Djinn (29 page)

"Maybe he did use me?" I whispered, as I pushed open the front door.

"Kyra, darling," Isabelle said, entering the foyer from the sitting room. "I was wondering where you were. How was training?"

I put on a fake smile, knowing Isabelle really wanted to know was how I was doing.

"It was fine," I said. "Still working on things."

I didn't want to share that I had figured out my ability yet. There would be too many questions of "How did find out?" and "What were you doing?". I didn't want to answer those yet.

"I'm feeling tired," I said. "I think I'll just go to my room."

She nodded, but I could tell she was worried from the shaky look in her eyes. "Okay, Kyra."

I walked past her and started up the staircase.

"Kyra," Isabelle called after me.

I turned. She stood at the bottom of the stairs, her hand on the banister.

"You know, things will get better," she said. "And you can talk to me … about anything, anything at all."

"I know," I replied, smiling for her.

"Good … good." She tapped the banister, eyes darting. I don't think she quite believed me, but I wasn't in the best mood to console her. It wasn't that I didn't trust her; it was just hard, because even though she was my mother, we had still only known each other for a month or so.

I was grateful, though; out of everyone, she had been the one person to really care. She was scared of Ivan, but she'd stood up to him for me. I wanted to talk to her, just not yet.

I went to my room trying to shake the worrying thoughts from my head, but they were stuck like flies in a web. I had a shower, which usually calmed my nerves, but I was paranoid Mia might burst into my room unannounced again. She was one of the last people I wanted to see. It seemed that list of people was growing by the day: Mia, Ivan, Will …

"Don't think about him," I told myself, turning off the shower. I wrapped a towel around me and stared in the mirror for a while. For once, I hated my golden eyes. I hated what they made me: Djinn. I hated the bond they made me share with a life I didn't understand. I actually wished I were still living with Dad, completely naive to this world and everyone in it. Maybe donating blood to him every once in a while wouldn't have been that bad. My life would have at least been sort of normal, and I wouldn't have to put up with people I didn't like because we could just move away whenever we wanted.

I shook my head. That was silly. I would always rather know the truth than be lied to. Perhaps it was my fault, for not trying hard enough. I'd never been able to make friends before. It wasn't like I hadn't succeeded. I had Millie and Nate, and even Seth seemed to be opening up. It was the Guardjinn I had issues with—well Mia and Will. Pyke had been nicer to me since going to the dog park and the graveyard.

I just felt like the bad had far outweighed the good since I'd arrived. There were too many problems I had to deal with. I couldn't run away this time. I had chosen to stay here, so I had to make things work.

"I'll try harder," I decided. "I have some good friendships growing and, as for the bad ones, well, I just don't need them."

I gave myself a stern look in the mirror. "Kyra, you don't need Will. He's just some guy, and there will be others. Focus on the good things, like your friends. Forget about Will."

I repeated the last part over and over, like a chant, until I sort of half-believed it. From now on, I was going to be happy. I was going to put more effort into the things that made me happy, and that was that.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I sat at the dining room table with Ivan and Isabelle the next morning. Keisuke lay by my legs, chewing on an old lamb bone from last night's dinner.

For the first time since moving here, I'd had my old nightmares again about being in the car with Malcolm, and the man in the middle of the road, but at least Will hadn't been in them. And, when I'd woken up, I'd stuck with my new outlook on life, and was trying really hard to be happy, instead of letting it get me down.

"I figured out my ability yesterday," I said, breaking the silence.

Ivan and Isabelle stared at me, as if not entirely sure I'd spoken.

"Why didn't you tell us yesterday?" Isabelle asked, and I felt guilty.

"I really just wanted to keep it to myself, you know? Really take it in." It was a lame excuse, but I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Well, congratulations," she said with a smile.

"Thanks, Mum."

"What is it?" Ivan asked, folding his paper neatly.

"Sorry?"

"What is your ability?"

"Telekinesis." That was an easy answer.

"I thought you were already tested on that," he replied.

"I know. I was going to ask Seth about that today."

"Wasn't he there when you used it?" Ivan raised an eyebrow, and I realised I'd slipped up.

"No, he wasn't," I said slowly, trying to think of a good lie. "I was with Celeste."

"Queen Celeste," Isabelle corrected.

"Yeah, I was with Queen Celeste. We were talking about my training, and she gave me a few pointers and, well, it worked."

I felt bad dragging Celeste in on my lie, but she'd promised to keep my secret, and I doubted Ivan would question her about anything.

"She, uh, said my ability was pretty strong actually."

Ivan was the happiest I'd ever seen him. He actually smiled at me; it was kind of creepy, really.

"I'm pleased you've finally figured it out," he said. "I'm proud to have a daughter with such strong abilities."

I think it was more of a compliment to him than me, like being my father had something to do with it, but I let it slide and spent the rest of breakfast talking to Isabelle about all the different abilities. My announcement had definitely lightened the mood, and things seemed to settle down into their usual awkwardness. At least I was used to that.

I wanted to spend the rest of the weekend in my room with Keisuke, but Ivan wanted me to have lessons with Mia. I managed to talk him out of it with the help of Isabelle, who suggested I spend some time with Millie getting ready for the ball. It wasn't what I wanted, but Millie was a million times better than Mia, and Ivan wanted me to make a good impression on everyone so he was happy with the excuse.

