child psychologist—although, I still believed he pursued that career path because his ex-girlfriend was majoring in the same field of study. I think he missed a calling to become a chef. He was one of the best cooks I have ever met, and he cooked for our family of eleven with ease in addition to any others who came by, since our house had become the gathering place of my band and our friends.
I was getting ready for my first day of school at Knightstown Academy…again. Last time, I had just found out that I had a gift, and with that came a lot of adjustments. Like the fact that I was supposed to make connections with six guys. Two of them were brothers, and the other four had been fostered and adopted by the same man. Even though they shared similarities, their differences made them unique.
It was because my gift was powerful, not to mention my questionable parentage, that was the cause for my new predicament.
I was scrambling to figure out the reasons why the people who put me in this situation chose to erase the last few weeks by turning back time, and why they put me so close to the guys they had worked so hard to separate me from.
My sister, Ella—well technically my cousin—had predicted this would happen, but she also told me no one would remember the relationships we had created. Not Will, the man I had started to call Pops. Not Jace, the man who was once my teacher, my connection, the man who made me love music once more, and who helped me get me out of my previous life of squalor and pain. Not Remy, my connected, my protector. Not Troy, my Casanova, the man who could make a girl feel special, like the time he took me on a ride in his helicopter for my first real date. Not Noah, the man who used to flirt relentlessly with me and made me feel beautiful, but who recently had distanced himself from me. Not Drake, my sweet, thoughtful, sometimes shy guy. Not, Jaxson the one I had technically known the longest. He had come to me in my darkest hours. Because of our gifts, we had been having conversations in our heads since we were 10 years old. Recently, he was the one who chased my nightmares away. Not, Jemmy, my outgoing, fashion savvy, sensitive, dramatic best friend. And not Rachel, another new-found friend, but at least with her I had hope.
“Hey, Collin,” I asked as I came out of the bedroom. “I must have drank a lot last night, because I don’t know where I’m supposed to be going or where my uniform is.”
He was sitting at the counter eating a bowl of cereal. Outwardly he was handsome, with his blond hair and blue eyes. His physique, like most gifted, was well taken care of.
He turned and smiled, but I noticed his eyes were calculating, satisfied even. “Darling, you’re in college, you don’t need to wear uniforms. Remember? You had enough credits to graduate high school, and Zach told you your placement test had you on college level. Lucky you.” He drew me in his arms, and I had to will myself not to stiffen. “Now get dressed, you silly goose. We’re going to be late.”
I turned to go back into the room. I had already snooped and noticed we were in a two-bedroom studio apartment. It was a nice but paled in comparison to how I lived with my guys.
He must still be under the impression that whatever Horatio and his minions did to me had worked. But it hadn’t completely worked. My memories were still intact, I remembered everything; it was my gifts that were in question. My gifts of compulsion, fire, force field, empathy, and illusion were gone. In vain I had tried to use them, but they evaded me.
I had to fight the feelings of anxiety, despair, and panic. It was like I was on an island with an alligator, surrounded by sharks circling in the water. I was afraid of the alligator on the island eating me, yet I had to be careful leaping in the water to escape because that couldn’t end well either. I had to make things right. I had to get back to my guys. I had to find Ella, Alex, Micah, and my other brother. They were in more danger than I was. I had to get my old life back.
I knew my first plan of attack was to find the Judge and Rachel. Will had made me remember Judge Myers’ contact information and repeat it back to him several times. Thanks to Ella, we knew this day would come, and we knew we couldn’t prevent it, so we made plans to repair it. We had made plans A, B, C, and D. We tried to think of all possibilities and how I should approach each situation, even the possibility of my gifts being temporarily blocked.
As I rifled through the dresser, I found a pair of skinny jeans to slip into, a tank top, and a hooded sweatshirt. This wasn’t any clothing I recognized, but it was similar to what I generally wore. I shrugged inwardly—at least I had that going for me. I donned on a pair of boots and found they fit as well.
Collin was waiting for me as I exited the room. He had a messenger bag over one of his shoulders. “Here you go, babe.” He smiled charmingly. “Your class schedule is in there.” He handed me a phone. “And I charged your phone when we got home last night.” He slung an arm around my shoulders. I tried not to flinch once more.
I peered down at the phone with the hot pink case. Will had given me a phone when I moved in with them. This was not my phone. I put it in my pocket, trying to keep my face neutral.
We left the apartment building, and I noticed it was in a pretty well-kept complex. I stiffened as I saw a familiar face exiting the building in front of us. Stacey. She and Noah were Healers. She was pre-med and Noah’s current girlfriend. She looked like she belonged on the runways or gracing a magazine with her gorgeous complexion, long red hair, and hazel eyes.
Collin looked at me sharply. I knew he wanted to see if whatever was done to me had worked. He was expecting recognition or a reaction. I didn’t want to give it to him.
Instead, I looked around the lobby as if I hadn’t paid much attention to her.
