Secret Legacy by Anna DeStefano

connect to other minds beyond the lab’s walls.
    A child’s cries shrieked to her from somewhere beyond her nightmare. Beyond the bunker. Beyond the woods that cloaked their location. Evil was building within Sarah, no matter what anyone did to stop it. And she could sense Richard’s awareness of it. His acceptance. His determination to fix her all over again.
    “Nothing about you is inherently evil.” He walkedacross the dream lab, dressed in the dark fatigues the Watchers wore inside the bunker and on night missions. “Stop punishing yourself for your past.”
    There was a lethal edge to him when he shed his lab coat. A predatory alertness, a ruthless drive to protect, always crowding Sarah no matter how much distance she kept between them.
    “Is that why your council has me locked in here again?” she asked. “Because they trust the goodness in my soul?”
    “Your ocean dream was being driven by a consciousness beyond yours. Until we know by whom and why, you’ll either be in here behind the lab’s shields or accompanied by someone who can help you control your response.”
    “Namely you.” Her voice stumbled over the words, her stomach knotting.
    He handed Sarah a sports bottle filled with one of the electrolytic concoctions she choked down after every dream she and Maddie explored. She began to drink, making herself ignore the way his short military haircut accented the strong lines of his face even better than the longer style he’d worn while masquerading as an eccentric scientist.
    “Tonight was an out-of-control projection someone else triggered.” He gave a quick nod of approval as she continued to drink. “I suspect by using the programming Tad Ruebens embedded in your mind before his death. Until we can tell the council more, that’s the best I’ve come up with.”
    Sarah took several more swallows. She concentrated on keeping down the mint-flavored liquid as she foughta psychic and adrenaline overload worse than she’d ever experienced. Her straw hit bottom. Richard handed over a new bottle. When half of the orange goo inside was gone, he made eye contact. His latest potion rumbled in her stomach.
    She caught him inhaling slowly and releasing his breath in time with hers. His energy flowed with unnerving ease through their restored telepathic connection, enhancing her recovery without overpowering her thoughts. The tightness in her diaphragm eased with his help, mocking her weak attempt to settle her nerves on her own.
    She held his stare through it all.
    He blinked first and looked away.
    “Your elders must be thrilled that the center’s influence over me isn’t quite as finished as you’ve insisted it is,” she said. “Are your men planning a lynching for Maddie and me, or will a symbolic burning at the stake suffice?”
    “If the council decides to neutralize your legacy, placing you in a chemically induced vegetative state will be effective enough.”
    Sarah shuddered. She stared at his jaw, at the late-night shadow of his dark beard, anywhere but into his understanding, unyielding gaze.
    “I’ve met with them briefly,” he said. “A full report is scheduled for tomorrow. You disengaged from the vision when you realized your sister’s life was in danger. Your control over your presence in a dream matrix has grown strong enough for you to manipulate your dreaming identity on your own. That’s progress I’ve been able to spin to our advantage for now, because it leaves us a chance to turn your programming against the center inthe future. Whether or not we have anything more to bargain with depends on you and what we manage to accomplish next.”
    “I almost killed you when I broke the dream link.” She turned until her legs were hanging over the side of the bed. The room danced around her. “I’ve killed before because a voice in a dream told me to. Is more of that what you’re hoping to accomplish?”
    The screams in Sarah’s mind grew louder. She set the empty bottle