“I’m not shy. It’s just I don’t know how to act here. Everything I do is wrong.”
“Don’t worry about all that. Everyone here knows you were not raised to know proper etiquette. Francis is a little zealous in trying to teach you, but I can assure you she has your best interests at heart. We all want you to be able to fit into our family if you choose to stay after your mandatory visit with us has ended.” Marianne’s voice cracked at the end of her statement. She lifted her square jaw in some internal defiance as she sniffled and lifted glistening turquoise eyes back to the table.
She wants me to stay, but she will not force me. My heart warmed a little to the woman before me.
As if she heard my internal dialogue, Marianne smiled at me, her laugh lines deepening and revealing creases not evident when she had her council face on.
“As for my Talent, I am a light manipulator—officially.” Her lips straightened out as her eyes cut to Luca and then she turned to McCredie with a raised eyebrow.
“Ask your niece if Luca is trustworthy,” McCredie answered with a bite in his tone to her unspoken question between bites of pancake.
It seems their friendliness is purely for politics’ sake; either that or for my benefit.
“He is,” I announced before she could ask.
Luca placed his hands over his heart. “Awwwwww. Sadie, I love you too.”
It took every ounce of resistance to keep my middle fingers tucked away on my lap under the table. Instead, I narrowed my eyes. “I take it back.”
Marianne chuckled, and her chin length midnight blue bob danced with every intake of breath. “I can see why McCredie asked if you had the old ladies in my council clutching their pearls yet.” Her eyes twinkled with mirth. “You know, Sadie, I would never want you to be anything other than who you are.” Her eyes wandered to my lap where I still clenched my hands together. “Just don’t give Francis too hard of a time,” Marianne requested with a knowing, amused smile.
“I’ll try.”
She nodded at me again before pursing her lips in thought. “I don’t usually talk about my Talent.”
“Why?” I asked as I finally gave into the smells of breakfast and took a sip of coffee. The smooth, slightly bitter brew was comforting, warming me from my head down to my toes.
“Because my Talent, as powerful as it is, is also my greatest weakness.” I gasped, sucking a bit of the hot brew down the wrong pipe, causing a minor coughing fit. Marianne waited with a patient smile as I gathered myself before continuing. “My grandmother called it the Moreau curse, but I don’t believe in such things. Many in our direct family line have some of the strongest Talents ever recorded, but those strengths are also a great weakness. My mother was born legally blind, but she could see infrared. When she activated her Talent, she could see through anything. Your mother was plagued with visions that overtook nearly every aspect of her life. From what I have been told of your Talent, it comes with its own issues.” I nodded in agreement. Although I didn’t have physical problems like the rest of my family, my Talent had brought plenty of unwanted attention.
“As for me … well, on paper I’m a light manipulator, but the official title for what I can do is light wielder. I can do everything a light manipulator can do and more. I can physically harness light and use it, both as a heat source or throwing light as a weapon. However, the former drains me rather quickly. I don’t get Talent sickness, but I will die if I don’t have adequate sunlight. My Talent absorbs and stores light, much like plants, but instead of feeding me, the power I absorb from the sun keeps my body running.”
Luca whistled. “No wonder you’re keeping your Talent secret.”
“Yes. In my position, it is wise to hide my true nature.”
“But if everyone in our family doesn’t get Talent sickness, then why do I?”
“Not all Moreaus are sickness resistant, but you could be getting sick because you haven’t found the true nature of your Talent yet,” Marianne stated with a blithe nonchalance, as if she were commenting on the temperature of her coffee.
“Mrs. LaMotte says the same thing.” Marianne’s face screwed up at the mention of my mentor and my mother’s best friend, but she kept her opinions to herself. Her reaction didn’t escape McCredie’s notice, who narrowed his gaze with distrust before schooling his features. “My Talent sickness doesn’t bother me; passing out is a much better alternative to going blind or not being able to have a life because my Talent takes over my mind.”
Marianne leaned forward. “Do you enjoy seeing the energy signals of every person in your Talent radius every second of the waking day?”
