“No, the flower’s perfect, but where do you keep finding them this time of the year?”
“You forget who you're talking to.”
“Right. But I’m beginning to feel guilty; you’ve been doing all the cooking.”
He handed her a fork. “I don’t mind. I enjoy cooking. It’s a nice stress release.”
She took a bite and then a sip of coffee. “I’ll cook tomorrow night, since we’re going to Maia’s tonight.”
“You can cook?”
“Of course I can cook, I just don’t do it much. I don’t like to cook for just me—it seems like too much work for one person—but I’d love to cook something for you. You know, Thanksgiving is Thursday. Maia’s going to want us over there for dinner then, too, if that’s what you’d like to do ... I mean ... I don’t want to assume anything here, and with what’s going on with Eidolon and all, but if we’re still alive, would you like to go over there for Thanksgiving? I’ll bake a pie. What’s your favorite pie? Do you even like pie?”
Cael chuckled. “There you go again, asking all those questions without waiting for an answer. Let’s see if I get this in the right order ... yes, any kind, and yes, I love pie.”
Addie grinned then winced when a shooting pain ran down her neck. Touching the bandage, she thought about the scar.
“I don’t think you will scar badly. I’m sure it’ll enhance the sexy warrior princess look you have going and if that’s the case, I’m doomed. When I look at you, I see a very brave woman, a woman I am very proud to be with.”
Addie was surprised, in light of what happened last night, that her relationship with Cael was as vibrant as ever, and he still wanted her as much as he had before. At least she hoped he wasn’t putting on a ruse just to make her feel better. “Well, don’t expect me to wear a sexy little costume.”
“Aw, why not?”
She shrugged and grinned.
“Does that mean maybe?”
She shook her head.
“Now you’ve shattered all my fantasies.”
Addie smiled and took a bite of toast.
After they ate, Cael took the tray back to the kitchen, refilling both of the coffee cups before coming back to settle next to her on the sofa. He sat with one arm around her and sipped at the strong brew.
“Cael, maybe we should destroy the journal.”
He frowned. “The book is very valuable to our people.”
“I don’t see why.”
“It contains our history, our purpose and the passage for change—maybe not for our generation, but for a future one. Without the journal, the words would be lost, and without the words, the change can’t occur.”
“It seems to me the book’s just going to destroy humanity. Why don’t we throw it in the fire and let it burn?”
“Well, darling, it’s true that if it fell into the wrong hands, it would be lethal, but some day, when society is ready, it may be very useful.”
Addie stood, picked up the book, and glanced at the fire, then at Cael.
He shrugged. “Go ahead.”
She tossed it in the fire. It rested on a log, flames encircled it, but the book remained intact. “The flames don’t seem to be penetrating the cover. You knew that’s what would happen.”
“Well, now you know, too. Come, sit here,” he patted his knee, “enjoy your coffee because we need to leave soon to get your truck.”
She sat on his lap and watched the flames dance around the unscathed book.
Chapter 35
“I am ready.”
“I don't want you to get over-heated. We'll take it easy at first, okay?”
Sitting in the cab of Addie’s truck waiting for the towing service to arrive, Addie argued with Cael, certain she should start training again. Trying to convince Cael was another story. Fog shrouded most of the copse to her left, but toward the ocean, the haze thinned and a small whirlwind made its way across the road. She opened the window and a swoosh of cold air blew in, robbing the cab of the warmth from the heater Cael had just turned off.
“What are you doing? Close that window before we turn into popsicles.”
“You said you didn't want me to get over-heated.”
He sighed. “You're an incorrigible little weasel. Okay, you can train today. Just close the window.”
Once the towing service arrived, it took thirty minutes to pull Addie’s truck from the ditch since it rained during the night, burying the front tires in two feet of mud.
They went to the Sectory, and stopped in to see Red, hoping that maybe he could do something to speed up the healing of Addie’s neck wound and perhaps avoid the dreaded scar.
They entered the medical facility and saw Red standing at a white counter cluttered with microscopes, a variety of borosilicate glass beakers, boiling flasks, graduated cylinders and test tubes full of different colored liquids.
He stood over a little brown dog, which appeared to be dead. Within a few seconds, the dog twitched and sprang to life. Red hugged the dog and waved to Cael and Addie.
“Come on in. This is Butters. He fell into the freezing lake this morning and when I fished him out, he had hypothermia. But I think he’ll be okay now, isn’t that right, Butters?” He ruffled the dog’s fur and scratched him behind the ears as he eyed Addie.
“Addison, what happened?” Red touched his fingers to her neck.
“Eidolon got to her last night. She needed seven stitches. Can you do anything to speed up the healing?”
“Well, possibly.” He gave Cael a puzzled look.
“Yes, she has the power to heal, but she can’t heal herself.”
Red looked at Addie. “Well now, I believe you can.”
“What do you mean? I already tried, but nothing happened,” Addie said.
“It’s something your father and I were experimenting with. First, we need to take out those nasty stitches, though.
