For a moment, Tanner just stares, probably attempting to figure out if Ian is messing with him or not. He's probably using that training he's done the last couple of weeks to look at our mental states separately to try to determine if Ian's being honest.

"How does… that power work?" Tanner slowly asks.

"It's a single ability," Ian explains. "That covers a wide variety of things. We're able to 'learn' how to use the different abilities, though it's a little more complex than that. Before we became public, before the Federation discovered us, the three of us agreed to take on separate roles. One of the powers of darkness and light, one of the powers of death and life, and one of the powers of chaos and order. Also, only mine's referred to as 'wizardry'. The ladies' is referred to as 'witchcraft'. Technically, the power is actually just 'spellcasting'."

"So you can use pretty much any ability?" Tanner asks.

"As long as we've learned it," Ian nods. "We're also able to sense the powers of everyone else. The more powerful they are, the greater this sense is. You're wondering if there's really no fourth Sigil God. There isn't, it's just the three of us. While you might be trustworthy, Tanner, I'm going to have to put a spell on you to prevent you from telling others, especially regarding who I am."

"A spell?" Tanner suddenly looks nervous.

"Just a mind spell," I tell him. "That binds you into keeping a secret. Nothing else. It's standard protocol. Everyone he's had sex with except for me has had it placed on him due to the nature of who they slept with. It's the main reason no one's able to try and blackmail him – they're literally incapable of it."

While many people would probably see a moral issue with that, the Sigil-Gods aren't exactly heroes. They run by their own morals, and just like me, they'll do what it takes to protect themselves. No matter the lengths it requires.

Ian clears his throat.

"Spells are what we refer to the abilities of the three of us," Ian tells Tanner. "It's not any different from an ability that does the same thing, we just call it something different because it's not our actual ability, but something we learned because of our ability."

"Oh," Tanner says.

"It's mostly to protect any secrets," Ian tells Tanner. "The secret-sealing spell. You'll still know that I'm Theodore and how my power really works, but you won't be able to tell anyone. That's it. Nothing harmful."

"Okay," Tanner nods. "I guess you'll do it before you leave?"

"I did it in the shower," Ian informs him. "To ensure that you wouldn't try to resist, mentally. It'd be annoying if you did, since you're an empath. Even a subconscious resistance can be problematic, and you aren't that weak. I'm powerful enough to power through it, but that would be painful to you."

"Oh," Tanner says. "By the way, did your ability have anything to do with the way I felt during the sex?"

"No," Ian answers. "You were picking up on our lust pretty hard, and because you were horny, you basically let it overwhelm you. You need to gain better control over your power to prevent that from feelings that are too strong, especially when the sources are that close to you and there's multiple of them."

That's the best way to explain the reason without revealing other information to Tanner, information neither of us wants public.

"Okay," Tanner nods, then grabs a grape and pops it into his mouth, chewing for a few moments. After swallowing it, he seems to think of something. "Um. You can sense the powers of others? Doesn't that mean you know who the empathic healer is?"

"Yeah," Ian tells him. "The three of us Sigil Gods and Cas are the only ones who do, so the empathic healer doesn't have to worry about it. I've cast a little spell to prevent the Klen from finding out their identity, too."

"Wait," Tanner looks at me. "You know who they are? For how long? You've acted like-"

Ian clears his throat to interrupt Tanner, who looks at him.

"There's a spell on Cas to prevent him from revealing it," Ian explains. "Which is why your empathic ability to detect lies wouldn't have picked up on him knowing their identity. Mind spells are actually easy for someone who focuses on the powers of life and death, and I was able to do it rather easily even years ago."

"Oh," Tanner says. "But Nick, you tell journalists that they have to be the first person to introduce you to the empathic healer in order to get to do the interview about the incident with your parents."

"None of them will be the first," Ian smiles. "I teleported Cas to the empathic healer years ago. Introduced him myself."

"When?" Tanner asks in clear confusion.

"When we were ten," I answer. "Shortly after we began the site. It was a brief introduction, at a park. I'd honestly forgotten about it until now, actually. Chances are, he's forgotten about it, too."

Ian snorts, then lightly bops me on the head. It's true, though. I'd seriously forgotten that Ian already introduced me to the empathic healer.

"To be honest, I'd never intended on letting anyone do the interview in the first place," I tell Tanner. "I already have the article written up, along with a few other major ones, including the one about Ali."

