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Steve navigated the car out of the parking lot and wound his way around the city until we pulled onto a wider road. Signs with symbols hung on the overpasses and we eventually turned off the two lane highway in favor of a wider stretch. I still couldn’t read and I wondered just how long it would be until that ironed itself out. Instead of trying to study the roadways and signs that were as foreign to me as anything else, I studied the scenery for a while.
“Piano?” he said after a while.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Huh,” he huffed shaking his head like that was the damnedest thing.
“What happened?” I asked, pushing the stilted words out.
Steve sighed and continued staring out at the road. “A lot,” he finally said and glanced at me before focusing on driving.
I waited for more but it was obvious nothing was coming. All I heard was a low level static from him. “Are you really my uncle?”
He smiled and shook his head. “No. I met your father while I was on a case and we kind of grew on each other. Unfortunately, he was killed in the crossfire and your mother died later that same year. Murdered by the same wacko who nearly killed your brother.”
“What do you do?” I stuttered, now more nervous to be around someone associated with so much death.
“I used to be a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigations. A cop,” he added when I raised an eyebrow.
“Cop?”
He bit his lip and the space between his eyebrows creased. “A cop keeps the peace and goes after the bad guys. Their job is to keep people safe,” he said trying to boil it down into simplistic terms.
“Valerie said I saved everyone’s life. Does that make me a cop?”
“No. You aren’t a cop.” He glanced at me. “You’re just a kid who stepped into something far worse than you could handle alone, and we nearly lost you.”
“Why is everyone being so cryptic?”
He started to laugh. “It’s our turn to keep you safe,” he said and met my gaze. “Valerie doesn’t think you’re ready yet, and I have to trust the doctor’s instincts.”
I crossed my arms and sank farther into the seat, opting to watch the other cars on the road instead of engaging in any further conversation.
“Give it time,” he said, pulling my gaze back to him. “It’s been a rough road for all of us and we’d just like the chance for you to get to know us before we walk you through what happened. Okay?”
I caught the sheen of tears in his eyes and he blinked them away without shedding any.
“Okay,” I agreed.
He glanced at me. “You’re doing a little better talking than you were yesterday,” he said.
“Yes.” I continued watching the scenery. “Small words work, the rest, not so much.”
“Val said you still had an issue reading. Do you recognize any letters on the road signs?”
I glanced at the green signs with white symbols and shook my head. “No.”
“Well, we’ll have to work on that.”
His matter-of-fact statement made me shift in the seat. “I don’t understand how the words are in my head but I can’t remember what they look like.”
“The brain is a funny thing.” He glanced at me. “I assume you can still do some of the things you did before?”
I stared at him, hesitating for a moment before nodding. If Valerie trusted him enough to let him take me out of the hospital, then perhaps I should put some trust in the man.
He gave me a soft smile. “I used to have some of that magic mojo,” he said and sighed. “The illusion of invincibility was a comfort most of the time and reading Jen’s mind was always an adventure.” He laughed. “It’s been an adjustment not having it anymore.”
“What happened?”
Steve sighed. “Valerie. She was sick and in order for Damian and me to get her out of danger, I had to heal her.” He was quiet for a bit. “It was kind of the same thing that happened to me when I first...” he trailed off searching for the right word. “Absorbed your older brother’s powers. It was as much of a shock to him as it had been for me.”
“Tom?” I asked, focusing in on the word brother.
“No, Eric. He died the same year as your parents.”
“You sure seem to be around a lot of dead people,” I said and he laughed.
“True and some stick with you longer than others,” he said. His laughter wound down and there was an emptiness about him that etched into the lines of his face. “Silence is another thing I’ve had to get used to.”
“Huh?”
“The constant undercurrent of thoughts of those around you?” He sent a knowing glance at me. “It’s white noise until you focus and then it’s like being invisible in the middle of a private conversation. But now that I’m back to normal, I don’t have that and I never thought I’d say this, but between you and me... I miss it.”
“I thought it was normal,” I muttered and he chuckled.
