‘The Benedicts. They’re sick and evil.’ No—yes. I didn’t know. ‘I want to go home.’

‘ No, you don’t. You want to stay here in Vegas where you feel safe.’ An image forced its way into my head: a room with strong doors and barred windows where no one could reach me.

‘I feel safe.’

‘With the people who helped you. Sean has been so kind.’

‘Kind. Gator’s been kind. He brought me breakfast. Asked that I not be hurt.’

‘Not Gator. My son, Sean. He’s going to help you heal.’

‘He is?’

‘Yes, take all that nasty emotion away from you.’

I nodded. That sounded good. I didn’t want to feel.

Maria came into the room with O’Hal oran and Gator behind her. ‘Is she ready? It’s taking too long.

The Benedicts are already in town and that slimebal Victor Benedict has applied for a warrant to search our properties.’

Daniel Kel y pinched my chin. ‘Yes, I think she is. A little confusion wil make it more convincing. Get her in position then send the message to the Benedicts that they can find her in the warehouse on the old airfield. The two boys have to come alone or the deal’s off.’

‘They won’t come alone—the rest won’t let them.’

‘They wil try to make it look like they are alone and that wil be enough. The others wil be too far away to stop what’s going to happen. We’l alert the police ourselves. A dash of interagency confusion into the mix always helps.’

I held my head. This didn’t make sense. It had already taken place, hadn’t it? I’d been in the warehouse—knew who got shot. There was blood on my hands.

Maria smiled. ‘Our little savant is having a hard time getting her facts straight.’

‘She’l be al right. Al she need do is sit there with the gun in her hand while the FBI and the police argue why it al went down so badly. O’Hal oran, you’ve got a damper on telepathy?’ He nodded. ‘It’l hold until she gets close to one of them.’

‘Make sure you take them out swiftly. Dump the gun in her hands and get away before the FBI and police arrive. I want them wondering what the hel happened.’

‘Sure, boss.’

Kel y cracked his knuckles. ‘After today, the Savant Net wil know that no one who interferes with my people gets away unscathed. They’l leave us alone in future. Now, Sky, this is goodbye until we meet again for the first time in hospital. When I say the word, you forget everything that happened since yesterday and remember only what I told you.’

Gator was apologetic as he tied my legs and left me sitting in the middle of the empty warehouse.

‘Just do as I tel you and then this wil be over,’ he told me, tucking my hair behind my ear.

I was shivering, despite being dressed in my ski suit. My body was acting like it had a fever it was trying to throw off. Nothing felt right. Gator took up position a few feet further back, sheltering behind a barrier of crates. I could hear him checking the magazine in the gun.

Was he here to defend me? I couldn’t remember. I wasn’t even sure who he was. What was wrong with me? My brain felt like cotton wool.

After what seemed like an age, there was a scuffling sound at the far end. The sliding door edged back a few inches.

‘It’s us. We’ve come alone like you demanded.’ It was Xav Benedict. My enemy.

‘What have you done with Sky? Is she al right?’

His brother, Zed. I knew him, didn’t I? Of course, I knew him. He was my boyfriend. He said he loved me.

He doesn’t love you—he’s just playing with you.

The words floated in my brain but I couldn’t remember why I thought that.

I kept quiet, drawing my knees up to my chest.

Sky? Please answer! I’m going crazy here. Tell me you’re OK.

Zed was in my head too. There was nowhere to hide. I couldn’t help myself—I let out a whimper.

‘Xav, that’s her! She’s hurt.’

Xav held him back. ‘It’s a trap, Zed. We do this as we agreed.’

They hadn’t yet come in sight.

‘Tel us what you want in exchange for Sky and it’s yours.’ Zed’s voice was unsteady.

None of this made sense. I’d shot them. Why were they here? Why did I have to relive the nightmare?

‘Just step out where I can see you and I’l tel you,’

said Gator.

‘The thing is, we’re not stupid. You can tel us while we stay where we are.’

‘If you don’t come out with your hands up, I’l put a bul et in your little girlfriend.’

This wasn’t how it was meant to be. I’d got the gun in the struggle with Zed and shot both the Benedicts.

I’d seen it happen—it was there in my brain.

‘Zed?’ My voice was thin, quavering in the emptiness of the warehouse.

‘Sky? Hold on, baby, we’re going to get you out of this.’

Wrong—al wrong. My memory felt like a comic strip with the key frames ripped out. The Benedicts had hurt me—yes they had. Locked me in the boot of their car for hours.

‘Go a … way!’ I choked. I saw movement down the far end, the tips of someone’s fingers as they rose up from behind the container that they had been hiding behind. It was Zed.

My brain seemed to explode with conflicting emotions and images—hatred, love, laughter, torment. Colours in the warehouse went from flat to multi-toned and complex.

His eyes zeroed in on mine. ‘Don’t look at me like that, baby. I’m here now. Just let me talk to the man who’s got you and we’l get you free.’

He took a step closer.

How many of them are there? Has he got a gunon me? Zed’s voice echoed in my head again.

I don’t shoot people. The images of my hands holding the gun flicked on and off like the neon signs.

What’s wrong with you, Sky? I can see what you’re seeing. Your mind feels different towards me.

‘He has a gun,’ I said aloud. ‘Gator, don’t shoot anyone. We mustn’t. I’ve kil ed them already but they don’t die—they just come back.’

‘Quiet, Sky,’ said Gator from behind me. ‘And you, come where I can see you. I’m sure you’d prefer me to have you in my sights than your girlfriend.’

Zed stepped into plain view. I couldn’t help but devour him with my gaze; it felt as if he was alternating between two masks, one where he was kind and tender, the other vicious and cruel. His face wavered in and out of focus.

‘Now your brother. I want both of you where I can see you. Come a bit closer to Sky. Don’t you want to see what we’ve done to her?’ Gator taunted.

I had to choose. Which did I believe? Kind Zed; cruel Zed.

Zed took two steps forward, hands rock steady in the air. ‘You don’t want her. The Kel ys’ quarrel is with the Benedicts—not her. She’s nothing to do with this.’

What should I do? Who should I believe? Sky has got good instincts. My mum had said that, hadn’t she? Instincts. More than instincts. I could read people, know their guilt, tel good from bad. I’d buried it but it was there inside me under al the gibberish in my head ever since I was six. Locked it away. But now I had to reach out with my gift.

I closed my eyes, feeling inside for the door that would release my powers. I opened my mind.

My power of perception went through the roof. The sensations flowing in the room were formidable. I saw them as streams of colour. The red of excitement and a bit of black fear from behind me; the gold glitter of love and green tinge of guilt from Zed.

Soulfinder.

The knowledge was there, as deeply rooted in me as DNA. How had I not seen it? My body retuned to Zed’s note; perfect match, perfectly in harmony.

So why did he feel guilt? I probed the green: Zed felt terrible because he had let me be taken and that I had suffered instead of him. He’d wanted it to be him sitting there with blood on his face and clothes.