First World(83)

I stuck my tongue out at her.

Turning, I started shoving people back so I could leave the powder room. Brace halted me with a hand on my arm. His expression appeared to be light hearted, but his eyes were a smouldering cauldron of emotion.

“Lucy is right, Red. You do look gorgeous. But please, if you value my sanity, no more screams of pain.” He leaned in closer, talking so low I almost missed the words. “I know my kisses are potent, but that was more of a reaction then even I expected.”

Flushing, I elbowed him in the ribs as I continued to move past. His kiss had been potent, and hot, and ...

Focus, Abby.

Taking a breath, I finally made it out of the room and back into the hall. Lallielle, who had followed me, took one look at my expression before turning to the group.

“Alright, everyone, to bed now. You’re leaving in the morning and you all need as much rest as possible.”

Thank god she’d seen that I’d had enough for tonight.

“I want to speak with Aribella before she goes, but, the rest of you, we meet back here at 0800 hours.” Josian reinforced her words.

I pointedly ignored the worried glances thrown my way. One by one they filed out of the room, taking off to finalise their lives.

Lallielle stopped Lucas with a hand on his arm. “If you are leaving with them tomorrow, would you like to stay here tonight?”

He nodded. “That would probably be the easiest. I’ll have my assistant drop off a bag.”

Lallielle nodded before gesturing for Lucas to follow the rest. He saluted us politely and walked off down the hallway. The edgy feelings disappeared with him.

Francesca stopped in front of me.

“I don’t know everything. For some reason I am getting less information than usual.” She laughed in her crazy way. “But I do know that this has happened to you, Aribella, because you were born to stand out. You’re important. You’re needed. And one day I hope my crazy visions all come together and make sense to me.” She shook her head.

Smiling in a calm manner, I patted her on the shoulder. Her insanity would never make sense to anyone, but it had to be annoying to just get snippets of an ever-changing future. And then be expected to make correctly interpreted predictions.

Lallielle watched her walk away and then kissed my cheek. “I know this is very stressful and confusing, but try and get some sleep tonight. You will need to be at your best for this journey.”

She hadn’t completely erased the worry from her eyes. My gaze followed her along the hallway.

Once the space was clear, Josian had my sole attention.

“Okay, before you leave, I need to make sure you can access the basic Walker powers. Have you noticed a change since you awoke?”

I nodded. “Yes, my senses are all heightened.”

Josian looked happy with that. “Excellent. Your powers will continue to change and grow as you age and as you practice using them.”

“So they might just burst out of me randomly?” I asked in horror.

He shook his head. “It should be a slow growth. But then I never expected the marks, so what do I know?”

I could see Josian wasn’t used to being unsure. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He clutched me a little closer.

“I need to make sure that you can access the energy wormholes and open doorways to other worlds. I will not be letting you leave, no matter what Frannie says, if you don’t have the ability to escape.”

He took a deep breath.

“I am going to show you a crude way of creating a doorway. Once you are more in tune with your abilities you will no longer need to resort to this type of energy manipulation.”

I nodded once, running my tongue nervously over my lips.

“Okay, as we have practiced, take some of your energy.”

I closed my eyes and reached into my inner spot. It was still there, in the exact same place. Only this time it was different. Now, there was a bottomless pit of energy pulsing. It was alive and electric, with the same burning warmth I’d felt during my enlightenment. But thankfully muted.

“Draw from the energy, continue pulling it like string. Send it outside yourself, looping into a continuous circle. But do not let go of the end yet.”

The substance was still like sticky taffy but there was a tensile strength now that it had lacked before.

“Visualise the completed circle, but hold on to the end of the string. In the inner space of the circle project an image of your bedroom upstairs.”

I followed Josian’s words, picturing my gorgeous king-sized bed.

“Open your eyes,” Josian directed. “And let go of the string.”

I obeyed again and as my lashes flicked up I gasped.

In front of me, shining brightly, was the dark night of a Walker doorway. Not as large or clear as the one we had taken to Earth. But it was there. And I could see my bed, not too far in the distance.