I looked at him hesitantly. This must be Noah. His hair was a pleasant shade of reddish brown that it almost looked unnatural. He had laughing hazel eyes, and a charming dusting of freckles across his nose that normally would have made him look boyish, but with his strong features and build he was far from boyish.
“I can take care of them,” I took a step back. “I’m used to this song and dance.”
He chuckled. “You really are new to this aren’t you?” With quick steps, he was in front of me grasping my face.
I was about to bite an angry retort, but I felt a weird warmth radiating from his hands and I was transfixed. The stinging on my face was gone within moments.
“Better.” He gave me knowing grin. “Now, let me see the other wounds.”
“I’m fine,” I took a hasty step back.
“Blake,” Mr. Jace said gently. “Noah’s a healer. I assure you, he will keep it professional and make you feel as comfortable as he can.”
I crossed my arms in front of my chest and looked at him mutinously. “Will all of you turn.”
Mr. Jace gave me a crooked grin. “If you want. You can also go to the bathroom,” he said, and then turned his attention to the others in the room. “ Drake, can you start dinner? Jax and I can be your sous chefs. Remy and Dad, can you get back on that research I requested?”
I stood torn with indecision. My face felt a lot better, and I wanted to move without pain once more, especially since my shift at the bar tonight would be a strenuous one. I motioned for Noah to follow me into the bathroom. It was huge; it had a standup shower, a huge garden tub, double sinks, and the toilet was in a closet separated from it all. Hesitantly, I lifted my top. I was glad my sports bra covered the girls and helped reduce the size of them.
Noah looked at me solemnly, all trace of humor gone as he placed his hands on me once more. “I’m sorry I can’t do anything about your scars,” he said grimly.
I know if you looked closely you could see scars on my skin that weren’t natural or explainable. For instance, I had cigarette burns on my upper back from Heidi’s mom— I hadn’t gotten her beer fast enough. I had a scar under my glute where a belt buckle had ripped a chunk of skin off from one of the beatings Heidi had given me. And I had another scar under my left breast where one of Heidi’s boyfriends threatened to cut it off unless I rubbed on him.
I tried to shake off the dark thoughts and watched in fascination as the
bruising faded and the pain receded.
I felt slightly awkward standing nearly topless in front of a man, so I started talking softly. “Is this your gift? It’s pretty cool.”
His grin was boyish and crooked as he looked at me. “Thanks. It comes in handy,” he shrugged. “I hear you’re a prodigy, but they don’t know exactly what your gift is.”
I don’t know why I felt disarmed by his grin, or if it was the fact that I felt high on the endorphins from his healing hands. “I’m not sure. Sometimes I can tell people to do something and they do it.” I shrugged in confusion.
He stopped and took a step back. A slight frown marred his handsome features. “Like you compel people to do stuff and they do it?”
I froze and frowned back at him. “Yes? Why?” Did I say the wrong thing? Why was he frowning at me?
He must have seen my change in attitude because he gave me a reassuring smile. “Turn around, Blake.” He hissed and cursed under his breath. He had seen the cigarette burns. I felt the warmth and healing once more as he worked on the bruises and welts on my back. “If what you say is correct you have a very, very strong and rare gift.”
I shrugged. “It comes and goes when it wants. For the longest time, I thought I was a freak.”
He turned me around gently and gave me a sympathetic grin. “Most of us experience that when we hit puberty. It’s a hard and trying time as it is, and then we wake up one day and we have a new energy running rampant through us. Let’s go back to the others; I’m sure they would like to be a part of this conversation.”
I nodded my head, and once again tried to process all this information. “Thanks for healing me,” I gave him a preoccupied smile as I gnawed on my lower lip.
I went into the kitchen and found Mr. Bell, Senior, sitting with Remy. Remy was sitting in front of a laptop. Remy’s fingers were rapidly moving across the keyboard as Mr. Bell leaned over to whisper to him occasionally.
I realized they hadn’t really introduced me to anyone. I assumed it was Drake that was busy rolling out what looked to be pasta. Mr. Jace was at the stove browning some kind of meat, and Jax appeared to be cutting up vegetables for a salad.
I took a seat on a bar stool and looked down at my watch, and I realized I would have to leave here in an hour if I wanted to get to work on time.
“So…I think our little flower has the gift of compulsion,” Noah said with a smirk as he took a sip of his beer.
There were various shades of shock crossing most of everyone’s features, except for Mr. Jace and Jax.
“You’ve been here for a year and you just recently felt like she was gifted? You just realized she may be the playmate you knew as a child? How many pretty, dark, curly headed, green-eyed girls do you encounter on a daily basis?” Mr. Bell looked at Mr. Jace suspiciously.
Mr. Jace looked at him impassively. “I was nine Dad, my recollections were fuzzy at best. Her file was destroyed, and I had no picture to go by. I had my suspicions, but she was hard to read. I tried several times to confirm her identity and she remained evasive. I was focused on all the obvious gifted students, not the ones in hiding.”