Lila looked
mildly surprised, but nodded. “Does it have something to do with my Dad’s
healing ability?”
“Good guess. I
think you have the ability to heal people’s emotions.”
Ellie felt
Ramsey stiffen at this announcement. Softly, just to Ellie, he asked, “Do you
think that’s why I have better control around them than by myself?”
“Yes. I think
once Lila masters her skill, she can help you learn to master your emotions.
Eventually, you won’t need her help. But to start with, she can at least
unconsciously help you until she can deliberately control her powers.”
She looked
directly at Lila. “I’d like to try something just with you for a second, and if
my guess is right, then we can work with Ramsey together.”
“Sure.” Lila
immediately held out her hand to Ellie.
“Don’t go
away,” Ellie directed Ramsey, and then let go of his hands to take Lila’s.
She pulled
Lila’s light into herself, ice blue this time, and explored for a few minutes.
There were definitely two separate abilities, both very subtle with lots of
potential uses and applications.
“Woo! Lila,
you will have some fun mastering these skills,” Ellie assured her friend with a
conspiratorial grin. Ellie concentrated on the one part that she was most
interested in at the moment.
“Oh!” She
suddenly realized that she and Griffin together would be more effective showing
anyone how to use their power. She could tap in, and Griffin could show them
what he saw her doing with it, a much more effective method.
Griffin was
already walking toward her when she looked up to call him over. Everyone else
had apparently decided to join him.
“It seemed
like everyone was coming over, so we figured we might as well get front row
seats,” Hugh said.
“That was
quite an impressive display,” Lucy added, giving Ramsey a hug.
Alex moved to
stand beside her. He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Did I say amazing?
You are so incredible you take my breath away, Miss Aubrey.”
Ellie shivered
with pleasure at his words and the nearness of his body.
Griffin moved
and took both her and Lila’s hands, making a little circle. Between the two of
them, they showed Lila how to start manipulating her ability to heal people’s
emotions. In Ramsey’s case, she could help him find the peace that would take
away his anger and his anxiety, giving him the control he required. The peace
already resided there inside him. She just directed him to it to help it grow
and overpower the anger and fear.
It would take
a long time before Lila would master it. But today, at least, they could help
her learn enough of it to help Ramsey.
Lila was
glowing with her newly discovered abilities by the time they were done.
“Sensing other
people’s emotions always came in handy, but not in any active way,” she
enthused. “It’s going to be awesome to be able to
do
something.”
Ellie shared
her pride. “Don’t discount your other gift,” she encouraged. “There’s a lot
more to it than you even realize yet. We can work more on it later if you
want.” Looking to Ramsey, she added, “You ready?”
Ramsey shot an
indecipherable look at Lila and then nodded.
Ellie and
Griffin took Ramsey’s hands, while Lila took Ellie’s other hand just in case
she needed her help.
Coordinating
every one of their four powers in such a way that allowed Ellie to teach Ramsey
was quite a test. He started off slowly.
“Whoa!” he
exclaimed as what was supposed to be a six inch flame leapt six feet up into
the air.
Ellie touched
the red glow inside him. “Feel that?” she asked, as she controlled the flame,
keeping it from going higher.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, hold
onto that. It’s almost like you’re instructing the flame on what to do.”
“Uh-huh,”
Ramsey grunted.
“Okay, I’m
giving you back control. Got it?”
“Got it…”
Ellie could practically feel the excitement explode through Ramsey, his grip
tightening almost painfully. “Oh my God! I do! I have it.” The flame shrank
down to six inches and then seemed to do a little dance.
“Excellent!”
Ellie enthused. “Now let’s try projecting it…”
At the end of
about an hour of concentrated effort, Ramsey could regulate his emotions,
though still with Lila’s help, and bring out a small flame in his hand for an
extended period of time without its going wild.
“It’s going to
take a lot more work to expand your control and make it a mastered skill,”
Ellie warned Ramsey at the end of the session.
Ramsey nodded
his understanding.
“I also
suspect that you’ll need Lila close by for several more years before being able
to master the emotional side of your ability on your own,” Ellie added.
