I’m scared…I’m so scared. Those were my thoughts as my mother was laid to rest after perishing in a fire. The people who saw me during the funeral saw my tears, so they could tell that I was sad about my mother’s death, but I was mostly scared because before my mother died in that fire, I saw her future…I saw that a fire was going to spread when the candle at her tea party was blown over and that she would be the only one to die because she tried to save one of her friends. It wasn’t fair.

I couldn’t stop shaking as I recalled that I couldn’t save her. I warned her, but she didn’t believe me. I can’t stop these tears. Someone touched me and I immediately saw a glimpse of his past. This man was a swindler. I told my father, but he claimed that the man was honest and that he was friends with him. Father didn’t believe me and when he touched me, I saw that the man was going to hurt my father in the future. I tried to warn my father, but I was told to stop lying.

The next day, father got stabbed in the side by that man after he discovered him trying to steal family records from the mansion, but father managed to survive thanks to using his Animal Talent to get help from the locals. The man was caught, but my father still got hurt. He didn’t believe me.

I learned later that I possessed the Time Talent, but it wasn’t very common and the few that existed were in the Anshumeva Academy, but I heard that they were ridiculed. I learned that people with the Time Talent were looked down upon and were basically excluded from society. I didn’t want that, especially since my father needs me to have connections to uphold the family name of Memphis, so I kept my Talent a secret and refused the touch of others with the excuse that I didn’t like to be touched. I don’t want to activate this power anymore.  

I had to show some kind of Talent, so I got along with animals to make people believe that I have the Animal Talent just like my father. I can’t let them know the truth. To prevent unwanted attention, I also drowned myself in my studies. It was also to help me control my Talent since I learned that my Talent also activates when I am too close to someone, so hopefully, increased knowledge will allow me to control this troublesome Talent. I hope that day of me controlling this Talent will come.

When I turned four, my father took me to the Lorenzino estate; where my aunt (father’s sister) and uncle lived as the masters of the house. Father mentioned that I have a cousin who I have never met. Abigail is her name and judging by the hopeful look father was giving me, he wanted me to get along with her. I know that I have no friends, but I really don’t want any contact with this cousin of mine.

When I arrived at the Lorenzino estate, my father and I were greeted by my uncle, Burnell Lorenzino. I have to admit that when I first saw him, he looked scary, but he spoke kindly to my father and me and even offered me a treat, so I grew a bit comfortable with his presence, but the moment his hand grazed me, I saw his past.

This man… was abusing his daughter. It was only a glimpse, but I could see how he didn’t even bother to feed her and ignored her when she was crying. She was so young too.

I immediately stepped away from him to cut off the vision and claimed that I didn’t want to be touched to make him step farther away from me. I also stepped away from my father when I felt my power was about to activate around him. I do not want to see the past or the future and I do not want to be near this child abuser.

I really wanted to go home, but my father was excited to see my aunt, so I kept quiet about my wishes. I will just try to keep my distance.

As we walked down the hall of this estate toward the dining room (I believe), I began to think about the daughter (my cousin) that my uncle is abusing. She was so small and looked so fragile as she cried. She must have been a year old when this happened…seeing her tears made me want to protect her.

When we finally arrived at the dining hall, my uncle introduced me to my aunt and cousin, Abigail…she’s not the girl I saw in the vision. Her hair isn’t white and her eyes don’t look golden at all. She looks pretty well fed too…not at all abused. Who was that girl I saw in the vision then? Could my vision of the past be wrong?

I snapped out of my confused thoughts when my uncle said, “Please get along with Abigail. She is a sweet girl.” Abigail in turn curtsy saying, “Nice to meet you, Cecil.” She smiled at me, but it looked really fake. I don’t know why, but I already don’t feel comfortable with her.  I forced a smile trying to keep my distance. Looks like father noticed that I was trying to keep my distance and he looked ready to scold me, but his eyes suddenly averted from me to something behind me…actually his eyes averted to someone: the young girl from my vision.

She actually looks a lot healthier compared to how I saw her in the vision, but I can tell it is her, especially by how white her hair is and the golden luster of her eyes.

