Chapter 173: When what you know is true is finally confird
Kellen and Rhys were given so ti to collect themselves, Kellen specifically, before Taylor ca over with a giant piece of paper that didn’t an anything to Kellen right away.
Her grin was ear to ear, Kellen’s parents rising to their feet to be beside Kellen as Taylor brought it over.
"Guess what?" She asked, excitent thrumming through her body as she waved the paper around. The two assistants stood in the doorway, wide smiles on their faces.
"What?" Kellen asked, Rhys pulling back so that he could watch Taylor as she moved towards them. His own eyes were scanning the paper in her hand.
"Well, it’s as we all suspected. You’ve jumped Classes again. Congrats, Kellen, for not only being the first Guide to jump Classes in our area, but also for being the first Guide to do it twice! I don’t think that there will be anyone like you for a while." Taylor was vibrating, showing Kellen the line traced along a small graph. It was the sa graph that Kellen had always stared at blankly when he’d gotten his retests before.
The sa graph that had shown his change before.
Kellen let out a soft, shaky breath, Rhys squeezing his hand. Kellen’s parents placed their hands on either side of his shoulders, giving him a squeeze. His Mom wrapped her arm around his shoulder, squeezing him tightly.
"You were always my special baby boy." She whispered, pressing a kiss against his temple. "And now, look at you. You’re going to make everyone even more scared of the Woods family." She said, a smile on her face when Kellen glanced over at her. He had no idea what she ant by that, and Rhys laughed.
"Is that your goal? World domination with the Woods na?" Rhys asked and his Mom shrugged.
"Well, with you as his partner, it seems achievable now. It wasn’t always on our plate, but why not if the E.A.G. is also aiming for it, why not the Woods? We’ve done a good job so far, and we’ve been a victim of them already. About to be another victim at the funeral as well, if things go as planned." His Mom said with a shrug.
"You aren’t." Kellen growled, his nerves fading in the face of his anger at her statent. "I’m not going to let so damn Esper with a superiority complex hurt you when they don’t even know you." Kellen argued. His parents hugged him.
"We know, sweetie. Your Mom is just joking. We know how hard you all have been working to make sure that we make it out alive on the other side of that vision." His Dad soothed, and Kellen exhaled sharply.
"Good. I’m glad you know that." Kellen told the room and it was silent for a mont.
"Alright. So, we have the good news, and the bad news. You see how it goes to around the middle of the graph? That’s just a guess. Unlike when you’re below S Class, we can’t asure it as accurately as we would want. We can just tell that you are comfortably in S Class, but you probably aren’t half way to SS Class." Kellen felt himself pale at Taylor’s explanation.
"For the love of everything, I cannot handle another test like this." Kellen told her and Taylor chuckled. Her eyes were green, but kind when she looked at Kellen.
"Understood Kellen. Speaking of, Henry, can you pass Kellen a few shakes? He’s not dropped as much as when he was an A Class, but that doesn’t an we can neglect his care. I’ll have you two co in for a guiding session observation again, just once, so that I can collect the data of where you’re at now for calorie loss." Taylor confird and Kellen nodded.
"You weren’t observing that already?" Rhys asked and Taylor rolled her eyes and gave him a glare.
"It’s not accurate because you’re also pouring your power into him right now. Now, onto the next before Kellen loses his nerve. Get up, Captain, and let Charlie take your place." That was only a montary surprise to Kellen. Was he surprised that it was Charlie? Yes and no.
Charlie was all smiles as he got to his feet, wiping his hands on his thighs as he ca over. Rhys scowled at Taylor, smiled at Charlie and took off the pads on his chest. He waited while Charlie stripped off his top, revealing his pale skin.
Jules watched everything as if fascinated, and Kellen tried to put himself in their shoes. They had probably just co from the middle of the forest in god knows where. This had to all be confusing and fascinating to them. Kellen would be wide eyed and curious if he was in their shoes.
That didn’t an that Kellen felt comfortable, just that he could understand their fascination.
Rhys helped Charlie put the pads that he had been wearing on his chest, then Charlie sat down. With a nervous, awkward grin, he took Kellen’s hand in his own. Charlie let out a nervous breath.
"I’m a little nervous that this might not work." Charlie whispered to Kellen, and Kellen understood. Now that he was faced with the reality that he had to take an Esper test, he was rather confused.
"I’m nervous too. Am I...supposed to do anything different?" Kellen asked and Taylor shrugged. She turned her gaze to Jules, and Kellen realised that they weren’t an outside observer, they were the prototype.
Jules got to their feet, coming over to be a few steps closer to Kellen, his parents, and Rhys, but not close enough that they interfered with anything. They smiled at Kellen, their long blond hair pulled back into several braids, the sparkling flecks of gems and tal twisted in their hair catching the light as they shifted from foot to foot casually.
