4
Stellan's pov
"Is that the last of it?" Hiroshi asked setting down a box of acrylic paint.
"Yeah that should be all of it" I said when I had had another look at the list Ray had given me. She knows that I can remember what she tells me with ease, but she still insists on writhing everything down for me. Though I have a feeling she really does it so that the people at the store have an easier time.
"Alright, let's go then, I can't wait to have some of little Meggy's cocking" Hiroshi mused heading towards the dining room.
"You say that as if you don't eat here every day" I pointed out walking beside him.
"I know but her food is just so good, I will never get tired of it" he grinned "besides I can't really enjoy her food when I'm staying in the apartment in central town" he said, almost skipping. I hadn't figured out why yet, but for some reason Megan's cocking reduced my thirty-year-old partner to a nine-year-old kid. The same could be said about Megan, though in her case I suspect that the reason is Hiroshi's constant remarks.
Megan had just brought in the food when we entered the dining room. Raven was nowhere to be seen.
Reading my emotions Meg raised her head "Raven's down by the beach" she said, guessing the suspect of my worry, before I could even voice the question. Sometimes it was convenient to have a housekeeper who could read your emotions and moods, that saves a lot of time.
Ray? I reached out for my sister.
Huh? She answered almost simultaneously.
It's lunchtime, get your ass off the sand and up here.
Already? She seemed surprised about the time, like she always did whenever she was in one of her painting verve's.
Be right up. She informed me and I could already feel her moving closer. Our family has always had no trouble having telepathic conversations over long distances among ourselves. But ever since our reunion six months ago me and Raven have been working on stretching our telepathic link over longer distances, as a result of that it's quite easy to tell the distance between us only by the amount of energy I have to use to connect to her.
"Oh come now Meggy you know I mean no harm" I turned my attention back to the conversation taking place in the room. Apparently Hiroshi had already managed to get Megan irritated, must be a new record. No, wait the first time that they met he managed to get her mad just by saying hello.
"Why can't you just stay in the apartment in the city?" Megan was saying, as she took the plates down from one of the cupboards where we kept the everyday dishes, so she wouldn't have to get them from the kitchen every day, since she insisted that we had our main meals in the dining room rather the kitchen. Neared me nor Raven cared as long as there was food, so we had just went along with it.
"Because I would starve without you cocking for me" my partner cued.
"That would be an improvement" Megan mumbled in a voice, not quite low enough to escape his hearing, and she knew that.
I just rolled my eyes. It was only a matter of time before they started shooting insults across from the table so I just tuned them out and started going over the police report again.
The fingerprints on the bookcase were too old to have been placed there while the confrontation was going on, which means that the girl was a savant; with a considerable telekinetic abilities; that would also explain why all of the furniture had been thrown precisely in one direction. The culprit must have been standing at the other side of the room and since there had been no collision in the middle of the room that means that the culprit is most definitely also a savant, but with really weak telekinesis ability. Most probably someone with a gift for mind manipulation or shielding. But I need to get my hands on that autopsy report in order to be sure of that.
There was a hand in my face.
"I know that you have photographic memory Stel, my pal, but could you not think about murder while we're eating, you are totally killing the family-dinner vibe" Hiroshi said still waving his hand in my face.
"It's lunch" I corrected him and heard a laugh from my right, Raven had joined us, and was now struggling to swallow her mouthful as she chuckled.
"I think we give off a decent family vibe" she mused, and went on when none of us said anything "Stellan's the sort of aloof father, who is always thinking about work, I'm the daughter who doesn't feel like moving out and finding a real job, and so is still leaching of her parents. Megan's the loving mom who doesn't have the heart to kick the leach out, and Hiroshi is that one uncle, that you can't place in needier the creepy nor the cool category because he changes sides too quickly" she finished her description of us. For some reason Megan's cheeks were flushed, was she angry? No there was no spark in her eyes, they seemed more hazed then anything; embarrassed then. But why?
So you hadn't figured that out yet? Raven had sunk in my head.
Figured what out? I asked not looking at her. I was observing Meg from the corner of my eye.
She has had a crush on you for the longest time. My sister answered patiently.
Oh? She has huh? I didn't doubt her, she was better at picking up these sort of things.
Are you going to do something about it? She asked, and when I looked at her, there was a little spark of interest in her eyes.
Should I?
She thought for a moment and I felt her going a little deeper in my mind. Nah, just don't lead her on, no wonder she has so high expectations for her potential partners, if she's comparing them to you. She mused again.
