ARC: The Seers (24 page)

He sat quietly for a long time while I waited, toes tapping nervously in my shoes. Eventually he rubbed his hands over his face and up through his hair. “I’m sorry,” he said, looking up to meet my eyes. “I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. Of course Chloe bonding to Steven is a good thing for them both. The news simply caught me unawares, and I overreacted.”

I snorted a laugh. “Yeah well, lucky for you, you’re talking to the queen of overprotective freak-outs,” I smiled, “so don’t worry about it.”

“I’ll talk to Steven. I’ll let him know what happened, and tell him what the options are, but as to what he wants to do from there, that part will be up to him. As much as I like to believe that I know what’s best for him, in the end it should be his decision.”

“What about you?”

“Depends on what he chooses. There is nothing I’d like more than to leave all this behind me forever,” he admitted, looking idly around the room, “but if he decides to stay, I won’t leave him here alone.”

“I don’t blame you.”

Our eyes locked for just a second as he finished and something passed between us – something new, but still very familiar. He was a man doing everything he could to look after his brother. He didn’t always know what to do, or the best way to do it, but he did the best he could. He may have overreacted and lost his temper from time to time, but that goes with the territory when you are fighting for someone you love. I’d found him annoying, frustrating, and exasperating, but truth be told, deep down… he was just like me.

He let out a long breath with a stretch, breaking the serious tone we’d been in for far too long with one of his trademark smiles. “Now then,” he said, turning toward me and leaning back casually against the bedpost, his eyes filled with a humorous sort of skepticism, “we’ve covered my Anam, let’s hear about yours.”

“Sorry?” I said, trying to play it off, fully aware that I wasn’t at all convincing.

“‘
You
don’t know what it’s like,’ that’s that you said,” he reminded me, cocking his brow, “not, ‘
we
don’t know,’ or ‘
no one
knows,’ but ‘
you
don’t know.’”

“I think you’re reading way too much into my word choice.”

“I don’t think so. You fought far too vehemently and are far too knowledgeable to have only heard accounts of bonding from others.” He crossed his arms. “Come now, out with it. I’ll not be the only one giving up secrets today, now let’s have it.”

I wanted to deny it again, but the look on his face told me there was no use. He knew he was right and wasn’t going to let it go until I admitted it. “OK fine,” I huffed. “Yes, I’ve bonded with someone.”

“There, see? You can’t fool me.” He folded his hands behind his head triumphantly. “So, what is his name? Where is he from? What monastery does he reside in?”

“Monastery?”

“Of course. For surely only a monk would have the patience for you…
Oof!
” he huffed, laughing as I smacked him with one of the enormous pillows from the head of the bed.

“You’re hilarious,” I sneered through a grin. “For your information, it’s Alex.”

He blinked, his eyebrows furrowing. “The Alex that you brought with you? The Caster?”

“That’s the one.”

“But he’s a Holder, how on earth did that happen?”

I shrugged. “Who knows? I’m weird, remember?”

“Does he know?”

“More than that, he’s bonded to me too.”

“You’re joking,” he gawked with a surprised laugh.

“Nope.”

“I’ll be damned,” he chuckled. Then a strange flicker sparked in his eye. “Well, I suppose that explains a few things…”

“What?”

“It’s nothing,” he said, but his snicker said otherwise.

“Don’t give me that, what are you talking about?”

“It’s no big thing,” he insisted, “it’s just, well, I’ve gotten something of an evil eye from Mr Bray on more than one occasion over the past few days,” he told me, biting back a smile. “Now I know why.”

Immediately I rolled my eyes. “Oh please,” I scoffed. “If anything, he’s eyeing you because I spent the first two days we were here convincing him that you were a jerk and he’s having trouble giving up on the idea.”

“Sure,” he said, clearly pacifying me. “That’s probably it.”

I could see he wasn’t convinced, but I let it go, as the whole notion wasn’t worth arguing about. Alex was my whole world, he knew that. Sure, he hadn’t been a fan of watching Bastian and I dance together, but that was nothing. He knew better than to actually be jealous.

