Gifted Connections 3

“They have grills up on the roof. The charcoal is already lit,” Ford explained. “I’m no Drake, but I can grill a mean steak.” He reached into the fridge and pulled out a

bottle of beer. “Beer, anyone?” he asked. Most of the guys eagerly accepted it. I passed. I didn’t have much of a taste for it.

I knew we didn’t have any, so I assumed he had brought it. Dawn was right behind him, grabbing a bottle of Moscato out of the fridge. She pulled down some wine glasses and poured some into them.

“I’ll season them, if you don’t mind grilling them,” Drake stated with a smile at Ford.

“No problem, man. Sounds good,” Ford said as he perched on one of the stools at the bar.

“Are you going to tell us who your hook up is?” I asked Dawn as Drake pulled out a large stock pot for the lobsters.

Dawn gave me a mysterious smile and shook her head.

Ford let out a bark of laughter. “Don’t let her pull your leg. I know a guy in town. He runs a restaurant down there, and after you guys fed me the other day, I figured I would reciprocate the favor.”

Dawn gave him a mock annoyed look, making me laugh. I needed some comic relief right now. I was still wound tight.

“We fed you ravioli and salad!” I exclaimed as Terrance came back in with two large cases of food.

Ford shrugged. “I make good money. There’s only so many things I can buy for myself. I don’t pay rent. I don’t have a car payment. Basically, I have no bills.”

“I’m not complaining,” Marcel said as he took a drag from his beer bottle.

Dawn handed me a glass of wine and I gladly took it. I didn’t care if it was frowned upon. I opened the top case and barely concealed my yelp of surprise. The lobster was still alive and moving around.

“They’re still alive,” I looked over at Drake.

He chuckled as he stood behind me. “Fresh lobster, even better.”

“Are you going to volunteer to butcher them, too?” Noah joked as he peered into the case.

I gave him a mock look of annoyance. “Very funny, I can totally do it,” I tried to sound more convincing then I actually felt.

Our apartment was completely packed with people by the time dinner was ready. Will and Jace were back and they informed us that Mr. Moore and Herman were getting some much-needed rest and they weren’t in as bad of shape as they looked. I could see the tension drain out of Rachel at this update.

Dinner turned out amazing, but I could still sense the tension in the room. Jaxson was more withdrawn then I had ever seen him, and Jace seemed determined to pretend like seeing his mother after twelve years wasn’t that earth shattering.

It was late by the time it was over, and I immediately found a seat on Jaxson’s lap as the last of our guests left. Megan asked Micah to take Ella and Alex to bed, and then Will turned to us with a serious expression. I could see Kade shift uncomfortably on the chair he was sitting in.

“Several years ago, there was a group of gifted individuals that tried to tackle the issues in our community,” Will said without preamble. “With help of a geneticist and scientist they thought they had finally solved our issues. They found ten families over a span of time that were willing to go through the testing, and five of them had successful results. These families with fertility issues were finally able to have their children through the help of these procedures.

“They didn’t realize, though, that there would be consequences to their actions. Some people believe our gifts are given to us. Our gifts know what we are capable of handling. That’s why some gifted parents produce ungifted children. Their children were unable to handle any gifts that may have been passed down to them.

“We have been doing some research, based on some leads we were given. Rachel’s Dad and your mom…” He looked at me. “…were the results of these experiments. We believe that’s why they were able to produce more than one or two children.

“After further investigation, we determined that the other children that survived past birth had problems when they received their gifts. Some of them had unstable gifts that ended up not only destroying themselves but, in some cases, others.

“Your grandmother…” He looked at me and Kade. “…was one of the people behind these experiments. After the death of her third child and second genetically produced child, she became nonverbal. She now resides in an assisted living home and hasn’t spoken in over twenty-nine years. Mr. Moore just informed us that Horatio is now on a hunt to find your grandmother. He’s hoping he can unlock the secrets of her experiments and continue them.”

I felt shocked at everything he just told me. My mother was a product of testing. Was that why my gift seemed to have a mind of its own? Was that why I was bestowed with more than one gift?

“What are we going to do?” Remy asked. “We can’t let him find her.”

Will nodded. “Paul has more contacts then we have. He has already deployed three teams to three possible locations of her whereabouts. He’s already forged the documentation to have them release her into our care.”

We all nodded, but I was only left with more questions.

“Is that why my gift seems…unstable?” I finally asked quietly as Jaxson gave me a gentle squeeze.