“No.”
“If your secondary Talent has come forward as a nuisance, I can guarantee your true Talent will make it worse.” She shrugged her shoulders in resignation. “It’s how it has always been for those Moreaus with extraordinary Talents.”
“What of her father’s side?” Luca asked. “His family has strong Talent users as well.”
“Yes. Her father’s side is strong, but that doesn’t negate the fact that Moreau women have always struggled with their Talents.” Marianne returned her full attention to me. She reached out her hand as if she were going to grasp mine. I flinched involuntarily, instantly feeling like an ass. Especially as her pained face twisted with uncertainty before she delicately placed her hands on her lap. “Sadie, I hope you don’t have to struggle like the rest of us. I want that for you more than anything, but I don’t want to sugar coat life for you.”
I nodded, my mind whirling with everything she said, and took a bite of the now-cold flapjacks. The buttery, crispy goodness melted on my tongue, and I had to swallow a pleasured moan along with the deliciousness.
Luca snickered across the table as he pantomimed my ecstatic face, successfully breaking the serious moment. I decided dwelling on possibilities was a waste of time when I had a plate full of food waiting to be devoured.
McCredie cleared his throat. “Sadie, would you like to know why Luca and I are here?”
Chapter 5
Once the empty plates were cleared from the table, McCredie and Marianne went into full business mode.
“Sadie, your aunt tells me you are still having reoccurring nightmares and are waking with self-inflicted wounds. She also says you are prone to violence among her staff and have taken to, and I quote, ‘skulking alone in the shadows.’ Is this true?”
“I don’t know about the skulking, but yes, my dreams are haunted and I have been known to get angry at the drop of a hat,” I answered with a shrug. “Dr. Sokoloff told me those symptoms would linger until he could fix me, but I haven’t seen him since leaving the underground.”
“That we will remedy as of tomorrow. Kian has made arrangements for the doctor to come visit you twice a week.”
The mention of Kian’s name made my stomach sink as if I had swallowed a bucket of stones. “Why isn’t Kian here?” I turned to Luca, who studied me as if I were a difficult problem. “Not that I don’t want you here or anything.”
Luca leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. “Trust me when I say Kian wanted to be here. There may have been some furniture broken when he was told he had to stay behind.”
“Why did he have to stay behind?”
“Because I needed him for another job that required his experience and Talent,” McCredie answered. “Plus, your grandmother wanted to get to know you without his overbearing presence.”
“I know you don’t understand, darlin’, but I think being apart for a while is a good thing.” Marianne’s voice was soft as if she were worried I’d explode. I sat for a moment, staring at my hands clasped in my lap. Without our separation, I wouldn’t have noticed Kian’s lies, and although Kian hadn’t been able to defend himself, I wasn’t completely sure how I felt.
“It’s okay, Marianne, I understand.” My gaze lifted and locked with Luca’s. His head was cocked to the side, nostrils flared, and his eyes filled with a sad understanding.
&nb
sp; “Thank you,” Marianne whispered.
McCredie coughed but didn’t speak. The weight of silence pressed against me, making me fidget uncomfortably. “So, why is Luca here?”
“I am here as your guard and emotional support,” Luca stated with a conspiratorial wink, his face alight with mischief. “The girls wanted to come, but they all have their own training to do.”
“Your friends will have opportunities to come and visit. Lacy is almost finished with her medical training. She will be coming to the Moreau estate in a few weeks to finalize her certifications at Moreau Institute.” McCredie paused as his communicator beeped. “Oh, and that reminds me. We have secured you a special communicator that you must use from now on.”
“Why?”
McCredie nodded at Luca, who then got up and walked toward the exit. “We discovered your standard issue communicator had been hacked and a tracking code placed into it. We’re not sure if that’s how the HPC followed you or if they were even the ones who did it, but since discovering the new coding, we’ve been working on a more secure communicator.”
