by Abigail Owen
This part Ellie showed in patches, like she remembered it. She also tried her best to not really think about what she was showing. Emotional transfer tended to be a part of the ability to show people memories, or at least it had been when she’d practiced this on Griffin. This was the worst moment of her life, and she didn’t want anyone else to experience that pain if they didn’t have to.
Ellie and Griffin had been the only survivors. Ellie suspected two reasons behind their supposed luck. As adolescents their powers were still new and underdeveloped. So they would have been left for last, possibly even overlooked if they’d tried to hide. They hadn’t, though. They had done their best to try to help protect their family. But to no avail.
In the end they’d survived because of their combined powers. They had each discovered new powers that night, which is why Ellie suspected the wolves hadn’t been prepared for what happened.
Toward the end of the attack, after most everyone else was dead, Ellie and Griffin had been surrounded. Ellie had already discovered her ability to morph into her falcon form. But that night she’d discovered something new – usually, when she used other people’s abilities, the second she lost physical contact with them, she lost the access to that power. That night she learned that once she touched another metamorph she would always have access to that form, as if it were her own, even after the physical contact had been broken.
A huge black wolf had been circling them. As it lunged for Ellie, she’d held up her hands and touched it, immediately morphing into a wolf. The attacking creature had stumbled back in bewilderment. In the wolf form, Ellie had been able to hear all of the wolves, their thoughts, their memories. They truly were a pack, including their minds.
What she hadn’t realized was that the pull of that hive-like mind would immediately start to affect her. Metamorphs tended to take on some of the aspects of their morphic form. Consequently, some of the more predatory animals were harder to control as the metamorph battled between their humanity and their animalistic instincts. The wolf form, at least with the Vyusher, could start to completely take over. Ellie, still linked to the pack, had seen that some of the wolves hadn’t been in their human form in many, many years.
The large wolf had beckoned her to join them, and she’d started moving to comply. Griffin had saved her….and that moment was also when he learned he could project his defensive shield. He’d thrown it over both of them, keeping the wolves from getting anywhere near. Then he’d touched her, linking her to him, allowing her to use his power.
Ellie’s power manipulation at that time was so untutored that she couldn’t control it. The second she touched someone she was linked to them, tuned in to their power. Griffin had counted on that fact. She instantly started using his mind reading ability, and he had screamed her name. As if she was coming out of a fog, Ellie had pulled out of the wolf form.
In tandem, each reading the other’s minds, they’d both morphed into the falcon. Griffin kept the defensive shield around them as they escaped… flew as far away as they could before becoming physically exhausted. They’d been alone ever since.
Because of Ellie’s brief connection with the Vyusher community mind, she’d learned they only attacked large gatherings of people with powers. So she and Griffin had deliberately avoided others of their kind after that. As long as it was just the two of them, they wouldn’t be a target for the wolves. It’d stayed that way until Ellie had had her dream about the Jenners and Pierces.
Now she and Griffin were here with the people she’d seen in her dream. It seemed like forever ago. And the Vyusher were once again threatening their lives. If their incredibly powerful ancestors hadn’t been able to survive, how could just the two of them stand a chance of helping this family?
Feeling the mood shift uncomfortably around her, Ellie turned her focus away from her fears and to the last few months. Meeting the Jenners. Befriending them. Protecting them.
With a deep breath and mentally poking at Griffin to check that she hadn’t left out anything important, Ellie stopped projecting her thoughts into the other’s minds. She released Griffin’s hand before sinking into Alex’s arms. She shivered both from exertion and emotional upheaval.
No one spoke, trying to simply absorb and assimilate what Ellie had revealed.
“So let me get this straight…” Nate finally broke the silence. “You’re a gypsy princess?”
The incredulity in his expression made Ellie laugh and had everyone else chuckling with her as they all moved back to their original seats. Even Griffin. She suspected Nate had done it on purpose to lighten the mood, and it had worked.
“Out of all of that, that’s what you decided to focus on?” She raised her head from Alex’s shoulder to tease in return.
“We have to leave,” Lucy said, fear evident as she wrung her hands.
Griffin shook his head. “They’ll expect that and follow you.” Suddenly, he swung his head sharply to look at Ellie as she mentally sent an idea his way. “Really?” he asked, also using his telepathy.
She nodded in response. “They won’t be able to know.” She paused and thought for a second. “I think we could…” She paused again thinking through her plan, letting him follow along with her mental process.
Everyone else in the room sat forward, glancing at each other with baffled expressions.
“Can you do that?” Griffin asked her aloud, having noticed the confusion in the room.
“If I have enough time to heal and then to practice, I think so,” Ellie answered, aloud as well, sitting up.
“You’ve never tried.” He popped up from the sofa to pace the room.
“I’ve never had the chance to try the first part,” she reminded him quietly. “And the other part, well you’re powerful enough now to contain me if I can’t control it.”
Griffin stood at the window staring outside as he thought. Finally he turned to look at her and then nodded. Ellie relaxed slightly. Her reluctant brother had agreed to help her protect this family.
