New Sight (28 page)

Kamau retold his story about meeting Doyle and their bargain.

“So you staged everything?” Mark asked.

“Yes,” Kamau nodded. “I faked that my magic was emerging so Mason would come for me.”

“You’ve been using your magic since you arrived at the hospital?” Mark asked.

Kamau shook his head. “No, I’ve been using magic, although that is not what we call it, since I was a child.”

“How did you manage that?”

“There are legends in our tribe, legends about what you call sound users. My father is not a wielder, but my grandmother was. She passed her talents onto my sister and me, although Damisi is more powerful than I am.” He smiled at her.

Lys’s heart practically wrenched itself from her chest. The love in his eyes convinced her that Kamau would do anything for his sister. Could he think of her the same way? He said he did. Could she believe him?

“Did you know about the other senses? Or the power levels?” Ayden asked.

Kamau shook his head. “We thought the different eye colors were due to gender or family relations, and we have no other senses mentioned in our heritage songs. Ancestors of my family have been wielders for more generations than anyone can remember.”

Ayden exchanged a glance with Mark. “So magic in the world isn’t quite as dead as my father thought.”

Mark sniffed. “Do the New know about all that?”

“No.” Kamau shook his head. “I convinced them that only Damisi and I knew about the magic.”

“So, what do we do now?” Lys asked, glancing around the circle. “Do you think they’ll come back for us?”

“The BG’s?” Mark asked.

Lys smiled. “Yeah, them.”

“The BG’s?” Ayden asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Brady’s name for them. Bad guys,” Lys explained. “Do you think they’ll stop hunting magic users?”

“They won’t,” Kamau said. Lys turned to look at him and found his eyes on her. “When I was with them, I saw how much they hated magic users. They think of themselves as heroes—saving the world from the evil of magic. Even if Doyle has had a change of heart, which is doubtful, he is only one in a chain of people. People who hate magic users will do anything to eradicate them from the earth.”

Peter spoke for the first time. “Who will help the new users?” He glanced at Inez. “We did it together, but it wasn’t fun. We almost died like twice a month.”

“I don’t have a good answer for that,” Ayden said, sharing a look with Mark. “But it’s not my plan to abandon everyone.”

“We can’t leave the other users out there to go through this alone,” Inez said.

Ayden raised an eyebrow. “Are you with us then?”

Inez sent him a scathing glare. “Brady just died to save us. What do you want me to do, go back to my life and forget anyone ever loved me enough to die for me?”

Ayden studied her for a moment. “No.”

“I’m in,” Peter said. “Brady was my friend, too. And I’d like to help other kids.”

Damisi’s small, clear voice came from her lips. “Our tribe deals with the magic quite differently than Mr. Mason did.” She glanced at Kamau. “Perhaps we can help figure out a way to control it.”

“Yes, I’ve been thinking the same thing.” Kamau looked around the circle. “Our wielders use their gifts on one another. A combination of that and some mental exercises keep the addictive side of magic at bay.” He met Lys’s eyes again. “I don’t know if it will work for the other senses, but I’m sure we can provide some insight.”

“Magic doesn’t have to be addictive?” Ayden asked.

“The pull is always there,” Kamau said, “but there are a number of ways to control it. I’d never had a problem until I came here, away from our tribe and their lands.”

“You’re really in a tribe?” Peter asked. A spark of enthusiasm shot from his eyes, and Lys smiled, feeling yet another round of tears. Brady had said the same thing.

“It’s a secret tribe,” Damisi said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Lys looked at Kamau. “A secret tribe?”

He shrugged. “Yes.”

“Do you have to kill us now that you told us about it?” Peter asked, looking at Damisi.

“We’ll see.”

Lys caught the hint of a smile on Inez’s face. Inez saw her looking and scowled. Her eyes went from Lys to Kamau and back again. Pain replaced the momentary amusement, and Inez lowered her gaze.

For a moment Lys didn’t understand. Did Inez not trust Kamau? Was she angry that Kamau lived and Brady didn’t? But as she watched Inez, the true meaning hit her. Lys had another chance with Kamau. Inez would never see Brady again.

Lys slid her hand across the gap between her and Kamau. She slipped her hand on to his, hoping he really had feelings for her. His eyes fell on their hands, and he looked up. Lys managed a small smile, and she tried to fill it with hope. Turning his hand, Kamau opened his palm and intertwined his fingers with hers.

The others were talking about who to contact. Lys ignored them. She watched Kamau as he pulled the back of her hand to his lips and gently kissed it. A butterfly stirred in her stomach. She smiled—this time without hesitation.

“We should probably contact every user we know,” Mark said. “See who’s still loyal to Mason, and who would be willing to help us.”

Ayden nodded and turned to look at each of them in turn. “None of you have to stick around.”

“Where else would we go?” Lys asked. She glanced at Mark and Ayden and saw teachers, she looked at Inez and saw a friend, in Peter she saw a little brother. She didn’t know what Kamau meant to her yet, but she didn’t want to do this without him.

Magic. It had ripped her world right out from underneath her, replacing it with horrors and wonders she had never imagined. But Lys couldn’t go back. Not now. Not after everything that had happened. She nodded at the others and her eyes fell on Kamau. She’d stick around.

Jo Schneider lives in Bountiful,
Utah, but she has spent countless hours traveling all over the world. Her goal is to visit all seven continents, and she’s nearly finished. Being a geek at heart, Jo has always been drawn to science fiction and fantasy; she writes both. Based on her travels and her experience obtaining a black belt in Shaolin Kempo Karate, Jo’s works feature authentic, impressive settings and extraordinary action sequences.

joannschneider.blogspot.com