Luca waltzed back in with a sleek new device in his hand. “This works just like your old one, except this communicator has a copy of your genetic code and will require you to place a finger on this inlet so it can gather a skin sample. It doesn’t hurt, just scrapes some dead cells. Just be sure to use a different finger each time; as much as you message the girls, you’d wear through the epidermis in no time.” He paused for a moment while I processed this influx of information.
“Any communications coming or going will have to pass the encryption file. At the beginning of all voice calls there will be four beeps to let you know the call is safe. All text messages will have this symbol at the beginning and end.” Luca showed me a tiny basic replica of the emblem of the HCA before handing me the communicator.
“All of your friends, plus myself, your aunt, and a few key staff members’ contacts are already loaded. Please do not add any new contact information unless you go through the technological director at HCA headquarters. Every contact on your phone has their own secure communicator and it is 100 percent safe for you.” McCredie looked at his communicator again. “I’m sorry, my plane will be leaving soon and I must go.” He stood and walked around the table, shaking both Luca’s and Marianne’s hands before completing the loop to me.
“McCredie…” I paused, searching his eyes for annoyance that I delayed his retreat, but they only twinkled with warmth and the patience of a man who continually put others above himself. “What are you doing about Miles?”
McCredie pressed his thumb into his temple as he sucked air between his teeth. “We’ve been monitoring him. Our intelligence indicates he has given up the friendly grandfather approach since the council ruled against his wishes. Other than that, there isn’t much to update. Miles, GenCorp, and the majority of the Koenig family have kept to their standard routines without a single hiccup in behavior. It’s too perfect. We know they are up to something, but without infiltrating their ranks—which is next to impossible—we won’t know anything until the shoe drops.”
“Oh…” A small, absurd part of me had hoped the mediation would be the last I saw of Miles Koenig. It was the same part that wanted to hide in a dark corner and lick my wounds until McCredie fixed everything, but that tiny speck in the maelstrom of my mind wasn’t what bothered me.
It was McCredie’s declaration that Miles had stopped the grandfatherly approach. From the moment I discovered I had a Talent, he had been pursuing me. He had sent kidnappers, assassins, and even bombed an orphanage to get to me. Yes, the majority of the population didn’t know about his involvement in those matters. He had been too busy with his media campaign focused on flushing me out with pleas of a missing granddaughter. But if those attempts were grandfatherly, what kind of hell would he unleash next? Who would he hurt to get to me? Was he planning to come after me again? Or had he given up on capturing me? And why? What was his end game?
My secondary Talent flared and I saw every speck of colorful energy around the estate. Power flowed through my body and for a few minutes, I was everywhere at once before I snapped back into my own body. Dizziness threatened my equilibrium, and I held on to the table with every ounce of strength to keep the others from noticing.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay.” Luca’s gentle punch to my shoulder pulled me out of the downward spiral of unending questions. As my mind cleared, the tense muscles in my shoulders and arms relaxed a fraction. I then noticed the frantic beating of my heart in tempo with the shallow breaths that signaled the start of a panic attack.
“Yeah,” I replied with a halfhearted shrug. Things haven’t been okay in a while.
“The HCA is doing everything in our power to make this world safe. Not only for you, but for all Caelians. I will not allow your grandfather or any other person to torment you again.” McCredie spoke as if he had access to the worries in my mind. His voice cracked as he placed a warm hand on my shoulder. “I don’t want you to suffer anymore.”
My eyes met his. “I appreciate that, but you cannot control Miles Koenig any more than you can control me. He wants me, and I have a feeling he will do whatever it takes to have me. And I promise you, I will do whatever it takes to stop him from hurting others.”
McCredie’s hand squeezed my shoulder. “You’ve done enough. You’ve been through enough. We have intel and plans in process that will stop him. You don’t have to carry this burden anymore.”
I placed my hand on top of his, wrapping my small hand around his and releasing it from my shoulder. “The burden will always be mine.”
