Minds: Book Two

Chapter One

         The ride back to the Safe House seemed endless. I tried to fall asleep with Isaac’s arms around me but I couldn’t. But I didn’t want to talk so I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep anyways. I keep replaying River’s death in my head. I don’t understand why Isaac lowered his gun. Watching River sacrifice himself for Isaac broke my heart. The way Isaac screamed River’s name was an indescribable pain in my heart. I tried to stop thinking about Isaac cries, and River’s blood on his hands. But my mind drifted back to Maddox’s death. I never meant to kill him. I just wanted to shoot the gun out of his hand so he didn’t have another chance to kill Isaac.
        But the bullet hit Maddox a lot higher than I anticipated. The image of him instantly collapsing into the ground was burned into my memory. The bus came to a stop. Isaac gently rubbed my shoulder.
        “Hey, we are here,” Isaac said in a soft voice. I slowly sat up and looked at him. He looked exhausted. I touched his cheek with my hand. He held my hand to his lips and kissed my palm. He stood up and lead me off the bus. Everyone else got off as well and we walked into the Safe House together. I took Isaac to our bunk and he laid down on top of the covers. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. I kneeled down next to his bed and kissed his forehead. I looked over at Milo’s bunk but he wasn’t there. I took my family’s files out from under my shirt and shoved them under my mattress.
        The Safe House has always been kind of crowded but there were also a ton of extra bunks. But when I looked around it didn’t seem like there would be enough bunks for everyone in here. I know almost everyone in the Safe House but I couldn’t find a familiar face in the crowd. I decided to walk over to the hospital. The blonde nurse that is always helping Doc was stripping a bed over in the corner. I walked over to her and tried to smile but I don’t think I succeeded.
        “Hi honey. Are you okay?” she asked with sympathy in her eyes. I nodded.
        “Has a girl named Grace been checked in?” I asked. She pointed to a bed in the other corner.         Adam was standing over Grace, who was hugging her knees to her chest. I thanked the nurse and walked over to them. Grace saw my first but didn’t say anything.
        “Hey Adam, do you mind if I talk to her?” I asked. I knew I shouldn’t do this without Isaac but she might feel safer with just one person asking her questions instead of two. Adam glanced over at her.
        “Will you be okay? Alice is a sweet girl,” Adam said in a soothing voice that I’ve never heard him use before. Grace nodded her head and gave him a small smile. Adam rubbed her arms and walked over to his bunk. I shut the privacy curtain and sat down on the foot of her bed.
        “Hi sweetie, I’m Alice,” I said. Grace relaxed a little.
        “Hi, I’m Grace,” she said in a low voice. I didn’t want to overwhelm her with thousands of questions, but she didn’t look like she was a patient at ROIM.
        “Were you a patient at ROIM?” I asked in my voice that I use when I’m talking to Milo. She shook her head.
        “Were you the one talking to Isaac in his head?” I asked. Her eyes shot up to mine and she seemed to perk up a little.
        “He heard me?” She said with a touch of surprise in her voice. I nodded.
        “Yeah, how did you do that?” I asked.
        “I’m a mind reader just like you, and Isaac,” she said. I never told her I was a mind reader. I creased my forehead a little. She seemed to notice.
        “I can tell what people’s special abilities are just by looking at them,” she said relaxing a little bit.
        “But you just meet Isaac last night,” I said. She tilted her head to the side.
        “No, I meet him when I was a baby,” she said as if I was supposed to know this. I stared at her with a confused look on my face.
        “Do you not know?” She asked. I shook my head. What was she talking about? How did she know Isaac, but Isaac had no idea who she was?
        “What are you talking about?” I asked in a harsher voice than I meant to. Grace pulled her knees back into her chest.
        “I’m sorry I thought it was obvious,” she said in a low voice.
        “Grace, I’m sorry I wasn’t trying to be mean, I’m just really confused right now,” I said in an apologetic voice. She stayed quiet.
        “Grace?” I asked.
        “I don’t want to talk to you right now,” she said as she laid down and pulled the covers over her head. I sighed and slid off her bed. I walked out from under the privacy curtain and saw Adam standing against the opposite wall reading a book. He looked up at me.
        “Did she tell you?” He asked.
        “Tell me what?” I asked. He just shook his head and went back to reading his book. I let out a frustrated sigh and started walking towards Isaac and I’s bunk. When I got back Isaac was awake. I sat down and the edge of his bed. I tried to read his mind but he pushed me out.
        “Are you okay?” I asked in a quiet voice. He looked over at me. His eyes were red and puffy, like he has been crying. I wonder if he knows what I did. He sniffled and reached out for me. It reminded me of when a little kid is sick and the kid reaches out for their mom to take away their sickness. I wish I could do the same thing for Isaac, I wish I could take away the pain he was feeling. I laid down on my back next to him, he wrapped his arms around my waist and laid his head on my chest.
        “It should have been me,” Isaac said in a voice that was so full of sadness it almost broke me in half. I put my hand on his head.
        “Don’t talk like that,” I said in a stern voice.
        “It’s my fault he is dead Alice,” he said in a shaky voice. I couldn’t stand that Isaac was blaming himself for River’s death.
        “Look at me,” I said. Isaac shifted so he could look at me.
        “River made his own decisions. You can not blame yourself for what happened to him,” I said. His eyes started to fill up with tears.
        “He was my best friend,” He said as he started to cry. I realized then that he was still wearing the same clothes that he was wearing during the attack on ROIM. His shirt still had River’s blood on it.
        “Come on let’s get you cleaned up,” I said as I pulled away from Isaac’s grip and got a change of clothes out of his trunk from underneath the bed. He didn’t have very many in there. I held my hand out for Isaac’s. After a few second he took it and I lead him towards the showers. He sat down on the bench that was in one of the showers.
        “Do you need help?” I asked in a soothing voice. He looked up at me and slightly nodded. I helped him get undressed and started the shower for him. I did my best of standing out of the way of the water. I washed Isaac’s hair for him. He was able to wash his own body. After he dried himself off I helped him get dressed.
        “Thank you,” he said in a voice that didn’t seem as sad. I stood up on my tippy toes and kissed him.
        “You’re welcome,” I said as I wrapped my arms around his waist. I buried my face in his chest. The smell of soap filled my nose and it calmed me down. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and rested his mouth on the top of my head. We stayed there for a while, just comforting each other.