“Anyway,” I said, happy to change the subject, “if we are through discussing secrets and hidden lovers, I need to go see Jocelyn.”

“I suppose we are,” he nodded, standing and adjusting his shirt. “As it happens,” he said as we made our way toward the door, “I was headed to see him myself before you arrived. I didn’t think it wise to send him a note as I did you, so he still needs to be caught up on… certain deliveries,” he winked. His hand paused on the door handle as he glanced over and offered me his free arm, his expression settling into the casual superiority of his public mantle, though he didn’t quite hide the grin behind his cocked eyebrow. “As I happen to be going your way,” he said in his too-cool-to-care way, “would you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you, Miss Clavish?”

“If you insist,” I said dramatically, adopting a lofty manner of my own, raising my chin as I took his offered arm, “the privilege is all yours.”

“Not bad,” he chuckled under his breath as he pulled the door open for us. “You don’t have my knack for delivery, of course, but not a bad start.”

Luckily, there was no one to see the two of us come out of his room – as I couldn’t even imagine the sort of rumors that would start – nor was there anyone in the main hallway or any of the lounges and seating areas we passed.

“Where is everyone?” I asked, actually enjoying the quiet.

“If I had to guess, I’d say the back lawn, either watching or partaking in the games.”

“Games?”

“This morning is the field games tournament. Rings, skittles, lawn darts, that sort of thing.”

“I’m going to assume those are all games?” I asked with a laugh, finding “skittles” particularly amusing.

“Of course,” he said with a dramatic gasp as we turned down the hallway that Jocelyn’s room was in. “How long have you been in country, now? I should think that at least you would…” But I silenced him with a slow raise of my hand as I concentrated on the two abilities I suddenly felt in one of the approaching rooms. They stood out to me because all the other rooms in that hallway were currently empty, making them the only abilities other than Bastian’s that were anywhere nearby. However, it wasn’t until I realized that I recognized them that my heart rate began to pick up. One was clearly Mr McGary, and the other I couldn’t put a face to, but I knew I’d felt him somewhere before.

“What’s wrong?” Bastian whispered, instinctively glancing around for trouble.

“Two people, one McGary and one I’m not sure of,” I told him, the tension building in my stomach with every step.

“What are they doing?”

“I can’t tell.”

“Do you know where they are?”

“Yes,” I nodded, my jaw tight, “they’re in Jocelyn’s room.”

CHAPTER 23

“What could they possibly have been after?” Cormac wondered aloud as he, Jocelyn, Alex, and I sat around in the window-lined sunroom after lunch that afternoon. Most of the others guests had returned to the lawn for the second round of games, leaving us free to talk, so long as we kept an eye out and our voices down.

“We couldn’t tell,” I said. “I was worried it was the Iris, but theoretically they shouldn’t even know it’s here. Though, it was probably a good thing you had it on you, all the same.”

“Indeed!” Cormac agreed. “Can you imagine?”

“Luckily, whatever they wanted, it didn’t look like they found anything.”

“And you are sure they didn’t see you?” Jocelyn asked, looking pointedly at me.

“I’m sure,” I nodded confidently. “We listened at the door until we heard them coming, then hid around the corner until they were gone.”

“What were they saying?” Cormac asked.

“Not much,” I frowned. “There was a lot of shuffling, then McGary called down to the front desk and requested a cleaning for the room.”

“Clever,” Cormac mused. “Come in for a search, ruffle things up, then call the housekeeper to tidy up after you. Even had something been out of place, you would likely have just assumed it was done during the cleaning.”

That was smart. Sneaky bastards…

“After the call,” I went on, “the other man – Cleen, according to Bastian – said that they weren’t having any luck and should go.” As it happened, Bastian had also told me that Cleen was one of the two men I had been spying on the night he had to port me to his room, which was probably why his ability felt familiar. However, as Jocelyn was still unaware of that little near-miss encounter, I left that bit out. “They both made a point in noting the time as they left the room, and then they were gone.”

