Arielle Immortal Resolve (The Immortal Rapture Series Book 8) (22 page)

“Eva!” Sebastian was flabbergasted. He moved across the room and halted in front of her. He stared at her steadily for a long moment and suddenly a wide smile painted his face. He lifted her and twirled her around in exhilaration. “That’s exactly what we need,” he said, eagerly. “Oh Eva, you’ve always been a special friend to both Arielle and myself.”

“Sebastian, I know that Arielle will look for the right moment to connect with me and I’ll be ready for her.”

“How does that work?” he asked, filled with anticipation.

“It’s on page 136 of the little black book,” she said, voice low and mysterious. A wide smile spread across her face.

“Eva, you have to do this. If I can’t get her back I’ll surely die,” Sebastian said, and grabbed her hands in desperation. “There’s nothing in this world if she’s not here with me. I’m sure you know that.” His voice was so despondent, and his pain so palpable it made his friends shudder.

“Oh, God! Gabrielle would die, if she knew,” Eva said, and ran her hand through her hair anxiously.

Sebastian was quiet for the longest time. “The house is empty,” he murmured. “It feels cold and strange without Arielle in it.” He pressed his lips together and his hands against his eyes. “Right now it seems that death would be sweeter than the way I feel without her.” A painful tug clenched his chest.

“Sebastian,” Ian said, putting his hand on his shoulder. “You have to get a hold of yourself, old chap. Your mind has to be clear in order to make the right decisions. We’re all here to support you and we won’t leave until Arielle is home safe.”

“Thanks, Ian, it’s hard to keep my mind straight. It’s only three weeks left until our wedding day. I’m so hurt that I’m afraid I’d fall completely apart,” he said, looking around the room frantically.

“Don’t worry buddy we’re all here,” Ian said, again reassuringly.

Sebastian nodded thankfully. “Eva, do I need to get the book?” he asked, turning to look at Eva again.

“I think that would be most advisable,” she replied.

Sebastian got out of his chair and walked into the bedroom. coming back in a few minutes, clenching tightly in his hand a small leather black book.

“Well…here it is,” he said handing it to Eva. “I need to understand how the connection works,” he added. Somehow Sebastian was feeling the eccentricity of the magical touch between two minds and it was overwhelming him.

“Great!” Eva murmured. She took the book from Sebastian and slowly flipped through the fragile pages. She stopped on pages 136 and 137. Her finger moved slowly over each word and each symbol between the two pages and she stopped when it reached a precise spot.

“What’s that?” Sebastian asked inquisitively.

“That represents the connection thread between Arielle and me,” Eva said, pointing at a particular spot on the page.

“Are you saying that you can find Arielle by following the words on that page?” Loren mumbled, thinking that the whole thing was a bit maddening.

“If we can manage to enter each other’s thoughts at the right time, then yes, she will let me know where she is.”

Loren had a lot more questions but she remained quiet after a moment’s thought. However Christian’s curiosity had piqued to wonder.

“Eva, I don’t want to bother you, but can you elaborate on that theory? I’m personally involved in that type of interaction,” he quantified.

“How so?” Eva prompted.

“I belong to a group that specializes in Mentalism.”

“Oh, excellent!” Eva cheered.

“Do you want to discuss specifics about what’s on that page?” Christian pushed on.

Eva’s eyes were fixed on the open book and she didn’t bother to answer Christian’s question. She looked away and focused somewhere in the distance, but nowhere specific. They all approached Eva and stood behind her trying to catch a glimpse of the page. The left side was full of hieroglyphics and small symbols. However, the right page was mostly empty but for two heads showed on opposite sides of the page, facing each other. There was a gold line connecting the heads just behind the temples.

“Eva, what do you see on that page?” Christian asked putting his finger on the gold line and moving it from one end to the other.

“The ends of the line touch the spot where the brain is located in each head,” Eva said, pointing with her finger at the exact place where the line was ending on each cranium figure.

Eva stood and walked into the kitchen, ignoring the broken shards on the floor. She set the little book on top of the counter thoughtfully. Her fingers drummed the counter as she focused on the written script on the left page.

