Free ORDER OF SEVEN by Beth Teliho Page B

isn’t merely someone with whom I have a connection. Baron Latrosse, right now, in the past, and long after we’re gone, is part of me.
    He spun around when I dropped the glass, but I need to see his back again. I have to know it’s real. I will my legs to walk over to him, take Baron by the shoulders, energy spiking and reverberating without regard, and turn him back around. I gasp and reach out to touch it so it doesn’t disappear.
    Etched on the entirety of his back is an enormous tattoo of my tree . Each bend. Every branch. An exact replica.
    Tears fill my eyes. I’m in a daze. I have that eerie feeling again, like I’m standing in a cave. My forehead tips against his back. I hear my name being called, again and again.
    Someone grasps my shoulders and pulls me away.
    Nodin turns my face to his. “Devi, are you okay?”
    I stare past him, unable to focus.
    He snaps his fingers next to my face. “Devi.”
    I blink a few times. “It’s my tree,” I whisper.
    “I know.” He’s looking at me like I might break. I hear scraping noises. My eyes focus behind Nodin where Ben is cleaning up the glass.
    Baron pleads for someone to tell him what’s going on and Nodin explains his tattoo is the tree I source energy from. Baron runs his fingers through his hair.
    I shrug off Nodin’s grip and turn to Baron. “How? When?”
    “I started seeing the tree about seven or eight months ago. I waited longer than usual to make it permanent because of all the detail. I wanted to get it right.”
    “Let me see it again.”
    He turns his back to me. “It’s perfect,” I say.
    He turns again, facing me. I lift my gaze to his beautiful green eyes. He gives me a little half-smile. It’s a smile I’ve known for a thousand years and for just a day. One that makes my heart pound and my body ache with desire. And I know that look in his eyes because I feel it in my own. The one you have when you care about something so much it hurts, and your soul is shattering into a million pieces because you’ve just been made so vulnerable you’re now scared to death .
    Awkward shuffles sound behind me as Ben enters from the kitchen. Nodin takes the notebook and taps it with his pen. “This. This is why we need to stay in constant contact. This is why we need to pay attention to detail. We’re not in control here. Something else is orchestrating every move, every clue. We—”
    “For what?” I ask. “What are we doing here?” My voice gets louder as the enormity sinks in. “Why are we being spoon-fed information? Who are we being protected from?” I look around at their faces. “Don’t you all want to know what the hell’s happening?”
    I turn to Nodin and glare. “What do Train and Emilet have to say?”
    He stares at me long and hard but doesn’t answer.
    “What? They have so much to say yesterday, but nothing today?”
    Ben walks in from the kitchen. “Devi, lay off him.”
    I whip my head around. “He’s my brother. I can say whatever the fuck I please.”
    “Jesus, you can be such a bitch sometimes,” Ben says, glaring at me.
    “What did you say to me?” Bring it, I think. I’m a mass of riled energy, anxiety and fear. A good argument would feel fantastic right now.
    “Apologize, Ben,” Nodin says.
    Ben’s eyes widen. “Why should I apologize to her? I was sticking up for you, dude.”
    “She’s just scared. We all are.” He plops on the couch. “She doesn’t mean anything by it.”
    Ben stands still as a statue. “Sorry,” he says at last.
    “I’m sorry, too,” I say, sitting before my legs give way. “I feel like I’m outta my mind.”
    I’m not mad at Ben, or any of them for that matter. In my peripheral vision, I see Baron leave and come back wearing a dry shirt. He and Ben sit on the couch.
    Nodin holds up the notebook. “I think we should all have copies of this. We need to make notes of any connections we notice, no matter how small they seem. We have to stay in communication about any new