Free The Burning City by Megan Morgan Page B

power.”
    “How does it not drive you mad?” June shook her head.
    “How does not being able to do it not drive you mad? I don’t know what it’s like to be normal.” Anthony’s eyes flashed. She definitely didn’t imagine it this time.
    June frowned. “What’s going on with your eyes?”
    “It happens when my ability happens—makes life a little awkward, especially since it happens reflexively more often when I’m tense or emotional. I’m seeing the light spectrum. You’re seeing me shift.”
    “So why doesn’t your whole body do it?”
    “Our eyes are connected to our brains, and to our powers.”
    She knew that all too well from her own vibrant green, intense, freaky eyes.
    “Okay…” June said. “So how is this going to help us find Robbie and Occam? You said you have to be in contact with a person to see their future. So that means you have to find them, like we do.”
    Anthony held up a finger. “Or someone who’s recently been in contact with them, as I said.”
    June shook her head. “I’m sure Robbie is not going to be in contact with anybody we know.”
    Anthony’s eyes flashed again and he looked away. “I know who Robbie’s in contact with.”
    Sam drew himself up in his chair and cleared his throat. “June, Anthony is…Robbie’s brother.”
    June stiffened. Her instincts weren’t off. She had recognized something familiar in him.
    “Are you kidding me?” She nearly shouted.
    Anthony looked back at her. “I’m not my brother’s keeper.”
    “Anthony is one of three known precognitives in the entire world,” Sam said. “The Beecher bloodline is incredibly strong with paranormal powers.”
    “How can you let this man sit at your table?” June clenched her hands into fists. “After what his bloodline did to you and your friends?”
    “Robbie is not my blood,” Anthony said. “I’ll gladly deliver him into Sam’s hands.”
    “He’s our only chance of finding Robbie,” Sam said. “Robbie is not going to walk right up to us. If he does, we’ve got much bigger problems.”
    “Robbie has had people watching me,” Anthony said, “ever since he made his grab for power back in January at the press conference. He’s always tried to sell me on his dogma, but I was never keen on it. I’m sure he was hoping I’d be impressed.”
    June remained guarded. “He was hoping a lot of people would be impressed, including the vampires.”
    Anthony crinkled his forehead. “I’m not surprised he’s trying to impress the vampires. Robbie hasn’t been well for a long time.”
    June sat forward. “Could you imagine the monster he’ll be if he gets a vampire to turn him? A man as powerful as he is who can’t be affected by anything?”
    Anthony sat forward too. “We’ve never seen eye-to-eye. I’m sure he’s waiting to see what I do, see if I’ll join him or oppose him. He can’t read my mind. I at least have that advantage. But I know his mind well enough, and I don’t like it.”
    “So you always knew what he was up to?” June glared at him. “Before he orchestrated a massacre?” She was not going to trust Anthony, not so easily. She didn’t care if he claimed to hate his brother. She’d been told too many lies already.
    “I didn’t know the extent of his intentions. He’s always been a bit of a fanatic. He liked to go off on these long rants about the Institute and about the Paranormal Alliance and how he’d run it differently—all the things he didn’t like about Sam.”
    Sam huffed. “The feeling is entirely mutual, trust me.”
    “He was always cocky and grandiose,” Anthony said. “I’d tune him out. We never got along very well. I think he resented the fact my power wasn’t eating me away too.”
    “That’s the thing with fanatics,” June said. “No one takes them seriously until they finally kill a bunch of people.”
    “If I could have stopped that”—Anthony’s voice dropped a notch—“I would have. I never dreamed he would go that