Free Flawed by J. L. Spelbring

easily.
    Raising her eyebrows, Trista prodded. “And?”
    “I can read minds,” she blurted out. The finality of it all blanketed the kitchen with silence.
    After a moment passed, then two, Tim broke the silence, a frown tugging his brow. “Have you always had this ability?”
    Nodding, Ellyssa responded, “Since I was a child.”
    The older male eyed her for a moment longer, thoughtfully, then looked at Sarah. “It’s true.”
    “Seems that way.”
    Shocked, Ellyssa leaned forward. “You knew?”
    “Kind of, but we didn’t know it was you—at least, not one hundred percent certain. We wondered, with you being from The Center and all. The contacts in Chicago had sent word of the experiments at The Center. It was mostly whispers here and there, nothing concrete. It seemed they had a—a double agent, for lack of a better word, working with one of the doctors.”
    Ellyssa nodded. “Yes, Leland. He worked with my father, Dr. Hirch.”
    “I believe those were the names, weren’t they, Sarah?” he said, looking at his wife.
    “I believe so.”
    “Yep, there isn’t much more than that, except… Do you have brothers and sisters?”
    “I had brothers, and only one sister.”
    “And they had abilities, too, I take it. Moving things without touching them, able to tell the future, stopping people from moving, things like that?”
    “Not completely accurate, but, yes. It doesn’t matter now; they are all dead.”
    “And it’s a good thing, too,” said Rein, “with what Dr. Hirch had planned.”
    For the next fifteen minutes, Rein and Woody gave them a shortened version of the events leading up to the destruction of The Center, her father’s plans, and how she and her siblings were prototypes of an Aryan breed that was even more superior and capable of destroying them all.
    Not wanting to relive the past, or revisit the guilt still tingeing her mood, Ellyssa sank back in the chair, trying to make herself invisible. Finally, Rein finished. The worst was over. Everything lay before her extended family to pick through and examine.
    Thoughtful, Tim pulled at his beard. He stopped and locked eyes with Ellyssa. “You don’t happen to have any files or anything left, do you?
    Sighing on the inside, Ellyssa shook her head. “Everything was destroyed with The Center.”
    Tim’s hands caressed his beard again. “It’s better that way. No one should mess around with the natural order of things. No one should play god. That’s the downfall of Hitler’s plan, you know?”
    “Can you do it now?” Trista chimed, thankfully, breaking into the conversation before Ellyssa could answer her host.
    Tired of talking about the whole ordeal, every word bringing up stabbing memories, especially when Rein had recounted the events of his torture, Ellyssa glanced at her friend. Trista flashed a smile and fidgeted in her seat.
    “I could.”
    “Would you?”
    Uncomfortable, Ellyssa looked at Rein. He just shrugged.
    She shook her head. “I don’t like to. It’s like an invasion of privacy.”
    “So, what? You can control it?”
    “I can block your thoughts.”
    “Why would you do that?”
    “Trust,” Ellyssa stated, simply. “That, and with thoughts streaming nonstop, I had to learn to build…a type of wall. People are loud.”
    “Oh.” Trista looked disappointed for a moment. Slowly, her lips curled into a grin. “But, if I’m giving you permission, then it isn’t an issue of trust. Tell me what I’m thinking.”
    Ellyssa couldn’t help but smile. Trista’s blue eyes lit with expectation. Concentrating on her enthusiastic friend, she opened the door. Good feelings thrummed inside Trista, all buzzy and excited. Trista concentrated hard on the number seventy-two, but, gradually, an image of Dyllon dominated over the digits. His sea-green eyes, his smile, the kiss they’d shared out in the barn the day before Trista had left to explore the cave and find them.
    The way Dyllon had looked at Trista before he’d