Within the Realm (The Gifted Realm Book 1)

by Jillian Neal

  Unfortunately, he did have to pass this exam to be able to accept his appointment to Iodex. It was the one thing he’d wanted more than anything else in the world...besides Emily. With a smirk, he refocused and began the long, sordid tale.

  ‘Joseph Lawson and his beloved wife, Maggie (my mother),’ Rainer added as it irked him to have to write what he was being forced to write, ‘fought endlessly to re-establish a fair and balanced governing board, and re-write the Constitution of the Gifted Realm. The constitution established a six-member elected board of Realm Governors. They set and establish laws for the Gifted Realm, and hear trials of those charged with crimes against the Gifted people.’

  He regurgitated the information that had forged his entire life. With a slight sigh, he continued: ‘Crown Governor Lawson also methodically turned over a corrupt Senteon, which consists of one member from each state represented in the American Gifted Realm. These fifty men and women, along with the Governing Board, bring a balance of power to the Realm. They seek to ensure that the Gifted people do not use their powers over the Non-Gifted, and create and enforce the laws of the Gifted Realm.

  The ruling powers at the time were unhappy with Joseph’s ideals, as they had risen to a level of ultimate power. Joseph convinced the Realm to elect a new, fair, and balanced Governing Board, to which he was named Crown Governor. In an effort to dissuade Joseph from his goals, just a few years after he took office, his wife, Maggie Lawson, was killed as a threat to urge Joseph to back down. Their son, Rainer, was only five at the time.’ Rainer added for good measure. ‘But Joseph persevered. He forced the Constitution through, and established and solidified the current Senteon and the governing body of Governors.’

  Rainer grimaced, ‘governing body of Governors?’ He shook his head and scrubbed over the last line with his eraser. He started again and prosed: ‘Joseph never gave up the fight, and after many years, re-established the Constitution of the Gifted Realm in other countries, as well. He accepted the Crown Governor position, though that had never been his goal.’

  Of all of the things his father was celebrated for, that fact was one Rainer thought was always important to mention. His father’s goal had never been to become Crown Governor. He’d never worked for his own personal gain. It had been to save the Gifted Realm from their own greed and from their own rapacity to do evil to the Non-Gifted, simply because they were able. He added a few more lines to his relatively short essay including, ‘Ten years after being named Crown Governor, Joseph Lawson was assassinated for his beliefs and his drive to do what is right for mankind, both Gifted and Non-Gifted alike. One of Joseph’s dearest friends, Regis Carrington, succeeded him, and still fights for the ideals Joseph strove for during his Governorship.’

  Rainer stopped short of adding, ‘Joseph’s son, his biggest admirer, was only fourteen at the time of his father’s death. He was then sent to live with his good-for-nothing uncle, Joseph’s brother, Stan.’

  Rainer felt sick as he thought about going to check on his uncle after the exam today. Emily had offered to come with him, but he would never allow that. His uncle was perpetually drunk, vulgar, and especially barbaric when it came to women. He’d take her home first, maybe let Mrs. Haydenshire fuss about his insistence that he check in on Stan in the first place, then try to talk Logan into going with him.

  As he made another cursory glance around the classroom, Rainer chuckled. He took in Logan winking at Adeline, before going back to his exam. Rainer’s parents had been dear friends of the Haydenshires. They’d all been students together at the Academy. Logan and Rainer had been born two days apart, therefore they’d been best friends, quite literally, since birth.

  Emily had come along sixteen months later; finally a girl in the Haydenshire household. Having children close together was nothing new for the Haydenshires. Much of the Gifted Realm, including those who were perpetually irked by the relatively new governing system, loved nothing more than to gossip about the Haydenshires and the sheer number of children that they’d birthed.

  Emily had been number eight, with seven older brothers; very few more than a year apart. People smiled at them as Mrs. Haydenshire bustled them down the streets when they were young, but then scoffed after she strolled by.

