SAVANTS

The Chapture 45

The atmosphere calmed down after breakfast. Zed's father went out for a while to check if all his assistants were under control in the ski lift, then returned, flapping the snow from his boots.

"We're ready" he announced. "Let's do it in the living room."

Zed took me to a room at the end of the house that doubles up as a game room. Trace and Victor move the tennis table backwards while Uriel and Yves put a cushion sitting on the floor in a circle.

''We just want you to sit with Zed, '' said Zed's father taking his place across from me.

"What are you guys going to do?'' I've been feeling nervous. Why would I let myself in?

"We call it an investigation." Trace sat to my right. ''Precisely because we believe something happened to you as a result of the abduction.''

"I do feel like my brain has been robbed" I admit.

"Each one of us will use our power to read you-nothing is invasive, just a touch to sense which is the strongest clue." Trace blinked her eyes at Zed.

''I need to hold your hand if Zed is going to let go - I have to touch my subject for my powers to work. I should have known where you were recently, before the warehouse.you don't need to remember, if you were physically there, I could track you. The prodigy here, as the seventh son, he can channel everything because he is the most powerful among us.

I turned around to look at Zed. ''Really?''

''Yes, I'm like a screen to display information. Showing the results. I can see what others see.''

''And he doesn't even need a battery, '' Will joked, slumping by my other side.

They made fun of Zed, but now I can understand some of the darkness I saw from Zed, the tension of evil he was forced to witness.

Not just his own insight but everyone who channeled through him, meaning he saw it in all ways and more deeply than the others. No wonder she felt slipping in infamy until she found an anchor. It was me, his soul mate.

The second son, Uriel, a graduate student, pushes Will aside.

''Hi, Sky, we haven't met well. I'm the only one who makes sense in the family.''

"I can see that." I replied.

"My strength is reading the past or memories, anyway anything related to the past. I know you're afraid of me for going to reveal your secret, you don't have to worry, I can't force you to show me your past, you know, I can only open the door you opened.''

"I understand.'' I gained strength from feeling the warmth from Zed's chest on my back as I sat on his lap. "And if I want the door to stay closed?"

"Then I won't be able to see what you don't want to open. But we think you need to start building a full picture of everything that's happened to you to understand what's real and what's fake.''

I frowned. I don't really like that idea.

''It's like music, Sky, '' said Zed. ''Set the tone of one instrument at a time. You've been playing the melody for a while now."

''You mean, about what happened when I was a kid?''

"Yes. It was there.''

Dark space. Stitches of extreme pain and neglect. Who would describe me like that?

''We thought that when you saw what was behind all your doors, you would find it easier to close it to others, stopping people reading you easily. At the same time, it will give you complete control over newer memories, such as finding key pieces in a puzzle.

It must be something I need, no matter how scared I am of the process. ''OK, let's get it done.''

Zed's mother closed the curtain while Yves lit candles around the room by flicking his finger - this is the one who can make things explode.

I'm relieved to see evidence that his talent is well under control. Vanilla and cinnamon smelling candles. The house feels very quiet.

I could feel the different strength of each Benedict touching me - like a soft caress, nothing to worry about. Zed continued to wrap his arms around my waist, relaxed, not worried.

Xav the healer was the first to speak. ''Sky, medically there's nothing wrong with you - I don't see any signs of mental illness, although I can feel the strangeness in you.''

Zed rubbed my nape. ''You are not crazy either.''

"I can't read the future clearly" said Ms. Zed. ''There are many possible ways out."

"But I know where he was recently," Trace said. ''She was in a room in a high-end hotel - satin sheets, lots of glass, you touched something made of white leather and thick carpet. It's safe to say that you were detained somewhere before you ended up in the barn. If we get the clothes you were wearing back then, I might be able to tell you more.''

'' The threat has not disappeared, '' said Father Zed, using his talent to sense the enemy that is following me.

Will nodded. ''I felt more than one person looking for you, Sky.''

I looked at Zed. ''Did you see all that too?''

"Yaps. I also saw that the two people in the barn were the two who shot at us in the woods that day. Halloran was a strong savant, very good at making protectors. I wonder if that's why I can feel the layers in your mind - something unfamiliar. Did you see that, Uriel?'' said Zed.

Uriel touched my knee comfortably. ''Yeah, and I think I know what it is, even if I don't know how it got to your mind. Sky, your parents are artists, right?''

I'm nodding.

"You know what sometimes happens to an artist? Someone took his artwork and painted it on the surface and you had to take off the layers made by the thief to see the originals? Well, someone has done something similar to your memory.''

That makes sense. ''So which one is real and which one is fake?"

''That's where we need to bring it back to your mind."

''Will everyone see it?'' It's bad enough to reveal my past to my own eyes, I don't want to show it.

''No, just Zed, me, and you, '' said Uriel, his color pulsating with a tender pink of compassion. "And we won't tell anyone unless you want to."

I really don't want to do this, but I know I have to.

''Don't be afraid, '' whispered Zed. "I'll be there with you."

''OKAY. So what should I do?''

Uriel smiled convincingly. "Just calm down and let me in."

It started well. I sensed him checking my memory - the memories where I met my adoptive parents and how music helped heal me.

I didn't bury it. As he pushed the door that led back, I felt fear.

'Tenanga, don't fight' ' said Zed telepathically. 'He won't hurt you.'

'But it's not Uriel I'm afraid of, it's the one behind the door.'

'Nothing we saw there would make us change our attitude about you.' he assured me.

I took a deep breath.

'Okay .'

Uriel pushed the door aside and the images began to flow like a crowd rushing into the mall.