Shielded

She was blocking me. From the moment that she learned I had Telepathy, Ray had been blocking me and I had no idea how she was doing it. Some strong shields were able to keep out weaker telepaths, but I wasn’t weak and Ray wasn’t using a shield. The more time I spent with this woman the more questions that I had and the more impressed I became. The one time I desperately needed to know what someone was thinking and my Gift was failing me. And I wasn’t the only one obsessing over her every move. Something was up with my brother this morning. He had been withdrawn all morning and he was singing songs in his head. He only did that when he had something to hide and he was attempting to keep me out. The few thoughts that I did catch, weren’t good. In fact, everyone’s thoughts were out of sorts this morning. And it was my job to make things right again.

--Elijah

I slowly got up from the breakfast bar, walked over to the stove to get another serving of quiche, and then sat down at the table like a civilized person. The boys were trying to play it off like they weren’t but I could tell that they were all watching me like a hawk. Being the circus freak within this circle was going to get old real fast. I took a couple of small bites of my food before breaking the ice. “Okay, so tell me more about Valkyrie. You say that my father was the exception and not the rule. If that is true, then tell me about Valkyrie and how they are different.”

Well, that statement got their attention. Max and Elijah traded meaningful glances with each other. Conner looked up from his own plate and leveled me with a thoughtful stare and Blake shifted so that he was now facing the table. No one said anything for a long moment and just when I figured they were going to blow me off Elijah asked, “what would you like to know?”

I thought about that for a second before answering, “tell me about the Royal families. Connor said something about all of the known female Valkyrie being a part of the Royal lines, why is that?”

“Well, just like some human cultures we are governed by a Monarchy with a King and Queen. Each major territory has its own royal family and slightly different laws that they abide by. Most countries only have one royal family, but some territories have such a large Valkyrie population that there are more than one. Conversely, some human countries have a low number of Valkyrie and one King and Queen will rule over more than one. For example, the United States is divided into three Kingdoms, but the entire continent of Africa only has two,” Elijah explained in a patient voice. Holy shit. They divided America into three Kingdoms. The humans would freak!

“As I think Connor mentioned to you, the only way for a Valkyrie to conceive a baby girl is if both parents are Valkyrie and even then, the odds are low that the couple will have a female. Children of a Valkyrie union tend to be more powerful than average, thus through the ages, the royal families would seek out female Valkyrie to continue on their lines. This tradition continued until the only paired Valkyrie couples were all part of the various royal families. Now, when a royal female Valkyrie comes of age, her family will pair her with a prince of another line. That prince will go to her home Kingdom and eventually they will become the new King and Queen.”

“That sounds a whole hell of a lot like arranged marriages,” I commented, disgusted by the idea that women were basically being traded for political favors. I hadn’t thought much about what any of my future relationships would look like, but being auctioned off to the highest bidder sounded like something straight out of my nightmares. “Do any females marry for love?”

“Valkyries don’t fall in love,” Connor said harshly. Okay, so touchy subject. I remembered Chastity telling me that the Three Musketeers went through women like it was some sort of competition to see who could wear out their dick first because they knew that they could never have a real relationship with a woman. Maybe right now wasn’t the right time to have this conversation.

To get us back on topic I asked, “what kingdom are we in?”

“Americas West Kingdom,” Max answered. “Our Queen is Florence Collins and she lives in San Francisco. That is why there is such a high population of Valkyrie in the Bay Area. She has Weapons, Shield, and Energy.”

“Energy?” I asked because I hadn’t gotten to that chapter in Max’s book about Valkyrie Gifts.

“Queen Florence can produce and manipulate a form of energy that is similar to electricity. It is a great offensive Gift and she can use it in a pointed strike to take someone out, or send a wave out and fry any electronics in the area. At least one person has had Energy in every generation of the Collins line for at least the last two hundred years. It is something that they are very proud of,” Elijah explained. There was so much that I didn’t know.

“Queen Florence married a prince from Brazil about thirty years ago. His name is Adalberto and he has Weapons, Shield, and Compulsion. They became King and Queen twenty-three years ago when Queen Florence turned thirty years old. They have three children. Damon, Kaiden, and Regina. Damon is twenty-five and has Weapons, Shield, and Energy like his mother. Kaiden is nineteen and has Weapons, Shield, and Truth like you. Regina just turned seventeen and has the normal Weapons and Shield plus Telekinesis.” I also hadn’t read the chapter on telekinesis, but I assumed it was pretty straightforward. She could move things with her mind. Pretty awesome power if you ask me.

