Justice Keepers Saga - Books 10-12

Chapter 1-2

“Yeah,” Claire snapped. “It"s called being a Justice Keeper.”

“That"s so messed up,” Logan muttered.

“I don"t think I could do it.” That last response came from Brendan, a tall boy with a cleft chin and clear blue eyes. He shuddered as he completed his thought. “Let an alien live in my body? What if it takes over, or something.”

“It doesn"t work that way,” Claire said.

“Yeah, but, like, it"s still weird.”

Instead of arguing with him, Claire went back to her dinner. The corn crunched as she bit into it. So good! When was the last time she had had corn on the cob? It had to be a year ago. She couldn"t recall ever having it on Leyria.

“At least you"re still normal,” Logan said.

you"re Claire scanned the backyard for her elder sister and found Melissa standing by the wooden fence with a glass of fruit punch in her hand. She had spent most of the afternoon doing that, hanging back, keeping her distance, talking to aunts and uncles who came up to exchange pleasantries but not really seeking them out. Melissa had always been soft-spoken, but never this reserved. But then, when your cousins were all whispering about you behind your back, what else could you do?

Normal.

At least Claire was still “normal.” If they only knew…Tentatively, Claire reached out with her senses. Fear seemed to radiate from the three kids on the other side of the table. Or…Well, not fear exactly. Keli had been teaching her to sift and sort through the different emotions she picked up from other people. Precision was important. There were flavours of anger, flavours of joy and flavours of fear. This was more like mistrust mingled with a strong desire to keep their distance.

fearA thought leaked through from Logan. Claire had a vivid image of Melissa trying to give him a hug and Logan backing away with his hands raised defensively as if he thought she might infect him with something.

Slamming her hand down on the table, Claire looked up to glare fire at the i***t boy. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What?”

Claire stood up, and her lip twitched as she tried to stuff the anger back down into her belly. “She"s my sister!” Her words were harsh, but she didn"t care. “Not some victim of the plague. If Melissa tries to give you a hug, shut up and take it!”

Logan was staring at her with an open mouth, and his face had gone deathly pale. “How did you…” He shook his head so fast it must have made him dizzy. “I guess you"re turning into a freak too.”

you"re“And proud of it.”

“That"s what you get when you live among these aliens,” Lisa said. She was looking at her hamburger as if it might bite her. “Mom always said so. They"ll fill your head with their messed up ideas.”

“Your mom"s an i***t!” Claire growled.

Her mind was still open to the impressions of everything around her, and she felt a distinct change in the mood. The easy-going atmosphere that had permeated the backyard was suddenly dark and hostile. Or…well, that wasn"t it either. Not hostile, exactly. There was nothing to indicate that they meant her any harm, but there was anger simmering just beneath the surface.

was “Claire Carlson!” Aunt Sasha wailed. “What has gotten into you?” The woman was not exactly tall and not exactly short, not exactly skinny and not exactly plump, but her round face and blonde curls were unmistakable.

“Your kids are rude,” Claire began. “They keep telling me that my sister"s a freak, and they don"t seem to care that literally hundreds of people owe her their lives. But why should any of this surprise me? Your kids pick up all your racist bullshit.” At least half a dozen people gasped, but Claire kept going. “So, of course, they"re gonna have problems with aliens too.”

hundredsSasha exchanged glances with her husband Bill, and when she turned her attention back to Claire, her face was red. “Della,” she said in a stiff voice. “What do you have to say for your daughter?”

Claire"s mother was sitting in a lawn chair with a beer in her hand, sunlight glinting off the dark lenses of her glasses. She stood up slowly. For half a second, Claire thought she was in trouble, but telepathy had its benefits.

“Well,” Della replied, “I"d say I"m glad my kid has learned to stand up for herself. Don"t blame Claire for seeing what"s right in front of her nose, Sasha. You are an i***t!”

areDella strode across the grass at a leisurely pace and offered Claire her hand. Claire took it, and then they were walking to the gate. Melissa joined them half a moment later, and the smile on her face was priceless.

Claire had a permanent bedroom in her mother"s house, and even though she hadn"t seen it in over a year, nothing had changed. The walls were still a soft pink with adorable cartoon elephants painted on them. She was a bit old for that sort of thing now, but the consistency was comforting. The window still looked out on a large backyard dotted with apple trees.

In PJ bottoms and a blue tank top, Claire sat on the bed with her legs curled up, hugging her knees as she gazed out the window. A knock at the door got her attention, and she didn"t need her talent to know who was waiting in the hallway outside. “Come in, Mom.”

