by Emme DeWitt
“I wouldn’t call her a pawn,” Henry thought aloud, his mind caught arguing a different word. “At the very least a knight, if not a rook. In time, she could even be the queen.”
The rest of the room ignored Henry’s comments, but I was sidetracked trying to follow the chess metaphor. The names seemed familiar, but chess had never been my game. My impatience never let me get more than two steps ahead of my opponent, so I had quit before I even started.
“You’re saying it’s inevitable,” Aleks half-asked. “It’s already happening?”
“The momentum will build,” Jasleen said, her eyes darting to me. “There’s no way to stop it now.”
Aleks withdrew his arms from his lap and crossed them against his chest. A series of micro expressions cycled through his face as he argued with himself in his head.
“Who exactly is in this showdown?” I asked, taking over the slack Aleks had left.
“Once, not so long ago, your family was allied to those who you are now against. If balance is not restored in this generation, all of us risk elimination. The scale is sliding dangerously in their favor, which has put everyone in great danger,” she said. “For now, Henry and I must go into hiding.”
“Hiding?” I echoed, my aching from continued pinging between Aleks and the two supernatural guests. “Why?”
“Remember our theory about the string of mysterious deaths?” Aleks asked, turning to face me. His expression remained stony, and I could see the teeming mass of darkness ebbing and expanding with his mood. What had been a tighter smoky haze pool earlier was now morphing into a veritable cloud of blackness as Aleks’ mood shifted with the worsening news.
I threw my scattered thoughts aside and refocused, sending a burst of energy to my barriers. Immediately, I could see the darkness licking at my expanded barrier like the tide against a levy wall, a clear barrier in my mind’s eye but still invisible to everyone else.
I let out a heavy sigh. I did not like where this was going.
“If the pattern continues, those with Elevated powers in the middle generation who don’t ally with the Association will be hunted down and killed. Their energy will theoretically gift the next in line with their abilities. People---children---in the Association’s control,” Aleks explained aloud to the room, his hands hopping on the table to illustrate the trickledown effect. Henry nodded violently in agreement.
“How many generations are in the mix right now?” I asked, my voice pinching off as a lump formed in my throat. “Three?”
“The maximum the world can hold is four, which is in flux right now as the eldest die and the youngest are born,” Jasleen said, pausing to let the information sink in. “If they force a hand, they could concentrate all the energy into two generations or less. That is assuming they allow the second generation to live.”
“Can the energy flow the other way?” The words left my mouth before I realized I was the one speaking. My stomach clenched as if it was suddenly shot through with a frozen arrow, the answer coming to me as soon as I dare to speak aloud the question. I looked directly into Jasleen’s metallic eyes, unsurprised to find no warmth. “They’re killing to push the energy into the next generation, but if there’s no one left young enough, would it rebound back to whoever’s left?”
Silence greeted me from all sides of the table.
“That’s going to be an unknown then,” I mumbled under my breath, my face tingling with shock. Waves of fear swirled within me, and I was thankful I had enforced my barriers earlier with Aleks’s shift in mood. It may officially be an unknown, but my instincts were screaming otherwise.
“It’s never happened before,” Henry said, “if that’s a comfort for you.”
“How would you know?” I snapped, the fear I was holding lashing out through my one unguarded space---my mouth. “There’s nothing written down. No record of anything!” My voice shook with anger. Tears started to pool in the corners of my eyes, and I looked to the ceiling in an attempt to hold them back. I let out a deep breath, but I felt it catch in my throat. This was just too much.
Aleks reached out and placed his hand over mine, and I sat back, fuming. This was all just too much.
“Henry’s gift,” Aleks said softly to me, “is immortality.”
“Excuse me?” I said. “Did you just say immortal?”
“It’s quite a selfish gift, really,” Henry said with a wistful sigh. “Not as glamorous as the films and novels seem to portray.”
“And it has its side effects,” Aleks said, raising a knowing eyebrow.
