by B D Grant
“I don’t know. I haven’t paid that much attention to it.” I think about Nikki, football, and other times when I knew Tempero were controlling the emotional setting. I can’t think of a time when I knew after the fact that a Temp had pushed a particular feeling on me. I know almost immediately when a Tempero-induced feeling is trying to take over. My ability to become absorbed in emotions has sky rocketed since coming here. Thinking about how emotionally charged I’ve become I forget that Mick’s waiting on my to answer his question.
“You awake?” he asks.
I take my time answering, “I think I know when any Tempero is working on me.”
Mick sits up in his bed. “When I just tried to calm you down I could feel some sort of, push back.” He gets up and paces between our beds. I close my eyes and roll over hoping he doesn’t turn the light on. I feel him lean on the side of my bed. “This could be huge,” he says, quietly.
I’m too tired to entertain his anxious chatter. “Just forget it. I’m going to bed,” I snarl in my covers.
“No,” Mick says. He pulls the covers out of my hands just as I’m about to tuck them around my shoulders. “I knew something wasn’t quite right when you lost it after reading Lia’s note but I blamed myself for not being prepared.”
I don’t move, hoping my lack of interest will be contagious. “Kelly, I mean geez!” So much for that.
“Keeping me from my beauty sleep is not a good way to keep me chill,” I warn.
“Don’t you get it? You’re not supposed to be able to block a Tempero, but you can. If they knew that you could do that you would get the pick of the litter when you graduate. You could be more than just some bodyguard when you get out. I’ve got to tell Boston.” He dashes out the room, leaving the door open.
About the time I get up to close the door with the idea of putting something heavy behind it so Mick can’t get back in, he and Boston show up. I try to ignore their talking as I get back in bed attempting to fall to sleep.
“Have you ever had someone block your ability?” Mick asks Boston.
“Not that I know of. I’d probably just think they were being truthful if they did. I can only tell when someone’s lying.”
“I could feel it though. Like, it was normal at first but suddenly it was like I couldn’t reach him.”
“Was he too far away from you?”
“No. We were in here and my ability couldn’t touch him. A wall had gone up with him on his side and me on mine. I couldn’t calm him down. I couldn’t do anything.”
A welcomed miracle happens in the room, silence. I drift out of consciousness.
Boston’s voice breaks the silence. “That’s not good.” He’s speaking low enough that sleep sets in.
I wake up refreshed and ready for the day only to find Mick with bags around his eyes, sitting at his desk.
“Good morning,” I say on the way to the bathroom.
“Don’t ‘Good morning’ me. You fell asleep in the middle of us trying to figure out what’s going on with you. Then, you snored so loud I couldn’t hear myself think.”
I leave the door open, not wanting to be rude shutting it in the middle of his rant. “My bad.”
A knock at the door causes Mick to get up but the door opens on its own. Boston walks in before Mick’s halfway across the room. Boston acts well rested so I don’t feel bad.
Boston asks him, “What did he say?”
“Nothing yet, he just got up,” Mick answers.
I walk out of the bathroom to get dressed. Mick goes in the bathroom leaving me alone with Boston.
“Have you been hiding this, Kelly?”
“No. I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong,” I tell him, earnestly.
He sits down on my bed giving me room to finish getting dressed.
“It’s not wrong, it just isn’t something you should be able to do. Have you done whatever it is your doing to anyone else?”
“I don’t think so.” It’s not as if I knew I was doing it to begin with.
“Good. I wouldn’t talk about it to anyone else either.”
“What’s the big deal?”
“What’s the big deal?!” yells Mick from the bathroom door, spitting toothpaste out the door.
“Shhhh!” Boston tells him.
Mick rolls his eyes and goes back to the sink.
“If Mick’s right and you can block Tempero from using their abilities on you, it is a big deal. Before you shout it from the rooftops, I think you should work on it to see exactly what’s going on, but only in private, just with us.”