"You have an article about Ali?" Tanner asks. "Does she know?"

"I'd be concerned if she didn't, considering that I interviewed her for it."

"Oh," Tanner stands and looks at Ian and me. "I need to… go think about things."

"That's fine," I tell him as he starts dressing. "Ian has to leave tonight. Are you meeting up with me again in the morning for more training?"

"Yeah," he answers. "I'm not upset or turned off to you or anything. I actually did enjoy the threesome, but I think I need a little time to process everything I've learned this afternoon."

"Alright," I say. "See you."

Tanner finishes dressing, then leaves, and I immediately turn and push Ian back, kissing him. We make out for a little bit, then he pushes me off of him and goes into the kitchen to cook some more food. I don't blame him, we did sort of work up a little bit more of an appetite.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

As Ian cooks, I lie back on my bed, closing my eyes and resting my left arm on my forehead, pulling my right foot up so that it's by my left knee, my right knee bent upwards. This is a comfortable thinking position for me.

Tanner isn't the only one who needs to do some thinking. Ian might be powerful, but he can't just go and locate Wyatt. There are limitations on him and his powers, ones that shouldn't be ignored until after the Revelation.

Wyatt's powerful enough to evade the notice of a Sigil God, even through a camera. There's a good chance no one other than me saw him there earlier. Will he stay in town? Or will he flee now that he's been sighted by someone?

What will the big attempt on my life be?

Then there's Erin. Sure, Wyatt said they don't need her because of their own prophet, but I'm still certain they'll want to use her against me.

"Do you really have to leave so soon?" I ask.

"Worried something will happen you can't handle?" Ian asks.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry," Ian says. "I checked with Katie, she's confirmed nothing will happen that you can't handle."

Katie, the Sigil Goddess of Chaos. Ian specializes in magics dealing with life or death, including mind magics. She specializes in magics dealing with creating order or chaos, including prophetic powers, allowing her to make predictions, look at patterns, and glean information. When the Sigil Gods need to make sure of something, she's the one who checks with her powers.

There's no one more reliable than Katie when it comes to that.

"Alright," I say, then after a few moments, sigh. "I'm tired of lying."

"Cas," Ian says. "You could always give up what you're doing here."

"Not until my promise to Ali is kept," I say. "And now, I want to help Tanner get a grip on his power."

"Understandable," Ian says. "You're viewing him more as property than a person, now. It's in your nature to want to make sure he has full control over his abilities because of that."

Property that doesn't fully function isn't good and needs fixing. It's a bad mindset to have, but not one that's going to go away anytime soon. Ian's the same way, and if we could have shaken off these mindsets, we would have years ago.

Fortunately, I'm able to moderate this viewpoint of Tanner just by helping him train his ability, and nothing more. Without pushing him or anything, just giving him advice because he's asking for it, I'm able to do so in a way that's not toxic, either.

"Speaking of his abilities," I say. "He probably forgot about it because of, well, the surprise of you being here, the threesome, and then the things he learned, but he wanted me to ask you if there was more he could do. He's getting decent at being able to focus on specific minds and tune out weaker ones, but he's also a little impatient."

I don't blame him. If I had an ability and hated it, and it was always active, I'd be a little impatient in finding a way to turn it off, too. The more powerful he becomes with his ability, the easier it'll become for him to tune things out. However, simply focusing and pushing his range to the maximum are slow ways of training it.

Very slow. Passive abilities are always slower to train than active ones, and even though he can adjust his empathy and focus on certain things or tune things out, it's still a passive power that he has.

"There are," Ian answers. "If you go to the branched-out abilities he could wield, though I don't know if he's strong enough to use them."

"You know he is."

"I meant mentally," Ian corrects. "Not in his ability. Branched abilities do help grow the main ability, since they're just another way of applying it. The two that would be within his reach are telepathy, which is reading someone's thoughts instead of their emotions, and empathic control."

The ability to manipulate emotions in others.

Yeah, I can understand why Tanner might not be mentally strong enough to use those. He already hates feeling emotions because it feels like he's prying into personal things, and thoughts are even more personal than that. As for controlling emotions, that would probably upset him as well considering it's influencing different emotions in someone else. It can be considered a form of mind control.

"Could always have him train it on animals," I say. "He'd probably be more willing to learn that."