  Stephen Haydenshire, Emily’s father, was a Realm Governor. He oversaw the governing boards of the individual states, and worked closely with the Crown Governor. He was a powerful Adminis Predilect; wise, fair, and wealthy, beyond even most Gifted people. No one wanted to earn his scorn, so it was the roaring whisper that everyone was aware of but no one commented on. After Emily was born, there hadn’t been any other additions. People began explaining that Lillian had been after a little girl, but Rainer knew that wasn’t it at all.

  The Haydenshires were a wonderful family, full of love, and they saw no reason why they shouldn’t fill the earth, to the best of their ability, with wonderful children. To the dismay of the biddies of the Gifted Realm, just two years ago, late in her forties, Lillian Haydenshire had given birth to twins. She’d rounded out the family to twelve.

  Though Logan and Emily both occasionally grimaced at the very obvious fact that their parents couldn’t keep their hands off of each other, Rainer was endlessly thankful for the love they’d shown him, after all he’d been through. At the difficult age of fourteen, when they had six other children still at home, they’d taken him on as well.

  The Haydenshires had gone to the Governing board and demanded custody of Rainer. They’d ensured that he never be returned to his uncle. This happened after Rainer had returned home one afternoon from middle school. He’d found his uncle stealing money from his room to pay the prostitutes he’d hired for the afternoon. This had led to an argument that ended with Rainer receiving a black eye and broken nose. That was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back.

  Rainer spent every moment he possibly could with Logan and Emily, at the Haydenshires’. When he went to his uncle’s apartment, he was constantly needled for money or sent to pick up beer or cigarettes, which he was nowhere near old enough to purchase.

  Rainer’s Uncle Stan had been biding his time, waiting on Rainer’s twenty-first birthday that was now only two days away. Stan stupidly believed that he would be able to access the rather large sum of money that Rainer would receive from his parents’ estate. Rainer knew better, of course. His father certainly was no fool, and Stan would be receiving nothing from the estate.

  Governor Haydenshire had read and re-read the will to Rainer. Will, the eldest Haydenshire child, who worked for the Banking Board of Governors as a powerful Duco Predilect, had assured Rainer that his parents’ estate was his to do with as he saw fit. The very first thing he planned to do was to pay the Haydenshires back for all they’d done for him, out of the goodness of their hearts, for the past seven years.

  Although Rainer’s father had left him a monthly allowance to pay for the Academy, clothing, and school supplies, the Haydenshires had been supplementing that, for as long as he could remember.

  Rainer felt someone thump him on the back of the head. He jerked his head around to scowl at Fergus Martin. With his eyes goggling, Fergus pointed frantically to the exam papers. Apparently he’d noticed Rainer’s daydreaming, and he was concerned Rainer wasn’t going to finish the exam. Rainer rolled his eyes and nodded.

  Fergus‘s mother was one of the school Governors. His aspirations, after graduation Friday night, were to return to the Academy to teach the following year. This was an endeavor he’d bored everyone to tears with, every chance he’d gotten, over the past nine months.

  With a slight huff, Rainer checked the clock over the board at the front of the classroom. He rolled his eyes again as he saw that the clock had been casted to show the time remaining until the end of the final examination. So, we’re all supposed to be graduating in two days’ time, and going out to make our own way in the world, yet they don’t honestly believe that we’re intelligent enough to figure out how much time is left in a four-hour
exam?

  He shook himself from his abstraction as he took in the next few questions.

  9. Describe the two rules of thought on what separates the Gifted and Non-Gifted Realms.

  Unable to stop himself, Rainer grimaced as he glanced at Adeline Parker, Logan’s girlfriend. She broke every rule, poor girl. He and Logan had been defending her and her honor for years. She still lived with her mother, who was most certainly not Gifted. To say that she was Non-Gifted, however, was offensive to the other Non-Gifted people.

  Adeline’s mother was generally high on something. Heroine was her most recent addiction, but cocaine had long been her preference. Adeline steadfastly took care of her through all of her binges. No one knew who Adeline’s father was, though that was another source of endless gossip for the Realm’s elitists. Her mother seemed to have no recollection of exactly whom her father might be; as she frequently sold her body to acquire money for her addictions, that wasn’t terribly surprising.

