Catalyst (Forevermore, Book Two) (4 page)

I found my way to Noah
’s room, where I’d hoped to find Mathias since he wasn’t in his own and the boys were practically brothers. The door was cracked open enough that I could hear the two of them discussing the night I had been attacked by James and the rest of the Nefastus group. I cringed at the memory and knocked on the door. Mathias looked temporarily surprised, and then grinned at my presence. He jumped down from Noah’s bed, and shut the door quietly behind me once I was inside. I scanned the vicinity, having never been in this room before. It was cluttered, to say the least. If Eila had thought Jason was a slob, she needed to see this room. Clothing was strewn all over the floor and hanging off of the back of a computer chair, there was an overflowing garbage can in the kitchen area, and the sink was stacked with unwashed dishes. On the walls surrounding Noah’s bed were movie posters and pictures of scantily clad women. I shook my head and glowered at him.

“
Hey, Madison,” Noah said, ignoring my expression. “If you wanted to sneak into my room to be alone with me, you really should’ve waited until night time.”

“
Very funny,” I said with a grimace.

He grinned
. “How’re you liking it here so far?”

With a shrug, I said,
“I like it so far. I just can’t wait to meet more of the members.”

“
Lydia’s somewhere in the building, but you likely won’t have any luck getting her to open up to you,” Mathias said and sat back down on Noah’s mattress.

“
I have had no trouble getting her to open up to me.” Noah winked and we both glared at him.

“
You might run into some of the other members that are hanging around, though. I know that Castus Bowman and Castus Chance returned yesterday from a trip to California.”

“
What were they doing in California?” I asked curiously.

“
Top-secret witch stuff,” Noah answered, smirking when he saw the look of disbelief on my face. “Not really. They were going on a short vacation together … getting away from the chilly Denver weather, I guess.”

“
They’re a couple,” Mathias said, answering my unasked question.

“
So couples
do
exist here in Haven,” I said, “not just sleeping around.”

Mathias blinked in surpr
ise. “No one here sleeps around — oh, you mean Noah. Don’t be fooled by any of the nonsense that drips out of his mouth. He’s full of it.”

“
Hey! She doesn’t need to know that!”

With a laugh, I pushed the dirty clothing off the computer chair and sat down.
“Tell me more about them. Castus Chance and Castus Bowman, I mean.”

“
Elijah Chance is one of the most amazing witches I’ve ever met, I mean as far as abilities go,” Noah said with a hint of excitement. “He can literally break a bone in his body and heal it without need of a doctor. Hell, he could have his leg
sawed off
and it would grow back.”

I looked to Mathias for confirmation, and he nodded.
“Castus Chance holds the gift of regenerative healing, meaning he can rebuild torn limbs or heal wounds — strictly on his own body. Some of the other witches have given him the nickname Starfish, because they, too, can regrow lost limbs. There are consequences, however ... he tends to believe that he’s immortal, but he’s not. For instance, if he was stabbed through the heart, he wouldn’t have enough energy or time to heal himself before he died. He disregards Artemis’s warnings, as well as Forrest’s.”

“
Forrest?” I asked, certain I’d never heard of the name before.

“
Castus Bowman,” Noah said. “Elijah’s boyfriend.”

“
Oh ...
oh
!
” I said and caught them both looking at me. “I just — I assumed ...”

Mathias grinned.
“It’s hard to know the difference between a male and female witch by their Clan name. Elijah’s sister is also here, but she’s not been initiated as a member yet.”

“
Why not?”

“
She hasn’t shown any signs of being a witch,” Noah answered with a disinterested shrug. “She’s like ... what? Fourteen? Elijah came here when he was ten, so their parents are pretty surprised that she doesn’t have a gift yet. It’s different for every witch, though.”

“
Her name’s Eden, and if she does turn out to be a witch and join us, she’ll also go by Castus Chance ... so I imagine it will be rather confusing for us all. I would be greatly surprised if she didn’t have a gift, however,” Mathias explained.

“
Why’s that?”

“
Both of her parents are witches, therefore it’s assumed that any offspring of theirs would also be a witch.”

I nodded and thought of my father briefly.
“What can Forrest do?”

“
He’s even cooler than Elijah,” Noah said, contradicting his prior statement about how amazing Castus Chance’s gift was, then looked thoughtful, “well, maybe not. It’s a tough choice.”

“
You’re doing a good job of making me feel less and less important,” I said with a mock frown.

“
Hey, you already know how rare your type of power is, so get over it,” Noah said teasingly. “Forrest can make copies of objects.”

“
Any object?”

He shook his head.
“There are size restrictions. I think he said once that it couldn’t be anything larger than a car wheel or something. I don’t remember exactly. He mostly uses it to make replicas of weapons and armor for the Clan.”

“
Weapons and armor ... for what?”

“
In case there is ever a war,” Mathias answered.

“
There’s also Iris … I mean Castus Abbot,” Noah said, seemingly unaffected by the idea of a potential war. “She’s a Telekinetic.”

“
She can move things with her mind, right?” I said. “I’ve seen that sort of stuff on TV. Is she the only other girl, besides Lydia and Eden?”

“
She’s one of the few that has stayed over the years. Most of the witches come and go as they please, while others stay until adulthood or they feel fully capable of controlling their abilities.”

“
The only other witch that’s been around long enough to be worth mentioning would be Castus de Quincey.”

