Page 70 of Seer

“Of course. Anything you want to know.”

“Really, Delphia? Because I feel like I’m having to pry information out of y’all piece by piece.”

“I’m sorry, Cal. I promise it’s not intentional.” Her voice had a distressed quality to it that I hoped was genuine, though I wasn’t going to bet on it. “We haven’t discovered a Seer, or anyone with magic, from outside the known families for a long time. We don’t really have a training curriculum.”

Well, that was probably true. But still.

“Fine. My first question is, why can all y’all see the connection between me and Greg, but I can’t see any connections at all?”

“You’re still coming into your abilities. I heard you can see people’s second selves, but that’s a recent development, right?”

“Yes.”

“And can you see the magic kind of sparkling around magic carriers and Wonders?”

“Sometimes, yeah.”

“Great! Once you can see that consistently, then you’ll start to be able to see connections and bonds between people.”

“Okay. And what did you mean when you said Greg and I wouldn’t be able to be apart for very long?”

She was silent for a moment.

“Hello?” I said in my snottiest voice. Maybe later I’d feel bad about it. I looked over at Greg, but he was staring fixedly at the road ahead.

“Well, forming a bond is voluntary, of course. It’s, uh....” She made a humming noise. “It’s kind of like a muscle. It needs stretching. Yes, that’s a good analogy. So when you form the bond you’ll be touching Greg, but you obviously can’t stay that way forever. But it won’t let you be super far apart right away. You might have to work up to it.”

“Work up to it. Right. What happens if we stretch the bond too far?”

“It’s kind of like hitting the end of a rope.”

Great.

“The good news is, since you only have a connection right now, the most that’ll happen when you’re apart is that you’ll miss each other like crazy.”

Uh, yeah, no. I wouldn’t have that problem.

“Okaaay. And if I got on a plane right now and flew to China, what would happen to the connection?”Please say it would break. Please.Because I had a nest egg I was saving for a house, but I would fucking spend it all to get rid of this connection.

“It would be... distressing for you both,” she said.

“What do you mean? Would the connection break?” I held my breath.

“Oh, no, honey. It would just make you miss each other even more.” She chuckled. “But the homecoming would be a doozy from a sex perspective, that’s for sure.”

Fuck. Also,ewww.

“Okay. Um, and what if I wanted to have sex with someone other than Greg?” This finally made him stiffen in his seat and adjust his grip on the steering wheel. What that meant, Ididn’t know, but I was oddly pleased to have finally needled him into reacting.

“Oh, no, Cal, you won’t want to do that.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Why not?”

She paused. “No, I meant you won’t actuallywantto have sex with anyone else. Unless you two are meant to be part of a polycule. Then...hmmm. No, I don’t get a feeling that that’s in the cards for you.”

Greg spoke up at last. “Mom, maybe Cal and I should have this conversation by ourselves.”

“I’m just answering his questions, Greg.”