“What? What is it? Are you OK? Alex?” Russell sounded worried.
“What are you doing, Tess?” Alex’s voice was just as clear in my head as if he were standing next to me. In the background I could still hear the previous conversation between the other voices.
“I…don’t know. I was just thinking about you and listening to some beautiful music, and then…I heard voices,” I told him through thought.
“OK, that’s weird. So you are OK?”
“Yes,” I assured him.
“Can you wait until I’m done with class?”
“Sure….” I waited for whatever was linking us together to go away, but it wasn’t.
“I can still hear your thoughts, Tess,” Alex said, a little irritated.
“Look, I’m not doing this on purpose, so you’ll just have to be patient while I figure this thing out.”
He answered by feeling remorseful. Interesting, I could feel his feelings too. “I wonder…” I was thinking.
“Tess, are you probing me?” Alex asked with amusement now.
“Ahhh…sorry…too tempting,” I said with shame.
“Are you okay? What is going on?” Celeste asked, and I turned to look at her. She had that same look that I got when I fell through space—I hated that look.
* * * * *
Chapter 14
“Oh. He’s gone.” I realized that Celeste had somehow created enough of a distraction to sever the link between Alex and I.
Celeste’s eyes grew big and she looked at me like I was seriously crazy. This reminded me of Liam and his warning of being taken for freaks, and I had to hand it to him now, for his visionary outlook.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of class. She reluctantly followed me and demanded an explanation the moment we were out of class.
“Somehow, I was able to hear Alex’s thoughts…just now,” I explained and she stared back at me speechless. “I don’t know how it happened, but it did! I was in his head and he was in mine!” I thought this was great and looked expectantly at Celeste who stared at me openmouthed.
After a moment she seemed to regain her wits. “You two make quite a pair. He can find you anywhere in the universe, and you can get in his head.” She shook her head. “Why did it take you so long to figure out that you two belonged together?”
“I don’t know…well, I do…I was a coward, afraid of change, and losing him like I lost…well, that’s over now,” I said and looked down.
“You never lost me, Tess. I just fell in love. Our friendship will never change.”
“What if we don’t get to spend our lives together?”
“I’ll tell you what.” She stuck out her pinky. “Let’s sign up to be Angels, if it looks like we are not going to live at the same time, I promise to be your guardian and you’ll be mine.” She grabbed my pinky and wrapped it around mine. “Promise?”
“Promise,” I said. Alex and I had a miraculous connection, I wished I could have it with all of my clan members—but I didn’t—so I guess a pinky promise had to be taken seriously.
“Do you mind telling me what you were doing to me just now?” Alex hollered in the distance as he approached with Russell at his heels. He wasn’t angry, but I could tell that he was a little bit spooked.
I glided happily to him and threw my arms around him. “I have no idea, but isn’t it great!”
Russell looked at me the same way that Celeste looked at me earlier and I lost it. “Look…I don’t know why these things happen to me, but they do…so just…give me a break!” I barked at Russell.
“OK…” Russell said in the defensive and shifted his eyes uncomfortably.
“Listen, Alex, you can find her all the time. How do you do that?” Celeste asked matter-of-fact.
“I just think of her and…follow my instincts.” He took a sideways glance at Russell who was making fun of Alex by mimicking him with goofy faces.
Celeste looked sharply at Russell, then looked back at me with a sweet smile. “Tess, what were you thinking about when you heard Alex?”
“I was listening to the music and… thinking about him,” I admitted.
“OK, so I say that there’s something there. You two have some sort of bond—very cool by-the-way. I wish I had some sort of cool connection with Max.” She pouted slightly. “My guess is that this bond mixed with Tess’s gift has crossed some sort of boundary. You should go to your Gifts teacher and ask about this err…new development.”
“You should have the Gift of Wisdom, Cel,” Alex said before leaving. She took the compliment with a shrug and a smile.
Miraculously, Milah, Augusto, and Sonora were enjoying some time together and not teaching when we landed on the Gift of Discernment grounds. Milah signaled for us to come near and Augusto rose from his seat. He offered it to me, with a sweep of his arms. I thanked him and took the seat even though I felt no need for it.
“What brings you back child?” said Milah with a strange motherly kindness. “And who is this impressive young man?” she added while eyeing Alex.
Alex looked a bit taken back by her description of himself as a young man. We were not used to being called by human terms.
“This is Alex, my…” I hesitated, not knowing what to call him other than by his name. I had never had to introduce him to anyone before. “My mate,” I finally said quite embarrassed by now. However, something fluttered within me, once the words came out. Calling him my mate in front of others made it sound more real.
“Nice to meet you, Alex,” Milah said with a wide grin, and Augusto and Sonora did the same. After all the introductions were made, I wasted no time in explaining the cause of our visit. The little group of Discerners nodded calmly while I explained, and then looked pensive for a while.
Then without a single word, the three exchanged looks and nodded.
“But surely, not this early on,” Milah said out loud.
“We have to try,” Sonora responded.
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Augusto declared with a wide grin in our direction.
