Awaking (The Naturals, #1) (17 page)

“Ris!” The name escaped before Morgan had fully come to the realization that the girl on the couch was her friend. She crossed to the couch, and before she was close enough to reach either party, Kellen looked up at her, a lazy smile playing on his lips.

“Morgan,” he said, his tone pleasant, silky. “How’s it going?”

“What the hell are you doing?” Morgan demanded, her eyes on Ris, who didn’t seem to have noticed Morgan’s arrival.

Kellen shrugged easily. “Getting better acquainted with your friend.”

Morgan turned to him, glaring. “What’s wrong with her? What’d you do?” She looked at Ris again, waving her hand in front of her friend’s face. Ris’s eyes remained unfocused and her jaw was slack. “She looks like she’s been—I don’t know—drugged or something!”

Kellen chuckled, leaning back against the arm of the couch. “Come on, I didn’t drug her. Please. Give me a little credit.”

“Oh, so I suppose your boyish charm just overwhelmed her, then, huh?” Morgan slapped Ris’s cheek gently, hoping to get a response from her.

Kellen grabbed Morgan by the wrist. “Don’t bother. She’ll come to in a little while.”

Morgan wrenched her wrist from Kellen’s grasp, glowering at him. “How can you be so calm? Look at her—there’s something wrong.” Suddenly, Morgan stopped. A memory floated to the top of her consciousness and she understood exactly what was happening. “Wait—you’re taking her energy?”

“Like Orrick told you earlier, the abilities the Veneret possess are diminishing. We think—well, there are a few schools of thought on the matter, but, basically, the thought is that the more people there are in—you know—the world, the more the basic energy available to those people is spread thin. The Veneret have always been able to use the power in a way that the common just can’t—they don’t know how to use it.” He made a face, as if what he was saying wasn’t coming out the way he wanted it to. “Look, Morgan. She doesn’t need it. I haven’t hurt her. Calm down.”

“Calm down? You’re… you’re violating my best friend and you’re telling me to calm down?”

Kellen rolled his eyes. “Please. I’m not violating her. I’m merely taking back a little of what rightfully belongs to me.”

“I think Ris would disagree with that,” Morgan snapped.

“Trust me. She won’t even notice.” He smiled. “She didn’t notice before.”

“Before—?” But Morgan knew what he meant. “At that first party—it wasn’t the alcohol that made her pass out like that. It was you. And that’s why she didn’t wake up the next morning.”

“Well, let’s be fair. She did consume a fair bit of alcohol. If she hadn’t, she might have slept an hour longer than usual, but beyond that, you’d never’ve noticed.” Kellen crossed his arms over his chest and surveyed Morgan. “I’m not sure why you’re freaking out on me. It’s not like you didn’t know we do this. We can do more with a little borrowed power than we could ever do by ourselves. You’ll see that.”

Morgan let out a humorless laugh. “I will not,” she insisted. “I’m not going to suck the life out of unsuspecting people. I don’t care how powerful it’ll make me. If that’s what I’ve got to do, count me out.”

“Come on now, Morgan. It’s really not as bad as you’re making it out to be. You’ll see—tomorrow, your friend will be as good as new. And ask yourself this: if it were a random stranger in here with me, not your best friend, would this still be your reaction?”

“Of course it would.” The air in the room suddenly seemed oppressive, and she realized she needed to get out. She stood. Her first instinct was to stalk out of the room, but then there was Ris to consider. She hesitated, and in that moment of indecision, Kellen pounced.

He was on his feet and standing in front of her almost before she could blink. He placed a hand on either of her shoulders, holding her in place. “You’re not going to tell anyone about this. Especially not Corbin or Lucas. Especially not Ris. You’re going to keep this to yourself.”

Morgan felt her mind fighting against these plans, actively making plans to send text messages to Corbin, to Lucas, to get them to come save her and Ris. But even as these plans formed, Morgan began to question the wisdom of them. There was really no need to concern the guys with this. Kellen said Ris was okay. And when he’d taken the power before, Ris had been fine afterward—she’d just needed a little extra sleep. Ris would be okay, so there was no need to make a big deal over this. In fact, Kellen’s point made sense—

It doesn’t make sense. The Veneret are already more powerful than regular people. Why do they need more power?

—the common weren’t using the power for anything, so why not take it? Put it to the use it was meant for? It was logical. It was fair.

