Winters Family Psi Chronicles 2: Project Onyx (23 page)

Chapter 28

Paul and Amy were waiting for Brian in the living room as he emerged inside the house. He felt a rush of excitement and relief to be home again. The three of them exchanged warm hugs before Paul and Amy began pumping him for information. Brian held up a hand in a negating gesture.

“Stop right there!” he said firmly. “I can’t talk about it. Everything is top secret.”

“Oh really?” Amy grinned widely as she held up the front page of a newspaper with the title, ‘Rogue scientist unleashes deadly experiment.’

A large picture of cars crashed into buildings and parked in the middle of the street stretched above the article. It marked a strong resemblance to what he’d seen when C-Net had forcibly integrated everyone’s consciousness within it who happened to be in its immediate vicinity.

“What does it say?” Brian asked with surprise.

“It talks about Samantha. It paints her as a rogue scientist who performed illegal experiments in the guise of legitimate, top-secret research. It says the FBI has been tracking her down for years. That’s all you see when you turn on the television. They report that Samantha created a special network among the patients at the Alta Vista Psychiatric Institute called C-Net that became sentient and absorbed everyone’s minds within a twenty block radius,” Amy said. “They wouldn’t give any names on who worked the case.”

“That’s a good thing or the press would have been here waiting for you,” Paul said pointedly.

“That’s true,” Amy said sardonically. “It would have been nice if Brian was given some kind of credit though.”

“That’s all right. I am more than happy to be left out of it,” Brian said emphatically. “I’m relieved that it’s all over and that everything can return to normal.”

“Not exactly normal. You’re working for Phoenix Enterprises now,” Amy said.

“That’s true but I love it there,” Brian said. “My first assignment will be training for helping to maintain the Zen Network. I’ll probably work on that almost exclusively for the next several months so I can become adept at it before they teach me other things.”

“I’m glad you found something you like to do,” Amy said. “Maybe I should work for them, too.”

“I think you should definitely consider it,” Brian said enthusiastically. “Go pay them a visit.”

Amy’s smile widened and her hazel eyes twinkled merrily. “I believe I will.”

They stayed up late talking and catching up on what everyone had missed before Paul finally put his foot down and ordered them to bed as it was a school night. Brian’s stomach knotted with dread as he realized how far behind he was in his studies. He’d probably have to spend all his free time every day studying and catching up on assignments and tests for the next month. Brian went through his nighttime routine of checking for unwanted links to energy transference psi and strengthening his psionic protection before laying down to get some sleep. He tossed and turned for several hours as uneasiness and anxiety danced along his nerves. He finally reached out telepathically to Melissa.

“What’s wrong?” Melissa said with concern.

“Something feels terribly wrong. It feels like I’m in danger.”

“Can you focus on it and trace it back to its source?” Melissa asked.

“No. It’s just a feeling,” Brian said.

“It might be just the jitters. Are you feeling anxious about going back to school?” she asked.

“I did start to feel nervous when Dad mentioned it was a school night,” Brian said.

“There you are. You’ll be fine. You might want to do some stretches and work on the relaxation techniques I taught you. It should help you get to sleep,” Melissa said.

“I’m sorry I woke you,” Brian said apologetically.

“It’s okay. Goodnight,” she said.

“Good night.”

Brian followed her suggestion and was about to go to bed when the doorbell rang. He frowned with puzzlement and his anxiety shot up again. He froze in front of his bed as his mind raced. His aggregate intuition buzzed with activity but something blocked the information from flowing into his mind. The doorbell rang again several times more. Paul and Amy were already up and heading for the front door.

“Wait! See who it is before you open it!” Brian exclaimed.

Paul and Amy regarded him with perplexed expressions before Paul’s eyes became distant. He focused back on Brian and smiled reassuringly.

“It’s just Dick,” Paul said.

He unlocked the door and opened it. Dick immediately stepped inside the house and threw them all concerned looks.

“I’ve got some news that I wanted to tell you,” Dick said.

“What’s wrong?” Brian asked as his heart hammered wildly in his chest.

Without warning, he, Paul, and Amy were tossed back by an unseen force and pinned against the far wall. The front door slammed shut on its own and a cold, hard expression took hold of Dick’s face.

“What are you doing?” Paul said drowsily.

Brian pulled in his second sight and saw a thick murky orange tendril leading from the top of Dick’s head and into Amy’s and Paul’s chest. Like a damn bursting, information and impressions from his aggregate intuition flooded Brian’s mind. He shook his head as he processed the revelation and certain facts connected for him.