“It’s clear that you two have a very strong bond; I can see it as you stand next to each other. Your outer auras blend in perfect harmony. I would not be surprised if you two found your way to each other, in the next life. The bond I see and the attraction is too strong. But you said you could hear not only Alex’s thoughts, but also the words of those around him as he heard them in his head?” Milah asked.
“That’s right,” I told her.
“She’s Clairaudient,” Milah said.
“Then it is!” Sonora said as if she were pronouncing a verdict.
Augusto shook his head and closed his eyes. “We are lumping the two together. There are two different things going on here,” he said, while he looked at us with an alarming intensity.
“What, what is it?” I asked.
“Simply this, Tess. Read my thoughts,” Sonora ordered.
I looked at her with some apprehension, but obeyed. I closed my eyes and thought about her. Nothing. I opened my eyes again, hoping that looking at her would make a difference—but it didn’t. “Sorry I can’t seem to be able to do it.”
“Just remember, Tess, this gift is for the purpose of understanding, try to understand me,” Sonora said with patience. Her face was so kind, she looked like the type of spirit who would love everyone and never pass judgment without first seeking to understand their point of view. Then it happened, as I looked into her eyes, I saw her loving nature, and more…a longing to be with someone, a loved one who she was parted from. His name was Kade and he was still alive in their world. He was very aged and they had two children and several grandchildren. I could see them in my own head, standing there as if waiting to be introduced. She felt the separation from Kade almost unbearable and seeing Alex and I together had reminded her of him.
“Kade,” I said, mesmerized.
She smiled a sad smile. “Yes, Kade,” Sonora confirmed and exchanged pleased glances with Milah and Augusto. “Y
ou can read minds Tess. Just remember, seek to understand and you will hear.”
“But it was different with you than with Alex. I could understand you, but I could hear him—every word,” I asked.
“Yes, I know. You did mention that Alex can find you, he is drawn to you. I’ve seen this type of bond before, two souls that are meant to be together. It’s like your own little Link—it will come in handy in mortality. I wonder how it will manifest itself? It’ll be different when you cross over,” Milah mused.
“Very interesting, no doubt,” Augusto said as he stroked his chin. “You won’t mind if we look in on you now and then, would you?” he asked with the interest of a scientist who is about to dive into his research.
“I…suppose so…” I told him, feeling a bit anxious about others poking in on my mortal existence.
Sonora laughed. “Don’t worry. You won’t even know we are there!”
*****
We flew straight back to the Square. Apparently our whole clan was gathered at one of the inner courtyards. It was filled with small tables and chairs, and in one corner there were three spirits playing some animated music. Our clan had secured several tables and chairs and had them clustered together in one corner of the courtyard. There were other spirits strewn about and they were busy playing games, talking to each other, or listening to the band.
“Well, Dorian and I go to completely different classes. He goes to Visions and I go to Premonitions,” Valerie said to Celeste as she dealt a hand at the card game they were playing. “My class is very tough. I have to fine tune my feelings. If I have a bad feeling, I have to dig deeper.” She rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Then I have to figure out if it’s bad as in painful or bad as in dangerous. I also need to be able to distinguish between my own feelings and those created by the premonitions—and that’s hard, believe me.” She picked up a card from a pile and frowned as she studied her hand. “It gives me a lot to think about, actually. How about your Gift of Faith class, Cel? I really know so little about how your gift works.”
“Oh, we don’t practice anything really, but we did go to the Eternal’s court once on a field trip, it was soooo beautiful—Tess, you’re going to want to hear this. Their planet is in a distant galaxy. The closest planets to them are full of immortals. They get to visit whenever they want and they take turns playing with the children.”
Valerie’s head shot up. “Children, what children?”
“You know…all the children that die before they reach adulthood, they go straight to the Eternal’s court and they live there in a state of suspended development until their parents can come and finish raising them on their own.”
“Really? How young are they?” I asked with interest.
“All ages, lots and lots of cute babies. You guys would love it!” Celeste said with relish. “They look positively edible.”
“So immortal beings take care of them?” Valerie asked. “Are they spirits?”
“No, they are not spirits, and they are not mortal or immortal either. They are somewhere in between like the Aeonians.”
“The who?” I asked.
“Aeonians are former mortals who decided to stay for the duration of Earth’s existence,” Dane declared sanctimoniously as he looked up from his book.
“Are there lots of Aeonians roaming Earth?” Dorian asked as he hovered above the group, petting a bird.
“Only a handful. It is not a very desirable job and it is not given to just anyone who asks either. It is a hard life…lonely,” Dane explained and looked back down at his book.
Valerie looked at Dane for a moment. She was amused with his vast pool of knowledge. I for one was enjoying my new ability as a mind reader, though it was not so much mind reading as it was feeling reading.
“So what do you do in class then?” Valerie asked Celeste.
“We watch a lot of mortals with the same gift, and see how they use it. We discuss their actions and learn from their mistakes,” Celeste rattled off without much enthusiasm.
