Page 123 of Trivium

“Yes, and we all have it.”

“Wait, what?” Ahmina sat straight up and got to her feet, wobbling as she did. She grabbed Zeina’s arm for support, who looked mortified at the touch. “You have magic too?”

Lennox cleared his throat. “Yes.”

“What can wha-what!?” Ahmina stuttered. “What’s your magic?”

“Mina-baby, sit down.” Lennox placed both hands on her shoulders and tried to guide her back into her seat, but Ahmina resisted.

“Tell me,” she insisted, and Lennox sighed, his brow furrowed.

“I’m a reader, like Zeina.”

“Read what, exactly?”

“Energy, intention, thoughts.”

Ahmina stumbled back into Zeina, almost knocking her over, horrified.

“You can read minds!?”

Lennox reached out to Ahmina. “No! Yes. Kind of. It’s complicated.”

“Explain it then.”

“It’s more like energy, intentions, desires. And the more bonded I am to someone, the more I can read their thoughts. It’s really hard to describe.”

She turned to Zeina “Can YOU read minds too?”

“No,” Zeina said, expressionless.

“Her magic isn’t strong enough yet,” Lennox clarified. “But she will, one day.”

Ahmina’s mouth hung open.

“Sit down, girl, you look like you’ve risen from the dead,” Loveleena ordered. Ahmina fell back into the chair, shooting daggers with her eyes. Quite frankly, Loveleena didn’t care if Lennox could read minds or not. Actually, she wished he would read her mind and shut the hell up so she could get what she needed from Ren. She wanted to know what Ren was hiding.

“Tell them yours,” she said to Ren while Lennox and Ahmina argue-whispered behind her. She already knew what Ren was, but she wanted him to say it out loud so everyone could hear.

Ren’s jaw tightened. “No.”

“If you want any of us to trust you. To believe you. Tell them the truth.”

He took a deep breath in, considering, but eventually, he conceded. “Shapeshifter.”

“What!?” Ahmina’s attention zapped to Ren. “Just creatures? Or humans too?”

“Technically both, but people are much more difficult and most of the time it’s not worth it—too taxing. Creatures are much more enjoyable.”

“So how do we know this is really you?” Ahmina said frowning.

“You don’t, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.” He stared at them blankly. “And like Lennox said, it’s complicated.”

“Great, now everyone knows, right? Let’s move along.” She had pulled back her dagger, but she was getting impatient, and she lifted it up to Ren’s chest again. “As you were saying… families fled to Astoria?”

“Some of them,” Ren clarified.

“Ren’s family, my family, and many others have been fighting for decades to return the magic to a balanced state. Astoria is one of the only cities that wasn’t destroyed during the Great War. Most of us are there. However, we have allies in Jarrah too. They’re working in secret,” Lennox explained.