Disclaimer: Please be aware that this story has changed1

She stared out the window of her old bedroom, down towards the stables or at least what was left of it. She could not understand why her mother had allowed the house to fall into shambles. She would not have given up the house, whether trying to rid herself of ghosts or not. The thing with memories was that they paid you a visit when you least expected it and they made sure they made their mark. 2

She knew this all too well, she had fought with them those long eighteen months and she had fought with her guilt for ten long years. But she did not allow it to take her, she just kept running from it. She couldn’t keep running anymore. She knew that much, fate had spun its wheel and she had a whole mess in her lap. Her next step was not an easy one, she would overcome the obstacle but she knew it was not going to be easy. 3

Her thoughts drifted to her brother, and she couldn’t help but wonder if her mother had told her about him, that maybe he wouldn’t be where he was now. Maybe she would still have her father. She looked down at her hand, as the familiar feeling of her power draining ran through her. Her body grew cold. She sighed and folded her hand into a fist, and maybe just maybe the things that were happening now would not happened. 4

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She stared into the tree at the large red fruit dangling from its stem. This place was beautiful and everything in it was just the same. She could not find a flaw within its wall and if there was one it was corrected almost instantaneously. She stared down at her hand and could not help but enjoy the rush that was in her veins. He had re-awakened her power and as uncomfortable as it had been in the beginning she had grown accustomed to the rushing in her veins. She had even grown to welcome it. She had yet to use it but she knew its presence was there. 6

Her eyes drifted back up to the glowing fruit and what it would have been like to use her gift. He had said she needed to learn to control her gift, but truth was she was afraid. Now that this gift was alive in her she needed to watch her thoughts because the simplest of thoughts became actions whether she meant them to or not. He had said she would learn balance, she would have to learn a lot of things but for now she needed to learn to use it. Learn the feel of power rushing through her veins and become accustomed to that.7

She closed her eyes and inhaled and exhaled slowly, the anxiety creating butterflies in her stomach. All she needed to do was think of the apple floating towards and command this power in her veins to do just that. After that it should be easy. After all it was just a fruit. She inhaled again and opened her eyes slowly, and was startled to see the apple right before her eyes. She stepped back and stared at the fruit, eyes opened wide. Then just like that, the apple fell to the ground.8

“Concentration, never break it.” She heard him say, “And never, take your eye off of your target, I don’t care how good your memory is.” 9

Her eyes went to the fallen apple and she exhaled sharply. Again she thought of lifting the apple only this time she kept eye contact. She concentrated on lifting this apple and waited and waited. Just when she thought it was not going to lift off of the ground, it rose a few inches above ground. 10

She felt him behind her, his body heat emanating immensely as he breathed down her neck. 11

“Concentrate,” he said after the apple dipped.12

Hard to do with you standing behind me like that, Casey thought but she kept her eye on the apple. His hand ran across her right shoulder and smoothly down her arm, grasping her wrist. She swallowed loudly growing increasingly uncomfortable, what was he doing? His breath on her ear made her jump in surprise and again the apple dipped. 13

“Concentrate, Callahan.” He voiced again running his hand back up her arm before returning it to her wrist. 14

“It’s too difficult,” she breathed trying with all her might to keep the apple away from the grassy earth. He lifted her arm parallel to the apple and once again ran his hand up and down its length. 15

“Feel the power within you, Callahan, feel the way it flows as one with you. And control it.” He said folding the two fingers to the right of her middle finger and her thumb into her palm, “Be at one with this power. Tell this power what to do, allow it to feel as you do.”16

He kept a firm grip on her wrist as he moved her arm from left to right. She stared at the apple as she exhaled exuberantly. His voice was soothing as he continued to move her arm. There was a small rush in her hand as she thought of moving the apple in the same movements. To her surprise, the apple followed the movements of her hand.17

“That’s it, control it, Callahan, feel the power and tell it what you want.” His voice sounded through her head as his hand slid away from hers. 18

She smiled to herself feeling overwhelmed by pride but she kept it abay as she kept the apple afloat. She could feel the rush of her power flowing through her hand and was amazed. This exceeded the power she had felt when he had stood before her, and he wasn’t using his then. She lifted the apple higher, growing more and more confident with each passing second. It travelled over her head, higher yet and above the tree from whence it had come and she twirled it and swirled it, using slight movements of her fingers. 19