I slide my already-tied shoes on. “So, I shouldn’t talk about it and the only person I can do it to is Mick?”
Boston nods.
“Got it.” That’s not much of a change from what I’ve been doing.
Mick comes out of the bathroom and gets dressed saying, “Think happy thoughts and don’t blow up. You can do this.”
“Yeah, no big deal,” I say, with less sarcasm than I mean.
9
H. Interrogation
Someone pulls the bag off my head bathing me in bright light that’s initialing nauseating. I’m sitting on a metal chair in front of a metal table that’s bolted to the floor.
“Time to see if you’re as good as what they’ve been saying.”
He tosses a folder in front of me. I ignore it. “Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?”
“Bill,” the man says.
“Liar,” I tell him flatly. He’s insulting my intelligence. I’m not some dumb kid. I’m a Veritatis, a great one.
In a flash, he grabs the back of my neck and pushes my face closer to the folder. “A child asks questions like that. Now show us what you can do.” He releases my neck and opens the folder for me. There’s a picture of a middle aged, white male and some notes. Everything inside it is marked ‘top secret’ just how I like it.
“What do you want me to find out?” I ask the man whose name isn’t Bill.
“His contacts. We want to know what he has been doing since he left us. It’s going to be almost two decades of information.”
I look at the sparse notes beside the picture. “What has he done?”
He hits the table right in front of me hard with his hand. It catches me off guard and I jump like a coward. I hate him for it.
“This,” he yells, pointing at the papers in the folder, “Is your only concern. If you’re unable to get us the information then you’re useless. You don’t want to know what we do to useless Seraphim.”
“Can I at least have a coke or something?” I keep my expression cool, not letting him see how much he intimidates me. “I’m parched.”
He moves away from me. I think about turning around as he’s pacing behind me, but he wants to hit me right now. It doesn’t help that I’m more scared of him than any Dyna I’ve pissed off before.
He moves for the door. “Being a smart-alec is not a sign of intelligence. If you aren’t smart, you won’t last long.”
A little while later a woman walks in with a bottle of water. “He said you only get caffeine once you’ve gotten answers.” She leaves and the man I’m supposed to question is brought in.
He is escorted to the chair across the table from me. He watches as the door closes before moving. When it does, he rests his elbows on the table, and puts his face in his hands looking utterly worn out. I can relate.
“I won’t say anything,” he tells me through his hands. “I don’t care if you’re a kid or not.”
I stare at his fingers as he rubs his face. Before the first knuckle on each of his fingers there’s a small patch of dark hairs. If they grew any longer they would curl. I rub over the tops of my fingers in my lap where he can’t see as I plan out my answer-retrieving strategy. I know the drill. I’ll get answers because if I don’t things will get worse for me long before they get better.
When I’m not in this interrogation, I spend most of my down time wondering what it’s like for other Seraphim when they ac
hieve early placement. I bet they break them first, military-style. Being withheld food is probably nothing compared to other Seraphims’ early placements. I’m lucky I’m an excellent Veritatis and they know it, or else this would be hard to go through. I look at the folder again before closing it and pushing it aside.
It takes longer than normal, but once I’ve gotten answers from him, I’m escorted back to my room. There’s a coke and an apple sitting on my bed waiting for me. None of them will say it but I handled the stress well.
“Good job, Howard,” I say to myself.
10
K. Bad news
Mick and I get to the cafeteria early for breakfast. We don’t want to miss the fresh bacon. I pass Anne, sitting with Jennifer, the stage two that showed her around on the day Boston brought us on campus. Anne is looking a bit down. I give her a big grin when we make eye contact.
“Hey, kid.”
She rolls her eyes at me, but smiles. “Hey, old man.”
Jennifer looks at her with big eyes. She leans in toward Anne. “I thought you didn’t have any siblings.”
I keep walking with Mick to our table not wanting to get stuck talking to Anne’s friend.
