Page 69 of Training Rain
Chapter 12
“Letme see if I’ve got this right, you are all psychic and work as a law enforcement agency. You are some of the same people my father has been having me locate for the last year. Some of your friends have died because of the information I provided. Yet you came to the hospital and rescued me out of the goodness of your hearts.”
The team sat around the living room. Rain and Jess explained everything to Troy and he had remained silent while they told the full story. Joshua and Tessa walked in halfway through the telling and took seats. Kane continued to stand guard. Jon showed up with the clothes for Troy and now waited next to Kane.
Rain smiled. “I know it’s a lot to take in.”
“Um, I think you’re all nuts.”
“Why?”
“Didn’t my father tell you what I am?” His eyes narrowed on a point somewhere over her left shoulder. She heard a crack and turned.
Adianca had tourist shop souvenir nesting dolls lining a shelf. They had been painted to resemble squaws. The largest one crumbled into a dozen pieces.
Rain couldn’t help smiling, she’d always hated those dolls. Other than her smile, none of the team reacted. “He told us.”
“I’m a monster.”
“No. You’re a man who had the bad luck to have a father with a narrow mind and a cold heart. We’re not afraid of you, Troy, because most of us have been called monsters too. You can use your ability any way you want. You are free to walk out of here and start a new life. You can try to kill all of us, go back to your father and the hospital or stay here and maybe do some good.”
His expression changed from doubt to something that looked similar to hope. “You want me to help you?”
Rain turned to Joshua who stood and began pacing before he spoke. “Look, if you were interested in joining the Psi Alliance, you’d need training and you’d have to go through a probe. I’m not just letting anyone have access to my people.”
It was not exactly the warm invitation Rain had been hoping Troy would get, but it didn’t seem to faze him. If anything, he seemed comforted by the lack of enthusiasm. “I’ll give it some thought.”
“We understand. You’d have to fight a battle where the enemy is your father. It’s totally understandable to shy away from that.” Joshua faced Troy with his hands on his hips.
“It’s not him. I’d like nothing better than to see him ruined. If you knew half the things he’s done to me… Just for my mother’s sake, I want to see him pay.”
“What is it then?”
Troy stood up and everyone tensed. He opened his arms wide as he spoke. “Look. I’ve been in one hospital after another since I was eight years old. I don’t even know who I am. I’ve been doped up, beaten down, and it all started with my mother’s death. I’m not willing to enter another prison in a trade for the old one.”
The lights in the house shimmered. Joshua was getting angry. “This is not a prison.”
Troy looked at his surroundings. His gaze lingered on Adianca who sat at the long kitchen table watching and listening. “No, I know it’s not. I appreciate you bringing me here and getting me away from my father. I want to help you. I just need some time.”
Kane, Jess, Joshua and Tessa all started talking. Kane said the boy was ungrateful. Jess said to give him a break. Tessa and Joshua were arguing about the fact that they didn’t have any time and now what where they going to do. They had to find Will.
Again the lights flickered and the one over the kitchen sink blinked out.
Adianca’s voice was soft yet somehow she cut through the din. “Lakeland, calm yourself. He has not said he wouldn’t help, only that he cannot right now. It is a sensible response. Did you only save him for your own gain?”
Joshua’s face reddened. “No, shaman. We did it because it was the right thing to do. I only hoped to gain an advantage.”
“And so you have, he no longer tracks for those who want you dead.”
Rain tried to hide her smile. It was amazing how powerful men were quelled in the presence of one old woman.
* * *
“So what arewe going to do now?” Rain and Jess walked along a dirt path that twisted through the desert scrub. The sun was setting and the desert glowed a hundred shades of orange and red. She loved the evening here.
“We’ll wait for word from Piper and go find Will. In the meantime you and I will work on improving your psychic control until you enter the police academy.”
“Do you really think Will is still alive?” Her gut tightened. She liked the sharpshooter. He was a puzzle, but there was something about him she trusted.
