by Dannika Dark
Flustered, Ella yanked on a pair of leggings that looked like newspaper print with crossword puzzles on them. Needless to say, Hannah hated them. Ella had kept very few things from her old life, but the stretchy pants were one of them.
Hannah placed the dress on a plastic hanger and swiftly left the room.
Ella couldn’t get the word “bride” out of her head. Was Hannah getting married? As if it wasn’t uncomfortable enough living here… having to deal with a master of the house would be a nightmare.
She sat on the bed and put on a pair of flimsy black lace-ups that came above the ankle. The boots were old, tattered, and something she couldn’t bring herself to throw away. They reminded her of the disapproving look her mother had given her when she’d picked them out at the store. All the other girls were wearing them, and even though at the time she had no one to show them off to, it made her feel less different.
Ella turned around, pulling an oversized black shirt over her head. When she glanced up, she stumbled backward, her heart racing.
Simon peered at her through the window, standing on the outside ledge with his arms stretched out and gripping the wall. He had a smug grin on his face and winked when she angrily swung open the casement window.
He jumped inside and admired her outfit. “Aren’t we looking casual today?”
She gripped his hand. Why can’t you ring the doorbell like a normal person?
“Now where’s the fun in that, love?” He let go of her hand and leaned in as if speaking to her privately. “Plus, I’d have to deal with the Ice Queen, and I’m not in the mood. Shall we?”
Ella folded her arms.
“If you’re going to be a skilled Mage, you need to learn more than back handsprings and flashing maneuvers. You never know when you’ll be in a situation where you’ll have to climb out a window or swim through an alligator-infested swamp. Don’t ask.”
She looked down at her clothes. Ella never went out in public looking this sloppy.
His eyes scanned her body. “You’re more dressed than a salad.”
Simon stepped onto the outside ledge and turned to face her, using the tips of his toes to walk. The ledge must have been no more than three inches wide, and Ella’s stomach dropped when he moved out of sight. She peered out the window and watched him shuffle to her left until he was across from a large tree. He bent his knees and then pushed off the wall, doing an aerial twist. Ella gasped when he gripped a branch and swung from it, dangling so far from the ground that if he let go, he’d surely break his legs. He hooked his leg over it and shimmied down to the trunk, standing on a lower branch and waving at her to follow.
He’s crazy, she thought to herself.
Simon smiled wide and then pointed at the ledge.
What’s wrong with stairs and doors? she asked herself while climbing onto the ledge and gripping the flat wall with her fingertips. One step at a time… If he can do it, I can do it… Oh, shit! She almost lost her footing and dug her fingers into a shallow groove on the wall, throwing all her weight forward. With her heart racing a mile a minute, she carefully peered over her shoulder.
Landing two stories below wouldn’t kill her, but it would still hurt. Simon was trying to teach her to overcome her fear of pain; easier said than done. A broken nose was one thing; a compound fracture and a shattered spine was something else entirely. She reached the spot where Simon had vaulted off the wall, but the tree seemed too far, and there was no way she could match the distance.
Ella glared beneath her armpit at him.
“Don’t think about it. Just do it,” he said, patting the branch above him.
She hesitated, and when she second-guessed herself and tried to measure the distance again, she lost her footing and fell.
A split second later, her feet landed safely on the branch above Simon. She gripped a higher limb and looked down, noticing all kinds of profanities rolling off his tongue as he looked up at her—words she’d never heard before.
When they climbed down and dropped to the grass, he gripped her hands. “You’re a Jumper!”
A what?
“Jumper. It means instead of flashing around like the rest of us, you can concentrate that energy to move short distances—like teleportation. Don’t you know what you are?”
She shrugged, uncertain of how to answer. Hannah had never explained her gift, only that she shouldn’t use it. Nor had she given it a name.
“Bloody hell, that was brilliant! I’ve heard about Jumpers but never actually seen one in action.”
What you almost saw in action was me smashing against the ground like a bug on a windshield.
