No Peace for the Damned

him out of the car and doing the sobriety test. I waited until he arrested the guy and left the car for a tow truck. I hotwired it and drove it here. I figured I’d return it to the address on the registration.”
    “You can hotwire a car?”
    “You learn to develop your own special abilities working for the Network.”
    The sun threatened morning light and I could see him a little better now. His eyes looked tired, but still alert—like somehow the predator in him never really went to sleep. His hand looked huge on top of mine and his continuous rubbing turned more into a caress.
    “It was like you were right there with me,” he said softly. “I could hear you as if you were right next to me. And when you moved, I could actually feel you inside me.” He frowned again. “You’ve really never done anything like that before?”
    My voice stuck in my throat. The way his fingers felt on my hand, I couldn’t help but picture them caressing other parts of me as well. What was his question?
    I swallowed twice, then finally said, “I’ve been in people’s heads before, but I’ve never been inside someone so…completely before. Not ever.”
    He nodded. I wanted to move closer to him but wasn’t sure if that would shut down this new openness between us. How could a feeling so strong seem so fragile?
    “Why did you do it, then?” he asked. “I mean, did…did you know they were going to take me?”
    Ice exploded in my chest, stealing my breath. The accusation was like a physical blow, only worse. I yanked my hand away. With both hands he snatched it back.
    “I didn’t know you were taken until I was in your head!” I snapped. “And even then, I didn’t know it was
you
, not at first. I just fell asleep and woke up tied to that chair.”
    “OK,” he said quickly, pulling me back toward him. “OK, I believe you.”
    And he did. With absolute certainty, he believed me. So when both his thumbs began rubbing lightly from my fingers to my wrist, I let him. After a few minutes, I settled back into his side.A few minutes more and it was like the pierce of his words had never happened. All I could feel was his hand on mine.
    “So why
do
you think you were able to get in my head?” He studied my face. “Why me?” he whispered.
    “I don’t know,” I whispered back. “You were drugged. Maybe that opened your mind to me, allowed me to slip in. Or maybe it was something else.”
    We lay there in silence for a long while, just looking at each other.
    “That was your mother, wasn’t it?” I finally whispered. “The woman that you saw?”
    His thumbs froze midmassage.
Crap
. Why the hell didn’t I just keep my mouth shut?
    “Never mind,” I said quickly. “It’s none of my business.”
    “It’s OK,” he said. “Yeah, that was my mom. I never saw her look that bad, though. She died when I was fifteen. I hadn’t seen her for years.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be. It’s not your fault. Hell, it wasn’t even her fault. Her family turned her into that.”
    “What do you mean?”
    He took a deep breath. “My mother was sixteen when she got pregnant by her dealer. Her dad was a Chicago bigwig in retail and couldn’t handle the scandal. So instead of sending her to rehab or getting her an abortion, they just threw her out. She had me and we lived with her dealer until social services found me and put me in foster care.”
    His thumbs started moving again.
    “I looked up her family once when I was ten,” he continued. “They live in some mansion outside the city. You should see the house—all decked out in European columns and trellises. Theyeven have this scrolled iron sign in some old-world language at the gate to their driveway, showing off their culture and heritage. It was all so different from where I lived…it wasn’t like anything you went through—not by a long shot—but it wasn’t a fun life.”
    He closed his eyes and pulled on my hand, drawing me into his side until my cheek rested on his shoulder. He took a deep breath and I sensed a release in him, like he was somehow lighter now. He turned his face into my hair and sighed.
    I was tired too. And lighter. Like talking with Theo had somehow removed something from both of us. Or maybe shifted the weight of it. A strange awareness slowly dawned on me as I lay there. Maybe somehow, with Theo, maybe I could forget the evil that lived inside me. Maybe I could actually forget that I was a Kelch. Maybe together…
    Theo opened