"Probably," Ian says.

"What are you making?" I ask.

"Dessert," he answers. "We'll be having cheesecake. Thankfully, you didn't grab all of the blueberries and strawberries I'd brought."

"I figured the ones still in the packages were meant for something," I tell him. "So I let them be. What kind of cheesecake?"

"Blueberry cheesecake," he answers. "With a white chocolate chip and shortbread crust, which will be served with slices of strawberry on top along with a strawberry cream cheese drizzle."

"Sounds delicious," I say.

"It is," he tells me. "Spent a couple of weeks experimenting to come up with the recipe."

Ian continues working as I just continue thinking about things. Should I leave with Ian tonight? It might make things a lot easier for me, especially where Tanner's concerned. I'll only be a vague memory once I'm gone, so it's not like anyone here would be hurt.

But at the same time, I'd feel guilty. I made a promise to Ali and made a commitment to help Tanner.

If I just up and left without following through on the commitments I've made, it'd make me a bad person.

The next thing I know, Ian's climbing onto my bed, kissing me.

"Dessert's in the oven," he kisses my neck. "I'll use some aerokinesis and other tricks to cool it off without ruining it so we can enjoy it within minutes, once it's done."

I'm sure he'll decide to skip those tricks and go straight to manipulating the time for the cheesecake, to accelerate its cooling even faster. Since it affects the actual time of the cheesecake, the cooling is as natural as if it had been let to cool in that spot overnight. Aerokinesis would probably just be used to imitate a fridge for the space that's being manipulated.

"Cool," I turn on my side and stare into those entrancing green eyes of his. "Am I doing the right thing?"

"That's for you to decide, Cas," Ian says. "In the grand scheme of things? It won't matter what you decide to do. Stay or leave, the prophecy can come true, the Revelation will happen, and we'll become vague memories to those who knew us."

"What do you think the Elders think of things?" I ask, and he snorts.

"Don't worry about what the Elders think," he tells me as he slides one arm under me and drapes the other over me, pulling me against him in a warm hug. "They don't matter here, Cas, you know that. They're a bunch of old farts watching the world from afar. I can do whatever I want, love whoever I want. If they really had an issue with me messing with what I've been doing these last eighteen years, they'd have put a stop to it. They don't really care, though. Plus, they're a little lazy."

"Careful," I kiss him on the cheek. "They may try to smite you for it."

"Nah," he nuzzles me. "At most, they'd just punish me after the Revelation. Seriously, though, Cas. Do what you want to do, be who you want to be, act how you want to act. You've made a promise and a commitment, if you want to follow through with them, then do so. It really doesn't matter. Have your own projects while we wait. I do."

Closing my eyes, I just enjoy his smell. It's of a forest, rich and earthy with hints of something sweet to it. It's the only smell he'll ever have, no foul body odor, no cologne, no smell from soap or shampoo or anything. Just the smell of a place full of life.

If I did leave, how guilty would I feel over breaking my promise and abandoning my commitment? In the end, I decide that I'd probably feel most guilty about Jay.

"Ah, yes, your little Blue Jay," Ian chuckles. "He's more capable than you give him credit for, Cas."

"I can't help but think of him as the kid I rescued," I admit. "So weak and frail and scared. Now, he butchers chicken, fish, and rabbits regularly just to eat, with the occasional deer thrown in. Even knowing that, my mind still goes back to the broken and damaged body he had when I found him. But you're right, he's actually pretty capable. I probably don't have anything to worry about, even if the Klen did find him."

"They have," Ian snorts.

"What?" I start to pull away.

"He killed them and removed all traces of those who located him," Ian holds me tight. "Well, he found them, but it's basically the same thing in terms of the end result. He doesn't want you to worry about him, Cas, and the Klen believes you're responsible for it."

"Oh."

"Yeah," he says. "You can safely leave here, Cas, but I know you want to hold to your promise to Ali. It's only until sometime this summer, you said."

"Yeah," I nuzzle him again. "Whether or not Tanner's managed to control his power enough to be okay with it by the time my promise to Ali is done, I'm leaving. I never intended on getting that committed to helping him."

"Cool," Ian kisses me, then reaches up onto the shelf. "We have at least forty minutes until dessert's done, and it might be another month before we can get together again."

"Forty minutes might not be enough time."

"We'll make it work."