Go Not Gently and Other Tales
an excerpt

Helena McKay, while vastly talented in many areas magical and mundane, was never good at hiding her emotions. Which was why seeing her younger brother be hopelessly beaten in chess by the scrap of a girl the McKays called a friend was causing her to snicker. James was glaring at Emily, trying to figure out how the unassuming young lady had beaten him. Six times.

“James, you need to shield your thoughts. Remember that ever so amusing conversation about you shouting your thoughts, which is what you do instead?” Despite Emily’s wry words, she was rubbing the bridge of her nose in a way that Helena knew meant that the telepath was severely regretting agreeing to travel by train, no matter how luxurious and private it was said to be. We still don’t know her range, or limits, except that she can barely stop herself from losing herself in the voices, sometimes.

But Helena had more to worry about just know. Aunt Delia Farelly, who had managed to “snag” an English gentleman, was one of her least-loved relatives, notably due to long, pointed letters about how an American heiress had opportunity to marry well nowadays, and at nineteen, wasn’t she the least bit worried about becoming an spinster? Delia had finally worn down Helena’s mother, and Ms. Philips, her governess and tutor, was a chaperone for both Helena and Emily. Delia had been most displeased that the additional young lady Mrs. McKay had told her was frankly inseparable from her children, who had been described by her mother as “frail” and “sickly”, had been charming, and if not quite beautiful, oddly lovely, and had gone to her own compartment to sulk with her own daughter, an unfortunately-faced girl by the name of Hortense, who had the tragedy of bulging brown eyes and too-thin lips. And, as James tactlessly said later, a mustache. By comparison, Helena’s own slightly large green-hazel eyes seemed the very epitome of beauty, while Emily’s light brown eyes still seemed rather gold and unnatural, but then Helena sometimes doubted the girl was entirely human. Sighing, she stared out at the Devonshire countryside, mentally wondering why it rained whenever she left New York City. Quite annoying that…