“The time?” Alex repeated. “Like they were late for something?”

“No, like seeing what the time was,” I clarified. “Real specific too, down to the minute. In fact, Cleen even checked his watch again when they reached the end of the hall before they went their separate ways.”

“What are you thinking, Jocelyn?” Cormac asked, having noticed the change in Jocelyn’s face as I was talking.

Jocelyn leaned forward, resting his folded hands against his mouth. “There is only one reason I can think of as to why they would have needed to know the exact time. But I can’t be sure unless…”

We all sat pensively, waiting for him to go on, but the rest of his thought never made it into words. After a long pause, he finally closed his eyes and let out a sigh, as though having made some silent decision that he was unhappy about but resigned to.

“Unless what?” I prompted, itching to know what he was thinking.

“Did you hear the time they said?” he asked me, though whether he was ignoring me or answering me, I couldn’t tell. “What was it?”

“11.37,” I said.

“Who said it, McGary, or Cleen?”

“McGary.”

He nodded, but instead of explaining the question, he grew very still, his eyes clouding over the way they had at the cemetery. It was almost like he was doing a reading, but there was no way…

Right?

I mean come on, a reading on McGary?
From here?
Not a chance. McGary wasn’t even in the room! He was probably at the games, which were on the other side of the manor, not to mention surrounded by dozens of other people. No way Jocelyn could pick his lone mind out of a crowd that big from this far awa–

“He’s on the lawn watching the cricket match,” Jocelyn said suddenly.

Holy… crap…

Much as I tried, I couldn’t keep my jaw from dropping just a bit. I looked over at Alex who must have been enjoying my face as he was covering a smile.

“Seriously?” I mouthed silently, glancing between him and Jocelyn.

“
That’s nothing
,” Alex casted onto the table in front of me, “
he could read Min right now if he wanted to.
”

I shook my head, trying to keep my awe under wraps. I knew I really shouldn’t have been surprised, as I was more than aware that Jocelyn was incredibly powerful, having heard it time and time again. However, just like reading the dead, hearing about something and seeing it firsthand are two very different things. Though for some reason, the display of power was getting to me in a strange way that I didn’t understand.

“
You’re scared,”
the shadow in the back of my mind whispered, “
because you know that, powerful as he is, you are even more so...
”

A cold shiver of fear rippled through me as I kicked the unwelcome thought away, stuffing it back in the dark where it belonged.

“Damn it,” Jocelyn mumbled suddenly, rubbing his eyes and breaking his haze.

“What happened?” Cormac asked.

I leaned forward, consciously keeping the tremor out of my voice. “Did you find out what they were doing?”

“I did not find what they were doing,” he said with a frustrated sigh, “because the only thing there to find was exactly what I expected – a hole.”

“A memory hole?” I whispered.

“Like the ones you found in Taron?” Alex asked.

“Exactly like the ones I found in Taron,” Jocelyn nodded. “So much so, that I can all but guarantee that they were made by the same person.”

Cormac looked puzzled. “How did you know that McGary’s memory of this morning would be gone?”

“The time,” Jocelyn answered. “I’ve been thinking a great deal about the memory holes ever since Bastian mentioned that he believed there was a fifth informant who was a Mentalist. I’ve come to believe that whoever it is, is an Observant, not a Compulsionary.”

“Wait,” I cut in, “a what?”

“All Mentalists can read minds to one extent or another,” Cormac explained, “but Observant Mentalists are the ones who can erase thoughts and memories, and Compulsionary Mentalists are the ones who can alter or change them. Neither can do both – present party excluded, of course,” he added glancing at Jocelyn.

“The only reason,” Jocelyn continued, “that McGary and Cleen would have needed the time, was if they were working with an Observant who would need it to know what portion of their memories to cut.”

“Couldn’t the Mentalist just read the memory then cut out the parts they wanted out?” I asked.

