The Naturals Trilogy

by Madeline Freeman

  She scratched her nose.

  “Hey—” She turned her attention to Lia.

  Lia opened her eyes.

  “Were you trying to make me scratch my nose?”

  “What?”

  “My nose. I just had an overwhelming urge to scratch it.”

  Lia groaned and closed her eyes again.

  Morgan wondered why she was so irritated. It seemed a reasonable conclusion to her.

  She glanced around the room again. Miss Scotford’s attention was on the papers she was grading. Morgan allowed her mind to reach out and felt Miss Scotford’s mild annoyance. At first, Morgan thought it was directed at her, but she realized that Miss Scotford was instead annoyed by the paper she was grading. Morgan pressed forward a little more.

  Capital letters.

  Morgan shook her head slightly. She wasn’t sure how, but she was confident Miss Scotford’s annoyance was directly tied to the lack of capital letters used by the student whose paper she was grading.

  Abruptly, Miss Scotford looked up at Morgan. She raised an eyebrow as if to ask, Done?

  Morgan offered a sheepish grin and turned away. She figured she still needed to work on stealth when attempting to peer into the minds of other people with abilities. Kellen once told her she was like a tsunami rather than a gentle breeze.

  Kellen. He’d told her to build a wall, and she had. Still, could she trust him? He seemed so concerned for her in the dream, but was that just an act? Or had it not been Kellen at all? Perhaps it was just a dream her brain put together in light of recent events.

  Morgan turned toward Corbin. He was watching her, jaw clenched. His green eyes had a hard, angry set to them and Morgan was afraid for an instant that he was mad at her for some reason. But then she realized—he had sensed that Kellen was on her mind.

  She just looked at him for a moment, unsure how to react to this invasion her thoughts—and more unsure how to react to Corbin’s strong response to them.

  But she was spared having to sort through her emotions by Lia’s voice. “Morgan, aren’t you paying attention?”

  Morgan looked at Lia, whose eyes were open. She took in a breath. “Paying attention? Really? What, do you expect to be able to say, ‘Hey, Orrick, could you possibly pay attention to me so I can Push you to do something?’”

  Morgan could tell Lia was embarrassed, but she quickly hid it with exasperation. “Of course not,” Lia said. “But I’m just learning how to do it now, and I think it’d be easier to learn if you were paying attention.”

  “Fine.” Morgan sighed, softening. “You’re right, you’re still just learning.”

  Lia straightened, looking mollified.

  For the remainder of training, Morgan focused only on Lia and attempted to keep her mind free of all other thoughts. She didn’t want to unintentionally make Corbin angry again.

  “So, how’d you do?” Miss Scotford asked an hour later, perching on the edge of her stool again.

  Lia crossed her arms sullenly. “Terrible.”

  Lucas held up his hand and shifted it back and forth. “Eh.”

  Corbin just shrugged.

  Miss Scotford didn’t seem surprised by these assessments. “I know you’re probably feeling a little frustrated that things aren’t going as well as you’d like. But you have to remember, like any new skill, these abilities are going to take practice.”

  “But—” Lucas glanced at Morgan. “I’m supposed to be trying to Move something small. I stared at that pencil the whole time and it barely did anything.”

  “Better barely than not at all,” Lia muttered.

  “It’s just—the night Morgan activated me, or whatever, I was able to Move her out of the way of an oncoming car. And—no offense, Morgan—but she’s a helluva lot heavier than a pencil.” He sighed. “Why can’t I do it now?”

  “First,” Miss Scotford said, using her teacher-voice, “the size of the object isn’t really important.”

  “That’s not what she said,” Lucas muttered.

  Morgan stifled a laugh.

  Miss Scotford ignored him. “Wen’s just asking you to start small because sometimes it can be easier mentally to accept Moving something small. If you want to try to move Wen at your next training session—” A brief smile flitted over her lips. “—then, by all means, do. But as to why you could Move Morgan that night without any problem, there’s a simple explanation.”

  “Yeah?”

  “With Morgan, there were emotions involved. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but you don’t have any sort of emotional reaction toward the pencil, do you?”

