Hyacinth - By Abigail Owen Page 0,21
into wolf form. Then he methodically added more wolves, creating the pack, earning them the name of Vyusher. The pack, under Gideon’s full control now without any forced manipulation from Selene, was put into action against groups of other people with powers, the Svatura. Gideon had used Sheila, a young wolf with ability to find people with powers. Sheila had better luck finding groups larger than about twenty, and Gideon had started organizing the pack to attack groups that size.
Selene’s involuntary role in the attacks was to turn off the most threatening ability in the group. Fortunately, Gideon hadn’t made her fight or kill, and for that she was grateful. He wanted her protected, as she was one of his greatest weapons.
As Selene’s ability to control people’s powers expanded, Gideon increased the size of the groups they attacked. Scenes started flashing before Selene’s eyes: scenes of the carnage, the terror, the devastation she’d been forced to not only witness, but in which she had to unwillingly participate. There was nothing she could do to stop Gideon and no one she could turn to for help.
Selene heard someone sob, bringing her out of her memories for a second. She felt the wet of the tears on her cheeks and the pressure of the grips of both Aubrey siblings squeezing her hands. But it was Griffin’s grip on her that gave her the strength to keep going.
Selene gathered her thoughts and concentrated on what had been her first ray of hope. In a short period of time, she’d developed several abilities in succession. Selene already had the ability to hide her emotions and thoughts from her brother and everyone around her. In fact, Gideon wasn’t aware that Selene had never been susceptible to his brainwashing. She’d been savvy enough, even at ten, to know that pretending to be under his influence was key to her survival.
And then Selene had made a discovery. Her ability to hide her emotions and thoughts wasn’t just a strong will. It was the start of a different gift—the ability to hide things. She kept Gideon from knowing she’d developed new powers. She even learned how to hide people who possessed abilities from Gideon’s tracker, Sheila.
At first, she could only apply it to one person at a time. She started secretly practicing on new Vyusher in the pack as they developed new gifts. Eventually she had taken the risk of trying it during an attack, hiding a child whose powers were obviously fairly new and saving its life. It was a small personal victory, but it was something… her way of defying her brother and fighting against the horror that her pack had become.
Shortly after developing this skill, Selene had come into her two other powers, which she also kept secret. The first was the ability to appear to people in dreams. She wasn’t able to manipulate them or force them to dream something specific. But she could speak to them and walk with them.
The other gift she inherited was the ability to strengthen other people’s powers. Selene had lived in terror that her brother would figure it out and find some way to use it against others. If Gideon had the ability to enhance their pack’s most dangerous powers, he would be unstoppable.
Her most impactful moment of rebellion against her brother and their life had started the night she’d first seen Griffin and Ellie. Selene had been watching over a battle raging in a gypsy encampment. Vyusher wolves moved through the Svatura, attacking where needed, ripping them to shreds. Selene’s job was to turn off specific powers on Gideon’s command. She’d made him believe that she could only affect powers she actually saw in action. The first Svatura she’d disabled was a magnificent golden dragon. She’d focused on him and he’d instantly shifted back to human. He hadn’t lasted long after that with the Vyusher wolves surrounding him.
Ellie’s gripped Selene’s hand tightly. “Grandfather,” she whispered, a hitch in her voice.
Regret and loathing for her role in his death slammed into Selene. She glanced at the twins. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I don’t have to keep going with the rest of that—”
“No. I want to see it,” Ellie insisted.
“Okay.” Selene closed her eyes and began picturing the rest of that night.
Toward the end of the attack, after most everyone was dead, a boy and a girl a little younger than Selene ran smack into her brother. Gideon, in the form of a huge black wolf, circled them menacingly.