“That’s how my class is!” Alex said. “But we haven’t gone to the Eternals’ court.”
Celeste looked up at him and smiled. “I know…I know…I shouldn’t complain. It’s just that some of you have really neat gifts! Mine is…boring,” she admitted and looked down at her cards.
“Your Gift is not boring, Cel,” Dorian said as he stroked the bird’s top notch. The bird fluffed up its feathers with sheer delight. “Your Gift is essential. Where would we be without your certainty? You know things that I will never see in my visions.”
Valerie and Luz nodded in agreement.
“Dorian is right,” Dane agreed. “Henry here has the Gift of Knowledge.” Henry lifted his head at the mention of his name and looked around, startled. “He has the natural ability to learn of things that are tangible, that have substance. You, on the other hand, have a gift that gives you the knowledge of things that are harder to understand, because they have no substance, but are real nonetheless.”
Celeste beamed at Dane’s nice comments. Henry, on the other hand, looked a bit dissatisfied. “Well, I haven’t even gone to my gifts class,” he announced, and we all looked at him with alarm.
“And why not?” Nancy asked, indignant.
“Because, I work on my gift all by myself. I study whatever I want to study and that is growing my gift. Is it not?” He looked around for confirmation, but got none.
“You can learn a lot more by going to your gifts class, Henry,” Dane started, but was stopped by Henry’s dismissive hand.
“I went once and it was a total waste of time. They had us learning all kinds of stuff that I would never use. I know what I’m doing. I don’t need to follow the same path that the rest follow…wait and see,” he said with pride as he leaned back in his chair.
“Well, Dorian’s Gift teacher said that Dorian was so advanced that he was recommending him for a ‘Special Mission,’” Luz said, changing the subject.
“What’s a Special Mission?” Celeste asked.
“We are not sure, but it sounds interesting. We’ll be going to a Special Missions class next and we intend to find out.”
“Can I come?” Celeste and I said at the same time.
“Sure!” Dorian said. “You should all come; it’s one of the mandatory classes to take if you want to be an Angel.”
“Well…I guess I won’t be going then, I have no interest in becoming an Angel,” Henry declared.
“Oh, why not?” Estelle asked, disappointed.
“Because it’ll take too much time out of my already busy schedule and I can’t afford to be flying off to different realms. I may not go to my gifts class, but I do take lots of other classes,” Henry said stubbornly.
We all stared at him for a moment, then continued with our own previous pastimes in silence.
* * * * *
Chapter 15
Since Dorian had to attend a Special Mission’s class, the rest of us decided to attend as well. We were all curious to find out what special mission really was. Even Henry came at the last minute—mostly out of curiosity. Russell was sure it had to do with some sort of undercover work for the First One. Max had heard that only the bravest spirits would volunteer for a special mission, and this only made Russell more determined to attend.
All the buildings that had to do with the Special Missions department were located at the base of a tall mountain range. It was hard to tell if it was one large building or many, and they all looked like they were carved out of the mountain side. The buildings were connected by zigzagging streets that led all the way up to the main entrance. This entrance was a large oval shaped wooden door with a single loop for a knob.
We were led to a spacious room with seats carved out of stone. There were large windows in front of us, covered with thick green colored drapes, and the only source of light came from a massive stained glass window on the ceiling. The light that filtered through to us shone in muted rainbow colors.
A tall spirit en
tered the room. He had an elongated face and long lanky limbs. He stood behind an extra large podium, and opened a scroll containing several papers rolled up in it. He fumbled with the papers in front of him with his long fingers and the motion looked complicated, as if moving those fingers in a coordinated manner was an intricate task. Then he looked up at us with a huge toothy smile and in a deep bass voice greeted us.
“I welcome you to Special Missions class. It is my greatest hope to do this most important subject justice.” He scanned the room and seemed to pause and look at us individually.
“Some of you have been asked to attend, and some of you have come out of your own accord. However, even if you’ve been invited to come, you do not have to volunteer.
“My name is Orffius, and I have been assigned to introduce you to this very important subject,” he said as his eyes bulged out. “Special Missions are not easy. In fact, they are hard—very, very hard. Only the strongest of spirits should take one on and those spirits won’t know what form the mission will take until they are on Earth. By then the Veil will have erased all memory of your existence here and the fact that you volunteered. So you see, you’ll be a mortal with a special mission to fulfill—only you won’t know it. All you’ll know it that you have an extra burden to deal with.” Several hands shot up in the air, Russell’s being one of them.
“I will answer all questions in a little while, but for now I will ask you to listen to everything I have to say.” Orffius scanned the room and once all hands were down, he proceeded.
“Those of you who end up volunteering will be guaranteed Angelic help. For instance, some of you will be able to see them or feel their presence, even if that is not your current gift. Some may not have this advantage, yet angels will be there nonetheless, ready to give you aid.
“The Eternals are very particular in this matter. They are committed to protecting those on special missions, at all costs.” He shifted some of the papers that were in front of him and when he came across the one he was looking for he put it on top of the pile and continued.
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