I glanced at Henry, his once warm pulsing energy suddenly erratic, like solar flares. A wave of pity fell over me, and I could only imagine what it could mean to outlast everyone and everything you held dear. All the bitterness that had been building inside me was immediately extinguished.
“Can I ask how old you are?” I said, sending a warning look to Aleks when he opened his mouth to intervene. “Or is that…rude.”
“I don’t remember,” Henry said, looking to Jasleen. “Do you remember?”
“When I was younger, you told me you were born in a time before the white man,” Jasleen said with a chuckle. “I suppose you didn’t have calendars back then.”
“Like colonists, white people?” I said, my eyes bugging out. “Or like before evolution made white people from brown people?” Henry didn’t look much older than thirty, his dark hair as shiny as his dark brown eyes. I took a closer look at him, trying to ignore the semi-modern Western style clothing and just take in his features. His skin tone was similar to mine, but even I could pass as white for the uneducated observer. My brain could not reconcile this new information. There were too many assumptions to be made with so little information, and I knew I was as far off from the truth as I could be.
I couldn’t decide which shocked me more: his Elevation or his lived experience. It was one thing to honor your ancestors and the pain and suffering they had gone through before you. Living through it and carrying those memories with you every day of your never-ending life? Barriers be damned, the pity I felt was so strong I felt a wave of it escape out into the room.
Aleks and Jasleen stiffened, their bodies overwhelmed with the sudden emotion. Their eyes instantly boring into me with reproach. Henry smiled weakly, his eyes shimmering with tears.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “You’re very kind.”
Jasleen scowled at me, her mama bear instincts honing in on Henry, making sure he was all right. No physical scar remained, but I could tell that had pushed him over the limit for human interaction today. I was about there myself.
“Stay safe,” I told him, locking his eyes with mine. “If I don’t get at least one story from you, I will be very, very upset.” Birdie’s face flashed in my mind. Then Abuela’s. Even though Henry’s age was far beyond that of a grandparent, I put him in that beloved category. The vulnerable fourth generation category.
I smiled brightly at him, a bond immediately imprinted to him just like Noah. A shock of recognition, of kindred spirits. I knew I would never find anyone else like Henry my entire life. Somehow knowing that made our time together more precious. It already felt too scarce.
Henry chuckled at my scolding tone.
“If I can remember any,” Henry said. “I promise I won’t disappoint you.”
Reading the emotions in the room, I knew we were at the end of our breakfast meeting. I stood and walked over to Henry’s chair.
“Let me walk you out, old man,” I said in a saucy tone, much to Henry’s delight. I winked at Henry, and his aura blushed with happiness. He must have been on pins and needles meeting a new person and sharing his gift, even after all these years. “The adults can talk a little more about boring things like code names and bringing down the establishment.”
I took the crook of his arm, and he escorted me slowly down the length of the dining room, leaving Aleks and Jasleen behind as promised. Henry, who actually knew his way around, slowly directed us toward the door. We chat
ted about the décor and the funny assortment of portraits along the wall, giggling and laughing like little kids.
By the time we reached the entryway in the front hall and the coats were offered, Aleks and Jasleen had joined us. I leaned in to give Henry a parting hug, thinking of him as equal parts grandfather and friend.
“You laugh just like Ana,” Henry whispered in my ear, startling me. Ana was my abuela’s first name. “She couldn’t be prouder of you. Told me so herself.” Henry squeezed me tight, and I reciprocated. Knowing he knew Abuela strengthened my belief we really were on the same side.
Stepping back, I wiped my damp cheeks behind my curtain of hair before facing Jasleen to offer a goodbye formal handshake. Just as I looked up, Jasleen caught the bottom of my chin, holding my gaze with a gloved hand. Lightning laced up my spine, and I felt all the hairs stand up on my frozen limbs.
