CHAPTER 2
“Hey there Squirt! About time you remembered how to get home.”
Carson looked up from the table as a man walked into the room. Tall, well over six feet, her brother Cayson had broad shoulders and tight abs. His frame was full of muscles that bulged and strained with every movement, tapering down to a trim waist before becoming lost in the tight pants hugging his long beefy legs. Letting the spoon fall back to her bowl, she pushed back, flinching as the wood made a high pitched squeak on the slate tile floor.
“Hey there Goliath. Good to see you too,” she called out then stretched. For the hundredth time she wondered why the males of her people were all muscle clad hunks while all the women were so petite and tiny. She understood about metabolism and how it kept them all lean and trim, but at least she would hope for a little height. At only five foot four and a half, she barely came to her brother's chest. He was her twin? There was nothing that would give that away other than his eyes and hair being the exact same as hers – Deep vibrant green eyes topped by thick black glossy hair. Even the little ringlet over her eye was exactly the same as his. He had the chiseled square jaw of their father, and she the slightly oval of their mother's. She inherited their father's too straight nose where his was slightly upturned just like Mother's. They both possessed high angular cheekbones which looked regal on him but make her face seem harsh. She sighed tossing her long tresses over her shoulder then quickly twisting it into a knot at the nape of her neck. She looked at him, her eyebrows furrowing when she realized she couldn't detect anything from him – that was new since she had last seen him. Seems he was finally learning that control he so desperately needed.
The smirk that had marred his features slowly melted and his beautiful face split into a huge grin. Taking two steps, he stood beside her, reached down and grabbed her up in his arms, pulling her tightly in his strong embrace. “Welcome home, Car,” he grinned. “What are you doing up so early? Where's Mother?”
“Let me go,” she squeaked at him. “You're crushing my ribs!”
He laughed. “No, I'm not,” but he let her go anyway. He mussed her hair and she growled, smacking him in the arm.
“Mom left early to go into Rocky Bluff. She said she'll be back after lunch.” She sighed. “You know I wouldn't normally be up so early except Poppa summoned me to his office. Maybe now I'll find out why he called me back home before my training was finished.” She grinned. “I wish you could have seen Manna's face when I got the message to come home. She was not happy.”
She took a step back from the imposing tower of muscle and sinew that was her brother and leaned against the table. One ankle casually crossed the other, both hands on the table behind her as she scrutinized him. “You have gotten bigger, little brother,” she teased him. “I didn't think it was possible, but you have actually gotten bigger.”
He snorted and grabbed a huge serving bowl from the cupboard along with a large nylon spoon and sat at the table. The chair under him groaned in protest then settled to a whimper as he dumped the rest of the box of cereal and almost a full gallon of milk into the bowl and dug in. Carson watched him, shaking her head in disbelief as he shoveled mountains of it into his mouth and chewed. Cayson had always been a big eater. It had been a joke of their family that the reason he was so big and she so petite was because he had taken their entire mother's nourishment. But she got the last laugh. She was born first and therefore, making him the 'little brother' she often teased him with.
“I may be the little brother,” he mumbled around a mouthful of cereal, “but I can still beat you and you know it.”
She huffed when she realized she hadn't spoken out loud. Technically he couldn't read minds, but picking up on their emotions, he could usually figure out what they were thinking. It still spooked her. “You know I hate it when you do that,” she growled at him as she snatched up the remains of her own breakfast, dumping the bowl's contents in the trash and then washing it.
He shrugged. “Not my fault. I never asked to be an empath. I can think of a lot of things I would rather do with my life than to feel every emotion from everyone all the time.”
The hurt in his voice stabbed at her heart. Throwing the dish towel on the counter she went back to him and wrapped her arms around his thick neck, leaned in and kissed his head. “I know,” she whispered, then closed her eyes laying her head on his. He had stopped eating and pushed the mostly full bowl back away from him. They remained motionless, both of them thinking the same thing. Fate was a fickle bitch and she was no doubt chortling at the fiasco that she had made of their lives.
.-~*~-.
3 Years earlier
“Come on little brother! I'll race you down to the clearing.” Carson had thrown the challenge out over her shoulder even as she was already running. There was a growl and then the heavy thump of footfalls as he took off after her. She loved the chase – always had and this one was no different from any others. Cayson may be bigger and stronger, but she was faster and even without a head-start, she usually won.