I feel bad for her soulfinder. She said while she moved her food around on her plate.
Why so? I asked intrigued.
Because, you have it all; the looks, the brain, the money, not to mention you are sort of a celebrity with your deductions. That's going to be hard to top you know, though if it were her soulfinder then she might get over you. She smirked and I could feel Hiroshi trying to get in on our conversation, but the wavelength was too difficult to price throw for him.
"Stop the low-wavelength conversation, you two I want in on the gossip" he crumpled.
Let's continue this later. She proposed and left my mind, finishing her food just in time for Megan to come back with tea.
"So you really can't hear us, if we talk on the lower levels of our minds?" Raven asked him, grinning like a cat.
"No" Hiroshi said still kind of mad at us and himself "It's like you two are talking in a soundproof room" he huffed "usually when people are using telepathy near me I can feel the energy waves that they are emitting, but when you two are talking on one of your minds lower levels, it's almost like no energy is needed at all, though if I concentrate hard enough, I can feel just the slightest change in your mind-vibrations. But that is something that no machine could pick up." He huffed with pride this time.
He had been working on hearing us converse like that ever since we discovered that there was a wavelength that he was not aware of before. Raven and I would use it to aggravate him whenever he got too carried away with himself.
"So are you two going to try out the new dojo, later in the evening?" Megan asked sifting the topic of the conversation.
"Oh, yeah" Raven smiled "they were supposed to finish that today"
"Yeah that's perfect, it's been a while since we had a good match" I looked at my sister, she seemed better rested then she had been in a while. I must remember to thank Tanya.
Megan's pov
I was dusting the bookshelf's in the library later that night when I hear them talking above me. Raising my eyes I saw the hammock they had installed underneath the ceiling.
"Did I get them right?" Raven asked her voice a little more than a whisper.
There was a sound of paper moving.
"Yeah," Stellan was also very quiet "that is exactly the kind of expression Terrance would make while he was thinking about the concept of an abstract artwork" I think I heard him dragging his finger on the rough paper "there would always be this little section of his hair that fell out of his braid that he would play with" he said voice filled with gravel.
I felt like I shouldn't have been listening to this, it seemed too personal. Whenever Raven and Stellan talked about their family amongst themselves their voices were filled with emotions that they never expressed in front of other people. And it's worse for me because I can feel them all the more clearly when they aren't suppressing their feelings in one of their minds lower levels.
The way Ravens voice would break at some points, showing the hurt she felt, but didn't want to burden anybody else with, and the feelings she only expressed throw sketches and paintings. In the first months that she lived here, Stellan would always be near her, because somehow he always knew when she needed comforting even before I could feel the change in her mood.
But hearing Stellan's usually confident and overpowering voice become a soft whisper filled with emotions - that I'm positive he doesn't know he has - was even more heartbreaking. It almost reminds me of those first days when he didn't know if Raven made it out or not. Whenever I hear that voice I see his hollow eyes and plank face. I also see Hiroshi trying his best to hold it together because he had to be strong when his best friend was struggling to do the same.
Worst of all I see my family fading. A house full of smiles going up in flames. Stellan asking me to go get some documents before the building was set ablaze. I realize now that he probably knew what would happen and used that as an excuse to get me out of the house. Knowing that hurts the most. Because no matter how many times I insist that we are not related, it really isn't about blood they are my family, but I also understand that the loss they are finally accepting is bigger than the hole that fire left in my heart.
I felt awful for them, needier of the siblings hadn't been able to mourn their family at the time of their passing, because of the Caes's. That family, that threatened to destroy what was left of my family. Stellan trying to figure out the Astery's family secrets all the while keeping an eye on the Caes's and keeping mr. Astery's Company going. He had no time to think about the loss he had suffered.
And Raven, running for her life at the age of ten. Surviving the world alone as a child was hard enough even without a murderous family on your heals. I should know.
"Do you think" Raven was saying "that they would be happy with my choices?" her voice was hesitant as she asked that.
Stellan was quiet, but I could hear his hand still moving on the sketch.
"I think, that they would be more irritated with my choices" he sighed "leaving you on your own devices for so long, was a bad call on my part, and I reminded myself of that every night that I hadn't figured out how to get the Caes's" there was sound of moving "it was frustrating" Stellan concluded.
I decided that that was enough of me listening in on their conversations so I headed for the psychological section to find something to occupy my thoughts before bed. I ended up with some random poetry book instead. Too tired to think about the human brain and all of its quirks. I fell asleep reading melodic texts about the seasons.