Honor Bound - Awakenings - Book 1 Of The Honor Bound Series

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Clara was sitting next to Dani, stroking her hair as she cried. "I never meant for any of this!"

"I know Dani, none of us do."

"I just wanted to help my dad pay some bills off and help my friend. I never meant to hurt anyone," she sobbed. "I'm a freak now! I can't go home, can I?"

"You could get contacts for your eyes. You can choose to try not to use your abilities. It's really up to you but you shouldn't make any real decisions yet." Clara's phone rang. It was a number she didn't recognize. "Clara Masumoto, how may I help you?"

"Clara, it's Chad. I'm at the hospital. They gave me a basic run-through I guess, but they're asking questions I don't know how to answer. I need to talk to Dani. I don't know if I should call Dad or not."

"Of course, Chad. Hold on." On hearing her brother's name Dani sat up and tried to compose herself.

She took the phone from Clara. "Hey, Chad. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I guess. They are asking questions trying to find out information about Dad. Should I call him? I don't want them to take me to some foster home or something. I don't know how to explain all this to him," Chad said.

Dani could hear the tears he was holding back, she closed her eyes and tried to think. It would be best if their Dad knew that they were alive. She'd figure out how to tell him the rest later. "He's a firefighter. Call him and tell him you're in the hospital and that I'm ok. He'll give them whatever information they need. He knows to act first and ask questions later. Tell him I'll call later. I have to figure out what I want to say."

"Ok. I'm scared about all this," Chad confessed.

"I know. Look if the hospital says you're ok to leave I'll see if John or Clara can come get you. We need to talk all this through before we see Dad." As she was speaking, she saw Clara nodding at her.

"Ok, I'll call him. See you soon, I hope." Chad hung up. Dani's hand was shaking when she handed the phone back to Clara.

"You did the right thing," Clara reassured her, "Listen to me, you don't have to hide what you are. You don't have to make a choice right now, but you need to be aware of what options you have." She hadn't planned to tell Dani all this immediately, but she was sure that their father would get here the fastest way he could. She needed to give her an idea of how things could go, for better or worse.

"We help and protect people like you. All of us here have some ability that makes us different. John and I are lucky, ours is easy to conceal, same with Cesco. You and Min-Ji are not so lucky. Jessie has had her difficulties too. We can use someone like you, a healer, a creator. You could heal us or people that we find, quite often they are injured like Chad was. The other option is to try to fit back into your old life, but after what you have been through and how you have changed that will be hard. Your father may turn on you, your friends may be scared of you. If you stay with us, you will be accepted, be able to be useful and not feared. We know how hard this is, we don't want you to end up running away if things don't go well, we've seen it happen too many times and it never ends well. We try to help who we can but sometimes we're too late."

"I have to try to see my Dad, it's my fault that Chad and I got taken. If nothing else, I have to apologize. If he wants to kick me out or sees me as a freak then I'll have to deal with that. Maybe, if I can convince him I won't do anything then he'll forgive me," She knew she didn't deserve any forgiveness, but she was too scared to say that out loud.

Clara sighed. "Dani, your ability is like breathing. It's part of you. You'll slip up at some point. Here let me show you one of mine."

She sent a thought out to John "What are you holding?"