Blue Violet

chapter 27



Ellie had a horrible time concentrating at school. How am I supposed to focus on mundane details like French verb conjugation when I have Alex at home waiting for me, friends to protect, and this horrible constant fear of losing my new family?

The hands of the clock seemed stuck in time. Lunch was especially difficult. All she wanted to do was talk with Adelaide, Lila, and Nate. But of course they had to act normal for their friends. So instead, Ellie sat next to Brian and Juliette.

“Hey, Jules, anything new at the theater?” Ellie asked. The two girls shared a mutual love of movies, and Juliette knew almost as many old films as Ellie did. Of course, Ellie never mentioned that she’d watched most of those old movies at the time they were first released.

Juliette grinned. “The latest Zach Efron movie is out now,” she said. “It’s great. Two thumbs up.” She mimicked her words by sticking her thumbs up into the air.

Ellie laughed. “Are you sure it’s that good?” she teased. “Or were you just busy watching a certain hunky actor?”

Juliette sighed in exaggerated appreciation. “He’s definitely yummy.”

“I’m sitting right here you know,” Brian grumbled good-naturedly.

Juliette and Ellie giggled. They spent the rest of the lunch period talking about the recent releases and debating the talent of the latest crop of teen actors.

As soon as the final bell for school rang, Ellie made her way outside and to her car. Lila, Adelaide, and Nate were not too far behind. Ellie hid her initial surprise at finding Alex waiting at Adelaide and Lila’s car. Still acting as normal as possible, Ellie sent him a friendly wave. She received a slow, sexy look in return, and her heart danced a little jig inside her chest.

Hopping in her car, she was aware of Alex and the others following behind her all the way home. Once they reached the house, she was headed inside when she felt Alex grab her hand.

She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, receiving an achingly sweet kiss.

“I missed you,” Alex whispered. He buried his face in her hair, inhaling deeply.

“It was only a few hours,” she teased, snuggling deeper into his embrace.

“There’s a pack of murderous Vyusher wolves trying to kill all of us. Give me a bit of a break here. I don’t feel right with you out of my sight. Especially given your tendency to gravitate to near-death experiences.”

“I know the feeling,” she agreed, ignoring his last comment.

With a resigned sigh, they mutually pulled apart. “Better go in,” Alex said.

As they entered through the kitchen and then walked out into the living room, Ellie saw the whole family had gathered and stood waiting for her.

Hugh spoke first. “We’ve discussed everything you suggested and agree that your ideas seem to be our best option.”

Ellie glanced at Alex, who frowned. “You don’t agree?” she asked quietly.

He shook his head and pressed his lips together as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. “I know you’re amazing. But the only time I’ve witnessed your powers is when you were under a pack of wolves being torn to pieces. I just worry about your being at the center of the fight. That’s all.” He shrugged helplessly.

Nodding, Ellie turned back to the room.

“How do you want to start?” Hugh asked.

Ellie had thought about little else all day… just one of the reasons she’d had such a difficult time getting through her classes, and already she had a plan in mind.

“Well… I still don’t know all of your powers, so I’d like to start by finding that out. Then I’d like to spend a little time with each of you individually over the next few days so that I can learn your abilities and try them out a little bit. We’ll see where that gets us.”

“Whose powers don’t you know yet?” Lucy asked quietly.

Ellie took her time answering as she went into the dining room to retrieve a chair. “Here’s what I know,” she began as she sat down. “I know Adelaide sees relationships. Lila sees if people are being truthful. Lucy sees people’s intentions. And Hugh has the ability to heal. I’m guessing the girls got their powers from you, Lucy. Did they inherit anything from Hugh?”

She looked to everyone questioningly. Hugh smiled. Actually, all of them smiled, seeming amused. “We’re not sure yet,” Hugh answered. “Maybe you’ll be able to tell us.”

Ellie nodded. It took years to discover what powers could do, and sometimes centuries to master them.

“Charlotte is a teleporter. Nate is extremely strong…” she continued.

“I’m pretty much indestructible and frickin’ fast.” Nate flexed his bicep and gave it a kiss. Everyone laughed.

“So I guess the only people I don’t know are Alex, who I think can either freeze things or stop time. He refuses to tell me which…” She wrinkled her nose at him. “And Dexter and Ramsey.”

“I’m able to turn my body into metal,” Dexter explained. “Any kind of metal. And I’m developing the ability to turn things I touch into metal. But that’s still a work in progress.”

Ellie nodded, her mind already spinning with ideas for that skill. But she held back her multitude of detail-related questions until she could touch Dexter and find out for herself. She looked to Ramsey. So far, Ramsey was the quietest one of the bunch. The red-haired boy seemed to be extremely intense and generally unsmiling, although Ellie got the impression that he loved all of his family very much.

Ramsey suddenly grinned, transforming his face from good-looking to wickedly handsome. She saw everyone shift position. Ellie glanced toward Griffin.

“Smiles from Ramsey are rare,” he relayed to her telepathically.

Her attention returned to Ramsey as he snapped his fingers, and flames instantly appeared in the palm of his hand.

“Wow!” Griffin exclaimed, sitting forward. “Firestarters are supposed to be extremely rare. My great-grandfather told me about them once.”

“Did he tell you why they’re so rare?” Ramsey’s grin hid behind his intense expression again, as if the sun had disappeared behind the clouds.

Griffin grimaced. “I remember something about it being a dangerous ability that is extremely difficult to control. And it also goes along with volatile personalities, which doesn’t help the control part all that much.”

Ramsey gave a sharp nod. “Got it in one,” he said. A bleak expression momentarily flitted across his face.

“Actually, it’s dangerous for me to even be around my family.” Ramsey glanced around the room. “If I lose control, I could kill them. So I try to stay fairly separate from them and not use the fire. It’s why I’m not in school.”

Ramsey darted a look at Lila, who lowered her eyes and turned her head away subtly. Ellie wasn’t sure if anyone else caught that interaction, but she suspected there was something going on there.

“He finds it easier to control it when he’s with us though,” Dexter added.

Ellie made a snap decision. “Let’s start with you then, Ramsey.”

“No!” Alex and Griffin both shouted.

Ellie frowned. “I have to start somewhere--”

“Then start with a less dangerous skill, Ellie,” Griffin interrupted. “You just finished healing from potentially life-ending injuries… today.”

The frustrated look he leveled on her couldn’t have been clearer. He thought her decision was rash. Then he heard what she was thinking, crossed his arms over his chest and grumbled, “Fine!”

“Nothing’s fine,” Alex said, glancing back and forth between the twins.

“You’ll soon learn that my sister has the ability to reason away every decision she makes,” Griffin said, and glared in Ellie’s direction. “And most of the time you can’t argue with her logic… It’s very exasperating.”

Ellie shot him a superior look. “How many good reasons do you need, exactly?” She then ticked off her reasons to the rest of the room, holding up a finger for each. “I’m done healing. We’re short on time. This skill would be extremely useful in a fight. If it’s hard to control, I’ll need to practice with him longer than anyone else. I might be able to help him learn to control it.” She paused and glanced around the room. “Any other arguments?” she asked sweetly.

“You’re right, Griffin.” Alex obviously felt unhappy about this decision but was just as obviously resigned to it. “That is very frustrating.” He softened the comment with a squeeze of her hand.

“Okay, for this one, I think we take the practice outside.” Ellie hopped up. “There’s a clearing about five miles from here that would be perfect.”