Elle came over after practice, which helped me stay relaxed while I waited to go over to Riley and Genevieve’s. She apologized for not being able to get rid of her dad last night after the trial. She said he must have known something was up, because he wouldn’t leave her alone and took her cell phone away. But she reassured me that we would spend the next couple of days together before school started. I thought she would have needed to recover after the trial, but she didn’t. She was relieved it was all over and she could finally move on. It was the closure she needed.
After Elle left, Cora and I went over to Riley’s. This time Genevieve opened the door, to my disgust. She was dressed in a form-fitting, short, purple dress, of course, leaving nothing to the imagination. Cora just shook her head. Genevieve’s hair was pulled back into some small braids that formed a type of halo. Horns would have been more fitting for her.
“Come on in and sit down,” Genevieve said.
The once empty room now had furniture in it, but not what I expected. With how big and expensive the house looked, I expected that the inside would be the same when the movers were finished. But it wasn’t. It was simple, nothing flashy at all. The furniture looked like it was taken right off a department store’s showroom floor. Large, black leather couches and matching end tables with lamps made up their family room with a big, off-white, shag carpet under the coffee table; nothing gaudy, just nice.
Cora and I sat down. I caught a glimpse of Cora looking around too. She would love to have a chance to decorate this incredible space. Her mind had to be busy thinking of all the wonderful things she could do in here.
“So, would either one of you like something to drink?” Genevieve asked.
I looked at Cora, shocked. We must have been at the wrong house.
Cora spoke, “Yes, that would be nice, thank you.”
Genevieve didn’t wait for my answer; she walked toward the kitchen. The whole house had an open floor plan so I could see her in the kitchen from the great room. She brought back a tray with a glass pitcher filled with some sort of brownish-orange drink and several glasses with ice in them. I was half expecting cans of pop at room temperature from her.
“I hope you would both like a Palmer?” Genevieve started filling a glass.
“What’s a Palmer?” I asked.
“It’s half lemonade and half sweet tea, named after the golfer Arnold Palmer.”
I still couldn’t get over how Genevieve was acting. Was she putting on a show, or was she under strict orders from Riley not to screw up? What was going on?
“Sorry I kept you waiting. I just got back from football practice. Coach Miller kept us there late,” Riley said as he walked into the room. His hair was still wet from the shower. He had on Winsor Cougars shorts and shirt and a pair of sandals. Riley settled in across from us.
“I guess I should start this off,” I said. “Riley, I’ve decided that I would like to help you two find the 4th, because it seems like I’m not going to have a choice. This will also give me a chance to help protect the ones I love.”
“Nicholas, it’s good that you feel that way. There are still a lot of things that we haven’t told you yet. I’m sure that you’ve heard some of this stuff from Ester and Chase, but we would like to go over it again. Did they talk to you about the Thusian Realization and your Final Sacrifice?”
“Yes, they did,” I answered.
“Okay, but we will explain everything to you in more detail. I’m going to have Genevieve start, because she knows all of the inner workings of the Thusian’s body better than I do.”
Genevieve took a deep breath and started. “You know that Thusians are put on this earth to protect people. When they get this opportunity, it is commonly referred to as their Final Sacrifice, because most of the time this sacrifice leads to their death. Thusian talents are broken into two different groups to help you accomplish this sacrifice.”
“Chase did tell me this part. One is physical and the other is mental. And he also said we can’t draw upon these talents at will.”
“Nicholas, that’s kind of right.” She smiled at me. “Yes, the talents are both mental and physical in nature, but the part that Thusians can’t draw upon their talents at will isn’t exactly true. You have been drawing upon yours for some time. Your full talents will only be used when your Final Sacrifice occurs, but you are also able to use a portion of your talents for self-preservation and to protect others. For example, you walk out in front of a bus. A normal person probably would not hear the bus or have the reflexes or speed to get out of the way, but a Thusian would. We might think it’s a close call, but our talents got us to safety. So you see, our talents will show up during these times.
“A quick side note about the Seekers and Xavier and why they are so dangerous. They create situations that we would normally get out of easily, if we were by ourselves. But what happens if there are other people around us during these situations? We are then compelled to save their lives and sacrifice ourselves, even if it’s not the time for our Final Sacrifice. That’s how the Seekers are eliminating Thusians. They create situations where we will have no choice but to save others.
“Now back to how the talents are divided. Thusian talents are both physical and mental, like Chase explained, but with us,” she motioned to herself, Riley and me, “we don’t just have one or two talents like most Thusians. We have multiple talents that are both mental and physical, which help us defend and fight against the Seekers. When normal Thusians react to a situation, they may be able to do some pretty miraculous things, like a mother lifting a car off her trapped child or a father stopping a gunman from hurting his family. But when you saved Elle and Oliver—that was an example of how you were able to use multiple talents, both physical and mental, to accomplish the rescue in the water. Most Thusians would have died while trying to save them. That’s why Seekers can kill normal Thusians at will, like cats toying with a mouse. Cora was able to keep you hidden from the Seekers and pretty much everyone else, using a single mental ability—just one talent.”
She took a deep breath. I looked away, realizing I had been staring at her without blinking. I was trapped by her words.
