We eventually got back to the cottage, just after 4pm. My Mum was busy in the kitchen, making dinner. Whatever it was, it smelt delicious. I stayed in the kitchen to help her, whilst Sean went into the other room.
As I was laying the table something dawned on me, “Kasey-Ray!” I said out loud, freezing where I stood.
My Mum looked over, understanding exactly what I meant.
"No, she doesn't know.” She turned back to the pot. "And no, we have no idea if she has any gifts. We are hoping it may pass her by.”
I nodded at this thoughtfully.
"When is she coming home? Is she coming here?"
"Your Dad's going to collect her just before Dr Hammersmith gets here, but he's taking her home first, to pack an overnight bag."
"How are we going to explain why we are here?" I finished laying the table and went to stand next to her.
"Not sure yet, but I'm sure she'll be more preoccupied with you and Sean.” She laughed warmly, making me blush.
She carried on cooking, as I went into the other room. I walked up to the sofa, where Sean sat and leaned down to slide my hands down his chest.
"Hey you!” I whispered in his ear, as I kissed his cheek.
He smiled happily as he placed a hand on mine and the other he stretched up to slide his fingers through my hair and kiss me tenderly on the lips.
At 7pm sharp, there was a knock on the door. I was cuddled on the sofa with Sean, with one hand running though his hair. I paused as a tall man with long grey hair, tied into a pony-tail, wearing a grey suit and carrying a briefcase, stepped into the middle of the room and stared at me carefully. A slow smile spread across his face as he reached over to shake my free hand.
"You must be Erin!” It wasn't a question and he went to sit down in the arm chair, next to the fire, without taking his eyes off me. “I've waited a long time to finally meet you!" He saw my puzzled expression and raised his hands up, as he placed his briefcase at his feet. “All in good time."
He slowly looked at Sean, then back to me.
"It's wonderful that you two have finally found each other.”
Sean moved uneasily in his seat and pulled me closer to him, protectively.
"It's okay, I'm not going to run any tests today." I looked at Sean and back to Dr Hammersmith, who eventually turned to look at me. "We will be running tests on you, like Sean said." I hadn't heard Sean speak, I thought, making Dr Hammersmith laugh.
He composed himself before continuing. "I'll need to test your strength. Your powers, so to speak.”
I didn't like the sound of that, and feeling my unease, Sean reached up to gently stroke my left cheek.
Ignoring my unease, Dr Hammersmith continued to talk.
"Every century, one force dies and takes hold in another vessel, – body." His face was very serious as he leaned forward “The day that each of Sean's great grandparents died, you were both born, possessing their unique gifts.”
Sean looked at me and I could tell he didn't realise this. He had told me that he had never gotten the chance to meet his great grandfather, as he had died when he was a baby, and his great grandmother had died a couple of years after. I could see the pain in his eyes as the velocity of this hit him and now we were being told that I was born on the day his great grandmother died. Bittersweet.
We looked at each other, and it was my turn to stroke his face. His eyes closed, as he placed my hand over his mouth to kiss it.
Dr Hammersmith was still talking. I'd heard him mention something about only children who were descendants of Galladale can possess the powers, and they all end up returning, which made me think of my parents.
"You will find it hard communicating with regular people from now on.”
I laughed as soon as he said this. I'd always found it hard to communicate with regular people.
Then what he said next stopped me in my tracks.
"Especially now there are eight of you and in time there will be more.”
"Eight?” I said out loud.
This time Dr Hammersmith was the one who looked puzzled.
“Yes Eight." He thought for a moment, as if he were counting. “You, Sean, Kate, John, Justin, Paul, James and Kelly. Yes that's definitely Eight.”
I looked at Sean, who sheepishly looked away.
