I gritted my teeth. My emotions were fuzzing out of control. Everyone in the park was just a color. Friendly colors, happy colors, some more anxious like the sweet Sister Sarah. But there were no faces. I dragged in a deep breath and tried to calm down.
“Just go. I need a few minutes, all right?”
Why wouldn’t he listen?
“Luna?” His voice gentled. “It’s okay. Relax.”
I waved him off and plopped down on the ground. I closed my eyes and pressed my hands and my feet into the grass to ground myself. I hadn’t had one of these episodes since I was a teenager, when hormones and my gift for reading auras had collided into a bright, beautiful mess.
My parents hadn’t understood what was wrong with me. As a child, I’d been happy and just thought the colors were part of life. That everyone could see them.
I’d learned quickly that wasn’t the truth and to not tell my mother about the strange glowing colors I saw around people. Telling her about my father’s darker auras scared the crap out of her. He wasn’t a happy man, and the energy around him always felt heavy. He rarely slipped into the blues and greens that I saw around most people.
I was different, and they hated it. In fact, they’d been in complete denial about me. So, as a teen, I’d taught myself how to use shields and how to protect myself from all the energy that came at me. I’d gotten so good at building my shields that my gifts had gone away for years.
Until…
My eyes burned. Until everything exploded.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. Some of Caleb’s innate calm actually helped soothe the chaos rioting inside me.
“Lu, you’re scaring me.”
“I’m okay. I just need to calm down.”
“Okay.” He sat next to me quietly for all of two minutes. “Can I do anything?”
The blades of grass under my fingers came into focus. I could feel the pulse of the earth under me as I grounded myself in my body. I pictured all the flying emotions settling like sand after a dust storm. “You’re doing it.”
“I’m not doing anything,” he murmured.
I smiled, but I was afraid to open my eyes. Not that Caleb wasn’t a lovely shade of greenish-blue, but I just wasn’t ready to face the world again yet. “You didn’t leave me. Even when I told you to.”
“I’m stubborn that way. Ask my sister.” He tucked his chin on my shoulder. “Do I need to kick that Xavier dude’s ass?”
“No.” My lips twitched. “I’ll keep that card for future use though.”
“Deal.”
I leaned my head against his. “I’m sorry I freaked.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really. Is that okay?” The warm, spicy scent of him mixed with fabric softener smoothed the rest of the edges away.
“I care about you, Lu. I hope you know that.” He covered my hand in the grass. “But if you don’t want to talk about what happened, that’s okay by me.”
I relaxed a bit more. “It’s not a huge deal.”
It was to me, but I wasn’t prepared to open that trap door just yet. I wasn’t only protecting myself. I also didn’t want to put more on his shoulders than a casual relationship warranted.
Even if we were feeling less casual with every passing moment.
He snapped a blade of grass between his fingers. “Sure about that?”
Swallowing hard, I made myself look at him. Really look. If I’d seen any judgment or trepidation there, I would’ve closed down. But there was just concern—and affection. “My family just doesn’t understand me.”
“Do any of our families ever really get us?”