Are you missing Misty (Elle) yet? Because I am.
I miss her innocence, her frailty, her inner critic. I miss how uncertain she is and how vulnerable she feels.
I hope we will see her again soon.
But in the meantime, Logan is turning out to be BadA$$! I hope you’ll agree. This empath thing has so many interesting possibilities. It certainly explains a lot. He seemed kind of a sissy at one point, very in touch with his emotions. But where did it come from? Is it natural or cultivated? I guess we will never know.
Okay, I know this is turning out to be a long chapter but a lot can happen in the time it takes for a certain atomic bomb to recharge. She’ll be back soon enough, you’ll see.
But not quite yet.
INDEX | Chapter 3 | Scene 1 | Scene 2 | Scene 3 | Scene 4 | Scene 5 | Scene 6 | Scene 7 | Scene 8 | Scene 9 | Scene 10 | Next Scene → coming soon…
Previously… Tom and Cathy quarrel putting Luke in a sticky situation and Logan discovers he has empathic abilities similar to those of the Manorian Deity. It’s going to get complicated.
“I know that this comes as a shock, son.” Luke reaches out to me but I bat his hand away, disgusted.
“A shock?! I am a Manorian. Not just any Manorian, my father was a nobleman. I know my heritage. If I have psychic abilities it must mean there’s some taint in my blood, and I know there isn’t.”
“The Deity-” Luke begins but I cut him off.
“The Deity was an exception. The one and only in a hundred generations.” I turn away, grabbing the coffee mugs to put them in the basin. I am too horrified to face him. He waits patiently while I rinse the cups out, saying nothing so I have time to think it through. “Luke you are accusing me of being impure. Making me question my Father and his, this could mean that everything I have been told for my entire life has been a lie.”
“I’m not saying that,” Luke says, “ I would never say that.” I turn to face him, searching his level gaze for some kind of explanation. “All I want is for you to consider the possibility. It is a possibility. Maybe it’s my influence that caused an unnatural deviation. Maybe Dennis awakened an instinct that has been dormant for generations. The only way we can know for sure is to test it, right?”
I stare, mind racing. Long minutes pass. Luke looks at me obliquely, while I process the idea. It has raised so many questions. I can almost sense him resisting the urge to influence my decision.
"Okay, so how would it work?” I sigh at last, having found an unexpected openness inside myself, where instinct dictates there should be only hesitancy. “Talk me through the process." Luke smiles his most proud smile, then launches into what feels like a prepared speech.
"Well, the process is pretty much the same as before. I will deepen our mental connection, temporarily."
"So it doesn't mean full access to my mind any time you want?" I clarify.
"No, son. I would never do that," Luke confirms.
"Continue," I prompt.
"Okay, well, it's sort of like a shared hypnosis. I will deepen our connection, and then you talk me through your experience, and I will share in it," Luke elaborates.
"Wait, that's not like it is during your interrogations," I interject with concern.
"Well, not exactly. This is voluntary," Luke reassures me, “And it would be a two-way street. A shared experience.” He says with utmost transparency, and that is it.
"Okay," I respond.
* * *
It is dark outside and I can hear the cold wind howling, but the lights are on in here. We sit across from one another at the breakfast bar, with our backs to the door.
"Close your eyes, Open your mind to me," Luke says with a gentle tone.
I do as he says, the connection feels like it always does, only this time it is almost instant, like a jolt of electricity and there’s a new dimension as well. I feel Luke's reaction, his regret for causing me this discomfort.
"Hold the event in your thoughts, try to remember every detail. Start wherever it feels comfortable." His voice echoes, distorting slightly as it finds the balance between his ears and mine.
* * *
I look around the General's office again, this time noticing stains on the wood, scratches on the chairs, and footprints on the carpet. I sense a hint of influence directing the General's thoughts away from his daughter's reports on my power, nothing overt, a gentle nudge. Another prompt allows him to accept Tom without question. The caution with which Luke does it is unsettling. Morgan is vigilant, and Luke is forced to be subtle.
Then we all walk to the interrogation room. I notice the window in the corner and its untempered glass. The locks are electromagnetic, not mechanical, and so they might fail if there is a power dip. I notice the wires along the ground, the sloppy electrical connections to the tank, and a dozen other small things that could impact the security of the containment.
Cathy's eyes are on her father as she hugs me. Luke reads her thoughts, on how her father would approve of her display. I focus on the word "display" and feel dismayed as I realize how blind I have been.
Luke redirects my thoughts as he argues with the General. I feel his constant fear that Morgan will realize the extent of my power and he will be powerless to prevent the consequences. I feel Luke's awe upon seeing Dennis, and his trepidation about risking an escape.
Viewing this through the composite of our memories is a little jarring, but once I figure out how it all fits together I am able to roll with it and reach the part that I can't remember.
Luke has the Observer in his grasp. Dennis’ eyes implore me to let him go. I feel the moment he realizes I won’t. Then he starts to struggle and things get muddled. Through Luke's eyes, I see him move. He sort of shivers, a vibration runs through his body as he starts to phase. Luke's iron will overpowers him but only just.
I keep tightening my grip. The energy cinches mercilessly in around Dennis, compressing his body like a giant snake, inexorably constricting, squeezing the breath out of him. Luke senses his pain, telepathic tendrils finding their way into Dennis' head and the scene that materialized to me back then flashes before my eyes again with crystal clarity.