“That would have been a bloody shame. We’re doing that again, just so you know, and I won’t tolerate cheating.”
How can I cheat?
“By using your gifts as a Mage. Hurry up before the Ice Queen sees us.” He ran across the lawn, still holding her hand.
Where are we going?
He looked over his shoulder at her. “I want to test your lip-reading skills in a social situation.”
Wait, I’m not sure about this.
Simon was a step ahead, and while she couldn’t see his mouth anymore, she still heard every word through his thoughts.
“Don’t get your knickers in a twist. They’re just some friends of mine. I told them you’re supremely shy and that Hannah’s progeny isn’t allowed to speak without her Creator present. That should get you off the hook.”
And they bought it?
He mentally snorted. “When it comes to Hannah, nothing would surprise them. I want you to engage and interact with them, as if you were a hearing person. This will require you to pay attention to people who aren’t even speaking to you. Novis is out of town, and Sunny invited everyone over for lunch. Damn, I should have worn my running shoes…”
During their drive, Ella wondered what Simon’s friends were like and whether or not she’d fit in. She recognized Novis’s mansion as they drove up and went through the security checkpoints, so that made her nervous. Novis was friendly, but she’d only spoken to him once or twice in her early years as a Mage.
Ella had adopted the role of a shy girl for this visit, bowing respectfully as Simon introduced her to several people. She smiled and watched their lips, nodding when they said it was a pleasure to meet her. They weren’t at all the kind of people she imagined him hanging out with.
She enjoyed the looks they gave Simon, especially the blonde whose eyes narrowed at his leather pants. Ella liked his style, so it was interesting that he was friends with people who were so different, so… normal.
Sunny was warm and friendly, and Ella could immediately tell by her dull energy that she was a human. Many trusted humans worked in their world, but she’d never actually seen one living with a Mage—especially since she had children. They were fun to watch, scurrying in and out of the kitchen while everyone ate lunch. The kitchen island was covered with platters of sandwiches, cheese, pickles, chips, and blueberries. The little girl grabbed a handful of the berries when her mother wasn’t looking and tiptoed after her twin brother in the other room.
“How do you two know each other?” Kane asked.
Simon took a bite of his sandwich and answered him. Ella shifted in her chair, irritated when he smiled at her. He was intentionally making this hard for her by eating and talking at the same time.
Everyone nodded, accepting whatever answer he gave.
From what Ella gathered, Kane and Sunny were close, but not lovers. She sensed he was Breed, so they must have been good friends. A pretty brunette was with him, but she quickly took the children outside when she noticed blueberry stains on the little girl’s fingers and in her twin brother’s hair.
“How do you like living with Hannah?” Silver asked.
Ella shrugged and nodded her reply. The buff guy that Simon had met at the bar was there, and he tapped Silver on the shoulder. She guessed that he was her Creator, because Ella had seen that same scolding glance on her own Creato
r’s face when she’d done something inappropriate.
Simon had a point about reading people. Instead of pretending to understand, she was now engaged in the conversations—laughing in all the right spots. And not just because everyone else was laughing, but because she finally understood what they were saying.
It restored her confidence that she could be a part of society again instead of hiding in corners and avoiding conversation.
Silver’s Creator toted around a little girl with wispy blond hair. He behaved in a fatherly way toward her, and she clung to him, which was odd considering he was a Mage. Just like at the bar, Ella felt an unexplainable attraction toward him. It went away when she put distance between them.
Hours later, Ella cleared the table and helped Kane’s girlfriend wash dishes—Ella washed and she dried. Every so often, Ella would hand her a plate and Caroline would give her a peculiar stare, turning the dish slowly in her hands. The third time she did it, Ella stepped away. Caroline wasn’t a Mage, and you could never be too careful about other Breeds.
Despite Ella’s silence, everyone accepted her. They were inclusive—asking her to join them outside for a glass of lemonade or showing her photographs of the children from a picture album.