“Don’t listen to anyone or anything that doesn’t resonate here,” Jasleen said, pressing firmly on my stomach with her spare gloved hand. “Doubting your decisions for even a second could mean the difference between life and death. Yours, and others.” Her eyes flashed in warning. “I don’t particularly feel like dying this decade.”
Jasleen stepped back again, moving her arm to wrap around Henry’s. I remained petrified with my hand still slightly extended.
“I look forward to seeing how this all turns out,” she said, a sly smile on her lips. “Don’t disappoint me.”
The door snapped smartly, and the remnants of cold died away, immediately replaced by the toastiness of an overactive internal heating system. I stood quietly in the hall, staring at where Henry and Jasleen had been minutes before. Aleks stood silently next to me, waiting patiently. Finally, anger shot through me, and I swiped at his upper arm in a not so playful cuff.
“Why didn’t you tell me they were going to be at breakfast?” I said, my voice fluttering up and down in my higher register. “I’m practically wearing pajamas!”
“Didn’t Eli tell you?” Aleks said. Upon hearing her name, Eli appeared from a side atrium, leaning against the doorframe. “Or Niko?” I turned and gave Aleks a withering look. Instead of arguing, Aleks let out a low series of chuckles.
“Why are you laughing?” I said, my tone still much higher and out of control than I liked. I knew complaining about it now wasn’t going to change anything, but I couldn’t seem to help it. The emotional rollercoaster of the last hour drained what little fight I had left in me.
“Do we need to have a family meeting?” Aleks said, the sly uptick in his smile creating a dimple. I sucked in a breath. How long had that been there?
“No,” I blurted out, crossing my arms. “Clearly it’s too late now.”
“Okay then,” Aleks said. “How about some breakfast?”
“Yes,” I said, sagging in exaggerated relief. Aleks laughed, leading the way back to the dining room. “I thought my stomach was going to eat the table.”
“I heard it,” Aleks said, pulling my chair out for me personally.
“And now I’m mortified,” I said, snapping the cloth napkin in agitation before setting it on my lap. A steaming slice of quiche was set in front of me, and my fork was shoveling it into my mouth before the butler’s hand could move out of range.
Aleks sighed and took out his phone, attending to business while I cleared my plate with gusto.
“So what’s the plan for today?” I asked, pressing my shoulders into the the high-backed dining room chair, my legs stretched out to give my full stomach some space. My eyelids were closed to slits, and I could feel a food coma coming on. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a full belly and the luxury of time for a nap. Or at least the romance of choosing a nap over other activities.
“The consult I had requested for you seems to have fallen through,” Aleks said, muttering at his phone. He had been typing furiously for the past few minutes, and the curiosity of what he was planning was eating away at me. “Apparently, your kind are either dead or in the hands of the Association.”
“Excuse me?” I said, my eyelids snapping open. My few moments of peace were already ruined. “Did you say dead?”
“Or allied with the Association,” Aleks repeated, his breath coming out in a hiss of agitation. “Henry had warned me, but I figured I could find someone off the list he gave me.”
“And my kind are…?” I let the blank float in the air. I was trying to uncurl my fingers from the ornate arms of my chair, but my nails only dug deeper. More than one alarm bell was going off in my mind. I did not have time to explain how wrong that phrase was. Aleks looked oblivious, and I tried to soothe myself in that he was just an idiot and let it go.
“Sentient plane Elevated. Or at least that family of abilities.”
“So Henry is the historian,” I said, latching on to a new thought train. “We aren’t completely in the dark after all.” Aleks’ careless phrasing and casual mention of death had set my stomach off a bit, and I rubbed it lightly, trying to work out the kinks and avoid indigestion.
“His memory isn’t the greatest. Just because he was alive doesn’t mean he knows the who, what, and how of every supernatural since he was born,” Aleks said, dropping his phone onto the table in agitation. “Unfortunately.”
Aleks’ dark energy pulsed to match his mood. Which reminded me.
