The Holders

18



“For God’s sake, man!” Taron growled with his usual charm. “What can she do? Tell us what you saw!”

Cormac was still sitting silently, looking at me with something between wonder and humor. I wished he’d stop, as it was getting embarrassing, not to mention that I was just as anxious as everyone else to hear what he had to say.

“I don’t know what to call it,” Cormac said finally, turning to face the semi-circle of expectant faces. “It’s something I’ve never seen before.” He looked to Min who was still standing nearby. “You may put the Block back on her now. Best to keep it there for the time being.”

Min did as she was asked, taking my Sciathed arm in her hands and mumbling over it again. Just as the last syllable was spoken my new sense disappeared, taking with it the awareness of not only my own ability, but of everyone else’s as well. The gentle brushes against my mind were gone, leaving me totally normal once again, and honestly, a bit lonely. Subconsciously, I reached out, searching for the presence of the abilities again, but they were gone.

Jocelyn stepped forward, growing impatient. “You mentioned abilities, Cormac,” he probed. “Is she a Reader as you are?”

“I thought so at first,” Cormac answered, leaning forward. “The way she senses – that is to say, the feeling of each individual ability – is almost exactly the way in which I sense abilities when I Read someone. Initially the only difference between us that I noted was that, while I must have physical contact in order to Read, she was able to sense everyone in the room simultaneously, with no need for a physical touch. But then I noticed the attraction between her own ability to the abilities of those around her. The draw there was most unique, and quite unintentional on her part. And that’s when I saw it.” He turned back to me, placing a hand on my knee. “Becca, do you know what you did there at the end? The connection you forged between us?”

“Yes… I think. What about it? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No, no, not to worry, I was only startled,” he assured me. “But you know what I am referring to? When you made your ability one with mine?”

“Yes?”

“That is your ability,” he said, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Wait, what?”

“In that moment, when your power melded with mine, you were able to use my Reading ability as your own – or would have been able to, if you’d realized what was happening. That is what she does.” He addressed everyone. “She can borrow the ability of any Holder within her sensing radius – I’d say thirty feet or so – and use it as her own. Moreover, she is not limited to just one ability at a time. With all of us here, she could impart thoughts, cast images, and read minds, all the while flying every book on these shelves around the room.”

Everyone else in the room was silent as they processed what Cormac had said, making me the only one to speak. “So, I can do anything that the people around me can do?”

“Exactly. And in turn, were you to be completely alone, you wouldn’t be able to do anything at all.”

“Wow!” was all I could think to say.

“She’ll need to be trained,” Cormac said to Jocelyn, who had begun to pace slowly around the room. “She will need to learn how to use and control each ability individually. Min can lessen the restraints of the Block gradually, that way she can learn slowly and become accustomed to the characteristics and feel of each ability.”

“What about the Iris?” Jocelyn asked. “How does it factor into all of this?”

“I believe that the true power of the Iris is an ability to magnify a Holder’s power.” Cormac stood and begin to gesture with his hands as he spoke. “That is what I believe happened to the rest of us at the test. As the Iris was overpowering Becca, it was giving off residual power that heightened our abilities. Heightened them so much, in fact, that we were no longer able to control them, even with our Sciaths on. That is what I believe the Iris will do for her.”

“Do you mean it will heighten her own ability, or the abilities she assumes from others?” Mr Reid asked, scratching his chin.

“Both,” Cormac replied. “Take you for instance, Reid. If Becca were to use your kinetic ability as her own, she could only ever be as powerful as you are. The same goes for all of us – she can only be as strong at any one ability as the Holder she assumed it from. However, with the Iris in her possession, I believe she will be able use any ability to its fullest extent, no matter the power level of the original Holder.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Mr Anderson mumbled, and I couldn’t help but agree.

I had access to basically every ability in the Holder universe? I was going to be able to read minds, and walk through time, and move things around without touching them, and cast images of anything I wanted, and loads of other stuff, all for the price of one? This was incredible. And way more than I’d anticipated, that was for sure. In any event, the “lame ability” worries I’d told Chloe about this morning were as good as gone.

I glanced over at Alex to try and gauge his reaction to all this, only to find him staring down at the floor, his mind somewhere else entirely. Wasn’t he interested? Shouldn’t he be happy at the way things had worked out? After all, he was the one who’d asked me to stay, wasn’t he even the least bit pleased to find out that I’d have no choice but to stick around for a while? Granted, I’d been planning on staying anyway, but he didn’t know that.

I moved my gaze back to the center of the room, trying to ignore the sudden queasiness in my stomach.

