Page 9

“My whatsit?”

“Limiter,” he repeated patiently. “Most people don’t really talk about Limiters with psychics, because you have to be an Energy Reader to even see it. It’s made purely of psychic energy and is inherent with any psychic ability. Think of it like a built in capacitor. Most Limiters work just fine. Even works a little too well, suppressing the power more than it should. It’s why we have such a wide range of power and talent when it comes to psychics. Or well, part of the reason.”

The way he offered analogies to explain made me think he did this a lot. Which stood to reason, most people can’t see what he does, so he’s had to find ways to describe this so they can keep up with the overall picture.

I still struggled to keep up with him, though. “All right, a Limiter that everyone’s born with?”

“All psychics, at least.”

“And it’s, where? The back of my head?”

“It starts there and then twines in with your spine,” he explained and popped another bite into his mouth.

Oh, you know, that also made sense to me. The entire nervous system for the body was twined in with the spine, so of course it would. “And mine’s not working?”

“Rather, it’s completely atrophied. It’s physically present but in such a sorry state, it’s not able to do much of anything.” Seiji leaned back to stare at it some more. “How you’re compensating for it is rather amazing. Your ability shifted the duty of limitation and grounding to your anchor’s core. Did you notice any improvements after bonding?”

“I did. Everyone did. I went from living in sunglasses to not needing them at all unless it’s a strong, sunny day outside. Or meeting you, apparently.”

Seiji gave an abashed shrug. “Sorry. I do overpower people.”

“Trust me, I understand, I unfortunately do the same.” So my Limiter was atrophied, that was why I had shit control? I felt of two minds about this. Part of me was happy to finally have an answer as to why. This mystery had plagued me most of my life. But what was I supposed to do with this information now that I had it? “I’ve never been able to shield.”

“No, you won’t be able to,” Seiji said with authority. “The Limiter’s too broken to support a shield.”

Well, damn. I’d hoped for insight after meeting him, but I hadn’t expected it to be like this. Wishful thinking on my part to hope that he had a magic bullet to offer me.

Still, he had a thoughtful face on. “How deeply can you read someone?”

“Pretty damn deep if I choose to open myself completely to their psyche, why?”

“I’ll bet that’s why you can do it. Because your Limiter isn’t functional enough to stop you.”

I stared at him and felt so many different pieces swirl and click into place. I’d always wondered why I could do that, when no Reader I’d heard of could do more than a surface level reading. Well, except Abby, but she runs about as hot as me. But of course they couldn’t, if their Limiter worked as designed, it would keep them from overdoing it. Me? I didn’t have that don’t-do-that function, so I just kept bulling ahead.

Fuck.

Should I be enlightened or disturbed by this information? You know what, screw it, I’d be both. I was also going to sit on the information for a second as I needed to absorb and process.

Seiji’s spoon hit the bottom of the bowl and he made a sad sound. “No, why?”

I chuckled. “Get more, I made plenty.”

With a happy noise, he popped right up and was around the dividing wall in a second flat. While he dished up more stew, he was clearly still thinking over there. “Jon, do you want me to try and troubleshoot a way for you to ground better, to take your raw energy down a few more notches?”

“I would sacrifice my left hand for that,” I said fervently. Just cutting down on how much damage I could do with a careless brush of the hand would do so much to take stress off of me, Donovan, and everyone else I came into regular contact with. It was so draining to be constantly on guard. “Wait, do you see a way to do that?”

“Possibly. I want to sit and stare at you for a while longer.” He shot me a grin. “I’ll try not to make it creepy.”

“Be creepy if it gets me answers.”

His eyes crinkled up in a silent laugh that sparked a pretty, glittery pale yellow along his lines. He was truly a good looking man, like one of those Asian actors or something. Smart, charming, competent, the sort of man I loved to befriend and keep in my life. I had a gut feeling we’ll be amazing friends, we just needed to give it a little time to form an organic relationship.

“Seiji, I’m worried now. My apprentice Abby runs about as hot as I do. Does that mean her Limiter isn’t working right either?”

“Very strong possibility there. I can take a look at her while I’m down here if you’d like.”

“Please. I don’t want her to struggle like I have. She’s not as bad, she can handle electronics in short bursts. She’s improved a little since anchoring as well.”