Gifted Connections: Book 2(51)

“No, buddy, I-” I quickly reassured him, before he interrupted me.

“I know that now,” he piped up. “Are you here to get me?” he asked hopefully. “I have been trying to reach you, but you haven’t been answering me. I stopped trying to reach you. I thought maybe they got you, too.”

“I couldn’t, I’m sorry,” I explained to him. “I had a block on me and now I have my gifts back. Are you alone? Is there anyone with you?”

“There are three of us,” he explained. “And three guards left. They say they want to move me tonight. Horatio wants to meet me.”

“Well we’re here now. What can those three people do?” I asked.

“Ready?” he asked, and without waiting for my consent, I was sucked inside of his head. I was able to see that Alex was sitting on the couch with two other young teens. They were all sitting on the couch bound, watching some Disney Channel show.

Two men were sitting at a table playing poker, smoking. The ashtray beside them filled with cigarette butts.



“The fat guy keeps pushing me to find out my gift,” Alex explained. “He keeps trying to make me tell him the truth, but he’s not strong enough,” Alex scoffed. “He knows I’ve been lying to him. The bald guy is like Ella, but he only see’s minutes into—" He stopped as the bald guy suddenly stood up, his chair clattering to the floor.

“They’re here!” he exclaimed, nervously looking around. Both men withdrew guns from the holsters at their hips.

“Let’s go,” said another man who came into the room. He picked up the two teens like they weighed nothing.

“Blake!” Alex called out in panic as the fat guy picked him up.

I pulled myself away from him and looked over at Troy and Remy. “They know we’re here.”

I started to run towards the house as the guys yelled my name. Remy caught up to me and hurled himself through the front door before I could warn him about the guns. I barely had time to set the forcefield around him to deflect the bullets. Troy came into the house. The man not holding Alex engulphed into flames. His terrified screams of pain pierced through the air. The guy who held Alex started to make a run for it, while the other man quickly dropped the teens and pushed him out of the way. I could see the fear in his eyes, and I knew he didn’t think the teens were worth the risk of his life.

“Stop,” I compelled the man who held Alex. “Gently put him down,” I insisted.

He put him down, as Jace, Jaxson, Noah, and Drake came running into the house. Alex quickly got up and launched his little body into my arms.

“Blake!” he cried in relief as he squeezed me. “I was waiting for you!”

“You promised to not get involved,” Noah gently admonished me.

“Did anyone get the other guy?” I asked, ignoring him. I felt somewhat comforted that Alex looked fed and clean.

“Pops, Gavin, and Collin are taking care of him,” Drake explained to me. It was the first time he had talked to me since the hospital.

I turned back to the fat man, who was bawling. “I didn’t know! I didn’t know!”

“Shut up,” I hissed. “Where are the restraints?” I asked the guys.

Jaxson pulled some out of his pocket as he knelt next to the guy. He restrained the guy as Jace placed a comforting hand on the two young teens. I could see their fear abate as he placed his hands on them.

“We’re the good guys,” he explained to them. “Will you go with us, so we can help you get back to your parents?”

“I don’t have any parents,” the beautiful black girl of about 11 or 12 stated. “They took me from my granny, and she hasn’t been right in the head for a while. She keeps calling me Tanya. Tanya was my mom. I’m Jasmine.”

“No worries,” Jace stated. “We have a wonderful place we can show you, and if you like it there, you can stay.”

Jasmine slowly nodded. “I don’t think Granny’s gonna miss me, and I don’t want to go with CPS.”

“I don’t want to go home,” the other young teen stated. “Mom and Dad are afraid of me,” he looked down at his feet. “Whenever I draw something, it happens in their dreams.” He looked at us levelly. “I don’t draw pleasant things.”

He was a teen a little on the thicker side, with peculiar features. His eyes, though, were stunning, and carried a haunted look. He was far too young to be carrying the weight he was carrying in them.

“It’s okay,” Jace stated. “We can try to help you both with your gifts.”

“It’s not a gift,” the boy scoffed. “More like a curse.”

“You won’t feel that way for long,” Jaxson said confidently as he pulled the fat man up on his feet with the help of Remy.

“Let’s go,” Jemmy stated as she came into the house. “The swipe teams on their way.”

“Are we going to get Micah?” Alex asked expectantly.



Since Baltimore wasn’t too far away from our location, we decided to head there by vehicle. Collin was using his blocking gifts on the prisoners we got, so he was accompanying Will back to Knightstown. Jemmy and Gavin were taking the two teens back with them. Will asked Rachel to return with them, so she can help interrogate the prisoners. That left me and the guys heading to Baltimore with Alex.