  Morgan raised an eyebrow at Lucas. “But he’s got an emotional reaction toward me?” she asked Miss Scotford.

  “Probably more toward the situation you were in,” Miss Scotford said. “Fear can push a person’s abilities like you wouldn’t believe.”

  Morgan nodded and turned toward Lia. “Maybe next time, I can dangle you out the window and you can Push me to pull you back in.”

  Lia sneered at her. “Funny.”

  Morgan grinned. “I thought so.”

  “Ladies,” Miss Scotford said, a note of warning in her voice. “Okay,” she continued, her voice going back to normal, “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

  The four offered their goodbyes to Miss Scotford and headed out the door.

  Lia split from their group immediately without any further farewells. Morgan watched her go.

  “I think someone’s a little irritated that she’s not automatically perfect at this,” she muttered, starting down the hall in the other direction.

  “To be fair,” Lucas said, “I think we’re all a little irritated.”

  “I guess. I just wish they could—I don’t know—like, show us how to do some of this stuff, y’know?”

  “I don’t think it’d help,” Corbin said. “I mean, it’s kinda like watching the sun burn or something. Just because you can see it happening doesn’t mean you can do it.”

  “Ah—that reminds me,” Lucas said, coming to a stop. “Physics homework. See you guys tomorrow.” He pivoted and jogged down the hall a few paces. Then, turning, he added, “And, point of fact, the sun doesn’t burn. It’s fusion.” With a grin, he turned again and continued down the hall.

  Corbin fell into step beside Morgan. She glanced at him and saw he was watching her.

  “What?” Morgan demanded.

  “I just don’t get it.”

  Morgan waited for him to continue. “What, Corbin? What don’t you get?”

  “How you can actually miss him.” Corbin stopped and turned toward her.

  Morgan stopped, too, and glanced down the hall where Lucas had disappeared. “What are you talking—”

  “Not Lucas. Kellen.”

  Taken aback by the accusation, Morgan didn’t respond right away. After a moment, she found her voice. “I do not miss—”

  Corbin shook his head. “Yes, you do. Part of you does. Don’t you remember the other day at the Daily Grind? You thought he was there. You were upset when he wasn’t.”

  “I was not—”

  “Morgan, you can’t lie to me. Not to me.”

  “Well, I’ll thank you to keep out of my thoughts—”

  “What, like you keep out of mine?” Corbin raised his eyebrows. “You can’t think I didn’t notice at the last training session.”

  Morgan looked away. “I know.”

  Corbin touched her cheek gently, guiding her eyes to meet his. “See, Morgan? We can’t keep secrets from each other.” He smiled—just barely—and leaned toward Morgan.

  Morgan took a step back. “No—you just keep secrets from Ris, don’t you?”

  He shook his head. “Morgan—”

  “Corbin, please! At training last time—I Saw you were thinking about it—about when…”

  “We kissed,” Corbin finished.

  “You kissed me.”

  “Not the way I remember it.”

  Morgan shook her head. “That’s the problem,
though, isn’t it? That you’re still remembering it.”

  Corbin took a step toward her. “So are you.”

  “I am not—”

  “Morgan, you can’t lie to me. When you saw what I was thinking, I saw what you were thinking, too. And there in the background—you were thinking about it.” He reached forward and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

  Morgan’s eyes closed and her head tilted involuntarily toward his touch. Then she shook herself. “Stop it—Corbin, what about Ris? Why haven’t you told her?”

  Corbin closed his eyes and took a breath. “You haven’t told her either.”

  “Don’t think I haven’t considered it.”

  He met her eyes. “Don’t think I haven’t.”

  Morgan took another step back and found herself against a set of lockers. “Then why haven’t you?”

  “Same reason as you, I’m sure.” He smiled. “Clare. I don’t want to hurt her.” He closed the distance between himself and Morgan, standing closer than was strictly polite.

  “And this isn’t hurting her?” Morgan meant for the words to come out more forcefully than they did. Her voice was barely above a whisper.