“Would you care to clue the rest of us in?” Alex murmured in her ear. He slid his hand under her hair to rest lightly at the nape of her neck. He was the only one who seemed amused by the interchange between the twins, as everyone else appeared equal parts confused and frustrated. Ellie felt secretly relieved by his behavior, wondering why he was taking all of this so well. But she didn’t want to press it.
“That was about a couple of different things. First, during my fight with the pack today, I touched several of them. I learned a few things, although in flashes only.” She paused, remembering.
“That black wolf wasn’t there tonight,” she continued, plucking at a loose thread in her sweatshirt. “Although he did give the orders for the attack. He’s the king of the Vyusher, as far as we can tell. His name is Gideon. All of the Vyusher are wolf metamorphs, but like Griffin and me, some have additional skills. Someone in the pack—it’s hard for me to tell who, but it seems like it might be Gideon—has the ability to see anyone with powers, what those powers are, and how the person uses those powers. Past, present, and future. But it’s easier for them to zero in on large groups. They have a hard time when it’s only a couple of us.”
She turned to Griffin as he resumed his seat beside her. “That seems to be part of how they were so effective at decimating our clan. They knew exactly what our powers were. They prepared a plan around each of us, and in what order to attack. And they always attacked the strongest first, although there seems to be more to it than that.” Ellie’s brow furrowed, frustrated with the gaps in her vision.
“Is there a way around Gideon’s power?” Hugh asked. He steepled his fingers as he contemplated the brother and sister.
“There is for your family. Apparently, someone in this group is able to block their ability to see and understand your gifts. They can tell that you have them but not what they are. It seems like Griffin and I were also protected under this power. Based on what I could see in the pack collective mind, that sm
all attack had been more recon than anything— they don’t know how many of us there are, or what powers we have. It gives us an advantage.” Ellie paused for a second and then added quietly, “Unless you want to scatter and live apart the rest of your lives. And even then, you’d be in constant danger. We’re going to have to fight them. And defeat them. There’s no other option.”
Chapter 24
Everyone silently pondered this bleak news. Regardless of the advantage, none of them had ever had to fight before…especially not for their lives. The room seemed to take a collective breath, everyone changing position. Ramsey moved restlessly to stare out the window. Ellie caught Lila’s surreptitious but concerned glance at the red-haired boy.
“You said ‘first’,” Lucy reminded her, reclaiming her attention. “Is there a second?”
Ellie nodded slowly as she pulled her legs up to sit cross-legged on the couch. Alex adjusted his position to accommodate her. “I have two other ideas, and both of them have to do with my gifts.” She looked each person in the eyes, gauging their possible reactions. “But you’d really have to trust me.”
No one said anything, so she continued. “My first idea is to use my ability to tap into to your powers. But I want to try to use it with all of you at once.”
“What do you mean all of us?” Adelaide asked, tilting her head.
“I’ve never tried this before since my power didn’t develop until… well… you all saw. I’ve only ever had Griffin to practice on.” She gave Griffin a little nudge with her knee.
“But I think that if we’re all touching at once, maybe by holding hands, I can channel all our powers. Try to coordinate us somehow. I can at least protect us using Griffin’s defensive shield. I can move us around using Charlotte’s teleporting, and so forth. Between Lucy’s ability to see intentions and Griffin’s mind reading, I should be able to stay a step ahead of the wolves.”
Alex frowned. “You said you’ve never done it before.”
“Like I said… only Griffin to practice on, and he only let me do so much.” She gave a little apologetic shrug. “We’d have to try it out.”
“What’s your other idea?” Alex was still frowning.
“This is the biggest question mark in my mind.” Ellie grimaced. “I’m fairly sure I can do the first part, and we’ll be able to confirm that soon enough, but this other idea is much harder.”
Ellie paused. She wasn’t quite sure how to go about explaining this. One had to see it to believe it.
Sensing her hesitation, feeling the tension in her body, Alex said dryly, “I’m guessing it’s not something you’re entirely comfortable with.”
Ellie took a deep breath. It’s now or never… “You know that one of my gifts is the ability to morph. I have four different forms.”
“But wouldn’t that be multiple gifts?” Adelaide asked, wrinkling her brow.
“It’s a facet of my two gifts combined. Two of my forms were inherited. Two other forms I… ummmm absorbed is the best description, I guess. I showed you how I got my wolf form on the night my family…” She trailed off.
“What shapes?” Nate prodded, clearly fascinated.
“You’ve seen the falcon, which is my strongest and inherited through my grandmother. The jaguar I pulled from someone in my tribe, although I didn’t know it at the time. I hadn’t yet realized I’d come into that power. You saw that I have the wolf, but I never use it. The pack mind is too powerful…it’s too dangerous.” She paused.
“That’s only three,” Alex said, and felt her body tense.
“My fourth form I’ve only ever tried once, when I was very young. The attempt was a…” Ellie searched for the right word.
“A disaster,” Griffin supplied quietly.
“Is this what your plan is about?” Hugh asked.
With a nod, Ellie continued. “From my great-grandfather, I inherited the ability to change into a…well, a… dragon.”