        We walked back out to the bunk area. It was even more crowed than it was this morning.
        “Are all of these people going to stay here?” Isaac asked.
        “I don’t know. I imagine some of them have homes they would like to go back to,” I said. I spotted Piper in the crowd walking towards us.
        “Oh what the hell does she want?” Isaac said in an annoyed voice. I felt the same way. I couldn’t stand Piper, everything thing about her just screamed “royal bitch”. When she got to us she looked us up and down.
        “There is going to be a meeting make sure you’re there,” Piper said in a bitter voice and walked away. Isaac looked down at me.
        “What do you think this meeting is about?” He asked.
        “I wish I knew,” I said. We started walking towards the stairs that lead up to the meeting room. I looked up and saw Maddox standing at the top of the stairs pointing a gun at Isaac. A small scream burst out of my mouth. I let go of Isaac’s hand and stepped back still staring at the top of the stairs.
        “What’s wrong?” Isaac asked in a worried voice. I pointed to the top of the stairs but Maddox wasn’t there anymore. Isaac looked at the top of the stairs then at me.
        “There’s nothing there,” Isaac said. He took my face in his hands and locked his eyes on mine. I didn’t realize how much I was shaking. I tried to calm down but I began to cry. Isaac pulled me into his chest. He put one hand of the side of my head and the other on my back. He smelled like soap and safety. My mind was playing tricks on me, Maddox was dead. But I was the one that killed him. I killed Maddox.
        “Alice, it’s okay. You’re safe,” Isaac said in a soothing voice. His voice brought me back to reality. I pulled away and looked up at him. He wiped away the tears on my face. He leaned down and kissed me.
        “What did you see?” He asked after he pulled away. I just shook my head in response. He gave me a small smile and took my hand. Slowly we both walked up the stairs. When we got to the meeting room everyone was already there. Except Richard and Bentley. I almost started crying again when I remembered that Richard was killed in the take down of ROIM too. Isaac and I walked over to our seats and sat down. Who was going to lead this meeting with Richard gone? My question was answered when Nick stood up at the head of the table.
        “I have gathered this meeting today to discuss our new council members and the living arrangements of our new guests,” Nick said. He looked around at everyone. Everyone was quiet. I noticed that Piper was sitting in Nick’s old chair.
        “First off as you have seen there is just not enough bunks for everyone here at the Safe House. Those who have homes will be returning to them, but those who don’t are welcome to stay here at The Safe House with us. I will need a few people’s help with returning those people with homes back to them,” Nick said. I could tell he was trying to sound like Richard.
        “Secondly we would like to ask Alice, and Isaac to join the council here at the Safe House,” Nick said as he gestured towards us. That caught me off guard. I looked over at Nick with rasied eyebrows.
        “Why?” I asked. Nick gave me a strange look.
        “Because the council always has six members on it. And since we lost Richard and Bentley, we would like for you two to join the council,” Nick said. Kayla sunk down into her seat when Richard’s name was mentioned.
        “I have taken the role of President, and Piper has taken the role of Vice President,” Nick said.
        “Kayla was supposed to the Vice President,” I said in a bitter voice.
        “Well clearly that has changed,” Piper spit back out at me.
        I think they had something to do with Richard’s death, I said to Isaac.
        So do I, Isaac said.