The Embers Of My Heart (38 page)

"I'm not sure I really need to be discreet either," I said. "Absynthe caught me when we were talking the other day. She didn't say anything about it. Seemed like she was covering it up, even. I don't get it."

"That is weird." Star sounded thoughtful. "Don't push your luck."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Speaking for myself," Max said. "I hope we can all be discreet when we talk to you. Especially you and Kev. I mean, he is my roommate and all, but there are things I don't want to know. Or hear."

"Why would you need to be discreet when talking to my sister?" Jess asked. "Better yet, why would you need to talk to her at all?"

"Blackmail material."

"I really like this guy," Star said. "So, should I start with the teenage years, or the fourth grade incident?"

"Sarah! Don't encourage him!"

Chapter Twenty Five

Thanksgiving week held a certain level of dread for Ripley students. It was a short reprieve from the tension of the trimester, giving everyone a chance to study for the following week's finals. Many students stayed on campus for the holiday. Two days before Thanksgiving, we received our first dusting of snow. I trudged up to the administration building, cursing the elements the entire way. Absynthe's summons didn't leave me any room for argument.

When I pushed the rooftop door open, I paused in the doorway. Two figures stood on the snow-dusted rooftop instead of the one I expected. They turned to face me and I felt my jaw drop slightly. "Mom?"

She gave me a tight smile and stepped toward me with her arms held out. I walked up to her and gave her a quick hug. "I wanted to talk to you before the holidays," she said. "I'll be busy. As usual, before you say it."

"It's fine," I said, stepping back. "I've wanted to talk to you ever since then, too."

Her smile vanished and she turned, exposing her profile. I could see some of my own features in her face. "Kevin. I wanted you to know, you aren't just the product of a genetic breeding program. Your father and I were pushed together, yes. But, I want you to know, we weren't forced together. There wasn't any pressure. They simply made sure we met and kept running into each other. The rest happened naturally."

"But you knew about the program," I said.

"I did," she said. "And I knew that I'd only be able to have one child, no matter what. Your father is a sweet and caring man. He was, at least. He wanted more."

"More?"

"More children. More attention. More of me." She shook her head. "This is strange to have to explain it to my son. I'm making excuses for my behavior."

"Even so, I'd like to hear them," I said.

"I asked Alistair for more traveling assignments. I made sure I wouldn't be home much. I'm sorry. I know it hurt you, but being around hurt your father far more. He told me after my hysterectomy that it hurt to know I couldn't give him what he wanted. That it hurt every time he saw me." She sniffed. "Things said in the moment. Don't hold that against him. I don't. I've long since forgiven him. I don't know if he's forgiven me."

I took a moment to let her words sink in. "I'm not going to comment on your relationship," I finally said. "That's your business. I'm just going to say that I think he's forgiven you, and I know he still loves you. If he didn't feel that way, I'm sure he would have asked for a divorce by now."

She nodded and turned away from me. "I think you're right. I hope."

Absynthe had been standing away from us. She walked over to my mother and put a hand on her shoulder. "Patricia. You're short on time."

"I know." She turned back to me and smiled again. "I'm leaving for Washington tonight. We're going to inform the Bureau that an unregistered, unlicensed second tier psion is on the loose and plans some terror acts. That'll light a fire under them. We'll get some cooperation."

"That's good, I suppose." I let my disdain for the Bureau show in my voice.

"There's more," my mom said. "I'll let Absynthe explain in detail, but you're far more special than any of us anticipated. You're amazing. Remember that."

"Wait," I said as she walked past me to the door. "Hold on. One question. Do you really think the Bureau's going to be able to help capture Shade?"

She paused in the doorway and looked over her shoulder. "Capture? Is that an actual question? He was sentenced to death. We're going to request kill on sight orders."

I sighed as the rooftop door closed behind her. "She's always in a hurry."

"Your mother is busy."

"Busy running as always," I said.

