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“In your foster home, you started exhibiting signs of a gift. Your foster parents were freaked out. They started taking you to different medical facilities. Someone who was independently working for Horatio, let him know about you. He was able to convince your foster parents to allow him to continue your testing at the institute.
“The institute was created to protect the gifted, to test the gifted, to make the gifted stronger. I didn’t realize it was also a cover for Horatio to bring in his children. To test his children. He had no clue you were his child when you were in the institute.
“Your uncle finally got the opportunity to get closer to you. He was tired of waiting. He knew you didn’t ‘exist’ anymore. Horatio had
started the process of making sure Amanda Lynn Cornwall never existed, just in case your foster parents wanted to get you. He didn’t know about your uncle’s persistence.
“Your uncle got a job working for us. He waited for the perfect time to take you, and he did. He went into hiding. He changed your name. He had hidden you so well, that Horatio couldn’t find you. Whenever he got close, your uncle was able to use his gift and hide you once more.
“He was able to finally find your uncle, but he never found you. He killed your uncle out of anger. Your uncle wouldn’t let him know where you were. He wanted you because of your gift, not because of who you are.
“Recently, he was able to get a DNA sample from you and found out you were his daughter. He went delving into his old files. He found out you carried the same DNA as Ashlynn. It shed new light on his experiments. He must have seen the picture attached to his files. You look like your mother.
“I believe that you and your sister are strong, not because of your father, but because of your mother. Your mother, Rachel’s father, and maybe some other people we are not aware of yet, may be the answer to our sterility issues. They may be the answer to producing higher level gifted children.
“Now it’s a matter of finding and securing your other sibling before he harms and uses them and then find out how he found out about them.”
We all looked over expectantly at Collin. He looked even more disturbed by the recent revelations. “I don’t know. I’m not that far up on his food chain. I never gave him any DNA samples of Blake, and I wasn’t even aware of her other siblings, blood siblings,” he clarified. “Other than…”
“Ashlynn, or should I call her Bridgette?” I stated quietly, seeing varying degrees of surprise. “He must have been made aware of my gift through Tom. Maybe he started connecting the dots. My gift is rare. He could have had Tom use anything of mine for a DNA sample.”
“Bridgette’s a memory eraser,” Collin explained to the guys. It seemed it surprised everyone save Gavin, Rachel, and Will. “Her job was, is to make sure you never remembered Blake. So, in the off chance you met her, she can make you forget. Horatio knew that one or two of you had to be her connected, but he thought he would try to cover all his bases. He knew he could never win Blake over if she had an emotional connection to anyone.”
“She was my student for the last couple of years,” Jace finally spoke up. “I still remember her.” His eyebrows knitted. “One day she was in my class, and the next she wasn’t. Just like Bridgette.”
“What is there to remember?” Drake asked quietly. Looking at his eyes, I think he already knew the answer. Noah knew about my scars without me telling him about them, again. Troy had a dream about something we had done together. I could only guess that maybe Drake had remembered something too.
“Therein lies the problem with mind erasers,” Will said quietly. “Our minds are so vast, that in theory, it should have been an easy job. They never considered that an emotional bond could defeat a mental one.”
“Do you know who turned back time?” I asked Collin. Everything within me wanted to still be mad at him, but a part of me could see that money could talk. People could be bought.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. All I know was I was woken up at two or 3 o’clock in the morning the night you arrived. One man brought you in, and a couple others put your clothing and stuff away in my spare room. I was given a letter and briefly told my assignment. I read it and knew what my next job was. I was told I would have help. All I know is Mr. Young was my point of contact to talk to. Horatio and Bridgette were tasked to take care of them,” he nodded his head towards the guys.
“Time out,” Jaxson stood up mystified. “Are you trying to tell me we went to the institute together, and then someone turned back time and made us forget about Blake? That all of us knew her and were made to forget? For what purpose?”
“You know why” I communicated with him silently.
“It is you!” he rounded on me, his eyes large. His mouth never opened. “Where have you been?!”
“I had a block on me” I gently reminded him.
I was so busy communicating with Jaxson, I hadn’t noticed that Collin was watching me. “It’s Jaxson and Noah, isn’t it? They’re your connections?” he asked quietly.
“Doesn’t Noah and Jaxson have girlfriends, though?” Rachel asked perplexed.
“I did,” Noah said quickly, running a hand through his auburn curls. “I didn’t think it was fair to have a girlfriend when I started to develop feelings for another girl. I actually broke it off with her a week or so ago.” He looked over at me. “Truth be told, I had been separating myself from her for some time now, and I haven’t been…physical with her for weeks.”
I met his eyes, mine widening. I was reminded of Ella’s premonition, and realized not all of them were true. Noah had left Stacey. Jaxson and Tamara hadn’t ganged up against me, because I never attended school with them. That only left one premonition I still wondered about…
“Then who is she connected with?” Rachel asked bluntly. “Inquiring minds want to know.”
“How can we know if he can be trusted?” Jemmy said as she pointed at Collin.
“We don’t,” Remy stated. “For all we know, he’s spilling the beans because he wants to save his own hide. He already admitted that he’s easily bought.”
Collin stood up agitated. “After seeing those kids in there, there’s no way I can ever work for him again. I never knew he would stoop so low for his cause,” he said with an impassioned plea.
“And that’s the truth,” Rachel said quietly.