“They could, but depending on the strength of the Mentalist’s abilities, it could take a great deal of time. Cutting a clear chunk, from one predetermined point in time to another, would be far quicker, not to mention cleaner if he or she wasn’t overly familiar with the process.”

“So what now?” I asked, leaning back in my chair.

“The plan stays as it was,” Jocelyn said. “Tonight, you and Bastian will see if there is anything of use to us in the books from the archives, and tomorrow we will see what we can garner from Ciaran’s shew.”

“Do we really still have to go through those old books?” I groaned. “I mean, I got it when we were looking for stuff on Ciaran, but now we don’t need that anymore, right?”

“No, we don’t,” Jocelyn said, “but we do need anything we can find about the seeing ability as a whole, particularly with regards to shews and seer stones. We don’t know exactly what we are looking for tomorrow, but the more information we have, the better off we will be.”

“What about our mystery Mentalist?” Cormac asked, drawing the attention away from my grumbles. “If he is removing crucial memories from all of Darragh’s informants, then it sounds like he may be the one chap who would have all the information we need to know.”

“I agree, but if he is as careful as Bastian believes him to be, then drawing him out won’t be easy.”

“But at least now we know he’s here,” Alex pointed out. “He would have to be in the manor if something from this morning is already gone from McGary’s memory.”

“True,” Jocelyn agreed, “and that is a place to start. In the meantime,” he said, “I am going to return to my room and double check that nothing is missing, then rest for a while before dinner.”

“I say,” Cormac stood with a stretch, “a rest does sound lovely.”

Jocelyn and Cormac began talking casually as the four of us left the sunroom, while Alex hung back to walk with me a few steps behind them.

“How did your talk with Bastian go?”

“It was interesting,” I grinned, “that’s for sure.”

“What do you mean?”

Oh nothing, just that he’s secretly bonded to a guy from school that no one knows about but Steven and I…

“I’ll tell you when we’re alone,” I whispered. “But he is going to talk to Steven about coming back with us, so we’ll see.”

“That’s great.”

We arrived at the hallway with Cormac’s room, and he turned off with a wave, and I realized that while Jocelyn and Cormac had announced their plans, no one had asked Alex and I what we were going to do. No orders, no plans, nothing. Maybe it was by design, or maybe it was an oversight, but either way, I got excited.

“Don’t look now,” Alex said with a smile, apparently having the same realization I was, “but we it appears we might have some free time.”

“I was thinking that too,” I grinned, “but I didn’t want to jinx it.”

“You feel like taking a walk?” he asked, sharing my tentative excitement.

“Sure,” I said, fighting the urge to slide my hand into his, “that sounds great. But shouldn’t we check on Chloe?”

“Looked in on her right before lunch, she was out cold.”

Alex hadn’t had much luck in getting Chloe out for walk while I was talking to Bastian, so instead he’d taken her to Cormac who had been able to procure a sleeping draught from one of his Alchemist friends. Good thing too, because I have no idea what we would have done with her the rest of the day. Now she could sleep off the emotional rollercoaster that was the first several hours of a new Anam bond – which, take it from me, was the way to do it – and the rest of us could have the afternoon off.

“Good,” I said, “she needs it.”

“So, then you’re free?” he asked, his eyes lighting up.

“Always,” I smiled.

I wasn’t sure if he truly wanted to take a walk, or if he was just being discreet and really had something a bit more…
private
in mind, but to be honest, I didn’t care. It felt like I hadn’t seen him in ages, and as long as we got to be together, it didn’t matter what we did. Finally it would just be me and–

“Bastian?” Jocelyn said suddenly.

I looked over to the adjacent hallway where Bastian was indeed walking toward us.

“Good afternoon,” Bastian said with a polite nod, ever conscious that someone might be watching. “I wonder if you would mind sparing me a moment of your time? If you are not presently engaged, of course.”

“No, not at all,” Jocelyn said, “In fact I was just on my way to my room, if you would care to join me.”

“Thank you,” Bastian nodded again, joining our group as we continued down the hall.

