Chapter  369

SHAWN These five--year--olds were the strangest children I'd ever met. "Why did you come out here alone?" Samuel asked, his voice gentler now. "Without telling anyone where you were going or what you were planning?" I hesitated, not sure how to explain the tangle of fears and doubts that had driven me into the woods. "I didn't want to hurt anyone," I said finally. "My power----it's not like Lake's portals or Lyn's gravity manipulation. It's not controllable or reversible. When I hit someone, they're just... gone. Completely. And I was scared that if I lost control, if something startled me or I got angry, I might accidentally hit one of the kids. Or you. Or anyone else in the house." Silvia and Samuel exchanged a look I couldn't quite interpret. "So you came out here to practice," Silvia said. "To figure out your limits and learn control. Without asking for help or supervision because you didn't want to risk hurting anyone." "Yes," I said, feeling defensive. "Is that wrong?" "It's resp