This was remarkable. Never would she have thought that she was capable of doing this but now that she was doing it and she saw and felt herself doing it, she wondered where this power had been her entire life. 20

“Control another.” His command was short and stern but along with was a hint of pride he tried to hide. She smothered a laugh and lifted her left hand repeating the same actions as before. This was difficult as the first apple kept dipping every time she attempted to pick another. After many unsuccessful tries and coaching later, she stood under the tree controlling two large red fruit and she wore a great smile. 21

She turned to look into the face of the man that had helped her and stared into nothing. She lifted a brow, and wondered what madness had come across her. She could not have been alone, he was just touching her hand. He was just breathing down her neck. Surely, she could not have made it up, she couldn’t have, and she was too busy concentrating on the apples to have conjured up that little scenario. So where had he gone? He couldn’t have gotten back to the house without her hearing or for that matter seeing. 22

She shifted her hands forward, bringing the fruit with her, examining her surroundings. Nothing. He wasn’t in the garden, wasn’t by the kitchen entrance nor was he below the house. So had she really conjured him up? Great she was losing her mind. 23

The bark of the shaggy brown dog at something made her look its way and she stared up amazement at him sitting in a window seat on the second floor. Impossible. She couldn’t cover the space that quickly yet there he was sitting in a window seat in less than a minute after leaving her. 24

“You see with only your eyes, Callahan. Now carry on.” His voice travelled down to her ears and she sighed. There he was again giving orders and speaking in parables. She looked at the fruit that sat in her hands, she had taken them down when she went looking for him, and let her hands leave from underneath them. They floated in mid air as though they were being tied by a string of some sort. She lifted them higher using her entire hand to control them for the fun of it. She had grown accustomed to the push that happened when she used it, the feeling of power enthralled her. She watched the fruit climb through the air, admiring them. 25

Just as quickly as they rose, they fell from the air and only on reflex did she catch them. She stared at them as they sat in the palm of her hands wondering what in heaven’s name had just happened. 26

“Why did you stop?” his voice came from the window. She looked up to him and met his dark eyes, “I didn’t they just fell.”27

“Again,” he ordered and again she concentrated on the fruit and removed her hands from beneath them but instead of staying afloat they fell to the ground, gravity winning that battle. She bent to pick them up but her wrists were grabbed by the softness of his flesh. He lifted them forcing her to straighten and stand. He turned her palms up to him and stared at them before staring into her eyes.28

“What?” she questioned him, seeing the confusion deep with in his eyes, another emotion he tried to hide but could not do it completely. 29

“You are one with it, feel it, Casey, feel it.” He whispered to her. She stood still relaxing in his grasp but she came to the same realization he probably had. Her gift was gone.30

There wasn’t a trace of it anywhere, she could no longer feel it and she wondered as to why. He released her and ran his hand across his chin, deep in thought as he stared at her. 31

“What has happened?” she asked, when he started pacing back and forth before her. 32

“My theory might be incorrect, just give me a moment.” 33

His wave of dismissal slapped her, hard, but she knew he was just as puzzled as she was. She wondered through the garden aimlessly, making a fist with her hand ever so often in an effort to jumpstart the power that flowed beneath her. But no matter how much she yelled inwardly, and kept telling it to work nothing worked. She slumped to the ground is dismay, sulking as she did, she had come to like this gift. It was incredible and she was certain if she was given more time, she would have come to love the feel of it under her skin. As she thought about love her mind drifted back towards Silence and all that she had left behind. She thought of Eric. For the first time in days, she thought about the man who held her heart. She had not thought of him not because she wanted to forget him but because it pained her when she did, as she pictured his face while reading the letter she wrote. 34

“It is as I have feared.” His voice came through her thoughts again. She looked over her shoulder at him, the question on her face.35

“It is your brother.” He added quickly when she opened her mouth, “No, he is not dead. But I am afraid something terrible has happened to him and because of this you are affected.”36

“Is that possible?” she asked him.37

“Yes, very much so. He is being sedated by a very strong magical sedative. You may have his gift but the gift is his, and as long as his body is alive the gift would still be alive. It is like the human twin telepathy matter only deeper a whole lot deeper.”38

She breathed in, trying to take in all that he was telling her, “So you’re telling me that whatever happens to him, I’m going to feel?” 39

