Tribe (Tribe 1) by Audrina Cole Page A

me, though usually not in a positive way. I looked away and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
    He cleared his throat. “Yeah, well I was there, and it was kind of fun, watching their jaws drop, babbling on with their incoherent explanations for the impossible.” He grinned, then it faded. “But you know it isn’t impossible…don’t you?”
    It was my turn to clear my throat. “Ahhh. Well. It’s hard to explain.”
    “Try me.”
    I squirmed under his gaze. I could feel River going on alert again, and decided to put up a shield of protection, hoping it would block some of the emotions I was feeling. I closed my eyes briefly, imagining a sphere of white light surrounding me, keeping my emotions within my own aura, and holding the emotions of others at bay.
    “Ember?”
    “Yes?” My eyelids flew open.
    “It looked like I lost you there for a moment.”
    “Nope. Right here.” I smiled at him. How could I tell him? My parents would be furious. I knew I should beg off; let him talk to my parents if that’s what he wanted. I’d get even more lectures, but surely they’d come up with a plausible story to satisfy him. Yes, that’s what I should do.
    But even as I thought it, I knew I wouldn’t do it. Because I wanted to tell him. I trusted him, just as he trusted me that day. I felt connected to him somehow. Beyond that, I yearned to tell someone I could trust. Though it could bring crushing humiliation and possible danger if I revealed my secret, the need to share and be accepted for who I truly was burned within me.
    “Well…it might sound crazy, but…” I took a deep breath, and exhaled. “I’m a Healer.”
    “Yeah, you’re not exactly dropping a bombshell. I kind of figured that part out already. What I want to know is how .”
    What? It was that easy? I simply told him the truth, and he believed me. I had expected him to mock me, to ridicule me, to call me crazy and get as far away from me as fast as he could. But he simply sat there, his gaze even.
    “Um…” I faltered, unsure of what to say next. “Well…I was born that way.”
    “How does it work?”
    “Pretty much like you felt it. I touch you, and I…I call it ‘opening the channels’. It’s hard to explain.” I searched my mind for an analogy. “Okay, this might sound a little gross, but…you know how you can consciously start and stop the flow of urine? It doesn’t take much effort, and often you don’t need to think consciously about it. It comes easy. You just start the flow of urine, and stop it when you want. Or let it go until you’re done. That’s kind of how it works. I open up the energy centers located in my body, and let the healing energy flow.”
    “Okay. I get it. Though I could have done with a better analogy.”
    “Hey, you asked.”
    “I know.” He smiled. “So...you’re healing with your own energy?”
    “No. It’s…basically, it comes from everything around us. It’s the universal life force energy that everything is made up of. I’m merely a channel, a conduit. Kind of like a funnel. I’m the tool used to funnel the energy into you, and once it gets to you, it clears blockages in your energy pathways, and allows your body to function properly, and heal itself.”
    “That’s amazing. And it always heals this fast?”
    “I gave you a big dose. It sped up the process. But to be honest, even the dose I gave you doesn’t explain having results this stupendous. I’m at a loss to explain your speedy recovery.”
    “So you do this all the time, then?” He sounded disappointed, and his feelings matched his tone.
    “No, I don’t. There are…repercussions.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like ungrateful teenage boys tracking me down and threatening to expose me.” I raised my eyebrows and looked pointedly at him.
    “Hey, I only said I’d talk to your parents. And from what you said, I doubt it would have been much of a surprise to them.”
    “True. My mom knew what I’d done as soon as she saw