I shuddered. “I hate heights.”

“I guess rock climbing is out of the question, then.” He slid me a sly glance.

I ignored that. “What about the other kids?”

“Over the years Cromwell kinda found them.”

“What? He found them? Like he found Olivia and me?”

Hayden frowned. “Yeah, just like he found you and Olivia.”

“What about their parents?”

“They didn’t want them, Ember. If they had, Cromwell wouldn’t have taken them.”

“So none of your parents wanted to keep any of you? All of you are adopted by him?” I paused and pictured parents throwing their kids out by the handful. To me, something wasn’t right about that. “That sucks.”

Hayden gave a low laugh. “When you say it like that, then I guess it does suck, but yeah, we’ve all been adopted by Cromwell.”

“What can they do? I know what Gabe can do, but what about Phoebe and Parker?”

He nodded, his fingers tapped along the steering wheel. “Phoebe is an empath—she can sense emotions and sometimes control them. Parker is a telepath.”

I scrunched up my nose. “He can… read people’s thoughts?”

“When Cromwell first brought them home, Parker was a mess. Didn’t talk to anyone and screamed when anyone came near him. He couldn’t control it. Can you imagine always hearing people’s thoughts? Never being able to shut it out?”

“No,” I turned back to the window. “So that’s why he doesn’t go to school?”

There was a pause. “There are just too many people—classrooms so small and people crowding him. Liz is doing the whole homeschooling thing.”

“And Cromwell is helping him control it? Like he doesn’t do it all the time?”

“Yup. Parker still doesn’t talk much, but he can block most of the chatter out as long as he’s not around a lot of crowds.”

I let out a heavy sigh. Cromwell was just super. “What is he anyway? What can Cromwell do? Walk through walls? Fly? Leap tall buildings?”

“We aren’t superheroes, Ember.”

“Then what is the point of gathering all of us together? What does Cromwell want?”

“He just wants to help us.” A thoughtful look crossed his face as he concentrated on the road. “You’re having a hard time believing that, aren’t you?”

“Obviously,” I said.

“Cromwell has psionic ability,” Hayden said as the SUV slowed.

“What’s that?” My eyes grew wide as the school came into view. The one-story, brick building was surprisingly large for such a small town and looked newly built.

He was quiet for a moment. “It’s the ability to make someone… believe what you want them to, among other things.”

I twisted in my seat, facing him. “Are you kidding me?”

Hayden parked and cut the engine. “He doesn’t use it, Ember. Not on us. If you doubt that, then ask yourself why you are having such a hard time accepting him. He could have easily changed that.”

I admitted he had a point, but my stomach tipped over when Hayden opened the door. Cromwell was no longer my concern. School was.