“Who will become the next King or Queen?” I asked, finding myself more and more interested in this subject. It was like a Valkyrie soap opera.

“Regina will inherit once she comes of age because she is a female. Not all Kingdoms pass the crown down through the women, and more and more often royal lines don’t even have a daughter in the line of succession. Queen Florence pulled some pretty major strings and now Damon is engaged to Princess Noemie Guerrier of France. In fact, I think that Noemie is here in America’s West spending some time with the Collins family before the wedding.” Elijah was just a fountain of information and so far everything he had said was the truth. Either he didn’t care that I had all of this information, or he was being careful with his wording now that he knew that I could tell if he was lying.

“What will happen to Kaiden? The middle child,” I asked and was surprised that the answer came from Blake who was still sitting in the living room.

“Unless he can find a princess to marry, he is in the same lonely boat as the rest of us. Queen Florence used up all of her favors getting Damon a union. So that means that fucker is on his own.”

“Blake! We have talked about this. I don’t care what history you have with him. You will show Prince Kaiden the respect that his station deserves,” Elijah growled and Blake looked like he wanted to say something but was holding his tongue.

“What history do you have with this prince?” I asked and Blake started to look more regretful than pissed off. Whatever this story was, he didn’t want me to know about it.

“I dated Regina for a couple of months a while back,” Connor said into the silence. I turned to look at his face only to find it completely shut down. “Things didn’t end well and now we are persona non grata with the younger generation of the royal family.” Huh, I thought they just said that female Valkyrie didn’t get to choose who they were with. I could sense that there was a whole lot more to this story, but none of them wanted to get into it. If Connor wanted to keep secrets that was fine with me. He didn’t owe me any explanation.

“If we are going to the police station later today to talk to Maria’s aunt I am going to need to get some real clothes. Can one of you drive me home?” I asked and then cleared my dish, rinsing it before placing it neatly in the dishwasher. Maria noticed me get up and jumped out of Blake’s lap to run over to me. I picked her up and swung her in a circle, earning a giggle that warmed my heart.

“I’ll take you,” Blake said a moment before the others also volunteered. A vain person might be happy about all of the offers, but I knew this was more about learning where I was living than actually wanting to spend more time with me. “We can stop by the store and grab some clothes for Maria too.” Okay, that offer melted my heart. It seems like Blake was connecting with my little charge just as much as I had.

“Okay, just give me a moment in the bathroom,” I told them and then walked down the hallway with Maria on my hip. I looked at the shower with longing, but I didn’t want to have to put the dirty scrubs back on after getting clean. I would just have to be happy with a truck stop shower later on. Maria also had to use the bathroom and after we had both washed up we walked back into the living room to find both Blake and Connor fully dressed and waiting by the door. I guess Connor was joining us too. Oh boy, this should be fun.

We climbed into Blake’s ridiculous truck with me in the back with Maria. We didn’t have a car seat so I held her in my lap and wrapped the belt over both of our laps. Then I pulled up a shield to cover us. It wasn’t perfect, but it made me feel a little better. Both boys were quiet as I gave directions to the trailer park. As we drove farther from the nice part of town and closer to the place that I called home, I could feel the tension within the truck rising.

“You live in a trailer? Alone?” Connor asked when I directed Blake to pull into Sunny Times Trailer Park.

“Yes, I live alone,” I answered as I considered how to say what I needed to tell them. Straight up was always best. “Listen guys, after seeing where you live and the contents of your fridge, I know that you aren’t going to be impressed with my bus. In fact, I am pretty sure you will be downright appalled. But I need you to understand that this place is the first place that I have ever had where I feel safe. It may not be much, but it is completely my own. I consider it home and I would really appreciate it if you could keep your judgments to yourself.”

I didn’t wait for an answer. I just undid the seatbelt and carried Maria out of the truck. Blake had been idling by the entrance of the trailer park because I hadn’t told him where to go, so I started walking the familiar path back to my bus. I heard Blake park the truck and both men slam their doors before hurrying to catch up with us. I didn’t look at their faces as I approached my sanctuary. Next to the void, this was the only place that I had ever felt like a home to me. When I came to the locked front door, I pushed my hand into the void to retrieve the key that I always kept there. My other copy was in my backpack and I could only assume that was still at Polly’s. I used the key to open the folding door that gave a familiar shriek. Jack had offered to fix it months ago, but I liked the fact that no one could enter without alerting me.

