Let Me Find Your Omega - Ashe Moon Page 0,40

the burner.

In love.

I suddenly remembered what had been discussed at the parent-teacher meeting, that Elise had been doing readings and succeeding at them. I knew she had natural talent, and now I wondered if her skills needed to be fostered in the same way mine had. Would she have to sacrifice love and relationships, too? If that was the secret technique to focusing ability, then it was my responsibility as her instructor to make sure she knew about it.

The idea created a sore spot in my heart. I’d never had a problem agreeing to the vow, but Elise… She loved the idea of love. Making that sacrifice would be hard for her. It wasn’t something I could ask of her yet. Not until I knew she was ready.

“Elise, I need to talk to you about something very important. I was told you’ve been giving readings at school. Is that true?”

She looked up at me and fiddled with the little incense smudge stick she’d made. “I’ve only just done a few,” she said. “And it wasn’t anything big. Just some basic love fortunes, like they talk about in Divination for Beginners.”

“I know you want to try out what you’re learning, but you mustn’t get ahead of yourself. What can seem like good fun could end up hurting someone if you misread or read too deeply.”

“I followed all the instructions,” she said. “And I think they all went well. I was able to tap into the spectral realm. I helped Jenny get over her crush on Van, and I could see that she was going to meet her first boyfriend in a year…”

“You were able to tap into the spectral realm?” I asked, surprised.

She nodded, her eyes lighting up. “I could really feel it, Kole! I could see their futures in my mind. It was like… a hazy movie projected on a wall.”

Elise’s abilities and talent were more developed than I’d realized. I sat down next to her and gave her a proud smile. I wanted her to know that I wasn’t disappointed in her.

“Then it’s even more important that you don’t misuse your abilities,” I said. “Powerful readers like you and I can easily get ourselves into trouble. If you want to learn, please promise me that you’ll wait to do any readings until you’ve gone through proper training with me. What you’re doing is far beyond what’s written in Divination for Beginners. Okay?”

She looked slightly disappointed, but she nodded and agreed. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“Apology not necessary. Believe me, I know exactly how you feel.” I patted her on the back and then got up to grab a book from my shelf. “I think you should take a new book, Spectral Control. This was one of the first books I had to read at the Academy. Typically, you wouldn’t start it until much later, but I think you can handle it.”

She glowed with excitement, taking the book from me like it was the most precious thing in the universe. “Thank you, Kole! Wow! I’m going to read it right now!” she said, and she cracked open the hefty tome like it was light reading.

Chuckling at her never-ending enthusiasm, I went to look for my old notes so that I could go over the first lessons with her. Regardless of what happened with her school, of whether or not she would be able to get into the Dawn Academy, she had a good chance of being a successful and skilled reader.

I locked the office and walked up the street to The Wagging Tail Café. I paused at the front window and peeked inside, where a few final customers sat around finishing their tea as they read magazines and thumbed their phones. Markos was cleaning up, a black apron tied around his waist and a broom in hand. It seemed like he was alone today, or his brother and sister-in-law had already gone home. I found myself standing there and admiring him through the window like the weirdo I was, and I didn’t even realize what I was doing until he looked up and spotted me and grinned. I quickly pulled the brim of my hat down to cover my eyes and went inside.

“Welcome,” he said. “We’re just closing up, but I think I can accommodate one more order.” He turned over one of the chairs up on a table for me, and I sat down.

“I’ll have a tea,” I said. “Whatever you recommend.”

“Yes, sir, you got it.”

The other customers seemed to