Veiled (17 page)

“
I am,”
I thought to myself.

“
What? What is it? Are you
OK? Alex?”
Russell sounded
worried.

“
What are you doing,
Tess?”
Alex’s voice was just as clear in
my head as if he were standing next to me. In the background I
could still hear the previous conversation between the other
voices.

“
I…don’t know. I was just
thinking about you and listening to some beautiful music, and
then…I heard voices,”
I told him through
thought.

“
OK, that’s weird. So you
are OK?”

“
Yes,”
I assured him.

“
Can you wait until I’m
done with class?”

“
Sure….”
I waited for whatever was linking us together to
go away, but it wasn’t.

“
I can still hear your
thoughts, Tess,”
Alex said, a little
irritated.

“
Look, I’m not doing this
on purpose, so you’ll just have to be patient while I figure this
thing out.”

He answered by feeling
remorseful. Interesting, I could feel his feelings too.
“I wonder…”
I was
thinking.

“
Tess, are you probing
me?”
Alex asked with amusement
now.

“
Ahhh…sorry…too
tempting,”
I said with shame.

“
Are you okay? What is
going on?” Celeste asked, and I turned to look at her. She had that
same look that I got when I fell through space—I hated that
look.

* * * * *

Chapter 14

“
Oh. He’s gone.” I
realized that Celeste had somehow created enough of a distraction
to sever the link between Alex and I.

Celeste’s eyes grew big and
she looked at me like I was seriously crazy. This reminded me of
Liam and his warning of being taken for freaks, and I had to hand
it to him now, for his visionary outlook.

I grabbed her hand and
pulled her out of class. She reluctantly followed me and demanded
an explanation the moment we were out of class.

“
Somehow, I was able to
hear Alex’s thoughts…just now,” I explained and she stared back at
me speechless. “I don’t know how it happened, but it did! I was in
his head and he was in mine!” I thought this was great and looked
expectantly at Celeste who stared at me openmouthed.

After a moment she seemed
to regain her wits. “You two make quite a pair. He can find you
anywhere in the universe, and you can get in his head.” She shook
her head. “Why did it take you so long to figure out that you two
belonged together?”

“
I don’t know…well, I do…I
was a coward, afraid of change, and losing him like I lost…well,
that’s over now,” I said and looked down.

“
You never lost me, Tess.
I just fell in love. Our friendship will never change.”

“
What if we don’t get to
spend our lives together?”

“
I’ll tell you what.” She
stuck out her pinky. “Let’s sign up to be Angels, if it looks like
we are not going to live at the same time, I promise to be your
guardian and you’ll be mine.” She grabbed my pinky and wrapped it
around mine. “Promise?”

“
Promise,” I said. Alex
and I had a miraculous connection, I wished I could have it with
all of my clan members—but I didn’t—so I guess a pinky promise had
to be taken seriously.

“
Do you mind telling me
what you were doing to me just now?” Alex hollered in the distance
as he approached with Russell at his heels. He wasn’t angry, but I
could tell that he was a little bit spooked.

I glided happily to him and
threw my arms around him. “I have no idea, but isn’t it
great!”

Russell looked at me the
same way that Celeste looked at me earlier and I lost it. “Look…I
don’t know why these things happen to me, but they do…so just…give
me a break!” I barked at Russell.

“
OK…” Russell said in the
defensive and shifted his eyes uncomfortably.

“
Listen, Alex, you can
find her all the time. How do you do that?” Celeste asked
matter-of-fact.

“
I just think of her
and…follow my instincts.” He took a sideways glance at Russell who
was making fun of Alex by mimicking him with goofy
faces.

Celeste looked sharply at
Russell, then looked back at me with a sweet smile. “Tess, what
were you thinking about when you heard Alex?”

“
I was listening to the
music and… thinking about him,” I admitted.

“
OK, so I say that there’s
something there. You two have some sort of bond—very cool
by-the-way. I wish I had some sort of cool connection with Max.”
She pouted slightly. “My guess is that this bond mixed with Tess’s
gift has crossed some sort of boundary. You should go to your Gifts
teacher and ask about this err…new development.”

“
You should have the Gift
of Wisdom, Cel,” Alex said before leaving. She took the compliment
with a shrug and a smile.

Miraculously, Milah,
Augusto, and Sonora were enjoying some time together and not
teaching when we landed on the Gift of Discernment grounds. Milah
signaled for us to come near and Augusto rose from his seat. He
offered it to me, with a sweep of his arms. I thanked him and took
the seat even though I felt no need for it.

“
What brings you back
child?” said Milah with a strange motherly kindness. “And who is
this impressive young man?” she added while eyeing Alex.

Alex looked a bit taken
back by her description of himself as a young man. We were not used
to being called by human terms.

“
This is Alex, my…” I
hesitated, not knowing what to call him other than by his name. I
had never had to introduce him to anyone before. “My mate,” I
finally said quite embarrassed by now. However, something fluttered
within me, once the words came out. Calling him my mate in front of
others made it sound more real.

“
Nice to meet you, Alex,”
Milah said with a wide grin, and Augusto and Sonora did the same.
After all the introductions were made, I wasted no time in
explaining the cause of our visit. The little group of Discerners
nodded calmly while I explained, and then looked pensive for a
while.

Then without a single word,
the three exchanged looks and nodded.

“
But surely, not this
early on,” Milah said out loud.

“
We have to try,” Sonora
responded.

“
Wouldn’t be the first
time,” Augusto declared with a wide grin in our
direction.