I spent a lot of time watching Millie try on dresses and shoes while her mother bought me cookies and milk. I don't think Millie minded so much that I wasn't really interested, but she appreciated me trying to make an effort.

The weekend ended, and with the new week brought training. I was eager to get to the palace on Monday morning and get started on honing my ability, but when I arrived in the training room only Seth was there. He sat on the balancing beam, reading a book.

"Hey, Seth." I waved giving him a genuine smile.

"Hi, Kyra," he replied, lowering his book.

"Where are Nate and Millie?" I asked, checking the room and the ceiling, in case Millie was floating up there.

"Nate is busy organising the ball, he sends his apologies," Seth said, flicking his head to move the shaggy hair out of his eyes.

"And Millie?"

"She volunteered to help out too."

"Sounds like her," I said. "You didn't want to help?"

"I don't like balls," he admitted.

"You and me both."

"Anyway, I thought it would be better to help you training. I heard it turned out to be telekinesis."

I cocked my head at him. "You sound surprised," I noted.

He shrugged, in his usual Seth fashion. "It's nothing. It's just that I can usually tell what a person's ability is going to be, but none of your tests stood out." He shrugged again. "Doesn't matter. Let's see where your ability is at strength wise."

Seth brought over a tennis ball and placed it on the ground. I sat on one side of the ball, and Seth on the other.

"Concentrate on the ball and see if you can make it move. Any amount of movement you can."

I stared at the tennis ball thinking "Move", but all I seemed to be doing was squinting my eyes. I tried different tactics, like not thinking about the ball moving, and then clearing my mind of thought. Nothing seemed to work. The stupid tennis ball just sat there, taunting me.

"You're sure telekinesis is your ability," Seth said.

"Of course it is," I replied, fists clenched. "I threw a guy across the room." I looked up. "Wait, Seth, was that a joke?"

"People don't usually notice," he replied. "I tend to get ignored."

"It's just because you're really quiet," I told him. "You don't talk much."

"I like it that way," he said. "I hear things, secrets. People tend to just keep talking and not notice I'm there."

I gave him a sly grin. "You do it on purpose so you can spy on people."

He looked at me through his shaggy hair, and I could have sworn I saw a grin.

"What kind of things do you hear?" I asked.

"Lots of things," he replied. "Was there something in particular you wanted to know?"

I stroked my chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm, I don't know." I was trying to think of a good way to test him. "What do you know about Pyke?" After the whole graveyard thing, I'd be interested to know more about him.

"He's that Guardjinn who hangs out with Will, isn't he?"

I flinched slightly at Will's name. "That's not a secret," I said, recovering.

"True. Did you know that Pyke's father was Guardjinn?"

"Yeah. Pyke showed me his grave. Pyke said he was a great warrior."

"He was one of the best Guardjinn we ever had. Pyke's father was the first to be sent after you when you were first kidnapped. He chased down Malcolm and ran him off the road. They fought, but Malcolm killed him with a piece of metal to the head."

I was stunned, silent. Suddenly, Pyke's anger toward Malcolm when they took me made sense. He wanted revenge for his father's death.

It must have been why he was acting strange at the graveyard too. How could he even stand to be around me? I was the reason his father had died.

"Kyra?" Seth asked. "What's wrong? Maybe I shouldn't have said anything about Malcolm—"

"No," I said, rubbing my sweaty palms on my pants. "It's not that. It's just, when I first arrived here I was having these dreams. I was in a car with Malcolm, and Pyke was standing in the middle of the road, which made us swerve off the road and crash."

Seth sat up, listening intently. "Have you had dreams like this often?"

"The car crash, yes, most nights, but it changed a lot after meeting the Guardjinn. At first I couldn't see the figure on the road, but once I'd met Pyke it was him."

"Hmmm."

"Seth, what is it?" I asked, slightly worried.

"I was just thinking that maybe you already had an ability all along and just didn't know it."

"The dreams? But they're just dreams, right?"

"Dreams that feature things that happened in real life that you didn't know about," Seth said.

"What do you mean in real life?"

"The dream you describe is exactly what happened on the night you were taken, from the reports I read."

I tensed. Those things really happened? The car crash, the baby in the backseat, the man on the road?

"I think the dreams are another ability." Seth continued. "Sort of like seeing the past, but it's not very strong. It tries to fill in the gaps with things you experience. Like, you've never met Pyke's father, but you know Pyke, and that was why it was him standing in front of the car. Your mind was filling the gap with Pyke because a part of you knew they were related."

It sort of made sense, but mostly it seemed unbelievable. "So I have two abilities, like Millie?"

"Looks like it, although your telekinesis is clearly stronger."

"How do you figure that? I can't even move the stupid ball."

"But you did throw Will across the room," he said and I wished I'd never told him about that. "I'm not sure how useful the dream ability will be. You might not be able to interpret the dreams until after things happen."

Seth leaned back on his arms.

"We should focus on the telekinesis first," he decided. "The dreams won't hurt people, but telekinesis might."

We spent more time staring at tennis balls, but it wasn't working. Maybe it was because my focus was elsewhere, with the knowledge I had not one but two abilities. Ivan might actually die from smiling.

"Think we might call it a day," Seth decided. "It feels like something is blocking you. Making it so you can't use your ability."

Just then the door to the training room swung open and Will, Mia and Pyke walked in.

"Times up," Pyke announced. "Guardjinn training time." He flexed his muscles, making poses like he was a weightlifter.