It didn’t come to her. Not at first anyway. Then she remembered the icy sensation she felt crawling along her spine almost every time she encountered something supernatural. Well, something supernatural with a murderous intent directed at her. Or, maybe it wasn’t just creatures meaning to kill her. Maybe it was any supernatural creature that meant to hurt her in some way. When Russel had snuck up behind her and she’d gotten that sensation, he wasn’t trying to kill her.

“Are you talking about the times when I’ve felt supernatural creatures coming to hurt me?” she asked.

“I mean, yeah, that was one of the things I was talking about. Is that how you’ve been doing that? You feel something?” He seemed genuinely fascinated by the idea that she could sense something or that she had an actual, physical reaction to creatures.

“Yes,” she told him. “It’s like ice water being poured down my spine. But it only happens when something is trying to hurt or kill me. When you first found me, I didn’t feel anything. And I think it’s because you meant me no harm.”

“That is incredible,” Russel said, eyes gleaming. “Having some kind of extra sense geared toward the supernatural would definitely make you important, even more so than I originally thought. I was also referring to the fact that you are immune to ghoul poison. I have never encountered anyone with a natural immunity to the stuff. I wonder now, though, if that has something to do with your ability to sense supernatural creatures. How long have you been able to do that?”

“It started in Gloucester when Drake came,” she said, her voice a silent whisper. More images and flashbacks bombarded her mind. All of them full of fire, blood, and corpses. “It’s one of the reasons why I managed to get away. I got that feeling and it drove me to visit this spot in the forest I loved to go to. At the time, I didn’t realize what was happening, only that something inside me wanted out of Gloucester and quickly. When I came back, the whole town was on fire.”

“And it’s just grown since then? When did you realize the sensation wasn’t some kind of fluke?” he pressed. He felt like he was finally getting somewhere. A human that could pinpoint supernatural creatures, even if they were disguised as humans, was dangerous to them. It meant they wouldn’t be able to hide behind any masks. But how did she acquire that ability? Was it bred into her? Some kind of spell maybe? If so, why use a spell on a human girl out in the middle of nowhere? That would be senseless and damn near useless.

“It hasn’t really grown. I just finally…noticed it, I guess. Once things weren’t as crazy anymore, and I could think straight, I realized it was there.”

“Don’t mention that to anyone else but me,” Russel said. “I’m not sure if my father knew about it but if he did, he kept it close to his chest and didn’t say anything about it to anyone.”

“Do you think he knew?” she asked. “I don’t know how. I didn’t even know.”

“I’m not sure but if you didn’t know, then it isn’t very likely,” he answered. “But we are going to figure everything out. I promise.”

He gently pulled her face up and kissed her. She embraced his kiss and let the sensation of it sweep away all the horrors of the past few weeks, at least for a little while. When they broke away from each other, she guided him back to the bath and he finished getting clean. Ten or so minutes later, he got back out, toweled himself off, and the two went back into the bedroom and laid down on the bed.

Exhaustion took over the both of them and in just seconds, they were asleep.