“Tell me you can find where she is,” Sebastian interrupted Eva’s thoughts. He leaned against the doorframe between the study and the kitchen, arms crossed over his chest. He was consumed by stress and wanted to do something. Eva turned to look at him. Sebastian didn’t understand how it all worked together, but he trusted Eva. He vividly remembered the weird sensation he had last year at St. Jean De Luz when Eva summoned him to save her and Arielle when they almost died. The pull was of enormous power and it brought him all the way to the place he needed to be. Now he was trusting Eva to guide him to where Arielle was taken. Sebastian pushed away from the doorframe and came to stand right over Eva’s shoulder. He peered down on the open page.

“Somehow I don’t see much in those symbols,” he said.

“Ahh…Sebastian there's a huge secret world behind each letter in this little book,” Eva replied. Loren and Isabella came closer as they seemed to be mesmerized with Eva’s knowledge. Eva’s face unwavering while her finger moved slowly across the page and her eyes scanned each letter and each symbol carefully.

“All right, I think I want to try and see if I can make contact with her,” she whispered to Sebastian. “How long has she been gone?”

“3 hours and 15 minutes now,” he replied without hesitation.

Everyone moved into the study and sat down waiting for Eva to give them some kind of information so they could help. Eva remained in the kitchen by herself for a while. She finally walked into the room and sat next to Ian.

“What happened?” Sebastian asked anxiously.

“From what I can gather she’s either sleeping or unconscious because there’s no activity with her brain. I can’t meet her thoughts. Maybe Annabel drugged her until she gets to her desired destination. Don’t worry Sebastian, I’ll communicate with Arielle. We just have to be patient.” She looked around and finally she said. “If any of you have something else to do you can go on, Sebastian will call you when we have something.”

“We are not going anywhere,” Isabella said and Christian agreed. Sebastian acknowledged them thankfully.

Loren walked up to Sebastian and put her arms around him and he held her tightly. She pressed a soft kiss on his cheek and whispered, “I love you Sebastian. Please don’t worry; we’ll get Arielle back.” He nodded and sat in the big chair waiting.

“Eva, can you tell me now a little about this ability you and Arielle have to link your thoughts?” Christian asked, again. “Like I said before, I’m very interested in Mentalism.”

“Indeed,” Eva said. She seemed to have forgotten his previous statement.

“Yes, I studied about it at the university with a special group of students who were interested in the incredible indicators that the brain can provide, channeling from one mind to the other.” Everyone but Eva looked at Christian in fascination.

“Very well,” said Eva, and started to explain. “Each of the two people who want to link their thoughts concentrate their energy within their mind and soul almost like accelerating their sixth sense. The sixth sense is the secret and unique ability to read someone else’s thoughts. You literally channel into the other person’s mind and you can vividly see places the person you're channeling with is passing, such as names, streets, and places that will lead you to them. Sometimes the signs aren’t very clear and then others are so clear they can rattle the mind to high anxiety.” Eva took a deep breath, ran her tongue over her dry lips, sighed and added, “I’ve had the ability to reach into the subconscious of people I was looking for and find them. Arielle and I were in different places when we tried this. We had the ability to channel unspoken thoughts and feelings and communicate through space. Something called Telepathy; what you called Mentalism. I knew exactly where to go to find Arielle. We then knew that what this little book told was the absolute truth.”

“So, you can work your way into someone’s mind, and uncover the key to their thoughts and probe to locate your target, right?” Christian quantified.

“Exactly,” Eva said, smiling. They all seemed to be obsessed with the idea of Eva connecting with Arielle. Christian and Isabella stood up and smiled sympathetically at Sebastian.

“Sebastian,” Christian said. “I’m a bit familiar with this subject and the fact that Eva and Arielle possess that amazing ability makes me feel very sure it’ll all work out. Maybe it would be best if Isabella and I went home. We don’t know how long it’ll take for Eva and Arielle to communicate. Call me when you know where you want us to be. We’ll be available to you at any time.”

Sebastian nodded in agreement. He turned to Eva and smiled.

