Awaking (The Naturals, #1)

by Freeman, Madeline

  Morgan just glanced at him. She had no idea.

  A doorman opened the door when Morgan, Corbin, and Ris approached. They walked into the hotel’s atrium. There were dozens of people milling about, most with drinks in their hands. But it wasn’t like at Corbin’s party—they were holding actual glasses. A few of the people wore looks of haughty boredom. Most appeared to be in their twenties or early thirties. Morgan was positive that she, Ris, and Corbin were the youngest people there.

  A man in a white button-down shirt and black pants stood at the far end of the atrium. He seemed to be directing people to continue further into the hotel.

  Corbin nodded toward the man. “Looks like the party’s that way.” He stepped between Morgan and Ris and placed a hand on each of their backs.

  “Look who’s big pimpin’,” Ris teased.

  But Corbin didn’t respond. Morgan could feel the unease coming off him in waves. She wished she were able to make him calm down, the way Kellen said that some people with abilities like theirs could. But she realized that even if she had the ability to, she possessed no more calm than Corbin did at the moment.

  They walked past the man who was directing traffic and headed down a long hallway. At the end of the hall, a set of double doors stood open. Beyond them were multicolored flashes of light and the pulsing sound of music.

  “Corbin, this is so cool,” Ris said. “How’d you hear about this party, again?”

  “Friend of a friend,” Corbin said quickly.

  “Must be a pretty influential friend,” Ris said. “Did you see there was a list?” She smiled. “I feel like a movie star.”

  Corbin looked over at her and smiled. “You look like a movie star.”

  Morgan groaned. “I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.” When Ris shot her a dirty look, Morgan grinned and poked her in the stomach.

  As they approached the double doors, the three slowed. Morgan cast a dubious look inside and exchanged glances with Corbin. Ris, however, didn’t see the need to wait. She grabbed Corbin’s hand and dragged him through the doors. Morgan followed.

  As soon as they entered, Ris let out a little squeal. “This is so cool,” she breathed, looking around the large, open room. “I can’t believe we’re here!”

  “Yeah,” Morgan agreed drily. “Phenomenal.”

  Ris didn’t seem to notice Morgan’s lack of enthusiasm.

  A woman in a conservative black skirt and a white button-down shirt walked by then and offered them a selection of drinks off a tray. Immediately, Ris grabbed one in a funky-looking stemmed glass and took a sip.

  “Mm. Tastes like watermelon.” Ris offered the drink to Morgan, who promptly refused. When Corbin also refused a sip, Ris tipped her head back and drained the glass herself. She set the empty glass back on the tray and reached for another.

  “Wow, Ris, pace yourself,” Morgan said over the music. “I don’t think that’s Kool-Aid.”

  Ris cast Morgan a look that read Don’t start and took a sip of her second drink. “Green apple,” she announced.

  Under the guise of scoping the place out, Corbin managed to get close enough to Morgan to whisper, “So… now what?”

  But before Morgan could come up with a response, a new song came on and Ris squealed. “Let’s dance!” She grabbed Corbin’s hand with her free one and sloshed some of her drink on Morgan’s toes as she pulled him onto the dance floor.

  Morgan followed grumpily, attempting to shake liquid off her foot as she went. By the time she caught up, Ris was in full dance mode. For as infrequently as she did it, Ris was actually a fairly good dancer. For his part, Corbin looked okay doing the simple guy shuffle that every boy seemed to be preprogrammed with from birth. Trying to blend in, Morgan attempted to imitate Ris’s movements. She was distracted, though, and kept bumping in to Corbin as she scanned the dance floor.

  After three or four songs, Morgan was surreptitiously checking the time on her cell phone when Ris spoke up. “Morgs, don’t look now, but there is a guy approaching from your three o’clock and he’s got his eye on you.”

  Morgan followed Ris’s gaze. Her eyes landed on Kellen just as Ris whispered in her ear, “Wow, he is hot.”

  Morgan had to admit that she agreed. He wore his usual dark blue jeans along with a black button-up shirt that accentuated his lithe physique. His brown hair was tousled to perfection. In the flashing lights of the ballroom, he looked uncharacteristically ethereal.