The door opened, and she found Della standing there in green track pants and an old t-shirt. Her mother was frowning, and there were loose strands of blonde hair falling over her face. “So,” she said, “I"m guessing this has discouraged you from coming back to live with me?”

Claire squeezed her eyes shut, stiffening as she wrestled with the guilt of having to tell her mother something she really didn"t want to hear. “Part of me wants to,” she began. “And part of me is happy on Leyria…But, Mom, they"re never gonna accept me here.”

Things just weren"t the same since her father made that deal with the Overseers. Oh, he was the same Harry that she remembered – kind but stern, overprotective to a fault – but Claire had no idea what the cost of her new powers was. What did her father have to give up to save her life? What would the Overseers make him do?

When they arrived on Earth a few days ago, Claire had asked to stay with her mother instead of going with her father and sister to Uncle Mark"s house. She wanted to see her cousin"s on Harry"s side of the family – they always treated her better than Logan and Lisa and the others – but she needed a break from Harry.

Maybe a long break.

Two nights ago, while she was eating a quiet dinner with her mother, everything had come spilling out of her. She had cried for the better part of an hour. And that was when Della had offered to let her move back home.

“At least there are other telepaths on Leyria,” Claire said. “Not many, but some. Here, I"m just a freak.”

“You"re not a freak.”

“Yes, I am.”

Della paced across the room in a fury, shaking her head in disgust. “No, you"re not, Claire!” she spat. “Don"t let your i***t cousins get inside your head. There are millions of people out there who wish they could do what you do.”

Sniffling, Claire tried to ignore the fat tear that slid down her cheek. “You didn"t see what Logan was thinking,” she croaked. “You didn"t feel the fear and disgust coming off him when he looked at Melissa.”

Della sat on the edge of the bed, her blonde hair dangling in waves as she glowered into her lap. “I wish that I had never let you go to Leyria,” she said. “No, not because I hate Leyrians, but I should have never trusted your father to take care of you girls.”

“It wasn"t his fault.”

“Claire, he brought you to a place where men with guns tried to kill you. And when you miraculously survived, he used that alien thing to change you.”

thing“He was trying to protect me.”

Della was on her feet again in an instant, throwing up her hands as she paced to the opposite wall. “Well, isn"t that always his excuse?” She spun around to face Claire with her arms folded. “Your father is a control freak, Claire.”

Hearing that left Claire feeling numb inside. It was a strange sensation. With her new powers, she was always picking up stray emotions from other people. Add that to the typical drama of being a preteen girl, and it was safe to say that she was always feeling something. But that last one just flattened her.

something.Was her father really a control freak? She might have said that in moments when he was trying to enforce one of his unreasonable rules, but Claire was old enough to know that kids were always saying stuff like that. Hearing it from a grownup, though… “What do you mean?”

“I shouldn"t have said anything.”

A frown tugged at the corners of Claire"s mouth, but she forced herself to look up at her mother. “I"m not a little kid anymore,” she muttered. “I deserve to know what"s going on with my parents.”

With a heavy sigh, Della shuffled back to the bed and knelt on the carpet. She took Claire"s hands in hers. “All right,” she said. “But if you repeat this to your father or your sister, I"m gonna be mad.”

“I promise.”

“Your father is a control freak.” Claire saw terrible sadness in her mother"s eyes as she said that. “Look, I know I wasn"t always the best mom. I used to drink too much. And your dad was always taking care of you when I couldn"t. I"m sorry for that, baby, I really am. Your dad had to pick up the slack when I screwed up, and maybe that turned him into the man he is today.”

“I don"t understand.”

“Look at how he is with Melissa,” Della said. “Your sister chose one of the most dangerous careers in the world, and from everything I"ve heard she"s very good at it. I couldn"t be prouder, but I"d be lying if I said I didn"t lie awake every night, worrying.”

veryThere were tears on Della"s cheek, but she sniffed and wiped them away with the back of one hand. “The difference is that I accept it,” she went on. “I know I can"t protect my little girl; so, I trust her to protect herself. Your father doesn"t. He goes with her on dangerous missions. Because he can"t accept that she might get hurt, and there"s nothing he can do about it.”

I Claire hugged herself, rubbing her arms for warmth. She turned her face away from her mother. “Okay, I get it,” she whispered. “But what can we do to help him?”

“We can"t do anything, honey,” Della replied. “Your father thinks the world should be a certain way, and sometimes it doesn"t even occur to him that anyone might disagree. Once upon a time, the worst thing you could say about him was that he was hard to live with. But now…Now, he has the power to make the world the way he wants it to be. Or he thinks he does.”