He motioned to a cot. “Lie down over here. This will hurt and I can’t give you anything for the pain. You’ll need to be completely coherent for the healing.”
“Not even any numbing stuff?” Cael asked.
“No, the nerves need to remain intact in order to react properly.”
Addie sank down on the cot and reached for Cael’s hand.
“Go ahead, baby, squeeze all you want.”
“Steady now; take a deep breath and exhale, good, good. There’s one.”
“Great, only six more to go.” She managed to stifle the urge to scream as he took out the other six stitches, and Cael’s hand turned white from the pressure of hers as she cringed with each extraction.
Red dabbed some sort of ointment on the wound.
“You’re very brave. I doubt Cael would’ve been able to endure that.” He glanced at Cael’s frowning face. “Women have a remarkable tolerance for pain. Perhaps that’s why they were chosen for the task of childbirth.”
“Huh ...” Cael rubbed his hand up and down his thigh, as though willing the circulation back.
“Now, Addison, sit up. I want you to look at me and place your hand in mine. I’m going to place my other hand on your neck. It will feel very warm. I want you to say the healing words. Do you remember what they are?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Addie closed her eyes and spoke, “Vis curatio vox secundum …”
“You don’t need to say them aloud, just hear them in your mind.”
Addie opened her eyes. “Oh, okay.”
Staring up at Cael, she thought of the words and felt a burn on her neck. Stifling the urge to scream, she squeezed Cael's hand again. The pain soon faded and she relaxed as her neck began to heal.
Cael brushed his finger against her skin where the wound had been. “That was incredible, Red. How long have you known about this?”
“Ristéard and I’d been playing around with it for a few months. It all happened by accident one day, when he inadvertently stabbed himself in the hand. He came to see me, and when I held his hand to e
xamine it, he repeated the healing phrases. With the combination of both our abilities, his hand healed. After that we tried it several times and it worked in every case.”
Red examined Addie’s neck, and then stood. “All healed. You seem to be getting a handle on your abilities.”
Addie touched her neck, amazed. “Thanks, Red. Next time I’m injured, I’ll come see you first. Warrior princess or not, I really hated the idea of a scar.”
“Beg your pardon?” Red said.
“Never mind,” Cael replied.
***
The training level was fireproof and the best place for Addison to practice. Cael set up blocks of wood and several unbreakable objects in between the weight machines and the pool. She shattered pieces of wood into splinters and moved objects around the room with her mind. He was pleased to see that her skills were progressing, but she still lacked the force required to cause fatal damage. He contacted Razvan about his ability; the similarities to Eidolon's were too close to ignore.
While Addison worked on her skills, he flipped though the ancient codices, discovering one documenting every known type of ability dating back to 587 A.D. He read about a man who lived in the 16th century who controlled minds. Although he wasn’t a menace, most regarded him with great respect and some actually feared him. When he took over someone’s mind, he had the ability to make them do anything he wanted, similar to hypnotism, but with much greater power.
“Hmmm ... interesting.” He grabbed his phone and called his mother.
***
Feeling tense and nervous about her date with Duane, Darcy headed to her bathroom. She grabbed an oversized towel from the closet and filled the tub. She opened the cupboard under the tiled counter and picked up some lavender scented bath salt. She poured two capfuls in the water, inhaled the soothing fragrance, and waited for the bubbles to rise to the brim of the white porcelain tub. A foaming bath, a glass of wine and the new book she’d recently purchased should help settle her nerves.
She soaked, sipped at the golden liquid and read until something in the book reminded her of Jared—that unforgivable night he slept with Hannah Johnson. The night that started out perfect, but ended up ruining the rest of her life.
They were on their way to a movie when they’d run into Bill and Doug—Jared’s two best friends at the time. It was Doug’s birthday and the guys begged Jared and Darcy to come out and drink with them instead of going to the movie. Darcy had agreed, but when Jared drank too much, she’d gotten upset and left him at the mercy of his friends. If she’d only stayed, he would’ve come home with her and they’d still be together. Jared had gotten very drunk and his friends thought it would be fun to coax him into sleeping with Hannah. Some friends. Jared didn’t even remember the incident and she knew it hadn’t been entirely his fault. Hannah bragged about it all over town, but since Jared had been so drunk, Darcy was sure he hadn't been able to get it up. The 'ho just said he did. But Darcy still had her pride, after all, and had no choice but to break up with him.
Darcy soaked until her fingers pruned. She didn’t want to dress too early, so she wrapped up in her robe and took extra time applying her makeup and doing her hair. She jumped when someone knocked on the door. It was only four in the afternoon, too early for Duane.
***
Siana appeared in the training room frowning as though irritated that Cael had interrupted her day and marched to the small lounge area where Cael was sitting on one of the black leather chairs. Addie strolled over to say hello. Siana wore her hair down this time and Addie admired the way it flowed to her shoulders, as dark and thick as Cael’s. Two tiny pearls adorned her ears and her black pants with the sapphire blue sweater accentuated the warm blue of her eyes, emphasizing the woman's elegance. Her outfit was quite a contrast to Addie’s spandex workout pants and Nike sports bra. Addie felt dreadfully unattractive, standing there with sweat dripping down her cheeks and her hair pulled back with an elastic band.
