Blood Will Out

chapter six

When I open my eyes again and find that we're back where we started, I can't think of a single thing to say. Whatever look is on my face must be telling enough because Maeve throws me a smug look before complaining about me having made her late for her evening on her way out the door. Graham and Cecily stare at me expectantly but whatever response they're looking for I don't have it in me to give. I ask for my dog and whatever room they've promised me for the night; in that order. 

It's been the longest day of my life and I need time to process everything that's happened. I'll likely need a lifetime to process everything that's happened, but whatever, I'm not about to do it in front of strangers.

Graham offers to walk me to my suite— that's what he calls it, as if this is all some luxury vacation instead of the total destruction of my reality. I have a maniacal sort of urge to ask for a pina colada with turndown service. Sadly all evidence points to the fact that I'm the only one here with a sense of humor.

We walk along endless hallways and up marble staircases and all the while he keeps glancing my way. I don't have the energy to answer the questions in his eyes. I try to ignore him completely.

As we move down another hallway I hear a happy yip from behind a closed door at the end. A moment later the door swings wide and Walter comes shooting through it like a bullet. For all that I can see a bandage on his leg he still nearly knocks me over in his exuberance. The little girl from the plane ride follows him into the hallway with a smile.

"We had fun, but his mind always wanders back to you. He worries about you a lot."

"I uh..." Don't actually have a response to that incredibly odd statement. "Thanks for hanging out with him."

She grins and goes back into the room she came from.

"This," Graham gestures to a door across from hers and hands me a key card. "Is where you'll stay. You can dial seven on the phone if you need anything."

I don't even give him a backward glance as Walter and I walk over to the door. His voice calls me up short.

"I can't imagine what it's like... coming into all of this as an adult or spending so many years not knowing what's happening to you."

Curiosity makes me turn around. "It wasn't like that for you?"

He shrugs and puts both hands in his pockets. "Most of the people here at Lyceum come from lineage." When I raise my eyebrows in confusion he explains more. "Long histories of families with the gifts who know what to look for when it manifests itself. I've known what I was for as long as I can remember."

"Well then I'm doubly screwed. I don't even have family, let alone one with a storied past."

He cocks his head to the side considering me.

"That's where you're wrong," he offers softly. "These gifts are genetic. It's impossible to have them unless they were passed down by one of your parents. Nobody outside a lineage family possesses them so even if you don't know where you come from you're a part of a line. The question is not whether or not you belong to a family, the question is, which one?"

A flash of green eyes sparkling with laughter fills my mind. I immediately snuff it out. I hold up a hand to halt further commentary.

"I'm calling uncle."

"Excuse me?"

"I am fully done with receiving information today. I seriously, cannot hear one more piece of detail no matter how juicy or vital to my self-awareness."