The Embers Of My Heart (7 page)

"You can't turn off that shine from your eyes?" Drew asked.

"I don't know how to," I said. Alistair and Burke were able to hide it somehow. I didn't know how and they weren't sharing.

"Can you change the color?"

"The color's based on your training." I tried remembering Shade's explanation. "The initial color is based on who awakens your power, and then training makes it stick. It gets brighter as you use more power."

"Does it hurt?" Andreas asked.

"Hurt? No, it's just some sort of excess energy bleeding off. I don't even notice it anymore."

"Has the cause ever been established?"

"No one's ever volunteered to have their eyes sliced open while using their powers, as far as I know. I don't know if we can regenerate that sort of thing."

"Regenerate?" Andreas held a hand up and Drew whistled. "Please, wait. I would like to take some notes."

For the next twenty minutes, I gave a primer on basic psionics for the uninitiated. Telekinesis let me manipulate matter and energy at a distance. Another branch of that discipline gave me the ability to manipulate my own body, allowing me to increase my own strength or speed. I demonstrated some of those abilities for their amusement. Afterwards, I moved on to the telepathic disciplines I had learned, from the simple telepathic messages, to the more involved telepresence. Of course, they were interested in my brief mentions of mind reading and memory manipulation. I dismissed those topics as telepathy wasn't my strong point. That was Nikki's forte. I also didn't want to explain memory modification in too much detail. They'd had their memories tweaked before and I didn't want them to realize the extent of that ability.

The third primary discipline of metasensory powers was even more difficult to explain. I called my Sight and tried to describe what I saw, but I didn't think any of them could understand. It was more than just seeing the connections between people and energy and objects, I understood those connections on some sort of intuitive level. That was something that could only come with practice. I could see Drew's excitement on the connection between us, and Andreas's fascination and interest. When I looked to Max, I realized that he had fallen silent and the line between us was vibrating with tension and maybe fear. I let my power fade and faced him. "Max, I can tell you're on edge about this."

"Yeah, you could say that," he snapped. "What are you, Kev? You're not exactly human anymore, are you?"

I held up a hand. "Prick me and see if I bleed. Hell, do a genetic test on me."

"That's not what I mean and you know it. You have these super magic brain powers and you're not the only one out there. Maybe we can trust you. Maybe we can't. Maybe you're just going to wipe out our memories of this shit once you're done talking."

"I'm going to give you the choice," I said. If they chose to forget about it, I'd have to call in Nikki. That wouldn't be a fun conversation. We'd probably have to involve Absynthe. "But I'll tell you this, you can trust me."

Max lit up in open defiance of university policies. "We can trust you. Sure. You didn't tell us until now. You've been learning all about this shit for a while, right? So, why now? Why not sooner?"

"I'm not supposed to be telling you at all," I said.

"Why not? Let me guess. There's some secret organization in the shadows trying to take over the fucking world. They don't want us normal people knowing about your superiority and shit, they're afraid of what'll happen if us poor slobs find out there are super powered dorks like you walking around among us."

"Actually, yeah," I said. Max flinched and drew hard on his cigarette. "The organization I'm part of isn't trying to take over, as far as I know, but there are a few groups out there who are much more open about that sort of thing. They see normal people as tools, children, or subjects. Personally, I'd rather live and let live."

"Yeah, well, that's awfully nice of you," Max said. "At least until you can get what you want out of life by using your powers and shit. Fuck the normal guys then, right?"

"Are you going down the 'power corrupts' path, Max?" Drew asked. "Because I think that's bullshit in this case. We know Kev and we know he's a good guy."

Max nodded and flicked some ash away. "Sure. No offense intended, Kev, but I can't believe that people with your sort of power aren't going to use it for their own personal gain."

I had to laugh. "Well, I do sometimes use it to enhance my memory when I'm studying."

"See?" Max stubbed his cigarette out on Andreas's coffee table. "Even the good guy uses it for his own benefit."

Andreas cleared his throat. "Please respect my furniture, Max. The argument applies to all of those who have some sort of advantage over another. I use my superior intellect to gain advantage. Drew uses his physical condition. You use your natural charm and financial situation. How are these so different?"

