5. Morelle

5

MORELLE

T he aroma of coffee and something sweet and buttery greeted Morelle and Brandon as they emerged from their bedroom in the morning. Following the enticing scents, they found Jasmine in the kitchen, wearing an apron and sliding brown circular things onto plates.

"Good morning!" Jasmine beamed at them. "Come and enjoy a breakfast worthy of kings, or as it may be, a prince, a princess, and an honorable councilman."

"Good morning. Those smell delicious," Morelle said. "What are they called?"

"Pancakes," Jasmine said.

"That makes sense. Cakes that are made in a pan." Morelle took a seat at the table. "Pan cakes."

"Try to say that as one word. I wonder if the translation earpieces will pick up on that. "

"Pancakes."

Jasmine grinned. "Perfect. It's amazing how smart these things are, given the tiny chip that powers them."

"Would you like some coffee?" Ell-rom asked.

"Yes, please."

He poured her a cup from the carafe and another one for Brandon. "I feel bad about Jasmine doing all the cooking. I told her that I want to learn to cook so we can take turns."

"We should all learn," Brandon said. "I know how to make coffee and order takeout, but since I've moved into the village, takeout is not an option."

"What's takeout?" Morelle asked.

"It's food prepared by professionals and either delivered to your residence or picked up by you. It's called takeout because instead of eating it in the restaurant, you eat it at home."

"That sounds convenient." Morelle cast a sidelong glance at Ell-rom.

In the temple, they had been lucky to eat raw fruits and vegetables. Cooked food had not been an option. She was still getting used to the variety and abundance of dishes in the village, and now Brandon was saying that there was much more out there for them to sample.

"We should all go to a restaurant in the city." Jasmine looked at Brandon. "What say you, Councilman? Can you take us out of here to the city? "

Brandon let out a breath. "I will need to clear it with Kian. He will probably insist on a Guardian escort."

"Why?" Ell-rom put his cup down. "Outside of this village, no one knows who we are. Why should we need an escort?"

Brandon took a sip from his coffee, probably to give himself a moment to think. "Frankly, I don't know. I guess he's a little jumpy after what happened to you in the alley."

Ell-rom flinched. "I've learned my lesson. I'm never going to take shortcuts through back alleys again."

Brandon cut a piece of his pancake and dipped it in some kind of gooey sauce that he'd poured from a glass container. "Perhaps if I tell Kian that I'll drive us straight to the restaurant and back without stopping anywhere on the way, he will be okay with us going without an escort." He turned to Morelle. "One of the clan members owns an exclusive restaurant. Dinner there is an experience that is hard to describe. Gerard is an incredible chef."

"I would like that." Morelle lifted the glass container with the gooey amber liquid and poured some in the corner of her plate as Brandon had done.

She cut a small piece of the cake, dipped it in the sauce, and put it in her mouth. It was much too sweet, but she chewed and swallowed it, nonetheless. She wasn't going to offend Jasmine by spitting it out or making a face. She was just going to avoid the sweet sauce and eat the cake dry.

When, for the next few minutes, no one said anything, Morelle wondered if that was because they were busy eating or because they were thinking of a way to bring up what had happened last evening.

She hadn't talked with Brandon about it this morning yet, and she knew that he had more questions, and Jasmine and Ell-rom would probably want to talk about it, too.

As if reading her thoughts, Ell-rom said, "Amanda and the others talked quite a bit about your talent after you left last night."

Morelle's fingers tightened around her fork. "What did they say?"

"Amanda's already preparing a whole new battery of tests for Monday."

"Great," Morelle muttered, then forced a smile when Brandon squeezed her shoulder.

"Amanda thinks that you have multiple talents," Jasmine said. "You sensed that the stone was about to get loose, which means that you have at least some precognition ability."

"I don't." Morelle lifted her coffee cup. "I failed miserably at all the precognition tests. In fact, I performed worse than what's expected from talentless humans."

"Ouch." Jasmine scrunched her nose, which made her face look funny. "That sucks. Anyway, Syssi suggested that perhaps it has something to do with your telekinetic ability and that you can sense faults in materials because you can manipulate them. Then Amanda said that your ability and Ell-rom's are similar because you both manipulate physical matter."

Ell-rom cleared his throat. "My ability is still hypothetical." He cast Brandon an apologetic look. "Kian insists on keeping it a secret until it is proven."

"That's okay." Brandon waved a dismissive hand. "I know you have some secret talent, and I'm dying to know what it is, especially since Kian is being so secretive about it, but I know him well enough not to push. If he decided to wait to inform the council, then he has a good reason for it."

Ell-rom dipped his head in appreciation. "Thank you for being so understanding."

Realizing her mistake, Jasmine didn't continue recounting what everyone had said. Instead, she loaded her plate with two more pancakes, poured a generous amount of the gooey sauce on them, and got busy eating.

"Syssi thinks our abilities are connected somehow," Ell-rom said. "Because we are twins. Then Amanda suggested something crazy to test your telekinetic talent."

Morelle tensed. "What does she have in mind? "

Ell-rom chuckled. "Don't worry. Syssi managed to convince her that she shouldn't do it."

"But what was it?" Brandon asked.

Ell-rom took a sip of his coffee before replying. "Amanda thinks that your telekinesis is triggered only in an emergency because it only manifested when a life was in danger. She wanted to simulate another emergency by staging someone with a weapon shooting at another person to see if you could stop the bullet."

Brandon shook his head. "That's truly insane. What if Morelle can't stop the bullet? What if someone gets shot?"

"That's one of the reasons why the idea was scrapped," Ell-rom said. "The other was that Morelle might choose to attack the shooter instead of trying to stop the bullet."