“Ahhhh” Dr Hammersmith said, with understanding. “No one has told you about the other four and their powers.” He chuckled to himself. “Let me briefly explain.” he said, looking at his watch, “Paul and James are magnets, north and south, so to speak. Kelly is..... Hmmm, how can I say this? She is an EMP. Electrical magnetic pulse, and she is the glue that holds Paul and James together. Very special and powerful force them three.” He smiled to himself, as he thought about them. “Justin is a trainer, and well you know what your parents are."
"Trainer?" I wanted to know what a trainer was, but Dr Hammersmith was ignoring me, and rooting in his briefcase.
“I would like to see you both next week.” He told us and he pulled something from his briefcase. “Here is your I.D card, to get in.” He handed me a plastic card with my name on. Then he closed his briefcase and stood up. “I look forward to seeing you both.” Then he was gone.
I sat there for a few minutes, staring after him, as I tried to get my head around what had just been said. I was about to turn and ask Sean when Kasey-Ray came bounding in.
“Well ain't this a quaint place!” She grimaced, as she fell back on the sofa, next to me.
I didn't speak, but watched her carefully as she lay there with her eyes closed.
Slowly, she opened one eye to look at me, then the other as she spotted Sean's arm around me, and slowly she sat up to look at Sean.
“Hey I know you, don’t I?” She asked as she looked from his face, to mine, and then back to his, “Jacko isn’t it?"
Sean smiled and nodded, "That's right!"
“Sean, his name is Sean.” I corrected her.
“Touchy.” She laughed and raised her eyebrows at Sean. “So what are you doing here?”
Anger slowly started to build up inside me. Sensing this, Sean looked at Kasey-Ray and squeezed my hand.
“Cos I'm in love with your sister!” I froze. We were still on day one. How could he love me? Of course I felt like I was in love with him too. I'd never felt like this about anyone before.
I hadn't realised they were both watching me. Had they asked me something?
“Well?" Kasey-Ray pressed.
“Sorry what?” I shook my head and looked at my sister. She sighed and shook her head.
“Do you love him?” She pointed from me to Sean. “Duh!"
I looked at Sean, who was staring intently into my eyes, like I had his heart in my hands and I could squash it at any time.
I nodded and touched his face, “Yes!"
The relief in his face was unreal. I am sure that, one day, I would get my head around how this beautiful person could love me so much. But I doubted that.
I was still smiling when he kissed me. When he pulled away he sat there staring into my eyes, as Kasey-Ray started talking about her date.
Apparently, everything had gone well, but she wasn't sure if she was into him as much as she thought.
“Anyway, where are the bedrooms in this place?”
That night I shared a double bed with Kasey-Ray, whilst Sean stayed in one of the single beds, on the side of the room where I was.
After Kasey-Ray had talked my ears off, I rolled over to face Sean, as he lay there watching me.
He reached over to hold one of my hands, and we stayed like that until we fell asleep.
The sun was shining brightly, pulling me from my sleep. I was lying on my back, staring at the ceiling when someone's arms smacked across my face.
“Ow,” I cried in pain, pushing my sister's arm back, which didn't even wake her. I sat up and looked around the room and at the empty bed, where Sean had slept.
I walked sleepily out of the room, and after a detour to the bathroom, I trudged t
o the kitchen, where I had heard voices coming from.
Sean, who was sat eating a bowl of cereal, looked up when I got to the doorway. He smiled and reached out to pull me onto his lap, and after a quick kiss he continued eating, even offering me a bite.
“We're going to head home after lunch." My Mum said, without looking up from her own breakfast.
“Okay!” I nodded, as I slid off Sean's lap to go make myself some toast.
After lunch, Kasey-Ray, my Mum and I climbed into my parent's car, as my Dad went to make sure that everything was locked up.
Sean was at my window, stroking my face.
“I'll pop over after dinner, if that’s okay?” He leaned over and kissed me. I just nodded.
We hadn't been apart for the whole two days and I felt like my heart was being pulled out. I didn't want to feel needy or clingy. I just wanted him to be there when I got home.
He stood staring after me as we pulled away.