Somewhere Over the Freaking Rainbow - By L.L. Muir Page 0,45
prayed.”
“I didn’t pray.”
“So you think.”
“Okay, give me a minute.” He remembered what Rachel had told him earlier. No way could she guess that.
Mr. Evans is dating his ex-students.
Skye shook her head.
“What? Give up?”
“No. And no, Mr. Evans is only dating one of his ex-students.”
Impressive, but then again, she came from a race that could erase memories.
“We’re not going to be seeing Mr. Evans again. It’s too bad. He was an interesting teacher. Made kids want to go to class, you know?”
“That can’t happen. He can’t just let some substitute read our papers! He promised.” Jamison grabbed his hair, trying to hear his thoughts over the alarms sounding in his head.
What had Evans said? If I can’t get this back to you, I’ll destroy it? Of course! He already knew he was taking off. Jamison didn’t need to worry. No sub would be reading about Texas.
“What are you talking about?” Skye frowned.
Maybe she couldn’t read every thought. He took a couple of deep breaths and tried to bring his focus back to the current crisis.
“What happened?” he sneered. “Some of your people blow him up?”
She threw him a look full of pain, and he didn’t think it was all due to his snottiness.
“You think I would have blown up Marcus? He was like a father to me.” She covered her face for a minute, then dropped her hands in her lap. “We don’t blow people up and we didn’t murder your friends.”
“What happened to Mr. Evans?”
“He’s eloping. Tonight.”
Jamison wished he’d gotten more sleep. Maybe he’d have been more patient. As it was, he wanted to shake her. She knew what he wanted. She just needed to give it up.
“No, I don’t know what you want.”
Wow.
It was now or never.
“What I want is simple. I’m not going to let you go until you tell me the whole thing. What are you? Where are they hiding Ray and Burke’s bodies? What did you do with their families? And no one had better touch mine, or else.”
“Or else what?”
He opened his mind to her again, for a visual of a case of dynamite. Then he slammed his thoughts shut.
Skye grinned. Then she chuckled. Then she laughed her butt off. “Jamison!” She tried to stop smiling, but couldn’t. “I’ve been in Kenneth’s basement. Those crates are empty. All of them.”
Jamison fumed. It didn’t matter what he did, she messed it all up. All day long, things had gone perfectly. Why couldn’t she just do or say something he anticipated?
He was just a joke to her. A disposable neighbor. And now he’d made such a mess of things, he’d probably put his mom in danger. Again. And Granddad!
***
Skye hit that patch of icy road again, the one in Jamison’s mind, protecting the entrance to Texas. The worry in his eyes was no laughing matter. This had to stop. She had no choice.
Boy, if the situation wasn’t a great argument against removing memories, she didn’t know what was. Having that debate with Lucas, however, would never happen. If she told him what had been going on in the tree house, it would unfold just as Jamison suspected; he wouldn’t be allowed to remember a thing.
But watching Jamison lose his mind wasn’t something she could stand by and watch either.
She thought about her primary duty. Malfunctions aside, she did know what that was. And if her decisions were made with only that duty in mind, she had no choice. But this time it was different. Her new emotions had created all kinds of choices. And this time, because she was able, she was going to keep Jamison’s memories out of Lucas’s reach.
“Okay. You win.” She sat back down and locked her fingers around her knees.
His mouth dropped open, then closed, then opened again. Finally, he recovered. “Start talking.”
Just then Skye felt Lucas’s thoughts nudge her for the second time. She’d already made her decision, so she didn’t have to think about what to do.
Don’t worry about me. Don’t look for me. I’m safe. Very important. Don’t worry. I’ll return in the morning.
Lucas knew a planted suggestion when he got one. He might be curious, but he wouldn’t come looking for her.
“All right. You can relax. I just convinced Lucas that I’m in no danger and not to look for me.”
“You lied to him, then. You are in danger.”
Skye had started peeling her coat off, but stopped. She stood and lunged forward, her face stopping only inches from Jamison’s. Her coat, caught around her elbows, held her arms back,