Two lovers are sitting under a mango tree on a hill, eating chocolate and strawberries under the stars. Their joy and affection is unmistakable. Luke goes further back, Dennis is still in space, observing. A giant ruby. The shadow of a comet falls over him. Without the light to keep him crystalline, his perception narrows. He starts to feel, and he sees Maggie for the first time. There is a bonfire on the beach. She walks off to the restroom and some brute jumps her and tries to force himself on her in the sand. She puts up a fight, he brings out a knife and Dennis intervenes. Smokes the bugger. He picks Maggie up, heals her bruises and cuts, restores her clothes, and tidies her hair, like magic. He searches her memories, then phases the two of them through space and sets Maggie on the couch in her dorm room tenderly, a wave of emotion surging through him, regretting her injuries, blossoming tenderness and love.
That's when Dennis gets control of me. His mind springs into gear, like a tightly wound clockwork toy, set free. I feel my body start to heat up, the first tendrils of flame appearing on my hands where I am still touching the glass. He is drawing my energy out and my heart races with Luke's panic as he realizes what's happening.
Dennis' hand is opposite mine, resembling a prison visitation booth. The General and Cathy both stare at me in expectation, they can't wait to see what will happen. I feel my energy mingling with the Observer, connecting us, my golden flames are growing more intense, spreading up my arm past my elbow. There is nothing I can do to stop it.
Luke takes control, abruptly breaking contact with the Observer, and then he snaps my consciousness so hard it quakes through my body. The bonds that had held Dennis in place, flicker and vanish and through Luke’s eyes, I see myself slump to the ground. Dennis glances at Luke with a look of pure hatred then shudders through the no longer shimmering glass and disappears through the far wall of the compound.
The Morgans look on as Luke straightens me out carefully. Cathy sees only weakness and wonders how much longer she will have to play at puppy love, but the General is reassured. He reaches out a camouflaged arm to sound the alarm, the lights flick on and soldiers come running, weapons at the ready and then I sense my brother. He is - disgusted? Not worried or concerned. It doesn’t make sense.
The scene fades in an instant, and I look down at my hands in my lap, palms up, feeling a little unsteady on the high stool at the breakfast bar. The weight of what just transpired hangs heavy in the air, and I try to steady my breathing but there is not time to process the magnitude of it.
"Thomas!" Luke chimes cheerfully. Tom doesn't answer. I look up, he is glaring at us from the door. I sense a flash of anger from him, mixed with the same strange revulsion from a moment ago, the emotions so intense they catch me off guard.
As twins, I had always assumed our connection was strong and mutual, but now I realize it may not be the case. Tom stands there, brooding silently. He saw.
No one speaks. The tension settles into the form of a knot in my stomach. Tom's expression is unreadable, and I can sense his inner turmoil. I consider reaching out to him, to explain, to make things right, but there are no words that will make him see the truth, not now. I let Luke in my head, not just superficially but to the depths and Manorians don't do that.
This is going to get complicated.
* * *
I stand at the foot of Elle's bed, staring at her and wrestling with my conscience. Her closed eyes dart around as she dreams. I wonder what she is feeling. If I really am an empath, I should be able to resonate with her emotions, even in her sleep. She looks peaceful, but I don't feel peace within me. A war rages inside me, a fierce battle between my heritage and honor, and the possibilities that lie ahead.
Tom saw Luke digging around in my head.
My brother was upset, hurt, and angry because of how Luke saved him from exposing our true nature to a powerful faction of the PG. All he wanted was to come home to find support and normalcy. From his perspective, I have already betrayed our Father's memory.
Luke suggested that I let him help me develop this new gift. It has left me so confused. I don't even know how to feel about it. Analyzing my emotions, right now I am filled with sadness at the rift that has separated me from the most important person in my world.
I wonder if Luke could be right about how I became this way - how it is that I possess empathy despite being a Manorian. Tom and I know our bloodlines, tracing back twenty generations. There is no deviation, no impurity. I wonder if the Observer had a role to play in this. Maybe Luke is right and he awakened it by using his influence on me for too long. Perhaps if I follow his suggestion we can figure it out.
My mind races as I watch Elle breathing and I flit between hope and reason, sarcasm and desolation. Luke says empathy is different from telepathy - it is limited to the present but more insistent. It's hard to deny an emotion once it has a hold on you. He mentioned it might be a little jarring, but if I can learn to close my mind and selectively choose whose emotions I experience, it can prove very useful. Like it did for our Goddess? I feel my lips twitch, a wry smile.
But then there's Tom. My brother, the person closest to me in this world, the most important and dear to me. If I go through with developing my empathy, I stand to lose him permanently.
Thoughts and memories are sacrosanct! I hear my Dad's voice filled with bitterness, remembering the one time he and Luke argued.
Dad was so strong, how did he get himself killed?
My despair is threatening to drown me. Elle twitches. Involuntarily, my mind reaches out to her. Her fingers jerk and her eyelids flutter.
Some questions for next time… What is to become of the brothers now that Logan has broken a sacred Manorian trust? Will Logan dive in and let Luke help him develop his empathic powers or will he let it consume him like it did the Deity, to the point where he has to take his own life to find relief? And did he just make a new empathic connection with Elle?
Thanks for reading! I hope you’re enjoying following along with my Bottled Embers!
As always, the easiest way to ensure you don’t miss the next installment is to,
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Until next time. 👋🏻
I was wondering when you'd show the hidden part of Logan.
I kept wondering if innately understanding Elle was what most Manorian's did.
With this chapter, you've shown us that most Manorians don't have empathy for other people, which makes Logan's concern for Elle that much more telling.
Oh, soooo good!