by Kade Cook
Chapter Twenty
Who Wants Coffee
AFTER SPENDING THE last few days working with Ethan, Gabrian has begun to enjoy her time with him. He teaches her how to seek out and draw in the darker energies. These energies are the ones that humans and people from the Realm waste on things like stress or anger. She learns how to use them to replenish her own energy levels. Ethan explains to her that the ability to store and distribute the darker energies throughout their bodies and minds gives them a regenerative upper hand. It allows the Boragen people—or Borrowers as they were more commonly known—to age at a slower rate than some of the others from the Realm. Depending on how well one learns to utilize the energy, they can live for a very long time and appear to some as immortal.
Ethan also explains to Gabrian how the gift of lending works as well. Because the Borrowers take in energy, they also have to expel the excess energy that they do not use. When this energy is released and given back in small doses to the human or beings, it acts like an endorphin in the receiver’s brain. It starts a chemical reaction that creates a feel good response much like athletes get after a workout. So in turn, being a Boragen can be a very useful gift at times. Ethan wants Gabrian to understand that the Borrowers were very much a beautiful people with much to share with the world around them.
Gabrian begins to feel better about things, a sense of peace, almost. Her fear of hurting anyone is beginning to subside, but at the end of the day, her fears always seem to creep up on her whenever she has to leave the safety of Ethan’s office. Gabrian knows this is something she has to soon overcome as she begins to hear the ticking of the clock becoming louder; her time here in Bar Harbor is quickly coming to an end.
In the middle of her session, while she familiarizes the different energies emanating outside from the people walking on the sidewalk in front of Ethan’s office building, Gabrian’s mind begins to overload with all her unanswered questions. She hates being in the dark and right now, Ethan is the only one she knows that has any of the answers she needs.
“Ethan?”
“Yes, Gabrian?” Ethan hums as he continues to work on his files.
“Remember when I was at the park that time…” she starts, pulling her focus away from the streets. Her face wheels to the left following the direction of her eyes, continuing to rest her chin on the top of her folded hands.
“Yes, I remember.” Feeling her nervousness, he wonders if he is going to have to explain to her again that it was not her fault. “It was not…”
“I know, I know, you already told me that it was not my fault. That was not my question.”
Putting down the paperwork he was trying to catch up on while Gabrian ‘practiced’ on the pedestrians below, he lifts his gaze to meet her eyes. She stares at him with a clear pensive look that Ethan has learned means something important is on her mind. “Okay, I am all ears,” he says, sitting back in his chair before putting his hands behind his head. “Fire away.”
“When I was in the park, and in my apartment, I remember the energy from the people around me being bright high vibrating energy.”
“Yes, those are the life essences that keep our bodies running.”
“They felt a lot different to me than the darker, less illuminated energies I have been working on with you,” Gabrian explains. “They felt more intoxicating and exciting.”
“That is because they are.”
“Then, why not learn to use that in moderation?” Gabrian asks. “I mean, I know that it is good to give back, or lend as you call it, to our host but why not use the light?”
“The Boragen, or Borrowers, are very sensitive when it comes to taking in energy. When we use the lower frequency energies, we are able to do so and still be productive. We contribute to the wellbeing of ourselves and to those around us. But when we take or use the life essence of a host, because this essence is so pure and so powerful, it overwhelms us.”
Gabrian thinks back and catches glimpses of the elated feelings she had sensed. She recalls how everything became hazy and deluged together in such a state that she could not decipher one thing from another in the experience.
Ethan contemplates the easiest way to explain it to her. He grabs his Advil out of his desk drawer and sets it on his desk. “It is like this. If you were to get a mild everyday kind of headache, would you take one of these?” He picks up the pills and shakes them to make her notice the ordinary bottle. “Or would you go to your doctor and get a prescription for Morphine to use?”
Gabrian looks at him then the bottle. “I would take the Advil, of course.”
“Exactly. Effective in relieving the headache without causing any issues,” Ethan concurs. “But…what would happen if you chose to take Morphine every time?”
“Well, there is a good chance that I would become addicted to it.” Gabrian rubs her temples in a psychosomatic headache, understanding the difference.
“Right, and becoming addicted to it causes people to change who they are in order to get what they want, or what they crave. Many times these cravings lead good people to bad places,” Ethan explains. “In the case of a Borrower, on occasion, it triggers something within their brain that causes them to become symptomatic to a condition we call the Fever. Not all who taste the light will get these cravings, but the ones that do...well, it saddens me to say very few resist the thirst.”
Keeping her mind locked tightly in case Ethan decides to pry, Gabrian recounts the story that her parents had told her of Adrinn. She begins to worry again about his downfall and her previous lack of control. “What happens to those who get the Fever?”
“Once the Fever sets in, and the Vampiric instincts take over, it all becomes about them. They no longer think about others as they would have before, at least not usually. They slowly become a slave to the constant craving of energy. As time goes on, the amount of energy they thirst for gets larger and larger. Unfortunately, it will rise to the point that they begin to take all of their host’s life essence in order to satisfy their hunger and lull the craving into compliance. And it is because of this that they become a danger to everyone they come into contact with, human and people of the Realm alike. It is not condoned by the Covenant of Shadows to allow such acts of miscreation and therefore is punishable by death. Those who cannot be saved, or most likely do not want to be saved, leave the Realm in order to escape incarceration.”
