Gifted Connections 3

I guess we’re about to find out, I answered him back before I turned to Paul and the Senator. “Where would you like to go?” I asked them.

Paul led us down the hall to the kitchen manager’s office. I let Paul, Senator Bowen, and the girl go in first. Paul sat on the edge of the desk as the Senator pointed to the two chairs in front of the desk.

“Sit,” he guided the girl in one chair and indicated the other to me.

I looked at him with a raised brow before I made a point to take a step back between Jace and Remy.

Senator Bowen looked perturbed by my show of rebellion but nodded, capitulating. I didn’t know what he wanted but it was clear he wanted this meeting more than protecting his pri

de.

He cleared his throat. “I wanted to apologize for our initial meeting. I was out of line and shouldn’t have doubted you the way I did.”

I was suspicious of his total one-eighty. “Okay, and you couldn’t say that out there? Today’s a busy day. It’s Thanksgiving, and we have only a few more hours before we have to serve the Thanksgiving meal.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Paul smirk, but it was gone as quickly as it arrived as Senator Bowen looked over at him.

“Who’s the girl?” I asked bluntly as I looked at the girl staring down at her lap.

“Victoria.” Senator Bowen looked at the little girl, fondness encompassing his features immediately. “She’s my daughter.”

“And,” I prodded. “I doubt you came on a day that most families spend it together to an underground facility to partake of our Thanksgiving meal. A man such as your self must have the best chefs in…” I looked over at Jace, knowing he would know what state the Senator came from.

“New Jersey,” he supplied. I smiled my thanks at him.

“New Jersey to cook your meals,” I continued.

“We don’t have cooks,” Victoria muttered before she looked up at her dad. “This is stupid. I want to go.”

Senator Bowen sighed before rubbing the bridge of his nose. “A few months ago, I was part of a meeting discussing the merits of tagging and registering gifted individuals. We wanted to reduce the risk of gifted people harming our citizens.”

“That’s absurd,” I blurted out. “We are citizens of the United States. Just because we are born with extra abilities doesn’t make us any different than anyone else that was born with different attributes. I can’t say all of us are inherently good, but neither is the normal everyday citizen.”

“I realize that now, and now I am here to ask for your assistance. I did my research, and I know Will’s school was one of the best ones to send children coming into their gifts. Since he is no longer there, I don’t want to send my child to his school. Victoria needs to have guidance and people like her around her, and she needs to be in a facility such as this, just in case some of my peers in Congress decide to pass this gifted registration.” Senator Bowen explained.

For the first time since I met Senator Bowen, he seemed vulnerable and genuinely remorseful.

“A month ago,” Jace began, “You were all for the registration of the gifted, and now that your daughter is gifted you want to send her here. Why are you coming to Blake?” he asked bluntly.

He shifted uncomfortably. “My views on the registration have changed. Considerably. After my…assumptions and behavior, Will and Paul said they cannot jeopardize their mission and your training if you were to see me or know my daughter was being sheltered here. It is your decision to make.”

“I don’t want to stay here,” Victoria said bitterly. “I lost Mom, and now you’re leaving me, too?”

Senator Bowen knelt down beside his daughter. “I’m not leaving you, honey, but I can’t help you. I don’t know how to. You need to learn how to control your…gift, and I can’t do that. These are the best people to help you do it. I’ll come here to visit as often as possible.”

“It’s not a gift. It’s a curse. I’m a freak. I killed Mom. It’s my fault!” Victoria cried out in pain and anger.

“You’re not a freak, and it is a gift,” Patrick said quietly from behind the desk.

We all were startled to see Micah, Patrick, and Alex were standing behind the desk.

Micah looked at me apologetically. “They wouldn’t let us back here, and Ella said we needed to be here to meet Victoria.”

“How do you know who I am?” the young girl shrieked as she looked at them distrustfully.

“Ella saw your arrival,” Patrick offered. “Alex can see your thoughts. I saw your mother’s death. You didn’t know about your gift. You were angry. How were you suppose to know you could vanish? You didn’t. It was the other man’s fault. He was drinking and driving. Just because your mother took her eyes off the road for a moment doesn’t mean she wasn’t still going to be hit.”

Senator Bowen looked utterly astonished before he looked over at Jace distrustfully. “From my understanding, the gifted don’t get their gifts until they hit adolescence, how does that boy have a gift?”