Seizure Read Free Page A

referring to Ben’s claim of ties to the Sewee, a North American clan folded into the Catawba tribe centuries ago. He’d even named his boat Sewee .
    “I feel your pain,” Hi continued. “Thanksgiving was a huge mistake.”
    Coop licked Hi’s face.
    “Not nice,” I joked. “You’ll sour Jewish-Sewee relations.”
    “It’s true, I take it back,” Hi said. “Our peoples have a rich history of mutual respect. Long live the alliance!”
    I noticed movement in the corner of my eye. A wisp of gray passing through the forest. Sniffing once with my supercharged nose, I teased a scent from the air.
    Warm fur. Hot breath. Musk.
    Wolf.
    “Look alive, Coop. Your mom’s here.”
    “What?” Hi craned his neck. “Where?”
    Three animals stepped from the trees. Whisper, the matriarch, was a gray wolf. A gorgeous, regal animal. All silver, with a hint of white on her nose.
    Her mate, a rogue golden shepherd, stood by her side. I’d taken to calling him Polo. Behind them paced Coop’s older brother, another wolfdog hybrid. I’d dubbed him Buster.
    For a moment, the pack watched the scene on the beach. Then Whisper barked once. Cooper sprang to join his kin. Reunited, the family loped into the forest.
    “Have fun!” I called.
    I was happy to let him visit his folks, but Coop lived with me now. Whitney and Kit just had to deal. So far, so good.
    Well, sort of. Coop and Whitney weren’t exactly best friends.
    Shrug. The opinion of my father’s annoying girlfriend was extremely low on my list of concerns.
    “Did you smell her?” Hi asked.
    I nodded. Downwind, I’d picked up Whisper’s scent at thirty yards.
    “Amazing.” Hi stripped off his shirt, wrung it out. “Score one for your honker.”
    “Thanks, I think.” I cocked my chin at Hi’s substantial midsection. “Nice abs.”
    “Yeah, I work out twice a month. No exceptions. But stop hitting on me, it’s embarrassing.”
    Hot day. Not surprising for mid-August in South Carolina. I wiped my forehead. My sweating talent was in full effect.
    “Shoot.” Hi blinked, his eyes back to normal chestnut-brown. “I lost my flare. Stupid Ben.”
    “Can you get it back?”
    “I’ll try.” Hi’s face went blank in concentration. His pupils focused on nothing. Seconds ticked by. A minute.
    Hi shook his head. “Still can’t burn back-to-back. Not since . . .”
    He trailed off. I didn’t press. I knew what he was thinking.
    The only time we’d flared twice in a row was at Claybourne Manor. The night when, somehow, I’d forced it on the other Virals. When I’d stepped inside their minds.
    I don’t know how I did it. Had never been able to repeat the trick. Not for lack of trying. But no matter how hard I strained, I couldn’t reconnect. Couldn’t recapture that odd feeling of oneness . The cosmic link that broadcast my thoughts and let me hear theirs.
    The close bond of a wolf pack.
    “Do you want to try again?” Hi asked. Hesitant. I knew that this particular power gave him the willies. Same went for Ben and Shelton.
    “Try what?” Ben joined us, water dripping from his shoulder-length black hair. “Are you talking about telepathy again?”
    “It worked once,” I said. Defensive.
    “Maybe.” Ben frowned. “Maybe not. It might’ve been part of the sickness.”
    When our powers first presented, we’d been slammed for days. A terrible, soul-crushing illness that left us weak as kittens. The major symptoms eventually subsided, but random oddities continued to afflict us.
    Would the symptoms ever disappear for good? I had no answer.
    But the current topic of conversation was an old argument.
    “It wasn’t the sickness,” I said. “I felt a real connection, even with Coop. We’re linked now.”
    “Then why can’t you do it again?” Ben had no patience for things he couldn’t understand.
    “I don’t know. Let me try now.”
    Never one to wait for permission, I closed my eyes, slowed my breath. Tried to crawl backward into my psyche.
    I