Jocelyn had stopped pacing and was once again leaning against his desk, with his arms crossed over his chest, ruby Sciath shining on his finger. Everyone seemed to be watching him, waiting for him to speak, assuming that he would know where to go from here and oddly enough I found myself doing the same. My hatred of the man notwithstanding, I had to admit he could command a room. Almost everything about him, from his strong air to his steady gaze, gave the impression that he was a man of experience and knowledge. It wasn’t hard to imagine scores of men ready to get behind him and follow him into a battle of any kind, and I found myself wondering if he had ever been a soldier during his two centuries of life.

“It’s clear this is uncharted territory for us all, and we need to make sure we proceed with caution,” Jocelyn began, uncrossing his arms and resting his palm on the edge of the desk. “I agree with Cormac, Becca should be trained.” As he said this, he looked straight into my eyes and as much as I wanted to look away, I refused to be so cowardly. After a tense moment, his eyes moved to the group and he continued, “We will work slowly, training her one on one, beginning with perhaps Anderson, or Alex – someone who’s ability won’t allow her to hurt herself or anyone else.” I could have sworn I saw Alex squirm at his mention. “Agreed?” Jocelyn asked.

“Agreed,” everyone replied, while I sat quietly, assuming that as the newbie I wasn’t yet one of the decision-makers.

“Becca?” Jocelyn asked, looking at me again.

“Yes, fine,” I said, impressed that he’d noticed I hadn’t answered.

“Good,” he said to no one in particular. “The second matter is that of the charms,” he said looking up at Min. “There has been another attempted breach.”

“What?” I asked.

“Another?” Anderson said shaking his head.

“So someone is trying to get in, then?” Mr Reid murmured.

“When did it happen?” Cormac asked.

“Last night,” Min informed the room. “Just past twelve.”

“Could it have been one of the students? Perhaps an accident?” Cormac suggested.

“No, not this time. It came from outside the campus boundary. Someone attempted to use a charm of their own to open a hole in the guard, but they were not strong enough. The guard held, and I have added another set of strengtheners just in case.”

“What about Lorcan, has one been set here?” Jocelyn asked.

“Yes, and I’ve added Becca to the removal charm around the school proper as well. She cannot be removed from either against her will.”

“Her will.”

My will…

My stomach squeezed uncomfortably, and I was suddenly glad I’d only had a Pop Tart for breakfast.

“Good,” Jocelyn said.

“Something will have to be done,” Anderson commented after a moment. “We can’t have Darragh’s bloody scoundrels trying to bust our doors in every other day.”

“Min,” Jocelyn said, turning to face her, “are you confident your guards will continue to hold?”

“I am,” she stated firmly. “The breach attempts thus far have been weak and unfocused; nothing that the charms can’t withstand. I have also changed the guards to keep out, not only those associated with Darragh, but any Holder, no matter the level of their ability. It is the strongest charm I have. I am certain it will hold.”

Jocelyn nodded. “Then I am confident that everyone is safe for the time being. I do agree that something must be done, but we will move slowly and cautiously, at least until we know exactly what we are dealing with.” He shifted his weight back toward the center of the group. “Which brings me to our last order of business. It is apparent that the information we have regarding the Iris is not as accurate as we have always believed it to be, and therefore we must entertain the possibility that there could be more aspects to this that we are unaware of. That is why I propose that we awaken Ryland.”

“Wait,” I cut in over the collective murmur of agreement. “You want to what?”

“Awaken him,” Min said, then to Jocelyn added, “I had the same thought, actually.” Turning to me, she continued. “A Holder has an Awakening naturally when they reach young adulthood. Ryland is still a few years away from that, so what we will do is bring on his Awakening artificially. Force it to happen early.”

“Force it,” I stressed, not at all happy with that term. “That doesn’t exactly sound pleasant.”

“It has been done before with no problem at all. It only takes an hour or so, and then it is over.”

“And why are you doing this?” I asked.

“To make sure there is nothing overlooked,” Jocelyn said. “Considering that none of this has gone as planned, the safest thing for us to do is cover all our bases. The Iris had no effect on Ryland, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he will not still be instrumental to us in some way, and if that is the case, it will be best for us, and safest for him, if we find out now. That way, if any extra precautions are needed, we are ready.”

He might have just been playing me, what with the whole “Ryland will be safer this way” thing, but I had to admit, I was buying it. It did make sense to want to check and make sure Ryland wasn’t harboring any secret abilities or random tricks, especially considering some ancient prophecy had been telling people for hundreds of years that he was. Moreover, if he was still in any danger from this Darragh guy, I wanted to know about it.

“All right,” I agreed, “but I want to be there.”

“That won’t be possible,” Jocelyn said.

“What do you mean it won’t be possible?”

“I’m afraid he’s right, dear,” Min said with an apologetic smile. “The Awakening process is simple enough, but it involves an incredible amount of power, and as fragile as you still are your presence wouldn’t be safe for either of you.” Much as I hated being called fragile by anyone, the fact that it came from short little grandma-faced Min, made it slightly easier to bear.