“I don’t. Kelly’s just a friend,” she tells her.
“How lucky are you,” she gushes. “He’s hot.”
Mick gives me a look letting me know he heard her. “Cradle robber,” he whispers.
“Whatever. You have Nikki following you around like a puppy.”
Mick ducks his head at the mention of Nikki. He regards the students eating at the tables we’re passing as if I had said some big secret. Once he’s seen no one is paying attention to us he says, crisply, “Yeah, but I don’t encourage it.”
“But Anne’s cool. You better watch it or I’ll tell Nikki where you go to hide from her,” I threaten.
He doesn’t say another word about it. I don’t really know where he goes when Nikki’s near by and he disappears, but I’m happy it shuts him up.
When Boston shows up Lena’s close behind him. "You are the biggest pain in the butt, Boston I swear,” she hisses as he is siting down.
“Hola mis amigos!" Boston beams at Mick and I.
Mick looks at Lena. “He's only speaking Spanish today?"
"Hablar Español es bueno para un gran mundo,” Boston says.
"Yeah, bad Spanish,” she says to the back of Boston's head.
Mick smiles. "He said, "Speaking Spanish—“”
"I know what he said!” she snaps. "I’ve had a perfect grade point average in Spanish Immersion two years in a row."
"What's up?" Zoey asks, walking up to the table. She looks from Boston, to Mick, to me. I shrug, trying to catch up with what appears to be Boston practicing getting a job South of the border after graduation.
Lena answers. "I was just asking Boston to talk to you about getting notes from yesterday's class for me, but he's being… difficult.”
Zoey looks at Boston and he starts speaking Spanish to her. She’s unfazed by his antics and says to Lena, "You were in class. Why do you need my notes?"
"My head was somewhere else during class and Abby's notes are a joke."
Zoey looks at her, squinting her eyes a little in suspicion.
Lena cocks her head to the side and with big, puppy eyes says, “Come on, I'm not going to beg."
“Fine,” Zoey says, walking around her to sit next to Boston. "You can copy them tonight."
With that Lena’s spunk returns. "Thanks.” She looks around the table, when her eyes get to the back of Boston's head her smile drops to a frown before leaving to go to her table with Mase and Abby.
Once out of hearing range Zoey mumbles to Boston, "Did she really ask you for my notes?"
"Las mujeres me siguen por todos lados me voy, pero yo sólo tengo ojos para ti." Zoey's eyes get big as she tries to act mad at the same time she fights not to laugh. "I don't know why I even bother,” she tells him.
I lean over to Mick. "What did he say?"
"Something to the effect of: "Women follow me around everywhere but I only have eyes for you."
Boston puts his arm around Zoey and pulls her close whispering in her ear. She smiles, shyly and pushes away from him.
Leaving the cafeteria, Nikki walks up to us. The wave of sensations hit me as she closes in.
Mick yells, "Nikki, what the hell!”
"Give her a break, Mick,” Zoey says, turning from him to look all lovey-dovey at Boston. Nikki looks to be on the verge of tears despite the loving feelings she’s pushing on all of us.
Mick rolls his eyes at her. "Give me a minute,” he tells me, breaking away from the group with Nikki in tow.
After a few minutes of talking with her she leaves looking more upbeat. Mick seems a bit perplexed when he rejoins us.
My curiosity peaked I ask him, “What did you say?”
“I told her she’s too young for me and that she has to stop following me around.”
“Good man. So she agreed?”
“Yeah, but…” He looks over his shoulder at Nikki walking away. “I think she took it as if there’s still hope.”
At that, Boston and Zoey chuckle. I pat Mick’s back sympathetically. “Of course she did,” I say, with a smile I can’t hold in.
The next day when I get to Dr. Baudin's class Mick isn't there, which is out of the norm. He always beats me to this class. Dr. Baudin stops me when I walk in.
"Mrs. Heincliff needs to speak with you. You’ll find her in Mr. Grad's office."