  Adeline’s jet-black hair and pale skin, along with her Predilection for healing, narrowed the field somewhat, but never enough to name any one Gifted man. Adeline had never wanted to seek out her father.

  After a moment of consideration, Rainer supplied: ‘A Gifted person is someone who can summon the earth’s energies, and use them for the purposes of casting. Non-Gifted people, although they can occasionally feel the earth’s energy in ways beyond the average, have no ability with which to summon it for their use. Some Gifted people mistakenly believe that, to be included in the Gifted Realm, one must come from any one of the known Gifted families in the world. This thought is, however, elitist and outdated.’ Rainer added for good measure.

  His parents had died for their beliefs in equality, so he sure as hell could put it in an exam paper, he thought sardonically. Continuing on, he read:

  10. Please name and explain the department of the Gifted Senate established by Margaret Lawson.

  As he wondered if the entire freaking exam had been set up to make Rainer’s heart ache, he drew a deep breath. His mother hated being called Margaret.

  ‘Maggie Lawson established the Auxiliary Department of the Senate. Maggie wanted to ensure that the American Senate served those in need, be they Gifted or Non-Gifted. Each person employed by the American Realm Senate, the state Governing boards, and each member of Realm Summation leagues must serve seventy hours each year in a service capacity to the Realm. This work is handled through the Auxiliary Department. The Auxiliary department also works with Gifted families in need of domestic counseling, those wishing to adopt, and those in financial need.’ Rainer glanced over his answer and moved on.

  11. Sally is a Visium Predilect. She has decided to work in the Non-Gifted Realm. Please describe a profession where Sally could make use of her Predilect in order to serve the Non-Gifted people.

  Ok, think, Lawson, he commanded himself. Visium Predilects could read the energy of situations, and often the intentions, but not necessarily the emotions, of those involved. You would need a Receiver for that. A detective for the Non-Gifted police; seemed too obvious. Some kind of planner maybe, he considered. A lawyer! Rainer grinned as he began.

  ‘A Visium Predilect with the ability to read the intentions involved in a situation and to discern many different ways that an event might have occurred, would make an excellent lawyer for the Non-Gifted Realm. As they are able to argue situations from different perspectives and draw from the intentions involved, they would serve the Non-Gifted people involved in a law suit well.’

  The last question on the exam had four blank pages on which to give an answer. As he drew a deep breath, Rainer read:

  12. Please state and describe any well-known incidents that have come from the Gifted Realm trying to enforce their will on the Non-Gifted. How will The Constitution and Governing Boards help to prevent any further incidents, if it is adhered to from now on?

  Emily turned to glance at Rainer, and after winking at her and watching her beam, he returned to the extended question worth forty percent of the exam grade. He considered writing, ‘Think of any horrible thing in the history of the world, and it’s pretty much our fault,’ and just being done with it. Rainer gave the clock one more glance, and then forced himself to elaborate.

  His hand began to ache as he wrote about the Goths overtaking the Greeks, and then on to the fall of Rome, the destruction of Palestine, Attila the Hun, most major earthquakes, the overtaking of Tibet, all the way through the American Civil War and right up to Hitler. It was an extremely depressing essay, he thought, as he checked over his work.

  He began explaining how the Gifted and Non-Gifted had worked together to stop Hitler, one of the darkest Gifted dictators of all time. He added Hussein and Bin Laden for good measure and explained that the American Gifted Realm had been caught off guard, as well, when one of their own decided to fly planes into the Gifted Senate Building. Then he began regurgitating the ideals of the constitution that his father had fought and died to re-establish.

  ‘No one Gifted person or family may put their rights over those of others. No one may enforce their personal beliefs on a group as a whole. A team of Governors shall strictly govern all Gifted education. No area of the Senate, the Gifted governing body, is more powerful than the whole.’ Rainer concluded with, ‘Everything has a balancing power so that one may not decide for many.’

