Chapter 1

The sound of splintering wood ripped through the quiet of the forest. I was in the middle of a perfectly good nap on the living room couch, and the sudden crash made me jump. A man stumbled through what was left of our cabin's front door, his hand pressed hard against his side where a dark stain was spreading across his shirt. He was bleeding. A lot.

He collapsed onto the floor, his breathing ragged and shallow. He looked around the room, his eyes wide with a mix of pain and desperation. My heart hammered against my ribs. We were miles from the nearest town, completely isolated. Nobody just stumbles upon our cabin by accident. This was trouble, the kind my dad, the town sheriff, always warned me and my brother about.

The man was handsome, in a rugged, beaten-up kind of way. He had dark hair, a strong jaw, and eyes that were a startlingly intense shade of blue, even now when they were clouded with pain.

[He's an FBI agent. Ben Carter. He's been shot. His partner is dead. They were investigating a counterfeiting ring, a huge one. It goes all the way up to Senator Thompson. Oh, this is bad. He' s going to die here if someone doesn' t help him. But even if he survives this, he's going to have a really rough time. He' s destined to bring down the whole network, but it's going to cost him almost everything. Good thing I' m here. Maybe.]

Ben Carter' s head snapped towards me. He hadn't said a word, but his eyes narrowed in confusion, as if he' d heard a voice. He winced, another wave of pain washing over him. "Who... who said that?" he rasped, his voice barely a whisper.

I just stared at him, my mouth dry. I hadn't said anything out loud. I never did.

[Crap. He heard me. Some people can. It' s always the ones in deep trouble or with really strong wills. This is going to be so annoying. I just wanted to sleep.]

The sound of engines grew louder outside, coming up the long dirt road that led to our cabin. They were close. Ben' s eyes filled with fresh panic. He tried to push himself up, to find a place to hide, but he was too weak. He sank back to the floor with a groan.

"Help me," he pleaded, his gaze locked on me.

[Ugh, fine. But if he bleeds on the good rug Mom just bought, I' m not the one cleaning it up. This is seriously cutting into my relaxation time. I had a whole schedule of doing absolutely nothing planned for today.]

I scrambled off the couch and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the back of the cabin. He was heavy, a dead weight against me, but fear gave me strength. We had a small pantry, barely big enough for a person, but it was the only place I could think of. I shoved him inside, just as two black cars pulled up in front of the broken door. Men in dark suits got out, guns in their hands.

"Hide," I whispered, my voice trembling. I shut the pantry door and leaned against it, trying to make myself look as small and non-threatening as possible.

Just then, my dad' s truck came roaring up the road from the other direction. Sheriff David Miller, in the flesh. He slammed on the brakes, his hand already on the gun at his hip as he saw the men and the shattered door.

[Oh, thank god, Dad's here. But this is bigger than a few thugs. Senator Thompson wants this agent dead. He' s the one running the whole counterfeiting operation. He' s using it to fund an off-the-books intelligence network to consolidate his power. If Dad gets too involved, the Senator will go after him, after our whole family. He' ll try to frame him for corruption. It' ll be a mess.]

My father, who was in the middle of shouting at the suited men to drop their weapons, suddenly froze. He glanced over at me, his face pale. He' d heard it. He' d heard all of it. He' d been dealing with my... ability... his whole life, and he knew what it meant when my thoughts got this specific.

His expression hardened. He drew his weapon fully. "On the ground, now! This is Sheriff Miller! You are on private property, and I will not hesitate to use lethal force!"

His voice boomed with an authority that made the men pause. They exchanged a look, and then another car, this one from our local police department, came screeching to a halt behind my dad' s truck. My older brother, Liam, jumped out.

"What the hell is going on, Dad?" Liam yelled, taking cover behind the truck door.

My dad didn' t answer him. He kept his eyes, and his gun, trained on the men. He knew exactly what was going on now. He was no longer just a small-town sheriff dealing with a home invasion, he was a father protecting his family from a goddamn political conspiracy.

The men in suits, seeing they were now outnumbered and dealing with local law enforcement, slowly lowered their weapons and got back in their cars. They sped away, leaving a cloud of dust behind them.

Dad rushed inside, his eyes immediately finding me. "Ava, are you okay? What happened?" He then looked down at the blood on the floor and followed the trail to the pantry door I was still leaning against.