  He approached Morgan, a secretive smile playing on his lips. He turned his gaze to Corbin. “Corbin Starling.” He held his hand out for Corbin to shake.

  Corbin shook his hand, exchanging a quick glance with Morgan. “Kellen,” he replied with a nod.

  Ris, who was now on her third drink, looked slightly confused by the exchange. “Wait—Corbin, you know this guy?”

  But it was Kellen who answered. “I’m a fan of Corbin’s band,” he said easily. He turned his attention back to Corbin. “When I invited you out tonight, I had no idea you’d be bringing the two prettiest girls all for yourself.”

  Corbin glanced at Morgan, surprised. Morgan gave the slightest shake of her head. She had no idea how Kellen knew Corbin was in a band—Morgan herself had only learned about it that morning.

  Ris clapped her hands together. Corbin looked at her, and she must have mistaken his concern for confusion. “You’re in a band? How did I not know that?” She turned to Morgan. “When we were dating back in fifth grade, Corbin got his first guitar for Christmas and he was so cute. He wanted to be a rock star.”

  Kellen smiled at her, looking amused. “And you are?”

  She put out her hand and giggled when Kellen bent down to kiss it. “I’m Ris.” She put her hand on Morgan’s back and pushed her toward Kellen. “This is Morgan. She’s psychic.”

  “Really?” Kellen’s face arranged itself into a look of surprise. “How fascinating.” He touched Morgan’s elbow gently and said to Corbin, “Would you mind if I stole Morgan away for just a little while? I have some friends who would find Morgan’s abilities fascinating.”

  Corbin shifted and Morgan knew immediately what was going through his mind, that he was going to object, to insist he and Ris come with them. Morgan shot him a look that she hoped he could interpret. It seemed to work, because Corbin’s face rearranged and he said, “Sure.”

  Kellen glanced from Morgan to Corbin and back to Morgan. “Interesting,” he murmured.

  As Morgan turned to go, she glanced at Ris, who grinned broadly and gave a less-than-surreptitious thumbs up. Kellen rested his hand on the small of Morgan’s back and led her through the crowd to a room that was an offshoot of the main ballroom. There were couches in the room, and Morgan recognized Tesin and Wen immediately, but there were at least a half dozen people there—mostly women—who she didn’t recognize at all.

  As Kellen walked over to the couches he made a slight jerking motion with his head, and everyone but Tesin and Wen cleared out. Kellen sat down on a recently vacated couch and patted the spot beside him, indicating Morgan should sit there. “That’s a bit more cozy,” he said as Morgan sat down, and she wasn’t sure if he was referring to the nearly empty room or to her own closeness to him.

  Morgan shifted a bit so that she was a polite distance from Kellen before speaking the first question that made its way to her lips: “How is there a party going on here? Is this place even open yet?”

  Kellen smiled easily. “Not to the… general population. But Orrick was kind enough to allow a select group of people… test out the new place before opening day.”

  “People like… us?” Morgan asked.

  Kellen nodded. “People like us.”

  Morgan found herself nodding, too, until something else Kellen had said struck her. “Wait—Orrick?”

  “Come on, Morgan,” said Kellen. “I’m sure you’ve heard of Orrick Williams.”

  “Of course—who hasn’t? I just find it hard to believe you’re on a first-name basis with him.”


  Kellen laughed good-naturedly. “One day, I intend to prove you wrong.”

  Morgan looked around at the room for a moment when something else occurred to her. “Wait—you’re not saying that… Orrick Williams…?”

  “Is Veneret?” asked Tesin. “Of course.”

  “But… how?” Morgan asked. “Why doesn’t anyone know?”

  Tesin laughed hollowly. “It’s not exactly something we tend to advertise.”

  Wen leaned forward on the couch and nodded his head toward the ballroom. “The people out there? Most of them are Veneret.”

  “Except the servers?” Morgan guessed.

  Kellen nodded. “And your delightful friend Ris.”

  Immediately, concern for Ris bubbled up in Morgan. But then something else smothered this—curiosity. “Wait. You said Ris. But not—”

  “Corbin?” Wen offered. “Strictly speaking, he’s not Veneret, either. Just like, strictly speaking, you’re not.”

