Page 135 of Gift from the Tree

“To answer Caspian’s how, I’d just need to draw your blood and process it through the database and see if any markers match to a potential gift. It could take weeks, possibly months to come back with results, though. The why is because of the rebel group. They’re purposely targeting those with rare and stronger gifts. If we can have a better idea of someone’s potential strength, we can keep them safer. They don’t have the power they need yet to break into the academy, but if they were to get to that point, they’d be sitting on a gold mine of potential soldiers for whatever their purpose is,” Jamie explains, drawing everyone’s attention.

Hearing that the rebel group is targeting certain people is news to me and very worrisome, but now that he’s said it like that, the many times the guys have warned that my ability coming out could be dangerous makes more sense. So do their reasonings for wanting to keep me a secret.

“What do you guys think?” I ask.

“I don’t want her information stored in a system that anyone could get their hands on. Her blood would have to be run anonymously and you tell no one about it or her results but us. And I’ll be there when you do the testing. Are you okay with that?” Caspian asks me. I’m almost too shocked to process what he said or asked because it’s so unlike him to take the lead like this. Glancing at the other three, they all give me a nod of agreement.

“Yeah, if everyone agrees. And I’d like it for you all to be there for the testing.”

“Tomorrow morning then when we arrive at the academy,” Corentin declares.

After that, everyone merges into easier conversations. Nikoli and Draken joke about the trouble they’ve both caused their Nexus. Corentin and Jamie discuss Jamie’s work. Ry and Tillman talk about missions. And Caspian and San discuss history and research they’ve both read about, although their conversation consists of questions and short, factual answers.

Leaning over to Oakly, I whisper, “Ready to ditch the guys and see my room?”

“Fuck yes. I’ve been dying to see your closet and bathroom that you rave about so much.” Laughing, we both stand and let the guys know we’re heading up.

As soon as we make it to my room, Oakly flies to the closet and gawks. “Fuck, this is amazing. I’m so jealous. Look at all these clothes and shoes.” She runs from one side to the next, touching and rubbing everything.

“Have you brought up to them yet that you don’t want to stay in the dorm anymore?” I plop down on the love seat in the closet and watch her plunder through my things.

“How did you know that? I haven’t even told you that yet,” she questions, placing her hand on her hip.

“It seems my bonds grow differently with everyone. I can already sense everyone’s feelings. The guys come without me even trying. But I do have to focus on you a little bit, and more than a few times I’ve caught your apprehension and longing. You don’t want to go back to staying in the dorm with three other girls when you have a Nexus now,” I tell her with a shit-eating grin.

“That’s so unfair and a complete invasion of privacy, thank you very much. But you’re right. I don’t want to go back to the dorms. Would it be too pushy to ask to live with them?” She plops down on the ground, draping one of my blankets over her shoulders.

“When Corentin told me about the dorms, I told him I didn’t want to stay there, so he asked me to stay here. I’ve lived with them the entire time I’ve been in Elementra apart from the six days spent with Gaster and the four nights with you. What I can tell you is being away from them each time fucking sucked. When I was with Gaster, I still didn’t know the truth, so I was crying my eyes out almost all day, giving him mini strokes, and I drank through an entire supply of tea that I now know is calming tea. And with you, you saw how bad I got. The only difference was then all my awakenings had happened and I was crushed.” I wince, remembering how awful both of those times were.

“I don’t want to admit it, but I don’t think I can be away from them. Jamie’s practically been glued to my hip and honestly, I love the attention. I don’t want to go back to a shared bathroom and bitchy girls,” Oakly says as she starts sobbing.

“Oh, shit.” I hop up out of my seat and run over to her. “There, there. It’s just these fucking Primary hormones. Come on, we can go check back in on the guys.”

“This is so fucking ridiculous. Why can’t I stop?” She sobs and laughs at the same time. Making our way to the back lawn, she tries multiple times to stop crying and says that we should just go back to my room, and she’d suck it up, but I knew better. Been there done this.

I can hear male laughter as we walk through the patio doors. Sensing our approach, all eyes turn to us, and Oakly’s Nexus all stands as one and practically trips over themselves to get to her.

“Don’t fuss over me. This is fucking stupid,” she complains as she buries her face into Ry’s chest, who surprisingly, gets to her first and pulls her close.

“What happened?” Nikoli asks, tilting Oakly’s chin up to him. But she just cries harder. “Willow?” His voice begs for an answer I’m not giving him.

“We were talking about returning to classes and the dorms tomorrow…” I say vaguely.

“I don’t understand. Why did that upset her? Oakly, please say something,” Nikoli begs again. He’s definitely the most sensitive to her, I see.

“She doesn’t want to live in the dorms. It’s not that hard to figure out,” Caspian comments, rolling his eyes like everyone’s an idiot for not figuring that out.

“Caspian,” I scold.

“What? She obviously can’t speak right now, and you weren’t going to tell them.” He shrugs nonchalantly.

“Is that true? That’s what has you upset?” Ry asks, lifting her chin and wiping her tears away.

How fucking cute? Instructor Asshole being all sweet.

“I didn’t know it would make me this upset. Thinking about being away from you all. This is bullshit,” Oakly says, stomping her foot.

I don’t mean to laugh, but it slips anyway, earning me a stern look from her. “I’m so sorry. It’s not funny. I just did this earlier today and I was thinking about how crazy these fucking hormones are.” I laugh again, by accident, but luckily it seems to do the trick because she starts laughing as well.

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