Drawing a great lungful of the twilight air into her body, she ran as if the hounds of hell were in hot pursuit instead of her brother. Bare feet making no sound on the soft earth under her, she gasped as a heavy hand landed on her shoulder and they went down in a tangle of arms and legs, rolling head over heels. They skidded to a stop at the pile of wood that would later become a massive bonfire. Disentangling herself from him she sat up, still laughing, and threw her arms around his neck hugging him tightly. “You're still second best,” she teased him.
“And you're still a brat,” he retorted but a huge smile lit his face.
“If you two are through acting like a couple of pups, I need some help here.”
They looked up and started giggling as their mother stood over them, one fine blond eyebrow arched in disappointment at her only children.
“Sorry Mother. As always, Cayson was the first to bow to her will. He was firmly a momma's boy, whereas, she could wrap their father, the alpha of their pack, around her little finger whenever she wished. The two of them together were deadly.
“Mmmhm,” Mother shot them one more withering glance then turned to bark orders to the men moving huge tables into the clearing and setting up chairs. “Marcel, make sure the tables are far enough away so people don't get a face full of smoke but close enough that they can see. David, get some more torches. I want there to be plenty around the food tables. No! Ashley, the sound system needs to go on the left side... no your OTHER left. I swear, where is your brain?”
The twin terrors, as Cayson and Carson Hennison were known to the rest of the pack, slowly started to creep back away from the hustle and bustle only to be stopped a few short feet from the wood line. “Where do you two think you are going? May I remind you that this is all for your birthday?” She glared at them daring them to move. Looking at each other, they burst into another gale of laughter. Mother opened her mouth to reprimand them again when her attention was pulled to away by another question. In the moment it took her to turn her face away from them, they disappeared.
“You two better be back here, washed and dressed, including shoes, in an hour!” she called out to them.
Mother was in her element and any event at Sapphire Lake would never fail to be a work of art. Her parties were legendary, but so was her temper, especially when it came to her children. So an hour later, they presented themselves, freshly scrubbed, and ready to receive their guests.
The evening was perfect, as was expected. The night sky was partially cloudy with a bit of wind, but not even nature herself would dare spoil a Miriah Hennison event by raining. The revelers danced, ate and cavorted around the massive bonfire in celebration. Watchful adults kept keen eyes for teens who tried to sneak off into the forest for a little alone time. Even though the full moon hid shyly behind the puffy clouds overhead, every person there could feel its sultry pull. The mounta
in of food was finished, presents given and the smaller children put to bed, giving the night over to more mature members.
The soft crack and pop of embers couldn't pull Cayson's attention away from the smoky violet eyes of Amanda. She was just so beautiful with her long blonde hair, long eyelashes and soft pouty lips. He may only be sixteen, but already he knew that she was his life mate – they were just waiting on the telltale mark to appear to confirm it. “I love you Amanda,” he whispered against her ear as they moved together to the sounds of some soulful blues tune crying across the clearing. Nuzzling against her cheek, he heard her say “I love you too Cayson,” and his heart felt like it was going to burst.
“Happy birthday, Carson and Cayson!”
Cayson looked up and grinned at the well wishes. “Thanks,” he shouted then turned his eyes back to Amanda, thinking maybe they could go for a midnight swim at the lake. He thought she would like that.
The clouds parted at that exact instant and a single beam of pale moonlight stabbed the area bathing them all in its eerie light. At once, a scream that would make a mosh pit flinch erupted in Cayson's mind, tearing into his psyche until he dropped to his knees and threw his hands over his ears. Opening his mouth he tried to force the pain/sorrow/fear/joy out of his brain but it dug in with long talons and held on with a death grip. He was dimly aware of a tingle electrifying every nerve of his body as if he was about to shift, but skin and hands were not replaced with fur and paws. He only had a moment to question it before another burst of agony lanced through his skull and then everything went blissfully black.
From the other side of the bonfire, Carson had glanced over just in time to see her brother scream and drop to his knees before falling prone to the ground. Amanda lay writhing beside him, her eyes open wide but seeing nothing. All around them, friends and family gasped and screamed, running towards them. She hesitated just a moment then yelled for her parents as she flew over the dying fire and dropped next to her fallen twin. Touching his arm gently she whispered, “Cay?”
