“Are you gifted?” Noah turned interested eyes towards me.
I looked at him with narrowed eyes. Then I finally said. “I may be but it…comes and goes. Can you help us figure out what he may have?” I said trying to push the attention back on Gavin.
Noah was shrewd, too shrewd. “Why won’t you ask Collin?”
“Ask me what?” Collin came through the classroom door. “Hey babe,” he kissed my temple, before looking suspiciously at Gavin and Noah. “I heard you got into a little trouble today, you naughty girl,” he tapped the tip of my nose playfully, but I could see anger in his eyes. I assumed he got his butt chewed out by Zach for not watching me closer. “I think you need to reconsider this audition. You have plenty going on as it is. Now, back to this question, hit me.”
I bristled under his stare. I was willing to play the game, but not by their rules. “We can talk about this later,” I replied coolly.
“I was just telling them if they have any issues figuring out how to log onto the school website to pull up any of the past assignments, they could come ask you. Well, Blake.” Noah lied glibly.
I sighed internally, relieved.
“Yeah, no problem, you can even use my laptop, at home,” Collin said pointedly. “Gavin, you can swing by as well, if you’d like.” He said with a welcoming smile, that never reached his eyes.
I looked at Collin suspiciously. Realization slowly dawned. Zach wanted Collin to spy on him as well.
Gavin smiled warmly. “Thanks man,” he held out his hand for a shake. Collin took it and shook it. “Maybe another day,” I almost sighed aloud once more. “I promised my mom I would stop by the store for her tonight and we have a big family dinner planned.”
“Great, another day then,” I said cheerily. “We have our own shopping to do tonight, so I can cook us some real food,” I playfully winked at Collin. “Are you skipping your last class?” I asked him innocently.
He shook his head, clearly irritated. “No, I gotta run now.” he looked down at his watch. “Meet you at my car at 3?”
I nodded.
He didn’t look like he wanted to leave us alone, but he left reluctantly. “Make sure you get his number, if you haven’t already,” he called over his shoulder, his voice casual.
Gavin and I looked at each other pointedly.
“So, as I was saying,” Noah stood up and walked towards the door. “Just enter your student id number under the performance arts tab and everything we’ve covered thus far will pop up. In addition to any assistance Collin may give, I’ll give you my number as well,” Noah peered into the hallway, he seemed to be satisfied and then he closed the door.
“What the hell is going on?” Noah asked with rare seriousness.
“When I shook his hand, I felt a…void,” Gavin whispered fervently.
“You would,” Noah said quietly. “He has a gift that allows him to…take someone’s gift away.”
I gasped and looked at Gavin once more, understanding dawning once more. “How does that work? Does he touch…anyone and it leaves? Can you project it to certain individuals? And what about Gavin? He can see when someone’s gifted, and earlier he was able to… stop someone from using theirs.”
Noah looked at both of us and finally said. “He can project it to whomever he wants, within reason and distance. Now,” he turned to Gavin and looked at him, his brows furrowed. “When you say you stopped someone, how? And what do you see?”
We looked at each other once more, and I nodded to Gavin to go ahead.
“Someone was trying to prevent another person from talking and moving. It…angered me and I could feel their energy in them, so I pushed them out,” Gavin told him.
“Hmm.” Noah seemed to know Gavin was talking about me, but he must have realized there was a reason we weren’t telling him everything.
I longed to. I wished I could tell him everything, but I knew how skittish he had been before. I didn’t want him to run if I revealed to him the whole truth. I needed to handle him with kid gloves.
“I assume you know I’m gifted?” Noah asked Gavin hypothetically. “Unfortunately, my gift is only used through touch and not projection. It’s hard for me to pin point what gift you may have by using my gift. Honestly, even being a TA, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a case like this.”
“Why do I keep hearing that?” I muttered peevishly. I was an anomaly. Gavin was an anomaly. We were different. But unlike me, Gavin needed help now. The sooner he began working on his gift, the sooner he could protect himself from people like Collin and Zach.
I put him in danger by association. I needed to help get him out.
I looked over at the desk and saw a pair of scissors on Noah’s desk. I calmly removed my jacket as the guys looked at me with puzzlement. Slowly, meticulously I opened them up and took the sharp edge, slicing it across my forearm. Immediately my skin opened and blood came out.
“Blake!” they called out in concern.
Noah went to place his hand on it, but I stopped him. Instinctively I knew what needed to be done, although my understanding of the gifts was limited at best. Something Noah had said about Collin had made the wheels in my head turn.
“No, Noah, not you,” I said insistently. “Gavin, can you try to tap into Noah and then place your hand on my cut?” I hissed because it was starting to sting now that my adrenaline was wearing off.
Gavin looked hesitant but grabbed Noah’s shoulder with the one hand, while he placed his hand on my forearm. Within moments I felt the warmth spread through his hands onto my skin. The stinging went away, and I felt normal once more.
“Holy crap you’re an imitator!” Noah exclaimed. “How did you—” he began before students started coming in for the next class.
“Let’s go, we have to clean up,” I explained, holding up the dried blood on my forearm, with an apologetic smile towards Noah. As an afterthought, I leaned in and whispered, “Thanks for keeping our secret.”
He grudgingly nodded, his eyes full of questions.
Chapter 6
Just as predicted, the next few weeks were filled with playing catch up. Collin was even more clingy. I couldn’t even go on my runs without him tagging along. Any sense of solitude was taken from me. The only time I had to myself was in class and on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I had to wait for Collin to get out of his classes.
Any attempt at suggesting getting a job was shot down. I had hoped to find employment for Tuesday, Thursdays, and the weekends, but Collin had argued I had no time to devote to a job, since I was so busy with my school work. He promptly opened a bank account for me and gave me a debit card, so I could have money for food when he wasn’t around—not that that happened very often.