Page 82 of Inception

I peered up at the sky, worried it might rain on us at any moment as we made our way over to a picnic bench away from the crowd of workers setting up the fair rides. Ben hopped up onto the table and patted the seat next to him.

“Are you okay?” asked Trace, his eyes raking me over as he sat down on a picnic bench across from us.

“Not really, but I will be.” As soon as I stop free-falling through the rabbit hole and figure out which way is up again. “Do Taylor and Hannah know?” I wondered, examining my palm again.

“No.” Ben and Trace answered in unison.

“Humans don’t know about us,” said Ben. “No exceptions.”

“Why not? I mean, we’re not evil, right? We do good. If it were me, I think I’d feel safer knowing there were people out there protecting us from all the bad shit in the world.”

“You’d think that, wouldn’t you? But no, that’s not the way it is. Humans are a skittish people, Jem, and fear can make them do crazy things especially when it comes to their fear of the unknown. Just look at their history books.”

Witch hunts and vampire hysteria came to mind.

“Can you just imagine the chaos,” he challenged, “If people knew what was out there? No one would want to leave their house. Forget about work, and lattes, and paying your taxes. It would be a stockpiling-supplies, shoot-your-neighbor-cause-he’s-walking-funny, every-man-for-himself kind of world. Trust me, you don’t want to live in that world.”

He had a point. Humans didn’t exactly have a great track record when it came to dealing with the supernatural. “But you guys hang out with Taylor and Hannah every day. You obviously don’t mind taking some risk.”

“We normally keep a safe distance,” explained Trace. “You know, together but separate.”

“So what changed that?”

“Carly happened,” said Ben.

I vaguely remembered Taylor mentioning how she and Hannah used to be a lot closer last year before Carly moved here and started hanging out with them.

“So Carly brought them into the group. Why isn’t she concerned about getting close with humans?”

“Because she’s way too consumed by her human-envy to see anything clearly ninety percent of the time.”

“What do you meanhuman envy?”

“Don’t listen to him, he’s an idiot,” answered Trace. “She doesn’t have human envy. She just wants a normal life.”

I couldn’t tell if it was understanding or pity in his tone.

“I keep telling her it's overrated, but you know how girls are,” said Ben, leaning back on his elbows now.

I shot him a surly look. “No. Why don't you enlighten me?”

He put his hands up defensively, declining the invitation.

“So Carly, Caleb and Nikki are Casters. Morgan’s a Seer and Ben’s a Shifter.” I turned back to Trace. “That leaves you.”

He blinked languidly.

“Trace is what we call aReaper,” said Ben.

“A Reaper?” I kept my eyes on Trace. “What is that?”

“It's pretty sick,” answered Ben, walking over to where Trace was sitting. “Reapers are Descendants ofTransportAngels, you know the Angels responsible for collecting the Fallen and shuttling Souls between Realms.”

No, not really, but okay. I glanced back at Trace who was watching me carefully as if to measure my reaction.

“Demibloods like Trace have a pretty good grasp on moving between time and space, I’ll give him that much,” said Ben, taking a jab at him. “But Purebloods take it to a whole other level. They move back and forth on theTimelinethe way we walk in and out of rooms. Needless to say, they're kept under lock and key by the Council and rarely ever mingle with us common folk.” His tone let me know he was annoyed by the segregation.

My mind snagged on the part about Trace being able to move between time and space. “Is that what you did on my balcony last night? Move between time and space?”

---