“You’re the one who’s been brainwashing us,” Brian said.

“Dick?” Paul asked drowsily.

“That’s why Grandpa Mackenzie got younger when he worked for Phoenix Enterprises! He’s been a self-regeneration psi all these years but your link to him was severed when he joined the Zen Network and so he became younger now that you could no longer steal that energy from him!” Brian exclaimed.

“I did start to age and lose some of my energy when he joined the network.” Dick’s mouth twisted in a grimace.

“You’re the one who’s been making us have those nightmares and get the psychic burnout! You’re able to take more energy from empaths so that’s the reason why me and Jason were affected the worst,” Brian said. “When I was captured by Samantha and the others, I stopped having the nightmares and psychic burnout because her psionic shield was so strong it kept you from accessing me. Then when I escaped, I got worse again after you visited and played darts. It was always you!”

“You’re a monster!” Paul said heatedly. “How could you do that to your nephew? To your own family?”

“I only did what was necessary for my survival. I wish I didn’t need the energy from other people,” Dick said regretfully. “And I knew that Brian would figure it out when he returned home after being away for so long. It’s unfortunate. I was always afraid it would come to this.”

His green eyes hardened with resolve and Brian felt a force tighten around his neck so he could no longer breathe. He swiftly reached out to place a block on Dick’s link to Global Net but somehow his uncle sensed it and blocked it with an ugly orange tendril. Despair and hopelessness flooded through him as he struggled without success to gain access to Dick’s link. Darkness crept along the edges of his vision as he began to lose consciousness. Brian couldn’t believe he’d learned so much to end up dying like this. Dick’s cold green eyes studied him with fascination as if he wanted to memorize every moment of his nephew’s last dying breath. Brian’s lungs burned as he struggled against the inevitable. Just then, the lamp resting on the end table by Dick hurtled over and struck him on the forehead. Dick gasped and stumbled backward as the telekinetic grip on Brian, Paul, and Amy evaporated.

“I’m not an empath, you stupid jerk!” Amy shouted.

The lamp on the end table at the other side of the room shot toward Dick but he deflected it telekinetically. Dick’s body flew backward and slammed against the door behind him. He gasped and narrowed his eyes. He unleashed a burst of telekinetic energy that tossed her backward and the fallen lamp beside him rushed across the room to slam into her head. She fell to the floor in a dazed heap before passing out.

While Dick was distracted, Brian swiftly shoved a block into place so his uncle was effectively cut off from Global Net. Dick gasped and clutched his head with agony but then slowly straightened and he narrowed his eyes with murderous rage. Brian swiftly slammed more blocks into his many tendrils. Dick gasped in shock and his body spasmed uncontrollably. Brian didn’t take any chances this time. He continued to shove more blocks into place even as he was shocked by how many links his uncle had forged. Dick collapsed to the floor as he continued twitching uncontrollably. A moment later and he lost consciousness. Brian stopped the blocks but kept a wary eye on his uncle.

“I’ll call the police,” Paul said weakly.

He trudged across the room and picked up the phone to dial the police. Brian gazed down at his unconscious great uncle as a sense of betrayal and outrage tore through him.

“I can’t believe he was going to kill us,” Brian said.

“He’s been feeding on us like a leech.” Amy glared at Dick with outraged indignation.

“I just can’t believe it,” Paul said.

Dick was placed in a maximum security prison and administered drugs to eliminate his psychic ability. Brian was finally starting to feel safe.

Chapter 29

Brian could sense something was up as he parked his car in front of his house. Both Teresa and Paul were home waiting from him in the living room with pained expressions on their faces. Brian set his book bag on the floor and sank into the couch facing his parents.

“What’s happened?” Brian asked.

“There’s no easy way to say this,” Paul said.

“Your uncle Dick passed away several hours ago,” Teresa said.

Brian stiffened with shock and a miasma of emotions tore through him. Anger, grief, guilt, relief and anguish cascaded in his mind, magnified by the matching emotions of his parents. Brian was still coping with the fact that his uncle had been stealing his energy while causing him so many problems with psychic burnout and covering it up with psychometric brainwashing techniques.

“I don’t know how I should feel about this.” Brian’s jaw clenched as he sorted through the tumultuous feelings whipping through his mind. “I think I’m glad.”

Teresa and Paul exchanged meaningful looks before returning their attention back to their son.

“This family betrayal has been difficult and you may find yourself confused over your feelings,” Paul said.

“I just can’t believe how crazy this all is,” Brian said.

“I wish I could have seen it sooner.”

“He fooled us all,” Teresa said.

