The Voices in Her Head (No. 8)

Number Eight Discovers Her Powers

After breakfast one morning, Eight, who was three, walked up to her older brother Luther.

She tapped his arm and asked, "Why do you wanna kiss Allison?"

Luther glared at her. "Who told you that? And no I don't!"

Eight nodded. "Yes you do. You're thinking about her right now."

"Go bother someone else, Eight. You're a pest, and I don't want to talk to you."

Her eyes started watering.

Diego walked up to her and asked, "What's the matter?"

She answered softly, "Luther hates me. He said I'm a pest."

"That's a strong word. Why do you think he hates you?"

"I asked him about him and Allison and he got mad."

Diego ruffled her hair. "Well, Luther doesn't like anyone asking him about Allison. How did you know anyway?"

Her blue-grey eyes met Diego's gaze. "I don't know. I knew."

Diego frowned. "I don't understand. You just knew about his crush on Allison?"

The little girl nodded. "Yeah. Don't hurt Luther."

"I won't, but I will kick his ass for calling you a pest."

She frowned. "You said a bad word."

"I did, but that doesn't mean you can say it."

"Where's Klaus?"

Diego frowned, wondering if he should tell her. He'd seen their father send him into the mausoleum.

Eight frowned. "What's a masleum?" Diego gave a small smile at her mispronunciation of the word.

"You'll find out later, sis. For now, let's go do a puzzle. That'd be fun, right?"

"Or a memory game?"

Diego smiled. "Whichever you want."

On their way to Eight's room, they passed Sir Reginald.

Eight up at him and frowned. "You're mean. You locked Klaus in the masleum."

He frowned. "It had to be done, Number Eight. How did you know? Did you tell her, Number Two?"

Eight glared at her father. "His name is Diego."

Sir Reginald ignored the little girl as Diego shook his head. "No, I didn't say anything. She just knew."

"Just knew?" Sir Reginald repeated. "Hmm. Tell me what I'm thinking, Number Eight." He chose something simple to see if the little girl knew what he was thinking.

"Number Eight isn't ordnary."

A hint of a smile crossed Sir Reginald's face. "It seems your abilities have started to manifest, Number Eight. We'll have to do some tests on you to determine the extent of your power."

"Will they hurt?" Eight asked softly.

Sir Reginald shook his head. "They shouldn't, no."

Diego narrowed his eyes. He didn't want their father to hurt her with his tests. She was too little for all of this. Hell, all of them were too young, but that didn't matter to Sir Reginald. He merely saw them as numbers and heroes, rather than children. Maybe that was why he preferred Grace, as it seemed his little sister did.