Awaking (The Naturals, #1) (3 page)

Morgan considered this. How many times had someone found her after a reading and told her that her prediction had been right? How many people had run up to her, the week’s horoscope in hand, and asked how she’d been able to know what was going to happen? “Well, yeah, but… I’m just… lucky. I mean, I’m more logical than most people. My brain works differently—”

Kellen chuckled softly. “Got it in one.”

Morgan looked at him. “Are you saying there’s something wrong with my brain?”

He shook his head. “To the contrary; there’s something very right with it.”

“So, I’m… like you? Can I move things with my mind? Because, let me tell you, that’s never happened.”

“Maybe one day you’ll be able to—with training. But even as you are, without training, even among my people, you’re special.”

“Your people?”

“That second group of people? We’ve been around since the dawn of humanity—maybe before. We’re called the Veneret. And you, you’re what’s called a Natural— a person who doesn’t have Veneret parents, but who possesses our powers.”

“So, these… abilities… just kind of… pop up in people?”

“No,” Kellen said firmly. “If we could trace your genealogy back, we’d certainly find a member of the Veneret in your family tree. Generations ago, in order to blend in, lots of the Veneret started marrying in with common people.”

“Why’d they need to blend in?”

Kellen smiled. “Suffice it to say that not all common people are so accepting of our abilities. They’re scared by what they don’t understand. You’ve heard about witch hunts and all that, right? Well, some of those people were Veneret. The common started believing that our abilities were somehow unnatural, evil even. To survive, we’ve had to keep our abilities a secret.”

Morgan allowed the information to sink in. “What does all this have to do with my mom?”

“She’s a Natural too. A Knower—someone who can see things that haven’t happened yet. And she saw something in your future that made her think that her presence in your life would endanger you. So she left.”

“How could you possibly know that? Like you said, you were nine when she disappeared.”

He offered a smile. “Psychic, remember?”

Morgan opened her mouth to respond, but the door they had entered through opened to reveal two guys: One had jet black hair that fell in waves to his shoulders; the dark blond hair of the other was spiked up in a faux-hawk. They both appeared to be around Kellen’s age. She shifted uncomfortably at the sight of them. Did they work here? Were they going to be mad that she and Kellen were invading their staff only room?

Kellen didn’t seem bothered. He stood and crossed to the guys. “Just in time.”

Morgan stood too, following him. “Just in time for what?”

“At the risk of sounding like a Disney movie, we’re about to show you a whole new world.”

Chapter Three

Morgan allowed herself to be led to a car by Kellen and the two strangers. As she climbed into the back seat of the white Aston Martin, Morgan tried not to think about what her dad would say if he ever found out what she was doing.

Kellen sat in the back seat beside her, and the black-haired guy put the car in gear and started out of the parking lot before the blond cleared his throat.

“Ah, manners,” Kellen said. “Tesin and Wen,” he said, indicating the black-haired and blond-haired guys respectively.

“Tesin and Wen?” Morgan asked. “Not to be rude, but what kind of names are those?”

The blond, Wen, looked back at her and smiled. “Well, Wen’s short for Wendell.” He pulled a face. Then he indicated the black-haired guy with his thumb. “Tesin’s mom just had the good drugs when he was born.”

“Don’t listen to him. Tesin’s a family name. And it’s a helluva lot better than Wendell.”

Morgan smiled, not sure what else to do. “So… where are we going?”

Tesin gave a short laugh. “Nowhere.”

Morgan looked out the window as the scenery whipped by. The road they were on, she knew, had a speed limit of thirty-five. Morgan didn’t have to be able to see the speedometer to know they were probably approaching double that.

“Um, Tesin,” Morgan ventured tentatively. “We’re coming up on a police station. You might wanna slow down.”

Tesin shifted gears, but if anything the car sped up.

Morgan looked at Kellen, but his face was unreadable, passive even. She gripped the seat in front of her, positive they were going to crash at any moment.

Red and blue lights flashed through the car’s rear window and Morgan sighed with relief. She’d never been so happy for a cop to pull a car over for speeding.

