Beyond: Snillotia Trilogy Book One by Donna Wagner (books you have to read TXT) 📕

you! He actually thought that. He thought living in a house with you is finally rubbing off on me. I was so surprised, and then I realized what was happening. Then I got mad at him for thinking that, not that acting like you is bad, but he didn’t mean it in a nice way!  I left him standing there without another word and went to class. I tried to talk to him after my Government class last period, but now he won’t talk to me!

Tim looked stunned. He knew she’d develop more powers once she let her walls down, but he didn’t think it’d be that fast. Plus, he didn’t know what to say to a crying girl. All through her long thought explanation, Tim could see the tears dripping from her eyes. It’ll be okay. Jason will get over it. If he doesn’t, over something this small, then maybe he isn’t worth it anyway. If it makes you feel better, I think Retep’s got a crush on you.

Tim added the last part to try to make her feel better. However, it had the opposite effect. Don’t say that! Retep can’t have a crush on me!

Tim was confused by her reaction but didn’t show it. Well, as far as the mind reading, it does get easier.

Anna’s eyes widened and she finally turned and faced Tim completely. You can hear others’ thoughts too?

Tim nodded, slightly. Don’t worry. Once I realized what was happening, I made a point to not listen in. I’ve only used it on purpose once- to see if Retep was hiding anything. I learned to control it pretty quick. You do not want to know what some people think about!

Tim shuddered and cracked a smile. Anna gave him half a smile back. “Ahem, will the lovebirds in the back please pay attention to class?” Mrs. MacDonald, their English teacher, called from the front of the room.

Both Anna and Tim turned bright pink and Tim tried to explain but gave up when Anna reminded him silently how it must have looked with them just staring at one another. They were going to have to be careful about communicating that way when they were in the same room and others were around. “As I was saying, now that everyone’s mentally present, we are going to be working on something new starting next week. We’re going to study current popular fiction,” she motioned toward the stack of books on the table by the window, “Ollie, Evan, can you please start handing those books out to everyone?”

The two students got up from their desks and walked over to the table. Ollie reached it first. “Really? We’re going to read this for school?”

Mrs. MacDonald smiled. “I know this will probably be familiar to most of you. I’m hoping that familiarity means our class discussions will be marvelous!”

Ollie approached Tim’s desk and practically flung the book at him. “Lucky you, Tim. An easy A.” he said snidely.

Tim looked up at him in surprise, then at Anna. She shrugged. Then they both looked at their copies. Then they looked at each other, in shock. “Hey! I actually recognize this!” they heard from the front of the room, “Tim’s mom wrote this!”

Tim’s gaze shot from Anna’s to his cousin, who was practically jumping out of his seat. His eyes narrowed. He had never told Retep about his mother’s books. He was about to look inside his cousin’s mind once again, but Anna stopped him. I saw what he’s thinking about. Your grandparents found a copy of it at Adam and Myra’s house and were talking about how happy they were about her chosen pen name. He overheard them. Mrs. McDonald is looking at you, just say yes!

“Yes,” Tim said, as Anna instructed.

“That’s amazing! How is this something I did not know? This will bring so much insight to our discussions!” Mrs. MacDonald exclaimed.

Tim realized she had asked him if it was true that his mother was Sarah Erickson. He nodded, feeling almost numb. He didn’t know if what was happening was good or bad. He decided to worry about it later and listen to what Mrs. MacDonald was going over about the assignment. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ollie whispering to Evan and rolling his eyes. “Now, I realize there are fourteen books in the series, but as they were written for much younger children than you and most of you have read them before, I believe we can get through them all fairly quickly! Now, your homework this weekend will be to read the first book I’ve handed out! Monday morning, our discussion begins, and I want everyone’s participation!”

Right on time, the bell rang, signaling the end of the period. As Tim threw his notebook and his mother’s book into his backpack, he heard Retep talking with the teacher. “No ma’am. I’ve never actually read them. We didn’t have them in Sn- the country I was living in.”

Mrs. MacDonald frowned, knowing the books had been published in multiple countries and six different languages. “And what country is that my dear?”

Tim rushed to the front of the room and grabbed his cousin’s arm. “C’mon, Pete! I’m starving. We have to get to lunch!”

Retep gave Mrs. MacDonald a small wave as Tim pulled him from the room.

✽✽✽

The weekend passed too quickly. It had been spent getting everyone acquainted with the world they were living in. A trip to the mall became an event, as everyone except Tim and Anna needed clothes to wear. By Sunday night, everyone had seemed to settle into their new temporary home. Tim and Anna were in the back yard, testing Anna’s powers to see if anything else had manifested, when Retep came running outside. “I finished the book! I can’t wait to talk about it tomorrow! I feel I will be able to provide a lot to the discussion! I know more about Snillotia than anyone in that class!”

Anna shook her head. “You can’t tell them