The Guardian (The Gifted Book 1) (27 page)

43
Confession

Rhea, Randell, and Daen joined Pam and Ander in the kitchen to help prepare lunch. While they were training, Pam had stuffed herbs under the skin of a couple roasting chickens, the ones she'd taken from the freezer the night before, and placed them in the oven. The aroma filled the house.

Rhea was put to work peeling potatoes and Randell chopped them as she finished, putting them in a pot of water to boil. Daen snapped the ends off fresh green beans and Ander peeled and sliced apples for pie. It was a domestic scene Rhea had never experienced before
, but she loved it.

Pam finished assembling the pie and popped it in the oven after removing the chickens. About
twenty minutes later, the potatoes were ready for mashing. Pam put Randell's upper body strength to work.

Randell gently complained
, "You know we can use the mixer for these."

"I know
, but I like to see you work." Pam winked at him and pulled an oven dish from a cupboard. "Here, put them in here and cover them when you're done."

All their work was done just in time for the doorbell to ring.

Rhea looked at her watch. "That would be my parents." She followed Ander and Pam to the front door.

The front door stood open
, allowing Rhea to see her parents through the screen in the storm door. "Mr. and Mrs. Canton, please come in," Randell's father said. "I'm Ander Young." He pushed the screen door open, "And this is my wife, Pam."

"Hello. I'm Christine Canton and this is my husband
, Brian."

"Mom! Dad!"

"Rhea!" they said in unison.

Rhea gave each a hug. "It's so good to see you."

Pam gently coaxed them out of the foyer. "Let's go to the living room and sit down."

Randell and Daen were already in the living room
, waiting.

"Mom,
Dad, this is Randell Young and Daen Mallaur."

Hellos and handshakes were exchanged.

Pam motioned towards the couch under the window. "Please make yourself at home. Would you like something to drink? Coffee, tea, or cola?"

Christine nodded. "Coffee would be nice. Thank you."

Pam headed to the kitchen.

Rhea turned to follow. "I'll help you."

Rhea's parents watched her scurry from the living room. Brian looked puzzled. "Something has her upset."

Christine nodded. "She was so insistent that we come here to talk to her and now she runs out
of the room?" Christine looked at Randell and Daen. "Do either of you know what's going on?"

Daen and Randell glanced at each other, neither knowing what they should say.

Brian could see they weren't going to volunteer any information. "You're Randell, right?"

Randell nodded.

"How do you know my daughter?"

"I was one of her professors. We met about three weeks ago when I was asked to fill in for a colleague who needed to take emergency leave."

Christine cleared her throat. "At our university, befriending young students is frowned upon."

"Oh! Yes. I assure you that is the case for us as well. It's just ... once you hear the full story, you'll understand."

Christine turned to Daen. "And you know my daughter how?"

"I'm Randell's friend. We share an apartment in town." He knew he wasn't being very helpful
, but like Randell said, the story needed to be told before Daen said much more about himself and his ... connection ... to Rhea.

Brian said, "I understand this gathering has something to do with my daughter's biological parents. Would either of you like to fill us in?"

Randell shook his head. "I think we should wait for Rhea."

Brian turned to Ander, his last opportunity to get
some insight into the reason they’d been called to this home, before their daughter returned.

Before Brian could ask another
question, Ander asked one of his own, hoping to delay. "So, what is it you two do for a living?"

Brian answered, "We're professors."

"Oh, that's nice." Ander was at a loss. They weren't making the small talk easy. "In what field of study?"

"School of Arts and Sciences. We're physics professors."

Ander raised a brow. "Impressive."

~~~

Pam pulled a tray out from a lower cupboard and started to load it with coffee cups.

"How can I help?"

"Can you get the creamer from the fridge and the sugar from the table?"

Rhea went to work. "Do you have any advice for me? A direct approach or slow and easy?"

"I can't say. You know your parents best. Whatever approach you choose, I'll be there to back you up." She paused in what she was doing. "I remember what it was like when Ander told me what he could do. He was so sincere it was hard not to believe him. Until Daen came along with his active gift, I simply chose to believe what Ander and Randell said they could do." She picked up the tray. "Can you carry the coffee?"

Rhea hesitated for a moment.

Pam sensed Rhea's reluctance to follow. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just nervous. There was a time when my parents wanted to get me psychological help when I was convinced there was a creature in the shadows watching me; you remember, the story we told you about Lanne. Anyway, ever since that day, I've pretended not to see anything in the shadows. Now I have to tell them I've been lying to them this whole time." Rhea sat at the kitchen table and placed her head in her hands. "And there isn't any reason to think they won't find me nuts when I tell them now."

Pam sat with her and gently pulled Rhea's hands into her own. "They'll believe because they won't have a choice. With or without us by your side, you have proof that you're special. But don't worry; we'll be there for you." She patted Rhea's hand, then stood and picked up the tray.

Rhea grabbed the coffee and they headed to the living room.

~~~

Christine looked up as Rhea and Pam entered the room. "Rhea, I don't mean to be rude
, but we're quite anxious to learn what couldn't wait until you got home." Her words told Rhea she was interested, but her eyes were worried.

Rhea didn't say anything. She busied herself by pouring the coffee, all the while trying to formulate what to say.

Brian took the coffee from her shaking hands. "Rhea. Sit down, please." His voice was calm but firm.

She sat on the floor at the end of the coffee table.

Brian continued, "Just say it."

