Page 33 (1/2)

The corner of his y"

"Have you always had telepathic powers?"

He closed his eyes His breathing slowed, and she wondered if he’d fallen asleep He looked so harmless and handso "It runs in randfather was telepathic My mother’s father"

"The one you’re nahtly "Papa Olaf When I was very young, I would hear people say so And when I answered theroo heads I was afraid so with "

"Yeah Papa Olaf understood, though, and he toldAt first, I was scared, but he made it fun, like ere in a special, secret club just for us" Austin s on his favorite lake in Minnesota, having long conversations without either of us saying a word"

Darcy suppressed a twinge of sorrow She stilltalks with her sisters "You were lucky to have hiift, but as I grew older, I becarand protector of er sisters When their friends came over, I would read their minds and chase them off if I didn’t like what I heard"

Darcy snorted "I bet your sisters loved that"

He grinned "I wondered at the time why they weren’t properly appreciative Now, I realize I was acting like a know-it-all bully" His s leap forhen I was about fifteen, and I started bragging about what I could do It upset my father He’d always been envious of the close relationship I had with randfather He became convinced that Papa Olaf was an evil influence inme in the occult"

"Oh, no" Darcy propped her head up on her hand "What did your father do?"

"He forbade rily, clai to each other because we could enter each other’s h that he packed up the family and moved us to Wisconsin He told ain"

"Oh, I’m so sorry" Darcy stroked Austin’s brow "It ed "That’s when I realized I wasn’t nearly as powerful as I’d thought I couldn’t reach h school, and I didn’t want to be seen as a freak My sisters were mad at me because the ave in I wanted everyone to be happy with me, so I tried to be normal I tried to make my father proud I was on the football and swih school and college"

Darcy sighed She knew too hat it was like to feel trapped in a world where you couldn’t be yourself "What happened to your grandfather?"

"I was in college when he called and asked me to come see him" Austin closed his eyes briefly His lips thinned as a pained expression pinched his face "I hardly recognized him, his health had deteriorated so badly I hadn’t realized howwho I really was, to eood He told me to never be ashamed, that there was a reason God had made me the way I was, and that it was up to ood ie’s, though she would never understand what good could cohed "I felt like I had betrayed him And betrayed myself So, I promised him on his death bed that I would do as he asked I joined the CIA and developed ht evil"

"Like ave her an irritated look "Don’t insult the woman I love"

With a smile, she rested her head on his shoulder Now she understood why Austin was driven to use his powers to protect the innocent and defeat evil She couldn’t expect hiift was too rare and special to be squandered away "I bet you used to dress up like a superhero for Halloween"

He chuckled "Yes I especially liked the capes"

"And you had Superman underwear?"

He nodded "And Spiderman pajamas My lunch-box was the Incredible Hulk"

She smoothed a hand over his muscular chest and defined abs "Oh, yeah You’re incredible, all right"

He rolled onto his side, shed "And the beach house, too"

"An ail-American sweetheart" He rubbed a hand up and down her back "Tell me what happened to you"

Her smile faded "I’d rather not"

"I want to know"

"I died End of story"

"You were a television reporter I’ve seen the tapes You were entertaining and clever" He brushed her hair back "I’ve been trying to figure out what happened I went to see your old cameraman, Jack"

Darcy’s breath hitched "How is he?"

"Not good So scared the hell out of hi aliens"

She winced "Poor Jack"

"Tell o on Halloween"

"I was doing a story on kids who pretend to be vaave him a doubtful look "Do you really want to hear this?"

"Yes Tell me"

Darcy shuddered as she allowed the memories to escape from the mental file where she kept thee, not far fros of Fortune Jack had his old video ca to interview a few kids and leave"

She closed her eyes briefly "A couple from NYU came to our table Draco and Taylor Draco had dental iirl, just wanting to be noticed They posed for the ca men, and I went to their table"

"Who were they?" Austin asked

"Gregori, dressed in a tuxedo, as usual The other was a Scotsreen kilt"