“
What can he do?” I asked, growing more and more interested and fascinated by the idea of all of these magical gifts I’d always believed were only in books and movies.

“
He can see the past by touching any object.”

While I wondered what each of these witches was like, Noah began filling me in on a story about Elijah. He
’d returned once to Haven with his arm mangled and twisted in a way that anyone else would have never recovered from, and how nauseating and yet fascinating it had been watching him rebuild the arm to its former self. It had taken almost a week for him to recover from the exhaustion of so much energy loss, which is another reason why Artemis and Forrest try their hardest to stop him from getting into trouble.

“
He doesn’t believe in playing it safe. He’d walk straight into oncoming traffic without giving it a second thought if it meant getting somewhere quicker,” Mathias said and shook his head.

“
That’s crazy,” I said with a gasp. “Wouldn’t he die?”

“
He very well could. But again, he’s determined that he is immortal. I don’t look forward to the day when he finally discovers that’s far from true.”

“
Would Eden have a gift like his?” I asked, trying to get the image of Elijah’s twisted arm out of my head.

“
She’d probably be a healer of some sort, yeah,” Noah answered and leaned back against his pillow. “It usually runs in the family, and both their parents have healing type abilities.”

“
What about Artemis?” I asked. “What kind of healing does he have?”

“
He can heal minor wounds and if he exerts himself to his energy’s limit he can do more, but nothing anywhere near what Elijah can do. Of course, Artemis can heal others, while Elijah’s gift is strictly useful only to himself. Artemis can’t save a life or regrow another person’s limbs for them, but he can mend broken bones and such.”

“
And Castus de Quincey ... his gift sounds incredible. I can’t imagine what it would be like to actually
see
the past through touching something. I mean, I can see the future ... but the past?”

Both boys stared at me awkwardly.

“I know, it’s nothing as ‘cool’ as ripping your arm off and having it grow back, but I think it sounds fascinating,” I said and sat up. “Do either of you know if he’s around?”

“
I—what?” Mathias glanced up at me, looking disgruntled and surprised. He composed himself and shrugged. “He might be. His room number is twelve, you can check there or the lobby.”

After checking room twelve and getting no answer, I wandered down the corridor leading to the lobby, where I hoped to find someone new to talk to — anyone, really. A brown-haired girl I’d remembered seeing during my first visit to Haven was sitting on the sectional with one leg curled up under her. It was Lydia. Her hair fell in a mess of frizzy curls against the back of her black cotton shirt, and she had her head resting in her hands. I stepped further into the room, half-hoping to get her attention without having to say anything, but she was completely zoned out.

“
Ah, I see that Castus Fisher is occupied with her own thoughts again,” said the warm voice of Artemis from behind me. “Don’t let her intimidate you with her cold exterior. She truly is divine.”

Artemis smiled warmly and placed a tender hand on my shoulder, turning me toward Lydia to where I could see her eyes. They were a natural colo
r at that moment—a dark blue that reminded me of sapphires, yet they were so empty.

“
She seems so out of it, like she’s barely there at all.” Just like Eila had seemed …

“
Zoning out like this is her way of coping.”

“
Coping with what?”

Artemis cleared his throat, as if to see if
it got Lydia’s attention. She didn’t even flinch. “Castus Fisher arrived here roughly five years ago, on a whim, in hysterics. It was difficult at first for me to understand a single word she was saying, but after an hour of calming her down with a cup of tea and assurances that we could aid her here, she relaxed enough to explain what happened. She had thought she was going mad. Her parents couldn’t remember who she was and swore they had never had a child before. They were so startled by her presence in their home that they forcefully kicked her out. They weren’t the only ones who seemed to have forgotten who she was, and she had been devastated.

“
I explained to her that she was a witch — and a strong one at that; I could sense it, just as I can sense that you are. She possesses a very unique gift that, while it is rare, is highly unfavorable. Castus Fisher is a memory-manipulator.”

My eyes had gone wide and I was staring, transfixed, at the bushy-haired girl on the sectional. She was sitting directly ahead of me but was so focused on whatever was on her mind that I may as well not have existed.
“What’s a memory-manipulator capable of?”

“
Many things. The Nefastus could actually use such a gift to their advantage, but they do not know of her, as far as I am aware. Unlike regular manipulators which solely focus on physical manipulation, a memory-manipulator can steal, replace, or insert memories in anyone’s mind.”

I gasped in surprise. The idea
of such a gift was terrifying — I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have my memories stolen or replaced. Then again, I wouldn’t even
know
that they had been.

“
Unbeknownst to Castus Fisher, she made the mistake of wishing she’d never been born, while surrounded at a birthday party, by friends and family. It wasn’t until after the celebration that her parents noticed her hanging around once the event commenced and they grew suspicious. All memory of her birth and life thereafter had been removed from all of the guests’ minds. A mind-manipulator must be extremely careful with what they think or say ... that is why she zones out like this, in order to keep her mind blank. It is also why she avoids everyone as much as possible.”

Looking at her, I felt a twinge of despair and need to comfort her. She must have had a terri
ble time adapting to life in Haven, not being able to make friends because she was afraid she would lose them with a mere thought. She didn’t look unhappy, just lost.

“
Could she just replace those lost memories?” I asked.

“
It’s not possible,” he said grimly. “Once a memory is removed, it cannot be restored.”

“
Where do the memories go ...?” It seemed like a silly question and I briefly wished I hadn’t asked.