ORDER OF SEVEN Read Online Free PDF Page B

asks.
    Ben nods. “Until now, I thought only alpha energists could arc. No one else has that kind of react-able energy in their aura. I’ve never witnessed it before today. You probably have,” he says to Baron. “Isn’t your teacher an alpha?”
    Baron, who had been transfixed on me, jerks his eyes away. “Yeah, yeah, he is. But I’ve never seen Hahn arc.”
    “What the hell’s an alpha energist?” I ask. “And who’s Hahn?”
    “Baron’s healing teacher,” Nodin says. “An alpha carries more aura than the average energy worker, and they’re so sensitive to energy they can see it.”
    “That sounds like Baron. What’s the difference?”
    “You want to take this, man?” Nodin nods at Baron.
    “Sure.” Baron looks at me. “The difference is the ability to manipulate the energy. I can see it and affect the balance, like energists do, but I can also hold it, grow it, change its properties and propel it.”
    I’m dizzy with excitement. Talking with other SAIs about our abilities is something I’ve never done in my life. “But I’m not an energist. Why am I able to arc?”
    Baron looks above and around me again. “You have more aura than I’ve ever seen, way more than even Hahn, and it’s reacting to the charge we’re creating.”
    “Yeah, what is this?” I gesture in the air. “Why is it happening?”
    “Ever seen a plasma globe?”
    “You mean the sphere you touch and little lightning bolts reach for your hand?”
    He nods. “That’s us, basically. The energy around us becomes a charged field when we’re near each other. You’re the bolts of light that reach out for the hand on the surface of the globe. I’m the hand. It’s the nature of our gifts. You carry the energy. I receive it.”
    It takes a second to inhale before I can speak. “But why? Is this common between runes and shapers?”
    All eyes are on me, followed by awkward shifting.
    “Devi, you don’t know?” Ben asks at last, his brows crushed together.
    “Know what?”
    “You’re not a rune.” He hesitates before continuing, “You’re the rune.”
    His words settle in my bones like a sickness. “There are no others?” I whisper through a vacuum of sorrow.
    “You’re the only one.”
    I look at Nodin, who keeps his mouth shut, but the shame in his eyes tells me he knew. For the second time that day, confusion and rage ignite under my skin. I feel myself start to quake as I stand to unleash my disapproval on him, but the room starts spinning and goes black.
    •◊•◊•
    I blink rapidly. Through a clearing haze, I see Ben hovering over me.
    “She’s awake. Seems all right.” Ben is fanning his hand in front of my face.
    The rapid movement irritates me. I smack his hand away.
    “Yeah, she’s definitely back to normal,” Nodin says.
    I remember what led to my black out and set my jaw. “Nodin, I swear, if one more thing is kept from me I’m gonna lose it.” I sit up with a hand to my throbbing head, but it pales in comparison to how stupid I feel.
    I resent needing all this explained to me, when I’m just as much a SAI as they are. I didn’t have the luxury of therapists and other intuitives to teach me the SAI lexicon. I feel like a fucking foreign exchange student.
    Ben sits beside me and hands me a glass of water, which I sip. I can see Baron pacing by the hallway leading to the second bedroom.
    “I’ve never passed out in my life. What the hell is going on?” I rub my hands over my eyes.
    “It’s probably all the energy. It overwhelmed your system,” Nodin says.
    “It’s probably all the bullshit,” I say.
    “Look. I know how badly you want to know others like you.” He sits down with a sigh. “I just didn’t want to upset you.”
    “Well, you’re going about it backward.” I glare at him. “It’s simple. Tell me everything.”
    “Devi,” he says, so low it’s barely audible. “I’m finally able to tell you, but I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know how to do this