Gifted Connections 1

any ideas.

As if I conjured him up from my thoughts, he was sitting in the living room dressed in one of his three-piece suits sipping on a cup of coffee.

“Want any?” he asked kindly, but I knew he was up to something.

I narrowed my gaze at him. “No thank you. We have to get to school.” Although I had every intention of stopping at the little coffee shop by the school. I may even buy one of those energy drinks for later.

He stood up and stalked towards me. “Ella, wait for me outside,” I told her firmly.

She went to protest, but she saw the look in my eyes and nodded with a mutinous look before going outside.

He stopped within inches of me. “What did you do to your mom?” he hissed angrily.

I looked at him in confusion, but stated coldly, “Stepmom. You heard her last night as she was beating the crap out of me, and I have no clue what you are talking about.”

He scrutinized my features. “She’s insisting that I pull up the legal guardianship paperwork so she can sign her rights over to you, but you are only seventeen, so that’s impossible. What did you do to her?”

I was shocked as I blinked up at him. I only suggested it to her; I never thought she would actually do as I asked. Suddenly, I knew I needed to talk to Mr. Jace. There are a lot of things happening lately, and I had a feeling that he would know what was going on; especially after the dream I had last night. “Then you should date it January third. I’ll be eighteen then.” I said before turning on my heels and leaving.

I couldn’t wait until music class to see Mr. Jace, and I knew his scheduled lunch period was my own. I decided to head over to his class instead of going to the cafeteria.

I was glad to see that he was in there, eating his lunch and grading some papers. He heard the door swing shut as I came into the room. A beautiful smile lit his face, and I felt that flutter once more.

“Hey Blake,” he said jovially, then frowned as I got closer.

By his darkened look I had a feeling he saw the mark on my face.

“What happened?” he asked as he reached out to my face.

“My psycho stepmom,” I admitted, knowing he was as shocked by my admittance as I was.

“This isn’t the first time?” he asked as his jaw clenched. “And where was the boyfriend?”

“Watching,” I informed him. “But that’s not why I’m here. We’ve met before, haven’t we? We were at the institute together. It’s Jax who talks to me when I’m frightened or sad, isn’t it?”

He looked shocked for a moment. “You’ve been talking to someone? For how long?”

I looked at him hesitantly, knowing I was outing Jax as well. I sighed. “Over seven years now. You can’t be angry at him. He didn’t know how to broach the subject with you. He almost seemed like he didn’t want your father to find out.”

He nodded, but I saw a tick in his right jaw. “My father is somewhat of a power-hungry man, and back when the institute was established, they would often take children and test them once their gifts seemed to manifest. Sometimes they would test us, unconventionally, to try and push us to our limits. My father has revised his stance on the methods of testing now, but he still advocates for pushing people until their true gifts are revealed.” He seemed hesitant to divulge all this information to me, but he must have seen that I wouldn’t be leaving here until my curiosity was assuaged.

I sat gnawing on my bottom lip as I tried to comprehend it all. “So, your brother can read minds? What can I do? What can you do?”

He smiled dryly. “No, Jaxson can’t read minds, but it is believed if the gifted has a connection with someone they will be able to communicate with them. Jax has the ability of illusion. He can push images on people and make them believe they are really experiencing them. I am an empath. I can feel people’s emotions and push emotions on them. As far as what you can do, we were never told exactly what it is. You were kidnapped before they found out much, to my father and some of the board member’s chagrin.”

Suddenly, I felt overwhelmed with all this information. I was kidnapped? Was I crazy? There are others that could do things like I could? There are so many things I wanted to find out. I felt like I fell into a rabbit hole. One answered question led to a million unanswered questions. “Who kidnapped me?” I asked quietly, dreading the answer.

He shrugged as he took my hand. He must have felt my rising panic. With his gift, I almost felt like he was cheating. Like it was an invasion of my privacy. “I was only eight when it happened, but, from what I could glean I think it may or may not have been your uncle. When they found you, you were in the foster care system. Even back then Jax was able to sense you in his thoughts and I could feel your presence. It was through us that you were found to begin with. Shortly after you came to stay at the institute a man who was working there took an interest in you. He had a low-level gift, but it was believed he could assist the children in the institute nevertheless. Rumor had it, he was your mother’s brother and he had been looking for you; when he saw the opportunity to take you, he did.”

I could feel the beginnings of a headache, and I felt nauseous. Was my whole life a lie? Who was I?

He softly started to rub his thumb on my wrist, and I started to feel calmer. I looked up at him with accusing eyes. “You’re using your gift, aren’t you?!”

I jumped up and moved away from him. I suddenly felt an overwhelming need to cry. Before he could see a single tear drop I turned and ran until I reached the sanctuary of the bathroom.

As I laid on the cold, tiled ground, fighting the need to get sick, I let the tears fall. As if my life wasn’t complicated enough, I now had to deal with this.

“Are you okay?” his soft voice reached me.