"How long have you had your abilities?"

"Since," Elaine paused, pursuing her lips for a moment as she thought. "Since I was about fourteen, I guess?"

"Our mom had it." Mason added, making Elaine look at her hands. The way he worded it made it sound like some disease, and it made her feel even more insecure.

"Had?" Deaton asked, looking up from the small memo pad in his hands. He said he needed to write down the specifics of her gift, so that he could find a solution easier.

"She killed herself when I was three." Elaine cleared her throat, taking a shaky breath as she looked up. "She just, couldn't take it."

Isaac shifted his foot an inch, so that the toes of their shoes just barely touched. He wanted nothing more in the world but to touch her, to show her that he was there to comfort her. Her eyes flickered down at their feet and up at him for a brief moment, the corners of her lips tugging up just barely.

"She wore gloves, just in case she happened to touch someone." Mason remembered few things about his mother, him only being six when she passed. One thing that he would always remember, was the way her gloves felt on his skin when she picked him up. "Our dad tried to get Elaine to wear them, but she refused."

"I was enough of a freak, Mase." She gave her brother an annoyed look, shaking her head. "I was already the girl with the dead mother, I didn't need to be the crazy glove girl with the dead mother."

"Well, what's crazier?" Mason asked, his voice growing more condescending. Sometimes the topic of their parents caused him to get irritable, and he took it out on Elaine. Elaine usually egged him on, the two could fight for hours. "The girl who wears gloves for 'poor circulation', or the girl who cries when people brush by her in the dining hall?"

"Maybe you should step outside." Deaton suggested, breaking through the tension in the air. "Just let me talk to Elaine?"

"Sure." He nodded, taking a deep breath. He gave his sister a guilty look, Elaine just avoiding his gaze. "Sorry."

The room was silent for a moment after Mason left, Isaac hearing him walk all the way out and get into the car. Isaac turned his head to look back at Elaine, who looked at him nervously. He gave her a reassuring smile, the girl relaxing slightly.

"I just wasn't comfortable with the gloves." Elaine shook her head, rubbing her hands together slowly. "Besides, gloves aren't going to help me on the full moon."

"Tell me about the full moons." Deaton asked, his voice almost soothing. Something about him seemed so trustworthy, like she could tell him anything.

"I don't have to touch anyone, to see the uh, the ghosts." Elaine felt weird calling them ghosts, but she couldn't think of anything to call them. "They're just, everywhere. It's overwhelming, and I can feel everything that they're feeling, and I can just hear them all at once."

"What about when you touch someone?" Deaton didn't look up from his memo pad, the sound of him writing filling the room.

"It's pretty much the same thing, but it's condensed to the people whose souls are connected to them. And the sense of feeling what they're feeling is much stronger." Elaine scratched her eyebrow with her pointer finger, her face scrunching slightly. "The only person connected to me is Allison."

"What about your mother?"

"I've never seen her." She looked down, biting a small piece of skin off of her bottom lip. "Not even when I touch Mase. I just assume that she moved on or something."

"I think I may have a few ideas on how to help you." Deaton closed the notepad, setting it down on the table in front of him. "Give me a day or two, and I'll call you once I have some options."

Elaine felt a weight lift off her chest, letting out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

________________________________

Not edited, as always tbh

Whoop whoop, idk how long this book is gone be, but it's not gonna be super long and there will be no sequel (sorry oof)

Vote and Comment!

Brea xx