The Survivors

Chapter Six: Pacific, pt. 2

  Then I remembered why I was there. I bit my lip. All my focus had gone, and I tried to regain it, but even a glance in Everett's direction made it impossible. I could not hear their thoughts or feel their feelings.

  I followed Mark into the living room. Everett walked behind me. I should have been more concerned that they had me surrounded in the narrow hallway, but I was still too ruffled to think straight.

  Seven pair of eyes looked up at me, most with the same golden-green glisten Everett's had. Had Mark's eyes always looked like that, or had I just been too scared to notice in my hotel that night? Suddenly that night felt like a lifetime ago. Everything before meeting Everett thirty-eight seconds earlier felt like a different life. Those eyes! Those lips! Who looked like that?

  I looked at him again and smiled sheepishly. He smiled back. I was mesmerized.

  "This is Sadie," Mark said. His hand hovered over the small of my back and guided me toward a chair. He was being tender. Were they possibly not a threat to me? Or was this a ruse to disarm me? "Sadie, this is my mother, Adelaide," he said and gestured to a striking blonde, blue-eyed woman who looked to be in her early thirties. She nodded cordially in my direction. "And my father, Anthony," he said. Anthony, who looked about fifty, did not acknowledge me. He was a tall man of about Everett's stature and had the same deep brown hair Everett did, only his was edged in silver, and there were soft lines in his face. His eyes flickered back and forth between Everett and me suspiciously. Mark sat across from me, and Everett stood, unable to relax, or so it seemed. Was he feeling what I was feeling?

  Mark continued. "This is Patrick, my oldest brother." A Mark look-alike-with the same hair and eyes as his brothers and father-lifted his hand in my direction, a careful greeting. "And his wife, Madeline." A thin, timid girl with a pallid complexion stared blankly at me from behind copper-brown hair, her eyes the strange color of my own. Her gaze was severe, made worse by the dark circles under her bright eyes and the harsh angles of her face. She was beautiful, though, even in her severity. Was she one of them, too? I wondered, but I was not in a position to ask questions of that nature. "And this little gem," he laughed, gesturing to the gorgeous blonde he had left out, "is Ginny."

  Ginny laughed just then. "I'm the sister," she said, answering a question I had in my head. "No confusion." Is she seriously wearing the Nimue suit from the Thakoon Spring/Summer runway in my living room? I could get used to this, I heard in the same voice. Was I reading her mind? Could she read mine? That was a talent no one in my family possessed, and I had been beginning to think my abilities were unique above all others. But maybe not. Ginny was very enthusiastic, bouncing where she sat and grinning widely. She immediately reminded me of Corrina. I smiled at her, her warmth putting me at ease. Instantly I began to get a read on the feelings in the room. The relaxation helped my senses. Plus, I wasn't looking at Everett. Had I been, my focus would have been shot again.

  I noticed that these creatures, like me, seemed so human. They lived in this house, in this town among mortals, and they interacted with each other like regular people. There was real affection surging between them, and their emotions were very complex. I felt a million different things pressing in on me, though I wasn't sure who in the room was feeling what-but I really hoped that muted feeling of longing was coming from Everett. I also hoped that he didn't have the talent for sensing that I did. It would give away more of me than I had already given.

  There was an awkward silence while I waited for someone to speak to me. After everyone had done their best to look me up and down and pull anything from me they could, Adelaide finally spoke.

  "You've come to speak with us," she said, making it clear that they were waiting on me.

  "Yes," I said. I was still thinking about Everett. I shook my head quickly, trying to erase the thoughts of him from my mind. Come on, Sadie. Focus! I began. "I didn't know if you would be angry that I came here. Mark told me to stay away, not to track him. But my family...they wanted..."