For the Love of Miranova

Chapter 7: Subtlety

Once I stepped into my car, I immediately called Laila in hopes of hearing her say something, anything, that would explain Kolby's abilities.

"Doctor O'Connor speaking," She answered after the second ring.

"Mom, it's me." I said, buckling up before driving off. "I've got a situation that I'm hoping you can spread some light on."

"Alright, hun. I will do my best to help. What's going on?" She replied without hesitation.

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I waited patiently for the light in front of me to change, "Could you ask Kolby to show you his sketchbook, please?"

"Actually, his tummy was bothering him, so I put him down for a nap a little bit ago. Where does he keep it?"

I frowned at the thought of my little boy feeling so unwell. If I could take his sickness away from him, I would do it in a heartbeat, but sadly, there was no way for me to transfer his stomach flu from himself to me, and I hated that more than anyone could even imagine.

"It'll most likely be in his craft room," I replied, driving onto the highway. "When you walk in, it'll be in one of the cubbies to the right. Usually the top one, where all of his sketching things are."

"Okay, just a moment, love." I could hear her climbing up the stairs of my two story house as quickly, but as quietly as possible, "Cubbies...cubbies...cubbies" she whispered to herself, "Ah, here we are."

Next was the sound of pages flipping, "What exactly am I loo-" I nodded to myself once I heard her soft gasp through the car speakers, confirming my suspicions, "Kal...How..."

"What do you see?" I asked. I was almost afraid to know the answer, but I knew that I needed to know. I had to know that what was drawn in the purple spiraled notebook tucked into my purse, was not fake.

Laila cleared her throat before speaking, as though she was scared that her words wouldn't come out, "Most of these pages are of you and Niklaus. They look as though they are literally still frames of your memories. Memories from your past...from even before Kolby was born. Kal...every single one of these is full of them..."

I sighed heavily at her confirmation, "Yeah, I thought so..."

"But," she added, "its not just you and Nik. There are some things here...some memories from myself, Nekolette, Kaleb...Kal, what is going on? How does he know all of this? How can he see all of this?"

"Kolby's teacher pointed out a very...unique trait that he's acquired, but I have no idea as to how he's come to inherit it. She suspects that it was passed from one of our bloodlines. Like maybe it skipped some generations," I explained, "Do you know of any witch or clairvoyant blood within yours or dad's side of the family?"

She became quiet for a moment, and I knew she was trying hard to think as far back as she could. I prayed she had the answers I was looking for, but with the time it was taking her to respond, I doubted it, "None that I know of, but I can call Kaleb and ask him to look into it. He's at the Pride mansion now."

"Okay, thank you, mom." I said softly, "I'm going to call my father tonight and ask him as well."

"Alright, sweetie. Was that all her teacher wanted to bring to your attention?"

"No," I said pulling into the underground garage of Miranova Enterprises, "She wants to place Kolby in the school's Gifted program. She said that Kolby is so advanced that fifth grade work doesn't challenge him enough."

"Really? Well that's great news!"

I could hear the wide smile that was most definitely spread upon her face, and I giggled as I turned off of the highway and onto the road leading to my office building. "I have to go, mom. I'll be at the office shortly and it's going to be a very busy day today."