Ramsey
appeared visibly pleased, and certainly more relaxed than Ellie had ever seen
him. Griffin mentally told her, “
Until today, he’d thought his gift would
consume him and possibly someone he loved. He thought he might have to stay
away from people for the rest of his life. That he might have to leave his
family if he didn’t get a grip sometime soon. And now, all of that had changed
in the space of an evening.”
It explained a lot about Ramsey’s personality.
Exhaustion
washed over Ellie, but she powered through. With Griffin’s help, she showed
Charlotte how to teleport without the popping sound. Ellie would’ve gone on to
work on teleporting groups of people with Charlotte, but Alex shook his head at
her.
“I think
that’s enough for tonight,” he told her privately. Ellie agreed.
As soon as
they got home, Alex murmured something to Lucy, who then shooed them all out of
the kitchen as she started on dinner.
Alex grabbed
Ellie’s hand and led her up to her bedroom. Once he got her there, he said,
“You’re dead on your feet.” He pulled her onto the bed and tried to get her to
lie down. She pulled away slightly and shot him a half-impressed,
half-irritated look.
“I’m going to
have to get used to how well you seem to read me,” she grumbled good
-naturedly. “Usually only Griffin can figure me out, and he’s cheating,” she
smiled as she tapped her temple.
“Mmmm…” He
tugged her down to snuggle with him. “It seems like we both have a lot to get
used to.” He placed a tender kiss to the back of her neck. “You can work on
being harder to read later. For now, let’s sleep until dinner. I’ve wanted to
hold you in my arms for a long time you know,” he whispered.
“Mmmm… feels
better than I dreamt,” Ellie breathed as she slipped into blissful sleep.
“Me too,
baby.” Alex closed his eyes.
After dinner,
Alex moved Ramsey into Ellie’s bedroom with Griffin and brought her into his
room. Both were still somewhat old-fashioned from their upbringing, and by
unspoken mutual agreement, knew that they would spend the time in the room
simply getting to know one another and growing their relationship.
“Tell me about
yourself.” Ellie prompted, as she finished stuffing the last of her clothes
into a dresser drawer.
Alex chuckled.
“What do you want to know?” he asked, watching her from the bed as she flitted
around the room like a little pixie.
Ellie bounced
over beside him. Sitting cross-legged, she took his hand, unable to resist
touching him. “Let’s start with where you come from.”
“I was born in
Louisiana in the late 1800s, shortly after the Civil War ended,” Alex said.
“You don’t
have an accent though!” Ellie exclaimed.
Alex laughed.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve spoken with any discernible accent,” he
drawled in a thick southern twang. “Or if you prefer, I can bring out my bayou
roots, chere,” he continued in an even thicker Cajun drawl.
Ellie giggled.
“That one’s kinda sexy,” she teased. “Who were your parents?”
Alex gathered
his memories for a second before speaking. “My mother was the daughter of a
wealthy plantation owner. My father was a poor sharecropper who rented land
from her family. I never knew my father. He was killed, not in battle, but by a
band of thieves as he was making his way home after fighting bravely for the
South.”
“I’m sorry,”
Ellie said softly.
Alex shrugged.
Turning her hand over in his, he started tracing the delicate veins in her
wrists. “Like I said, I never knew him.” He looked up into her eyes. He hadn’t
shared this part of himself with anyone in a very long time. His new adoptive
family knew bits and pieces, but he rarely talked about his early life.
“I was raised
by my mother and her parents until I was ten,” he continued.
Ellie tipped
her head to the side, considering his last statement. “Until you started coming
into your powers?”
Alex nodded.
“I couldn’t control them at first. And it scared her. Scared them all. So one
day my mother packed a bag and took me to my grandfather. My father’s dad, who
was still a sharecropper on a plantation a few counties over.”
“She just
dumped you on someone else?” Ellie was shocked. Nothing but death could ever
have separated her own mother from her children. She couldn’t understand any
woman doing something like that.
Alex shrugged,
solemn. “Don’t be too hard on her, Ellie. She was heartbroken about it. I was
very young, but I still remember that. But she was just a normal person. My
power must have been terrifying to her.”
