Page 66 of Gift from the Nexus

“Yes and no. Not really, not like others. Not like yours,” he says, nodding to Tillman. “I can’t read people’s minds like Donald told you. That’s what I’ve always told people because technically I could hear what someone was thinking if I wanted to, but it would take a lot of concentration. I’m more of a Mind Blocker. The term isn’t real. It’s just grouped in with mind transference.”

“You can block out sensory, auditory, and pretty much any other function of the brain,” San says, eyeing Trex like an experiment.

“That’s why you told me to open my mind to you and you’d make it all go away,” I whisper, now understanding what he’s saying.

“Yes. I could’ve blocked your pain receptors so you no longer felt anything.”

We all sit in strained silence at his declaration. None of this information leads us anywhere closer to the Summum-Master or anything else about the Mastery, but it does prove that theyhave incredibly powerful allies. Or hostages, however you want to view it.

“So now with Codi, your Nexus is complete with four powerful mind manipulating gifts,” Tillman says.

“Yeah, and the three of our gifts are what landed us in the clutches of the Summum-Master. Unbeknownst to us, Dec’s parents have always been a part of the society, and when his gifts emerged, he started changing, fading from me and Xavier rather than growing closer. Day after day that we saw him, he was quieter, paler, quick to anger, and he wouldn’t talk to us about it.

“He constantly rejected having us over to his house. He wouldn’t join us for parties or anything. So, one night, me and Xavier staked out his house. It was after a huge fight where we tried to force him into talking to us, and he blew up on us, saying he wished our bonds never snapped in place and that his parents were right to keep him from us. None of it was true. He was trying to push us away on purpose. He was trying to protect us.” Trex pauses, bowing and shaking his head as the memory bubbles to the surface. We don’t rush him, all of us now enthralled with the story, so we patiently wait.

“That night, when we were staking out the house, we noticed the Mastery members show up. The black robes are a dead giveaway. So Xavier cast an illusion around us, made us look like the house staff, and we strolled right in through the staff entrance. Once we were in, we headed straight for Dec’s room, but he wasn’t there, so we kept looking. When we found him, they…”

Trailing off, his fear, his anger, resentment, everything hits me full force. Whatever they walked in on was bad. Devastating.

Hesitantly, Codi lays his hand on Trex’s shoulder and it seems like that subtle move came with the weight of the realm because Trex crumbles. His whole body slouches down as his chest heaves uncontrollably like he’s going to be sick at any minute.

“Sorry,” he apologizes as he clears his throat and shakes himself out. “They were strapping him down to a table and he was begging his parents not to put him back to sleep. He couldn’t sleep anymore. We quickly put it together that’s what had been going on. They’d been forcing him to take sleeping tonics to infiltrate people’s minds. It was killing him.

“Immediately, Xavier cast an illusion across the whole room, making it seem as though Dec was lying down willingly. The way his mind works is truly amazing. The way he’s always thought quick on his feet, been able to cast out in a split second was always fascinating. So we didn’t waste any time, running into the room and carrying Dec out. X knew he wouldn’t be able to hold the whole room long, so we had minutes, maybe, to get Dec out of that house. We got him out without a hitch. No one stopped us or even noticed us, or so we thought.

“As soon as we hit the steps on the front porch, the Summum-Master was at the bottom of the stairs, slow clapping for us. That was a wrap. He got all three of us that night.”

“So that explains that you all were captured, not that you were given an ultimatum,” Codi says with a small sliver of hope in his tone.

“The ultimatum came later. Four years later, actually,” Trex says, turning his eyes to me. Something about the look on his face makes my stomach turn uncomfortably.

“Our gifts were growing increasingly well, fast thanks to the undivided attention we all kept getting, but the three of us never stopped fighting them, never stopped trying to run away. One night, we finally were successful breaking out of one of the hideouts, and we went straight to Xavier’s parents. They’d been going crazy with worry. They seemingly knew we’d been captured because that’s usually what happens when teenagers go missing.

“We were there minutes before the Summum-Master showed up with a small army in tow. He was madder than usual. Livid. Someone else escaped that day as well, someone far more important than us, and then us running away set him off. Xavier’s parents tried to stop him, protect us, but…” he says quietly. His silence speaks volumes. We all know they didn’t make it.

“I’m so sorry,” I murmur softly. There’s not much else to say in a situation like this, but I feel like it’s my fault he’s having to relive it.

“I’m sorry too,” he whispers, holding my gaze.

“For what?”

“As soon as he killed them, my gift flared out of me. My emotions were all over the place. X was screaming in rage, Dec was beside himself, and I was furious. So furious, my gift blocked out the rune that connected our hearts to our minds so completely, it faded away. Faded from our chests instantly, severing the connection. The Summum-Master was stunned but also intrigued so he dragged us to the forest and had the creature rebrand us, over and over that day. Each time, I tore it apart. Freeing me and my brothers.

“He brought in others, and he forced to me try to block theirs, but it didn’t work. They died every time,” he admits, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. When he opens them, looking at me, I feel his regret like it’s my own. Regret over being forced to kill those people and something else.

“What is it?” I ask cautiously.

“When it became obvious that I could only destroy ours, he decided then we were to be separated. He said if I didn’t fall in line from that day forward, I’d watch my brothers die. One wrong move and they’d be dead. He had his men drag my brothers away while I was held back in the forest for the creature to instill my new rune. That’s also the day he decided my mindblocking skills were going to come in handy one day, and I was going to get new Nexus brothers. That was the day it was decided you’d be married off to Donald, our fates decided.”

My mind runs across the timelines at the speed of light, trying to discredit what he just said, but I can’t. And the more it all keeps adding up, the harder it is to draw air into my lungs.

“That…that was my eighteenth birthday. I tried to run away but was caught and brought back to Franklin. A month later, I was married off,” I whisper.

His clipped nod says it all.

“I don’t understand,” Draken says, strained.

“The choices he made that day in this realm and the ones I made in the nonmagical sealed our fate in the Summum-Master’s eyes. No doubt Franklin informed him immediately of what I tried to do, so he knew I was a flight risk and so was Trex. They’d need a way to control me, and Trex had the means to do so as long as his brothers were dangled over his head. I just don’t understand my importance in all of this. It makes no sense.”

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