It was right.

By the time Kellen released Morgan from his grip, Morgan felt completely calm. In fact, she couldn’t put her finger on what exactly had been her qualm to begin with. When she glanced at Ris, she saw that her jaw was not slack anymore, and she seemed moderately more lucid, though she still wasn’t focusing on Morgan.

She looked back at Kellen, convinced he’d just said something to her. After a moment, she thought she remembered what he’d said, so she replied, “Yeah, I should go find the bathroom.”

Kellen shrugged and turned back to the couch.

Morgan left the room, continuing her search for the ladies’ room.

***

Two hours later, Ris was snuggled up next to Corbin in the backseat of Kellen’s car. “Don’t know why I’m so tired,” she muttered almost incoherently, her eyes closing.

Corbin put an arm around her, smiling.

Morgan exchanged glances with Lucas, who sat on Corbin’s other side, and rolled her eyes as she turned forward in the passenger seat.

“So, how’d you all enjoy the party?” Kellen asked as he merged onto the freeway.

“It was… something else,” Lucas offered.

Kellen gave a short laugh. “It’s a little overwhelming, I imagine. I mean, we’re all so used to it—and we’re so not used to Naturals. It’s hard to know exactly how to interact with you.”

Corbin sighed. “I’m pretty beat. I mean, it’s a lot of work, tuning out all the noise, you know? All those people just… pressing at your mind. Tiring.”

“I wonder if that’s why Ris is so beat,” Lucas said.

“Maybe,” Corbin agreed. “I mean, maybe she was subconsciously aware of all that stuff and it wore her out? You think so, Kellen?”

Kellen shrugged. “Not sure. Can’t say I really know how the common deal with high-ability situations. I mean, they don’t usually come to our parties.”

Morgan didn’t feel the need to point out that the servers were all common. Nor did she think it important to mention what had happened between Kellen and Ris. Instead, she stared off into the sky, attention fixed on a particularly bright star.

Morgan and Ris were the first to be dropped off. Corbin got out of the car to help walk Ris to the door. Ris seemed awake enough to stay unsteadily upright, but Morgan was unsure whether her friend could have found her way to the front door unassisted.

Kellen called his goodbye from the car, but Lucas got out to walk with Morgan to the door. They followed a few steps behind Corbin and Ris.

“You okay?” Lucas asked.

Morgan glanced at him. “What d’you mean?”

Lucas shrugged. “Dunno. You just seem… distant, maybe?”

“Maybe I’m still all walled up from the party.”

Lucas didn’t look convinced, but he nodded. By that time, Corbin and Ris had made it to the front door. Corbin stood unsurely on the porch, waiting, presumably, for Morgan to take possession of Ris, to open the door, something.

Morgan obliged and went to the front door to unlock it. When she turned to relieve Corbin of Ris, she saw that he was holding her so that she faced him, looking down at her. He leaned down to kiss her on the cheek, but Ris twisted her face toward him just before his lips made contact and Morgan felt her stomach drop as she watched her best friend locked in a kiss with Corbin Starling.

Instinctively, Morgan looked over at Lucas. Lucas looked just as uncomfortable as she felt. He shifted awkwardly beside her.

When Corbin and Ris separated, Morgan swooped in to usher Ris toward the door. Ris smiled benignly over her shoulder at Corbin and even aimed a lazy wave in Lucas’s direction. Morgan helped Ris into the house and leaned her up against the wall before turning back to the guys.

Corbin looked a bit dazed, his eyebrows furrowed slightly. Morgan turned to Lucas who took a step forward and put his arms around her in a clumsy hug. Morgan returned it, her movements just as awkward. When the two parted, Lucas shrugged as if to say, Seemed like the thing to do.

Following suit, Corbin stepped into the spot Lucas had vacated and hugged Morgan, too. She had to admit, it was a good hug, and she felt herself conforming to the shape of his body before she caught herself. He’d just been kissing her best friend, after all.

Guiding Corbin away from her by his shoulders, Morgan offered a smile. “Goodnight, Corbin.”

“’Night, Morgan,” he said absently.

Morgan nodded toward Lucas, who nodded back and offered a small half-wave as he turned toward Kellen’s car. Morgan turned and walked into her house, closing and locking the door behind her and draping Ris’s arm around her own shoulder as she led the way toward her bedroom.