But Tesin didn’t slow. He wove the car in and out of the lanes, dodging law-abiding citizens in cars traveling at half their speed. When he zipped through a light that turned red before their arrival, Morgan shook Tesin’s seat with as much force as she could muster. “Stop!”

Tesin downshifted and pulled the car into a church parking lot. Seconds elapsed before the police car pulled in after them.

Morgan glanced back at the police car and then looked at Kellen. “Is your friend insane?”

Kellen leaned back in his seat, his arms crossed over his chest. He waggled his eyebrows and grinned. “All part of the show. Just watch.”

Morgan checked out the rear window again and saw the officer, a slim, broad-shouldered man, approaching their car. Tesin rolled down his window.

“License and registration.” The officer removed his sunglasses, hooking them on his shirt pocket by the ear piece.

From her place directly behind the driver’s seat, Morgan could see that Tesin was making no move to comply.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Tesin said.

The officer took a step closer, resting his forearm at the top of the doorframe and leaning down so that he was nearly level with Tesin. “Son, do you have any idea how fast you were going? Now, I’m sure you wanted to impress your friends here, but, let me tell you, talking back to me is only going to end badly. I recommend you hand over your license and registration.”

Tesin laughed—a full, round sound. Morgan made eye contact with the officer, trying to communicate with her eyes that she had no idea what was going on here.

The officer straightened and took a step back. “I’m going to have to ask you to step out of the vehicle, please.”

“Yeah, not gonna do that either,” Tesin said. “But what I’m gonna do is ask you to leave now.”

Morgan looked from the back of Tesin’s head to Wen to Kellen. All she could think about was how she was about to be arrested and how disappointed her father would be that she had gotten into a car with virtual strangers.

The officer spoke again. “I think I’ll be leaving now. Is there anything else I can help you with today, sir?”

Morgan stared at the officer, sure she hadn’t heard him correctly. She then glanced surreptitiously into the seat in front of her, searching for Tesin’s hands to be sure he hadn’t pulled a gun. But Tesin was still sitting just as calmly as he had been during the entire interaction, his hands resting lightly on the steering wheel.

“I think that’ll be all for today, officer,” Tesin said, his voice easy. “I thank you for your assistance. Actually—you know what? There is just one more thing I’d like you to do for me. How about you spin like a ballerina in a pink tutu until I’m out of sight?”

Without missing a beat, the policeman began spinning on the spot, his arms lifted above his head in a graceful arc.

Chuckling, Tesin rolled up his window and started the car back up. He took his time in exiting the parking lot, making sure to get a view of the officer from every angle.

Morgan was transfixed on the man’s twirling figure and could focus on nothing else until he was out of sight. Once Tesin pulled back out onto the road—thankfully setting his speed closer to the limit this time—Morgan turned to Kellen.

“Did he just hypnotize that guy?”

It was Kellen’s turn to chuckle. “Hypnosis? Really? What do you take us for? Some kind of Vegas act?”

Wen shifted in his seat so he could see Morgan. “It’s called Pushing. It’s one of the abilities the Veneret have—one you could have once you fully manifest.”

“When I…?”

“Manifest,” Wen repeated. “When you fully come into your abilities.”

Morgan nodded, not because she understood what he meant, but because she couldn’t figure out how to respond. Instead, she stared out the window. They were in an area she recognized as being mere miles from her school.

Tesin pulled the car into the parking lot of a rather nondescript restaurant. Even its name was unremarkable: Restaurant: American Cuisine. Tesin angled the car across three spaces in the back of the lot before cutting the engine. He climbed out of the car and then moved his seat forward so Morgan could exit. He offered her his hand for balance and when she was firmly on the asphalt, she didn’t release her grip. He looked down at her, a question in his eyes.

“Why’d you do that back there? With the cop?” Morgan asked.

His eyebrows pulled together. “I wanted to show you what we can do. What you can do.”

“Yeah, but there had to be an easier way to do it,” she pressed. “You didn’t need to humiliate that man.”

Kellen approached, placing his hand on the small of Morgan’s back and guiding her toward the restaurant. “What does it matter what Tesin did to him? He’s common.”

“So?”

