F.E.- Telepathic children

 I leaned away from the computer, content with the ending. My brother frowned at the screen, then looked at me.

“What do you mean, “End of Part One”? You've barely begun!” His azurite eyes shone brightly, while his mind continued to assault me with questions.

I sighed, and looked down at the old worn out book I held in my lap. Carefully picking it up, I slid a finger down the black leather of the cover.

“There's nothing left. Anything else in here was lost during the fire six months ago.”

His eyes grew dark as my brother remembered that terrible evening.

You could tell a lot from my brother's eyes, sometimes they even spoke louder then his mind. Mother once told me that James reminded her of uncle Seth, though I failed to see the resemblance. Uncle Seth had black hair, while James had mother's copper hair.

James had gotten excited when I had typed out mother's first meeting with our ancestress, Jessie. He loved that he had her eyes, and had told me once that he wished that he had been chosen by uncle Book instead of our older brother Milos.

I had told him that Milos was the one with the strong Mind Sense, not him.

James had then said that I should have been picked, since I had both our parents gifts.

I disagreed.

My younger brother turned the last page with legible writing on it, and found that the rest of the journal had either been ripped out or damaged beyond the possibility of repair.

Still frowning, James looked at me. “Can't Mama fix it? She did create the Memory Journals, after all.” I shook my head before he finished speaking.

“Nope. Mother said that she could fix them, but won't until the twins are older. She doesn't want us reading to them about all the dangerous stuff she and father did.” I shrugged and took the journal back from my younger brother. Carefully setting it on top of the other Memory Journals I had already gone through, I pushed my chair back and stood.

Picking up the journals, I yawned. “I've got to take these back to the library, before Mother realizes their gone.” James stood, the top of his head reaching my shoulder.

“You know she keeps all the cool memories locked away in her ring, right?” He asked. I nodded, using a free hand to mess up his already ruined hairstyle.

“I know, little brother. I have had three more years then you to learn every secret this family has.” I led the way through our house to the library, my ears carefully listening for the sound of  Mother and my youngest siblings.

Chloe and Malcolm were only four, and had been born here in the Earth Realm. Mother had told us that after their fifth birthday, we would go live in Shadowcrest manor with our uncle Seth and his family for a while. I couldn't wait to to see my cousin Sophia again.

But before that, I had to finish writing out the inserts for the family history.

“You know, if we borrowed the ring from Mama, then you'd be able to finish Fragile Existence sooner.” I looked at James, wondering where his twelve year old mind had gotten such an idea.

“Mother would never let us borrow her ring. You know that.” I opened the door to the library and quietly entered.

James smiled impishly as he closed the door.

“I know... That's why I didn't ask first.”

I froze, and turned to look at my little brother.

“You did what?”

He held out a hand, and opened it to reveal a small silver ring; the butterfly wing pattern was as unmistakable as the soft glow.

“I borrowed it when she took it off last night. But don't worry, I left a copy of it with enough memories from the real thing so she wouldn't know.”

I grabbed the ring, controlling my thoughts carefully.

James smiled innocently, then spoke with hopeful eyes.

“Since I got it for you, can I be mentioned in the acknowledgments of Fragile Existence when you get it published here? You owe me that much, Cal.”