Ellie just
shook her head.
Alex
continued, “In hindsight, it was the best thing she ever could’ve done for me. I
had inherited my powers through Grandfather, although my mother hadn’t been
aware of that when she took me there. Sharecropping was a very difficult life.
Although my mother left me her inheritance when she died many years later, we
didn’t benefit from that for quite some time. But I had Grandfather, who taught
me everything I know about my power, tutored me in it. He was a wonderful man,
strong, dependable, and very funny. He died fighting in World War I. I’m very
proud to have known him, to have been related to him.”
Ellie’s heart
swelled. Alex had been loved, just like her. And just like her he had lost all
of his family. But maybe even worse, since she’d had Griffin at least. Alex had
been alone.
“That must’ve
been so hard. When did Lucy find you?” she asked.
Alex grinned.
“You know about that habit of hers, huh?”
It was Ellie’s
turn to shrug. “Yeah, Griffin heard about it one night when we were just
keeping tabs on you all from a distance.”
“Mmmm, well,
Lucy found me not long after I returned to Louisiana after the Great War.” Alex
paused for a second, a small half smile on his lips. He brushed a stray hair
back from her face. “I’m lucky to have had three families in my lifetime.”
“But your
mother deserted you,” Ellie said, confused.
“Yes, but I
was very loved and happy those first ten years of my life. And I’ve long since
forgiven her for her fear and ignorance.”
Ellie leaned
forward, wrapping her arms around Alex in a tight hug. “How did I get so lucky
to find you?” she murmured.
Ellie squeaked
as Alex tumbled her onto her back. Leaning over her, he placed a sweet kiss on
her mouth. “Not nearly as much as I am to have found you,” he breathed against
her softly parted lips.
They spent the
rest of the night talking, getting to know their other halves, their
te’sorthene,
and eventually falling asleep in each other’s arms until morning. Both feeling
blessed by what they had discovered together.
Ellie awoke to
the sensation of a sweet, lingering kiss. She opened her eyes to Alex’s
smoldering gaze.
“Hi,
sleepyhead,” he greeted her with a tender smile. He softly cupped her face with
one hand.
“Hi.” She returned
a shy smile and leaned into his caress. As consciousness returned, she sat up
with a gasp.
Alex put a
finger to her lips. “Everything’s fine… I have a surprise for you. Come on. Get
dressed. I have something I want to show you.”
She tipped her
head to the side. He looked so pleased with himself. It would’ve been cute, if
he hadn’t been so ruggedly handsome. Cute just wasn’t a word you’d readily
apply to Alex…more like drop dead, gobsmackingly, hunkalicious…
“I’ll wait for
you downstairs. Dress warmly,” he instructed and left the room, softly closing
the door behind him.
Ellie
hurriedly got dressed, brushed her teeth and hair, and headed downstairs.
“What’s up?”
she whispered as she met Alex in the living room.
He gave her a
fast, hard kiss and handed her a jacket. Taking her hand, he led her outside.
“It’s
snowing!” Ellie exclaimed. It seemed way too late in the season for it to still
be snowing. Smiling, Alex led her into the woods and up to the middle of the
clearing where they had practiced earlier. Facing her, he took both her hands
in his.
“You’re not
using your power on me, right?” he asked.
“I told you I
don’t do that to friends without asking permission first,” she confirmed, head
tilted slightly sideways, still trying to figure out what he was up to.
“Then close
your eyes.”
Ellie raised
her eyebrows but complied. She felt him lean in and brush her lips with a
feather-light kiss. The cold no longer bothered Ellie as lovely warmth washed
over her.
“Now open
them,” Alex said.
Ellie opened
her eyes and let out an astonished gasp. All of the falling snow around them
was frozen in place, mid-fall. It looked exquisite...magical…miraculous. Like
glitter hanging on invisible strings all around her. She threw her head back
and laughed with delight as she reached out to touch one of the snowflakes.
Then, like a child, she put her arms out and twirled, her hair and clothes,
catching bits and pieces of snow as she did. Alex chuckled beside her and she
stilled, came back to him and linked her arms around his neck. She pressed a soft
kiss to his lips.