Free Revival (The Variant Series, Book 1) by Jena Leigh

you won’t be going anywhere until we can determine how and why you managed to attract the attention of someone like Carson Brandt.”
    Her aunt had basically said as much, but coming from Grayson the announcement felt like a prison sentence.
    “There’s something I’ve been wondering,” said Alex. “How did you know to send Declan to follow me? What exactly did you see?”
    Grayson’s thin mouth turned down at the corners. “The trouble with my gift is that my visions are sometimes rather lacking in specifics. At first all I could see was a glimpse of you and another young girl sitting on a restaurant patio. A few hours later, I saw a second image—one of you running through a burning bookstore.”
    He rubbed his hands together. Just as he had in the hallway earlier, he appeared to be choosing his words carefully.
    “Cil and I haven’t exactly kept in touch over the years. I knew you were alive and well, somewhere, but I couldn’t be sure that it was you I was seeing,” he said. “Eventually I got lucky and saw a flash of you and your aunt together. Once I knew who you were and where to find you, I sent Declan.”
    “Why didn’t you just call my aunt and warn her? Stop me from going to the bookstore in the first place?”
    “Doesn’t always work like that,” said Nathaniel. “Calling your aunt might have insured that you went, for all we knew. The best chance we have to change something is to actually be there when it starts to happen.”
    “So you sent Declan to follow me instead,” she said.
    “Yes,” said Grayson.
    “Did anything in your visions tell you why Brandt wanted to kill me?”
    Grayson shook his head. “None of this makes sense. You’d never seen him before? Never met another Variant before today?”
    “No,” she said. “Not unless you count Aunt Cil. My life before today was pretty… normal.”
    Well, as normal as you could get when you were a walking power surge, anyway.
    Brian reappeared with a backpack and a laptop and settled back onto the couch beside Alex.
    Grayson sent him a look of disapproval.
    “What?” asked Brian. He hoisted what looked like a calculus textbook. “Homework!”
    The older man sighed, but said nothing more. Brian smiled triumphantly and opened the book.
    “There’s something to all this we aren’t seeing,” said Grayson, returning his attention to the group.
    “You’re right.” Declan leaned back further into the love seat, folding his hands behind his head. “To start with, Brandt wasn’t trying to kill her.”
    Alex raised an eyebrow. “Tell that to the wall of flames that chased me through the bookstore.”
    Declan shook his head. “The man’s a trained assassin. He kills people for a living . If he wanted you dead, it would have taken him two seconds and a wave of his hand.” Declan gave her a look of appraisal. Alex felt her cheeks flare under his scrutiny. “You’re not exactly a threat to a guy like him. Or to anyone else, for that matter.”
    She found herself wondering if there was a power out there that would allow her to melt into the couch cushions.
    “…No offense,” he added as an afterthought.
    Kenzie sashayed back into the room, coming to lean against the back of the love seat. Her arms hovered above Declan, a steaming cup of coffee clasped between her hands. Declan eyed the mug warily and slid a few inches to his left.
    “As much as I hate agreeing with my brother,” she said, “Declan’s got a point. Carson Brandt doesn’t toy with his victims. It’s just not his style. He’s ten shades o’ crazy, but he’s no sadist.”
    Nathaniel tossed one last log onto the fire, crossed the room and then claimed a seat next to Alex on the arm of the couch.
    “Alex’s parents were Variants,” Kenzie continued. “Maybe Brandt knew that her mom’s side of the family could teleport. Maybe he was trying to see if Alex was capable of jumping, too. You know, by frightening her into it.”
    “But I can’t … jump .”