The gentle breeze of Luca’s fist caressed my cheek as it whizzed past my face and clipped my ear. A short stab of pain rippled down my neck, followed by a heated throb beating in time with my heart. Time slowed for a moment as the rouge glow representing Luca’s Talent flared in my mind, blinding me of all but my secondary Talent’s mental map of life signatures.
He was flashing his Talent on purpose to distract me, but knowing this and being physically able to stop the coming blow were two different matters entirely. My muscles clenched in anticipation as his fist met my solar plexus. Every molecule of air whooshed out of my lungs. Pain exploded from my stomach, expanding outward to every nerve in my body. I cradled my torso as my knees gave out, pitching me forward until my face smashed against the sparring mat.
“You have to find a way to push back your secondary,” Luca growled between breaths. Despite the pain, my lips tipped up in a small, victorious smile at his obvious exhaustion. We had been fighting almost an hour before he finally gotten the best of me.
“I can’t. It’s always on,” I croaked as I rolled over onto my back.
“There has to be a way. It’s dangerous to keep on all the time.” Luca ran his fingers through his bangs and began to pace near my head.
“You’re the only one who knows that a Talent flare can render me blind. As long as it doesn’t get out.”
“Are you crazy? Talents flare when the user is emotional, and people get pretty damn emotional in a battle, Sadie. You can’t be blind in a fight when yours or other people’s lives are on the line. You’re lucky I discovered this weakness instead of an enemy.” He stopped pacing and settled his narrowed, pale pink eyes at me. “Get up.”
My fists hit the mat with a resounding smack as I released a loud groan. “Take pity on me Luca. It’s only been two days and I’m out of shape.”
“That is no excuse.” Luca crossed his arms, waiting with the stubborn patience of someone who always gets his way. His voice shook with anger as he spoke, “I shouldn’t have to take pity on you. Before, you would kick my ass for hitting you like that. Now you’re lying on the floor whining. Where is my strong, confident friend? Where’s the Sadie ready to set the Koenig family ablaze?”
Those were perfectly good questions. After McCredie left, Marianne had explained my new daily schedule before she left to go do whatever it is Caelian politicians d
o. I had nodded like a good little girl and didn’t complain. Every morning I had breakfast with Marianne in the atrium. Afterwards, I got a lesson in Caelian politics before she left for the day. The rest of the day was devoted to training. First hand-to-hand with Luca, who continued where I left off with the HCA, and then Talent training.
Sadie from a few weeks before would have argued or demanded more time with her only living relative. She would have threatened violence for the lack of information about Mrs. LaMotte. She would have done something.
My arms wobbled as I pushed to a seated position and craned my neck to meet Luca’s eyes. “Luca, I don’t sleep. If it isn’t graphic playbacks of the deaths I have witnessed, I’m back in the clutches of the HPC. I’ve always had a little bit of anxiety, but now, everything sets me on edge. Arguing and setting Miles Koenig on fire doesn’t top my list of priorities anymore.”
“Oh Sadie.” Luca sat next to me, folding his long legs and propping his elbows on his knees. “There’s no way I can understand what you’re going through, but I am sorry. When is your appointment with Dr. Sokoloff?”
“After my Talent training.”
“Good.” Luca leaned forward and tilted his head was nestled into the palm of his hand and grabbed my hand with his free one. “I hope between being able to talk to Kian and the girls and Dr. Sokoloff’s healing, you’ll be back to yourself in no time.”
“But that’s the thing, Luca. I’m too dependent on Kian and you guys. I completely fell apart after I came to live here. Between the nightmares, crippling anxiety, and my uncontrollable Talent, I felt completely alone. If you hadn’t moved here, I would still be holed up in my room, hating life.” I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see the shame of my weakness reflected in his eyes. “I have to learn how to be strong for myself.”
Luca flicked my nose. My eyes snapped wide open in shock, unable to focus on anything before I caught his eyes. They glimmered with mischief and seriousness, a feat only Luca could pull off. It reminded me of the times we hung out before the bombing that destroyed my childhood home. That one look lifted my heart until it felt like it would float out of my chest.
The Caelian Cycle Boxed Set Page 42