GBVE: Nalini Singh

ATTENTION: Before reading, get information about the Great Blog Voice Experiment here.

The topic: “A young woman confronts her parents after discovering she has inherited telekinetic powers.”
____________________________________________

“It’s not normal!”

“Katie, calm yourself.”

“Mom! I’m a Mover! A freak!” Kate slammed her closed fist down hard enough to rattle the table. “You tell me where the hell I got Mover genes from?”

“Since when did you begin to think swearing was appropriate?”

“Since I woke up floating at ceiling level!”

Pushing away her unfinished breakfast, her mother sighed. “Well, I suppose the time has come. Jack?”

Her father closed the newspaper with a rustle that was as familiar to her as breathing. “Margaret, dear—”

“Dad, my name is Kate.” She was used to her father’s lapses in memory. It was an unfortunate side-effect of being a high-level bureaucrat in the Ring.

“Yes, Kate.” He frowned at the interruption. “Movers lead very productive lives. Without them, we wouldn’t have Earth to Mars transport, or construction on the third satellite of Jupiter, or even simple things like high-rise apartments.”

“That’s not the point.” Anger was starting to fade into sheer disbelief. “We’re a family of Communicators. We have been for generations.” And that meant she should, under no circumstances, have awakened on her sixteenth birthday with the ability to move things with her mind. “It’s genetically impossible.” Which terrified her.

“That’s not quite correct, er, Kate.” Jack Brown folded the paper into a precise half and tugged at his tie. “Sarah, you’re better at this.”

Her mother’s blue eyes were utterly calm, as befitted her status as a psychotherapist in the Ring. “I’m afraid we haven’t been entirely honest with you, my dear. The geneticists we consulted said there was a very small chance the gene would ever manifest.”

“I knew it. I’m adopted.”

“Oh don’t be silly.” Her father whacked her on the head with the newspaper. “You just haven’t seen the entire family tree, that’s all.”

“What?”

“Entry to the Ring is strictly enforced.”

Kate felt her eyes widen. “You’re Passing?”

“No, actually we’re both Communicators. So were our parents.” The news was good but her father didn’t look happy. “It’s why we’ve been able to live successfully among the Ring-born.”

She suddenly understood everything. “But I can’t. I have to leave before my status is recognized.” Because genetic fraud was a crime punishable by death. Of the entire family.

“Yes, sweetheart. Don’t worry though.” Her mother attempted to smile and failed. “We’ve got contacts in the World. They’ll help you adjust.”

“The World. I’m going to live in the World.” It was a horrifying thought—the World was so impure, the Ring-born didn’t even breathe its air.

________________________________
To find out more about Nalini Singh’s contemporary romance novels for Silhouette Desire or futuristic paranormal romaces for Berkley, visit http://nalinisingh.com. Her latest release is Secrets of the Marriage Bed, and her first futuristic, Slave to Sensation, will be available in September.