“I can project.”
Teriq touches his tablet and brings up a digital image on the holoscreen in the middle of the table. It’s a map of the Continent. He instructs me to project it to Adrienne.
“Is that all you can project?” she says when I’m done.
The question confuses me. “What do you mean? Should I try to project something else?”
“No, I’m asking if you can project only what you see in front of you.”
“As opposed to what?”
“What about something youhaveseen?”
The groove in my forehead digs deeper. “Is that even possible?”
I’ve never met anyone who could project something they’d seen in the past. I was taught that projection is tied directly to your optic nerve, meaning you can only transmit what you’re viewing in the moment.
Rather than elaborate, Adrienne moves on. “And your fourth ability?”
My gaze finds Gray’s across the table. His head dips in a subtle nod.
Don’t give them a reason to send you back.
I can practically hear his voice in my head, urging me to be honest, but I promised Uncle Jim a long time ago that I would never reveal this power.
I let out a breath. “I can incite.”
A current of shock travels through the war room.
“You’re an inciter?” Adrienne says before casting a dark look at Kallister. “Your godfucking brother, Kal. He never disclosed.”
His voice is calm when he replies, “Julian saw Wren as a daughter. I assume he was trying to protect her.”
“Protect me from what?” I challenge. “From all of you?”
Kallister shrugs. “He must’ve known we’d want to recruit you.”
Want to use me,is more like it.
“You were the inciter in the crowd at Julian’s execution,” Adrienne muses. “Witness reports stated that all eight members of the firing squad responded to the inciter’s command.”
From the corner of my eye, I feel Fiona’s distrustful gaze boring a hole into the side of my face. Teriq and Gray both seem impressed, while Kallister shakes his head in amazement.
“How did you do it?” he asks. “How long have you been able to incite on a mass scale?”
“So, um…I should probably state for the record that I don’t know the first thing about using incitement.” I hope they can hear my sincerity. “Jim tried to train me, but he had no experience with it. Neither of us knew how to use that ability, and it rarely worked when we practiced. It usually happens spontaneously.”
“Youspontaneouslyincited eight minds?” Teriq sounds dubious.
“I don’t know how I did it. I think it was an emotional response, to be honest. I was consumed with panic and desperation and terror, and I was screaming at them in my mind, screaming for them to put their guns down, and suddenly they were just…obeying me.”
Teriq remains unconvinced. “Have you experienced other instances of spontaneous incitement?”
“When I was a teenager, I incited Jim by accident while he wasdriving. I was furious at him for embarrassing me in front of my friends. Spitting mad. Like the kind of mad that has you seeing red. I yelled for him to turn the truck around, and he did it.” A pang of shame tugs on my stomach. “We almost died.”
“Do you see red when it happens?” Adrienne asks.
“Huh?”
