The Survivors

Chapter Seven: Road Trip, pt. 2

On Monday morning, the whole family went to Toastie's, a diner in Pacific Grove. They wanted a good meal before they got on the road. I drank some water to cool myself, but otherwise I just watched them eat. Just this morning, they had informed me that Madeline wasn't coming, and I was surprised they would leave her behind. I didn't know what to think about her; we hadn't spoken to each other yet.

We didn't arrange who was going in what car until we finished breakfast. I was driving my car, and Patrick was starting the drive in the Range Rover. Anthony and Adelaide chose to go with him, and Mark opened the rear door and hopped in. That left Ginny and Everett with me. I was thrilled as I anticipated this long journey with Everett in such proximity, but Ginny grabbed my hand and pulled me toward my car.

"Give us girls some time," she said to Everett. "Maybe we can switch around wherever we stop first. You good with that?" Everett nodded. I was crushed.

Reluctantly, I climbed into the front seat of my car as Ginny followed suit. I eased out of the parking spots in front of Toastie's, made a U-turn to head back the way we needed to go, and drove out of Pacific Grove with the Range Rover on my tail.

Ginny flipped through the channels on my satellite radio until she found something she wanted to listen to. She didn't talk until we got on the highway. Then she suddenly shifted into high gear.

"Man, do I have some questions for you," she said enthusiastically, turning down the music a little.

"Like what?" I asked.

"This is the first time we've been totally alone. No family overhearing. No obvious topics to avoid in public. I want to know everything!" she squealed.

I had plenty of questions for her, too, but I had assumed they were off limits. "Okay," I said. "What first?"

She answered immediately. "Who is Cole Hardwick?"

I was caught off-guard. "What? No, no. Let's not start there. Me first. What are your powers?" I asked.

You haven't figured that out yet? she said clearly in her head.

"You know I can read minds," I said out loud. "Can you? Is that how you knew?"

"Is that how I knew what? That you could read minds or about Cole Hardwick?" she goaded.

"Both?" I asked.

She laughed. "When I'm around you, I can read minds. I'm a mirror," she said.

"What is a mirror?" I asked.

  She laughed again. "See, I thought that was pretty self-explanatory. I mirror other people's powers when I'm with them. When I've been around them long enough-like my family-sometimes I can use their skills when they aren't there."

"Whoa, what a talent!" I said. I'd never heard of that one before. I assumed it could be useful but possibly very overwhelming. "What's your favorite?"

"Definitely mind reading," she said. "We've never met anyone who can do that." Just as I had thought. I wondered how much of a freak that made me.

  "You're not a freak," she said, responding to my thoughts. "I think it's a good thing. Can anyone else in your family do that?" she asked, flipping the satellite channels again.

"No," I confirmed.

"What do they think about that?" she asked.

"They don't know about it," I said. I realized we could be having this entire conversation silently, but that seemed unnerving, so I was glad we were talking.

"Whoa yourself. You've hidden that from them?" she asked, sounding impressed.

"It's a new thing," I said. "I couldn't do it until this week." She doubted me in her mind. "No, really. I've always been able to sense things from people. It used to be just emotions, kind of like I was an empath. But then I started to hear the stupid humming in my head which has turned into voices some of the time."