  “I care about her, Morgan. I’ve known her longer than you have.” He smiled. “And I’d tell you she and I are just friends, but we both know that’s not exactly true. I mean, we’re not dating—”

  “Sure looks like you are,” Morgan muttered.

  “We’re not. And that’s Clare’s decision. You can ask her. Something about not wanting to get into a serious relationship right before we head off to college… You know Clare.”

  Morgan shifted, crossing her arms over her chest. “Then… why are you two always together? Why do you hang around her like she’s your girlfriend?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe because she’s fun to be around. She laughs a lot. And because she’s not a part of this.” He waved his hands in a sweeping fashion. “She’s never heard the word Veneret and doesn’t know who the Watchers are… She’s a little piece of sanity.”

  Morgan laughed hollowly. “You know your life’s crazy if you’re looking to Ris for sanity—”

  “I’ve never kissed her, Morgan,” Corbin said firmly, evenly. “Not the way we kissed.” He watched Morgan’s face intently for a moment. When he didn’t seem to see what he wanted, he let out a small, exasperated sigh. “Look, I’m not gonna lie and say I don’t like spending time with her. And I’m not naïve enough to think that if I stopped spending time with her, you’d be with me. You wouldn’t do that to Clare. You wouldn’t be with me because of her.” He took a step closer to her and traced his fingers down her arms. “Because you wouldn’t want to hurt her.”

  “You don’t think this could hurt her?”

  “This isn’t the way I want it, Morgan.” His voice was as soft as the fingertips he feathered against her jaw line.

  “How do you want it?”

  To answer, Corbin leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. Morgan’s body responded before her brain did, and, for a moment, she kissed him back.

  Then she pushed him away. “You can’t have it both ways!”

  Corbin looked down. “I know,” he said quietly. “But tell me I’m not right, Morgan. Tell me that if I stop hanging out with Clare, if I tell her we can’t spend time together anymore, you’ll be okay with that. That you’ll be with me and you won’t mind what it might do to Clare.”

  In her mind, Morgan saw images of the two of them together: Corbin walking her to her classes and to her car at the end of the day; holding her hand; leaning down to press a swift kiss to her cheeks, her forehead, her lips. But she also saw the look of isolation and longing that would be on Ris’s face each time she saw Morgan and Corbin together: she knew it well, as it was the same look she felt on her own face when she saw Corbin with Ris.

  She clenched her fists, thankful for the distraction of her nails pushing into the palms of her hands. “I’m not going to tell you what to do.”

  Without looking at him, Morgan jogged down the hall to the nearest set of stairs.

  Chapter Seven

  An hour later, Morgan lay face-down on her bed, trying to sort through her emotions. She found it ironic that she, with the ability to read the feelings of others, was unable to pinpoint her own feeling.

  It was Corbin’s last comments that kept echoing in her mind. What would she do if he broke off the quasi-relationship with Ris? And how would Ris react if Morgan were to slide into the girlfriend spot?

  Morgan rolled over and stared at the ceiling. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to be with Corbin that way.

  When her phone beeped, she gave such a start she banged her elbow on the wall beside her. She took in a breath and released it in a shaky laugh. “Smooth.”

  When she saw who the text was from, her stomach dropped.

  Ris.

  Hey, what’s up? You’re not still at school, are you?

  Morgan sighed. She was supposed to text Ris but, given how her time at school ended, had been too distracted to do so. She hit reply.

  No. At home. Sorry didn’t text.

  Is ok. Wanna go to DG?

  No, Morgan typed immediately. She didn’t want to show up and find Corbin there. Don’t feel like going out.

  K. I’ll be over soon.

  No. I’m in a bad mood and not fit for human contact.

  I’m coming anyway. We need to talk.

  A wave of panic spread through Morgan. Ris knew. Why else would she insist they need to talk?

  Maybe Corbin went straight to her house and told her everything. Maybe Ris wanted to come over now to… yell at Morgan. To tell her how betrayed she felt. Or maybe she wanted to come to give Morgan her blessing.

