by Jim Johnson
“Huh, okay.” I pondered that, then asked, “But there are theories out there. Does that mean there are…texts, or papers, or some sort of literature out there about etheric energy and ley threads and so forth?” I hadn’t dropped out of college because I was stupid—I enjoyed learning when there was something interesting enough to be learned.
She nodded. “There are, though you won’t find them in any old library. Because your average person wouldn’t understand what to do with such information if they had it, we practitioners, as a general rule, try to insulate the Unawakened population from the realities of the Holding and the etheric energies all around them.”
I walked around more, trailing my hand along the wall, feeling the steady stream of sparks on my hand, like passing my hand over a sheet of fine grit sandpaper. “That’s probably for the best, I guess. Does it ever bother you that you’re contributing to a lie on a massive scale?”
Miss Chin cleared her throat and then clasped her hands behind her back. “Interesting. Why do you believe it’s a lie?”
I glanced at her and shrugged. “Well, a lie of omission is still a lie, right? Why not go public and tell the world that ley threads and etheric energy and so forth is real?”
Miss Chin snorted and then settled on a gray-colored bench set into the wall. “There would be a furor for a day, perhaps two. The knowledge would trend on Twitter and Facebook and other social media sites, there’d be some hysterics and a lot of vapid discussion. In short order, the internet and the world would go back to their memes and cat videos.”
She smiled. “A few would investigate, and we ley practitioners would continue on as we have done for millennia, though perhaps with a bit more added to our plates.”
I shook my head. “Jeez, Miss Chin. You don’t paint a very comforting view of the world.”
She shrugged. “Perhaps I generalize. That being said, do you really feel the world is prepared to know of this? Think on what you’ve learned in just the last few days. What would happen if your least-stable friends were to learn of this? What do you think would happen?”
I considered that, thinking on the variety of people in my life. I nodded. “You’re right. It’d be a madhouse.”
Miss Chin stood and moved toward me, then stopped in front of me with her hands clasped in front of her. “Now, Rachel, what you have to decide is whether you are willing to contribute to this particular lie by embracing your role as a Beacon, or not.”
I stared into her eyes. “Do I have to, like, sign a contract in blood or make a pinkie promise that I won’t tell anyone?”
Her mouth quirked up a bit. “Of course not. That’s not how this works. There’s no special initiation, no contracts to sign. You were Awakened, you were called to this role. It’s up to you to accept it. And, as I’ve emphasized before, you don’t have to do it.”
I frowned again. “You’ve said that. Almost makes me think you’re trying to discourage me from doing it.”
She shook her head. “It’s not meant to be discouraging, but if it has come across that way, I apologize. I only mean to warn you and to arm you with as much information as possible, so that you can make a choice armed with knowledge.”
I nodded, taking in her comments and processing them. I glanced at the shimmering rift in the Veil she had created. I glanced at her and tried a little grin. “Plenty of information, except the part about getting sick on re-entry.”
She met my eyes and nodded. “Indeed. Perhaps I can work on being a more effective teacher as well.”
I smiled fully, and then raised my hands to the new world all around me. “Great. So, now what?”
She reached out to me. “Now we return home. I merely wanted to show you the Holding. As you continue your training, you’ll learn to open conduits and to guide lost souls here, and then either guide them to their final resting place, or simply leave them here to wander about.”
“Wander around? Isn’t that…I don’t know, dangerous?”
She shrugged. “Not really. It’s a step on their path. From life to death, death to the Holding, and then from the Holding onward. You’re helping them from one to the other.”
“Got it.” I paused in front of the conduit. “Will I get sick again?”
She squeezed my hand. “If it’s any consolation, it gets easier with practice.”
I took that to mean yes. And my slice of Big Red was out of flavor. “Well, in for a penny, right?” I grinned and then squeezed her hand. “Lead the way.”
Chapter 44
AS MISS CHIN PROMISED, THE RETURN trip wasn’t quite as bad as the first, though it was still pretty gross. I had nothing left in my stomach, so I enjoyed a few more painful dry heaves. She deposited me near the amphitheater wall to rest and then hurried off to a nearby deli to get me a drink.
While I recovered, I settled into a meditative state to see if that might help settle my stomach, and focused on the Potomac flowing nearby. The sun low and behind me glittered off the peaks in the waves. The combination of meditation and water-watching helped to soothe me.
And…wait. The setting sun? I frowned and pulled my phone out of my satchel. It had been noon when we got to the amphitheater. It was just after four now. Somewhere along the way I had lost a few hours. That didn’t seem right.
My phone buzzed in my hands. A glance showed me Malcolm was calling.
I lost whatever Zen moment I’d been holding onto and took the call. “Hey, Malcolm.”
“Rachel? Thank God! I’ve been trying to reach you for a while.”
I bit my lip. “Uh, yeah. I was…out and about, you know? What’s up?”
He sighed into the phone. “I wasn’t gonna call you, not after what happened yesterday.”
I snorted. “But? Clearly you’re calling.” It sounded like he was on the road. “Where are you?”
“I’m driving to Alexandria. I’m hoping you’re willing to help me out again. I’m gonna go to Banneker Park and see if I can track down Buster Jay and my sister.”
