Gifted Connections 3

I opened my eyes. “I don’t care. I don’t have to have my gifts. They aren’t what define me. Maybe I can finally live a normal life. I can go back to Knightstown and continue learning how to play my music, like when I was tired of living the life of obscurity. I’ll find a band and perform on open-mike nights.”

“I don’t need mine either,” Remy stated with a clenched jaw. When I saw the expression on everyone else’s faces, I had a feeling that they had already discussed this. We had the discussion the morning after we got back. I imagined they revisited it once they realized I wasn’t the only one losing my gift. “I’ll go back to my restaurant; you guys can move in with me or we can build another home for the seven of us.”

“I can go to one of the schools that offered me a scholarship to play football and focus solely on football and school,” Jaxson said quietly. “I’ll come home when I can but I know you guys will take care of Blake.”

“I wouldn’t mind getting back into school and pursuing my career as a surgeon,” Noah added as he leaned over to gently remove the needle from my hand.

“We can’t just give up just like that,” Drake stood up and removed his glasses as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t like the idea of sharing Blake either, especially to an outsider, but the truth of the matter, is we have a greater purpose. There has to be a reason we were meant to be together.” He gave me and apologetic look but continued. “I know you love us, and we love you too, but I can’t help but feel like there’s a reason for all of this. We already know that Horatio is out there hurting our community. Can we all go home and hope everyone else can finally take care of him? Can we know that the other people we love and care for might suffer because of our selfish desires?”

“They can’t do it without us,” Troy said with conviction. “As inane and conceited as that sounds, we’ve already proven that we’re needed for the mission. Can we honestly pack up our family and think it won’t affect Kade, Micah, Ella, and Alex? That one day they may pay for our mistakes? That they may suffer because we allowed someone else to finally stop Horatio?”

Jace released a deep sigh. “Our gifts are an integral part of who we are. We may not care about them now or a few weeks from now, but eventually we’ll feel like we lost a piece of ourselves.”

There was a knock on the door. Jaxson got up with a heavy sigh. I was pleased to see Kade, Micah, Ella, and Alex, but I wish they would have given us a few more moments to hash this all out.

“When are you leaving us?” Ella said forlornly as she climbed into my bed and cuddled next to me.

“I’m not,” I reassured her.

“But you have to,” Alex stated firmly.

Micah cleared his throat uncomfortably. “We know you’re weak. We also know you have to leave to get better.”

I looked over at Ella suspiciously. “Not all of your predictions are correct. Sometimes things change and our fu

ture is changed.”

Kade handed me the sketch pad that Ella always carried around with her. “She’s seen both outcomes,” Kade explained to the guys.

The first page he opened up was of me and the guys standing behind a rope, like the kind you see in banks or movie theaters. There was a man standing on a red carpet with his back to us. People surrounded us, taking pictures, smiling, and waving at him as he held a hand up as if to wave back.

It had been some time since I had seen Ella’s drawings, and I was beyond impressed. Her detail in the picture was phenomenal. The many dimensions she added was amazing.

The next few pages I turned had me shaking and gasping. There were so many disturbing images. Images that no seven-year-old should ever have stuck in her head.

“They’ll take us away for testing. They will put us in camps. They will kill most of us,” Kade said quietly. “You have to find him, Blake. We can’t have Horatio harm anymore people.

I handed the book off to Jace first as I pulled my knees up to my chest and started sobbing. I couldn’t stomach either one of my choices. I didn’t want to allow Horatio to win, but on the other hand, I didn’t want to sacrifice the happiness of my connections and my own. Drake had once told me we were naturally drawn to our connections, but I felt like it was horribly unnatural for me to love more than one man, let alone seven.

Troy moved next to me and Ella, embracing us.

“Have you seen the other man?” Remy frowned as he flipped through the pictures.

Ella shook her head forlornly. “No, his face is always blurry but he has the same marks as you guys. He’s rarely ever alone and always surrounded by lots and lots of people.”

“What do we do?” Jaxson said in a horrified whisper as he went through the pictures.

“That’s entirely up to Blake,” Noah stated as he stood above my head to stroke my hair.

I shook my head. “I already told you all,” I said sniffing loudly. “We need to make major decisions together. We all need to reach the same one.”

Remy sighed loudly as he lightly punched the wall.

“We need to go look for him,” Jace insisted quietly.

“We can’t let our families suffer like this,” Drake agreed.

“We have a responsibility to uphold,” Troy added.