Brian felt guilty as a sense of relief washed over him. Maybe his life would finally return to normal. The doorbell rang and Teresa frowned with puzzlement.

“It’s Lin,” she said.

Teresa left the room to answer the door and returned with Lin who took a seat beside Brian. She wore a purple, satin blouse with black pants and carried a thick journal.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t give this to you sooner.” Lin offered an apologetic look at Brian as she handed the book to him. “This is an amazing piece of work that the world’s most powerful precognitive has ever made. Her name was Emily Winters. And she was your great, great, great, great aunt.”

“I don’t remember hearing about her before.” Brian leveled a puzzled gaze at Lin.

“She was one of the original founders of Phoenix Enterprises. She was never famous and she knew that her family’s descendants would lose track of their ancestry with all the chaos of her time period. She was there during the Catastrophe of 2018 and witnessed the transformation of the world into psychics firsthand. One of her hobbies was keeping a journal of the future. She made several for the family and one of them is right here.” Lin tapped the book in Brian’s arms and her lips curved in an awed smile. “I’m one of the descendants of her legacy that she wrote advice to and you’re the next in line.”

Brian, Paul, and Teresa regarded her with stunned disbelief.

“You’re saying that YOU and I are related?” Brian asked.

“Yes, we’re cousins far removed,” Lin acknowledged. “In this particular journal, she focuses on certain time periods and descendants. I was instructed to give it to you on this day exactly.”

“I never would have guessed that you’re related to us.” Paul said.

“Why in the world didn’t you tell us any of this before? Mom might have allowed me to join Phoenix Enterprises much sooner!” Brian exclaimed with irritation and exasperation.

“Emily made it clear that I must keep that to myself until this exact day. You wouldn’t believe what amazing advice and forecasting she provided. There was no way I was going to ignore anything she said in here after that.”

“I can’t believe I’ve never heard of her.” Brian’s gaze rested on the book for several seconds as he tried to wrap his mind around the concept of having an ancestor write personal advice to one of her descendants over two hundred years in the future before he’d even been born.

“I wasn’t aware of her either,” Teresa said. Her expression turned slightly accusatory as she centered her attention back to Lin. “You could have saved us a lot of grief if you’d been forthcoming about this from the start.”

“Every time I ignored her advice, things turned out very badly,” Lin explained. “She is amazingly accurate but she doesn’t fill in all the details. You’ll see what I mean when you read it for yourself. She intentionally chose certain individuals to inherit the book and to give information to.”

Brian opened the book and flipped through the pages as he couldn’t wait to see what it said about him. Teresa and Paul moved over to sit beside him while Lin watched with anticipation. Soon, Brian found the first page with his name and it had today’s date. There was a short introduction which he read aloud:

“Brian receives shocking news about a death in the family. It’s the end of a dark chapter in his life. His career with Phoenix Enterprises has now started and great things await him if he can overcome a few more dangers that insert themselves later in his life. I hope my journal has made it to him because his future is uncertain. There are always multiple outcomes and I wish to see Brian live a long and fulfilling life and the best possible outcome possible which is why I’m writing this guide for him.”

Brian paused and lifted his gaze to discover Lin was staring at him with wonder.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.

“I’m sorry,” Lin said. “It’s just that when you follow a journal of advice and predictions tailored for you and the last one is a request to pass the legacy on to the next relative in a long list of relatives. It just feels so wonderful and timeless and unreal.”

“She must have put a lot of effort into this to make sure the journal would be passed on from generation to generation,” Teresa remarked. “It’s quite an accomplishment.”

“She took the precaution of writing at least several family journals. She mentions them but nothing specific to allow you to locate them,” Lin said.

Teresa’s eyes lit with comprehension. “My first impression of you makes more sense to me now.”

“How so?” Lin threw her a puzzled look.

“I was suspicious of your organization because I could sense you were holding something back from me. Now I know what it is. I don’t see any deception from you anymore.”

“The book lists other relatives that I’ve never heard of,” Brian said. “Emily has certain ones she recommends that I get in touch with.”

“It was the same way with me, too,” Lin said. “You’ll find that you have quite a few additions to the family. Of course, they’re distant relatives but they will enrich your life.”

Brian read through more of the journal and saw some of the predictions for him which were coming up in a few days. They were small things and mostly school-related that he knew were designed to prove authenticity. Even though he didn’t like the sound of Emily’s prediction of several dangers coming up, it sounded like there were lots of good things heading his way as well. Brian was eager to start his adventure with Phoenix Enterprises.

(To Be Continued…)

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