  Maybe Corbin hadn’t been the one to tell her at all. What if Lia saw what happened? She could easily have come back down the hall while Corbin and Morgan were talking. But Lia didn’t know the whole story. Ris was probably furious.

  Morgan stood and began pacing in her room. She considered sending another text telling Ris not to come, but she knew it was useless. In a few short minutes, Morgan would know what Ris wanted to talk about. Morgan was just glad Dylan wasn’t home from work yet.

  When there was a knock at the door, Morgan sprinted to the living room to answer it. Ris stood on the front porch, an odd, closed look on her usually open face. She nodded at Morgan and walked the familiar path to Morgan’s bedroom. Morgan closed the front door and followed her. By the time she reached her room, Ris was already seated on the papasan.

  Morgan closed her bedroom door and took a seat on her bed. She faced Ris and awaited the firestorm.

  Ris shifted on the papasan and it creaked under her weight. “I think you know why I’m here.”

  Morgan looked down at her bedspread. “Yes.” She looked up at her friend. “And—look—I don’t know if I can really explain, but if you give me a chance—”

  Ris shook her head. “You don’t have to explain.”

  “But I really think I do.”

  Ris shrugged. “I think I understand. And, really, I can’t say I blame you.”

  Morgan’s eyebrows furrowed. “Really?”

  “Well, yeah.” Ris gave a half smile. “I mean, seriously—it’s almost to be expected, right?”

  For a moment, Morgan just stared at her. Whatever she thought Ris’s reaction might be to the situation, this wasn’t it. She knew Ris thought Corbin was a really great guy, but to expect what happened was ridiculous.

  Ris stood and crossed to Morgan’s bed. She took a seat beside Morgan and turned toward her. “Look, I get it,” she said quietly.

  “No… I really don’t think you do.”

  “Morgan, please. Corbin’s the first guy I’ve spent time with—the first competition for our friendship—since we became friends.”

  For a moment, Morgan was taken out of the strange tone of the conversation by Ris’s blatant misstatement of facts. “No—there was Ben Kentley in eighth grade—”
>
  Ris gave an exaggerated shudder. “Come on! We barely spoke! We went to, like, two dances together—”

  “Please! You went to every dance together and, like, once a week he would show up at your locker with some sort of present. Remember that horribly deformed teddy bear?”

  Laughing, Ris swatted at Morgan’s shoulder. “Gah! Don’t remind me!” She sobered. “Really, though. Since the end of summer, I’ve noticed things with you and Corbin—”

  “I can explain,” Morgan said quickly.

  Ris held up her hand. “You don’t have to. It’s partly my fault, really.”

  “What? Ris, no—”

  “Morgan, please, let me just say what I have to say.”

  Morgan nodded.

  “I’ve noticed, Morgan. It’s not just what happened today.”

  Morgan’s insides felt like writhing snakes, but she said nothing.

  “You’ve been pulling away from me. You don’t return my texts or you don’t want to hang out after school. Now you don’t even want to drive to school together—”

  “Ris—no—”

  “Morgan. It’s okay. I get it.” She closed her eyes for a moment before looking back at Morgan. “I really don’t wanna use the word ‘jealous,’ because I don’t think that’s it.”

  Morgan just stared at her.

  “And really, there’s nothing to be jealous of. I mean, I know Corbin and I have been spending a lot of time together lately, but it’s not, like, a serious dating thing or anything. And I know I’ve kinda been forcing him into our friendship. And I don’t mean to—not at all—but I think I’ve been making you feel like a third wheel—which you’re totally not, by the way.” She sighed. “What I mean is, I’m totally sorry, Morgan. I feel like I’ve been letting Corbin get between us, and I never meant for that to happen.” She wrapped her arms around Morgan in a fierce hug. “Can you forgive me?”

  Morgan returned the hug tentatively, knowing that refusing to do so would only make things worse. “Ris, really—”

  Ris’s arms tightened like a boa constrictor. “Morgan, I’m not letting go until you forgive me.”

  Forgive her? Ris had done nothing wrong. Morgan, on the other hand… She should be the one asking for forgiveness, the one brave enough to have a painful conversation with her best friend.