Read Out Of The Ashes (The Ending Series, #3) for Free Online Page B

at once: Jack reached me, dancing a circle around me, his tail hanging
low while he whined and chanted, “Mother? Mother! Mother?” in my mind;
Zoe’s hand wrapped around my upper arm, the support she offered the only thing
keeping me from doubling over completely; and Jason appeared before me,
crouching and placing his hands on either side of my head.
    “Red?” Jason
said. “Look at me, Dani. Open your eyes.” His hold on my head tightened.
    I hadn’t realized
I’d squeezed my eyes shut until he told me to open them. I obeyed, clenching my
jaw. Jason’s face, inches from mine, was carefully blank, but his eyes held a
concern so wild and intense that it verged on panic.
    “What’s wrong?”
His voice was low and even—too even. “What do you need?”
    I swallowed,
despite my mouth and throat feeling unbearably dry. “My…Ability…too much,” I
managed to say through gritted teeth. Something like this had happened once
before; I’d overextended the reach of my telepathy and nearly lost myself to
the collective pull of the minds around me. I should have been stronger now,
especially after the painful but productive electrotherapy session I’d
accidentally experienced back in the Colony. I should have been able to control
my Ability, to pull back, to shut it off…to do something . But I
couldn’t.
    As he’d done the
last time, Jason acted as the grounding wire to my telepathic lightning rod.
Using half of his Ability, he boosted mine, giving me back the control I so
desperately needed. The magnetic lure of the minds around me waned, fading into
the background.
    I took a deep
breath, then another. Smiling, I filled my eyes with as much warmth as I could
and placed my hand over one of Jason’s, giving it a gentle, grateful squeeze.
“Thank—” My voice caught in my throat, and my chest clenched. Something was
wrong.
    I couldn’t sense
Jason.
    I looked at Zoe,
feeling my eyes widen. I couldn’t sense either of them. I could sense the
animals all around, but I couldn’t sense any human minds at all.
    “Red…?” Jason’s
voice was soft, cautious.
    “You’re gone,” I
whispered, feeling like I’d been kicked in the stomach. “You’re all gone.” I
looked into Zoe’s piercing blue eyes. “Gone.” My voice sounded hollow.
    Zoe’s grip
tightened on my arm. “Um…”
    Jason swiped the
pads of his thumbs under my eyes, wiping away the tears of strain streaming
down my cheeks. “Do you have control of it?” The concern filling his eyes
intensified, and his calm expression cracked. “I’ve got to stop boosting you. Zoe…”
    Oh God. No. Reality slammed into me like a punch in
the gut. Jason’s Ability had two parts: he could amplify others’ Abilities,
like he was currently doing for me, or he could nullify them completely, but he
couldn’t do both at the same time. If Zoe’s empathy kicked in as violently as
my telepathy just had, and if she started feeling other people’s emotions and
seeing their memories without knowing how to control it…
    I nodded
vigorously. “I’m good. Help Z—”
    Without warning,
Zoe gasped, and her hand clenched. Her fingernails dug into my arm.
    We were too late.
The floodgates had opened.

 
    4
    ZOE
    MARCH 28, 1AE
    San Juan National Forest, Colorado
     
    I gasped as an unused part of my
mind sparked to life. It seemed to shift and realign, jump-starting my true
consciousness as if I’d been running on autopilot, but was now finally in
control. Everything changed in the blink of an eye…I felt whole . At
least more “myself” than I had since the others found me.
    For a brief moment, among the torrent
of feelings and memories flooding my mind, I thought the old me might
resurface, too. “I think I’m—” Getting my memories back? It was almost
too much to hope for.
    As my mind spun, so did the
onslaught of conflicting emotions—too random and unrecognizable to have been my
own.
    “Dani,” I breathed. My eyes met
hers, and I used the comfort