Chapter 3

My father's study was too small to hold all of the adults and the 'kids', so they'd moved to the living room. Avery released my hand before turning the corner, as if she were afraid of their judgment. I couldn't blame her. The Families tended to look down on interfering with each other's affairs, and unmarried relations even more so. Arranged marriages were a completely different story, though, since they were a way to ensure that children continued to be born with necromantic talent. The Heads of the Families had to keep meticulous genealogy records to make sure we kept enough distance between the Families lines, and enough fresh blood to keep our Families strong.

Avery left my side to go stand by her mother and sister, who sat on the far couch with my mother. My father stood near the fireplace mantle with my older brother, Liam, and Lyssa, the Head of the Amerson family, only a short step behind him.

"Ezra," Nathan said, his voice flat and cold. He stood on the opposite side of the fire from my father in one of his expensive business suits. His son Collen stood behind him like a shadow. "I thought you went away... to school. How pleasant that you are able to join us. What was it you decided to study again?"

"Chemistry," I said, taking a seat on the piano bench in the back of the room.

Nathan gave me a look of contempt. "There's no point to have you here. A Talentless shouldn't be privileged to the information we'll be discussing here."

"My father summoned me home, and so I came." As a Talentless, I would have no say in what would be decided, but if the Head of my Family asked for me to be present for such an important family decision, I would be. What else could I do?

He turned to my father, and pointed a finger at me. "He needs to leave."

This was why I had hated Nathan Ackland since I was old enough to understand what hate was. Well, to be honest, maybe I didn't hate him. I just disliked him very, very much.

My father's gaze turned icy, the frown lines deepening around his eyes. "He may be Talentless, but he is still a member of the Stanwood Family and I require him to be here."

And cue tension. The room was silent as the two most powerful Necromancers in the world stared each other down. I held my breath, waiting for Nathan to push the issue further. It was Avery's mother who broke the silence though, reaching out to lightly touch the back of Nathan's hand.

"Please, Nathan. Not today. Don't we have enough to deal with?" She barely whispered the words, but everyone heard them anyway.

"Fine," he said, but the glare he shot at me said that it was far from the end of the discussion I'd hear this visit. Lucky me.

Dad stepped forward, clearing his throat. "Let us begin this meeting by taking a moment to remember the life of our comrade, Caleb Manser."

The morning light filtered in through the curtains, tinting the room in the tawny grey of the cloth. As everyone else bowed their heads in respect, I surveyed the gathering. In this little living room, on a shabby mountaintop cabin, were the precious few people in the country who had mastered the necromantic arts. My father and brother were the last two living with enough power to reanimate the dead. Avery and Thea Manser had the Sight, to see truths and that of the present and future. Lyssa Amerson carried her family's ability to speak with the dead and the spirits from beyond. And then there was Nathan. His family possessed the abilities and knowledge of the Blood Rituals. Even my mother and Avery's mother, Evelynn, had power. Although theirs was no where near as powerful as the others. Everyone here was a necromancer. Everyone, except me.

"He was a friend, a husband, a father," Dad continued. "And a necromancer of priceless ability. Caleb Manser, the sixty third Head of the Manser Family, will forever be looked upon as an Elder of our Quadriad, and a great man. May the Great Ones take care of his soul."

Mrs. Manser's quiet sobs filled the space of silence after my father's words. Avery glanced up at me through tear-filled eyes, her hand tightly gripping one of her mother's. I'd do anything to take her pain from her. Even if I had the Talent to bring her father back, he wouldn't be the same. His soul would have moved on when he passed, so if he was brought back, it would only be his physical body and not the loving father she remembered.

Nathan stepped forward, standing next to my father, and the differences between them couldn't have been clearer than night and day. Where my father was tall and muscular from hard mountain work, Nathan Ackland was smaller than average height and thin enough to look like he was always sick. And the hardest he'd ever worked at anything was to have me blocked from any of the Quadriad's gatherings.

"It's time to place the past behind us, and move forward with choosing our future." Nathan turned to Avery and her mother. "Evelynn, you stepped forward and it has been discussed and agreed upon that you cannot claim the title of the Manser Family. Even though you possess talent, you are a Manser in name only."

I felt the tension in Avery rise from clear across the room. Nathan was right though, I'd read through all of the Laws set down by the Families. It was very clearly stated that the Heads of the Family must carry the Family's blood.

"But that's not fair!" she shouted. "My mother has given everything for our family."

"It's alright, Avery," Evelynn said in a soothing, but still raw voice.

"No, Mom, it's not!" Avery pulled her hand away to stand and stared Nathan down.

He kept his calm, and they stared each other in the eye. "Avery Manser," he continued. "It has been discussed and agreed upon, that you are the next in line worthy and of age to accept the title 'Head of the Manser Family'."

I watched the color drain from Avery's face. I stood, ready to go and comfort her as Nathan added a stipulation.

"We can offer you this only on one condition."

"And what would that be?" Avery's voice was soft, afraid.

"On the conclusion of your wedding ceremony." Nathan grinned with pleasure, and I knew that this was his idea, and the only reason he was so happy about it was because he was getting something he wanted out of the deal.

I started forward, but movement from the corner of my vision caught my attention. Liam, my brother, had taken a step in my direction. When he saw that he had my attention, he shook his head, warning me not to interfere.

"Yes, as the next Head of the Family, you must marry and continue the line. If you can not," he glanced at Thea, "then the line will pass to your sister when she turns eighteen and is married. Until that time, the Manser Family would be under the protection and guidance of the other families of the Quadriad, as our laws have stated."

