Read True Colors for Free Online Page A

better.”
    Alex didn’t say anything as Charlie guided her back to the SUV, but she was thinking she’d never feel better again. How had Charlie survived such terror? And how the hell had Alex tapped into it?
    Once they were back in the car, Charlie flipped the air-conditioning on high and pulled back into traffic, calm as you please.
    “How?” Alex asked. She figured she didn’t have to elaborate at this point.
    “I don’t know. It probably has something to do with when you were shot. You weren’t empathic before that.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Because I was, and I could tell you weren’t like me.”
    “Have you always been . . .” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word. Didn’t want to acknowledge that it even existed. As if that would make a difference in how screwed up everything was.
    “Some,” Charlie said. “But it didn’t become what it is now until after . . .”
    “After?”
    “Remember the woman I saw get killed when she was hit by that car? She was our cousin. And also empathic.”
    Alex put a palm to her forehead and pressed against the growing throb there. “I thought we didn’t have any cousins.”
    “Surprise.”
    Alex didn’t respond to her sister’s attempt to lighten the mood. “So if that woman was our cousin, why are you just now telling me?”
    Charlie sighed softly. “I didn’t tell you when I found out because she was murdered and someone was coming after me. I didn’t want to make you a target. And we haven’t had much alone time since then to discuss . . . things.”
    Alex narrowed her eyes against afternoon sunlight that had turned blinding and wished she had sunglasses. “Things about Mom, you mean. Mom and her slew of secrets.”
    Charlie nodded. “Yeah.”
    “Which appears to include a cousin we didn’t know about.”
    “Yeah.”
    Alex chewed at her lower lip. “Is it okay if I file that information away for later and we just hit the highlights?”
    “I think that’s a good idea, considering.”
    “So this cousin was empathic?”
    “Yes, and when she died,” Charlie said, “I was holding her hand. AnnaCoreen thinks I—”
    “AnnaCoreen?”
    “She’s a friend who has some experience in this sort of thing. She thinks that when Laurette—that’s our cousin—died, I absorbed her empathic ability, and that it supercharged mine.”
    Alex couldn’t stop the laugh that slipped past her lips. “This sounds ... I don’t know . . . just weird.” And completely freaking unbelievable.
    “I had a hard time at first, too. You’ll get used to it.” Charlie paused, wet her lips. “I mean, you’ll get used to the idea . I haven’t gotten used to the ability. I don’t think I ever will.”
    Alex stared through the windshield as the scrubby landscape gave way to beachside restaurants, hotels and gift shops. The Gulf of Mexico was a glittery backdrop in the sun. Everything about this moment felt surreal.
    “So what happens?” she asked.
    “I’d rather hear how it’s happening for you.”
    Alex’s brain went blank. She had no idea. All she remembered was spinning disorientation and the incredibly intense sense of being not herself anymore. The first time—or at least the first time she’d become totally aware of what happened—had been right after Logan pulled that little girl out of the burning van. But then the van had exploded, and the chaos had distracted her until later that night. By then, she just hadn’t known what to think.
    “Alex?”
    She blinked. “You first.”
    Charlie didn’t try to dodge, which was unusual for her. “It happens when I make skin-on-skin contact with another person. I relive something traumatic that happened to them recently. It’s just a flash, and then it’s over.” She paused as she pulled over to the side of the road in front of a fuchsia shack sporting a neon sign advertising psychic readings for ten dollars.
    “So that’s why you wouldn’t touch me?” Alex asked. “Because you didn’t want