The Empath (The Above and Beyond Series Book 1) Read Free Page A

There’s something magical about snow, at least to me. It reminds me of how my childhood should have been. The days spent building snowmen and riding sleighs, the warm toasty fires and the sweet hot chocolate.
    My childhood had been nothing like it. Pushed from pillar to post as my parents worked longer and longer hours. The brief promises of how, when Daddy got his promotion, he would be home more or when Mommy won this case she would take time off.
    Neither did.
    I spent most of my time with Nan. I’m not even sure if she was my grandmother and that was a pet name or if she was an elderly woman who had nothing better to do than babysit a misfit. When I look back, I can’t ever recall her talking much, she would either be fishing, tending to her vegetable garden, or reading. Nan loved to read.
    An angry voice broke me from my trip into memories. “Lei—A word.”
    I sighed. Whenever someone shortens my last name or asks for a word in here, it means they want to rip my head off.
    “What’s up?” I asked.
    I knew the second I turned around, the woman belonging to the huge shadow on the snow was going to swing for me. The longer I delayed, the harder it would be for the guards to ignore what was happening. One was already itching to intervene, I could feel her.
    “You Lori’s friend?”
    I shook my head. I was no one to Lori. Lori didn’t know where the hell she was by the time she’d gotten into the cell. All I had met was a screaming shell.
    “Are too . . . I know you bunked with her.”
    I rubbed the back of my neck. A flash of the woman’s intentions made the hairs on my arms prickle. What was with all the violence?
    “They put her in my cell,” I said. “I didn’t know her.”
    “Liar!”
    She lunged. I rolled to the left and got to my feet, my attacker now sprawled in the snow. Three of her friends started to run over. Hell, they were going to tear me to pieces.
    I looked up at the guards, who turned away. Thanks a lot.
    Damn, I was in trouble. I looked around at the yard. Four massive walls, armed guards on top, a chain-link fence, penning me in like a turkey at Christmas. My eyes lifted to the guard who I could hear wanted to help, she was desperate to help and so I walked as calmly as I could back to the gate.
    My heart thudded so hard that I thought my ribs were going to break. The sound of the heavy boots crunched on the grit and sludge behind me. My breath was loud and rapid.
    “Get her!”
    A little further, just a little bit further, come on . The clomping got nearer, my heart— thud, thud, thud —I could make it. The guard was itching to help. She was new, it would wear off.
    I could hear the mob behind me shouting, their thoughts crystal clear. Kill her, rip her apart, pound her head, stamp on it . . .
    “Please,” I blurted as I got to the gate. The guard opened it instantly and locked it behind me as the three bear-like women charged into the solid iron.
    I smiled at the guard, hardly able to hear over my heartbeat. “Thanks.”
    She nodded and moved me away from the flaying arms of the crazed trio. “Why did they put you out there with them if they hate you?”
    I met her eyes for a moment. First day. She had a hell of a lot to learn. “They don’t hate me, they just want to crush anything that moves. They’d happily crush each other.”
    “You aren’t like them,” she said.
    “No, but the guards will tell you I’m trouble, which I probably am. They won’t like that you just got me out of a hiding.”
    The guard frowned. “I’m sure they would never do that.”
    I smiled. “You’ll see. Watch the rotation—my friends will all be in with the lynch mob at some point today.”
    “Why?”
    “I dared to answer back. Crazy people ain’t allowed opinions.”
    The guard wasn’t completely convinced. I could see her running through the training that she had been given. The training that informed her that the inmates in this institution were as crafty and slippery as they