Gabrian turns her head and stares out the window. She watches the mundane civilians go about their business and wonders out loud, “Are there many Vampires out there? I mean, does the Fever occur a lot?”
“It happens more than I would like to admit. But, I also believe that everyone makes their own choices in this world,” Ethan offers, giving her a warm smile. His eyes wrinkle at the edges, and his gaze softens, making direct contact with hers, hoping she is not losing faith. “Condemning someone because of what they were born as, is not something I condone—believing in what someone can overcome and achieve is much more important.”
Feeling that she might begin to slip backward from all the progress she has made, Ethan decides it is time to step it up a notch in her training. It is time to pull her out of the comfort zone he has allowed her to create in his office. “Enough of this, what do you say we go for a walk?” he says, jumping up out of his chair and grabbing his coat.
“You mean, outside?” Gabrian’s eyes widen, and her face becomes absent of all colour like she has just seen a ghost. She feels safe within the walls of his office but now he is taking that away. Gripping the wooden window frame, she feels the tips of her fingers start to tingle and heat up—the same sensation she always gets when she becomes upset.
“Of course outside. Where else do you take a walk?” Ethan laughs, holding out Gabrian’s jacket for her as he notices her discontent. “We have been cooped up in here too long. It is time to hit the town.”
Tucking her bottom lip in under her teeth, she bites down giving him a wide-eyed pleading look, hoping he will change his mi
nd and let her stay inside. He grins at her and throws the jacket at her playfully. “I need a coffee. The brew here has much to be desired and...from the sour expression that always follows your face after you take a sip of the office blend, you must be craving to have a real one too.”
Her apprehension begins to subside at the thought of holding a warm fragrant coffee in her hands.
“I know a great little coffee shop just up the street.”
“I guess it would not hurt to step out for a bit.” Gabrian pulls her coat on and reaches for the hat in her pocket to ward off the cold that awaits them outside.
“Great!” Ethan cheers and heads for the exit. “To the Coffee Hound it is. They have a great little gingerbread-flavoured Mocha called ‘The Enchanted Forest’ that you might enjoy.”
As they idle down the sidewalk, Ethan asks Gabrian to practice reaching out, to try to feel all the different energies she can find around her. He explains that all energies essentially are the same, but it flows differently from each source. Each individual’s aura vibrates at different rates causing the different colours and sizes of fragmentation that occur. Once she allows herself the benefit of the doubt that she will not hurt anyone, Gabrian begins to see the beautiful spectrum of colours that float freely all around her.
From across the street, a Raven catches her eye, bouncing from roof to roof and keeping in exact time with Gabrian and Ethan’s stride. At first Gabrian does not think anything of it, but as they continue, she is convinced the darn thing is following them. She knows that they are peculiar kind of birds but even to her this seems a bit odd. It looks at her and stops, noticing her attention. It jumps off the clothing store roof and glides across the street above them, landing on the light post just ahead. It moves its head from side to side as it focuses directly on her then quickly turns its attentions to Ethan and squawks at him loudly. It hops up and down, continuing to caw as to demonstrate its immediate disapproval with Ethan’s presence.
“Ah, away with you!” Ethan growls as he waves his hand at the bird.
“Doesn’t seem like he cares for you very much,” Gabrian pokes at Ethan playfully, laughing at the comical exchange of banter between the two.
“Yeah, something like that,” he says, rolling his eyes and continuing on his way past the irate bird. “That is a story for another day.”
She laughs again at Ethan’s irritation then something else catches her interest. Gabrian watches as a mother and her three young children make their way up the street toward them. The children’s auras are bright and vibrant, but she notices the colours around the woman are different. They flicker sporadically with darkened fragments as she struggles to keep her youngest boy from running out into the street.
Feeling sympathy for the woman who has her hands full, Gabrian reaches out, gently pulling at the darken strands that continue to creep out around the woman’s body. She inhales like she has rehearsed many times with Ethan, tasting the essences as they enter her body. Letting the subtle waves of electricity soak into her muscles like a warm embrace, Gabrian then exhales, sending out a coloured fringe that encircles the woman as she walks past. She smiles in hopes that her gift will make the journey to wherever they are heading a little more pleasant for the young woman.
Watching the instinctual act of kindness Gabrian has just displayed makes Ethan smile. At that very moment he feels Gabrian is on the right path, and now it is his job to make sure that she stays there.
After they order their lattes from the cashier at the Coffee Hound, they sit at the window and take in their surroundings. Ethan asks Gabrian to continue with the same exercise as she had on their walk there. With more confidence, she begins to gently borrow and lend energies with all those around her—each time finding the people who seem to need it the most. Ethan enjoys watching her help some of the more stressed out or troubled customers that enter the room and how much she seems to delight in it; it is like watching a child with a new toy. All of it comes so naturally to her that it is hard for Ethan to believe that she had only been in training for a couple of weeks.