“So, they’re not like us. They’re inferior. And yet, somehow, they’ve managed to keep the Veneret hiding in the shadows for centuries. Don’t think they wouldn’t do worse to us if they realized what we could do.” When they reached the door, Kellen pressed it open and allowed Morgan to enter before him.

What met Morgan’s eyes when she entered was not what she expected. The inside of the building didn’t look like restaurant at all—at least no restaurant Morgan had ever been to. Everything was bright and white or silver—the walls, the tables, the couches, the curtains. Four people approached them as the door closed behind them: three women and a man. Each one took one of them by the hand and led them to an unoccupied set of couches.

“They’re common,” Wen said, anticipating a question Morgan wasn’t aware she wanted to ask. “Employees, you might say.”

Morgan sat and the man who had led her over sat beside her, busying himself at smoothing her long, red hair. He started at the crown of her head and ran his fingers through to the ends, all the way down her back. Alarmed, she looked at Wen. “Employed to do what?”

Kellen laughed. “Nothing untoward.” He shrugged, running a long finger down the side of his escort’s face, a smile curling his lips. “Not necessarily, anyway.”

Morgan allowed herself to take in the entirety of the room. It seemed as if everyone there had a person attending to him or her the way these four people were attending to Morgan and her group. There was one thing conspicuously missing, however.

“Where’s all the food?”

Kellen laughed again, and the girl beside him echoed the sound. “The food’s right here,” he said, trailing his fingers down the girl’s arm. “Finest American cuisine.”

Morgan’s stomach clenched at the implication. Her eyes went to the necks of the common people attending to them, but she saw no signs of trauma there. “You mean—you’re… you’re…”

Kellen, Tesin, and Wen exchanged glances before laughing. Their attendants laughed too, their voices hollow and devoid of humor.

Wen shook his head. “No. I mean, the whole vampire mythology probably has Veneret origins, but we don’t suck people’s blood.”

“See, the common have an energy to them,” Kellen said, picking up the story. “It’s like the energy the Veneret have, but not. They don’t have any abilities, so they can’t use it. And it doesn’t hurt them if it’s taken away.” As if to demonstrate, Kellen placed a hand at the back of his escort’s neck. Morgan didn’t need any sort of special ability to realize that he was siphoning the girl’s energy, as he’d called it: She suddenly went blank, her eyes unfocused, her lips slightly parted. Kellen’s head tipped back and his body writhed slightly, a faint smile gracing his lips.

Morgan couldn’t watch anymore. She pressed herself to her feet, fighting a twisting sensation in her stomach. “I need to leave.”

Tesin and Wen were on their feet immediately. When Kellen didn’t move, Wen gave him a gentle kick to the shin.

Morgan didn’t wait; she jogged to the restaurant’s door and slowed to a walk only when she reached the parking lot.

Wen was the first to catch up to her. He kept pace with her as she made her way toward the car. “I know it’s a lot to take in.”

“Understatement.”

“I told Kellen it was a bad idea to take you here first thing, but…” He sighed, catching her by the elbow and pulling her to a stop. “Morgan, what Kellen did in there—it’s just one way. For you to manifest, taking energy isn’t something you need to worry about doing. Rely on the energy in yourself and—”

Tesin caught up with them then and Wen’s lips pressed together in a tight line.

Morgan shook her head. “Just… take me back to the Daily Grind.”

On the ride back, Morgan stared resolutely out the window, her head swimming with the new world that was being revealed to her. She couldn’t belong to it. They had to be wrong about her.

But even as she tried to convince herself, she became aware of sensations emanating from her companions. The impressions she received were indistinct, but still stronger than anything she had ever experienced when doing a psychic reading for a client. It was almost like a distinct glow coming off each of them. Kellen’s was the brightest.

When Tesin pulled in to the Daily Grind’s parking lot, Kellen handed Morgan a phone. “Put your number in.

“What? Why?”

He smiled. “So I can call you.” When Morgan made no move to comply, he added, “Please.”

“Look,” said Tesin turning from the driver’s seat so he could see her, “there’s a group of us getting together tomorrow night—”

Morgan saved her number and handed the phone back to Kellen. “By ‘us’ you mean—”

“People like us, yes,” Tesin clarified. “Kellen will call you tomorrow to give you the where and when. I think you should come.”