Page 193 of The Order

“Five,” Xavier answers for me, his eyes narrowed. “The most gifts a single Marked has carried that we know of for certain is three, but a select few may carry four.”

“Like me,” the figure states, tapping its fingers along the screen and motioning toward the blonde.

I look over Xavier, finally piecing together the robed figure’s need to control him. Xavier’s abilities are much more extensive than anyone knew.

“Well, you didn't think I’d keep him just because of his pretty face, did you?” the figure asks, my hand trailing to my temple.

“Can you read my thoughts?”

“Better than you'd think. I can read the thoughts of anyone I have touched,” they sigh. “I've yet to meet anyone else who shares that burden of having so many coexisting gifts to pull upon as I do. It’s quite the burden,” they continue, flipping the screen around to face me.

Xavier looks at the screen, his eyes growing wider the more he reads.

“That is, until your daughter,” the robed figure finishes, my eyes looking over the information on the device's screen.

I see her picture. Five boxes surround her face, each filled to the brim in color. A bold20%fills each box, each number adding to the100%at the top of the screen.

“That's not possible,” Xavier begins, urgently grabbing the device. Looking over the numbers himself, his expression darkens.

“Yet the evidence is right there,” the figure says, Xavier’s head shaking.

“You said-” Xavier begins, unable to get out another word as the figure raises their hand.

“I said she could be taught when her gifts remained at a level below mine. She now holds a strength no one has seen before. That sort of power cannot walk this earth and coincide with the empire I’ve created.”

“What is she?” I ask quietly. It takes no mind reader to know just how little I want that question answered.

“She holds all of the Marked abilities,'' Xavier silently whispers, his gaze set forward into empty space.

“The Apparatus…. The fall of humanity,” the robed figure says, my eyes panning to Andrew.

So many times, he had spoken of all that she could do. He never feared who or what she was.

“Or the rise,” I whisper without thinking, my watery gaze still set on my fallen husband.

The robed figure's shoulders are back, their body rigid at what I’m insinuating. Xavier looks at me with regret. In many ways, it feels like there is so much he wants to say. But he remains silent, moving his long fingers down his neck.

“Regardless of your beliefs on what Forest’s gifts may mean, her abilities make her a liability,” the figure begins, glancing at their Paradoxes. “Which is why I must retrieve her.”

Xavier shoves me down by the shoulder when I attempt to stand. Crouching beside me, he wraps his arm around my front, holding me still.

“You’re making it worse,” he quietly whispers, holding back my head to watch the figure before me.

The figure scoffs, twirling the device in their hand.

“You won't touch my children-”

“You don't get a say, Mrs. Blackburn,” the figure starts, his tone light and full of excitement. “But you will help me find your daughter, and in return, I will not lay a single finger on your son's head,” they say as if sparing either of their lives is chivalrous.

“Once I have executed Forest-”

“Executed?”

“Did you really think she’d get to live, Xavier?” the figure questions, tapping their temple with a shake of their head. “How foolish. Even for you,” they taunt. Xavier’s nails dig into my arm at his words.

“She won't submit to you,” I begin, cut off by the sound of their menacing laugh.

“She’ll have to,” Xavier and the figure say in unison. The figure crosses its arms.

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