“No. It took some getting used to for someone who has never had any ability to speak of. I remember the first night. I was at Quantico with a training class and the noise drove me bat shit. Your brother hadn’t given me any instructions on how to lower the thought assault from an overwhelming roar to white noise. Instead, he found my struggle amusing, but I can’t blame him. I wasn’t all that happy when everything I had transferred to Valerie.”
“I bet.” I wouldn’t be very comfortable with someone depleting my powers, either. Although, I wasn’t sure of the realm of gifts I possessed. I just knew it felt like a ball of pure energy at the center of my body that snaked through every last membrane of my form, creating a constant hum in my skin.
We both got quiet and I watched the green scenery pass.
“Why me?” I asked as I turned the conversation over in my head.
“Why what?” he asked as we approached a scenic bridge overlooking a water way.
“Why do I have these... powers?”
He shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t know. I think your mother was naturally blessed, along with your older brother, but their powers didn’t really trigger until your mom met your father.” Steve navigated from the high speed lane to the right hand lane, slowing down a little. “You were born out of that union of love and power and because of that, you’re unique in ways a lot of us can’t comprehend.” He glanced at me and then set the blinker, taking the exit ramp. “In some ways your uniqueness reminds me of Grace.”
I lost focus on the conversation, studying the quaint town we drove through and the glimpses I had of the water on a few of the curves. Steve pulled down a side road and approached a large home surrounded by a black iron fence and immaculately manicured lawn. The fence looped around both sides of the house blockading the residence from the bordering properties until it met up with a low stone wall and the water beyond. It was an impressive piece of ocean front property.
Steve pressed the remote attached to the visor and the gates slowly opened, leading to a short driveway and a three car garage. “This is your home,” he said and something about the way he accentuated the word your pulled my gaze to him. He stopped and turned off the car, before meeting my gaze. “Your parents left it to you. We’ve been living here with you since you were eight-years-old.”
“Oh,” I said and stepped out of the car when he did. The house was quiet when we entered. The garage attached to an open family room-kitchen concept that was warm and inviting. Beyond the sitting area stood sliding glass doors and an enviable view of the ocean. I crossed to them and stared out at the large, pristine pool. It all looked inviting and utterly foreign.
“Did you want to see your room? I’m sure your swim trunks are still in the drawers somewhere,” Steve said and the thought of jumping in that water turned me on my heels. I followed him up the stairs and we turned to the left. Steve showed me where the bathroom was and across the hall he opened the door to what he said was my bedroom.
I stepped inside, hoping for some reference of familiarity and it just felt strange. Pictures on the shelves clearly contained me in them along with some of the people who had come into the room yesterday. I picked up one of Tom and me, leaning together in formal attire, our champagne glasses raised and grins plastered on our faces.
“Tom’s wedding,” Steve said when I turned to him. “You two had a little too much to drink.”
I put the frame back on the shelf and picked up another one with three pictures. The center was a man in a suit who looked a lot like me and a stunning woman in a white dress. On one side the woman stood with four children and on the other, the man sat with two boys on his knees.
“My parents?” I stuttered and got a nod in response.
“You remember them?” The hopeful arch of his brow hit a nerve and I put the picture back on the shelf. It was a nice looking family, but I didn’t have any recollection of any of them.
“No. I look a lot like my father,” I replied, pointing.
“Yes, you do.” He stepped closer and pointed to one of the older children. “That’s your brother, Eric. He was my partner at Quanitco. And that’s Emily, your older sister. I never got the chance to meet her.”
I stared at the picture. “Only Tom and I are alive?”
“Yes.” He sighed and opened the top drawer of the bureau under the shelf of pictures. “Your swim trunks are in here. I’m going to enjoy the rest of the afternoon by the pool.” He crossed to the door. “I’ll bring my tablet out and we can start re-learning how to read and get you some basics of sign language so you and Tom can communicate.”
“We talked just fine yesterday,” I said, glancing at him and tapped my temple.
“You may have heard him without an issue, but he struggled to understand you at times, so having the sign language as a backup will help him. He can’t read minds.”
“Oh,” I said and he left me standing in what should have been a comfortable room, but I just wanted to be with Valerie, not here, feeling empty and lost.