The Holders - By Julianna Scott Page 0,47

“Thank you. You didn’t have go to the trouble.”

“It was no trouble, I was going to make it for myself anyway, and I couldn’t have eaten the whole box on my own.” I paused with a grimace. “OK, that’s a lie, I totally could have. But I shouldn’t, so really you did me a favor.”

He laughed. “Well, thank you. You should have asked Ryland over, I’m sure he’ll be jealous when he finds out what he missed.”

“No,” I sighed, pulling my legs up under me. “He likes to eat with his new friends. Besides, Mom sent him a box of stuff too, so no way is he getting any of mine.” That last part was supposed to be a joke, but it came out a little too somber.

“Are you OK?” he asked, noticing my change of mood.

“Sure.” I smiled, hoping it didn’t look forced. I might have been a bit down with regards to Ry, but I was not about to turn into the whining ninny I’d been with Chloe the night before. I opened my mouth to change the subject, only to find Alex pensively studying me.

“Speaking of Ryland,” he said, as though he were afraid I was suddenly a giant bubble and might pop at any moment, “there is something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Go ahead,” I said. “I promise I won’t freak out,” I added, sensing that was his fear.

“It’s about Jocelyn.”

My nostrils flared, but I kept my cool. “In that case I promise to try not to freak out,” I amended with a smirk, only half-kidding.

“Jocelyn thinks that he and Ryland should meet before we test Ryland with the Iris.”

“Min mentioned something about testing him, what exactly is going to happen there?” In my defense, I really was curious. It wasn’t just a ploy to avoid the Jocelyn subject for as long as possible. Not entirely, anyway.

“As far as the test itself, not much. We will bring him to the Inner Chamber, put his Sciath on him – or what will one day be his Sciath – just to be safe, hand him the Iris, and see what happens.”

“See what happens? You don’t know what will happen?”

“The prophecies say that he will activate it, but we’re not sure what that means. There’s no need to worry,” he said, seeing the look on my face. “Abilities in general are subtle. Ryland will more than likely not even be aware anything is happening. Min will be watching his saol to see if there are any changes, and Jocelyn will monitor his subconscious thoughts to see if anything is triggered there.”

“Earlier you said that Ryland would be a mind-reader like Jocelyn, but now you make it sound like you don’t know what his ability will be.”

“That’s because we don’t. He may turn out to be a Reader like Jocelyn – his hearing thoughts is a strong indicator that he will be – or he may have an ability all of his own. Or he may be normal and it’s the use of the Iris that makes him special. We don’t know specifically what we are looking for, but when it happens, it should be obvious. Or so we’ve been told.”

“Nice to know you guys have a plan,” I quipped. “I’d hate to think you were playing all this by ear.”

“He’ll be safe. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Can I be there?”

“Actually, it was decided by all of us that you should be there. We think it will make Ryland feel more at ease. We don’t want him to be any more nervous than he has to be. Which,” he continued hesitantly, guiding us back to the original subject, “is also why Jocelyn thinks it might be a good idea that he and Ryland meet before then. If the day of the test is also the first day Ryland sees his father… well, like I said, we want him to be as relaxed as possible.”

I sighed, pursing my lips, knowing there was nothing I could do. Or at least nothing I could do in all fairness. I mean, I’d known this was bound to happen eventually, and – much as I hated it – I couldn’t stop Ryland from meeting Jocelyn. Even if I tried, he was bound to meet him after I was gone, and if it had to happen I’d rather be nearby.

“When?” I asked after a moment.

“In a few days. It will be two weeks before the test, and–”

“Yeah, thanks for that,” I interrupted. “Min told

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