She continued, “Thusian talents come from how we are internally wired. We don’t have super powers or possess some sort of magic. We process information faster and more efficiently than other people. Electric signals will direct blood and other chemicals to different parts of our bodies to activate our talents. When we use our talents, our bodies’ physiology changes to aid or protect us. You could say that we are like chameleons, able to adapt to almost any situation. We are able to slow things down around us to help us make split-second decisions. Things aren’t really moving any slower around us, but we are processing things faster, taking in more information. This allows us to slow time down in our minds, making our surroundings seem like they are slowing to an almost-stopped state. Here’s another way to look at our mental talents: we are like super computers,” she motioned to the three of us again, “able to process and analyze large amounts of information all at the same time. Regular Thusians are like home computers, only able to do some complex processes, and non-Thusians are more like typewriters. When we use our physical gifts, adrenaline plays a bigger part of our transformation. We get one hundred times more adrenaline pumped throughout our bodies than the average Thusian. It makes it seem like we have super-human speed and strength. There are hundreds of different variations of these talents, but this should give you a good basic understanding.”
“Why didn’t Chase or Ester tell us this stuff?” Cora asked her.
Riley answered, “Because the Council doesn’t want Thusians to know, and I doubt Chase has a clue. Cora, you can’t tell them any of this. I know that you think Chase and Ester are friends, but you have to understand that what we are telling you is a matter of life and death for so many people. We don’t know who we can trust.”
“Don’t worry, Riley. We won’t.” I spoke up to reassure him and Genevieve, but mostly to l
et Cora know we weren’t going to say a word.
I wanted to get back to what Genevieve was talking about to make sure I understood it correctly.
“So the three of us have multiple talents, unlike other Thusians who possess one or two?” I asked.
She nodded.
“And we have both mental and physical talents?”
She nodded yes again.
“Okay, that should cover the mechanics of our talents. Thanks, Genevieve. Now I need to tell you more about the search for the 4th,” Riley said. Excitement filled his voice. “The person we are looking for will be drawn to us and we will be drawn to them. They will demonstrate all the talents that we have. This person will have more of our talents and will be able to use them better than we can because they were the last of the group, so they get the most. But more importantly, they will not understand what’s going on. The Self-Realization of their talents will seem like one long nightmare, making what we went through look like a walk in the park.”
I couldn’t imagine how theirs could be worse than mine, being sick all of the time and not being able to sleep. I already felt sorry for whoever it was.
“One other thing that’s important to know. The Seekers have the advantage over us right now because it’s three on three. And I believe that they will still have a slight advantage when it’s the four of us against the three Seekers at first.”
“Wait a minute. You said that we needed the 4th Thusian to make it an even fight. Why look for the 4th when Xavier and the two other Seekers are still going to have the upper hand?”
“The reason why they have the upper hand is because if one of the three Seekers dies, they can and will just replace him with the next one in line. Xavier has replaced at least three Seekers since we have been looking for you. But that advantage will become their disadvantage over time, because we value life and each other, where they do not. This will bond the four of us together, making us stronger than all of the Seekers put together.”
“Did you kill them? Those three Seekers?” Cora asked, sounding horrified.
“No, we didn’t, but we would have, because it’s us or them, and I prefer not to die just yet,” Genevieve said. Her attitude had returned, but I had to agree with her on that.
“Besides the three, how many Seekers are there?” I asked.
Riley answered, “We don’t know for sure, but we think that they are maintaining the original one hundred, which includes the three, that were set up by the first Council many years ago. They are very particular in keeping with the old traditions.”
“Riley, why don’t the Seekers just kill the Thusians off using the full one hundred Seekers? Why replace Seekers into this three?”
“Because, again, they like tradition. This is what Keeper Wren said should happen, and they follow everything that any of the Keepers said.” I felt better about what he was saying because that’s what Cora thought.
“I guess I’ll have to have faith that you two are right about that,” I said.
Riley and Genevieve looked at each other with relief. Then I looked at Cora. Her face still looked stiff with concern.
I couldn’t help but think about Cora and what I was about to put her through. Cora and I were both relieved last year to not have to hide anymore, but now we were being asked to isolate ourselves once again. Chase and Ester were the closest Cora had to friends, and now she would have to keep everything from them. This would be harder on Cora than me. I still got to talk to my friends at school. Riley only wanted me, but he was asking Cora to be part of something that she couldn’t help with. I felt horrible; I should have come alone to save her from this.
“Okay, now what?” Cora spoke up.
“Nothing for you, Cora. We just need Nicholas. No offense,” Genevieve said.
“If you want Nicholas’ help, you must have me, too. We are a package deal. There is no way I am going to let him get hurt. He hasn’t yet, and I am not going to back off for anyone. Do I make myself clear? No offense.” Cora said it with the same tone and attitude Genevieve had used. Genevieve smiled big, nodding her head.
“I think I’m going to like you,” Genevieve said, looking at her and curling up on the couch.
“The next thing that we have to do,” Riley motioned to the group, including Cora, “is make sure that we are careful while we are looking for the 4th. We should stay in pairs at all times if possible, because we are vulnerable alone.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. Someone would have to be with me while I was with Elle. No more being alone with her. Well, I guess I really never had any alone time with her before, but at least I didn’t know they were there watching me.
“This will make it difficult for Xavier and the others to attack us,” Riley added.
“Ester said he wouldn’t attack again,” Cora said.
“Of course he hasn’t attacked again. Genevieve and I have been around the both of you 24/7. He is just waiting for his chance.”
I felt like he was out there, but I wasn’t sure Cora believed that. He hadn’t tried anything since the quarry party in the spring, so why would he try something now? She nodded reluctantly anyway, but I knew her real hesitation was in trusting the two of them. We stayed a little longer, talking like we were long lost friends. Even Genevieve was nice. But in the back of my mind, I remembered what Cora had always taught me: never trust anyone, because this could still be a trap.