Read Online Mind Games by Christine Amsden - Free Book Online Page A

in. I figured her father must have said something to her on the way out, because her self-confidence had taken another huge blow, but she refused to say what it might have been.
    “How was your first day of student teaching?” I asked Madison while we prepared the spaghetti sauce for dinner. She already had garlic and onions sautéing in olive oil, and the familiar aroma filled the kitchen.
    “Good. For the most part.”
    “For the most part?”
    She looked at me askance before saying. “I had Elena in my class today. Actually, I’ll have Adam on Wednesday.”
    “Was there a problem with Elena?” I worried for my nine-year-old sister, Elena, more stuck in the middle than any of the others. She had the gift of speaking to the dead, but she spent so much time speaking to them that some days it seemed like a curse. It was, perhaps, the one gift I would turn down.
    “She gets teased,” Madison said.
    “Oh?” I might have guessed, although I also wondered if Elena would notice.
    “I found her in the music room during recess, crying.”
    Clearly, she did notice. I took out my frustration on some innocent parsley, chopping it into tiny bits, while my big sister instincts went on overdrive.
    “I sang to her,” Madison said. “To make her feel better. It’s not a permanent fix, though.”
    “Who was teasing her?” I asked.
    “I’m not sure. But Cassie, you know you can’t rescue her.”
    “Why not?”
    “She has to learn to stand up for herself.”
    I gaped at Madison. “You should talk!”
    Madison’s face turned as red as the tomato sauce she was busily adding to the pot. “You can’t rescue me, either.”
    “I could try. It might help if you told me what you need rescuing from. Was it something your dad said? Or is it Nicolas? If it’s Nicolas–”
    “Nicolas is great. We have a lot of fun together.”
    “Really? I’m surprised you have anything in common.”
    “Because he’s three-and-a-half years younger than me?”
    “Younger than that, maturity-wise. You’ve always been mature for your age, and, well, let’s face it. Nicolas is a bit immature for his.”
    “So? Maybe I’ve always been too mature for my age. Do you know what we did last night?”
    I shook my head.
    “Had a water gun fight. Actually, he would light himself on fire and I would put it out, which was a little different from the fights I used to have with my brother when I was eight. But it’s been about that long since I let go like that. I was… I was silly.”
    I had trouble imagining Madison playing like that. Which, I supposed, was precisely the point.
    “So,” Madison said, “how was your day?”
    “Got a new partner and a new lead on the McClellan case.” I added fresh herbs to the sauce and gave it a quick stir.
    “The McClellan case?” She flinched. “Do you even want to solve that one?”
    “Why? He ever do anything to you?”
    “What was the lead?”
    I studied Madison’s profile before answering, wondering at our string of answering questions with questions. She got uncomfortable whenever I mentioned the McClellan case, but it didn’t make any sense. She had never even met the guy, though I had told enough stories to gain her empathic hatred on my behalf.
    “His brother found a pamphlet from the Gateway Christian Church with a warning on it. Thinks maybe the preacher stirred some of his parishioners into doing it. Like a hate crime.”
    Madison shuddered. “Do you think they could have done it?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe. Sorcerers aren’t invincible. And if they did, it means David wasn’t killed because of who he was, but because of what he was.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Not all sorcerers are bad.” I didn’t know why I felt the need to defend them to Madison, who wasn’t exactly arguing, but I did. “Some are real heroes.”
    “Can they really be a hero if you owe them for it afterward?” Madison asked.
    “Some choose not to accept debt, like vampire hunters.” I still felt I owed Evan a