Significance by Shelly Crane Page A

He blocked a lot of it himself. He’d been right about the jacket. My legs were freezing.
    We drove for about thirty minutes that way. We talked through the mics the entire time. He told me some about his family members other abilities. Like his Aunt Kelly and uncle Max, Kyle’s parents. She can decipher any language or code. Anything that is meant to hinder and confuse, she can figure it out. She can do any crossword puzzle and learn any computer password and then turn around and speak Chinese even though she never learned it. And his uncle can learn anything and teach anything, which I’d learned earlier today, at a crazy fast rate.
    Then he told me his dad’s ability was that he can detect the earth elements. It’s one way they have enough money to pay for college for everyone and get the real estate they want. He can find precious metals and gems. They go expeditions once a year for it.
    Wow.
    And his mom, Rachel, she can move and bend metal. The family jokingly calls her Magneto, but she can only move small objects. The biggest thing she’s ever moved was a Volkswagen and that was pushing it.
    And his grandfather, the one he looked so much like, he could look at someone and see their intentions. Good or bad, he could see if you were planning something malicious or helpful, if you’re lying to hurt someone. He couldn’t see the actual act but could decipher and sift through it and see if your intentions are good or evil.
    There are many more people in his family that I had not met. Some didn’t make it to Kyle’s for the meet and greet. I tried to imagine what having such a huge close family would be like.
    He also told me that the families are clans. Each family is separate from the other and most are civil but some are rivals who vie for land and ‘territories’ or areas. They don’t like to be close to each other and they don’t ever mix if you are a rival clan, there has never even been an imprint between rival clans before; ever.
    Once you imprint with someone, generally they would then be part of the clan of whoever the male is, since they share the same last name. For instance, he said his mother was from the Mitchell’s clan and when her and his father imprinted, she became part of the Jacobson family and clan. She does see her original family some but scarcely. For the most part, you gain a new family.
    I was fascinated by it all. I was a sponge and soaked up everything he told me but soon we pulled into the parking lot and he stopped the bike under a tree on the edge of the lot. He kicked the stand and let me get off first. I was wobbly, my legs tingling and unsteady.
    He grabbed my arms to steady me before removing his helmet and laughed softly as he removed mine. I can only imagine the nest it was but he smoothed it back for me with his fingers, running them through and giving me shivers.
    “You did well for your first time. I was worried you’d squeal and shake the whole way.”
    “You say that to all the girls who ride on your bike?” I teased but the thought of another girl on his bike made me tense with something...
    Jealousy?
    He smiled as his hands coasted down my arms and then to his sides.
    “Never had a girl on my bike before.”
    He motioned his head for me to follow him.
    “Why?” I asked as we moved slowly through the parked cars to the door.
    “Well, our family has this rule. When they realized that we weren’t going to imprint, some of them wanted to try to find a wife or husband without being imprinted, when they got older than the rest of them did when they found their significant. The clan decided it was best for no one to date at all since they didn’t know what was going on. They didn’t want anyone to marry someone and then imprint on someone else. Therefore, there has never been a girl on my bike.”
    “You’ve never dated anyone, at all?”
    “Nope.” He waved to the hostess as she made her way to us. “Hey, Mrs. Amy.”
    She was about forty I’d say. Pretty