"Well, from what I rember when I did the test, the feeling is very similar. I think you’ll react naturally to another Guide’s power, especially if this one is also an S Class like Karen has told ." Jules said with a soft smile. Kellen nodded, taking their words seriously.
"Was that the sa for you?" He asked and Jules nodded.
"Well, for the most part. I didn’t have anyone at my level when I did my test, so I feel it was a bit inaccurate. I was actually hoping to ask one of you to redo my test with , but I can see it causes you great anxiety." Jules said, their tone soft with compassion. Kellen wanted to be angry at them, but it was honestly nice that they were so considerate.
Kellen’s Dad pushed an open shake against Kellen’s lips, forcing him to hold back his response as he swallowed the high calorie drink down his throat.
"If I’m not wiped after this, I don’t mind helping you. A few more minutes won’t hurt, and it ans that I don’t have to do this again." Kellen said seriously, and Jules expression lit up. Their blue eyes sparkled.
"That’s very kind of you, thank you." Jules said. Taylor grumbled.
"You need to get through this test first, Kellen, before you make any promises." Taylor reminded him as his Dad pulled away the empty shake bottle from his lips. Kellen gave her a look, but Taylor ignored any sass he was giving her and turned back to her small monitoring room. "Wait for the countdown, you two!" She called over her shoulder while Kellen’s Dad fed him the second shake.
They did wait, and when Taylor finished counting down, Kellen nearly jolted out of his chair feeling Charlie’s power flow into his body.
It wasn’t a comfortable feeling for him. A bit like sothing was trying to crawl under his skin. It was similar to if Kellen was checking to see if he had compatibility with an Esper, but in a completely different way. Kellen normally saw a picture, or went sowhere when he was guiding others and by that place he could tell if he was compatible.
He didn’t have that this ti. Instead, it was just this icky, skin-crawling feeling that had him shivering. Kellen almost forgot that he was supposed to be putting his powers into Charlie. Almost, but he was a professional before he was anything else. Even as he felt uncomfortable, he still did what Taylor ordered.
Charlie also shivered, so Kellen knew that it was a mutual feeling. They were not compatible, which was a slightly comforting feeling.
It was the most uncomfortable 15 minutes of his life, but when Taylor called it, Charlie stopped his powers and gave Kellen’s hand a squeeze as he opened his eyes. The blue in his gaze proving that he was a powerful Guide in his own right, his expression full of wonder.
"What did I just see?" He asked, and Kellen blinked.
"What do you an?" He asked, confused, and Charlie squeezed his hand, leaning in close.
"I don’t normally see anything when I’m guiding. It’s just a feeling for , but for so reason that wasn’t the case when I was attempting to guide you. It was...magnificent. Do you see things when you guide?" He asked Kellen and Kellen slowly nodded. Charlie’s eyes lit up. "So you see things? What are they like?" He asked and Kellen shifted uncomfortably. This wasn’t normally sothing that one discussed, but Charlie was helping him out and he had seen sothing inside of Kellen.
Kellen would be a liar if he said he wasn’t curious about what he saw.
"Well, normally I see things that could describe the person. Certain ways I can tend to them. Usually...well, not always, but mostly water based. As if I am tending to them with my powers as the water." Kellen told him and Charlie’s blue eyes sparkled.
"Oh my goodness! That’s so cool! I didn’t see anything water based when I was inside the guiding space just now. Instead, it was a giant mountain! So tall and imposing and just, man, it really felt like you, you know?" When faced with Charlie’s excitent and exuberance, there was no way that Kellen could remain tense. He felt his shoulders relax, Kellen’s Dad getting both of them a shake.
"I understand exactly what you an." Kellen told him and Charlie grinned.
"It was so fascinating. I was confused at first at what I should do, but I think I figured it out. I wonder if that is the case with all Guides that are also Espers?" Charlie asked, then turned his gaze towards Jules. "Would it be alright if I guided them instead of you, Kellen? I’m just so curious!" Charlie asked, turning to look between Kellen’s parents, Kellen, and Rhys. It was like he was asking permission from his parents to go on a field trip, not help guide another Guide for a test.
Rhys let out a laugh, handing over the shake that Kellen’s Dad had opened to Charlie, then reaching out and ruffling his hair.
"I’m sure that while Kellen is also curious, you two can test it so more outside of this room after. We can even test to see if you have any Esper powers as well that way too." Rhys said and Charlie’s eyes sparkled more.
"This is so dang cool! It feels like only yesterday I was at Guiding Center C!" He said. He was excited, while the rest of the group froze upon rembering how Charlie ca to them.
Yeah, it did feel like only yesterday he was stuck in a hole he didn’t even know was hell. Kellen was glad that he got him out. Especially seeing him this bright and excited over sothing that Kellen thought was one of the worst things he could do.
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