“I didn’t get a chance to ask you, but,” I cleared my throat nervously, “what exactly is your reason for getting involved? I know it’s family business and all, but, you’re not…”
Another fill in the blank floated in the air. My hand paused over my stomach as I waited for the answer.
“Elevated?” Aleks said, his thumb jamming into the pressure point on his orbital bone.
I was already regretting asking the question.
Aleks let out a loaded sigh.
“Obligation,” he said finally after a long pause. “Even though I don’t have the gift, my brothers did. My cousins did. They’re pretty much all gone.” He paused, and I held my breath again. Standard words of condolence caught in my throat, and I bit the insides of my lips to keep them shut. He took a measured breath. “If I didn’t step up, it would be the end of our family. As messed up as this all is, I couldn’t let that happen.”
My eyes dropped to my lap and my newly knotted fingers. There was more I wanted to ask.
“I wonder,” I said, “if all the energy draining hasn’t had an effect on you. I don’t read you as a supernatural, but you seem to have some sort of ability.”
Aleks looked at me, his head cocked to the side. Silence weighed heavy in the air, this time as he waited for me to continue.
“Part of my ability to sense people is at the base of their soul,” I began, my words syncopated as I struggled to find the right ones. “The Elevated have different colored souls than normal people. The core is unique.”
“That seems logical.”
“Right, well, that’s where you don’t follow the rules. Your soul says normal, but your aura doesn’t,” I argued with myself. My frustration leaked out into my tone. “Remember the other day when we first met, and I almost passed out?”
“Sure,” Aleks said.
“And I told you that you needed to shield, and you had no idea what I was talking about,” I pressed.
Aleks nodded.
“It was because I thought you were like me, somehow. Able to influence others with your mood. Like my brother.” My eyes locked with Aleks’ and I waited several heartbeats. I could see the moment the realization clicked in his mind. His whole body stiffened in response.
“You think I somehow got your brother’s energy when he passed,” Aleks said, carefully crossing his legs to not bump his knees under the table. I noticed his careful fidgeting-but-not-quite-fidgeting. I didn’t know him well enough yet to say for sure, but I felt at least somewhat certain it was a sign that he was rattled. I was rusty on basic body language. I had been leaning on my energy reading for too long. Not that that helped at all with Aleks.
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br /> “Maybe,” I said, frowning. “I can’t seem to work it out though. The energy is there. It’s linked to you, but it also doesn’t seem to be yours either. You can’t control it.” The thoughts bounced back and forth in my mind. Close, but not quite. I felt like I was missing something huge. Something obvious.
“Even worse than having nothing at all,” Aleks said, his finger rubbing his bottom lip. I wondered if that was a pensive tick. It didn’t look as if Aleks was aware he was doing it.
“If it’s not meant to be yours, then maybe it’s waiting for its next host,” I said, lobbing my crazy long stretch idea out into the open. “But I guess that’s a lot to expect of energy. You must have just enough Elevated blood in you to withstand it, but not enough to utilize it.”
I grabbed a strand of hair, piecing it out and beginning to braid the length of it.
“But with so many shifts in energy lately, we can’t even be sure whose that energy really is. Or if it’s only one person’s.”
My mind started to list out the possibilities. Slowly, I retreated into myself to work out some of the new arguments coming up. My fingers still wove through my hair, but otherwise, none of my attention was focused outwardly.
“Wait,” Aleks interrupted, pulling my attention from my thoughts and back into the dining room. “Both you and your brother were on the sentient plane?” Aleks rested his hand on the table between us.
“Were,” I said, a smile flickered and faded off my face.
“As an empath, you’re just on the receiving end, right? You internalize everything?” Aleks said. “You just access information that others can’t see.”
“And then some,” I muttered into the tail of my tiny braid. My back began to ache, and I found myself in an awkward slouch posture in the ornate high backed chair. Arching my back and wiggling my limbs, I shifted around until I was in a more comfortable stance.
“Earlier, though,” Aleks said, “your emotion hit me hard. It was like I walked through a waterfall.”