Mustering as much composure as I could, I addressed Jocelyn directly, “What are you going to tell him?”

“Everything,” he answered. “Or at least everything within reason. There is no need to scare him with details he doesn’t need, but after what he witnessed yesterday, there isn’t much of a way around it.”

“And you really think it’s a good idea to have a ten year-old running around reading minds?” I asked, glancing back at Min.

“Oh no,” she said, “certainly not. Once he is awakened he will have a Sciath, which I will put a Block on just as yours has now. He will not have access to his ability until he is of an age and maturity to handle it.”

Well that was a relief.

“How soon can you be ready?” Jocelyn asked Min, as he walked around the desk and retrieved a coat that was folded over the arm of his desk chair.

“It’s Sunday,” she thought out loud, “so if I begin today, I could have everything ready by Tuesday morning.”

“Let’s make it Tuesday afternoon then, just to be safe,” he said, looking around at everyone as he pulled his coat on. “Say, one o’clock? We will see what happens, and hold off on any more decision-making until then.”

Everyone nodded, then began quietly talking amongst themselves while they stood and made their way toward the door. I got up, glancing quickly at Alex, planning to take this opportunity to walk with him and ask him what was wrong. However, before I could take my first step I was stopped by Jocelyn’s voice as he came up beside me.

“Becca?”

I looked at him, trying not to appear annoyed that he was keeping me from my objective. “Yes?”

“I…” he hesitated, looking down at his hands as he spoke. “I have to go over and pick up Ryland. I put him to sleep last night which means I have to go and wake him. After that I will bring him back here and will explain things to him.” He finally brought his eyes up to meet mine. “You are welcome to be there as well if you wish.”

Well if this wasn’t the proverbial olive branch, I didn’t know what was. Normally, I would have put more thought into my reply, but as, one, I really did want to be there for Ryland’s discovery of all this, and, two, Alex was headed for the door and if I didn’t hurry I would miss him altogether, I decided to be gracious.

“I’d like that, thank you.”

“Good,” he said, with a smile that almost looked shy.

“Should I meet you here?”

“Yes,” he agreed, as we began walking toward the door, only a few paces behind Alex. “Twenty minutes should do.”

We stepped out into the hall where I saw Alex had turned down the adjacent hallway while everyone else had gone straight ahead. Jocelyn gave me one final nod before following the larger crowd up toward the front of the building, while I hurried after Alex, hugging my Sciath to my chest so I wouldn’t jingle like a Christmas elf.

“Alex?” I called when I was only a few feet away. I saw him stiffen at the sound of my voice, and it seemed to take him a second too long to turn around. “Are you all right?” I asked, finding it hard to hide the worry in my tone.

He gave me something that looked like a smile, though it didn’t make it all the way to his eyes. “Yeah, I’m OK,” he said, his voice dry and rough. “Just not feeling well, that’s all.”

“Can I do anything for you?” I asked, almost excited at the chance to help him after all he’d done for me these last few weeks.

He winced for a split second, almost as if my words hurt him – though it was probably just gratitude. “No, thank you. I’ll be all right.”

“OK,” I said, disappointed. “I’m sorry about last night,” I added after a silent moment, hoping he would remember that he’d said he wanted to talk to me and maybe suggest that we talk now. Cheap trick, I know, but I wasn’t ready to let him leave. Something was telling me that he needed me. Consoling, or comforting, or maybe just a friendly ear, I wasn’t sure, but whatever it was, I was more than willing to provide it. The one thing I was sure about, however, was that something was wrong with him – and that something was more than sickness.

“What do you mean?”

“I know you said you wanted to talk to me, and with the way things worked out, we didn’t have a chance.”

“Oh,” he said, barely breaking a whisper. “It’s fine.”

“Maybe later if you are feeling up to it we could–”

“No,” he said quickly, “it was nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” He paused, glancing down. “It doesn’t matter now.”

He took a deep breath and looked back up at me with what I’m sure was supposed to be a smile, but was so hopeless it looked more like he wanted to cry.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked again, hoping he would decide to confide in me.

“I’ll be fine, I promise.” He took step backward. “I’m going to go lie down.”

I nodded, well aware that the direction in which he gestured did not lead to his room. “OK,” I said.

It was OK. It was damn-well fine. If he didn’t want to tell me what was bothering him, I wasn’t about to beg. And I certainly wasn’t about to let him know how much it hurt.

“Feel better,” I called after his escaping form, not even sure if he heard me.

I turned back toward Jocelyn’s office, determined that I was not going to let something as trivial as the fact that Alex didn’t trust me get me down.