“Theo?”
Start at the beginning, I tell myself. Just like the song says, it’s a very good place to start. Deep breath, here we go. “I was a very weird child.”
I pause. My friends wait patiently for my following words. I can do this. “I was weird because from an early age it was obvious that I had an unusual ability, to say the least.”
Duncan’s brain immediately explodes with speculation.
—ooh, synesthesia?/no, photographic memory/I want a photographic memory/isn’t there a thing when some people have extra cones in their eyes so they can see more colors?—
Extra cones? I didn’t even know that was a thing? “No, I don’t see more colors, or have synesthesia or a photographic memory, Dunc.”
His mouth drops open—Did I say that out loud?—
“And no, you didn’t say it out loud. The truth is, I’m telepathic and I can hear your thoughts.”
Willow turns white. Her face is more serious than I’ve ever seen it. “Telepathy is innate magic.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
—CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?—
I tell Willow there is no need to shout. She grins and mouths ‘Wow’. “How do you block people out of your head? How come this hasn’t driven you insane?”
“Good questions; A—I entertain myself with mental word games, or recite lyrics to songs, and B, how do you know I’m not insane?”
Duncan frowns, leaning forward on his elbows. “OK, Neo. If you're plugged into the Matrix, I’m going to replay a very specific sound and image in my head. Tell me what it is.”
Willow swats his arm. "Dunc, don’t test her!"
"It's fine, Wills," I say, locking eyes with him. "I’d be skeptical too.”
Duncan closes his eyes, scrunching his face in concentration. Instantly I see an image of him dancing around, singing, “there is no spoon” loudly, over and over.
“Yeah, yeah, nice one, Dunc. Also, you think at high volume.”
Suddenly he turns red. “Jeez. I dread to think what other things you’ve heard from my head. Sorry.”
“I promise I never heard anything much beyond your desire for pancakes,” I tell him.
“Really?”
“Really.”
Phew, this is a relief, they’ve handled it so well. ‘Now, I want to tell you as much as I can about the last few days, but thishasto stay between us, guys.”
“Promise,” Willow replies.
“Promise,” Duncan agrees.
So I tell them nearly everything. The guys shifting into creatures, the dark essence pouring into the Earth Realm because Obex has broken, and then about Lumina inside me.
As I recount Amirene's words, the air in the room hums. A sharp, electric heat spikes in my chest, not like heartburn, but like I've swallowed a swarm of bees.
"Theo?" Willow is at my side in an instant. She reaches out, then pulls her hand back with a hiss. "You're burning up!"
"I'm... fine," I say, but that’s not true. I reach for the glass of water on the nightstand, desperate to cool down.
As soon as my fingertips graze the surface, the water inside doesn't just boil; itvaporizes. A geyser of hot steam violently hisses upward in a thick white cloud. The glass itself gives a high-pitchedpingsound and fractures into a spiderweb of cracks, unable to handle the sudden thermal shock.
