Williamson.
Trevor pulled me into his arms, which didn’t work so well in the bucket seats of the rental car. I ended up with the emergency brake handle digging into my hip. The surreal nature of the world we now inhabited struck me again—normal teenagers didn’t contemplate destroying murderous telepaths, even if it meant losing their own lives in the process.
Trevor gave a little chuckle at that. You want to be normal?
I smiled back, glad to feel the worst of the emotional intensity dissipating. No. I want to be with you!
We drove east, passing briefly through the press of cacophonous minds in the city, and then skirted along the southern shore of one of the Great Lakes.
What do you mean you don’t know which one it is? Trevor was astonished at my ignorance.
Well, I’m not from around here, am I?
Obviously. Trevor humphed . So? Which one is it?
HOMES .
There isn’t a Lake Homes.
No. It’s a mnemonic. H. O. M. E. S. Huron Ontario Michigan Something Superior.
Erie, he supplied.
It’s Lake Erie? I asked.
No, it’s Lake Michigan. What did you ever study in school?
No clue. I talked to you through all of my classes.
We passed through a little corner of Indiana before we hit Michigan and turned inland. Near Kalamazoo, we stopped for a snack and a bathroom break.
Kalamazoo’s an actual city? I thought it was a cartoon place name.
Trevor rolled his eyes at this further display of the gaps in my education.
The lighter mood dropped away as we closed in on Ann Arbor.
Trevor, I’m going to get them to approve of me even if it kills me. It’s not like I could say anything that would offend them, right?
His brows met in a worried line. It’s…weird to bring her into this world. Maddie’s…magical, and this is just…normal.
I raised my eyebrows. So, you think, after a few hours in the Laurence household of Barton Hills, Michigan, I’ll just turn out to be an ordinary girl?
“No, but I might seem like an ordinary guy to you.”
Not a chance .
“You calling me a freak?”he asked, trying to recapture our earlier mood.
Takes one to know one, Four Arms.
“Enough! I don’t have to take this from somebody from New Jersey ! Are you really a G-positive or do your freakish super-powers come from childhood exposure to toxic waste?”
I cracked up.
We pulled into the driveway of a brown house on a quiet, residential street. Battenburg lace curtains filled the windows that faced the street. It was nearly 7 p.m., but long rays from the setting sun still lit the tidy yard. A quick mental scan didn’t turn up anyone who might try to kill us.
… but the evening’s still young .
I detached the cell phone from the car charger and pocketed it before I took Trevor’s face in my hands and looked deep into his eyes. Remember, I think you’re amazing—and I know you better than they do.
That going to be our new thing now?
Pretty sure. I like it.
He pulled my face to his for a quick kiss.
An elderly couple waited for us in the arch of the front door. Trevor’s grandfather was tall and lanky — much like Trevor — although Archer Laurence looked like he might’ve lost a couple of inches and had a slight old-man paunch that made his khakis ride up too high. Thin flaps of skin on his neck reminded me of a turtle. His brown eyes had a little more loose flesh around them than Trevor’s, but the family resemblance was still evident. He smiled at us in greeting, raising a hand in welcome as we came up the walk. The gesture made something in his side ache and I felt twinges of what might be arthritis from his hand.
Trevor’s grandmother wore her steel-streaked hair pulled back severely, like a dancer. She was also tall, nearly the same height as her husband. Liver spots dotted the skin of her neck and arms, right up to the edges of her crisp-collared white blouse. She studied me with unsmiling, raptor-like intensity.
As we got closer, I suddenly realized why.
Trevor, if you could find a way
Trevor pulled me into his arms, which didn’t work so well in the bucket seats of the rental car. I ended up with the emergency brake handle digging into my hip. The surreal nature of the world we now inhabited struck me again—normal teenagers didn’t contemplate destroying murderous telepaths, even if it meant losing their own lives in the process.
Trevor gave a little chuckle at that. You want to be normal?
I smiled back, glad to feel the worst of the emotional intensity dissipating. No. I want to be with you!
We drove east, passing briefly through the press of cacophonous minds in the city, and then skirted along the southern shore of one of the Great Lakes.
What do you mean you don’t know which one it is? Trevor was astonished at my ignorance.
Well, I’m not from around here, am I?
Obviously. Trevor humphed . So? Which one is it?
HOMES .
There isn’t a Lake Homes.
No. It’s a mnemonic. H. O. M. E. S. Huron Ontario Michigan Something Superior.
Erie, he supplied.
It’s Lake Erie? I asked.
No, it’s Lake Michigan. What did you ever study in school?
No clue. I talked to you through all of my classes.
We passed through a little corner of Indiana before we hit Michigan and turned inland. Near Kalamazoo, we stopped for a snack and a bathroom break.
Kalamazoo’s an actual city? I thought it was a cartoon place name.
Trevor rolled his eyes at this further display of the gaps in my education.
The lighter mood dropped away as we closed in on Ann Arbor.
Trevor, I’m going to get them to approve of me even if it kills me. It’s not like I could say anything that would offend them, right?
His brows met in a worried line. It’s…weird to bring her into this world. Maddie’s…magical, and this is just…normal.
I raised my eyebrows. So, you think, after a few hours in the Laurence household of Barton Hills, Michigan, I’ll just turn out to be an ordinary girl?
“No, but I might seem like an ordinary guy to you.”
Not a chance .
“You calling me a freak?”he asked, trying to recapture our earlier mood.
Takes one to know one, Four Arms.
“Enough! I don’t have to take this from somebody from New Jersey ! Are you really a G-positive or do your freakish super-powers come from childhood exposure to toxic waste?”
I cracked up.
We pulled into the driveway of a brown house on a quiet, residential street. Battenburg lace curtains filled the windows that faced the street. It was nearly 7 p.m., but long rays from the setting sun still lit the tidy yard. A quick mental scan didn’t turn up anyone who might try to kill us.
… but the evening’s still young .
I detached the cell phone from the car charger and pocketed it before I took Trevor’s face in my hands and looked deep into his eyes. Remember, I think you’re amazing—and I know you better than they do.
That going to be our new thing now?
Pretty sure. I like it.
He pulled my face to his for a quick kiss.
An elderly couple waited for us in the arch of the front door. Trevor’s grandfather was tall and lanky — much like Trevor — although Archer Laurence looked like he might’ve lost a couple of inches and had a slight old-man paunch that made his khakis ride up too high. Thin flaps of skin on his neck reminded me of a turtle. His brown eyes had a little more loose flesh around them than Trevor’s, but the family resemblance was still evident. He smiled at us in greeting, raising a hand in welcome as we came up the walk. The gesture made something in his side ache and I felt twinges of what might be arthritis from his hand.
Trevor’s grandmother wore her steel-streaked hair pulled back severely, like a dancer. She was also tall, nearly the same height as her husband. Liver spots dotted the skin of her neck and arms, right up to the edges of her crisp-collared white blouse. She studied me with unsmiling, raptor-like intensity.
As we got closer, I suddenly realized why.
Trevor, if you could find a way
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