“
It’s clear that you two
have a very strong bond; I can see it as you stand next to each
other. Your outer auras blend in perfect harmony. I would not be
surprised if you two found your way to each other, in the next
life. The bond I see and the attraction is too strong. But you said
you could hear not only Alex’s thoughts, but also the words of
those around him as he heard them in his head?” Milah
asked.

“
That’s right,” I told
her.

“
She’s Clairaudient,”
Milah said.

“
Then it is!” Sonora said
as if she were pronouncing a verdict.

Augusto shook his head and
closed his eyes. “We are lumping the two together. There are two
different things going on here,” he said, while he looked at us
with an alarming intensity.

“
What, what is it?” I
asked.

“
Simply this, Tess. Read
my thoughts,” Sonora ordered.

I looked at her with some
apprehension, but obeyed. I closed my eyes and thought about her.
Nothing. I opened my eyes again, hoping that looking at her would
make a difference—but it didn’t. “Sorry I can’t seem to be able to
do it.”

“
Just remember, Tess, this
gift is for the purpose of understanding, try to
understand
me,” Sonora
said with patience. Her face was so kind, she looked like the type
of spirit who would love everyone and never pass judgment without
first seeking to understand their point of view. Then it happened,
as I looked into her eyes, I saw her loving nature, and more…a
longing to be with someone, a loved one who she was parted from.
His name was Kade and he was still alive in their world. He was
very aged and they had two children and several grandchildren. I
could see them in my own head, standing there as if waiting to be
introduced. She felt the separation from Kade almost unbearable and
seeing Alex and I together had reminded her of him.

“
Kade,” I said,
mesmerized.

She smiled a sad smile.
“Yes, Kade,” Sonora confirmed and exchanged pleased glances with
Milah and Augusto. “You can read minds Tess. Just remember, seek to
understand and you will hear.”

“
But it was different with
you than with Alex. I could understand you, but I could hear
him—every word,” I asked.

“
Yes, I know. You did
mention that Alex can find you, he is drawn to you. I’ve seen this
type of bond before, two souls that are meant to be together. It’s
like your own little Link—it will come in handy in mortality. I
wonder how it will manifest itself? It’ll be different when you
cross over,” Milah mused.

“
Very interesting, no
doubt,” Augusto said as he stroked his chin. “You won’t mind if we
look in on you now and then, would you?” he asked with the interest
of a scientist who is about to dive into his research.

“
I…suppose so…” I told
him, feeling a bit anxious about others poking in on my mortal
existence.

Sonora laughed. “Don’t
worry. You won’t even know we are there!”

*****

We flew straight back to
the Square. Apparently our whole clan was gathered at one of the
inner courtyards. It was filled with small tables and chairs, and
in one corner there were three spirits playing some animated music.
Our clan had secured several tables and chairs and had them
clustered together in one corner of the courtyard. There were other
spirits strewn about and they were busy playing games, talking to
each other, or listening to the band.

“
Well, Dorian and I go to
completely different classes. He goes to Visions and I go to
Premonitions,” Valerie said to Celeste as she dealt a hand at the
card game they were playing. “My class is very tough. I have to
fine tune my feelings. If I have a bad feeling, I have to dig
deeper.” She rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Then I have to figure
out if it’s bad as in painful or bad as in dangerous. I also need
to be able to distinguish between my own feelings and those created
by the premonitions—and that’s hard, believe me.” She picked up a
card from a pile and frowned as she studied her hand. “It gives me
a lot to think about, actually. How about your Gift of Faith class,
Cel? I really know so little about how your gift works.”

“
Oh, we don’t practice
anything really, but we did go to the Eternal’s court once on a
field trip, it was soooo beautiful—Tess, you’re going to want to
hear this. Their planet is in a distant galaxy. The closest planets
to them are full of immortals. They get to visit whenever they want
and they take turns playing with the children.”

Valerie’s head shot up.
“Children, what children?”

“
You know…all the children
that die before they reach adulthood, they go straight to the
Eternal’s court and they live there in a state of suspended
development until their parents can come and finish raising them on
their own.”

“
Really? How young are
they?” I asked with interest.

“
All ages, lots and lots
of cute babies. You guys would love it!” Celeste said with relish.
“They look positively edible.”

“
So immortal beings take
care of them?” Valerie asked. “Are they spirits?”

“
No, they are not spirits,
and they are not mortal or immortal either. They are somewhere in
between like the Aeonians.”

“
The who?” I
asked.

“
Aeonians are former
mortals who decided to stay for the duration of Earth’s existence,”
Dane declared sanctimoniously as he looked up from his
book.

“
Are there lots of
Aeonians roaming Earth?” Dorian asked as he hovered above the
group, petting a bird.

“
Only a handful. It is not
a very desirable job and it is not given to just anyone who asks
either. It is a hard life…lonely,” Dane explained and looked back
down at his book.

Valerie looked at Dane for
a moment. She was amused with his vast pool of knowledge. I for one
was enjoying my new ability as a mind reader, though it was not so
much mind reading as it was feeling reading.

“
So what do you do in
class then?” Valerie asked Celeste.

“
We watch a lot of mortals
with the same gift, and see how they use it. We discuss their
actions and learn from their mistakes,” Celeste rattled off without
much enthusiasm.

“
That’s how my class is!”
Alex said. “But we haven’t gone to the Eternals’ court.”

Celeste looked up at him
and smiled. “I know…I know…I shouldn’t complain. It’s just that
some of you have really neat gifts! Mine is…boring,” she admitted
and looked down at her cards.