Nodding, Morelle took a bite of pancake, trying to think of a way to get Ell-rom alone so she could tell him the truth about her ability. With Brandon and Jasmine hovering nearby, she couldn't risk it.

"I have a meeting with my teenage consultants about InstaTock this morning." Brandon looked at his watch as he finished his coffee. "Want to come along? They're lovely kids, and you'd enjoy meeting them."

Morelle seized the opportunity. "Actually, I should start learning English on my new laptop." She turned to her brother. "Ell-rom, could you help me? By now, you probably know everything there is to know about the program."

"Of course." He smiled knowingly.

Brandon seemed disappointed. "Are you sure? I'm meeting them in the café, and it's such a lovely day outside. You will enjoy the walk."

Normally, she would, but she really needed to talk to her brother.

"Some other time," she said. "I'm still tired from yesterday, and I'd prefer to stay home and take it easy, as you like to say."

He studied her face for a moment before nodding. "Alright." Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to her lips. "I won't be long."

"Don't rush," she said. "Take all the time you need. I'll keep myself occupied with learning your language."

After Brandon left, Jasmine began clearing the dishes. "I promised to help Margo with the decorations for Rob's induction ceremony," she announced. "So, I should head over there and see if we can get an early start." She turned to Ell-rom. "You don't mind, right? You'll be busy teaching Morelle about the program."

"Not at all." He rose to his feet and wrapped an arm around her middle. "But I will miss you."

Morelle wasn't sure if Jasmine had sensed her need for privacy with her brother or if she truly needed to help Margo, but either way, she was grateful .

Once Jasmine left, Morelle stood and leaned over to whisper in Ell-rom's ear, "Is it safe to talk here? Do you know if there are listening devices in this house?"

"It's doubtful that a councilman's home would be bugged," he said in a whisper. "But just to be safe, we could study outside in the backyard. As Brandon said, it's a nice day."

"Great idea." Morelle pushed to her feet. "Let me get my laptop."

A few minutes later they were settled at the outdoor table, laptops open but powered off.

Morelle leaned close to her brother, lowering her voice despite the privacy of the yard. "I need to tell you something about what happened last night." She swallowed hard. "The power I used wasn't mine."

Ell-rom tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't just move that stone." She glanced around nervously before continuing. "I pulled energy from everyone present. Mostly from Annani, but also from everyone else. That's how I was able to do it."

Her brother's eyes widened, but he didn't immediately reject the idea. "That...actually makes sense."

"Did you feel it? I mean, the drain?"

"I felt something," he admitted. "But I thought it was just the shock of what almost happened to Darius. Whatever it was, it passed quickly, though. "

Morelle let out a long breath. "I didn't tell Brandon. I'm scared."

"Why?"

"Isn't that obvious? I'm a parasite, a vampire. I feed off other people's energy."

To her surprise, he laughed. "A vampire? Where did that idea come from?"

This was no laughing matter. "What else would you call it? I drained energy from people to power my ability."

"That doesn't make you a vampire." He frowned. "How do I even know what a vampire is?"

She'd forgotten that Ell-rom remembered next to nothing from their childhood, and it seemed that those memories were forever lost. She really needed to spend more time with him and tell him about his past.

"When we were kids, we read legends about soul-sucking vampires." She shuddered at the memory. "You were terrified of going to sleep for weeks afterward."

A thoughtful expression crossed his face. "I wonder if those legends were based on people with abilities like yours."

"That doesn't make me feel better." She slumped in her chair. "What if I take too much and kill someone? I call it energy; the ancients might have called it a soul, but the mechanism of stealing it is the same."

Ell-rom regarded her with a serious expression on his face. "You have to tell Amanda so she can help you figure it out. Your ability is not any worse than mine, and they accepted me despite it. They will accept you, too."

Morelle considered this. It was true—the clan hadn't rejected Ell-rom despite the devastating potential of his power. Instead, they were working to help him understand and control it.

"But your ability is straightforward," she argued. "You don't need to drain anyone to power it. Mine is strange and parasitic."

"Our abilities are complementary. Mine destroys, while yours averts destruction. I'd say that yours is the positive side while mine is the negative."

She shook her head. "There is more. My so-called nullifying power is not based on me blocking someone's paranormal ability. I nullify it by sucking the paranormal energy out of the person, thereby temporarily making them incapable of using their talent."

Ell-rom leaned forward. "So what? You didn't harm anyone. The energy drain was temporary, and yesterday, you used it to save a life. That's not parasitic—that's symbiotic."

She blinked at him. "That actually makes sense, and I definitely prefer to think of it as symbiotic rather than parasitic."

"You are welcome."

This was why she needed to talk to her brother. He could always help her see things from a different perspective.

"What do I do now?" she asked.

"First, you need to tell Brandon. He loves you, and he will be hurt if you tell Amanda before you tell him."

She leaned back. "If I tell anyone, he will be the first to know. But I'm still not sure that I should. What if he starts to fear me?"

Ell-rom shook his head. "Does Brandon even have a special ability?"

A smile tugged on her lips. "Many, but not of the paranormal kind. He can thrall and shroud, like other immortals, but nothing more than that."

"Then he has nothing to fear from you, right?"

She shook her head. "I don't know about that. His shrouding and thralling might be enough, and I might also draw on just any life energy in my vicinity. Even that of humans." Morelle snorted. "For all I know, I could suck the life energy from a field of flowers and see them wilting in front of my eyes. Wouldn't that be something?"

"It would." Ell-rom shuddered. "You really need to test all of that."