“Who is this young lady?” my father asked my uncle.

“…Her name is Laveda, my youngest daughter.”

So her name is Laveda. It’s a nice name. Our eyes just met…I better look away. I know it is rude, but what would happen if my power accidentally activated around her. I don’t want to invade her past or see a future of her still getting abused by her family. I wonder if my father will help her…I’ll ask later.

I was forced to sit next to Abigail when we sat for dinner, but she is so bothersome. Can’t she see that I want to just eat and keep my distance? Her hand suddenly touched my arm and I instantly saw her past.

This horrible girl froze Laveda so many times when she was basically just a baby. Poor Laveda. I pushed Abigail’s hand off my arm to end the vision and ordered her to eat her meal. I did add a please in the beginning, so it didn’t appear as an order.

When it was time for dessert, Abigail started to bother me again. Darn it! Why won’t she just leave me alone? I managed to convince her to eat her dessert, but then I noticed that Laveda was looking my way. Our eyes met once again and I looked away. I don’t want to see into her time…ah, she looks depressed. Did I hurt her feelings? I really suck!

OK, this is plain ridiculous. Abigail is now trying to lead me to the guest room (my father and I are staying the night), but she is trying to hold me again. I don’t want to touch her. I don’t want to see any form of her past or future. I have to get away. My eyes once again landed on Laveda. Before I even knew it, I had made my way next to Laveda, who obviously flinched when I got close to her, and then stated, in a loud voice, “I’ll have Lady Laveda take me to my room for the night.”

It wasn’t exactly a yell, but for some reason, my uncle and Abigail looked pretty displeased…that’s right, they see Laveda as trash, so they must believe she is unworthy to lead me anywhere, but she is just a little girl and doesn’t deserve all this hate, even if she is Talentless. That’s right…she is Talentless from what I could see in the visions of Abigail and Uncle’s abuse toward Laveda. She can’t help if she is Talentless.

I heard my father chuckle and say, “I see that you want to get along with the younger sister.” I nodded and looked at Laveda. She looked a little confused before curtsying with that stuffed teddy bear still in her arms and said, in the sweetest voice I have ever heard, “I will lead you to a guest bedroom.”

Laveda led me away from my father, uncle, and thankfully Abigail, but when I got closer to her from behind (unintentionally), she picked up her pace. She moves pretty fast for such a little girl.

“You don’t have to move so fast,” I stated as I tried to keep up with her pace. She is really too fast for her age. She suddenly glanced over her shoulder saying, “But you don’t like people being too close to you, right?” How did she know that? Could she know that I have…?

            “I noticed that you kept a distance from my father, so I guessed you were shy.”

            Shy…I see, so she doesn’t know about my real Talent. That scared me for a second there.

            The moment we reached the guest room, a thought suddenly occurred to me: does Abigail know about this room? I can practically see her trying to invade my space and she may even try to hug me this time. I can’t let that happen, but I have to be sure first.

            “Does your sister know I would be staying in here?”

            Laveda nodded, her hand still on the handle of the guest bedroom door. If Abigail knows I will be staying here then I have to outsmart her, so I will not see her tonight.

            “Can I stay in your room with you?”

            This would be perfect. If I stay in Laveda’s room then Abigail won’t find me and wouldn’t even think about entering Laveda’s room, since she dislikes her so much. I will make Laveda my saving grace for tonight…why is Laveda so quiet? Ah, she nodded, so she must have agr…

            “ARE YOU SERIOUS?”

…I could only nod. Was it that surprising about my request? It shouldn’t be a problem. Actually, she looks troubled right now. She looks like she is about to cry at some points, but manages to calm down. Is it really that bad to share a room with me? It shouldn’t be a problem.

            Laveda soon began to smile as she looked at me and said, “You can come to my room, but please don’t touch Bibi.”  As she said this, she showed me her teddy bear. So her teddy bear’s name is Bibi…is it just me or is this bear glaring at me? This bear kind of pisses me off. I ended up speaking rudely to Laveda when I agreed to the terms of staying in her room (the teddy bear is to blame). Shoot, she looks mad. She’s smiling, but I can see that she is mad. I need to find a time to apologize to get into her good graces. We are going to be sharing a room.