“Hey, Stay,” Collin called after he didn’t get the reaction he wanted.
Stacey turned with a wide smile. “Hey Collin.” Her eyes lighted on me. She seemed mildly interested, but not hostile. It wasn’t the normal reaction I got from her.
She hated me, and I didn’t blame her. The boys and I had kept our connection a secret. To have a connection was somewhat common in the gifted community. Having two connections was somewhat unusual. More than two was unheard of. I had six. I had told the guys I didn’t want them to leave their girlfriends. I felt like it had been hypocritical of me to foster six relationships and restrict them to just myself.
The guys had all been attentive and affectionate towards me, and Stacey had noticed. Stacey hadn’t liked me from the get-go. It wasn’t like I was out to separate her from Noah—we didn’t choose our connections, they were chosen for us.
“Stacey, I want you to meet my girl Blake. Blake, this is Stacey,” Collin said pulling me to my side. “She just agreed to move in with me.”
If Stacey thought it was odd that he was providing her so much information, she didn’t react to it. She smiled gracefully and held a thin, manicured hand out towards me. “Nice to meet you,” she murmured. I gave her a halfhearted response back.
“I wish Noah would finally commit to the next step of our relationship so quickly.” She huffed jokingly.
Collin chuckled. “It won’t be too long before he takes that next step. And we haven’t moved so quickly.” He grabbed my hand squeezing it, carrying on with his show. “We’ve known each other forever, and when I found out she was thinking about attending our school, we reconnected. It just made sense for her to move in with me instead of living in those dorms.”
“Aww, how sweet,” she cooed genuinely. “It was great meeting you, Blake, but I better run if I want to be on time for my first class. See you guys around.” She waved as she ran out the building.
I took this opportunity to pry into Collin’s story. “When did I decide to come to this school? Why did I leave Ella behind?”
Collin gave me another indulgent laugh. “Oh babe, maybe we shouldn’t let you drink for a while. You never went into too much details with me, but I knew you weren’t happy at home, and since Ella is in foster care now after your step mom got busted for prostitution and possession of drugs, you really didn’t have a reason to stay there.”
I didn’t stifle my gasp. It was a normal reaction to finding out your ‘sister’ was in foster care. “Where is she?” I asked quietly.
He shrugged, but I noticed an emotion close to sadness crossed his expression. “I don’t know, babe. All I know is you told me she was happy the last time you talked to her.”
I gulped the tears back. “Where I can reach her? Do I even have her new number?” I asked, pulling out my phone.
He shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of, babe. I know you want to see her, but the judge advised against it, and you’re really not in the position to adopt her. She’s well taken care of, though.”
I brushed the tears away as I noticed her name wasn’t in my list of contacts. In fact, I didn’t recognize any of the names, save Collin.
I followed him to a silver sports car, and he opened my door for me so I could get in. It was rare for men to be so chivalrous nowadays, but my guys had been. Technically, I had just seen most of them last night, but it felt like forever ago. Now that someone had chosen to separate us, I knew it was going to be a battle getting back to them.
I opened my phone once more and noticed with some surprise at the date on the screen. It was a week before the original day my new life began. I had still been a student attending a normal public high school. I had been the main caretaker of my sister. I had been living with my step mother for seven years after the death of my dad who had really been my uncle. She had developed a drug and alcohol problem over the years and had brought some nefarious individuals into my life. Later, I had been rescued by the Bell clan, and now someone had decided to erase the last couple of months, starting me in a new life once again.
My mind scrambled with how to proceed. I needed a plan of action, and the sooner I could get the ball rolling, the better. I needed to reclaim my life.
Collin pulled up in front of the college, and I felt strangely anxious. I pulled out my schedule, pretending to study it as Collin turned to scrutinize me.
I looked up at him with feigned naivety and asked, “No music classes?” I noticed there were no performing art classes (gifted classes) or physical education classes; they were extremely basic. In fact, the only class I had pertaining to the gifts were history of performing arts. It looks like they had signed me up as a college student with a major in General Studies.
He looked over at me with narrowed eyes as he took my hand in his. “Music? Do you like music?”
I wanted to snort. He was well aware of the fact that I had been a promising student in the music program.
Instead I gave him a confused expression. “Well, yeah, I love music. My dad had me at a piano at four or five years old.”
He seemed satisfied with my answer. “Sweetheart, you know how hard it is to get into the program here. You have better odds winning the lottery.”
“Oh,” I said in a small voice. No guys, no music. I wasn’t sure how I was going to survive this.
He gave me a gentle squeeze. “Maybe we can get you a guitar or something.” I nodded as he led me into the school. “My classes end earlier than yours today. I’ll meet you in the quad, okay?”
I nodded once more and looked down at my schedule. I knew exactly where I was going, but I didn’t know exactly what I should let on what I knew. “Is English literature 101 on the first floor?” I asked hesitantly.
