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Shhh You don’t want to alert the others Talk to me in this way With your mind If you think it, I will hear you

“Jesus,” he whispered “It’s finally happened I’ve finally lost oddamn mind”

A chill stole over his body and he hunched farther dorapping his ar back and forth He buried his face against his knees and closed his eyes Weariness and sadness crept over him And acceptance of his fate

No You ive up I’m with you I won’t leave you

“Who are you?” heup his head from his knees

Why do you persist in talking? They’ll hear you Don’t do anything to draw their attention

It doesn’t matter whether I draw their attention or not

The weary thought drifted into her nation so heavy in his consciousness

You’re not alone She pushed the thought at hiainst her, iive him what comfort she could

She stroked her hands over his body and , nonsensical words in his ear She pressed a kiss to his brow, ignoring the s them

She didn’t know this man, but she could no more deny him comfort than she could deny anyone who suffered so much

What she was about to do was dangerous But how could she not do what she could to give him relief when she had the ability to help him just for a while?

She ed more fully with him, sent herself inside his very soul She bit her lip to control the cry of agony as his pain swah her His pain became her own

Tears ran freely down her cheeks as the full extent of his suffering blew over her like a scorching wildfire It took all her strength and concentration to maintain the link between them

What are you doing?

His quiet question was full of bewilderment She could sense his disbelief, even as his body relaxed in brief respite froht this was so insanity He thought she was a copinghis shattered mind had conjured as a way to cope with his horrific reality

It took her a long moment before she was able to respond She lay on her bed, shaking, her nerve endings shooting little jolts of fire through her body as she absorbed the pain from him

Are you there?

There was hope in the uncertain question She saw his battle between truth and hallucination and then his acceptance that he didn’t care Noon to the notion that he was no longer isolated

I’m here

Her voice was fainter in his mind now, and he frowned even as he raised his head and stretched his arms above and then around him

What did you do?

She didn’t respond It took all her strength to maintain the bond between the

What did you do? His question becah his body as he tested his ars How could you have done it? Who are you?

I’ll return to you Her thought was a mere whisper in his mind noon’t leave you alone to face this I swear it

She caught traces of his frustration just before she let go and retreated fro and shuddering as she tried to process the waves of pain, both physical and mental

She rolled to her side, pulling her knees to her chest in a manner reminiscent of his own posture in his filthy, dark cell She rested her forehead on her knees and sucked in breath after breath until finally the pain began to recede

Her cheeks were damp The tendrils of hair over her ears et froered to her feet and walked clumsily toward the bathroom, where she splashed cold water on her face

Who was he? Why was she drawn to him? Why had she heard hiift was so random Her fist pounded down on the sink She couldn’t control it Not like the people who hunted her and her sister wanted

Shea couldn’t heal others like Grace could She could only ease suffering for a little while She could hear people’s thoughts Talk to them in the same manner What use was that to anyone?

And yet she was pursued ruthlessly As was Grace The two sisters had made a pact As painful as it was to be away fro, not contacting each other

If either sister were found, one would be used to draw the other out Shea wouldn’t allow that to happen She wouldn’t be responsible for Grace’s capture

Grace was special She was vulnerable and her gift was as ift She could not survive in the hands of people deterard for the cost to Grace They’d kill her because they didn’t understand Grace’s abilities They wouldn’t mean to They wouldn’t want to But they’d force her to use her skills, and the result would be Grace’s death

“I won’t allow it to happen,” Shea murmured fiercely

Grace was good She was tenderhearted to her detriment She couldn’t bear to see anyone suffer, and as a result, Grace often suffered pain beyond Shea’s i coripped by the very illness she took from others

Shea hastily tossed her toiletries into a large case and then stood in front of the sink, her hands braced on the surface, eyes closed as she battled the weariness that beat at her

She’d hoped by reaching out to hiain relief But now sorrow blanketed her She couldn’t leave hi up all hope She could sense his desire to die and slip away from his awful reality

She shook her head in denial She wasn’t going to let hio

NATHAN Kelly sat quietly in the corner of his tiny cell and stared broodingly into the darkness He had no idea if it was night or day For all practical purposes, he was in a box A tiny, airless box How long had he been here?

For the first weeks, he kept meticulous count, sure that rescue would come at any moment Not only did he have the US Army to count on, but his brothers ran a top-notch anization that took jobs nobody wanted or had the overnnments from the private sector No way they’d let him stay imprisoned in some hellhole Not after what had happened to Rachel They would question everything They wouldn’t blindly accept his death, no matter what they were told

He closed his eyes and thought about his fragile sister-in-law, Rachel, as married to his older brother Ethan Then he shook his head She wasn’t fragile A fragile person wouldn’t survive an entire year imprisoned in hell

Nathan couldn’t have been here for rip on reality—and his sanity

He ence of pain But it remained at bay It wasn’t that he was nuone beyond the paras He could feel each bead of sweat that rolled down his chest The pain was sione

After he’d lived with agony for so long, having every wakingto suddenly feel nothing

How had it happened? Was she an angel? The voice in histhat he wanted to drown in the sensation

For one brief moment he knew peace His mind was empty, and calm had descended, wrapped around him like a warm, fuzzy blanket

It was absurd to think that there was any peace in hell It wouldn’t last, but he was grateful for even a moment’s respite

He eased down onto the rough floor and curled into as tight a ball as he could muster He was nearly lost in the corner, a mere shadow in darkness

Fatigue held hirasp But then he felt the faint touch of another It was as though soentle suh his ears

I’m here

He closed his eyes, deterth Whatever had happened today, whether he’d finally broken from reality or not, he felt a renewed deterht

He focused on his family He’d live for them This would pass He would survive it

Yes You’ll live I won’t let you give up

The angel whispered, and he felt sorab on and wrap the angel around him

He felt her smile It was like a burst of sunshine in his shattered mind And then he felt her arined her doing

Sleep now, she gently urged

“Stay withsleep

CHAPTER 2

SHEA stepped into the crispair and inhaled deeply in an effort to clear her ht of eo back to sleep after she’d reached out to the e to relax

She pulled her jacket tighter around her body and stared down the street as the sky lightened around her It was still relatively quiet, but in an hour or so, the hustle and bustle of early- rush hour would replace the calm She only had one house to clean today and it wouldn’t take her long She had never dared to find a job where she was required to give any personal information She took what jobs she could find that would pay her cash and shein one spot made her nervous, and she was determined to stay ahead of those who pursued her