"I can get smarter, ripped, and richer. I can't get psionic powers."

"As far as we know," Andreas said. We all turned to him. "Perhaps a normal person can gain powers in some fashion. There may be genetic therapy in the future that could provide access to those powers."

"Don't think I'd want it," Drew said. "I like myself the way I am, you know?"

"I don't think they'd want people to get powers. The haves never want the have-nots to rise to their level. They'd probably crush the hell out of anyone who tried it." Max snorted. "What a load of bullshit. So what does your organization actually want, Kev?"

"Hell if I know," I said. "Not to take over the world, according to them. They want to make sure no crazy assholes do that. Of course, that might make them the crazy assholes. I don't trust them. I don't trust anyone, to be honest."

Max finally cracked a grin. "Smartest thing I've heard from you all day."

"Sometimes I'm not a complete dumbass."

"So there's totally a shadow war going on in the background," Drew said. "That sort of shit is exciting. Scary, but exciting. What can we do to help you?"

"Help me?"

"Yeah, of course." I looked between all three of them. "Kev, we're on your side here. We're not going to choose to forget. What are you, nuts?" Andreas nodded as I met his gaze.

Max looked away for a moment as I caught his gaze. "I'm with you Kev, but this shit is scary as fuck. If you're part of the good guys and you don't really believe they're good, what are the bad guys like? Are we going to come down with a seriously terminal case of dead if they find out we know about you?"

I nodded. "They've already threatened that."

"Say what?"

I told them the abridged version of my traineeship with Shade. I left out the parts involving what actually happened on our trip through Washington. No one needed to know about Star. I wanted to forget all about her myself.

"Kev?" Max asked. I blinked and realized I had stopped talking. "You ok, man?"

"Yeah, just lost my train of thought," I said. "But to end the story, he tried to kill me. It was a straight no holds barred fight. He had me beat and tried to force me to surrender. If I didn't, he'd take control of me, make me into a puppet, and force me to kill or torture all my friends and family."

"Seeing as we're all still here, I guess you kicked his ass, right?" Drew asked.

"Let's just say he's in a coma and not coming out of it any time soon."

Drew laughed and Max smirked. I hoped I was right. If Shade ever did come out of the coma, he wouldn't try to make me surrender, he wouldn't try to capture me, he wouldn't try anything, he'd just kill me out of hand. I resolved to check if he showed any signs of waking. A darker side of me said I should just make sure he never woke up.

"So what can we do to help?" Drew asked. "I mean, I know we're just a bunch of normal dudes, except Max, who's weird, but we can do something, right?"

"There are a couple of things," I said. "First, obviously, don't tell anyone outside this room. Literally. Andreas's room is the only place we'll ever discuss it. Deal?" They all nodded. "Second, this is more for Andreas, but can you keep working on that device? Any way to get the sensors down to the bare minimum, maybe use a wireless connection so you don't need to have a phone dangling off it? That would be useful to figure out if there's a psion nearby. It's difficult for us to detect each other outside of active power use."

"I will work on it," Andreas said. "The data logged from the earlier events should provide me with a starting basis. I will require your assistance on occasion to refine the data."

"What about Max and I?" Drew asked.

I shrugged. "Keep an eye out for weird stuff. Really, I don't know what you can do right now, unless you can help Andreas."

"Fair enough," Max said. "But I really need to go outside and contemplate life. It's all fucked up right now, and it's all your fault, Kev."

"You'll forgive me some day, right?"

"Maybe."

Chapter Five

Burke put his face in his hands. "I cannot believe you are asking something so foolish."

"Professor, that's the request we're looking to make." Rachel knocked on the table we sat around.

"Very well," he said, raising his head. "I shall bring this committee's decision to administration, who will take it under consideration. I suspect the period of consideration shall be measured in seconds."

"We need to know who among the faculty we can trust!"