On the way back to the office—while speaking to Ethan about how he likes having a practice in such a quiet little town—Gabrian notices a very dark aura out of the corner of her eye. Surprised by how dark it is, she instinctively turns her head to get a better look at it; when she does, there is nothing there. She begins to get the distinct feeling that they are being watched.
Noticing her distraction, Ethan inquires if everything is okay.
“Yes, everything is fine.” She pulls her touque down and tucks her hair back up underneath of it. She had turned so quickly her hat slipped up on her head. “Ethan?”
“Yes, Gabrian?” He grins, knowing there is an important question that will follow.
“Are all Fellowships Black and White?”
“Black and white, Gabrian?” His face contorts, creasing his brow and twisting his mouth into a crooked grin, not quite sure how to decipher the context of this question.
“Not black and white as in the colour but like the metaphor.” She explains in a heavy breath, waving her hands around as if this will help her inability to explain as they reach the office door. Ethan opens the it for her and lets her walk through first. She continues her explanation on their way up the stairs.
“What I mean is, you and my parents have explained to me about the different gifts that the people of the Realm each have or are born with. Then based upon that, they are classified as either Boragen, Shadow Walkers, and so on and so forth.”
“Yes, I am listening,” he says, trying not to look so perplexed. Sometimes when Gabrian’s mind becomes restless, Ethan has a hard time following her. He tries not to pry into her personal images so he often just listens until he can be of help.
“So are they all born with just these specific gifts, you know…Black or White, or are there any of those that take on some of the other Fellowship gifts and fall into the Grey area?”
Reaching the office waiting area, they both take off their coats and hang them up. He smiles to himself at her never-ceasing level of curiosity. “There are always exceptions to the rules in every aspect of life. It is only a natural occurrence that there would be those who would fall in the Grey area, as you like to put it. That, my dear Gabrian, is how we all became to be who we are from the very beginning.”
She nods as she crosses the room, understanding the meaning behind Ethan’s words—how the humans and the people of the Realm became so different, yet the same. She enters Ethan’s office and takes her permanent seat beside the register on the wall. “So if they have different gifts, how do they decide what Fellowship they belong to?”
Walking over to his desk, he picks up the chart he was working on earlier then casually makes his way around to sit in his chair. “Because everything in this world has a more dominant side. A being’s most prevailing gift would most likely be the deciding factor as to which Fellowship they would fit into, not always, but more often than not. With people of the Realm and humans alike, we all want to feel that we fit in, to feel like we belong somewhere. That is a trait we all share.”
Gabrian sits complacent with her hands folded in her lap, the curve of her mouth curls upward into a smile as she gazes attentively, appreciating how Ethan always manages to explain things in a way that make her feel less like the freak of nature she feels like she has become.
The Holidays are almost upon them and that means she only has a couple more weeks left with Ethan at her disposal. After that, he would no longer be on vacation and had to go back to work—so did she. She has come to understand that time waits for no one, not even her.
Gabrian used to be so confident in who she was and in the world she lived in. Now she feels small, at the bottom of a mountain that she has no idea how to climb.
She must have been lost in her thoughts for a while, letting them roam freely and unprotected. When she eventually drifts back, Ethan stares at her, chin in his hand and the folds in his cheeks showi
ng—pressed into place by his heartfelt chuckle. “Don’t worry so much, Gabrian. You are doing great!” he says, trying to instill his confidence in her. “I have no reservations about you going back to Manhattan. Worst case, I am only a phone call away.”
She is not completely convinced by Ethan’s words of support, but she did kind of miss the hustle and bustle of the city. She has always felt so alive and awake there. Gabrian guesses that with over one point six million people in the Manhattan area, and an abundance of energy in the air there, how could anyone not.
Thinking of the city makes her think of Rachael. She realizes she has not spoken to her in a while and begins to miss her best friend. Gabrian’s mom has mentioned that Rachael called a few times to see how she is doing, but Gabrian is not ready to talk to anyone about anything—especially since the last time she saw her, she was ambushed by her in her own apartment. She understands now that Rachael was only trying to help, but she still should not have done it.
You will have to find something else to do tomorrow, kiddo.
Only half listening to what Ethan is saying, she is not sure if he had said it out loud or with his mind. Gabrian turns from the window to face him. “Sorry, did you say something?” she asks, sensing a little tension from Ethan.
Using his voice this time, Ethan repeats the words out loud. “I was just saying that you will have to find something else to do tomorrow.”
“Oh,” she squeaks, her face dropping its pleasant edges, letting them sag. The nerves beneath her skin prickle as a hint of distress washes through her. “Okay, no problem.” Gabrian begins to gently bite her bottom lip with nervousness, worrying about the fact she only has a few days left with him. A wave of panic surges through her from the thought of knowing that now she has even less.
“Don’t worry, we will make up the time before you leave somehow,” he promises her, hearing her fears. “I have a meeting with the Elders.” Her eyes grow large as she hears her name go through his mind. “And yes, it is about you,” he softly retorts.
