“You are an awesome teacher.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere.”
We hugged again and said our goodbyes. I watched from the door as she drove away. Tears threatened to fall again, but I held them in—welcoming the sting. The time for tears was over, but it didn’t lessen the ache in my heart.
Though my situation there was temporary, and as soon as I got a handle on my Talent I would be free to go, a deep sense of dread overcame me at her leaving. A dark thought had been skirting the edges of my mind throughout the meeting and torturing me with its ominous presence took hold. It was more than some random concern. It ran deeper - almost like an intuition, a profound knowing from someplace other than my own consciousness.
A fear beyond understanding that Mrs. LaMotte would be taken away—yet again. It seemed absurd since she had been cleared of all charges. Maybe it was my own worries being projected. Or maybe it was nothing at all.
Chapter 10
Video: Caelian Orphan Murders One and Injures another in a Fit of Rage
Compilation video of Sadie uploaded to popular video site.
Comments:
George Richard: This girl is crazy!!! I love it!!
Desodux: This is why Caelians should have more restrictions. YES TO HR.75138!!!
Sultan: Who is this girl? We should find her and give her a taste of her own medicine.
Ashley Steinberg: This is horrifying, but we don’t know the circumstances outside of the video. Let’s try not to judge.
Littleg8r: Isn’t the second one from that orphanage bombing? If so, then get it girl!
Brad1999: She’s fine as hell. I’d let her put her hands on me like that all day long.
MiMi Re: UGH! Why don’t the people recording these videos get closer? I WANT TO SEE MORE!!!
Emmie B: Her name is Sadie. She’s that girl the Koenig guy was looking for earlier this year.
JayCee: No network coverage AT ALL. The media is useless. How are we supposed to protect ourselves from Caelian violence?
Slayer: YES TO HR.75138! Get those scum under control.
JoshtheBoss: Sadie’s got it right. Maybe us Caelians should start fighting back against NORM OPRESSION. Imagine if this shit happened, only in reverse and on a larger scale… Oh wait, it happens every day and the government doesn’t give a damn.
D Nyce Guy: I need her on my lap. Tonight.
KitKat13: I’m so glad my school keeps the Caelian kids separate from us. What if one of them started going crazy in the middle of the day? None of us would be safe!
Frankie: Disgusting. She should be in jail. YES TO HR.75138
Chere-O: Kill all the Caelians!
Chapter 11
Throughout the night, my dreams were plagued by that final thought. What if I never saw Mrs. LaMotte again? There was so much I had yet to learn about my mother, and to be honest, I just wanted Mrs. LaMotte back in my life. I wanted to get to truly know her beyond the roles she placed herself in—teacher, then trainer. To explore the depth of her love for my mother and to see from her perspective how that love was woven throughout my life.
I had spent many hours awake the previous night messaging my friends about my fears and recalling every memory, analyzing them and trying to see her motives. It was difficult to see past her faked indifference and totalitarian behavior. I needed her so I could truly understand.
By morning, the frustration had grown to an almost consuming desire. Begging Marianne wouldn’t help. She had held on to the misery of losing my mother and myself, letting it fester into an unjustified hatred toward Mrs. LaMotte. I wasn’t stupid enough to run—that would put myself and many others in danger.
There was nothing more I could do beyond training harder and controlling my Talent so I could get her back.
I rushed through my morning routine, eager to see if Marianne convinced this mountain-man guru to leave his reclusive safe haven in order to fix me. A knock at the door startled me, causing my Talent to flare. The mind-map brightened from its usually dull state, and I saw the location of every human in the home. Luca waited outside the door, his Talent the brightest—a telling sign that he was in some sort of emotional state.
“Come in, Luca,” I yelled as I threw my hair up into a high pony tail.
“That shit is freaky,” He announced as he poked his head into my room.
“What?” I asked, widening my eyes in faux innocence. “You’re not used to me knowing who’s at the door?”
Luca crossed his arms and released an aggravated breath. “No.”