            When I was in her room, I could tell that her room lacked a lot of things…a room that would match the standard of a noble. Shoot, I’m starting to get nervous with all this silence and Laveda looks displeased too. I really need to break the ice between us.

            “Your room lacks toys.”

            I thought I might as well point out the obvious. Maybe she will show me one of her toys besides the teddy bear, she refuses to let go…she looks mad. Maybe I should change the subject to books.

            “Don’t you have any books?”

            I thought she would show me her favorite book…but she looks even angrier. Better change the subject again.

“Where are the portraits?” I asked sitting on the edge of her bed, “Your bed coverings really suck.”

…I AM SUCH AN IDIOT! I just insulted her covers without batting an eye. Of course her bed wouldn’t have good covers if she is being treated as trash…now that I think about it: lack of toys, no books, no portraits…I pointed out all the negatives in her room. I am such a jerk. I shouldn’t act like this around a girl, but for some reason I can’t help it. I need to make it clear that I was not trying to be a jerk.

Before I could say anything to correct my rude behavior toward her, she smiled making me feel relieved.

“Master Cecil, you…”

            “Just call me Cecil. Adding Master seems stupid.”

            Adding master is pretty stupid. I want her to be more familiar with me.

            “…Cecil, you can have the bed, I am going to sleep somewhere else.”

            “Somewhere else, why?”

            Did I make her mad that badly? I have to make it right.

            “I just think you would feel comfortable being by yourself.”

            “Where are you going to sleep?”

            “In the forest.”

            “Forest?”

            Did she really say forest? That’s way too dangerous! Even I know that the forest has monsters that would be glad to eat a little girl like her. I could just envision a wolf eating her…I can’t let her go alone.

“You sleep in the back forest?”

I had to be sure. Laveda nodded, so it was definitely true. Good thing she’s honest.

            “Can I come?”

            “NO!”

            …No? Did she really say no? I thought she would let me come, since she was so agreeable before. I must have made her madder than I thought, but I refuse to back down.

            “I want to go too!”

            “NO!”

            “I want to go!”

            I know that I am being pushy, but she can’t go into a dangerous forest by herself. Why can’t she see that? I reached out to grab her arm to try to convince her that I should go with her, but the next thing I knew, I felt a strong force against my cheek forcing me to the ground…what just happened?

            “BIBI?”

            Bibi…isn’t that what she’s calling her teddy bear? I sat up and saw the teddy bear standing before Laveda tilting its head to the side…IT MOVES? So the bear glaring at me was real?

            “SO CUTE!” Laveda exclaimed as she pulled the possessed bear into a hug.

            Cute…that moving bear is cute? Is she serious? Wait, why is the bear moving? Laveda finally noticed me staring at the bear and seemed nervous. Did she want to keep it a secret or something? I pointed toward the bear.

            “Did that bear just move?”

            Laveda hid the bear behind her back and shook her head. She’s not fooling anyone by hiding that possessed bear behind her back…but the gesture was cute.

“It moved,” I stated. I was sure it was moving, especially since I could see it shaking behind Laveda. Laveda looked quite nervous as she tried to avoid my gaze. I guess she realized that she was definitely caught. Talentless? There is no way this girl is Talentless.

            I grabbed the bear from behind Laveda before she could react and dangled the teddy bear before me. This bear is definitely glaring at me. There is no mistake that this thing is moving because of a Talent, but I don’t know what Talent was used. ACK! THAT STUPID BEAR KICKED ME IN THE CHIN!

            When I recovered from the attack, that moving bear was back in Laveda’s arms.

            “What Talent is that?” I demanded as I began to approach her. She backed up. I could tell she was trying to escape, but I had to know what Talent was making that bear move. To prevent her escape, I trapped her against the wall by placing my arms to either side of her with my hands pressed against the wall. This position must have scared her, since she was seriously shaking. Maybe I am going too far, but I must know.