Rhea swallowed hard and dove in. "When I was nine, you caught me on the floor
, looking into a shadow. To keep from being sent to a doctor, I admitted that nothing was there and I promised not to bring it up again." She took a deep breath. "I lied. I can see another world in the moon shadows. I can talk to ... the people ... who live there." She switched to Aduraun. "I can speak their language."

"What did you just say?" Christine was confused and scared for the sanity of her daughter. And now
Rhea was speaking gibberish.

"I said, in Aduraun, that I can speak their language. I can do this and other things because ... I'm ... from the world in the shadows. I'm from Luxatra."

Brian and Christine didn't move. They sat, dazed and concerned, staring at their daughter.

Pam cleared her throat. "I know it's a lot to take in all at once, but I assure you, she's not crazy. She's telling you the truth."

Rhea nodded. "We can prove it." She looked to Daen.

"I'm from Luxatra as well. She was sent here
, to this world, because she was, is, in danger. I was sent here to help her."

Brian was shaking his head. "You're pulling our leg
, right? This is some kind of joke—a bad one, but a joke all the same."

Daen raised his hand
, and within seconds, a blue energy ball formed.

Christine and Brian's eyes we
nt wide, as if they were deer in the headlights. Christine's lips started to move but nothing came out at first. "This, this is a trick."

Rhea held out her hand and with some concentration, formed a small pink energy ball in her palm.

Her parents gasped. Rhea had assumed that seeing a stranger perform a magic trick was one thing, but having their own daughter perform the same trick would be enough to start opening their minds to the possibilities. She was wrong.

Brian regained his composure. "Although I find your demonstration quite impressive, it's not evidence. You could be performing a trick, an illusion." He was calm and confident in his beliefs
, firmly in denial about what he was seeing.

Daen and Rhea extinguished their energy balls. Rhea looked to Daen for more ideas
, but had an idea of her own. She closed her eyes and pictured the coffee cups on the table. She reached for the energy from the heat of the coffee and used it to lift a cup, similar to how she’d used the energy to lighten her sword. She had no idea if it would work, but it was worth a try.

Before she opened her eyes she heard gasps from a few in the room. When she opened her eyes, a cup was hovering about a foot off the table.

Randell took his eyes off the cup and focused on Rhea, but her colors remained consistent.

Rhea returned the cup to the table and placed her hand on
it. It was ice cold.

Christine sputtered, "I don't understand what's happening. How ...?"

Rhea looked to Randell. "I think it's time for a family history lesson. Would you like to fill them in?"

Randell nodded. "Sure. Can you get Raisal's journal from your bag
, and Daen, can we show them the tree in your journal?"

Rhea went to the room she
’d slept in the night before to retrieve Raisal's journal while Daen retrieved his.

"Dad, maybe you should be telling this story."

Ander shook his head. "Go ahead, Son."

Randell leaned back in his chair. "My great
-grandmother is Raisal Gaulette. She came from a world called Luxatra. She had a passive gift, the ability to read people's ... aura ... for lack of a better term to use. My father and I inherited the gift; that's how I recognized Rhea as someone from Luxatra. Luxatrans, gifted Luxatrans especially, give off a more vibrant aura than the people from this world. I knew Daen was looking for someone from Luxatra, so when I saw Rhea's aura flare up, I introduced them." Randell glanced between Brian and Christine, waiting for them to respond. "Questions? I just gave you the abbreviated version of what happened, but I assume you have questions."

Christine pressed her hand to her mouth but her eyes gave her away. She was trying to stifle a laugh. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Aura? Was he serious?

Randell started to laugh along with her. "I know, I know, it sounds ludicrous, but it's true. Rhea's colors are currently waffling between bright blue and green with tiny flecks of gold and a swirl of purple. When I first saw her, her aura was a light blue."

Brian shook his head. "I'm sorry
, but adding detail to your story doesn't add credibility."

Rhea and Daen returned. Rhea showed them Raisal's journal, how at first it was written in Aduraun and then later in English. Rhea read parts of the Aduraun writing and translated it for them; the parts about Raisal being sent here and about the thread.

Daen showed them the family tree, and in doing so, filled in the rest of the Gaulette tree, showing the Gaulettes in Luxatra.

As he added branches to the tree, he explained, "Raisal's parents are Kaumari and Michaen. They had two children, Denach and Raisal. Denach married Kamiella and had two children, Caurnal and Sameah. Samaeh married Lautie and had a daughter Gaibel. Gaibel is Rhea's, or I should say Terrwyn's, biological mother." The space that should have been filled by Rhea's father was a question mark.

Rhea watched her mother closely, not knowing how she would react to this news.

Christine and Brian had sat quietly while Randell, Rhea, and Daen presented further evidence
, but Christine couldn't take any more. She shook her head, her expression frustrated. "You could be making this up. And how did you learn this other language? It sounds like something out of
Star Trek
. No. Tricks, made-up languages, unverifiable family trees; you're expecting us to believe a lot."

"Christine." Brian laid his hand on her leg
, trying to calm her. He glanced between Daen, Randell, and Rhea. "What you have shown us defies what we know about the laws of physics, but I can't ignore what I see." Brian held the cold cup of coffee, examining it. "You say what you do isn't an illusion." Brian set the cup on the table. "How do you do it?"

Rhea was excited;
this was the first sign that her father was opening his mind to the unbelievable. She explained, "I call to the energy that is present all around us. Once I get a tingling sensation, I know I'm connected somehow. Then I just imagine what I want the energy to do and it happens ... so far." She shrugged. "I'm still learning."