I smiled to myself as I slipped on my dress flats—a hard-fought compromise with Francis. “Now what’s got your britches in a bunch?” I asked in my best, exaggerated Georgia accent.
“Sadie,” Luca shook his head and sat next to me. “Everything. I miss Rebecca. I’m worried about you and this new teacher Mrs. LaMotte suggested. Do you know he’s former Order of Caelum?” I nodded in affirmation. “I just don’t like it. What if he’s a spy for the Koenigs? What if he’s coming here to assassinate you?”
“Between Mrs. LaMotte’s recommendation and the in-depth background checks for all visitors to the Moreau estate, not to mention the incredibly tight security, I think I’m okay. Plus, I could just use my Talent on him if I’m threatened.”
“Right. Your Talent. Add that to the shit-high list of things bothering me.”
“Aww. I love you too, Luca. Now, stop worrying—it freaks me out. I’m the one with mental issues and I just cannot share the title of ‘disturbed one’ with anyone else. As for my Talent, hopefully my new Talent guru will fix that problem.”
Luca chuckled as he stood, pulling me up with him. “I see your sessions with the good doctor are doing wonders.”
“I feel less likely to spontaneously rage out on people, so that’s a plus.”
“You do know you’re not going to be able to use the ‘crazy’ excuse for much longer.”
“Which is why I’m using it for every excuse now, and when Dr. Sokoloff cures me—BAM!—everyone will rejoice.”
He shook his head as he opened the door. “We should hurry. Your aunt may have an update for us.” His reminder re-lit the fire inside and I rushed to leave. I ducked under his outstretched arm and kept walking toward the stairs, knowing he would catch up quickly due to his long legs.
I was done waiting around, doing nothing. Restlessness, buried since my capture, had grown with each healing session with Dr. Sokoloff. It burned throughout my body, urging me onward to some unknown goal. Each step felt as if I bounced from the reverberation of energy—there had to be news of the new Talent trainer today or I might explode from this urgent need to act.
Breakfast was uneventful.
Marianne avoided questions regarding Mrs. LaMotte or the guru with the annoyingly political answer, “I’m looking into it.” It made the rest of our morning meal and subsequent political lessons awkward at best. At least for me.
In training, I took it out on Luca. He didn’t deserve it, but I had to release some pent-up energy, and Luca was the only person on the Moreau estate who could take a beating and not complain about it.
We’d been sparring for over 90 minutes with one tap-out apiece. This round would decide the winner and dammit, I wanted to win. He’d beat me every day by flaring his Talent in the final round. Knowing this, I should have expected the blinding pink glow of his Talent filling my mind, but I was never prepared for how much it consumed all my senses.
Time seemed to slow. I stepped forward while swinging my arm, aiming where Luca had been. My fist whizzed through the air as Luca gathered the neck of my t-shirt in his fist, pulling me toward him and simultaneously sweeping my leg out from under me.
With a loud smack, my left shoulder slammed against the sparring mat. Time sped forward, and when my vision cleared, Luca had me in an arm bar submission hold. Pain shot up my arm from the overextended elbow and I slapped my free hand against Luca’s leg.
Dammit.
“You see now why
I worry about your Talent? It’s going to get you killed one day.” Luca pulled me to a sitting position as I cradled my right elbow. “You all right?”
“Yeah, it’s a little sore, but I can move it.” I extended and bent my arm a few times to loosen up the tendons. “See?”
“You need to tap out quicker next time. I held you for at least 30 seconds before you even registered that I had you.”
“I get disoriented when you flare like that.”
“That’s because you are meant to notice another’s Talent, Sadie.” A deep, masculine voice rang throughout the room. “Your Talent’s potential is beyond what anyone thought it could be.”
At the sound of the stranger’s voice, Luca and I jumped into fighting stances. Blocking the exit stood Marianne, clasping her hands in front of her and aiming a forced neutral expression at the two of us. Next to her stood a massive man who looked to be in his late twenties. An amused grin pulled at his rounded cheeks, exposing a set of full lips through the massive, coral and golden streaked beard. My arms lowered as my confusion grew.