Absynthe didn't say anything to that. "I suppose you'd like to know what she was referring to."

"Sure, why not?" I located the familiar chunk of concrete I trained with, pulled it over, and took a seat. "Let's hear it. What else am I a part of?"

"Name the three schools of psionics."

"Telekinesis, telepathy, and metasensory."

"The ability to affect the physical world, the ability to affect people's minds, and the ability to sense what we normally cannot." Absynthe nodded and stood in front of me with her hands stuffed in her pockets. "Now. What are the levels of psionic power?"

I frowned. "Well, I know about latents and psions. I guess that psions are ranked based on first and second tier powers, right?"

"It's a spectrum," she said. "On one end, there are normal humans with no affinity for psionic power. As you travel along the spectrum, you'll find latents and savants, those who have potential, but either have no control over what they manifest, or only have a very limited talent. We can awaken some of them to make conscious use of their powers. Once you reach the point where they can consciously make use of multiple powers, you have reached a first tier psion.

"After that, you continue travelling along the spectrum. There are latents of the second tier. Perhaps savants as well, though we've never confirmed one. You fell into that portion of the spectrum when you fought Agent Davidson. Under duress, you could manifest the second tier of power."

I shrugged. "I'd argue that it was more conscious than that, but fine."

"Then, you reach the full second tier of power. There is a gulf of power and potential between them and the first tier, almost as large as the gulf between normal people and psions." She paused. "That is where you fall now, in theory."

"In theory?"

"Tell me, Kevin. Have you heard of the third tier of psionic powers?"

I frowned. "No. Going from what you said, though, they'd be to the second tier psion what second tiers are to firsts. I can't even imagine that."

"It's difficult to explain," she said. "Our classification of first and second tier isn't even universally accepted, so third tier is purely theoretical at this point. Consider it along these lines. First tier psions have the ability to manipulate things in this reality, yes? They may defy normal thought, but they are generally in line with reality. Second tier psions can manipulate things that aren't strictly part of our reality. A second tier psion may develop precognitive powers, or teleportation, or clairvoyance, or a list of other powers that aren't simply augments of the real world."

"I could sense the lines of Davidson's attack," I said. "He made his final attack and it was as if time stopped and I could see exactly where they were going, and I could change that."

Absynthe nodded. "Exactly. Second tier powers truly defy reality, but still relate back to the real world, if only indirectly. You can't teleport to a place you don't know in some fashion. You can't have a precognitive vision of something that doesn't exist, or won't exist. So on and so forth."

"All right. So what's the third tier?"

"The third tier can manipulate reality."

I shook my head. "Sorry, but that's first tier."

"No. First tier affects things that exist in this reality, be it matter or energy. Memories and thought are chemical processes. Third tier doesn't have a definition for 'things'. The theory says they can manipulate reality itself."

I held a hand up to stop her. "So what you're saying is that, for example, a first tier psion can overwrite someone's memories. A second tier psion could, say, create a shared memory for multiple people, all at the same time?" She nodded. "And a third tier psion would do what? Recreate reality so that the new memory actually happened?"

"Yes."

"That's crazy. That can't be possible. That's literally god-like power."

"Yes."

"A human mind can't do that. That's impossible to even comprehend."

"That is the primary argument against the existence of that level of power, yes." Absynthe gave me a fleeting smile. "The proponents of this theory also state that a third tier psion would no longer be human. They already want to classify psions as
homo sapiens superior
."

"I don't even want to get into that level of philosophy," I said. "Though under that theory, it's entirely possible that we all exist solely in the mind of some third tier power that may not even be human."

"Congratulations, you're thinking right along with them," she said.

"So now that I have a headache, what does this have to do with me?"

"A question of perspective, first. The world population is close to seven billion people. How many of those do you believe are psions? What percentage?"

I shook my head. "One percent?"