A few steps later and we reached the corridor that held Jocelyn’s room and turned down it – all of us, that is, except Alex who hesitated.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, turning back while Jocelyn and Bastian continued on, having not noticed.

“I don’t think they really need us,” he shrugged, “why don’t we just go?”

“But it sounds like something might be up,” I said as I kept going, waving for him to follow. “Besides, even if he did want us, it’s not like he could have said so.”

“Yeah…” he mumbled with a weird grimace, glancing away for a second.

“Don’t worry,” I smiled, “it’ll only take a second.”

I caught up to Jocelyn and Bastian just as they were stepping into the room, with Alex bringing up the rear.

“Is something wrong?” Jocelyn asked as soon as the door closed.

“No,” Bastian said, “but I wanted to let you know that I misjudged the amount of time it would take for the delivery from the vault. I appears the shew will be arriving tonight.”

“Tonight?” I reiterated, all but overjoyed.

“Yes,” Bastian confirmed, “should be about 6 this evening.”

Woohoo! That means no dusty book duty!

“I know it’s a bit earlier than expected,” Bastian said, leaning his forearms against the back of the nearest armchair, “but this may work out better. It would have been difficult for us to all have a coordinating time tomorrow to disappear without being missed, but with the council dinner tonight–”

“–everyone who would have cause to miss us will be occupied,” Jocelyn finished his thought.

“Exactly.”

“You aren’t supposed to be at the dinner?” Alex asked, though I couldn’t tell who he was talking to.

Jocelyn shook his head. “I am not a council member, and Bastian, if I’m not mistaken, is still too young. Yes,” he said, actually looking pleased, “this should work out well.”

“Good,” Bastian said. “The box will come to my room, so if that is acceptable to everyone, we can have a look at it there. Though,” he added, “Becca and I won’t have had time to look through the volumes from the archives.”

Damn it, Bastian, shut up!

“True,” Jocelyn said, while I silently cursed Bastian into oblivion. “Why don’t you have a look at them now?”

“I am available if you are,” Bastian said looking over to me.

“It would seem as though I am,” I said gritting my teeth.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

“This is so boring…” I droned, pushing yet another utterly unhelpful book to the side and reaching for the next. “How long do we really have to keep this up?”

Bastian and I had been locked in the parlor next to the library for over two hours, flipping through musty book after musty book, looking for anything at all about Seers, and coming up empty handed. I was tired, I was irritated, the dry rotted dust from the old leather was starting to make my eyes itch, and worst of all I had a sickening strain in my chest that would not go away. Normally, that sort of strain meant that I was near Alex, but this time it only served as a physical manifestation of my guilt for leaving him and our plans to walk to play research assistant. I had asked him to come and help, but he’d only made some thin joke about not being in the mood to do homework and said he’d rather just go lie-down. I could tell he was disappointed; so was I, but then I guess we should have known better than to get our hopes up.

“Until we find what we need, or get through them all,” Bastian said from across the table. “And what are you complaining about? I should be the one desperate to be done. Your work partner has been nothing but a delight,” he rested back in his chair with a grin, “it’s mine that’s been whining and moaning since we arrived.”

“I’m not whining, I’m voicing my displeasure.”

“Consider it voiced,” he chuckled.

“And I have every right to moan, since it’s your fault we’re here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“
‘Becca and I won’t have had time to look through the volumes from the archives,’
” I quoted with an exaggerated impersonation of his voice.

His eyebrow cocked while he continued to flip pages. “Did you have something better to do this afternoon?”

“As it happens, yes, I did.”

“Then why didn’t you say that when I asked if you were available?”

“Because it wouldn’t have mattered, Jocelyn would have made me come anyway.”

“Then shouldn’t you be mad at him instead of me?” he asked coolly, not lifting his eyes from the book in his lap.

“Yeah, well, he’s not here.”

“Lucky him,” he chuckled, clearly amused by my griping – which of course only made me angrier.

“For the record,” I glared. “I’m not like the other girls you know; I will throw a book at you.”

