Seclusion (12 page)

“Hi, Raegan. So good to see
you,” Taylor said as I walked into her office.

“How are you liking things
so far? I hope everything has been satisfactory.”

“Yes, everything has been
great… well, besides the fainting scare yesterday.”

“Oh yes, that’s right. I’m
glad you’re okay!”

“How are your powers? Have
you been practicing at all?”

“Uh, no, but Professor
Travis is having me start soon.”

“Oh good. Well there’s
another student I would like you to meet. He has a similar power to yours and
he is quite advanced. I think if he tutors you, you will find that you are
capable of much more,” Taylor said as she picked up her phone and asked the
secretary to send the new student in.

The door swung open, and I
could see a tall, dark silhouette. The first thing I noticed was his black
boots.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,”
I thought.

“No joke. I have to say,
when Taylor asked me to tutor someone, I had no inclination that it would be
you. Of course, I could’ve figured it out, but I didn’t care at the time.”

“Awww, Damen! My favorite
student! Meet my newest favorite student, Raegan,” Taylor said, smiling at us.

“Actually, Taylor, we know each other,” Damen said.

“Oh, you do? Of course you
do! The other teachers have probably already partnered you up. So, the reason I
wanted you here is to encourage you to start practicing hard. I want you two to
get the best scores on your finals this upcoming semester. In order to help you
achieve this, I’m going to be giving you some tasks to complete. They might
seem odd, but I want you to practice using your powers in the world without
being detected. Of course, everything you’ll do will be either a simulation or
under strict observation and protection,” she said.

“I have another
appointment,” Taylor continued, “so Damen, take Raegan to your suite and start
practicing. I want to see you both a week from today, and I expect you both to
have made improvement. GO!” She nodded and made a sweeping gesture toward the
door.

I looked up at Damen and
gave him a confused look. “Was she serious?” I asked.

“I guess so. But I’m
meeting up with Chloe. We’re going swimming. You’re welcome to join us,
although I know you have plans. Why don’t you come to my place later this
evening?”

“Okay,” I grumbled.

“So, when did you start
making so many friends?” I asked.

“Well, you helped with
that! You healed me. Now I can focus and talk to others without being in pain.
Although I wouldn’t say I had friends – maybe some groupies. Why? Do I detect
some jealousy? I’ll see you later.” Damen stalked down the hall in a hurry.

I could tell he was
debating asking Chloe something and was looking forward to doing something fun.
I knew he would hate it, but I felt sorry for him. Being pain free was
something I took for granted until I met him. But I knew he wouldn’t want my
pity, so I changed the direction of my thoughts.

My plans consisted of
finding Chase and melting into his accepting embrace. I knocked on his door,
but Connor answered.

“Hey Raegan, come in. Elsie
and I are having a Star Trek marathon!”

“I am actually here to see
Chase.”

“Oh, sorry. He’s still playing
basketball, and then later I think he has a meeting with Chloe,” he said.

“Okay then, I’ll just leave
him a note.”

 “You sure you don’t want
to stay here?”

I smiled as I peeked into
the suite and saw Elsie cuddled up on the couch with a blanket. I waved.

“Thanks, but no thanks.”
I’d
be third wheel for sure in there
. I wrote Chase a quick note:

Chase,

HI! Miss you! Long day! I
have to meet with Damen tonight, but I really want to see you. Let’s work
something out soon! Breakfast seems like weeks ago!

Heart Your Raegan

I entered my suite and
grabbed a soda. What was I going to do with myself? I decided to call Aunt
Janice. She was always excited to hear from me. She and Uncle Jeremy had been
busy lately though.

“Hi, sweetheart! What’s
wrong? You should be with your friends at this time of day,” she said.

“They are all busy at the
moment, and I missed you!”

“We will see you at
Christmas! Uncle Jeremy and I are coming to visit and we can check things out
in Texas.”

“Really? That’s great!
Thank you so much for wanting to move out here for me!”

“Of course, Raegan! My
heart breaks that we are so far apart! I sometimes wonder if your mother
would’ve wanted this for you. She couldn’t figure out her own odd behavior, and
I was under the impression she wanted to be rid of it.”

“I’ve heard you say this
before. Do you mean that my mom also had abilities?”

“Well, honey, yes, but I
think Grandma Edna is the one you should talk to about this, okay sweetie?”

“Why have you waited till
now to tell me this?”

“I didn’t want to confuse
you any more than you are, and I wanted you to have a normal life. I thought it
best to wait until you asked. When we come out for Christmas, I‘ll give you
more information; I don’t want to do this over a phone. Just trust me, you were
very much loved and your mother would’ve never just left you,” she said.

In retrospect, I realized I
wasn’t ready to hear this yet and it wasn’t such a great idea to call my aunt
after all.
This is crazy! I wonder what my mother’s ability was and what
happened to her… I have to find out! I have to talk to my grandma!

I knew Grandma Edna was in
a senior living complex in Southern California. I thought about calling her,
but it seemed too personal to discuss over the phone, so I decided snail mail
was the best answer.

I constructed a letter to
my granny that just lightly touched on my serious questions, hoping I would not
upset her. I knew that she was in a home because she had fits; she was very
eccentric, although she had not always been that way. She still lived on her
own, but there were nurses on staff to help her. Aunt Janice said that she had
gone downhill after my mother left and she never regained her sanity. That’s
one of the reasons I had never discussed anything with her in the past.