“That was a good party,” Ris said dreamily.

Morgan jostled them into her room. “Yeah, the best,” she agreed flatly.

Chapter Fourteen

“Morgan, are you even paying attention?”

Morgan looked up from the checkerboard before her into the light blue eyes of Lucas. He looked mildly annoyed. “Yeah, Lucas—I’m paying attention.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her. Leaning back into the cushions of what he had claimed was his favorite armchair in the Daily Grind, he asked, “Oh, really then? What was I saying?”

Stalling for time, Morgan glanced around the coffee house. “Um…” she said after a few moments. “Something important?”

Lucas sighed, sounding slightly exasperated. “What’s up with you? You’ve seemed a little out of it since the party last night.”

“Out of it how?”

“Just… distracted, I guess.”

She immediately felt a pang of guilt. When Lucas called her this morning, he seemed more excited than she could recall him ever being and now she wasn’t giving him her full attention.

“Okay,” she said, sitting up a little straighter. “I’m one hundred percent focused. What were you saying?”

“It’s Orrick. I’ve been doing a little research. I mean, I already knew who he was, but I guess I never knew how he got to be a billionaire.”

“Don’t keep me in suspense.”

“Well, there’s the stock market, of course. He’s apparently got a knack for buying up stocks when they’re really cheap, just before they start making lots and lots of money. Like, he’ll buy a ton of shares of something at, like, two dollars apiece, and then a week later they’ll be trading for hundreds.”

“Sounds like he’s got a little inside knowledge.”

“Or a little future knowledge. He’s never been wrong. If he’s a Knower or if he knows a Knower, that’ll be why.”

“So, that’s it? He became a billionaire playing the stock market?”

Lucas shook his head. “Not even close. He did some time in real estate. From what I could find out, he constantly bought these really, really nice, expensive houses way below market value.”

Morgan shrugged. “Well, the economy’s been bad—”

“No—since before then. And, like, millionaires selling million-dollar homes for a fraction of the cost. Then Orrick would turn around and sell the homes for millions of dollars again.”

“So… he could convince people to sell their houses for far under what they were worth? Sounds like a Pusher to me.”

“That’s what I was thinking, too. From real estate, he moved on to business acquisition. From what I could tell, he’d just kinda swoop in on a company that wasn’t up for sale and he’d buy it. A few people were quoted as saying he’s a ‘persuasive businessman.’”

“If they only knew…”

“Right?” Lucas tilted his head back, surveying the ceiling, apparently deep in thought. When he returned his gaze to Morgan, he was smiling.

“What?”

“I just… I guess I never pictured myself as being rich before.”

“You are now?”

“You’re not? I mean, I looked at the numbers. Starting salary for someone in one of Orrick’s organizations is something like a hundred grand a year.”

“So, what? You wanna just go work for Orrick now or something?”

“No—not necessarily. I mean, I know we could. I mean…” He lowered his voice and leaned in. “How much you wanna bet most, if not all, Orrick’s employees are Veneret? I’m sure if we wanted it, Orrick would give us a job, no problem. But… I feel like we’ve got more options than that. I mean, why just work for the man when we could become—I dunno—the next Orrick Williams?”

“And how’re we gonna do that? I mean, can you See the future?”

He shrugged. “I kinda thought you might be able to—what with your experience as a fortune-teller and all.”

Morgan narrowed her eyes at him.

“And if not,” he said with a shrug, “then maybe one of us will—what’s the word?—manifest that ability.”

“And if we don’t?”

“Then there are other ways to make money.”

Morgan stared at him incredulously. “You mean like Orrick? Pushing people to sell things they don’t want to sell?”

“Why not?”

“It just seems really… dishonest. Immoral even, maybe. To just take something because you want it.”

Too late, Morgan’s eyes landed on the infamous fedora from their fateful outing the night Lucas had been “activated.” Lucas’s eyes skimmed over the fedora, too, before he turned his attention back to Morgan.

“So, I’m immoral?”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” she said quickly. “That’s a hat—and you didn’t realize what you were doing.”

Lucas shrugged. “Orrick buys houses and businesses. How are those things that much different from the fedora? That guy didn’t want to give it to me.”

“Again, you didn’t know what you were doing.”

“I could’ve given it back once I realized, though, and I didn’t.”