No Peace for the Damned

fight—just quick brute force. And trust me, that can be enough.”
    I fidgeted with my drink.
    “There’s nothing you can really do about the telekinesis other than know that some of them have it. The main worry is their telepathy. Uncle Max is the superior power, obviously, but all of them can get in your mind to some degree. Only Uncle Max can rip out your thoughts in a mindsweep, but the others can mess with your senses, make you see things that aren’t really there.”
    “What do you mean, make us see things?” asked Cordele.
    “They can make things appear. Like they can put a wall in front of you, or make you think there are people yelling at you. It’s all very real to the people who see it.”
    “Then how do we tell what’s real and what’s not?” Jon asked.
    I looked at my glass and turned it in my hand again. “I’m not positive because they were never able to do it to me, but I think there’s a way to block the illusion if you know it’s coming.”
    “Is that something we can practice?” Theo asked.
    “Sure,” I said, an unfamiliar purr suddenly dropping my voice. “Wanna have a go?”
    Shane’s mouth went slack. Charles shifted in his seat. Theo fought back a grin.
    Holy shit—did I just say that?
    “Sure,” Theo said. “Where do you want to do it? In here OK, or you looking for something more…comfortable?”
    My face burned. Jon coughed loudly and shot Theo a look. I tightened the grip on my glass and took another drink.
Focus
. But God, it took all my effort not to get up and cross the room to him right now.
    “There’s always some sort of stirring when energy is used. It may be very subtle, but it’s always there. Like at Batalkis’s house. The power actually hung in the air and brushed against us.”
    “But only you could feel that,” Charles said, impatience heavy in his voice.
    “Yeah, but if you knew what it felt like then maybe you could feel it too.” Everyone sat forward in their seats. Not a ringing endorsement, but I’d take it.
    “I’m going to change something in the room,” I said, very businesslike. “But I want you all to close your eyes so you can’t see it.”
    Thirteen smiled to himself. “Excellent,” he murmured.
    “Close your eyes and let me know if you feel anything different.”
    When all their eyes shut—Marie being the last to comply, of course—I conjured a crystal chandelier onto the ceiling. A beautiful antique, it had gold leafing intertwined with crystals in three descending layers. It was just like the one that had hung in my nursery when I was a baby.
    As soon as it appeared, Theo and Heather shifted in their seats.
    “You can open your eyes,” I said. Quiet gasps hissed through the room.
    “Did anyone feel anything?” I asked.
    Theo narrowed his eyes at me. Heather looked at the others.
    “Heather?”
    She jumped. “I, er, I don’t know,” she hesitated. “I don’t think I felt anything, but I don’t know.”
    “The moment I conjured the chandelier you shifted in your seat.”
    “Yeah, my legs started to fall asleep,” she explained. “But that’s not anything unusual. I’ve always had bad circulation, and my hands and feet fall asleep all the time.”
    I shot Thirteen a look and met his knowing gaze. Heather had more power than she realized.
    I turned to Theo and this time welcomed the dip in my stomach. “Um, what about you? You also shifted as soon as I used my powers. Did you feel something similar?”
    “No,” he said after a long moment. “It wasn’t like that. But I knew that you had done something.”
    “What did you feel?” Cordele asked eagerly.
    Theo’s frown turned dark. “Nothing. I felt nothing. I just…knew.”
    My heart stopped.
Oh my God
. Theo hadn’t felt the movement of power in the air, he’d felt
me
. He recognized the power only because
I
was the one who wielded it. I rubbed my face with both hands. This connection with Theo was getting intense. Dangerous.
    “OK,” Jon said, dragging out the word, “but for the rest of us who didn’t
just know
, how are we supposed to figure out these illusions?”
    “How about you all just try to see past the illusion I created?” I said finally. “Since you know it isn’t real, and you all certainly know your own minds better than I do, you can use your own defenses to push it out and see what’s really there.”
    A few people nodded. Good enough.
    “You know the chandelier isn’t real. So see what’s really there,