Liam came in right behind him, his eyes wide. "Ava? Who was that? Are you hurt?"

I just shook my head, unable to speak.

My dad gently pushed me aside and opened the pantry door. Ben Carter slumped forward, barely conscious.

"Liam, help me get him to the couch," Dad ordered. They carefully moved him, and Dad immediately started assessing the wound. "It' s a through-and-through, but he' s lost a lot of blood. Liam, call Dr. Reed. Tell her it' s an emergency and to come here, not to the clinic. Don' t use the radio, use your cell."

Liam nodded and quickly stepped outside to make the call.

Dad looked from the unconscious agent to me. "Ava," he said, his voice low and serious. "What did you see?"

I swallowed hard. "He' s FBI. His name is Ben Carter. He was investigating Senator Thompson."

Ben' s eyes fluttered open. He looked at my dad, then at me. "How... how do you know that?"

My dad sighed, a deep, weary sound. He ran a hand through his hair. "It' s... complicated. My daughter, Ava, she' s special. She doesn' t just hear thoughts, Agent Carter. Sometimes, when things are important, her own thoughts... they get a little loud. We can hear them."

Ben stared at me, his expression a mixture of disbelief and dawning understanding. He remembered hearing my voice in his head. He remembered me knowing his name.

"So all that... about Senator Thompson... that was real?" he asked, his voice weak.

"If Ava thought it, it' s real," Dad said grimly. "She doesn' t make things up."

Ben closed his eyes for a moment, processing. "Then they' ll be back. Thompson won' t stop." He made a decision. He looked at my dad. "You need to call my office. The main FBI field office. Ask for Agent Jones or Agent Smith. Give them my badge number, 734. Tell them I' m alive and I' m with a friendly local LEO. Tell them... tell them the Eagle has landed in the nest. They' ll know what it means."

Just then, Liam came back in. "Dr. Reed is on her way. I saw her car coming up the hill." He looked at Ben, then back at our dad. "What' s going on? Who is this guy?"

[Liam' s going to freak out. He just got that big promotion at the construction firm. He thinks it' s because of his hard work, and it mostly is, but he got the final leg up because I happened to be thinking about how the CEO was cheating on his taxes when Liam went in for his final interview. The CEO got so flustered he just gave Liam the job to get him out of the room. If he knew, he' d probably have a crisis.]

Liam, who was standing right next to me, stumbled back a step. "What? What did you just say about my job?"

I winced. "I didn' t say anything."

"I heard you, Ava! You were... in my head again! What about my job?"

Dad stepped between us. "Not now, Liam. We have bigger problems." He looked at Ben. "My son' s not used to it like I am."

Ben managed a weak smile. "I' m not sure anyone could get used to this." He looked at me. "I don' t know what you are, but you might be the only chance I have of getting this information out."

Dad looked at me, a deep worry in his eyes. He hated when I got pulled into things, hated the danger my ability could attract. But he also knew we didn't have a choice. Ben was right. Thompson' s people would be back.

"Don' t worry, Sheriff," Ben said, his voice gaining a bit of strength. "I won' t let anything happen to her. Her ability... we can use it. We can stop them."

Dad nodded slowly. "I' ll protect my family. Whatever it takes."

Dr. Reed arrived a few minutes later, a calm and capable woman who didn' t ask too many questions. As she worked on Ben, I heard her thinking about how strange the situation was, but her professionalism kept her focused.

Later that evening, after Ben was stabilized, I sat on the porch swing. My mom, who had been out of town visiting her sister, had finally gotten home. She was now inside, fussing over everyone and trying to get the story straight, which was nearly impossible.

[There' s a weird rule to my power, though,] I thought to myself, staring out at the dark woods. [It doesn't work if I'm singing. Or even humming. The moment a tune starts in my head, everything goes silent. It's the only peace and quiet I ever get. It' s also why I' m terrible at singing. I can' t hear my own thoughts to correct my pitch.]

A wave of worry washed over me from inside the house. It was my mom. She was thinking about me, about the danger, about how my life was never going to be simple or quiet. She was right, of course. With an FBI agent bleeding in our living room and a corrupt senator' s conspiracy unfolding in my head, a quiet life was the last thing I was going to get.