Oh God. I rested my head in my free palm and sighed into the phone. “Malcolm, do you really think that’s a good idea?”
“I don’t know. Maybe? But it’s my sister, Rachel. I gotta at least try to help her.”
I sighed. The guilt trip, even if it was unintentional, always seemed to work on me.
“I could really use your help. I appreciate how you helped me yesterday.”
“Helped? Malcolm, I barely know what even happened yesterday except a whole lot more weirdness.” I stared at the Potomac, trying to get my thoughts in order. “You’re not gonna use your fire-bursts, are you?”
“I…I don’t know. I don’t think so. I’m hoping me and my sister can work this out reasonably, and that Buster Jay will be all right with letting her go.”
I frowned. “You don’t sound real confident about that. Have you taken a moment to think this through?”
“Yeah, well. When it comes to my family, sometimes I act first and worry about the consequences later.”
I bit my tongue because, honestly, I’d had my fair share of impulsive moments with my own family. I sighed. “I can’t say no, Malcolm. Not when I know that you could really use some help. Where are you?”
“I’m just passing the airport now, heading south on the Parkway. Where are you?”
I glanced around. “Pick me up outside Haute Dogs again. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“All right. I’ll see you soon. Oh, and Rachel?”
“Yeah?”
“I can’t thank you enough.”
“You got that right.” I shut off the phone and tossed it into my satchel. What the hell had I just signed up for?
“Some bad news?”
I jumped to my feet and turned so fast I sprained my neck. “God, woman! Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
Miss Chin smirked and stepped toward me, two big bottles of water in her hands. “A free lesson—when you become more attuned to the ley threads and the etheric energies all aroun
d you, and learn to sense their ebb and flow, you’ll be extraordinarily hard to surprise.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Really?” I thought that over and then grinned. “Miss Chin, that might be the first practical application of these powers I’ve heard so far.” I gestured toward the nearby archway.
“Creating rifts in a wall and the Veil and stepping from this world into the Holding, now that’s some magical, mystical stuff that’ll take me some time to get used to. But being able to sense when people are behind me or otherwise sneaking up on me? Hell, I can use that every day.”
Miss Chin offered me one of the bottles of water, which I gratefully accepted. I cracked it open, took a swig, and swished the water around in my mouth to get the brackish sick taste out of there. I spat the water to one side, and then took a few deep drinks of cold water.
“God! That’s just what I needed.” I raised the bottle to Miss Chin. “Thank you, and thank you again.”
She opened her bottle and sipped from it and replaced the cap. “Not at all.” She gestured toward my satchel. “Your phone call—are things well?”
I stared at her and covered a grimace by taking another swig of water. “No, well…it’s just a friend of mine. His sister is in trouble and he needs a little help getting her out of it. So he called and asked me for that help.”
She smiled. “And you offered to help?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I guess I’m a sucker for hard cases.” I slapped my thigh. “Speaking of—he’s on his way to pick me up. I really should get going.”
Miss Chin nodded and offered a hand to me. I paused and then took it in one of mine. She said, “You are a very fine student, Rachel. One of the strongest potentials I have ever seen. Be careful with your abilities. Help your friend, but be smart.”
I stared into her eyes, wondering just how much of my phone call she had heard.
“I promise to be careful, Miss Chin.”
She smiled and then let go of my hand. “When you are ready to continue training, let me know. I’ll make myself available for you as you need.”
“Thanks, Miss Chin, I really appreciate it.” I started toward Montgomery and Haute Dogs. “And thanks for the water!”
She waved as I left, and then I hurried along the road to meet up with Malcolm.
His black Mustang was idling outside the restaurant when I jogged up. He was in the driver seat, looking left and right at the sidewalks to either side of the street. I moved to the passenger side, leaned down, and tapped on the window.
He nodded at me and popped the locks. I opened the door and got in the car. “Hey, Malcolm.” I glanced around the inside of the car. “No food this time?”
He gave me a haunted look. “I’m not really hungry. Too much on my mind.”
I smacked my lips, still tasting a little bile. “Yeah, I know the feeling.”
He hit the accelerator hard enough to spin the tires, and then we were off toward the city. I hurriedly buckled myself in. “Jeez, drive much?”
He focused on turning onto the Parkway and tearing up the road northbound. “I figure we got about half an hour of light left before the sun goes down. If we’re going to catch up to Buster Jay, I’d like at least a little bit of sunlight left.”
I nodded. “I guess that makes sense.” I drained my water bottle and then capped it and dropped it on the floorboard beneath my feet. “So what do you intend to do once we get there?”
He focused on weaving through traffic for a few moments, then shook his head. “I hadn’t thought that hard about it.”
I loosed a deeply-held breath. “Dammit, Malcolm! Think. According to that Cubes dude, who I might note was a drug addict, this Buster Jay guy is a drug dealer. A drug dealer who apparently has a lot of connections, connections that enables him to get all sorts of weird product. What did Cubes call it, special orders?”
Malcolm nodded. “Yeah, so?” He glanced at me with panic in his eyes.