Eventually, Ella grew tired of reading lips, so she decided to take a walk around the mansion and have a moment to herself. She missed the cozy feel of a small house, and a home of this magnitude felt more like a museum with all its artifacts. Still, the paintings fascinated her, and this Mage had them in spades.
Simon concentrated, slowly tapping the plastic lever when the white marbles moved toward his hippo. Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Knox was slamming his palm down on his lever, making his hippo lurch like it was caught in a seizure. It made a terrible racket as the balls scattered about. Simon took his time, slowly extending his hippo’s neck until a group of marbles would slide within reach.
“You’ll never win by getting impatient,” he said to Knox. “See how you’re scaring all the marbles away from you? They’re practically rolling into my mouth.”
“You’re a doo-doo head,” Knox fired back. He reached out with his chubby hand and scooped the marbles into his hippo’s mouth.
“Bloody hell! You can’t cheat and expect to win in life!” Simon gently gripped Knox’s hand and tried to pull it away. “Let it go, Knox.”
“No.”
“Put them back!”
Sunny cleared her throat. “Simon, he’s three. Let him win.”
Simon lurched to his feet. “Do you want him going through life thinking someone is always going to let him win? He’ll be a man someday; what kind of man do you want him to be? This is a cruel world, and I don’t give a fuck if he’s three.”
Knox grinned. “Fuck! Fuckity fuck, fuck, fuck!”
Simon made a sweeping gesture with his arm. “The prodigal son has spoken. I bet I can guess who he got that attitude from.”
Sunny took Knox by the hand. “Yes, his Uncle Simon. Come on, John. I’ll make you a sandwich.”
Knox went flying ahead of her through the door. “I’m Knox!”
Sunny leaned against the doorjamb, her voice softening. “He’s so much like his father it scares me.”
“He’s like all boys. They love toy guns, pretending they’re cowboys, getting the bad guys, and eating a kilo of sugar. It’s glued to our DNA.” Simon shoved the game back into the box. “Then we grow up to do exactly the same things, except replace the sugar with sex.”
“Maybe Novis will rub off on them.”
“As you said, he’s three.” Simon walked toward the door and leaned on the other side. “There’s nothing wrong with the kind of man Knox was, remember that. Sure, he was a bit of a caveman, but that bastard was a genius. Smart enough that HALO wanted him, and HALO doesn’t want anyone.” Simon touched the ring at the bottom of her necklace. “Maybe you should quit remembering how he died and think about how he lived.”
Simon excused himself from an increasingly sentimental conversation and gave the adjacent sitting room a cursory glance. “Has anyone seen Ella?”
Silver curled her legs up on the sofa. “No. Are you two heading out?”
“My carriage turns into a pumpkin soon.”
Rose napped in Justus’s arms, her body curled in a fetal position with her head resting on top of his forearm. He looked half-asleep himself, head back on the sofa, peering at Simon through heavy-lidded eyes.
“So what do you think of Hannah’s Learner?” Simon asked.
Silver twirled a chunk of her dark hair around a finger. “She seems nice. It’s just weird that Hannah doesn’t let her speak. How do you get to know a person if you can’t talk to them? I could be boring her to tears with my stories about Logan, and she can’t even change the topic. Although…”
Simon’s attention sharpened. “Although what?”
“There were a couple of times I was in the middle of a story when she’d suddenly motion toward the food and give me a look.”
“What kind of look?”
“Well, I don’t know how to explain it. She’d make a gesture at the sandwiches, and by her facial expression, I knew she wanted me to tell her how I made them or where I got them. If that’s how she changes the topic, she’s pretty damn smart. Maybe I need to brush up on my social skills and find something Mage-worthy to talk about with strangers. Like Mage law.” Silver gave Justus the side-eye, and he smiled, eyes still closed.
“Ella’s not an ancient,” Simon reminded her.
Silver stood up and stretched. “Yeah, but all these newbies are chosen by the Mageri, and they just love to talk about Breed this and Breed that. Nobody cares if Six Flags just opened a new location or what the last blockbuster movie was. I’m so used to hanging out with you guys that I sometimes forget how to be around strangers.”