Something happened. One moment she was kneeling next to him and the next she was bombarded by images in her mind. They flew by too fast to make any sense of, just a glimpse here and there. She would almost understand one as it flashed on the screen of her mind, but then disappear to be replaced by another. Along with the pictures, she felt a mixture of emotions washed in color. There was pain, hot and white as the center of the bonfire. Intermingled with it was the black oily dread of fear, deep velvet red of love, green jealousy, orange hate and joyful blue. She thought for a moment how strange it was that emotions had color. The images flew faster and faster until they became a blur of rainbow nausea. Eyes rolling back in her head, she groaned and collapsed to join her brother on the cool ground.
It was two days later before Carson awoke to the soft sounds of someone talking. Blinking her eyes against the harsh light abrading her sight, she turned her head towards the soft words and blinked a few more times. Her vision slowly cleared and could discern the smiling craggy face of Molly. The pack's healer was standing over her as she leaned heavily on a hardwood cane. To say Molly was old would be an understatement, but she was also very wise and knew more than most half her age. Her hazel eyes held a world of knowledge and remained clear and sharp.
“There you are,” she grinned showing all six of her teeth and too much gums. Reaching out she patted Carson's arm gently and slowly lowered herself into the chair.
“Wh... where's Cay...?” Carson wrinkled her brow again trying to get her mouth to work.
“Cayson is already home and Amanda is right there beside you,” she pointed to the next bed. “I'm hoping she will come around soon, but I really don't have any idea when she will.”
“What...,” Carson swallowed as her voice cracked.
“Happened?” finished Molly. “Well it seems you two came into your gifts rather unexpectedly at the party. As you know, many of our people receive their gifts during a full moon. But to receive them when you are both so young...,” She shook her head and looked behind Carson at the still form of Amanda. “She was caught in the backlash of Cayson's empathy. “Her old face turned sad a moment. “She hasn't shown any signs of awakening.”
Carson blinked her eyes a few times finding it didn't take quite as much energy as before. “Empathy?” She croaked then swallowed. “Cay's an empath?”
Molly nodded. “And what about you? What happened to you?”
Slowly, the girl recounted what she could remember. The dance, the moon, then that scream, jumping the fire and touching her brother's arm. She found it hard to explain exactly what she saw and felt – colors and emotions, pictures that flew by too quick to understand. Molly listened then nodded and moved a bit closer. Setting one old gnarled hand on the covers next to Carson she leaned in making sure she had the girl's attention. “Place your hand on mine and close your eyes. Think about my hand, how it feels under yours. Follow the flow of my energy, open your mind and tell me what you see.”
Carson would have laughed had the look on Molly's wizened face not looked so serious. Instead, she merely nodded and placed her hand on the healer's and closed her eyes concentrating. At first she felt silly, but then she saw a flow in her mind, like a river made up of pictures. Concentrating on one of them, the fuzzy image expanded. She looked around and noticed she was standing in the middle of the common area of their compound with a group of people but none that she could recognize. She was confused for a moment – who were these people and why were they in their village? There was a commotion and she turned her head to see a vaguely familiar man walk out onto the porch of a small cabin. “They're gone,” he stated. “Good riddance!” and walked down the steps. Slowly the group disbursed.
Carson gasped as she was forcefully thrown from the image and found herself sitting up in the bed. She felt bone tired and the hand lying casually on Molly's was shaking uncontrollably. Molly was watching her intently.
“What did you see?”
Laying back, she explained as best she could what she had experienced. “I was standing in the commons and people were watching a man come out of a house. He said something about being gone and then I was back here.”
Molly smiled. “I thought as much.” She pulled her hand out and fixed the covers. “You, my dear, are a dreamer.”
She was a dreamer? Of all the gifts that sometimes were granted to Luna's Children, being a dreamer was considered to be one of the strongest. The ability to see bits and pieces of someone's life is a wonderful asset for a pack and its alpha. Molly gently laid her hand on Carson's arm and gave her a smile. “You get some sleep now. “
“I just woke up,” even she could hear how shaky her voice was.
“And you need to go back to sleep. I'll take care of letting the Elder Dreamer know about this. But for now, sleep.” She placed one hand on Carson's forehead.
Sleep stole across her consciousness and she surrendered to it. The next time she awoke, Amanda was no longer in the next bed and she had a new visitor. Elder Dreamer Manna had come to collect her. Barely able to take time for farewells to her family, she was bundled off to the dreamer's compound in upstate New York to learn how to use her new gift.