Blue Violet (16 page)

*****

Ellie moved
from Griffin’s embrace. Still holding Alex’s hand, she pulled him up off the
floor and onto the couch beside her, cradling their linked hands in her lap.
Griffin moved around from the back of the couch and took a seat on her other
side. She silently assessed her surroundings. They were in a large living room.
A great stone fireplace took up one wall, with a large flat-screened TV mounted
beside it. The furniture was comfortable and laid out in a way that encouraged
social gatherings. The other wall was entirely windows, facing out into the
clearing behind the house. A lovely, homey room.

Then she
glanced around at the group of Svatura that she and Griffin had been watching
from afar. Nate sat beside Adelaide on the floor, cradling her slightly as she
leaned back against him. Lila sat beside her sister. Despite the anxious
expressions of every single person in the room, Adelaide seemed very pleased
about something. Ellie made a mental note to ask her later.

Hugh had moved
across the room to sit with his wife on the loveseat. He had light brown hair
and kind brown eyes….what one would consider conventionally handsome. And now
Ellie knew that his power was the ability to heal. Judging by the extent of her
wounds, and the relatively short amount of time it had taken him to fix her, he
had to be very powerful.

Looking at
Lucinda, or Lucy, as they all called her, Ellie saw where Adelaide and Lila got
their looks. She had long, honey-blonde hair, wide green eyes and an open,
welcoming demeanor.  Thanks to Griffin, Ellie already knew of Lucy’s ability to
see people’s intentions, as well as the essence of who they were.

Ellie looked
at the other three people in the room. She was aware of their names but knew
little else about them. Dexter and Charlotte, the other married couple, sat
together in the corner of the room. They were younger than Hugh and Lucy, but
still appeared old enough to be Nate and Ramsey’s parents. They both had dark
brown hair and eyes. But where Charlotte was tall and willowy, Dexter was
stocky and solidly built. Both regarded her with somewhat wary and perplexed
expressions.

Ramsey sat at
Charlotte and Dexter’s feet, so determining his height was difficult. He had
dark red hair and bottle green eyes. While he shared his adopted parents’
wariness, anger also burned in his eyes. Ellie, unsure who the anger was
directed at, glanced at Griffin.

“He’s not
mad at us
,” Griffin answered her silently. “
Yet
.”

Ellie wrinkled
her mental nose at her brother, receiving a quiet chuckle in return. She’d been
so curious about these people for so long now. Keeping what she and Griffin
really were from them had been incredibly difficult. Too tempting to join their
fun, their togetherness. How would they react now? She truly hoped that this
family, this group of people just like them, would give her and Griffin the
benefit of the doubt and welcome them as one of their own.

She looked at
her twin and shrugged. “I don’t know where to begin.”

“Good luck
with that,” was Griffin’s less than helpful response. He leaned back, casually
draping his arms across the top of the couch.

“Where to
begin?  So are you planning on telling us what this is all about?” Hugh asked,
seeming amused by Ellie and Griffin’s banter.

“The beginning
is a very long time ago,” Ellie replied softly. “It would take too long to go
back that far.”  She looked up at him with candid eyes. “I’m not trying to be
difficult. It’s just that it’s a fairly long story.” 

“So you’re
like us?” Adelaide asked. She folded her legs daintily beneath her as she sat
on the floor beside her twin.

Ellie nodded.
“Adelaide, Lila, and Nate already know me. So does Alex.” She glanced at him fleetingly.
“For the rest of you, my name is Ellie Aubrey. This is my twin brother,
Griffin.”

Ellie felt
Alex’s hand clench slightly in her grasp. She shot him another glance, catching
what she suspected was a relieved smile. Still holding his hand she looked
away. Alex and their relationship was something she would have to deal with
later. She was content for now that he remained sitting beside her. First, he
and the rest of the people in the room deserved an explanation.

She glanced at
Griffin and their eyes locked. He nodded slowly in reply to her silent
question. Ellie cleared her throat.

“It would
actually be easiest to show you our story rather than tell you.”

 “Show us?” A
slight frown marred Hugh’s brow, showing his bewilderment.