It is about time she shows back up. “You want me to go right now?"
"You don't keep women waiting, young man."
I get to the study center in no time anxious to give Lia a piece of my mind. Maybe she heard about the door incident and wants to give me a hard time. The thought brings a smile to my face. I’d love for her to try to give me a hard time after her note stunt. If I laugh in her face I might get another chance to fight her and this time she won’t catch me off guard.
As I walk down the hall, a door to the left opens and a Tempero instructor comes out the room followed by a stage two and another adult. Both of the adults are Temps. I walk past them and a calm washes over me as powerful as a rip tide. I instinctively push back for a moment before thinking better of it. Dealing with Lia tends to leave me ticked off so starting out super calm isn’t a bad idea. Calm immediately engulfs me. As I get farther away from the trio the feeling doesn’t subside. There must be more Tempero around or maybe those two are that strong.
“Come in,” Lia calls from inside the office before I have the chance to knock. I walk in and she gets up from behind Mr. Grad’s desk. She motions toward the two chairs in front of the desk. “Have a seat.”
I do as I’m told.
She walks to the door and leans out to talk to someone in the next office over. “Kelly’s here. Go ahead and call him over.”
She shuts the door but doesn’t go back behind the desk. Instead, she leans against the front of it, directly in front of me. She grabs a chart off the desk behind her. “How’s everything going, Kelly?” She asks, sounding almost motherly.
“Good, I haven’t gotten in any trouble lately.”
She opens the chart and looks through the papers. “I see that, very good. I knew you’d fit in perfectly.”
The door opens behind me causing Lia to smile. I turn to see the two adult Tempero that I had passed minutes earlier joining us.
When I turn back to Lia, she looks down at the chart. She takes a paper out and looks over it. “Now, this is going to be hard to hear, Kelly, but I can’t keep it from you. You’re old enough to understand; and with your past I know you’ve unfortunately dealt with this before. While I was out this past week I got some upsetting news.”
She gracefully squats down in front of me, resting her hand on top of mine on the chair arm. The Tempero are working on me. All I feel is inner peace and warmth but I hear what she’s saying. I know it’s about to get bad.
She’s clos
er to me than she’s ever been, except for when she punched me. “Your grandmother’s doctor got in touch with me. He informed me that your grandmother passed away in her sleep this past week.” She squeezes my hand. “I’m so sorry, Kelly.”
She pauses for a moment of silence then continues talking. I’m no longer listening. I watch her lips move but no words reach me.
How could this happen? Gran pulled through fine after the first stroke. Lia hands me the paper she’s been holding. It’s a death certificate. It lists the cause of death as natural causes. It is dated four days ago.
The Temps in the room are dulling the pain as I hand it back to her. She doesn’t accept it. “You can keep it, darling. I made a copy for your records.” She gets up, walks around the desk, and sits in her chair. “Now,” she straightens her shirt. “you are handling this news better than I had hoped. Know that we all understand that it takes time to move on from a loss of this magnitude. We’re here for you. If you need to talk to someone we have faculty members that specialize in these matters. They will be at your disposal.”
My voice doesn’t sound familiar when it comes out. “Did she ask for me before she died?”
Lia shakes her head ‘no’, “She never regained consciousness.”
I lower my head and close my eyes. How should this feel? I don’t feel like myself suddenly. After Mom’s passing I still felt like myself, only sad and a little confused because I was so young and didn’t truly understand the finality of death.
This is something else. I’m no longer me. I sit, holding the death certificate of the last member of my family, not knowing what to do. Lia motions for the Tempero to walk me out. She tells me to take the rest of the day to recuperate. “This isn’t a football injury,” I think to myself. Lia doesn’t even get up as I leave with Tempero on either side of me.
Mick is waiting in the hall for me. The look on his face tells me he knows about what just happened.
He looks to the men walking me out. “He okay?”
