Chapter 2: <> <> <> <><> My dad is working outside when I appear in the grass, having light lept from Foxfire. Chloral, my father, notices something is up right away. “What’s wrong, son?” he asks. “Nothing.” I forced a smile. “I just…nothing.” “Why are you home so early?” Dad wanted to know. “Oh, uh…” My mind scrambles, trying to find an excuse. There’s NO WAY I was going to tell his dad I manifested as a Mesmer. At least, not yet. My parents aren’t against the ability or anything, but I’m still not ready to accept it myself. “I got a headache, and the guy at the Healing Center told me to go home,” I say in one quick breath. Dad looks a little bit suspicious, but he simply shrugs and says, “Okay, then. Why don’t you go to your room, and I’ll ask Mom to bring you a something to drink?” “Sure.” I start to walk away. “Water or lushberry juice?” Dad calls after me. “Water’s fine.” I throw open the door and attempt to make my way to my room without my mom noticing me, but she does right away. Mom is a hard-to-avoid person. “Grady? What’s wrong? Why are you home so early?” she asks me, snapping her fingers and making a warm cloth appear. She presses it against my forehead as she asks, “Are you sick?” “No, Mom. I just have a headache.” “All right…” Mom frowns. “If you say so.” She snaps her fingers again, making the cloth disappear, and then snaps them once more, making a glass of water appear. She hands it to me. “Here you go. Call me if you need anything, all right? Do you have homework?” “A little,” I reply. I actually don’t have any homework, but maybe she and Dad will leave me alone for a little while if they think I’m doing homework. “Okay. You can get started on that whenever you feel like it. If your head hurts too much to do it right now, that’s perfectly fine. Just go upstairs and rest, all right?” “All right,” I say, and head upstairs to my room. “Thanks for the water, Mom.” The second I get upstairs, I slam my door, stalk over to my bed, and start sobbing into my pillow. I hurt my teacher, plus a kid in my class. They’re probably both in the Healing Center right now. And I’ll never forget the way the kids in my class looked at me, even Terik—with big eyes full of fear and dread. Like they feared me. Like I was a monster. You’re not a monster, I told myself. You’re a Mesmer. But as I stared out my window, hot tears running down my cheeks, I wondered if maybe those words had the same meaning.
Credit to Winter-Rain5 for the cover!