Thea's gaze was focused on her hands in her lap.

"And who should I marry?" Avery demanded. "Have you figured all that out, too?" She glanced around at my father and Lyssa.

"We do have a suggestion as to whom may be a good candidate for an arrangement," Lyssa finally said, slowly.

"And who, pray tell, might I have the privilege of being engaged to?" Avery said each word carefully, anger controlling the features of her face as I fought for breath.

Nathan smiled, and it wasn't a happy one. More like a devil looking at the soul of his latest binding contract. "My youngest son, Collen, would be an excellent match. Our two lines haven't been joined in nearly three generations. It would be a union of unmatched possibilities-"

"NO!"

Everyone turned to Thea, who glared up at us from her seat on the couch. "No, that's not how it's supposed to be!" She jumped up and rushed over to me, pulling me by the hand until I stood next to Avery. "They're supposed to be together."

Nathan rolled his eyes, stepping away. "This is unbelievable."

Evelynn reached out, pulling her youngest daughter closer to her. "Thea, this isn't the time to be playing."

"I'm not playing, Mommy. I saw it." She turned her eyes to us, daring anyone to challenge her. "I saw it."

I glanced at Avery, but her attention was firmly fixed on her little sister. I turned to my father then, unsure of what to do or say. This was happening faster than I could follow. I didn't want Avery to be forced into any marriage she wasn't comfortable with, even if it was with me.

My father stepped over, kneeling to be at her eye level. "Thea, I need you to tell us exactly what you saw," he said very carefully.

"Oh, you can not be seriously entertaining the fantasies of a child, William!" Nathan shouted.

"This child," father said, turning his gaze up to Nathan, "happens to be the most powerful psychic in the world at the moment. I think it would be wise to at least hear her words."

Nathan turned to Lyssa, but she merely shook her head at him. "I agree with William in this. We should listen to the girl, and consider our options very carefully."

He tsked, and stepped away, retreating to the fireplace and away from the rest of us as he sulked.

"Now, Thea," William started again, "start from the beginning. What did you see?"

"Them," she stated simply. "I saw Avery and Ezra. They," she paused, and glanced around to her mother. "They were together, in bed."

I felt my face go six different shades of scarlet. I wanted to run and hide, but my feet felt glued to the floor.

"That doesn't prove anything," Nathan said, spinning around.

"That wasn't all," Thea continued. "It was like a picture flip book, like the one I got at the fair. They were getting married, then they were holding 

a baby. Then, they were planting, outside in a garden when something attacked them." She looked up at me. "You fought next to Avery, I can still see it. You used Talent to defend your future family."

I stared at her, unable to comprehend what she was telling me. She'd seen me use Talent? It wasn't possible, was it?

"There!" Nathan interjected. "That's proof that she's lying. He doesn't have Talent! If it hasn't manifested by now, it never will."

"He does too have power!" Thea yelled. "It's different, and you're just too dumb to understand."

"Thea Rose Manser!" Evelynn reached for her, but Thea nimbly dodged and hid behind Avery.

I would have thought that hearing someone else, especially such a powerful necromancer like Thea, say that I had power would have made me feel better, or less alone, but it made me feel worse. If I did have power, if I was also a true necromancer like the rest of my family, why hadn't it manifested yet? Why was I still Talentless?

"Why you little brat-" Nathan tried to reach for her as well, but Avery stood her ground between them.

"If you so much as touch her," she threatened.

"Hold on now," Dad chimed in, standing to try and persuade Nathan to back down.

Everyone was speaking at once, trying to be heard over one another. Thea screamed and the room fell silent once again.

"If you won't believe me, test him," she said after a moment.

Everyone turned to look at me, and all I could do was stare back. There was no way I could pass the test, not without Talent.

I glanced down at Thea. "I know you mean well, but I don't think me taking the test is such a great idea."

"Oh, by all means, I think that is actually a most excellent idea," Nathan cooed. "That would solve quite a few problems, it would seem."

Yeah, I'm sure my death would solved a number of problems for Nathan. I gulped. The very last thing on this earth I wanted was to take that test. The test that I'd seen my brother take when he turned 18. The test that marked him as a full-fledged Necromancer of the Quadriad, and nearly killed him in the process. He still wore the scars of it on his face and down the side of his body that had been burned.

"No," my mother cried. "William, don't make them do this. Don't let them kill our son!" Mom's plea to my father bothered me more than the actual threat of taking the test. Even she didn't think that I could do it.

"If he can pass the test, then I will retract my proposition of marriage between the Acklands and the Mansers, so that Ezra and Avery may be free to wed as the little prophet has foreseen. But if Ezra fails," Nathan said, and then paused. "Then there is no other choice then, is there?"

I looked at Avery, catching her eyes with my own. Everything slowed down in that sappy, chick-flick kinda way and I knew, staring into her worried eyes, what I'd known since I'd first saw her. That I'd do anything for her. Even if it meant certain death, I had to try.

Mom stepped in front me as she went off at Nathan. Everyone was yelling and arguing, debating my fate without any input from me whatsoever. I glanced down at Thea, the only other person in the room who was quiet besides myself.

Thea met my gaze and nodded. She believed I could do it. She'd seen that I had.

"I'll do it," I said, and no one heard me over the noise. "HEY!"

They all turned to me, shock written on more than one face, the room silent. The old radiator kicked on, the loud grating noise echoing around us.

"I'll do it," I repeated. "I accept the challenge of the test."