Page 65 of Whispered Warnings: Part One

He seems so happy that he’s right that I really hate to burst his bubble, but in this instance, I think it’s necessary.

I shake my head, “I would agree with you, but I have always been able to tell how strong someone is. It isn’t a recent development, and I suppose the only reason that I know that I’m right is because I already knew the strengths of the people that I was guessing about, so who’s to say that my knowledge wasn’t influencing my feelings?”

Raiden nods, “That’s a very good point, and I would agree, but you know how strong we are, and we have very strong enchantments on us. You know River has nine tails . . .”

I interrupt, “I can see them.”

Raiden smirks, “Fair enough. But you know when all of our magic is starting to play up, which is probably part of the sensing how strong a supe is thing. You also shouldn’t be able to feel very much at all from me, and yet you can tell that I’m stronger than Melody.”

“Huh,” I mutter. “I guess you may have a point. When you put it like that, it makes sense, I suppose.”

“I have no idea what supernatural has that gift,” Raiden frowns, “but I can see what I can find out.”

“Could you do it when we were kids?” Van asks.

I wrinkle my nose, I already know what he is going to ask me, but answer his question anyway, “Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks, a hint of hurt in his voice.

“You really wanted me to be a supe and go to the academy with you. I knew that if I told you that I could tell that you were stronger than your dad and told you the difference between the others at the compound too, then it would have gotten your hopes up, and I knew that I wasn’t going to get in and that I wasn’t a supe,” I explain honestly.

“Oh,” Van replies, a deep frown on his face.

“What I don’t understand is that if she’s got such a low power signature, then how is she the tier that she is?” Raiden says, seemingly randomly.

“Cheating,” I say when no one else seems to have the answer.

“How?” Reed asks.

“How am I supposed to know?” I reply with a smirk. “It just seems like the most likely reason behind her tier, whatever that is, and her low power level.”

“It doesn’t really matter because I won’t do anything about it. That would bring me under scrutiny, and I don’t want that.” Raiden says with a shrug.

A look is shared between them all and I know that there is more to that than there seems to be.

Something more important than asking about it crosses my mind though, and I say, “Fair enough, whatever floats your boat and all that, but it might still be a good idea to look into it just enough to have some solid information. You never know when you may need the information that she has cheated her way into her position of power. Knowledge is a powerful bargaining tool and is almost more valuable than money and jewels.”

Raiden stares at me, his eyes on fire, and nods just once, almost like he doesn’t trust himself to speak. The others grin.

“I think you broke him,” River chuckles.

“You just quoted something that he is always telling us,” Doc tells me, sounding highly amused.

“Well good. Then he will realize just how important what I said is,” I reply, because I don’t really know what else I can say in response to that.

Our kiss flashes through my mind, and I smirk. I push it away before Doc picks up on my desire or River smells it. I have no idea if he is capable of that, but if his nose is as good as Raiden was saying, then he most likely can.

“Did you get a phone?” Griff asks, completely changing the subject again.

I nod and grin proudly as I fish around in my pockets and hold my phone up triumphantly. I get a bit too excited, and Iend up fumbling the phone before I watch it crash to the floor, bouncing once and then landing screen down. I bend down, quickly scooping it up and cautiously turning it over. When I realize that the screen is unbroken, I smile triumphantly.

“It’s fine,” I announce, and turn to Raiden who is holding back his laughter, “that’s why I needed the extra strong case.”

“She’s as bad as River,” Griff groans.

“No one could be that bad,” Ransom disagrees and then chuckles, “that was pretty close, though.”

“What are you guys doing anyway?” I ask, changing the subject and hopefully moving us on from discussing my clumsy ways.

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