“Eva, that’s absolutely amazing!” Christian said.

Eva tried to enter Arielle’s thoughts but she’d been getting utter silence.

“It’s—” Eva started to say but stopped mid-sentence and shifted uncomfortably. A shocked look in her eyes didn’t escape Sebastian who moved quickly closer and stared intently at Eva. She lifted her hand to her mouth and ran her finger lightly across her lips. She hauled in a deep breath and disbelief spread across her face. Her hand movement over her lips became forceful, while disgust spread across her face. The feeling of lips pressing hard against Eva’s was so palpable that she gasped aloud.

She looked as if she was suddenly aware of someone’s presence. Eva was absolutely certain that she’d entered Arielle’s consciousness. Someone was with her and that someone wasn’t Annabel. It wasn’t but a second later and she felt a jolt that nearly threw her out of her chair. Arielle’s thoughts and emotions were pouring into her head.
“
No
…
no
…
let me go!
”
Eva mouthed, as she lifted her hands and thrashed out into the thin air, as if she was pushing against something or someone. Eva recoiled as Arielle’s emotions kept coming filled with anguish and disgust.
“What have you done?”
Arielle’s voice was elevated.
“
You
’re crazy! Where are you taking me?”
Eva felt each and every emotion piercing her very soul.

Eva’s body reacted to Arielle’s anxiety; as she jumped out of her chair, waving her hands wildly, pushing hard against the thin air. Stony silence fell in the room, while everyone stood motionless, watching Eva.

Christian and Isabella had reached the front door, but stopped. Ian and Loren stared in shock while Ian dropped to his knees in front of Eva and, taking her hands in his, tried to stop her from thrashing against the empty space in front of her. Sebastian watched her face intently. Eva’s eyes were wide open and abruptly she pulled her hands away from Ian. He blinked in shock but remained quiet. They knew Eva had connected with Arielle’s inner thoughts. Eva finally dropped her face into her hands and, hauling in a deep breath, exhaled forcefully.

“What happened, Eva?” Sebastian asked in desperation.

Eva looked up slowly, confused. “She’s fighting to keep someone from touching her.”

“Who? Who is trying to touch her?” Sebastian asked again, faced filled with tension.

“I don’t know…I don’t know...“ she repeated, voice fragmenting. She’d tried to pierce through Arielle’s very soul. Her eyes scanned the room and suddenly she smiled. “She knows…she knows I’m trying to communicate with her,” she said softly. Sebastian exhaled deeply. “She’s letting me see that she’s in some type of vessel,” Eva murmured. “I can see water through large portholes. It looks like she’s held in a cabin.”

Everyone in the room was frozen in place. The silence stretched but nobody moved. Eva looked like she was on a rollercoaster.

Abruptly, her eyes widened, her jaw tightened and she started to hyperventilate. She grabbed her chest, gasping out loud, trying to breathe, hissing, as if she was suffocating. Her eyes shone with fear and stunned shock. Ian jumped out of his seat and together with Sebastian pulled her up from her seat. She was dead weight.

“What’s wrong baby?” Ian asked fearfully.

“I can’t breathe…I can’t breathe,” she gasped and shortly after that she collapsed. Loren ran into the kitchen and grabbed a towel. She soaked it in cold water and running back placed it on Eva’s forehead. A little while later Eva opened her eyes and looked around feeling weak. She brushed her hair away from her face let out a huge lungful of air.

“Are you all right?” Ian asked hovering over her excitedly. He pressed his lips softly on her forehead and waited for a reply. Eva blinked, as discontent pounded her thoughts.

“I’m fine,” she said, tilting her head back. “I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t see the person who’s holding Arielle.”

“What happened? You had a hard time breathing and you passed out,” Sebastian said.

“I’m sure that whoever is on that boat sedated her to keep her from fighting. I felt every bit of it.”

“Why would anybody want to do that?”

“I don’t know, Sebastian, I don’t know. We have to wait for her to wake up.”

Sebastian exhaled, consumed by anxiety. He walked over to the big chair and slumped down, dropped his face in his hands and let out a deep sigh.

Chapter 13