Awakening Book One of the Trust Series(9)
“Shall we?” When Caitlyn still hesitated, he thought to her, “I promise you can trust me.” He extended his hand out to her.
Sighing, she placed her hand in his as he pulled her to a standing position. She was going to have to have faith in him. She just hoped the trust was not misplaced. They walked over to his truck and climbed in.
Chapter 3
They drove to the beach in relative silence, leaving Caitlyn to digest everything that had happened over the past few hours. If Garrett could hear her thoughts, he kept it to himself. Having him hearing her thoughts was the least of her worries at the moment.
Caitlyn did not know what to make of all of this. On one hand, she was terrified that something was happening to her that she could not control. Caitlyn liked being in control, knowing what was happening at all times. The fact that she felt so completely helpless to what was occurring was frustrating to say the least. On the other hand, it explained so many things. She had felt for so long that there was something more to her, something she could not fully explain. She no longer had that feeling. Beneath all the nerves, she had to admit to herself that she was a little excited to find out what she was capable of, what made her special.
The blonde Potential repositioned her body in the direction of the man who could show her exactly that. Garrett’s aura, for lack of a better word, was barely there. It was a light blue, almost clear. She wondered if everyone who was like them had the same aura, or if it was unique to him. She noticed for the first time how confidently he carried himself, how he stood just a little straighter than other people, even in the relaxation of his vehicle. His eyes, though focused on the road, still held the constant mirth they always did, but she also noticed they held something more, something deep. Pain? Anxiety? Caitlyn was not sure she would ever find out, but she wanted to. She had a feeling that it might solve part of the mystery that she felt was Garrett Stevens.
They pulled down the familiar dirt road just as they had a week ago. Garrett got out of the car, opening her door. He bowed dramatically, and she could practically feel the excitement radiating off him as he exclaimed with a flourish, “Let the training commence.”
“Wait.” She said. Caitlyn did not budge from the passenger seat, her mind racing as it tried to figure out exactly how she should proceed.
He paused, watching her carefully. “Okay. If you aren’t ready, I understand completely.”
She shook her head. “Yes… I mean, no, I am really not ready, but I want to learn. But before I do, I think I need more answers. There are a lot of questions that have been running around in my head.”
“Of course you do. I would be worried if you didn’t.” He offered his hand to her as he helped her climb the rest of the way out of the gray truck. Garrett motioned for Caitlyn to follow him as he walked to the front of the car, sitting down on the bumper, his hands resting on either side of him, looking straight ahead over the cliffs into the dark night. “What would you like to know?”
“I need to know if you are telling me the truth… about all of this. I need to know if I am going crazy, or hallucinating, or if this is really happening to me.”
He turned away from the ocean. “I promise, it’s really happening and you are not crazy. This isn’t something that you are expected to accept the very first day. You have every right to question things. Just know that I want you to feel like you can ask me anything. If I can answer it, I will.”
For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, Caitlyn took a deep breath. The scent of saltwater and seaweed clung heavier in the air than was normal for low tide. She attributed this to her newly heightened senses. “Okay, what is the Trust and what does that have to do with being an Actual?”
“The Trust is an organization that has been around for centuries. We can date it back to around 1125. Basically, a very select few started evolving beyond the average human. At first, it was just reading others thoughts and perhaps levitating small objects. There were only a dozen men and women on record as having the ability back then. The founders all thought that they were possessed by some devil or cursed. It wasn’t until they naturally gravitated to one another that they began to realize that this was a gift, a blessing, and they should be proud of it and not ashamed. Imagine how difficult it was, despite living hundreds and in some cases, thousands of miles apart, that they still somehow found each other, in Ireland of all places.”
Caitlyn imaged what their journeys must have been like; the sacrifices they must have made in their travels, all on a hunch that there was something waiting out there for them. She pictured the relief they probably felt when they realized that they were not alone, that there were others just like them, others that understood their struggles.