Total silence greeted this declaration. And then Alex let out a loud exhale.
“Did I say whoa earlier?” Nate asked, his eyes the size of saucers. “That really doesn’t quite cover it….I mean Holy mother of all that’s crazy WHOA!”
“That is so cool!” Lila added, practically clapping her hands in excitement.
Ellie shot her a stilted smile. “Thanks.”
“So why was it so disastrous?” Charlotte asked.
“The problem is that when you morph into a form, part of that form’s inherent traits takes over. You can lose your humanity. It’s the same danger as being a wolf. I’ve learned to control it in the jaguar. But the dragon…” Ellie shuddered. “The one time I tried it, it completely took over. My great-grandfather, who could eventually control himself as a dragon, pretty much had to take me out.”
She looked at Griffin to finish the story.
“It took all of our clan to force her out of the morph,” Griffin added, a grim set to his mouth. “It’s possible for the dragon to take over so completely that she can’t get back. But it’s also dangerous for everyone around her. According to our great-grandfather, everything you’ve read about dragons, though just folklore and mythology, is based on people with the ability to morph into one. And they all decimated villages and killed many people before they were killed themselves. As far as we know, only our great-grandfather ever had the ability to control the dragon.”
Alex’s grip on her hand tightened to an almost painful point. “No,” he said under his breath.
Ellie turned to look at him and said quietly, “But it’s the only thing the Vyusher won’t ever be able to defeat.”
“They defeated your great-grandfather, right?” he demanded harshly.
“Not as a dragon,” Griffin leaned around her to answer. “They killed him before he ever morphed.”
Brother and sister glanced at each other, keeping silent about the fact that it had seemed like their grandfather couldn’t morph that night. Having discussed it many times through the years, neither Ellie nor Griffin were sure of what they were seeing at the time.
Alex was getting angry. Very angry. She could feel it in his grip, sense it in the tense set of his shoulders. It surprised Ellie that her idea was what finally triggered his anger. He had so many other things to get upset with her over. This plan, at least, had noble intentions driving it.
“We can’t allow you to try it, Ellie,” Hugh said.
“It’s… safer… for me to try it now than back then. I’m older, more experienced. I’ve been able to learn to control other aggressive morphic forms. And there’s Griffin…” She felt the attention in the room turn to her brother.
He shifted in his seat. “I can contain her now, with a defensive shield. My other gift. I wasn’t strong enough last time. The power is inherited, but I’m the only one in our clan to have it in the form of a physical force field. So this… backup plan, I guess you could call it… wasn’t available when she tried last time.”
Ellie rushed on, “We’re hoping that if I do get out of control… although I think I can control it… But if I can’t control it, then Griffin can contain me in his shield. He’ll be able to use our connection and our combined gifts to bring me back.”
Hugh was up from his chair and already shaking his head before she’d even finished. “No, I think it best not to attempt it. It sounds too risky. Your trying the dragon could be as much of a danger to us as to the Vyusher. Possibly more so. Just not worth it. But the other idea you had seem viable.”
Ellie slumped back in defeat. Something in her knew the dragon had to be the key to winning this fight. But Hugh made sense, and she recognized that. She nodded, and felt the tension release from Alex, who ran his hands over his face and muttered, “Finally she listens to reason.”
She shot him a glare.
She also saw Griffin give a little sigh of relief. He hadn’t been happy about this idea in the first place. What they hadn’t told the others was that if she couldn’t control it and he couldn’t bring her back… then
he would have to kill her. And that would probably kill him too.
Now that everything was explained, Ellie felt exhaustion wash over her in waves. Alex must have felt her fading, because he said to no one in particular, “Ellie really needs to get some rest.”
Closing her eyes, Ellie flashed a thought at Griffin.
In response he said aloud, “The Vyusher are less likely to attack if we’re closer to town. At least that’s what we think. They seem to attack only when they can hide their actions from the world. And that was before the advent of social media. The house Ellie and I have can accommodate all of us… barely. But it’s located in a more populated area, so it’s safer for the time being.”
“Is it safe for us to travel tonight?” Hugh asked.
“Probably not,” Griffin replied. “But Ellie says she can move us all at once if Charlotte will allow her to use her teleportation.”
Alex glared at Griffin. “She’s falling asleep in my arms. She doesn’t even have the energy to speak her thoughts out loud as it is. Is that really such a good idea?”
Griffin allowed a rare grin to break across his face. “I’ve been dealing with her stubborn streak for years now. Good luck convincing her otherwise.”
“Hugh,” Alex appealed to his adopted father. “She seems to listen to you.”
Hugh walked over to Ellie and laid his hands on her, assessing her physical state. “She can handle it,” he finally said. “But when we get there, young lady, you will rest for several days.”
Griffin chuckled. “She agrees,” he translated. “But she says that means she’ll miss school and I’ll have to write her a note.” Seeing confusion around him, he explained, “Any time she’s in high school I take on the role of her older brother and guardian. I look too old for high school these days, but she’s so tiny she can pull it off still.”