Awaking (The Naturals, #1) Read Online Free Page A

to Wen to Kellen. All she could think about was how she was about to be arrested and how disappointed her father would be that she had gotten into a car with virtual strangers.
    The officer spoke again. “I think I’ll be leaving now. Is there anything else I can help you with today, sir?”
    Morgan stared at the officer, sure she hadn’t heard him correctly. She then glanced surreptitiously into the seat in front of her, searching for Tesin’s hands to be sure he hadn’t pulled a gun. But Tesin was still sitting just as calmly as he had been during the entire interaction, his hands resting lightly on the steering wheel.
    “I think that’ll be all for today, officer,” Tesin said, his voice easy. “I thank you for your assistance. Actually—you know what? There is just one more thing I’d like you to do for me. How about you spin like a ballerina in a pink tutu until I’m out of sight?”
    Without missing a beat, the policeman began spinning on the spot, his arms lifted above his head in a graceful arc.
    Chuckling, Tesin rolled up his window and started the car back up. He took his time in exiting the parking lot, making sure to get a view of the officer from every angle.
    Morgan was transfixed on the man’s twirling figure and could focus on nothing else until he was out of sight. Once Tesin pulled back out onto the road—thankfully setting his speed closer to the limit this time—Morgan turned to Kellen.
    “Did he just hypnotize that guy?”
    It was Kellen’s turn to chuckle. “Hypnosis? Really? What do you take us for? Some kind of Vegas act?”
    Wen shifted in his seat so he could see Morgan. “It’s called Pushing. It’s one of the abilities the Veneret have—one you could have once you fully manifest.”
    “When I…?”
    “Manifest,” Wen repeated. “When you fully come into your abilities.”
    Morgan nodded, not because she understood what he meant, but because she couldn’t figure out how to respond. Instead, she stared out the window. They were in an area she recognized as being mere miles from her school.
    Tesin pulled the car into the parking lot of a rather nondescript restaurant. Even its name was unremarkable: Restaurant: American Cuisine. Tesin angled the car across three spaces in the back of the lot before cutting the engine. He climbed out of the car and then moved his seat forward so Morgan could exit. He offered her his hand for balance and when she was firmly on the asphalt, she didn’t release her grip. He looked down at her, a question in his eyes.
    “Why’d you do that back there? With the cop?” Morgan asked.
    His eyebrows pulled together. “I wanted to show you what we can do. What you can do.”
    “Yeah, but there had to be an easier way to do it,” she pressed. “You didn’t need to humiliate that man.”
    Kellen approached, placing his hand on the small of Morgan’s back and guiding her toward the restaurant. “What does it matter what Tesin did to him? He’s common.”
    “So?”
    “So, they’re not like us. They’re inferior. And yet, somehow, they’ve managed to keep the Veneret hiding in the shadows for centuries. Don’t think they wouldn’t do worse to us if they realized what we could do.” When they reached the door, Kellen pressed it open and allowed Morgan to enter before him.
    What met Morgan’s eyes when she entered was not what she expected. The inside of the building didn’t look like restaurant at all—at least no restaurant Morgan had ever been to. Everything was bright and white or silver—the walls, the tables, the couches, the curtains. Four people approached them as the door closed behind them: three women and a man. Each one took one of them by the hand and led them to an unoccupied set of couches.
    “They’re common,” Wen said, anticipating a question Morgan wasn’t aware she wanted to ask. “Employees, you might say.”
    Morgan sat and the man who had led her over sat beside her, busying himself at smoothing her long,