“No, whatever happens to him magically, you are going to feel as though it was affecting him. This sedative that he’s being administered stops him from using the gift or having any control over it. It would have the same effect with you but it should only be momentarily.” He spoke again clarifying smoothly and efficiently.40

She sucked in a breath. It seemed just when things were simplifying themselves they got even more confusing. As though it had heard him speak, she began to feel the tingling of her body as her gift rushed back into her, like a pipe coursing water to a faucet. 41

She sighed and shrugged off the feeling of the gift rushing back through her veins. She believed that all of this could have been avoided had her mother said what had needed to be said. But as Ardan had taught her, things that were meant to be could not be stopped. 42

She sighed heavily, indeed this visit was going to be a long one and hearts were going to be broken and secrets shared. As much powers as she had, the foresight, the spells, she could not even begin to envision the trauma she would create. Silently as she ventured down the stairs and out of the house, as the sun basked her with its glorious rays, she only hoped she had the strength. She only hoped she had the strength to do what she needed when the time came. 43

Today she would see to a few things that needed doing and then maybe, she would be able to shake the feeling that something dangerously horrifying was going to happen.44

_____________________45

He stood on the plot of land between his lair and the tree line that guarded it. He was his hand lifting a stone from its position near the trees and placing it in front of him. He repeated the same action with another stone. His eyes darted to his right when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. As of late every small movement he caught at, it was almost as if he was expecting to find an angry mob ready to burn him to the ground. 46

He knew eventually she would come looking for him. He was counting on it too because he had devised another plan and for it to work, he needed her to come looking for him. He had moved from his previous location with much ease, but he wanted her to turn up in the small clearing. He was running against chance something he hated to do. Although he had tried his hand at exploring the corners of the gift, he hadn’t achieved the answers he was looking for. Over the years, he had indeed borrowed a few newborns, but merely for observational purposes. He really didn’t care what his blood line did once they didn’t try to oppose him, and none of them ever did. They were too caught up in themselves to worry their heads about the where the why and how of their gifts and those who did know didn’t make it their business to come looking for him to answer their questions. The lack of not having Casey was product of poor planning and ignorance on his part. 47

His brother, moments before he had been killed, had warned him that one day he would get what he deserved and when that moment came he would fail when he needed most to succeed. So said so done. He had been so caught up in his own little games while trying his hand at experimenting with the ambient powers that he had forgotten about what his brother had said. That and the very fact that almost two hundred years had gone by and no one even lifted a finger in his direction. And now he was dealing with the consequences, having her brother was more than enough reason for her to come for him. He could easily just give him back, but he didn’t want that. He was going to win this no matter what he had to do.48

He had already taken care of first three stages of his new plan and he was waiting patiently on Casey so that the rest of his plan fell into place. His years of watching and observing were going to cost him now. He didn’t know how long it was going to take before he reaped the rewards of this new plan but he was willing to try absolutely anything. 49

He looked down at the two stones at his feet, sighing to himself, he took a small vial from his waist band. He held it up so that the light from the sun shined through it. Shaking it lightly, he looked at the blue pieces of stone that were inside. The last of the stone that had given him his power, the very thing that had created his beasts and the only thing that could open the portals to the other worlds that existed beyond this human realm.50

He was about to uncork the vial when a small framed human crept up towards him. 51

“Sire, you wanted to know when she made a move to get the boy.” 52

He looked up at the human, if he didn’t have control over them he would’ve mistaken this human before him to be an actual human being. She was dressed in a pair of jeans, a red blouse and a pair of five inch stiletto heels. The consequences of leaving them with half of their conscious, he thought rolling his eyes. He didn’t mind, after all he needed to have them blend in with the rest of the fashion conscious world and if they insisted upon dressing this way, he had absolutely no problem with it. 53

“Has she actually spoken to him yet?” he asked knowing how incoherent they tended to be. 54

“No, when I left she was on her way down to the café.”55

“Very well, you may go.” He said waving her off. 56

“Sire you also wanted to know when the Other awakened.” 57

He looked up at her, and cocked his head to a side wondering if she was trying to anger him, but when he realized she was not he nodded. He’d just killed two birds with one stone and he liked the way things were going. He watched as she walked off back into the house. Glancing back at the vial, he grinned, things were falling together well.58