“And I am not like the other guys you know,” he smiled, glancing up. “I’ll throw it back.”

Luckily, before I could actually consider making good on my threat, I realized how childish I was being and gave up. Bastian didn’t deserve this from me, and I knew it. With a heavy sigh, I crossed my arms on the table and let my head fall against them. “Sorry,” I mumbled into the table. “I’m just frustrated.”

“It’s fine. Actually, I’m rather enjoying our quality time together.”

Hmm… Quality time...

Suddenly an idea hit me and I looked up at Bastian with a bright-eyed grin. “I think we need a break.”

“I’d agree,” he said skeptically, “but I can already tell that nothing good is going to come of that face…”

“Teach me to port.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Teach me to be a Porter,” I said, standing and walking over to his side of the table.

“Now?”

“Sure, why not?” I took the book from him and set it aside. “Like I said, we need a break, and we may as well do at least one constructive thing this afternoon.”

“What do you call this?” he motioned to the books stacked on the table.

“A waste of time.”

“I’ll have you know that time spent in my company is never a waste,” he said looking down his nose dramatically, “and as for this, we are assisting with the investigation into Ciaran’s notebook.”

“Oh, come on, do you really think we are going to find anything in these things?” I lifted a book and let it
thunk
back onto the table. He didn’t answer, but his expression gave a definite no. “Exactly, so why not take a few minutes to actually do something productive?”

“OK, I’ll make you a deal; you finish going through this one…” He handed me the book I’d taken from him and stood, “and I will teach you to port.”

“Deal,” I agreed excitedly. “But hang on, where are you going?”

“If I am going to teach you, I need to go get something. Now sit,” he ordered, taking my shoulders, turning me around, and pushing me down into his empty chair, “and read.”

“Fine, but you better come ba–” But I choked on the last syllable when, without warning, Bastian vanished. Like a bubble popped in midair; there, then gone.

Wow, that was cool…

I opened the book and began to skim through, once again finding nothing at all of value. By the time I got the rest of the way through the book, more than ten minutes had passed, and I started to wonder exactly where Bastian had gone. However, the exact moment that I shut the book and set it aside, he came walking back in through the parlor door – the timing of which seemed like an awfully large coincidence.

I glared at him. “You were standing out there waiting for me to finish, weren’t you?”

“Would I do that?” he asked innocently.

“What is that?” I asked, ignoring his denial in favor of the silver charm I saw hanging from a cord in his hand. As he got closer, I could see it was a thick round circle about an inch and a half or so in diameter, with a hole in the middle. It looked a little like a small flattened doughnut.

“This,” he handed me the charm, “is my
ancaire
, or anchor. Every Porter has one – only one – and it is how we get around. We are tied to it, the way other Holders are their Sciath.”

“You don’t have a Sciath?” I asked, as I examined the cool metal ring in my hand.

“No, only my anchor. It is both a Porter’s ability and weakness all in one.”

“What do you mean?”

“The term ‘anchor’ is quite literal,” he said, taking the ring back. “I am anchored to this charm – tethered to it.” He set the anchor down on the table next to him, and began to slowly walk to the other side of the room. “I can travel by traditional methods anywhere I choose to go, be it across the room, or across the country. But when I port,” he paused, having reached the far corner of the room, then disappeared as he’d done before, only this time he reappeared an instant later, right next to where his anchor sat on the table, “I can only port to where my anchor is.”

“Hold on,” I said, my heart racing at what I’d just seen. “You mean you can’t port anywhere you want to go?”

He shook his head. “As I said,” he picked up the anchor and held it up, “strength
and
weakness. I can only go to where my anchor is, be it two inches or two countries away.”

“So that’s why we ended up in your room that night? Because that’s where your anchor was?”

“I usually keep it there during events like this, as obviously it does no good to keep it with me.”

“I didn’t see it.”

“It was on the bureau behind us. I’m never sure what direction I will be facing when I arrive, but I am always within arm’s reach of it. Or as close as physically possible if it is, say, inside a drawer, or in a trunk, or something like that.”