  “So, is he a… a Natural, like me?”

  Wen nodded.

  “Which would explain the exchange I noticed between you two out on the dance floor,” Kellen said. “What happened there, by the way? At his party, I got the impression the two of you weren’t exactly friends.”

  “We’re not,” Morgan said quickly.

  “And yet, there’s some kind of connection between you. I could sense it, but it wasn’t the other night at all.”

  Morgan sighed. After a moment, she launched into a brief explanation of what happened between herself and Corbin during his reading. As she told the story, Kellen, Tesin, and Wen listened intently.

  “And if he’s a Natural, like you say,” Morgan finished, “I guess what happened makes a lot more sense.”

  “Tesin,” Kellen said, standing. “Given what’s happened, I think it might be a good idea to go get Corbin. It might be time for him to hear this, too.”

  As Tesin stood, Morgan asked, “What about Ris?”

  Kellen gave a wolfish smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep her company.” He winked and he and Tesin headed back out into the ballroom.

  Morgan felt a jolt in her stomach vaguely related to Kellen but chose to ignore it—and its implications.

  When Kellen and Tesin were gone, Morgan looked at Wen.

  “Feeling overwhelmed?” he asked kindly.

  Morgan nodded. “A little.”

  Wen gave a half smile. “Can’t say I blame you. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now.”

  Morgan looked at him quizzically. “What do you mean? How did you react when you found out about all this stuff?”

  Wen shook his head. “You don’t understand. We—the Veneret grow up knowing about all this stuff. There’s no big reveal because there’s nothing to reveal.”

  They sat in silence until Corbin and Tesin walked into the room. Corbin was looking over his shoulder. Tesin placed a hand on Corbin’s shoulder to keep Corbin moving toward the couches.

  “She’s fine,” Tesin was saying. “Kellen’s going to dance with her a little, maybe get her to eat something.”

  Corbin stopped walking when he reached Morgan’s couch. When he sat down beside her, she could feel the unease he projected. She patted his knee a couple times and offered a small smile.

  “How much has she had to drink?”

  “A couple since you left,” Corbin said. “I’ve had a few at this point, too—that was the only way to keep her from drinking.”

  Unbidden, information floated to the surface of Morgan’s mind. Corbin didn’t drink. He’d seen his brother come home after too many parties sick-drunk and had vowed years ago that he’d never be that way. He’d even been uncomfortable at his own party the other night when some guys showed up with a keg. He hadn’t drunk a drop the whole night.

  Tesin resumed his seat beside Wen and cleared his throat gently before launching into the same basic information they had already shared with Morgan. Then Wen joined in, and the two of them took turns explaining the different ways abilities manifested. There were Feelers, which Wen seemed to think Morgan was: people who could sense and influence the emotions of others and who could interpret what the feelings meant. Related to Feelers were Seers, who could look into a person’s mind and thoughts or see what was going on in a different location. Knowers, as Morgan already knew, had visions of future events. Movers could cause objects to move, while Pushers could influence a person’s actions and behavior.

  When Tesin and Wen finished speaking, Corbin just sat quietly, staring blankly at a fixed spot in space before him. Morgan could tell he was processing, so she just let him sit.

  Finally, Corbin shrugged. “I guess that makes sense.”

  “Really, that’s it?” Morgan asked, surprised.

  “What am I supposed to say?” Corbin asked. “Last night I would’ve said you were crazy, but…” He looked meaningfully at Morgan. “A lot’s happened since last night.”

  “So,” Tesin said, suddenly businesslike. “Any questions?”

  Corbin nodded. “Um, yeah. How can people not know about this—about you? About us?”

  “They don’t know because we don’t want them to know,” Tesin said simply.

  “But why?” Corbin pressed.

  Tesin opened his mouth to reply, but Wen held his hand up. Tesin sighed. “By all means,” he muttered.

  Wen leaned forward and looked at Morgan. “Have you ever seen the X-Men movies?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Think about it: If regular people knew about us, they’d probably react the same way—with fear. People wouldn’t trust us. Worse—some people might want to study or destroy us.”