  After tossing his pencil down, Rainer dragged his hands through his light-brown hair with flecks of blonde. It was the very same color as his father’s.

  He glanced back at Emily, who was looking at him nervously. She was clearly concerned he wasn’t going to finish in time. He glanced back to the casted clock; he had two minutes left. He’d cut that closer than he’d intended, but he was relieved that it was over.

  Educated Memories

  It was over. The words struck him. Six long years he’d been preparing for it to be over, and he’d just completed his final, final exam.

  Graduation was Friday night, and the Haydenshires were throwing a big party after the ceremony. This had always been the tradition, whenever one of their children was graduating, which was most every year. This year would be no different. In fact, Mrs. Haydenshire was going all-out, what with Logan and Emily graduating together. The Haydenshires always insisted that it was three of their children graduating that year, instead of just two. They always counted Rainer as their own. He’d never deserve them, and he most certainly didn’t deserve her, he thought as he gazed at Emily adoringly.

  All of Emily’s brothers had the same dark, wavy brown hair but not Em. She was his beautiful redhead, and this made her stand out even more in the sea of boys from the Haydenshire household. She was her father’s princess, and though Governor Haydenshire always seemed pleased that Rainer and Emily were most definitely an item, he was extremely protective of his little girl, as were all seven of her older brothers.

  Being madly in love with the only girl in a family of twelve could be potentially hazardous to one’s health. For instance, if one were to be found making out with said girl on the couch one evening. If say, her bra happened to be lying on the floor, and her jeans happened to be unzipped, after everyone else had turned in. He’d found this out the hard way, when the Governor had appeared suddenly, after he took a jaunt around the lake on the farm.

  Rainer had insisted that they cool it off, unless they were certain they were alone, but she’d propositioned him yet again. She wanted to take things further, and she wanted to do this on graduation night.

  With another glance at the clock, Rainer allowed himself the last minute of his final class to panic over her plans for that night, and then he would have to act relaxed again and walk her to his car.

  It didn’t help that Logan was not only his very best friend in the world, but was the guy he normally talked over everything with. They had become blood brothers when they were six. This had happened by the sheer convenience of it all. They’d ridden their bikes into one another, accidentally, and had both been bleed
ing from the incident. Instead of returning to the Haydenshires’ farmhouse, to be cleaned up and healed, they’d simply used the blood for the purpose of cementing their friendship. It had seemed very logical at the time.

  Being best friends and blood brothers with your girlfriend’s extremely protective big brother made discussing plans to take things further with her rather uncomfortable.

  The bell rang loudly and effectively ended Rainer’s panic and lamentations. He stood and proceeded to the front of the class, and carried his exam pamphlet to the Mentor’s desk. Emily scooted in line in front of him, and he planted a kiss on the top of her head. She turned and grinned at him sweetly. She was buzzing excitedly as she laid her exam pamphlet on the desk.

  “If you feel you could keep your lips off of Miss Haydenshire, whilst in my classroom, Mr. Lawson, the gesture would be most appreciated by myself and your classmates,” Mentor Durtrox sneered as she glared haughtily at Rainer. Rainer felt the rebellion as it flooded his energy.

  “How about I promise never to do it again?” he huffed as Logan and Emily laughed heartily. Seeing as this was the last time he’d ever be in her classroom, as graduation was Friday night, he didn’t believe that would be a problem.

  Mentor Durtrox did not find his quip entertaining in the least, he noted, as he pulled Emily out the door before he risked his exam grade reflecting his sarcastic retort.

  Many Paths to Becoming a Man

  They traipsed along the concrete paths that divided the many varied brick buildings of Venton Academy and Prep School. All children of Gifted families in Arlington, and the surrounding areas, began attending the academy their junior year of high school.

  As the school was fairly well-known amongst Gifted and Non-Gifted alike, Non-Gifted children often applied to the college, although they were always denied entrance. The explanations that the school had unheard-of qualifications and extremely rigorous classes were most often cited as the reasoning. This also provided a nice way for the Gifted graduates from The Academy to find jobs in the Non-Gifted world, if they chose to go that route.