Free Indigo Awakening (The Hunted (Teen)) by Jordan Dane

Lucas.
    “I need you to talk to me.” She hugged him tighter and whispered in his ear, “Please, no lies this time.”
    “What are you talking about?” he mumbled as he pulled away from her. “Omission isn’t lying...exactly.”
    Rayne grabbed the sketch pad and held up the drawing of Lucas.
    “Tell me about him. What did you see?” She jabbed a finger at the page. “It looked like you had a vision.”
    “No, that’s...nothing. I have dreams, not visions. I draw. No big deal.”
    Gabe turned away, unable to look her in the eye. He had a wall of secrets, and she had a feeling his sketchbook visions were only part of the things he wanted to keep from her. Somehow she had to find a way to reach him. Gabriel was definitely a puzzle she wanted to piece together, but after seeing what he’d drawn, Lucas needed her more.
    “Gabe, you don’t understand. That boy you drew, that’s my brother, Lucas. He’s missing.”
    “What?” He grabbed the notepad and stared at what he’d drawn. “Are you sure? Maybe I just suck.”
    “That drawing, it’s practically a photo. You’re a damned Michelangelo. You don’t suck.”
    “But I don’t know your brother. How can I draw him?”
    “You tell me, van Gogh.”
    “You shouldn’t do that.”
    “Do what?”
    “Van Gogh was a Dutch Postimpressionist, totally different from an Italian Renaissance painter like Michelangelo.”
    “Art history? Really?” She stared at him in total disbelief. “Don’t go Rain Man on me. Please...I need you to focus.”
    Rayne tossed the art book down and held his face again. She forced him to look into her eyes. “Right now. Close your eyes and remember what you saw. Don’t leave anything out.”
    After a long moment of strained silence, Gabriel did as she asked. He shut his eyes and talked. Some of what he told her didn’t make sense. He talked about Christmas lights and pirate treasure where X marked the spot. By the time he ran out of things to say, his vague recollections weren’t much help, except to make her more worried. Lucas had been scared. That showed in the drawing. Gabe didn’t know why Luke had a beefy hand at his throat, and he tried to downplay that part, to make her feel better, but it didn’t.
    “That’s it,” he said. “That’s all I remember. Whatever I saw, it wasn’t like a video. I only get impressions. I could be way off base.”
    Rayne wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
    “These visions of yours...the dreams? Are they...?” She held back, not wanting to say what was on her mind, but she had to. “Are your visions what’s already happened...or are they something in the future, things that can be changed?”
    Gabriel heaved a sigh and raked a hand through his hair.
    “I have no idea. Before you, I didn’t even know any of these kids were real. Now I don’t...” He didn’t finish. Gabe picked up his sketchbook and flipped through the faces, stopping on the scariest ones as if he were reliving what he’d seen. Rayne wanted to hug him, but he looked rapt in misery that no one else could fix.
    He shut his eyes and sighed. “Why didn’t I know they were...real?”
    “I don’t know, Gabriel.” She touched his cheek, fighting a lump in her throat. “But I gotta find my brother. Will you help me? You’re the only one who’s seen him.”
    Gabe did a double take and stared at her way too long. When he didn’t volunteer to search for her brother, heat rushed to her face and she narrowed her eyes.
    “Luke’s in trouble. You saw that and I believe that you did. I need you, Gabriel.”
    “I’m the last one you need. Trust me.” He shook his head. “What about your family? Why haven’t they gone to the police? Can’t the cops help? They got guns and uniforms and stuff.”
    She thought about telling him her complicated story and sharing that Luke had escaped Haven Hills, but she didn’t know how Gabriel would take it. A kid on the loose from a mental hospital would give him plenty of