The Conduit The Gryphon Series - By Stacey Rourke Page 0,15

out of fear of a repeat emotional overexposure. Then it became my goal to learn to control this empathe thing, or suffer a complete mental breakdown trying. How’s that for positive thinking? Gabe and Keni came out to check on me a few times. Each time I offered up some lame excuse about camping and barked at them to go away. That wouldn’t have worked on Grams. Good thing she was out of town. Only when they were gone or sleeping would I sneak inside for food and to heed nature’s call. The rest of the time I was focused in and learning. Through trial and error I figured out how to block out their intrusive emotions. After that, the feelings only came to me when I wanted them to. I could channel one of my siblings and draw their essence to me. Which was pretty friggin’ cool. However, all these experiments happened from my tree house sanctuary. There was no telling how I would handle another face to face interaction, or venturing out in public. Dread over what might happen made me stay in my tree.

My solitude ended as soon as Grams came home. The back door was flung open and Grams stomped across the yard. Panic knotted my stomach. I couldn’t lose control in front of her. I just couldn’t.

She stopped at the bottom of the ladder and glared up at me. Through clenched teeth she hissed, “Celeste Garrett, what is the matter with you? Your sister told me you haven’t left this tree house for two days? And the neighbors called and complained that you were out here talking to yourself all hours of the day and night.” I was? Hmm, I had no idea. “Have ya lost your mind?”

Grams was clearly ticked, but I couldn’t feel it. An unintentional giggle escaped me. Just to see if I could, I concentrated and sought out her feelings. There they were! She was perturbed, and more than a little concerned. Odd, her anger was growing. Yikes! She was turning into a red hot ball of cranky! It occurred to me that the cause was probably her idiot granddaughter wordlessly staring at her with a big, dopey grin on her face. I quickly blinked and disconnected our emotional tie.

I was just enjoying the beautiful Tennessee scenery, Grams.” I smoothed my hair behind my ears and tried to look less like a raving lunatic.

“And the talkin’ to yourself?”

“Didn’t realize I was.” I giggled nervously. “But we all do that from time to time, don’t we?”

“I guess so. We don’t normally carry on entire conversations though.” Her eyes stayed narrowed. She was nowhere near convinced.

“How about if I come inside for dinner?” A risky, but mandatory move.

“That would be nice.”

“Great. I’ll fold up my sleeping bag and be inside in just a minute.”

“Good.” As she walked back to the house she muttered to herself. “Kids acting like their on drugs. Back in my day you didn’t act like that. You’d wind up in some loony bin. Doesn’t think I’ll send her butt there? Darn right I will! Talking to herself! Who in their right mind talks to themself?!”

As I picked up my stuff, I braced myself for whatever would befall me inside. I stepped in the house expecting the very worst. What I found instead was Grams pulling containers out of a KFC bag, Keni setting the table, Gabe pouring four glasses of milk, and all outside emotions staying perfectly at bay.

Gabe glanced up and grinned. “Hey, she returns! Enjoy your time roughing it?”

“Yeah, it was…enlightening.” I washed my hands in the sink, then took my seat at the table.

Kendall cringed and waved her hand in front of her face. “You know, when you get in touch with nature, it’s still okay to shower.”

“Noted.” I laughed. “I’ll take care of that right after dinner.”

We dove into the delicious spread before us, and no one pried any further into my backyard shenanigans. As relieved as I was to have a handle on this, I wasn’t convinced my good luck would hold out. These were controlled circumstances. I still had no idea how I would fare around strangers. It could send me over the edge, never to return. Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out.

CHAPTER 8

I had a plan. I was fairly certain it was an asinine plan, but it was all I could come up with it, so I was gonna own it. Since my head versus rock incident Alec had