I banged my hand on the console in front of me. “So, it means that this guy probably has, like, money, and guns, and thugs to do his dirty work. I can’t imagine he’d go to Banneker Park all by himself to sling some dope or sell weed or whatever.”
He glanced at me again. “What do you know about drug deals?”
I met his eyes and shrugged. “Hell, I don’t know. Come on. I’ve seen The Wire and Breaking Bad. How complicated can it be? You make some connections, you sell some drugs, make some money, and then hire big, beefy guys to watch your ass while you do it again and again. Until the cops catch up with you or your partner rats you out.”
He gnawed at the inside of his cheek as he moved the car into the merge onto the Fourteenth Street bridge. “You think he’ll have some muscle with him?”
I stared up at the upholstered roof of his car. “I guess? I don’t know. I have to assume it’s a safe assumption.”
He frowned. “What do we do? Anyone else we can call?”
I shook my head. “The police, maybe?”
He banged his hand on the steering wheel. “Hey, yeah! How about that detective from the nursing home? What was his name, Bueller, Bellamy?”
I shook my head. “Bello. Anson Bello, I think.” I fished around in my satchel, but didn’t see the card. “Do you have his card? I don’t seem to have the one he gave me.”
Malcolm shook his head. “I didn’t take no damn business card.” He glanced at me as he exited off the highway and navigated a long, sloping turn to the right. He pulled off to one open spot on the curb, and shut off the car.
“Why are you stopping?”
He pointed out his window. “We’re here. Banneker Park.”
I glanced out the window. There was a lot of afternoon traffic moving through the traffic circle around the large water fountain that took center spot in Banneker Park. The fountain wasn’t active due to it being the wintertime. I vaguely remembered walking here once or twice with Abbie during the fall, and remembered the fountain was pretty when it had the water on.
I glanced around the busy traffic circle. “Any idea at all what kind of car this Buster Jay drives?”
He raised his hands helplessly and clutched his steering wheel. “I don’t even know if he has someone drive him. If he’s a big-shot drug dealer, maybe he has a chauffeur.”
I shook my head and looked around. The sun had nearly set at this point, and the streetlights all around were ablaze in fluorescent light. “Seems a little too public a place to sell drugs, don’t you think?”
He shrugged and looked out the window. “I guess so.”
I frowned as I thought it through. “Yeah…too public a place, especially if he’s got connections. If he’s still selling by hand, though, he’s gotta be doing it quietly, like, out of sight.”
Malcolm glanced at me. “Like, out of his car?”
I nodded. “Sure. Maybe the druggies know what car to look out for, and they sort of sidle up to it, maybe even get in…”
“…and then do the transaction in the car, out of sight?” Malcolm puzzled it over, and then nodded. “Sounds reasonable.” He glanced out the window again. “But which vehicle? There are a lot of cars parked around here.”
He was right. The park itself was just benches and concrete and the fountain, but across the street from the park was a row of restaurants and office buildings under construction. “Could be any one of these out here.”
“Shit. We can’t just go door to door, asking for Buster Jay.”
He frowned, and then glanced at me, or more specifically, my crystal hanging off my neck. “Could…could we use our powers?”
I frowned at him. “How?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, like…focus and try to sense my sister? You said that you’ve been meditating with the crystal. Can you do anything with your abilities? I can shoot fire but I don’t know how useful that’ll be here, not at least until we find him.”
I pondered what he had suggested and tried to apply what I knew about the ley threads and etheric energies so far. And I w
as reminded of Miss Chin’s gentle warning to be careful. A glimmer of an idea came to mind.
I glanced at Malcolm. “Well, if you’re willing, I think I have an idea.”
Chapter 45
MALCOLM FOCUSED EAGER EYES ON ME. “Okay? What do I need to do?”
I held up a hand. “First, relax. You have to promise me you’re not going to charge in there like you did at that druggie house. There are too many people here—it’s not safe.”
He stared at me for a long moment, then nodded. “I promise I won’t charge in.”
“Okay, good. What I want you to do is close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Concentrate on nothing but emptying your mind. Can you do that?”
He nodded. “Sure, I’ll give it a try.” He closed his eyes and settled into his car seat. He took a few deep breaths, and as he started to visibly calm down, I leaned back in my seat and rested a hand on his arm.
“Okay, now…stay relaxed, and just let your mind stay blank. Don’t think about anything except how blank your mind is, okay?” I wondered what Bonita would say if she saw me now. Probably would be supportive, or at least I liked to think so.
As Malcolm steadied and started to sink into what felt like an early level of meditation, I reached out and found my own center, and then started gathering up ley threads. I settled them into a mass in my etheric hands, and readied them.
“Now, you’re going to feel something kinda weird, but don’t react. It’s just me, okay?”
I saw beads of sweat forming on his brow. He licked his lips and nodded. “I’m ready.”
“Okay.” I took a deep, centering breath, and then gently reached one of the threads out to touch his bronze-tinged aura, which I could see clearly through my inner Eye.
A little spark of light blossomed in my Sight. Malcolm flinched back, but kept his eyes closed. “I felt that! What was that?”
I nodded. “Good. That was what’s called a ley thread. Imagine that there is magical energy all around us, in the form of magical threads of light.”