“Yes. Like
you, my brother and I have gifts... powers.”

“That became
pretty obvious when we all saw a jaguar turn back into you,” Alex muttered
beside her. She guessed forgiveness for her long deception would not be quick
in coming. Especially because he’d asked her directly.  Had that only been this
morning?

 “Griffin has
the ability to read minds,” Ellie said, ignoring Alex. “He’s still learning all
the facets of his gift. Eventually he’ll have the ability to control people’s
thoughts. He’s not quite there yet though, and he’s only just starting to be
able to project his thoughts into other people’s minds.” She gave Griffin a
cheeky wink and received a faint smile in return.

“I don’t
understand,” said Hugh. “If he doesn’t have the ability to use those aspects of
his power yet, then how would you show us?”

Griffin
smirked. “Because Ellie
does
have the ability, in a roundabout way.”

Seeing nine
pairs of very baffled eyes, Ellie hurried to enlighten them. “One of my gifts
is the ability to manipulate others’ powers if I’m physically touching them.
But I quickly become an expert, almost like I’ve had it for years, and so I’m
able to use it to its fullest potential.”

“Awesome!”
Nate said.

“Well… not
being an expert at my own power yet, I do miss things here and there,” she
confessed with a small shrug. “And it’s dependent on the type of interaction.
The longer I spend in physical contact with someone, the more I learn their
powers.”

“Should I be
worried?” Alex asked dryly beside her, looking at their linked hands. Ellie
took it as a good sign that he was joking with her. He couldn’t be that angry.

She flicked
him a playful look. “I usually ask permission first.” She turned to the others.
“So, with your permission, I can use Griffin’s power to show you.”

Everyone in
the room immediately turned toward Lucy. She was already smiling. “She has good
intentions. If anything, she’s been trying to protect us,” Lucy said.

“I would never
hurt any of you,” Ellie swore.

“Nor would I,”
Griffin quietly added, leaning forward to emphasize his point.

“They’re
telling the truth,” Lila assured the room, shifting positions to pull her knees
up to her chest.

 Ellie blinked
in surprise. She’d had the hardest time connecting with Lila. The other girl
treated her with friendly camaraderie, but always with a slightly distant air.
As a result, she hadn’t been able to figure out Lila’s power yet. It seemed she
had the ability to see if people were telling the truth… a variation on her
mother’s powers. Ellie gave a small nod of appreciation for Lila’s show of
support.

“We can trust
them,” Adelaide said.

“Why do you
say that, Delia?” Hugh asked, turning to look at her.

“Because they
will be part of our family.” Her eyes lost focus and she touched the air with
her fingers like she was plucking the strings of a guitar. Ellie could tell
that Adelaide was touching the shimmering lines that she alone could see.
Adelaide continued, “I’ve seen it since the day I met Ellie. And it just
continues to grow in strength every day. Tonight it solidified.”

Ellie gasped
in shock. Silently, so did Griffin, because the girl had said “they.”  Everyone
else erupted into a bit of a ruckus…only Alex remained silent among all the
noise. But he didn’t let go of her hand.

Eventually,
the room quieted enough for Hugh to ask his daughter, “Why didn’t you say
something earlier?”

“You know I
don’t like to influence people with what I can see, Dad. And two additions to
our family is a huge deal.” Adelaide’s answer soothed most of the ruffled
feelings in the room. “I’m telling you now because it helps us all to trust one
another, us to trust them, and vice versa.” Nate wrapped his arms around
Adelaide, offering her his silent support.

“Was that why
you approached me in the lunch room on my first day of school?” Ellie asked her
friend.

Adelaide
smiled gently. “Yes.”

Ellie wanted
to ask more questions. She was thinking about the first time she’d met Alex and
had accidentally seen Adelaide’s power at work. She hadn’t understood it at the
time, and wondered what exactly she’d seen. But now wasn’t the time. One more
thing to put on the back burner while she dealt with the immediate situation.

Looking around
the room, Ellie could tell some doubt still lingered. “If you need to discuss
this without us, Griffin and I can step outside.” 

She tried to stand
up but immediately collapsed. Alex reached out as she fell, and she landed
right on his lap in the protective circle of his arms.

