Treasured Secrets (The Coveted Saga 1)

It was hard to believe it was easier to change one's appearance than it was to make a new passport. I obviously still had a lot to learn about magic.

"Awesome."

I could see Tallis flinch out of the corner of my air.

Ash changed back, laughing slightly as she responded, "I know, right? It was fun getting to be you for a minute."

I became distracted with the other chatter going on in the room. Alvin's eyes burned with intensity as he studied Tallis, gazing at him like he had just caught on fire or something.

"Amazing," Dad said in a tone of awe.

I shrugged my shoulders with my hands out. "What?"

Tallis looked at me and put his hand on my knee as he joined in on the conversation I had apparently managed to miss. "I don’t know how it works, or how to control it."

"How to control what?" Ash was thankfully just as confused as I was.

Allaysia spoke with a cool tone. "Tallis has the ability to still time to a near halt. He hasn't been able to use it on command until Brazil. When the man shot at Aria, he was able to slow time so he could step in front of her. His will to defend her at any cost must have triggered it somehow. He used it perfectly.

"Most of our powers do show themselves more clearly in a time of extreme circumstances such as that. Self defense is the strongest trigger to any power. I've never seen the defense mechanism kick in so strongly for someone who wasn't a soul mate though."

Allaysia’s explanation put some of my questions to rest. However, I didn't like the implication that Tallis and I were not soul mates. I was sick of everyone disagreeing with me.

Maybe that was why it had kicked in. Maybe that was proof we were soul mates after all. Apparently I was the only one who seemed to think so though.

Tallis spoke quietly, almost too quietly for me to even hear him, although no one else seemed to have a problem. "I haven't ever been able to use it for any amount of time to do anything with it. Until today, I've never been able to actually control when it happened. It's always just popped up at random. I wouldn't have known about it otherwise. I've tried using since we left Brazi

l, and I haven't had any success."

"So you have two incredible one-of-a-kind powers? That's so not fair at all," Ash groaned.

Leave it to Ash to make it a competition.

Jaslene rolled her eyes at Ash. Tallis huffed out a small chuckle. Then he resumed.

"I don't know that it's going to do us any good if I can't learn to control it."

"Maybe Aria should get shot at again. This time you could pay attention to how it works," Gear joked through a chuckle.

"Aria will get herself into another mess at some point and time. I'm sure you'll get plenty of practice," Ash said, rolling her eyes at me.

"Yeah, maybe. If she let's me stick around, that is." Tallis searched my eyes, waiting for me to answer.

He had a look like a little kid would have at Christmas while waiting on someone to tell him if he could open a present.

I put my head down, feeling a little embarrassed by everyone's staring. I shrugged my shoulders. "Guess you kind of have to. I don't do so well without you, it seems."

It was going to be hard to be around him while feeling the way I did - the way he claimed he didn't. Nothing he did made sense. He wanted to be with me, but he didn't want to be with me. I was exhausted from trying to figure out his feelings for him.

He smiled like I had answered just the way he wanted me to. I shook my head to myself. I loved him whether he believed it or not and I wasn't going to give up.

When we were away from the others, I asked, "Why did you flinch when Ash changed into me?"

He looked so pitifully sad. He stared away for a minute, seeming to be lost in a cloud of misery. I was starting to think he wasn't going to answer, but he finally did.

"When she changed at the airport, I had a lot on my mind. When she changed just now, it made me remember what I was thinking then."

I was slightly puzzled by that vague response. "What were you thinking?"