I'd been counting down the days to this year's conference for months. I was convinced that I'd meet my soulfinder this year-I could feel it in my bones. I had to meet her. I was now the last remaining single Benedict brother and I was desperate to change that. I'd dated a lot of girls in college, and had a bit of a reputation on campus for being a player. Age, however, had come coupled with maturity, and although I didn't regret my former lothario status, I was ready to move on.
As the organisers of the convention we'd flown to Paris a week early to prepare. When I say we I mean all of the Benedict clan. Yes, all 16 of us: my parents; Trace, Diamond and their 3 month old daughter Delilah; Uriel and his fiancé Tess, who'd met at last year's convention. Tess was able to meld metal- bending even the toughest piece of lead with ease. Her talent made her formidable- not even Alcatraz would be able to constrain her. It was odd, though- her shy disposition gave you no inclination as to the power she possessed, but she suited Uriel perfectly. He'd dropped to one knee, just a minute after talking to her at the convention, pledging to love her forever when he'd only talked to her for 60 seconds. It was pathetic. Politely, Tess had turned him down- asking to get to know him for a bit before committing to marriage, and Uriel had grudgingly admitted, embarrassed, that it had perhaps been a bit too soon. So, he did it again an hour later. Needless to say, it was third time lucky for Uri when he popped the question six months after their initial meeting. He'd wanted to do it much earlier, but his confidence had taken too much of a bruising, and it had taken him that long to pluck up the courage. Next, there was Victor and his soulfinder, and now wife Aurora. I took great pleasure in calling her 'Aurora Borealis' at every available opportunity- something that she really didn't find as amusing as I did. Rory, as she liked to be known, had been a sniper in the American army, which meant that sometimes even I was scared of teasing her. You didn't really want to annoy someone who could easily kill you from half a mile away without even blinking. Rory was an incredibly powerful telekinetic, something that she used to her full advantage whenever I wound her up. Needless to say, I'd developed incredibly quick reflexes as a result. Rory and Vic had recently eloped without telling any of us, and were still on the receiving end of my Mother's wrath, after she learned that she had been cheated out of her third son's wedding. It was rather hilarious to watch big, mean Vic who interviewed terrorists for a living, turn into a cowering wreck when he had to admit to his pint-sized mother what he'd done. Thankfully, Dad had managed to calm her down before she'd inflicted too much damage. Then, there was me, the fourth brother and currently, the only Benedict brother without a soulfinder. Xav, the medical student and his soulfinder Crystal came next, along with my genius of a younger brother and his wife Phee. Phee and Yves were as loved up as ever, and were currently still studying at college. Well, that's what they told us. I was somewhat doubtful that very much studying got done when they were sharing a flat together away from my parents' watchful eyes. Rounding up the group was my youngest brother, Zed, and his tiny little soulfinder Sky.
As we'd needed nearly twenty rooms between us (Mom refused to let any of the unmarried soulfinders share a room) regardless of the fact that it was no secret what they all got up to behind closed doors. Or, in the kitchen, as I'd unfortunately discovered when I'd come home for an unexpected visit and found Sky and Zed at it in the kitchen while my parents were out. I couldn't look at either of them for weeks, and I don't ever want to eat at that table again. To solve the room dilemma Yves, without us knowing, had booked out the whole top floor of the L'hôtel de Noailles. It was the perfect solution as it meant that we all got our privacy, and there was enough room for all of us. Not that Crystal, Tess and Sky had actually stayed in their rooms per my Mom's demands. Xav, Uriel and Zed all looked far too satisfied for anyone to believe that the soulfinders had stayed apart for the week. I'd managed to bag a room, with a spare room next to it. The rooms were connected by an interconnecting, internal door. Hopefully, that room would be inhabited soon. I knew when I found my soulfinder that I wouldn't want to be separated from her immediately. It would be miraculous that we found one another, and I wasn't about to let her run off. I didn't want to be presumptuous, and make us both move into my room, and I didn't want to push her into anything- she deserved better than that. Therefore, this was the best solution. We would be close- within metres of each other, but not uncomfortably close. Well, at least not to start with.
Right now the whole family was crammed into one of the function rooms that Yves had booked for the week. Scattered across the long business table were all the ID photos that the savants attending tomorrow had provided. I'd been bugging Crystal all week about the whereabouts of my soulfinder. She'd kept quiet at first- refusing to give me any details, but, after days of begging she'd finally cracked earlier today, and told me, begrudgingly, that she could sense that she had arrived in Paris this morning. My grin was so big that it nearly split my face in two. I'd walked around on cloud nine for the rest of the day- not even Delilah throwing up on me when I'd held her had been able to dampen my mood. I mean, the convention was to take place the next day- she surely couldn't have come to Paris with any other intention, but attend, could she?
We'd been poring over the photographs all week- helping Crystal to arrange the order of the circle to maximise possible matches, and minimise the time it took the savants to find them. Over the last few years she'd managed to hone her skill, so that now, just by looking at savants' photographs, she could narrow down the possible soulfinders for a particular savant. The actual matching and mind-linking part of the day could go on for hours, so anything Crystal could do to minimise the time was fantastic.
Ever since I'd learnt that my soulfinder was in Paris I'd been gazing at the photographs of all the girls my age. I was pretty sure I'd memorised them all by now, but I had a sneaking suspicion that Crystal had removed some of the most likely candidates, insisting that it was best for me not to have seen my soulfinder before I'd met her in real life- she didn't want me forming any ideas about her. Still, I persisted. I'd been holding up photos for her to inspect all day, and she was becoming increasingly annoyed with me.
"Is this her?" I asked eagerly, holding up a photograph of a pretty blonde from Luxembourg.
"I'm not saying anything to you, Will" Crystal replied- not even looking up from the photographs she was carefully moving into the most appropriate order. I pushed another one under her nose.
"What about her? Is it her?" I waved the photo around in front of her face, disrupting whatever order she'd so diligently decided on. She snatched the photo from my hand and put it back in its rightful place.
"Will, I am not talking to you about this. I don't want you to get your hopes up, and then not find her tomorrow. Besides, you've already waited a year for this opportunity to come round again- another 24 hours isn't going to kill you. Now, stop messing up the order of the circle, and let me finish this in peace!" Xav looked at me reprovingly.
"You tell him, Cupcake!" he said gleefully. "Come on, I'll take you to the bar. It's probably best you forget about this for a while." He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and practically dragged me out of the room