During lunch the trio sat as usual, with Jason flanked by the twins, who were having a private conversation. There was something that Eugenia didn't know. For that matter nobody knew, not even the twins until today. 700 years earlier, Lily's and Raven's abilities in the realm of magic had never seemed significant enough for anyone to make a written record of them...though there was also the possibility that the Duke had made sure that they weren't recorded due to how he used them. What one could say with certainty was that when it came to the area of personal invisibility blood ran true.

After looking around to be sure that nobody was watching them, and that Jason was engrossed in his lunch, Yoko asked, "Did ya see her? What was she doing here?"

"Yes, of course I saw her. We are identical twins. It makes sense that we would have the same abilities. She was all blurry around the edges. I had to stop looking at her after a couple of minutes as it was giving me a headache!"

Yoko answered excitedly, "Me too. I did too!"

Hibiki nodded and continued, "As for what she was doing, I have no idea, except that she was staring at us for at least 10 minutes. After that she was mostly looking at the ceiling."

"I know. I know. But starting about then, she looked like she was really sad."

Hibiki rested her chin on her palm. "Now that you mention it, she did look most unsettled. I wonder what the cause was."

They paused to consider, and to get started on lunch. They only had so long to eat and such before classes resumed. In the interlude, a masculine voice interjected, "Yeah. She really did look pretty down. I'm fairly sure it had something to do with what happened at the wedding reception, when she was all over trying to change me, and you two were standing behind the buffet looking like you wanted to kill her."

Hibiki and Yoko did perfect, mirror-image spit takes, spewing milk for some distance. Fortunately, nobody was sitting directly across from them, though at the sound half the people in the room turned to look at them. What they saw was Jason calmly working on his lunch and both the girls frantically cleaning up the "spilled" milk.

Jason continued, "I never have been able to figure out why you were looking at her like that. She's irritating, but she's not all THAT bad. Now that I think about it, she's a bit like me. I believe the phrase is 'socially inept'. She does mean well...actually, so do I. But she doesn't have anyone to help her when she's about to do something 'inappropriate'. It's sorta sad when you look at it that way."

When they'd finished putting things back in order they rounded on him. "What in the world?! How'd you do that? Only twins can talk like this! What the heck is going on?"

Jason continued placidly, now munching on his salad, "Why are you acting like me? I mean, what you just did is what you're always telling me not to do."

He stopped chewing and swallowed. "Does that mean that it's OK to act that way sometimes? If it is, I really don't understand how you tell when it is and it isn't. Will you tell me, please?"

The girls each took several slow, deep breaths. Then they leaned up against him, each holding tightly to one of his sleeves. For once they weren't leaning shoulder-to-shoulder. Rather they had half-turned and had their chests pressed against his arms.

"You first." "No you first." "Oh all, right I'll start."

"Jason, it's not all right to do that normally, or even rarely, it's just that you...no, not that... we were very surprised. We've never heard of anyone but twins being able to talk to each other in their heads this way. Even other twins in the same family can't do it.

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"Does that help you understand why we were so startled?"

Jason finished his salad and started in on an apple. "This apple is pretty good. You might want to eat yours before lunch is over."

Seeing two faces, each less than 30 centimeters away from his, glaring at him intently enough to strip old paint off the side of a building, he thought about it for a second and came to the proper conclusion. "Oh I see. I should answer your questions first when they're that important to you instead of talking about lunch. Is that right?"

Both girls nodded vigorously, their long, black hair bouncing up and down on their backs.

"All right. Well, for about two weeks now I've heard this kind of buzzing in my head whenever we're about to go to lunch or when we get ready to take a quiz or test in class. It always stops when the test starts though. Now that I think of it, those are the only times you move your desks apart from mine and back to the way the other kids have theirs. I wonder why that is...."

Seeing the glares start back up he continued, "But I suppose you can tell me that later, right?"

More energetic nodding.

"OK, well, anyway, after a few days the buzzing noise changed and it started to sorta sound like someone talking, but real high pitched, like maybe when a soprano hits a high C. I concentrated real hard whenever I heard it, and last week I started to be able to make out some of the words. That's when I realized that it was the two of you.

"Did you know that your voices sound the same as when you're talking out loud? I really wonder why that is and, uh, right, well, getting back to the subject. I've been trying to figure out how to do it too, and today I did!"

He frowned slightly. "But I can't tell you exactly how I figured it out or what I did to make it work, but I know I can, cause you answered me!"

He smiled proudly, inviting them to compliment him. He didn't do things that anyone considered praiseworthy all that often, so he was hopeful that he'd done something right this time.

The girls smiled at each other, nodded, stood up, bent forward, and each kissed him on the cheek.

"Yes Jason, we're very proud of you."

"You did very well."

Hibiki sat down and put on her thinking face. "But I think it would be best if we did not inform anyone else yet. We probably should tell our mothers, and Paolo's mother -- eventually -- but not until we explore this further. Agreed?"

Yoko nodded vigorously again, and Jason also nodded but rather more slowly. He didn't understand why they didn't want to tell anyone right away, but by then he'd come to rely on their judgement in most social situations, and he considered this something in that field. Consequently he'd go along with their suggestion, though he did intend to ask for a full explanation eventually. After all, he couldn't do better if he didn't know why he should, or shouldn't, do things.

He was pleased that, like his mother, they almost never got mad at him when he asked what he learned later were really stupid questions or after he said something that upset the person he was talking to. He knew he was smart. Actually he knew that he was exceptionally smart. Maybe this social stuff didn't come naturally to him like it seemed to for other people, but, surely, he was smart enough to memorize how to deal with most situations.

When things came up that he hadn't learned yet, he could now ask one of the girls. It was a great relief for him, knowing that he could talk to them without saying anything out loud. That way, if what he wanted to know would make him sound stupid if he asked out loud in front of other people, he could ask them privately and not be embarrassed afterwards.

All-in-all he was well pleased. He'd learned something new today. That didn't happen much at school. In some subjects he already knew more than the teachers. He hoped that he'd keep learning new things, lots of them. With that happy thought in his mind, he joined the girls and headed back to class.

INTERLUDE

"Lady Blue" made doubly, triply certain that her shields around the room were as strong as she had ever made them. Then she shouted, "YAHOO!" and began bouncing around the room, as in off the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and whatever else there was to bounce off of.

"Breakthrough!!!" After over 700 years it had finally happened. Someone other than a twin had learned to intentionally speak mind-to-mind. One of THE most important parts of her plan had finally come to fruition.

After several more minutes of celebratory bounces, she settled herself down. While it was an important event, there were hundreds, no...thousands more that still needed to occur. She needed to calm down and get on with the work.

But first she wrapped her arms around herself and gave herself a big hug. Maybe it was nothing more than one single step along a path leading into an indefinite future, but it was super, uber important.

That night she fell asleep easily and slept like a baby, probably for the first time in at least four millennia.