Free Revival (The Variant Series, Book 1) by Jena Leigh Page B

to the hunted expression that had flickered across her aunt’s face when Alex had asked if she, too, was different.
    All these months of burnt-out hair dryers and crackling cell-phone calls, malfunctioning computers and broken appliances. All this time her aunt had known what was happening to her, but had never said a word.
    In the end, she’d found out anyway.
    Alex finally knew the truth.
    She was like Declan. Like her mom and her Aunt Cil.
    Alex was a Variant.
    The revelation left her feeling like some giant rug had just been pulled out from beneath her. Her world had gone from mundane to impossibly complicated in less than three hours.
    “You okay?” asked Nathaniel.
    “Fine.” The room started to spin. Alex took a deep breath. “I’m fine.”
    She tried for a smile. It felt like a lie.
    Declan and Kenzie were still going at it.
    “Have you known what I was since I first saw you in the store?” Alex asked Declan.
    Their bickering came to an abrupt halt. The room grew quiet.
    “I suspected it,” said Declan. “My suspicions were pretty much confirmed after the coffee shop. I was watching when Brandt startled you. I knew from the way the barista was acting that something had just shorted out.”
    Alex winced at the memory. “It was an espresso machine.”
    Brian snickered. Grayson cleared his throat and the boy was silent.
    The exchange called her attention to the computer in Brian’s lap. “How come I haven’t fried anything since I arrived?”
    If it was emotional upheaval that triggered the surge, why hadn’t she been affecting any of the electronic equipment here at the cabin?
    “I’ve been... managing it since you got here,” Declan said slowly.
    Alex raised her eyebrows in surprise. “You can do that?”
    “So long as you’re close by, yeah. Whenever I sensed an energy spike, I sort of siphoned it off.” He shrugged. “Our mutation isn’t just about teleporting. To some extent, it’s also about controlling electrical current.”
    So Declan would always be able to tell when her emotions were heightened? She wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
    Sure, it wasn’t the same as Kenzie having free access to her thoughts, but it wasn’t far off.
    Alex pushed that notion aside as she considered the events of the last six months. It rarely seemed to be a problem when Aunt Cil was around. Had she been doing the same thing?
    Alex thought back to that afternoon with Cassie at the coffee shop.
    “The camera,” she said. “You did that, didn’t you? You made it take the picture somehow.”
    His expression held just a hint of a smile. “Right now you’re building up a static charge every time your mood fluctuates. Near as I can tell, it’s tied in to our adrenaline levels. A fight-or-flight thing,” he said. “Until you learn how to control it and channel the excess energy, you’re going to keep on having problems.”
    Alex sighed.
    Grayson, who’d fallen silent after the Joanne Bodehouse digression, finally spoke. “I suppose that settles it, then,” he said. “Declan, I want you to start her training. Tonight.”
     

 
    — 8 —
     
    A lex eyed Declan warily.
    To say that he was less than thrilled with the assignment would have been an understatement. After the order was given, Declan had dropped all pretense of civility. He was now openly glowering at both Alex and Grayson.
    What a grouch.
    “Why can’t her aunt train her?” he asked Grayson. “I’ve got plans tonight!”
    “And Alex has a trained assassin after her. Something tells me that trumps your card game,” Nathaniel argued. “What’s the problem, Decks? I think the gang at The Corner Hole can go one night without your company.”
    “It’s The Corner Pocket ,” he corrected. “And that’s not where I was going.”
    Card game? And what sort of a place went by a name like The Corner Pocket?
    “She needs to learn, Declan,” said Grayson. “And time is most definitely of the essence. Whatever you had planned can