“You’re not
going anywhere young lady,” Hugh said as Alex’s grip tightened. “All your
wounds may be closed and fixed, but your body still has to go through a period
of true healing on its own. You’ll be weak for several days at least.”

“Oh,” Ellie huffed
her frustration. Definitely not convenient to be less than a hundred percent
right now. Of course, she should just be grateful she was still alive. Still,
she didn’t relish playing the role of an invalid.

She attempted
to shift back to her previous seat on the couch beside him, but Alex’s arms
remained firm, refusing to let her move away. Looking into his eyes, she
murmured, “Are you going to let me go?”

He answered in
a husky voice, “Not in this lifetime.”

Ellie’s heart
paused and then resumed beating at a faster cadence.
Has he realized we are
te’sorthene?
  Her breath caught in her throat at the expression in his
eyes. He settled her a little more comfortably on his lap. Without taking his
eyes off hers, he said a bit louder, “I think we’re ready for you to show us
your story.”

It took a
pathetically large amount of will power to look away from him. She could think
a little more clearly when she wasn’t trapped in his gaze. She glanced at
Griffin.

“Not one
word”
, she ordered.

His lips
twitched in a smile. He reached out and took her hand, giving it a little
squeeze. Turning to the room he said, “You’ll all need to move in close and be
touching one of us.”

“I’ve never
tried projecting Griffin’s gift into more than one mind before,” she warned as
they shifted positions.

Once they were
all settled and waiting, Ellie gave an imperceptible nod, as if she was telling
herself to proceed. With a deep breath, she allowed her power to flow through
her in tingling waves. Behind her closed eyes she saw Griffin’s power within
him, almost like a glowing golden beacon of light. Reaching out mentally, she
touched the light and drew it inside herself. Once she had control of it, she
concentrated on locating each mind in the room, one at a time, until she saw
all ten. And then she focused very hard on an image, that of a magnificently
terrible black wolf.

“Wow,” Alex
said under his breath.

“Cool!” Nate
exclaimed beside her.

Once Ellie
felt sure everyone could see what she saw, she started playing through the
scenes in her head, allowing everyone else to witness the pictures in her mind,
organizing her thoughts into a cohesive story of what had led her and Griffin
here.

Ellie’s
memories almost overwhelmed her as she worked through them. She started with
some of her earlier recollections of life…she thought of her people, their
life, and stories. To the outside world they appeared to be just a band of
gypsies. But in reality, they were the largest gathering of people with
extraordinary abilities in the world. They called themselves the
Darane
Svatura
, choosing to embody a gypsy term referring to magic and mythology.

  In a way,
they were the royals of their kind. Both Ellie and Griffin’s great-grandfathers
were the original
Phuro
, or elders. There had been more before them, but
in very small numbers. Powers were passed down from generation to generation.

As young men,
her great-grandfathers had befriended each other. They both married gypsy
women…princesses from two different tribes. At that time in the world, gypsies
had a greater tolerance of people who were unusual or different. Certainly more
tolerance than the people who’d killed Svatura for suspected witchcraft. As
their great-grandfathers married and had children, they’d gathered more of
their kind together.

Her parents
were the descendants of the original patriarchs. By the time Griffin and Ellie
had been born, their Svatura clan numbered in the hundreds. It had eventually
broken into smaller groups, travelling far away from the original main group.
But they continued to return to the larger community and her great-grandfathers
for advice, for protection, for help, and sometimes for judgment or rulings.

When Ellie had
been only a young child, the killings started. First, with the smaller of the
families who had moved away. Just one or two would survive and make their way
back to the main tribe, bringing with them stories of giant metamorphs who all
turned into wolves and had decimated all their people. But no matter how they
tried, the Svatura had been unable to track down the wolves responsible.  They
called them the
Vyushe
r, which meant wolf in Romani, the language of
their gypsy allies and ancestors. As far as anyone could tell, the Vyusher were
gifted people like the Svatura. The biggest difference between the two clans
was that the Vyusher were all wolf metamorphs, which seemed impossible given
how few metamorphs roamed the planet.