“Most espers change after puberty.A few change during puberty, and they can change all the way until they’re elderly, but the average age is around nineteen or twenty.He, on the other hand, never changed.Or, if he did, there’s no signs of it.”
“What are you talking about?Every esper has to change into one.And it’s not like it’s that hidden when it happens.”I thought about the fevers, the aches, all the signs that usually landed an esper in the hospital when it happened.And all of that didn’t include the new skills that often showed immediately.
It was pretty easy to tell an esper had awakened when they suddenly started raining down fire every time they got mad.
“Exactly.As far as I know, Shear has always been an esper.It wasn’t until he started talking that his parents realized something was weird.He knew things that he shouldn’t, and once he had language, he started communicating mentally with people.The guess now is that he was born an esper.It could have happened sometime when he was still an infant, but that’s just about as weird.Carter says that’s why he’s so fucked up.Because he didn’t grow up normally, because he never learned the things most kids learned.He was five when he went to Obsidian.”
“What’s Obsidian like?”I tried the picture a child, almost a baby, trying to survive with other espers.It seemed cruel to yank him away from his family, from everything he knew, from every sense of support and safety he had.
Was that pity I felt?
Maybe it helped me to understand the strange man a little better.No one who grew up like that could grow up normally.
“No idea.Obsidian is the sort of place people only go when they have to, and they don’t talk about it afterward.Shear isn’t a big sharing sort of person, in case you didn’t notice.He’s been pretty hush-hush about his time there.”He paused for a moment, a rare look of concern on his normally happy face.“He gets called back there usually once a year or so, and whenever that happens, he gets even more quiet.Afterward, he’s like a different person for a week or so.Nothing is physically wrong with him—I’d be able to tell—but he isn’t himself.All I can say for sure is that I’m glad I’ve never gone to Obsidian.”
I frowned as I considered that, as I thought about the places these mendidgo.It was crazy to me to think that there was anything that would frighten them.They laughed their way through dungeons, through almost certain death, but a training facility could getthatlook on their faces?
Kenyon got up with a quick jump, as though he’d just realized he’d probably saidwaytoo much.“Well, we’re supposed to catch the plane in about two hours, so finish up.They feed us on the plane usually, but it’s not like, good food, so maybe we’ll drive through somewhere first.”
With that, he breezed out of my room, leaving me there to look around and wonder if I’d ever make it back here.
And accept the fact that I really hoped I did…
What a strange feeling.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ingram
Well, this could be worse.
Fuck knew I’d spent enough missions sleeping on the ground with fucking rocks in my back that anything with a bed was one hell of a luxury at this point.
The plane ride had been easy enough—they had their own military crafts that they shoved us into for the trip.We met up at a small, private airport and traveled with only four squads—none of which I knew or gave a fuck about.
Kenyon had thrown up in the bathroom—that boy never did like flying—and Yun had slept through the whole thing.
It wasn’t that long a flight, thankfully, before we were escorted to one of the small trailers they used to house the squads.It made sense to set the place up like an RV park, with each trailer functioning as a little house.It wasn’t comfortable, but it had the essentials we needed.
Beds.Showers.A small kitchenette.
Good enough.
Carter was with Kenyon and Shear getting booked in.I’d gotten pulled aside first thing for my little meet and greet—thanks to my reputation and the way I looked, most likely—which left Yun and me wasting time in the trailer.
The sun had gone down a few hours ago, and she looked as though she were dragging ass already.
“You can sleep.”I gestured at the large room at the back—the only regular room in the place—where we’d all agreed she could sleep.Women needed doors and shit, so the rest of us could bunk on the other beds around the place.
Her expression said she didn’t trust me that far.“That’s hardly a door,” she pointed out, the pocket door tucked away little more than a piece of paper.
“And the door at home wouldn’t stop me either.If you want to worry—worry—but at least do it about shit that matters.Your eyes are drooping closed every few minutes.It’ll take the others at least another two hours to get through all their screening.No reason to stay up all night for nothing—tomorrow’s coming early, whether you’re ready for it or not.”
She pressed her lips together, that little spark of anger, something that I likedwaymore than I had any right to.
Fuck, hadn’t that gotten me into trouble enough times before?I didn’t care for weak women, for ones who sat down and shut up.They were boring.It was why I’d ended up with crazy women who had no problem putting me six feet under when I disappointed them—and I always disappointed them, eventually.
They wanted something I didn’t, didn’t understand the arrangement I was looking for.Didn’t matter how clear I was with them, they always thought they were special.
