Page 10 of Dark Princess Ascending

"It's food prepared by professionals and either delivered to your residence or picked up by you. It's called takeout because instead of eating it in the restaurant, you eat it at home."

"That sounds convenient." Morelle cast a sidelong glance at Ell-rom.

In the temple, they had been lucky to eat raw fruits and vegetables. Cooked food had not been an option. She was still getting used to the variety and abundance of dishes in the village, and now Brandon was saying that there was much more out there for them to sample.

"We should all go to a restaurant in the city." Jasmine looked at Brandon. "What say you, Councilman? Can you take us out of here to the city?"

Brandon let out a breath. "I will need to clear it with Kian. He will probably insist on a Guardian escort."

"Why?" Ell-rom put his cup down. "Outside of this village, no one knows who we are. Why should we need an escort?"

Brandon took a sip from his coffee, probably to give himself a moment to think. "Frankly, I don't know. I guess he's a little jumpy after what happened to you in the alley."

Ell-rom flinched. "I've learned my lesson. I'm never going to take shortcuts through back alleys again."

Brandon cut a piece of his pancake and dipped it in some kind of gooey sauce that he'd poured from a glass container. "Perhaps if I tell Kian that I'll drive us straight to the restaurant and back without stopping anywhere on the way, he will be okay with us going without an escort." He turned to Morelle. "One of the clan members owns an exclusive restaurant. Dinner there is an experience that is hard to describe. Gerard is an incredible chef."

"I would like that." Morelle lifted the glass container with the gooey amber liquid and poured some in the corner of her plate as Brandon had done.

She cut a small piece of the cake, dipped it in the sauce, and put it in her mouth. It was much too sweet, but she chewed and swallowed it,nonetheless. She wasn't going to offend Jasmine by spitting it out or making a face. She was just going to avoid the sweet sauce and eat the cake dry.

When, for the next few minutes, no one said anything, Morelle wondered if that was because they were busy eating or because they were thinking of a way to bring up what had happened last evening.

She hadn't talked with Brandon about it this morning yet, and she knew that he had more questions, and Jasmine and Ell-rom would probably want to talk about it, too.

As if reading her thoughts, Ell-rom said, "Amanda and the others talked quite a bit about your talent after you left last night."

Morelle's fingers tightened around her fork. "What did they say?"

"Amanda's already preparing a whole new battery of tests for Monday."

"Great," Morelle muttered, then forced a smile when Brandon squeezed her shoulder.

"Amanda thinks that you have multiple talents," Jasmine said. "You sensed that the stone was about to get loose, which means that you have at least some precognition ability."

"I don't." Morelle lifted her coffee cup. "I failed miserably at all the precognition tests. In fact, I performed worse than what's expected from talentless humans."

"Ouch." Jasmine scrunched her nose, whichmade her face look funny. "That sucks. Anyway, Syssi suggested that perhaps it has something to do with your telekinetic ability and that you can sense faults in materials because you can manipulate them. Then Amanda said that your ability and Ell-rom's are similar because you both manipulate physical matter."

Ell-rom cleared his throat. "My ability is still hypothetical." He cast Brandon an apologetic look. "Kian insists on keeping it a secret until it is proven."

"That's okay." Brandon waved a dismissive hand. "I know you have some secret talent, and I'm dying to know what it is, especially since Kian is being so secretive about it, but I know him well enough not to push. If he decided to wait to inform the council, then he has a good reason for it."

Ell-rom dipped his head in appreciation. "Thank you for being so understanding."

Realizing her mistake, Jasmine didn't continue recounting what everyone had said. Instead, she loaded her plate with two more pancakes, poured a generous amount of the gooey sauce on them, and got busy eating.

"Syssi thinks our abilities are connected somehow," Ell-rom said. "Because we are twins. Then Amanda suggested something crazy to test your telekinetic talent."

Morelle tensed. "What does she have in mind?"

Ell-rom chuckled. "Don't worry. Syssi managed to convince her that she shouldn't do it."

"But what was it?" Brandon asked.

Ell-rom took a sip of his coffee before replying. "Amanda thinks that your telekinesis is triggered only in an emergency because it only manifested when a life was in danger. She wanted to simulate another emergency by staging someone with a weapon shooting at another person to see if you could stop the bullet."

Brandon shook his head. "That's truly insane. What if Morelle can't stop the bullet? What if someone gets shot?"