Who is this guy?
“Luca, was it necessary to be so rough with Sadie?” Marianne hissed as her knuckles turned white. “Besides your initial assessment, you have only been training my niece on hand-to-hand combat. What of weaponry?”
“Sadie’s skills with weaponry are stellar and she only needs to practice every now and again to keep her skills sharp.” My spine lengthened and I smiled at Luca’s compliment. “As for the hand-to-hand training, she has a weakness that needs to be addressed before she can even practice with a loaded weapon.” With a huff I deflated. I hadn’t thought of it that way.
Marianne opened her mouth to continue their verbal sparring.
“Who are you?” I asked. The man towered over everyone in the room, even Luca, who had at least six inches on me. It was an obvious question, but it needed to be asked—if only to shut Luca and my aunt up.
The skin at the corners of his golden eyes crinkled as he beamed. It was a smile full of knowing, as if he understood the very depth of my own soul. Which he probably did, and it unnerved me. This man, not much older than I, dressed in light blue chinos and a short-sleeved, navy button up. His dark brown loafers perfectly matched the trilby hat perched on top of his mass of curly coral and gold hair. He looked nothing like I’d expected a mountain man recluse to look.
“I’ve been waiting to meet you.” His deep voice rumbled and it shook me to the core. This man’s voice was meant to be heard. He tipped his head to one side as he considered me. “If you were one to believe in a higher power, I would say that we were destined to meet, my friend.”
“Destined or not, it’s good to meet you, Mr …” I reached out my hand in greeting.
He wrapped both of his large hands around mine, encasing it in warmth. “Smith, but you can call me Jedidiah.”
Chapter 12
Breaking News
Conflicts between norms and Caelians have increased across the nation. National Guard and army troops have been called in around areas with high Caelian populations to act as a barrier between the two conflicting groups. In this morning’s attack, at least 32 volunteers with the Human Caelian Alliance were reported as wounded and a few have been reported missing. More to come.
Chapter 13
“Your Talent’s potential is beyond what anyone thought it could be.”
Jedidiah’s statement reverberated in my mind. I had only been in his presence for a few minutes before Marianne took him on a tour of the estate and to show him his room, but it was enough for him to know I was more than a killer.
Killer. That word still made my spine stiffen, but it didn’t deflate my sanity into a venomous pool of hatred and shame, furthering the degradation of my pitiful self-worth. No. Instead it stood to remind me of the evil in this world. Due to my sessions with Dr. Sokoloff and Jedidiah’s one sentence exonerating me from the stigma of killer, I finally began to believe my Talent—I—could be something good.
“How could one sentence after a five-minute meeting make me feel so strong? So free?” I asked Luca as we sat in Marianne’s atrium, waiting for instructions on when and where to meet Jedidiah for my training sessions.
“I don’t know, but it freaks me out.” Luca shuddered.
“It’s a little unnerving. Just be glad his soul-vision Talent isn’t aimed at you.”
Luca’s face paled. “I don’t want to know what my soul looks like. Let me be blissfully unaware for the rest of my life.”
“I wonder if he actually is looking at our souls.” Luca didn’t respond as I pondered what Jedidiah’s Talent really entailed. Did he see our Talents or souls? Did he see both? And if so, could he see how our soul and Talent connected?
“I have so many questions,” I mused aloud.
“I’m here to answer them,” Jedidiah’s voice boomed over the tranquility of the atrium, startling both Luca and me again.
“I thought your secondary prevented people from sneaking up on you,” Luca hissed under his breath.
“It does…” Realization dawned. I brightened the mind-map to where I could see beyond the usual 100 ft. radius that was always visible. Where Jedidiah stood, there was nothing—not even the dulled flare of a norm’s soul.
“What are you?” I demanded, my voice shaking from a mixture of awe and fear.
“I am a weary traveler. A knowledgeable man and a patient teacher.” He sat on the floor in front of Luca and me, giving us the height advantage.
