Brisk swore. “So now you’re on thelist.”
Great, just what I needed on top of all of my currentproblems.
A thought came to me. “Is Canada on the list? Are they bad too?” I had only scanned the list of countries involved, only half payingattention.
Damien did a quick scroll. “Canada and Mexico are not on thelist.”
Maxine spat on the ground. “Because the United States wants to make a grab for their land once they’re gone. Take over the entirety of NorthAmerica.”
She was right. That made sense in an evil, evilway.
“So we’re safe in Canada,” Istated.
Damien shrugged. “Maybe. And if we wake up in the US and CCTV catches our face,then….”
“Then don’t wake up in the US.” Master Aki spoke up. “Control your thoughts coming out of the Dream Wars, like you do going in, and you will wake where you wantto.”
Hope burst inside of my chest. “Is that true? Have you been doing that?” He was a master of mental control, so I would believe him if he’d said that was thetrick.
He nodded. “Not the first few nights, because I couldn’t figure out what was going on, why I was waking up in random countries. But recently I tried to control my thoughts how I do when I’m falling asleep, and I’ve landed in San Francisco both times. I was going to call and tell you that I’d proven my theory, when Ronnie called meinstead.”
Relief coursed through my veins. I could do that. I would have to teach the others, and I was worried about Maxine, who had little control over her mental calm, but it was worth ashot.
“Kit, can I talk with you a moment in private?” Master Aki beckoned me to his side. The rest of the group took up arms at the perimeter, giving us someprivacy.
My mentor placed a hand on each of my shoulders and met my gaze. Some serious shit was about to go down; he never got this intense unless he was going to drop a serious truthbomb.
“Remember when you were fifteen, and I told you that one day I would teach you to use your powers to their upmost and greatest ability? That if I taught you too young, you could hurt yourself orothers?”
Holy shit.I did remember. I’d bugged him for two years to make me a lethal badass because he always said I was holding back, but then I gave up and forgot about it. Using Tatum as a waker, pushing thoughts when I needed to communicate, and rarely controlling another when they were having a PTSD flashback seemed to be fine withme.
“Yeah…,” I saidnervously.
He smiled, the same one he wore at my cadet graduation as he sat next to my mom and she took swigs of wine from a flask. It was that proud smile that meant I’d accomplished some lifetimeachievement.
“It’s time,” he stated, then let go of myshoulders.
Just like that, he’d laid the truth bomb, and I was supposed to grapple withit.
“Okay… so you’re now willing to reveal the extent of my powers, that you somehow know, and teach me to use them?” I raised one eyebrow. Master Aki was anything but forthcoming. He knew things but never sharedthem.
He tsked. “Don’t ask stupid questions.” He pointed atme.
My mouth dropped open. “Hey! You’re supposed to say there are no stupidquestions.”
He shrugged. “That is a lie that teachers tell students so they don’t feelbad.”
I crossed my arms and cut him aglare.
After a two-minute epic stare-down, he cracked. “Okay. I will try to explain this in very simpleterms.”
“Fantastic.” He hadn’t explained shit to me since I was twelve years old, and if he knew all these things about my mental communication gift or whatever, I wanted to knowhow.
“Master Aki, Kit and other humans were normal. Until one day.” He lifted his hand in the air. “Spaceships landed and the ghouls came. Suddenly, Master Aki, Kit, and some humans becamespecial.”
I nodded, knowing there was about 1 percent of the population that had gifts—extreme strength, enhanced speed, mental communication, and psychic abilities. We didn’t know how, but assumed it was linked to the aliens’presence.
Master Aki motioned to Dawn. “Master Aki is like Dawn. Like the Galadrias. Their essence was somehow infused with mine, and now I canseethings.”
