Seed to Harvest: The Complete Patternist Series (Patternist, #1-4)

by Octavia E. Butler

She frowned, suddenly cautious. “I am myself. You see me.” “As you see me. Do you imagine you see everything?” She did not answer. “A lie offends me, Anyanwu, and what I see of you is a lie. Show me what you really are.” “You see what you will see!” “Are you afraid to show me?” “… No.” It was not fear. What was it? A lifetime of concealment, of commanding herself never to play with her abilities before others, never to show them off as mere tricks, never to let her people or any people know the full extent of her power unless she were fighting for her life. Should she break her tradition now simply because this stranger asked her to? He had done much talking, but what had he actually shown her about himself? Nothing. “Can my concealment be a lie if yours is not?” she asked.