you’re picking up is pity?” Elwin countered as Keefe fanned the air. “Because from what I’ve heard, pity can feel a whole lot like empathy—and apparently empathy is an emotion a lot of Empaths struggle to distinguish. Don’t ask me why—maybe the name throws you guys off? Either way, I can’t speak for Fitz and Ro. But for me”—he held out his hand—“I think you should check your reading.”
Keefe glared at Elwin’s fingers, waiting for him to give up. But Elwin just sat there, raising one eyebrow until Keefe finally swiped his thumb across Elwin’s pinky.
“Focus,” Elwin said when Keefe doubled over. “Take a deep breath if you need it.”
Keefe closed his eyes and inhaled, struggling to sort through the emotions battering his senses.
He’d never felt a reading so strongly—not even while Sophie was enhancing him.
But as his breathing steadied and his mind sharpened, he realized Elwin was right.
There was no pity.
Only worry, and frustration, and concern, and sadness, and anger, and determination, and lots of other things that twisted together into something that felt… warm.
Elwin cared.
“I think you’re starting to get it,” Elwin said, waiting for Keefe to look at him before he added, “I understand why you’re trying to push everyone away. You’ve had so many people let you down that it’s hard for you to trust anybody. But I’m on your side, Keefe. No matter what happens. And I promise, I’ll never give you any judgment or pity. I’m just here to help you through this, so will you please let me? We can even come up with one of those names you’re always giving things. Team Sencen-Heslege?”
“Huh—I never knew your last name,” Fitz mumbled.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Elwin told him, before turning back to Keefe. “So, what do you say? Team Sencen-Heslege for the win? Or maybe Team Troublemaker and the Worrying Doctor?”
“Oh! Team Funkyhair and Funkyclothes!” Ro suggested, pointing to the krakens covering Elwin’s sleeves.
“Hey, don’t knock my special tunics!” Elwin told her. “I’m a trendsetter! In fact, I think Keefe and I should get matching outfits as our team uniform. Maybe gulons—or are you still trying to pretend you had nothing to do with that?” He frowned when Keefe didn’t smile. “Come on, Keefe. Stop overthinking this. The more you sink into your head, the more you’re going to keep missing important stuff. Like, oh… I don’t know… how about the fact that what’s going on with your empathy sure sounds a lot like what happens when everyone first manifests?”
Keefe sat up taller.
“Ha, didn’t think about that, did you?” Elwin asked.
No.
He definitely hadn’t.
And Elwin was right.
This was exactly how he’d felt when he’d manifested as an Empath.
Well, maybe not exactly—but it was close enough.
Special abilities were always disorienting in the beginning.
It was normal to be overwhelmed.
In fact, when his empathy first kicked in, he’d ended up laughing and crying at the same time—and he’d gotten majorly queasy that night. And sure, the nausea was partly because he suddenly had proof of how little his parents cared about him—but it was also because being an Empath is rough sometimes.
“You’re feeling better now, aren’t you?” Elwin asked.
He absolutely was.
He also wasn’t sure if he wanted to kick himself for being so dense, or wrap Elwin up in a giant bear hug. But he settled for collapsing back onto his pillows, shaking with so much laughter that it was a little tough to breathe.
“Um… I think it might be time to give our boy a sedative,” Ro noted.
“No, I’m fine,” Keefe choked out—meaning it for the first time. “It’s just… Don’t you realize what this means? My mom almost killed me, and did painful experiments on herself and my dad, and took Bangs Boy prisoner, and made a really bad deal with King Enki—and who knows what other ridiculous stuff she did—all so she could make me manifest as an Empath all over again! It’s like… the most epic fail of all epic fails!”
Another round of laughter took over, and he curled his knees into his chest as relieved tears streamed down his cheeks.
His mom hadn’t changed him!
All he needed was a couple of days for his empathy to settle down and then he’d be back to his old self again!
Or that’s what he’d started to believe—until Fitz had to go and prove that he was the worst best friend in the history of best friends by asking, “Okay, but… what about the mimicking?”
“Mimicking?” Elwin repeated as Keefe tried to calculate how many