Awakening Book One of the Trust Series - By J. E. Swift Page 0,49
men now, but I think we should make more time just to relax. Everything is business lately. You can bring Caitlyn too if you would like.” He winked at Declan.
“Dad, please don’t embarrass poor Caitlyn.”
Caitlyn could not help but snicker. For as confident and self-assured as Declan was, it was quite apparent from this exchange that Declan never brought home women to meet his father.
As they sat down to the table to eat, Caitlyn was regaled with tales of Declan and Caleb’s past. As she suspected, the two of them caused quite a bit of trouble around the home. Looking around at the table, she could not help notice how normal all of them seemed. They all seemed happy, engaging in various conversations.
She wanted to ask questions, find out more about who they were exactly. But she kept her mouth mostly shut, enjoying the conversation flowing all around her, interjecting here and there with a laugh or a comment. Finally, when dessert was served, Declan’s father turned to Caitlyn.
“So… I am sure that you have a lot of things that you want to ask us, Caitlyn. And here we are, boring you with all these old family stories.”
“I wasn’t bored!” She stated sincerely. The stories had been hilarious and very insightful and she had not felt like part of a family in so long that she did not want the evening to end. “But I must admit, I have a lot of questions I want to ask.”
His father waved his hand encouragingly. “Go on then. Feel free to ask us anything. There are no secrets at this table.”
She suspected that it wasn’t quite a true statement, but she looked around at all of them. She was not quite sure where to start. She started off slowly. “So all of you are Actuals?”
Michael answered. “All of us at this table.”
“Declan stated that his family heritage with the Trust traced back to the original Actuals in Ireland. What about your family? Are you Descendants as well?” She had directed the question at Michael, but Andrea answered instead.
“My direct linage has been in the Trust for over six hundred years, so we are old and respected within the Trust, but we are not part of the Descendants. Michael is actually first generation Actual.” She gazed at her husband lovingly. “I met him when he was twenty-two. He did not know anything about the Trust until he proposed to me. It was quite the shock to Michael. Just like most Potentials, he truly thought that I was mad. It was not until I had showed him what I could do that he believed me.”
“It was the same with me.” Caitlyn admitted. “I thought Garrett had gone crazy. I was ready to call a mental institution and get him committed to a rubber room!”
They laughed. “It’s happened before to some of our kind.”
“I don’t know if this is a personal question or not, but what are your capabilities?”
Caleb was the first to answer. “Not personal at all. Most of us love to brag.”
It was not lost on Caitlyn when Michael stated quietly to the laughter of the group in front of him. “Some more than others, Caleb.”
Caleb just shrugged. “So what? I brag. Well, I am sure as you have been told, most of us have the same capabilities with just a variance in how strong we are. I can levitate and manipulate matter. Dad is the same.”
Andrea then answered. “I can do both of those as well, however, I am not as strong as they are. My specialty is healing.”
Caitlyn’s eyes opened wider. “You can heal?” She had been interested in healers since Garrett had first told of them to her, but she was the first official healer she had met. “How does it work?”
Andrea took a sip of her wine. “It’s not what you think. I am not a miracle worker. For example, when someone gets cut, or hurt, I can put my hands on them and they heal at a faster rate. I can slow down a disease, but cannot prevent or cure it entirely. So of course, I chose to be a nurse. It allows me access to those that are injured, but does not put me in the spotlight in case someone begins to wonder why these patients are just healing a little faster or living just a little longer than they should.”
Caitlyn was in shock as Garrett had not been able to teach her barely anything. “That is amazing.