"So you think there are roughly seven hundred thousand psions in the world?" She shook her head. "Half a percent are latent or savant. About point zero two percent are full psions. So there's about a hundred and forty thousand psions. Out of that number, how many do you think are second tier latent or higher?"

"Maybe five to ten percent?"

"It's a bit over five percent. Just over eight thousand have known second tier potential. How many of those do you think can actually consciously manifest it?" She didn't wait for my guess. "Three percent, around two hundred and fifty people. Most of them are registered. If there's one thing the psionic world community agrees on, it's keeping second tiers under control. You two hundred and fifty could wreak havoc if you had a mind to. Just a handful could cause an apocalypse. That's why there's a global register, so they can avoid having too many second tiers in one place at one time. You're scary."

"I don't feel scary," I said.

"You're especially scary." Absynthe locked her dark eyes on mine. "The third tier theorists have done research for years, checking out the historical records for any possible proof of third tier events. Changes to reality on a very basic level. There are a handful of events they point to. You've probably never heard of any of them, except maybe Tunguska. Esoteric events that you don't think mean anything become meaningful when you know psionics exist."

"So there's potential proof that third tier exists." I shook my head. "So you're going to tell me I have that potential, right?"

"What happened with Lisa," she said.

"In the hospital? When I tried to bring her back?"

"Yes. That's not possible. Not under first tier power. Not under second tier power. I could see what you were doing, but I couldn't comprehend how you were doing it. I suspect a second tier psion would feel the same way. There is no basis for us to believe that restoring a dead body and consciousness to full life and health is possible. Third tier theorists would take this as a sign that your place on the spectrum is latent for the third tier."

"How did you help me, then? If you couldn't understand what I was doing?"

"Transferring consciousness isn't uncommon." She bit her lip. "Oddly, it's common among the untrained. Let me clarify, I couldn't comprehend how you returned a completely dead body to life. I've seen transference, though. Savants especially do it. They'll have an accident and push their mind into someone else's. That's something we take care of. It ends up either driving the original person crazy, or destroying their consciousness. I've had practice acting as a bridge for transferred consciousness before. We're lucky. If you manifested third tier power during the transfer, who knows what might have happened?"

"I don't even know how to use second tier powers yet!" I protested. "This is getting out of hand, Absynthe."

"I agree. That's why I've kept it under wraps." She sighed. "I'm not sure why I'm protecting you. You're not loyal to the Establishment, though I'd stop short of calling you a traitor. You have power beyond the wildest dreams of the creators of the Threshold Project. Whatever happens, I don't want to see you treated so unfairly. I saw what Shade and Alistair were putting you through. You're special. As your mother said, remember that."

"She knows?"

"Yes."

"Won't she tell others? Like Alistair?"

"No," she said. "She knows more than she's told me."

I shivered. "Great. I appreciate the protection, I really do, but I don't know who to trust now. We have people watching me and my friends, but what if one of them is Alistair's people? Or worse yet, Shade's?"

"I'm handling the security details as best I can. Trust me."

"I do, but what if Shade has sleeper agents?"

She sighed. "Even if he does, he's openly recruiting in the Midwest, which tells me that he doesn't feel he has the manpower to make an actual attempt here. I don't think you're in any danger from sympathizers inside the Establishment."

"Openly recruiting? Why can't someone just go put two in his head?" I growled deep in the back of my throat. "Even a second tier can't stop bullets if they don't know they're coming."

"Actually, they could," she said.

"Bullshit."

"It would take a very certain type of paranoid to be able to do so."

"Meaning, Shade."

"Don't underestimate him. Ever."

I shook my head and stood up. "It's getting cold out here. Are we done?"

"Yes. You're keeping up with your exercises?"

"Sure," I said. I was keeping up on more than her exercises. I was keeping up on Star's exercises as well.

"Then we'll speak again after finals," she said. With that dismissal, I headed back to the dorm.

Max and Drew were sitting at their computers when I arrived. "I told you not to click that," Max was saying.