I hitched Maria further up my hip and then climbed the three steps onto my bus. I had removed all but two sets of ugly brown bench seats. One set was up front against the left side with a table I had found for five dollars at a flea market in between them. The other set of seats I had bolted to the floor side by side length-wise behind where the table was set up. I had placed a cover over them and placed a bunch of pillows the freshmen were forced to make in homec back in October. They were badly sewn and had odd shapes, but they worked just fine. Once everything was said and done, I considered it my couch.

I had found an old frame for a set of bunk beds on the curb one day and spent the time to haul it back to the trailer park. Jack had helped me set them up at the back of the bus and it wasn’t until they were fully assembled that we discovered the bottom bunk was broken. So I had a camping sleep pad and a sleeping bag set up on the top bunk. I had even splurged and bought a new pillow from Walmart because sleeping on folded-up clothes for a pillow was just about as comfortable as it sounds. I had a makeshift closet in place of the bottom bunk with about fifteen hard-earned shirts hanging up. Within the bins, I had enough underwear to go just over two weeks without doing laundry along with four sets of jeans, a pair of yoga pants, and workout clothes.

I had moved the bus driver’s chair to the right side of the bed and the floor there was littered with books that I had borrowed from the library and hadn’t bothered to return yet. An old set of curtains that Mrs. Yates was getting rid of were hanging in the back corner of the bus to give me a place to change. I learned that I needed that after the first time Jack had come over in the morning.

As I said, it wasn’t much. But it was mine.

I finally gathered my courage and looked behind me at the boys. Connor had his bullet-proof poker face on but Blake was looking around with a simple curiosity that loosened the knot of tension within my stomach. Blake was too easy-going to ever judge me for how I lived. I should have given him more credit.

Maria wiggled out of my hold and started exploring the space when I let her down. I glanced at the twins one more time and then headed back to change into some clean clothes. I picked my nicer set of blue jeans and a purple t-shirt that had black flowers embroidered down the side. I went to grab my trusty flannel shirt when I remembered that it was also still at Polly’s. When I said something to the guys they agreed to stop by the restaurant so I could talk to Camila about what happened last night and grab my stuff. All of my school books were in my backpack too.

“Did you do all of this yourself?” Blake asked as he fingered a string of old Christmas lights that were jerry-rigged to a car battery.

“Jack helped me with some of it,” I admitted and tried to think of what else I would need. Then I remembered that Stella had taken all of the cash that I had in my wallet. I walked over to the table and sat down in the front-facing seat before pushing back into the void. I had moved a folding table and bus seat to the same spot in the void so that my valuables weren’t just sitting on the floor. It also gave me somewhere to sit if for some reason I needed to spend time out of sight in the void. I can tell you that ghosting through all furniture wasn’t fun. I opened the tackle box that I used to keep my cash and counted out another four hundred to move to my wallet.

Some may say that it was crazy I lived in a broken-down bus with no running water when I had thousands sitting around in cash, but I knew better. I knew how fast rent for a crappy motel could eat through your savings. I knew how quickly your luck could turn and I needed to be prepared for that. And if that day never came, then I would rather keep roughing it now so that I could hopefully get an apartment for college.

I pushed back into the void, walked over to the pile of dirty scrubs to find my wallet, and put the cash inside before tucking it into my back pocket. “Holy, fuck. Ray do you have an invisible stash of cash?” Black asked. He had walked over to the table and was running his hands over the clear surface looking for something that was invisible.

I squinted my eyes at him and gave him my best ‘none of your business’ glare before replying, “something like that. I keep it invisible so people don’t find it.” Blake didn’t take the hint and now was sitting down and running his hands along the underside of the table. “So stop trying to find it,” I growled through my teeth.

Black snatched his hands away from the table like the thing was on fire and looked like a guilty puppy getting caught shredding the new couch. “He is just impressed,” Connor said with clear laughter in his voice. “Most of our Gifts only work with direct contact, and all of them require us to be in the vicinity. If you keep an object cloaked even when you are across town, it is really impressive.” Oh shit. I really need to stop showing them how different I am.

“Is that right?” I muttered and walked over to Maria who was now trying to climb up to my bed. I scooped her up in my arms and gestured for the twins to leave. I needed to distract them from this line of thought. “So, when I first met Elijah he said he was the head of the Oakland Clan. What are clan’s and does that mean that you guys are the only Valkyries in town?”