  “It wasn’t always that way, though,” Tesin said, almost to himself.

  Wen nodded in agreement. “Legend says that centuries ago, the Veneret lived out in the open, and they were revered. They lived side-by-side with the common, and the common knew what they were and what they could do, but they didn’t fear them.”

  “The common?” Corbin asked.

  “Regular people,” Wen clarified.

  “Well, if that’s the way it used to be, what changed?” Morgan asked.

  Wen shrugged. “A lot of little things. There was a time in human history when anything at all beyond the abilities of the common became something to be feared. And in order to survive, the Veneret went into hiding.”

  Corbin looked around. “This doesn’t look like hiding to me.”

  Wen shrugged. “What can I say? Given our… particular skill set, success tends to come easily to us. We just don’t let people in on the secret to that success.”

  Morgan sighed. “I still can’t believe that Orrick Williams is one.”

  “It makes sense, though,” Corbin said. “I mean, he’s made most of his money being one step ahead of everyone else. He always seems to know what the next big thing will be. And if he’s got the ability to… I don’t know… see the future or something, then all his success suddenly makes sense.”

  Morgan nodded.

  Corbin turned his attention to Tesin and Wen. “So,” he asked, “just how common are, you know, Naturals?”

  “Not common at all,” Wen said promptly. “You two are probably the only Naturals here.”

  “Wait,” said Morgan. “If they’re not common, then how is it that Corbin and I both are Naturals? I mean, we’re the same age, we go to the same school. That’s gotta be—I don’t know—statistically improbable, right?”

  Tesin laughed. “‘Statistically improbable,’” he repeated quietly.

  But Wen just smiled. “I think you’ll find most things happen for a reason.”

  Morgan opened her mouth to ask another question, but just then, Kellen walked into the room, half-carrying Ris along with him.

  Corbin was on his feet immediately. “What happened?” he demanded, crossing to where Kellen stood and leaning down to look into Ris’s face.

  But Kellen didn’t look concerned. He just chuckled. “I think the alcohol finally won,” he
said simply. “It might be time for you two to take her home.”

  Morgan joined Corbin and looked at Ris. Her eyes were closed, so Morgan tried calling her by name. When that didn’t work, Morgan gave her face a series of light taps. Ris stirred momentarily before falling back into her stupor.

  “How much did you let her drink?” Corbin demanded, staring at Kellen.

  “How much did you let her drink?” Kellen returned easily.

  Corbin bristled and Morgan was afraid he might try to hit Kellen. She grabbed his wrist and tugged on it. “Corbin, help me carry her.”

  Corbin looked at Morgan and nodded reluctantly. Kellen helped situate Ris’s right arm around Corbin’s shoulders and her left arm around Morgan’s shoulders. Corbin and Morgan each placed an arm around Ris’s waist. Before they left the room, Morgan nodded a goodbye to Tesin and Wen. There was something odd in the way Wen was watching them, but Morgan was too distracted to give it much thought.

  As Corbin and Morgan half-dragged Ris through the hotel, they did not draw much attention. Indeed, most people seemed far too interested in themselves or their own friends to notice anything else. When they got to the front door, Corbin dug through his pants pocket for their valet slip and handed it to one of the valets.

  Morgan shifted uncomfortably as they waited for the valet to return with Corbin’s car.

  “It’s my fault,” he said quietly.

  Morgan looked at him, confused. “What?”

  Corbin shook his head. “I shouldn’t’ve let her drink so much.”

  “Let her,” Morgan scoffed. “Ris is a big girl. She’s never been to a party like this. And she was a little nervous to be coming out with you. I’m sure she didn’t realize the alcohol would hit her like this.”

  “Still.”

  Morgan was spared having to answer because the valet pulled up with Corbin’s car. It took some work, but she and Corbin managed to get Ris into the back seat. When Morgan took her place in the passenger seat, she cast a dubious glance at her friend.

  “I hope she doesn’t throw up.”

  Corbin didn’t dignify her concern with a response. Instead, he put the car in gear and headed out of the city.