"Trust?" I had never heard Burke laugh, but he sounded close. "Trust is earned, not given, and certainly not demanded. A request for additional contacts is reasonable. Perhaps. Asking for full dossiers on all faculty members who are part of the Establishment? Preposterous, Miss Anderson. Utterly ridiculous."

"We don't think so."

"I will also remind you that the vote was not unanimous."

Eyes turned to me. Rachel didn't quite sneer at me, but she had succeeded at ostracizing me. No one on the committee spoke to me except for a couple of the seniors. I used my outsider position to play devil's advocate for everything she proposed just to drive her up the wall. "Fourteen for, one against. One in opposition doesn't matter."

"Doesn't matter?" Burke and I exclaimed at the same time. He gestured to me to continue. "So you're saying that because I didn't vote in lockstep with you, my voice doesn't matter?"

"Exactly," she snapped. "You've been fighting us on everything from day one. You got beat, so just sit down and shut up."

I stood up, trying to keep my cool. "Excuse me? At least I'm not arrogant enough to think that I'm the heart and soul of this farce."

"You're not scaring anyone, Parker. Sit down."

I snapped my fingers and half the people around the table flinched. "The louder the dog, the harder the kick," I said, keeping my eyes focused on hers. "And you're the noisiest bitch in this room."

There had been murmurs around the table when I stood up. They died. Eyes widened. Some looked to me, some to Burke, most to Rachel. No one said a word, not even when she stood and planted her palms on the table. "What did you just call me?"

"I called you a loud mouthed bitch. No one argues with you because no one can get a word in. Of course you think you're always right, but haven't you figured it out yet? They can't be bothered anymore. You're not worth arguing with. You're not worth anyone's time, Anderson." I prepared to tap into my power in case I had pushed her too hard.

Her eyes flared with green light and I barely scrambled up a defensive wall in time. Instead of the telekinetic attack I expected, she hit me with a hammer blow of telepathic noise. My mind spun for a second and I shifted my defenses to compensate, just before she hit me again, even stronger than before. This attack slid off. What was she thinking? Telepathy didn't win fights. Her attacks felt like a formal telepathic duel, just for show.

I didn't bother fighting on her terms. I simply grabbed her chair and pulled it forward into the backs of her legs. Her knees buckled and she fell back into the chair, her next attack distinctly weaker than the previous two. I feinted with an attack at her mind, but simply pushed her. The chair leaned and she flailed her arms as she fell backwards.

Before her head could crack against the floor, a telekinetic grip caught and returned her chair to an upright position. "Now, now, children," Burke said. "Sit the hell down and shut the hell up. There will be no further fighting in this chamber." My own chair nudged the backs of my legs pointedly. I sat down and threw a winning smile across the table at Rachel.

She glared at me. "Go to hell, Parker."

"Miss Anderson." Burke's voice could have frozen molten steel. "Another outburst and I shall not only remove you from your position as president of this committee, I shall remove you entirely. Mr. Parker, before you even entertain the idea, I will not tolerate any further instigation from you. Is that understood?" We both muttered affirmations. "Now, is there any further business?"

"I have a concern," said one of my classmates. He looked between Rachel and me. "It's about training."

"What about it? Out with it. I have no tolerance remaining today."

"Well, it's just that, I think there might need to be additional training. I mean, looking at those two, I couldn't even follow some of what they did. Shouldn't we all be getting trained to the same level?"

Burke sighed. "Mr. Peters, you're an intelligent young man, aren't you? I should hope so. Only intelligent young men and women are supposed to be in here."

"I'd like to think so."

I tried to stifle a laugh. Burke flicked a glare at me before responding. "Then you tell me. We have a wide array of talents in this room. Mr. Parker has exceptional telekinetic talents. Miss Anderson has exceptional telepathic powers. Mr. Young has empathic skills that rival those of anyone I've ever met. Miss Lenza is less powerful than the rest of you, but learns everything taught her, quicker than anyone. That's not even a third of the people in this room, let alone the rest of the gifted students in this school. Does it make any sense whatsoever to train each of you the same way? You are uniquely talented and we train you in specialized fashion to make best use of your uniqueness."