“Let’s say if we ever went to war with humans, you wouldn’t win. Not in a billion years.”
She was frozen, and then leaned back from me. Probably should’ve kept that little piece of knowledge to myself. “What is some of the stuff you can do?”
I met her gaze. “The less you know is probably for the best.”
Kat shook her head. “No. You can’t tell me something like this and not tell me everything. You…you owe that to me.”
“The way I see it, you owe me. Like three times over,” I pointed out.
“How three times?”
“The night you were attacked, just now, and when you decided Ash needed to wear spaghetti.” I ticked them off my fingers. “There better not be a fourth.”
Confusion marked her expression. “You saved my life with Ash?”
“Oh yeah, when she said she could end you, she meant it.” I sighed as I tipped my head back. “Dammit. Why not? It’s not like you don’t already know. All of us can control light. We can manipulate it so that we’re not seen if we don’t want to be. We can dispel shadows, whatever. Not only that, but we can harness light and use it. And trust me when I say you don’t ever want to be hit with something like that. I doubt a human could survive.”
“Okay…” She twisted her hands together, a movement she appeared to be unaware of. “Wait. When we saw the bear, I saw a flash of light.”
“That was me, and before you ask, I didn’t kill the bear. I scared it off. You passed out because you were close to the light. I think it had an effect on you. Not sure why it affected you then and not now. Anyway, all of us have some sort of healing properties, but not all of us are good at it,” I continued, lowering my chin. “I’m okay at it, but Adam—one of the Thompson boys—can practically heal anything as long as it’s still somewhat alive. And we’re pretty much indestructible. Our only weakness is if you catch us in our true form. Or maybe cut our heads off in human form. I guess that would do the trick.”
“Yeah, cutting off heads usually does.” Her hands slid to her face and she sat there, cradling her head. “You’re an alien.”
I raised my brows at her. “There is a lot we can do, but not until we hit puberty, and even then we have a hard time controlling it. Sometimes, the things we can do can get a little whacked-out.”
“That has to be…difficult.”
“Yes, it is.”
She lowered her hands, pressing them to her chest. “What else can you do?”
I eyed her. “Promise not to take off running again.”
“Yes,” she said, and then nodded. Very cute.
“We can manipulate objects. Any object can be moved, animated or not. But we can do more than that.” I reached over and picked up a fallen leaf. I held it between us. “Watch.”
Tapping into the Source, I let the heat whip down my arm to the tips of my fingers. Smoke wafted from it, and then a tiny spark flew. Flames, bright and orangey, burst from my fingers, licking up over the leaf. In the time it took for the heart to beat, the leaf was gone.
Kat rose onto her knees and inched closer. I watched her, surprised. Flames crackled over my fingers. She lifted her hand, placing her fingers near the flames. When she pulled her hand back, her eyes were wide with wonder. “The fire doesn’t hurt you?”
“How can something that’s a part of me hurt?” I lowered my hand, shaking it so the flames were extinguished. “See? All gone.”
She scooted even closer. “What else can you do?”
I watched her for a second, and then I smiled before I moved quicker than she could track. One second I was sitting in front of her, and the next I was leaning against the tree, several feet away.
“How…in the world—wait! You’ve done that before. The creepy, quiet moving thing. But it’s not that you’re quiet.” She sat back, dazed. “You move that fast.”
“Fast as the speed of light, Kitten.” I darted forward and then slowly sat down. “Some of us can manipulate our bodies past the form we chose originally. Like shift into any living thing, person or creature.”
She glanced down and then back up. “Is that why Dee fades out sometimes?”
What the hell? “You’ve seen that?”
“Yes, but I figured I was seeing things.” Leaning to the side, she uncurled her legs, stretching them out. Of course, that drew my attention, because of…well, legs. “She used to do it when she was feeling comfortable, it seemed. Just her hand or the outline of her body would fade in and out.”
I dragged my gaze from her legs and nodded. “Not all of us have control over what we can do. Some struggle with their abilities.”
“But you don’t?”
“I’m just that awesome.”
She rolled her eyes but then popped up straight. “What about your parents? You said they work in the city, but I’ve never seen them.”
I returned to feeling up the grass. “Our parents never made it here.”
“I’m…I’m sorry.”