Simon waltzed out of the room. “We’re all strangers, although some of us are stranger than others.”
He searched the lower level and passed by a window to see Logan and Knox out back on the new playground. When he couldn’t find Ella, he wandered upstairs with a thought niggling in his head that maybe she’d left without him. After years of neglect, there was a risk she could turn rogue.
Simon walked briskly down the hall. He passed an open door and stopped mid-stride. Inside the room, he’d glimpsed a long shadow stretched across the wood floor. He took a step back and pushed open the door, exposing a room full of collectibles and a bright window directly ahead. Ella was statuesque, gazing at a painting on the wall. She must have opened the heavy drapes, because tiny particles of dust were suspended in golden rays of light.
As he approached, that’s when his gift as a Feeler detected her energy. The immense sorrow weighted down the room like an anchor, pulling you to the bottomless depths of the ocean. He stood motionless for a few beats and then stepped to the left to see what she was looking at.
The painting looked hundreds of years old and depicted a family. Simon took a moment to study it and noticed how eerily similar the father was to Novis. He couldn’t place the era by the image, but what the artist had captured was timeless. The mother held a sleeping baby swaddled in a blanket, and the other child stood before the father. Their faces were nondescript and melancholy. Then again, people in those days rarely smiled for portraits.
He touched Ella on the shoulder, and she jumped in surprise. He was about to speak up when she turned, tears staining her cheeks.
Simon stepped back. He wasn’t adept at dealing with heavy emotions, and when he tried to touch her wrist to make a witty comment and break the tension, she retracted her hand and used it to wipe her face.
“Where’s your family?” he whispered. Her past was the very fiber of who she was and who she would one day become.
“Hey, you two shouldn’t be in here,” Silver said from the doorway. “Oh my God, look at all this.”
Simon whirled around with his hands behind his back. “Are you shocked your employer has a pretentious collection
of expensive art?”
Her gaze roved around the room. “No, I’m shocked that he’s a hoarder. I think we need to have an intervention.”
Chapter 14
Hannah was grating on Simon’s last nerve. She’d called twice already—probably to scold him for kidnapping her precious Learner, but he didn’t answer the phone to find out. Despite the smashing success of immersing Ella into a social situation, he couldn’t shake the image of her unexpected breakdown. She could be his counterpart with the right training, but not unless she could control her emotions.
He let go of the steering wheel and took her hand. “Do you want to tell me what the flood of tears was all about?”
Not while speeding down the road, she replied glumly.
Simon pulled the car to the side of the road and shut off the engine. He rolled down his manual window for some fresh air, and when he turned, Ella got out of the car.
Simon muttered, “I do believe I just opened up a can of worms, I did. Now we’re going to talk about feelings.”
He stepped out and crossed a patch of grass where Ella was sitting beneath a tree, her legs bent at the knee. The only thing in sight was a gas station farther down the road. Simon sat against the tree facing away from her so all he could see was her shoulder and arm. He took her right hand with his left and straightened his legs, crossing them at the ankle.
“All right. We’re all cozy now, sitting on muck and filth. I should warn you that you’ll have a time limit since there’s an ant mound about a foot away from me.”
He heard her soft laughter in his head, and then it went quiet.
Just when he thought she had changed her mind, her thoughts formed into clear words.
My parents had money, and I thought all those things were what mattered. I wasn’t rotten, but I didn’t appreciate my life as much as I should have. I was going through a rebellious phase at the time and couldn’t wait to leave home. Jasper, my little brother, was going to be ten, and we planned to go to the lake house for his birthday. But my mom was pregnant and didn’t feel well, so we stayed home instead. I was downstairs watching TV when the doorbell rang. The front door was across the room to my left, so I could see everything. She flipped the porch light on and mentioned something about changing a lightbulb. Whoever was there knocked and spoke in a friendly voice, but I couldn’t hear what he said over the TV. My mom must have felt safe enough to open the door. The next thing I knew, a man in a black mask walked in. My mom screamed for my dad.