Connor gave me the side-eye, silently telling me he knew what I was up to before answering. “Clans are like families. But we get to choose them. We work and live together because Valkyrie are like the shapeshifters in that we need to be close to our own kind to thrive. We are social creatures that crave the company and companionship of other Valkyrie. I am sure you have noticed that you feel better, stronger, and more protected when at least one of us is around. When a Valkyrie is separated from other Valkyrie for a long period of time, they tend to go insane. To avoid that we live in clans.

“A clan can be formed with any number of Valkyries. The smallest being two and I think some of the royal clans number in the thirties, but that is rare. We start to live independently from our parents around the age of fifteen and that is when we start trying out different groups until we find the right clan for us.” Connor paused in his explanation as we all climbed back into Blake’s truck and I once again mused how much I didn’t know about my own kind. This stuff was fascinating.

“Why not just stay with your biological family?” I asked, interested to know why they all moved out as teenagers.

“I guess the same reason why humans do the same eventually. We all get sick of our parents and clans tend to be of people that are closer in age. But there are always exceptions to that rule,” Blake supplied as he turned in his seat to back the truck out of his parking spot.

“How did you guys end up in Elijah’s clan?” I asked.

“We have known Max since we were kids and he was always tight with his brother. When we decided it was time to move out Max convinced us to give it a try. At that time it was just Elijah and D because this other guy, Leon, had just decided it wasn’t working out and went to try another clan. Connor said that clans could be two people but to be really healthy there should be at least four,” Blake replied.

“Are you guys happy in Elijah’s clan?” I just couldn’t help myself from continuing to ask questions. I might be prying into their personal lives, but I was dying to find out more.

“Yes,” Connor clipped out, effectively cutting off the conversation. Hmm, I wonder what that was about. Even though I was burning to ask more questions I was trying to respect their personal boundaries so I looked out the window and let my mind drift. What would it be like to have people in my life that counted me as family? To be a part of a clan. It seemed like Valkyrie just kept bouncing around until they found the right fit. I wonder what the process was to get in the door to try a clan. Maybe I could try it.

“How does one get to try out being with a certain clan?” I found myself asking without really meaning to.

“Why? You looking to join up?” Blake asked in a joking tone that clearly illustrated that he thought the idea was preposterous. Was the idea of me being a part of a family really that ridiculous? Unbidden I felt my eyes starting to sting and I looked down at the all weather floor matts to try to get a hold of my feelings. Unfortunately, Connor didn’t miss my humiliating display of emotions.

Connor whacked his bother with the back of his hand and then turned so that he was fully facing me. “Ray, any clan would be more than honored for you to join them. That isn’t what Blake meant. It’s just that you are a female and female Valkyries marry princes and end up ruling our species. Once we figure everything out and word gets out about you, you will have dozens of the most powerful Valkyries in the world vying for your attention. You won’t have to apply or try out any clans. You are a royal.”

“Connor, you and both know that I am just about the furthest thing from royalty as it gets,” I snapped back. This whole idea that they had of me being someone important was starting to get old. I wasn’t important or special. I was just like everyone else, just trying to survive. Luckily, Blake had just parked in Polly’s empty parking lot and I was able to once again avoid an awkward conversation by fleeing from the truck. This time however when Blake got out of the car I turned and handed him Maria and told him to stay out here.

I was about ten feet from the car when Connor called for me to wait. I turned back to him, ready for another confrontation that never happened. He just walked over to me and gently took my left hand in his and wrapped it in a thick layer of gauze. Right, everyone here at Polly’s had seen that I had hurt my hand. How was I going to explain that I was perfectly healed just a day later. Thank God Connor was even headed enough to remember the details because these days it felt like everything in my life was spinning out of control and I was barely holding on for the ride.

I walked to the front door only to find it locked and covered with police tape. I guess Polly’s wasn’t going to be open for business for a while. I hadn’t even considered that as a possibility. I walked back to the kitchen door hoping to find it unlocked. What I did find was even better, Camilla was out back smoking with Roberto, our head cook. The moment Cailla spotted me, she dropped her cigarette and engulfed me in a giant hug while Roberto exclaimed how good it was to see me and he was happy that I was up and about. The whole thing took me by so much surprise I just stood there stiffly in Camilla’s embrace. I had no idea either of them cared.