I felt overwhelmed and
decided to just take a hot shower and start practicing my powers. I focused on
making a stronger shield. I knew Damen was busy at the pool, and I could tell
through the link that he was being entertained. He thought Chloe was amusing. I
thought it was interesting that when I tried reaching further into Damen’s
head, I felt shut out, like a locked door that I could not enter. However, I
got a general sense that he couldn’t care less if I invaded the privacy of his
thoughts – he was as open as a book. I pondered how I could keep my innermost
secrets hidden like his as I rinsed the conditioner out of my hair. By the end
of my shower, I felt as though I had gained some ground in protecting my
feelings.

After my shower, I towel
dried my body and  applied lotion before slipping into my robe. Then I quickly
browsed through the descriptions of the different areas that Professor Travis
had gone over in class. I thought auras were interesting, so I focused my
thoughts on seeing some kind of color surrounding my reflection in the
mirror…but nothing happened. I read the definition of an aura again.

Aura:
Bands of light that
surround a person and fluctuate with mood and feelings. Different shades of
colors symbolize different emotions and attributes. Studies show that red tones
signify anger, blue is peace, white is purity, pink is love, purple is passion,
brown usually represents bitterness, and green is jealousy or serenity
depending on the shade.

I finished applying my
make-up and threw on a black tank top and my bling on the ass yoga pants, which
I tucked into my Uggs. I figured I’d just be holing up and studying here or at
Damen’s, so being comfy was important. I went to the front room and hopped on
the couch with my textbook.

I began dozing off, but as
I fell asleep, I could see Damen on a lounge chair in his black and white board
shorts, his wet hair a mess and tumbling all over. Chloe was almost in his lap
and flirting like all get out.

Really? What a slut
, I thought as I watched
Chloe again through Damen’s eyes. Then suddenly, I saw bright green, and black,
and brown, and purple lights shooting around her like a tornado. Damen and
Chloe didn’t seem to notice the colors. As I fell asleep, I could see Chloe
kissing Damen.

I woke up to hands caressing
my hair and a light kiss on my cheek.

“Damen?” I asked.

“Uh no, as far as I know,
I’m the only one who should be touching you like this,” I heard Chase say
angrily.

“What? Oh, Chase!” I jumped
up and gave him a huge hug. “Sorry about that. I was just studying and Taylor wants me to go get tutoring from Damen,” I said.

“What is it with that guy?
I feel like the teachers are setting you two up.”

“Oh, don’t worry. He and
Chloe are basically dating now.”

“Oh, really?” Chase said as
he exhaled.

I was still tired, so it
felt nice to cuddle up next to Chase and let him hold me and stroke my back.

“I got your note, and I
missed you too! Unfortunately, I have my meeting with Chloe tonight. I guess we
are switching dates.”

“I’m not into that…” I
said.

Chase looked at me and
started laughing. “I didn’t expect you to say that.”

I smiled. “What time do you
have to go?”

“In a few minutes
unfortunately. I just ran down here after my shower so I could see you. Connor
said you looked upset.”

“He did? I’m fine. I was
just lonely, so I called my aunt and studied.”

“Well, you sure look and
smell good,” he said as he kissed my forehead. “I’m a little jealous you’ll be
spending the evening with someone else.” He stood up and pulled me to my feet.
“I’ll meet you for breakfast tomorrow. Okay?” He pressed his lips to my mouth,
and it felt sweet and comforting.

“Okay, hurry it up. Chloe’s
waiting for him already. Plus, you’re just teasing him. I can tell he wants
more, and you’re not very good at controlling your wall when
you’re….distracted,”
I heard Damen say.

I tried not to react to
him. I could see the band of lights again around Chase. Damen could see Chase
with bright purple swirls around him.

“What did that mean again?”
I thought to myself.

“It means passion.”
Damen started laughing.

“
Oh, whoa.”

“Yeah, thanks to your
little study session, I now can see auras, and you can see them through our
link. It was pretty odd when all of a sudden colors started bursting out of
people. Didn’t even know I could do that,”
he said.

I said my good-byes to
Chase and set up a breakfast time. Chase looked at my eyes and gently lifted my
face to his.

“Raegan, I’m really falling
for you,” he said. His hand went into my hair and he unleashed all that passion
he had stored up in one feverish kiss. I was stunned. I didn’t know what to
say, so I looked down and gave him a quick hug when the kiss ended.

As I shut the door, I could
hear growling in the back of my head. I felt my mouth turn up in a grin and
began blushing at the same time.

“Thanks for the show, but
next time you could warn me. I mean, maybe a threesome wouldn’t be bad, but you
should let your boy toy know I’m enjoying it too.”

With that comment, I
started stalking around the suite, grabbing my books, hoodie, and purse.
“I’ll
see you in a minute,”
I thought.

I walked into Damen’s suite
without knocking. I figured he knew I was coming; there wasn’t any surprising
Damen. When I walked in, he was just walking out of the bathroom. I could see
he had just showered. There was still steam coming from the bathroom, and he
only had jeans on, no shirt. I paused, catching my breath, before throwing my
bags onto the couch dramatically in a vain attempt to focus the attention away
from my obvious lust. Damen was rubbing his hair dry with the towel.

I stood there staring,
dumbfounded, and the butterflies were working overtime in my stomach. I tried
ineffectively to fortify my wall. Damen looked up. I could tell he noticed my
wall becoming stronger. He smiled as he grabbed a grey long-sleeved Henley that was slung over one of the couches.

“Hmm…this new power isn’t
half bad. I might not know what you’re thinking exactly, but I can tell you
definitely want me. I don’t think Chase was even that bright of a purple,” he
said with a wink and a chuckle. “Wow, that’s a bright red too! Can you call up
a pizza while I finish getting ready? I know we are starving. Hawaiian is fine
with me; I know it’s your fave.”