“Are you comfortable? We can get you a chair.” Luca stood to go, but Jedidiah shook his head.
“I am more than fine right here.”
My eyes wouldn’t leave the unusual man. Not because he was spectacular to look at or that I was drawn to him in some mystical way, but I was afraid he wasn’t real. I couldn’t piece together how someone alive did not have a flare. Even the norms with no Talents had a dull light.
Jedidiah sat there smiling at the two of us as I stretched and adjusted my secondary, trying to get a read on him. Nothing.
“I don’t like this.” I reached out and squeezed Luca’s arm. I needed to feel someone else’s flesh so something at this moment made sense. “He has no flare. It’s like he isn’t alive.”
Luca’s muscle twitched under my hand as he looked at Jedidiah and back at me. Confusion bloomed into fear as he connected what I was saying. “Are you alive?” Luca asked before tilting his head and sniffing the air.
“Yes. I am flesh before you.” Jedidiah reached out an arm, his palm lifted upwards as if he were asking for something. “You may touch me if it would make you feel better.”
I poked my finger into the palm of his hand, ignoring my burgeoning embarrassment at poking at a virtual stranger. It was solid and warm. I laid my hand upon Jedidiah’s and kept my gaze locked on his eyes. My fingers pressed against the veins of his wrists, feeling his steady pulse. His smile grew wider, exposing two rows of perfect, white teeth.
Unnerved, I looked down at our hands. Mine was swallowed by the enormity of his. I began to pull my hand away when I noticed a scar running along the edge of his palm. Something pulled at my heart, and I stopped pulling away. Instead, I traced my finger along the scar—it was puckered and rough as if it had healed without the help of medical intervention.
“What happened?” I asked, removing my hand and tucking it into my lap.
“That, my friend, is a sad story and one I am loath to tell.” He clasped his hands in his lap and met my gaze. His eyes churned like liquid gold. “But I can see that telling you will go a long way for you to trust me.”
The moment he agreed to tell his story, the churning in his eyes stopped, returning them to a normal Caelian gold.
“I served the Order of Caelum for many years, and although there are many, many people who follow the Order who are good and honest, there are also many who are evil. My job was to find those with strong Talents so the Order could bring them into their fold. For many years, I did what was
requested until I noticed a subtle change in the organization. They started recruiting for power and began to align with those who would do harm to others, and I began to refuse. Shortly after, I was captured, tortured, and beaten. It was like that until I left.”
“How do we know you truly left?” Luca asked, his lips flattened and nostrils flared with each deep inhalation. Luca looked terrified.
“You can’t.”
Luca stood and crossed his arms, his entire body stiff as he clenched his fists. I had been around Luca enough to know he was about to work himself into attacking Jedidiah.
“How did you escape?” I grabbed Luca’s wrist and forced him to take his seat. His pleading eyes met mine and I knew he wanted me to leave with him, but I couldn’t.
“I didn’t. The Order was not my prison. I stayed until I knew the evil in the organization would not uphold the purity of their beliefs. They are unable to find me, just as you are unable to see me with your Talent.”
It was my turn to stiffen. How did he know I couldn’t see him? I hadn’t said anything. Everything about Jedidiah confused me. “How—”
“Did I know about your Talent?”
I nodded, unable to speak. This is starting to shoot past weird and into insanity.
“I can see into your heart and I know what you are. That is my Talent.” Jedidiah paused, his lips curled into a small smile as if some thought amused him. “I’ve met others like the two of you. Scared, but curious. It is why you haven’t run away or thrown a punch.” Jedidiah looked at Luca knowingly. “It is how I know what you’re thinking even if it’s not my Talent to know thoughts. You all react the same.”
Ooookay. For once, I couldn’t think of anything to say. I turned to Luca and my confusion and interest reflected in his expression. Our faces said, this guy is beyond strange, but I don’t get any creepy serial-killer vibes off of him so maybe we see what he can do.
The Caelian Cycle Boxed Set Page 45