Mindsiege (Mindspeak #2)(13)

Jack cocked his head. She told you that?

No, she showed me.

“Seth,” Jack said, standing. “We’ve got a problem. Georgia had an episode.”

Seth looked from Jack to Georgia to Jonas’s worried face. “Was it a bad one?”

Jonas’s jaw tightened. “Is there any other kind?”

“Well, at least you guys are finally getting to know each other,” Seth said, as if we had all just gathered for team-building activities.

Jack narrowed his eyes at Seth. Jonas chuckled under his breath. I wanted to punch something. Or someone.

“Why are you two here?” I asked. It dawned on me that it was awfully coincidental that they showed up in the same place where Georgia and Jonas had brought me.

“Seth needed some supplies for Addison.” Jack rubbed his neck.

“Which I’m going to go gather.” Seth was halfway out the door when he turned. “Jonas, did you give Lexi a tour of the facility?”

I raised an eyebrow. There was hidden meaning in that question. “Where exactly is this place?”

An arrogant smirk played at the edge of Jonas’s lips.

“As in the location? You don’t know where you are?” Jack cocked his head toward me.

Jonas interrupted. “The Program is located in a building between the UK Hospital complex and the College of Agriculture.”

That was the third mention of the College of Agriculture in one day. I couldn’t think of a single reason my dad would tour that college.

Jonas crossed his arms and studied me from his position beside Georgia. Could it be that there was something to establishing The Program next to the Ag College? The hospital… I understood. But the Ag—

It will all make sense soon, Lexi, Jonas mindspoke to me.

My eyes darted to meet his, but before I could respond, Jack’s voice brought me out of my own thoughts. “Something’s bothering me. What, exactly, would get Georgia to use her telekinetic power?” He faced away from us. His palms were pressed against the door, his fingers spread wide.

Jonas and I traded guilty looks. We both glanced at Georgia, who had been moved to the same gurney I woke up on just hours before.

“Answer me,” Jack demanded, turning and looking at Jonas. Jack was obviously well aware that Georgia didn’t take her special ability or its resulting seizure lightly. He narrowed his gaze and cocked his head, analyzing something. “What happened to your neck?”

Blood along the two-inch cut just below his ear had dried into two streams running down behind the collar of his shirt.

Jonas touched the spot Jack was staring at. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. Who did that?” Jack’s face reddened. His eyes darted from Jonas to me. His hands balled into fists. He looked ready to defend Jonas to the death.

“I did,” I said challengingly. “And Georgia used her power to stop me from hurting him the way I wanted to.”

Both of them looked at me like I had sprouted devil horns. “Why would you slice his neck?” Jack asked.

I opened my mouth to speak, but remembered Jonas’s threat to harm Jack, and his attempt to drown me. A shiver moved through me at the thought of him—or anyone—inside my head making me do things against my will. I wanted him to stay out, but the idea that Jack thought I was lying about Jonas controlling my mind…

Jack stepped closer. “Why, Lexi?”

I ground my teeth. I wanted to scream at Jack. I wanted to tell him that Jonas was a jerk and that he was dangerous, but for some impossible-to-understand reason, I said nothing.

“It was my fault,” Jonas said. “Georgia and I found her at the Arboretum. The IIA was hot on her trail. We had to tranq her.”

“You tranqed her?” Jack paced.

“And then we brought her here. I didn’t know what else to do.” Jonas spoke like he was protecting me. I laughed under my breath.

Since I had known Jack, he’d been thoughtful, but sometimes secretive and standoffish. And overprotective at times. I wasn’t sure which Jack I was seeing today. His eyes burned into mine. “What happened to you staying out of sight?”

My blood heated at his accusatory tone. “I guess with all the voices inside my head, men in black suits chasing me, and the murder of the one person I had hoped would help me, I got a little sidetracked.”

His face softened. “I’m sorry about Marci.”

“Yeah? Me too,” I snapped, then redirected to Georgia. “Will Georgia be okay?” Her body lay motionless.

“She’ll be fine. But of the seven of us whose powers I’ve seen so far, she has the worst side effect.” Jack smoothed my hair away from my face and behind my ear. My skin tingled beneath his touch. “She’s the reason I didn’t want you to heal Addison. Just the thought of watching you suffer in that way… I couldn’t handle it.”

“But I don’t suffer in that way,” I said.

“Addison was the first person you healed. The only person so far… No one knew how your body would respond. We still don’t know enough.”

About many things. And we were obviously still getting to know each other, as well as the abilities each of us had. It blew my mind that I may have healed a little girl of injuries where doctors had failed. “How is Addison?”