Chapter 7 #3
“Did you want to talk about you”—his hands rise, and he overemphasizes and does little rabbit ears when he speaks again—“‘seeing’ things yet?”
My mouth pops open when his words hit home, but he sits back in his seat casually and explains what he means. “Obviously you have a little something in your DNA, or you wouldn’t be a student here. And I’m going to say this gently, Maya, you must have a little other magik or you wouldn’t be here.”
“How do you know that? I mean, I don’t know that for certain.”
He leans in close. “But you had a vision on the day you arrived when we met.”
“How do you know that?” I ask again.
“Because I’ve seen other seers get messages, and you did what they did.”
I don’t mean to, but I glare at him. “You made fun of me, and I didn’t know who you were. I wasn’t about to…”
Orion ignores my mood. “So, what happened? What did you see?”
I take a quick breath and look around to see if anyone is paying attention to us. They’re not.
“It was only the second time I’ve experienced it, and because I had a concussion on both occasions, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure it actually happened.”
“Have you had one since?”
I shake my head, and he leans over to rub my shoulder in comfort, but there’s a troublesome smirk on his mouth too. “You will. Visions only happen when they need to.”
I grit my teeth, hissing back at him through a forced smile. “You seem to know a lot about them.”
He rolls his eyes, making me laugh. “Yeah, Mom’s sister was a seer. You display similar tells to what she did.”
“Like what?” I insist.
He grins. “Your hands cupping were in message-receiving mode, and it looked like you were somewhere far from here.”
“I guess I was. My hands tingled both times.”
“That must be your call sign. My aunt used to run her fingers over her forehead. No matter what else was happening, if she did that, you’d know she was about to get a message.”
“What happened to her?”
“One too many messages, I guess. It happens in our world sometimes, like whatever the gift is, sometimes it’s too powerful, or they don’t have enough training to deal with it, and they…”
“Die?” I gasp. “No shit, that’s awful, Orion.”
“Death is sometimes the kindest thing that can happen to those beings,” he says seriously.
“Imagine living physically here, but your mind is trapped in a constant vision. More often than not, though, the power will tip them over the edge and drive them crazy. Like full deranged and out of control, rampaging crazy.”
I throw my hands up. “Orion, can you stop now? You’re not selling this as something I want to deal with.”
“Well, the good news, Maya, is that you’re a Nom. You’ll never hold the kind of power that kills or drives a being mad. And, that is why we have Kleises.”
“Pardon?”
“Pardon what?”
I jab a finger into his thigh, prompting him to stop messing around and start filling in gaps. He shifts a snooty gaze to my finger still pressed down before he looks at me. I lift my finger, smiling innocently, and he restarts.
“Kleis aren’t a designation, they are uniquely their own. Their origins are a mystery still to this day but that’s probably due to Council having such a hard-on for them.”
“Why?” I ask not following.
“A Kleis can absorb another being’s power without being affected by it.”
I interrupt him, “Which sounds kind of ordinary when you compare it to a shifters strength or their ability to shift, or the way a magikal can make actual magik, or how a vampire can live forever. I’m missing something, right?”
The look he gives me confirms I am. His voice drops lower, and he leans in closer, “It’s what they do with the power they took that makes them so revered.”
Orion pauses doing a quick sweep of the area, perhaps to check no one is listening or to add drama of the moment. I urge him on again.
“They can hold the power, then direct it to another being in the unit for them to use.”
Or they could fucking steal it. Perhaps I’ve watched too many crime documentaries, or maybe it was living under the mantle of a corrupt and power-hungry government, but either way, I’m stunned and wonder if anyone else has seen the issue.
Until I remember Orion’s earlier comment and jump to another conclusion.
“Which is why Council has a hard-on for them.”
The way tension radiates as Orion looks from one side of the room to the other suggests I’m onto something. But also, that I need to be more mindful of the environment.
“Let’s shelf this chat for now.” I go to start eating but stop, a sudden question I have needing to be answered first. “Could you or I ever be a Kleis?”
Orion shakes his head, “No. You’re either a Kleis, or not.”
“So, we’re Nom’s forever?”
“We are.”
“And Nom’s have visions?”
“Some. The cool ones don’t, just saying,” he says, grinning and pointing to himself.
“I seriously thought I was losing my mind when it happened,” I admit, blowing out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
“I promise I won’t let you lose anything. Now, grab whatever you want off your tray, we need to get you to your first lesson.”