“Wow,” I said, crossing my arms and leaning back against the table. “So how far can you go? Is there a limit?”

“That depends on the strength of the Holder. The weaker ones can go only a few feet from their anchors, while the strongest can be on the other side of the world. I have not tested it that far, but I can tell you that I am able to go from Pennsylvania to France with no trouble.” He grinned. “I ported back and forth several times during my stay in the States.”

“But how could you go back and forth, I thought it was a one way trip?”

“It is, which meant I could travel back and forth as quickly as the postal service could deliver.”

“Postal… oh,” I nodded, seeing what he meant. “You would port to France, then mail your anchor back to Pennsylvania, and vice-versa.”

“That’s it.”

“Cheaper than flying, I guess. And what about taking people with you? Can everyone do that?”

“Again, it depends on strength. Some can take nothing, others can take anything. Personally, I am on the stronger side, and can take with me anything that has a mass smaller than my own. Clothing and anything else attached to you will port with you on their own, of course.”

“Wow.” I couldn’t remember if that was the second or third time I’d said that, but I couldn’t seem to come up with anything else.

“Well?” he asked, almost seeming excited himself. “What do you say? Ready to give it a try?”

“Yeah, but,” I hesitated, “I mean, I want to, but I don’t have an anchor. How will I be able to go anywhere?”

“Normally, that would be a problem, yes. Each Porter’s anchor is made for them and honed to their specific ability, which means you can only go to your own. But you are not a Porter, you are simply going to be using my ability which is tied to my anchor. I would take that to mean that you would have to use mine. But don’t worry, you’ll feel it. And as far as what to do…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I cut him off, “you can’t explain it. It’s fine, trust me, no one ever can.”

“They can’t?”

“No, but I get it, it’s inherent, you can’t explain it, so on and so forth.”

“I can explain it.”

I blinked. “You can?”

“Sure, it’s quite simple, really. All you have to do is let go.”

“Let go?”

“Give it a try and I think you’ll understand. Oh,” he added, a smile in his eye, “don’t forget to close your eyes.”

“Right,” I said, happy that he’d reminded me, as that dizzy feeling from the first port wasn’t something I wanted to relive.

Taking a breath and squeezing my eyes shut, I reached out and merged our abilities, and from the moment our two energies melded together, I understood every word of what he’d said. Not only could I feel his anchor, which was undoubtedly working for me, but I could feel it pulling, attempting to draw me toward it. I couldn’t tell its distance by only the feel of it, and had I not known where I was, I wouldn’t have been able to tell if it was in the room with me or hundreds of miles away. All I knew was that it was calling me, like a helium balloon being called toward the clouds, and all I had to do to cut the string that held it down was let go.

So I did.

Just like the first time, there was the sensation of falling, and then suddenly I was grounded again. I had done it. With a satisfied smile, I opened my eyes… to find that I was standing not four feet from Jocelyn.

“
Gah!
” he yelled, stumbling backward.

“
Agh!
” I screeched, my hands flying to my mouth.

He stumbled backward at the shock, grabbing both the bedpost to steady himself and his chest as it heaved under his gasping breaths. “
Becca?
” he choked out. “How in God’s name…?”

I was in his room. Somehow I’d ported myself all the way from the library parlor to Jocelyn’s guestroom. Apparently, I wasn’t as good at this as I’d thought.

“I-I don’t know,” I stammered, still shaken and desperately trying to ignore the fact that he had nothing on but pajama pants and an undershirt, “I was… We were trying…” I frantically looked around myself to try and figure out what had happened, which is when I saw it. Sitting on the nightstand right beside me, no more than an arm’s reach away, was the square leather pouch that I’d seen Jocelyn take the Iris out of back at the cottage. “Oh…” I said, as confusion cleared and embarrassment set in.

The Iris. Looked like I had an anchor after all.

I turned sheepishly back toward Jocelyn who was still catching his breath. “Well,” I said, an awkward grimace, “that’s good to know…”