“Hello, Addison, nice to see you again. I see you’re making progress.”
“Yeah, I think so. I’m actually starting to enjoy this.”
“Good. The sooner you learn all there is to know, the better. We’ll need your abilities to help defeat Eidolon.”
Siana took a seat on one of the vacant chairs across from Cael and motioned to Addie to join them. “I spoke to Razvan, and he wanted me to tell you he’d be up as soon as he’s finished looking over some papers. What’s so urgent?”
***
Cael placed his open book down on the table in front of him. He turned to his mother and tried to keep his hands steady despite the adrenaline building in his veins. “I can’t believe I never thought of this before. Mom, I need you to think about sex.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Okay, sorry, um, think about your wedding night, then. Think about what it felt like.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
Siana sat with her arms crossed for a second. “Okay, so I thought about it. Why?”
“I couldn’t sense your thoughts. I got a total blank.”
“Yes, so?”
“Listen, there was a man back in 976 A.D. who controlled minds, but had been unable to control his own wife’s mind. She had the ability to block him somehow. So, don’t you see? You can block me from sensing your thoughts.”
“Yes.”
“Then I should be able to block you from mine, right?”
“Of course.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me this?”
Siana blushed. “I ... well, there are things a mother needs to hide from her son but when you were small, I didn’t want you hiding things from me. If I’d taught you to block your feelings and desires, I wouldn’t have been able to save you. Remember the time you went swimming by yourself and almost drowned? I never would have known you were going to jump in the pool in time to rescue you.”
“I did that?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. Okay, but when I grew up, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Well, it certainly wasn’t intentional. The subject just never came up.”
“What do you mean, it never came up?” His neck muscles tensed and his voice cracked with the word “mean.”
“Wait a minute. So we can’t use our abilities unless they’re introduced to us?” Addison interrupted.
“No,” Cael barked and Addison flinched.
He softened his voice. “That’s not entirely correct. I just never thought of blocking someone before. Just like you never thought of moving objects with your mind. Mom, I can’t believe you kept something as important as this from me.”
“Cael, how was I supposed to know you never thought of it? I never needed my father to tell me about it. You haven’t lived with me since you were eighteen.”
His face flushed with heat.
Siana’s cheeks reddened even more. “Really, Cael, I never violated your privacy when you were a teenager.”
Addison covered the smirk on her face with her hand and Cael wanted to crawl in a hole. He really didn’t need this embarrassing topic clouding his thoughts right now.
He cleared his throat. “Getting back to the point, I need you to show me how so I can learn to block Eidolon from controlling my mind.”
“Actually, I’m sorry. I didn’t know Eidolon was capable of mind control. You didn’t tell me.”
“We haven’t had an opportunity to talk to you since his attack.”
“He attacked? Oh, God, are you all right?” She looked from Cael to Addison.
“Red helped Addison. He removed seven stitches from her neck and helped heal her. But Eidolon hurt her. Badly.” Cael clenched his fists, unable to block the visions in his mind from his mother as he remembered every heinous detail of what Addison had told him about the assault. Siana’s eyes grew huge.
Siana glanced at Addison. “I'm so sorry! Do you want to talk about it?”
“No, but thank you. I’ll be okay.”
Cae
l told Siana what had happened with the dog, the fire, and the episode with Addison in her truck.
“I wish I had known Eidolon was capable of these things. Cael, you should be able to keep him out of your mind and, while you’re at it, block him from Addison, as well.”
“What do you mean?” He was on his feet, hands fisted on his hips, staring down at his mother.
“Addison, would you like some tea? I’ll need to speak to Cael alone about this.”
“Sure, I’d love some.” Addison smiled, and Cael arched his brow, knowing how much she loved that tea.
“I don’t want to leave her alone. Why can’t we discuss this in front of her?”
Ignoring Cael, Siana said, “I’ll call Ben, and he can come down and bring some tea and sit with Addison. I’ll have him bring Breena down, too, since I left her with him.”
***
Cael plopped down on the brown leather sofa, crossed his arms over his chest, and put his feet up on the glass coffee table, knowing how much it irritated his mother.
She didn’t comment on it and that irritated him. Siana kept the lights dim the way his father had like it. Cael thought of the many times in his youth he'd walked into this room wanting to turn the lights up but knew if he did, he'd be scolded. He eventually learned the reason behind his dad preferring less light, thinking it gave him more of an edge on his wife's ability to sense his moods. Cael knew it didn't help, but whatever the old man wanted, his mother gave him. His dad eventually admitted the lights didn't help, nothing helped. He couldn't handle the idea of his wife, and soon his son, being able to know his thoughts, so he left.
“Okay, Mom, spill.”
“I’m sorry about what happened to Addison. I know you’re feeling responsible.”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t want to talk in front of her. I know how you feel, but I haven’t had an opportunity to find out how she feels about you.”
“You stay out of her mind,” he warned.
Whisper Cape Page 28
