His chest suddenly relaxed, like the elephant that had sat on it since he’d been born had wandered off, or like the giant rubber band that had swaddled him in rules and must-nots and have-tos for his entire life had simply snapped.
He wasn’t aware he was sobbing until Kayleigh tackle-hugged him from behind, and they held each other tightly and cried for the rest of the trip to town.
SEVERAL EXCITING,exhilarating,exhaustinghours later, he discovered that having an older brother was not as cool as he’d thought it was.
“Would you let go of the spell, Scout?” Macklin snapped. “The whole point here is an unbiased divination!”
“Butshouldn’tit be biased by what I want to do?” Scout argued.
“But what do you want to do?” Macklin asked, obviously trying to hold on to his patience. “The whole reason we started this spell was because you needed help. Remember? I said, ‘What do you want to do?’ and you said, ‘I don’t know what I want to do,’ and Kayleigh said, ‘Let’s ask the magic, like we used to do when we were kids,’ and that leads us to here, where we’re throwing your avatars on a map and trying to make a divination spell, but youkeep seizing the avatar with your power!”
Scout scowled, but not so much because he was mad atMacklin.He was mad athimself.
“I’m not doing it on purpose!” he blurted, unable to blame it on Macklin being bossy anymore. Then he looked apologetically at Kayleigh, who grimaced back. “But I think Kayleigh is.”
Macklin grinned. “Kayleigh! Doing the thing with the power! That’s great. Did you teach yourself?” Women werenottaught about power in the compound. Kayleigh was supposed to learn history to the 1950s and pagan theology and poetry, but only certain poets. How to use her own power? Certainly not.
Kayleigh gave a relieved smile. “Scout taught me most of it,” she said. Her shoulders slumped. “I just… I don’t like feeling powerless, if you understand me.”
Well, of course not. For their entire lives the two of them had been told what to do and what not to do, and—even worse—what they couldbe.To finally have a chance to control their own destinies and then cede the control to Macklin? It felt like a betrayal.
Macklin leaned his head back and sighed, scrubbing at his face. They’d checked into their hotel rooms and sent Jordan out for pizza nearly an hour before, and it occurred to Scout belatedly that this day hadn’t been any easier on Macklin.
“Look,” Macklin said, keeping his patience with obvious and sincere effort. “Let’s try it once again. Remember, we’re not trying to control you. We’re asking whereyouwill have the most control. Where does your destiny lie? Think of it that way.”
Scout tried—he really did. He watched as Macklin blew on the pebbles he’d had Kayleigh and Scout choose from the wooded area beyond the Walmart. The trip to Walmart had been enjoyable, actually. He and Kayleigh had run around the store in a daze, looking at all the things theycouldown, if only they had the money to buy them. They’d had to repeatedly remind each other that the money in their pocket was limited, and although they’d enjoyed picking out clothes—jeans, T-shirts, shoes, socks, evenunderwearthat nobody else had chosen for them—they realized theystillhad to find a way to make a living and that they didn’t even have a place to call their own yet. And seeing the cost of things—wow! That had been an eye-opener. Food, clothing, rent, transportation. Scout was already feeling a little bit of that elephant on his chest again, and the weight was rib-crushing.
It wasthatmemory that hit him now, unfortunately, just as Macklin made the final toss of the hand-polished, skin-warmed pebbles to throw them on the map laid out on the table in the hotel room.
The pebbles, both of them, hovered in the air, suspended over the map and practically dancing in indecision.
There was a sound at the door, and one pebble launched itself in that direction, while the other one embedded itself in the map and the table underneath, pretty much at their exact location.
“Jordan!” Macklin cried, alarmed.
Jordan stood, the giant pizza box balanced on one arm, and stared at the pebble that had buried itself in the doorframe about six inches from his head.
“I, uhm, could come back later,” he said with wide eyes.
“Oh my God!” Scout squeaked. He’d almost killedJordan. Forget Macklin, his brother whom he probably loved. He’d almost killedJordan, the crush upon whom all other crushes would pale in comparison!
“Divination not working?” Jordan asked, his sinful mouth relaxing into a smile as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
“We’re having trouble,” Macklin said. He fixed Scout with a grim look. “Releasing control.”
Jordan set the pizza box down as Macklin delicately pulled the map free of the rock lodged in the table.
“Mm,” Jordan murmured, looking at the hole the pebble had left. “So one of you wants to stay here and kill Alistair, and the other one wants to go to Australia,” he hazarded, fixing his gaze on Kayleigh first and then Scout. “Why?”
Kayleigh broke the stunned silence with a giggle. “How did you know I wanted to kill Alistair?” she asked.
“I met that fucker once, and I wanted to kill him,” Jordan said grimly. “I can’t imagine living with him. Particularly not when all he did was treat you like a broodmare. I mean, can’t fault your intentions, but that’s not going to give you a lot of control over your life afterwards, so you may want to redirect your rage, right?”
Kayleigh laughed a little more. “Right,” she said, shooting a grin at Scout. “Why Australia?” she asked him.
Scout grimaced. “Because murder is wrong.” Which was only part of the truth. “Also, because I don’t want him to have any control over who I am or what I do. Like Jordan said, killing him would mean he’d control my every action for the rest of my life, whether I got caught or not.”
Jordan nodded. “Okay, then. Let’s have some pizza. I have an idea.” He looked apologetically at Macklin. “To start with, the pebbles weren’t the way to go. We’re asking the magic for suggestions. With the avatars, it’s like we’re asking theirpowerfor suggestions. Remember what we learned last year? The magic holds definite opinions about what’s good for us and the world around us. We need to separate the two.”
