be infected with the venom?”
“Yes, that has been known to happen,” he confirmed.
She nodded and he continued.
“Guardians, Hunters and humans can all create off-spring . . . children,” he corrected, attempting to sound less scientific. She smiled and nodded, clearly amused that he also had an awkward side. “If a Hunter or a Guardian has a baby with a human, that human will carry the gene from their parent’s Passel. Upon Transformation he or she will be what we refer to as either a Level One Hunter or a Level One Guardian.” She was nodding and so he continued. “Now, if a Hunter or a Guardian has a child with another Hunter or Guardian—someone of the same Passel, well then that creates a Level Two Hunter or a Level Two Guardian. Slightly more powerful, generally speaking, though not always, than your typical Level One. Okay?”
“Got it,” she said continuing to nod her head.
“Alright, but when we cross Passels, something truly powerful happens. Children always get their dominant gene from their mother’s side. So, if your mother is a Hunter, you will be a Hunter. If she’s a Guardian, you’ll be a Guardian. But, the children always retain many of the skills contained in the gene pool of the secondary Passel as well. So, the result is an extremely talented individual, such as yourself, who is able to come to full power quickly and have quite an impact on the mission of the Passel.”
Now Cadence became slightly confused. “But, my dad carries the Hunter gene and my mom is a human. So, wouldn’t that make me less powerful?”
He was shaking his head. “Your dad is a Dormant Hunter. And so is your mother.”
Though he had said it calmly, this information caught Cadence off guard and she backed in to the wall again. “What?”
Again, Aaron stepped away from her, giving her some space to breathe. “It’s okay,” he said reassuringly. “I know this is a lot of information. Your mother’s line has been dormant for centuries. In fact, she didn’t even know she had the potential to become a Hunter until after she met your father and was introduced to the Clandestine Ternion through him.”
“So Papa Jim and Grandma Shirley had never been Hunters or Guardians or Trolls or Fairies or Wickens?” she asked, her head circling around on her shoulders as a sign of her inner confusion.
He couldn’t help but laugh, “No,” he assured her. “They have always been essentially human.”
“Well, I certainly know what it feels like to be essentially human,” she said sarcastically, running her hands through her hair and looking up at the ceiling. He said nothing, giving her time to ingest everything he had told her but when she glanced his way, she could see he was trying to hold back a grin. “You know what I mean?” she asked.
Even though he hadn’t been human for quite some time, he knew exactly what she meant. “Yes, yes I do,” he agreed.
“Okay,” she said, rapidly shaking her head again, attempting to clear her mind. “So, you’re saying if I fully Transform, I’ll be some sort of She-Ra Princess of Power, some sort of bionic woman or something? Wow, listen to those ‘80s references coming through,” she muttered under her breath.
“I believe so, yes,” he said nodding along with her.
She was pacing now. “And, I’ll be able to use these super powers to defeat the powers of evil, such as that bitch Holland?”
“With the right support and training, I think you’ll be able to defeat just about
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