Awakening (20 page)

“Not well. The Cine Tofa has been denying all our requests for renegotiation or arbitration in order to free them.”

She sat quietly processing what he just told her. “And here I am making you go on a hike with me. Do you want to go back? We can, and I would completely understand. In fact, I can help you if you need it.”

“Thank you for the offer, but no. Besides, you are helping me. I needed a break, even if it’s just for a day. My father assured me that he has our legal department working on this as we speak, so nothing is on hold.”

“Good.” She did not want to have him linger on his unfinished work. “The next mile is supposedly really challenging.”

She stood up and winced, her right foot felt as if a blister were rubbing right against her boot. Declan reached out to steady her. “You okay?”

“Damn new hiking boots. I should have known better. I think I have a blister.”

“Let me look.”

“No, I’ll be okay.”

He looked at her pointedly. “Caitlyn, I can help. Just let me take a look.”

She plopped down on the ground, defeated by her own stupidity. Declan untied the boot, removing it gently. He rolled up the leg of her jeans before stripping her wool sock. Together they examined the angry red welt that was now forming on her heel. “Damn.”

“It’s a blister alright.” He grabbed her ankle.

“What are you doing?” Declan's large hands began to massage her foot, a pleasing tingling sensation replacing the pain. Her heart began to race just a little quicker as she watched him.

“Healing the blister.” She focused on the way that his hands made several passes gliding partly up her calf muscle before trailing its way back down to the arch of her sole. Finally, his fingers rested on her heel for several minutes, and she didn’t speak, not wanting to break his concentration. “There. Done.”

She lifted her foot, twisting the ankle at various angles, inspecting it. The heel was still red, but the welt was not raised anymore and the pain was virtually gone. It was much better than anything she could have done. “Amazing.”

He reached into his backpack, handing her a small package. “Here is some moleskin. It should help prevent the blister from coming back. Let me know if you start getting a blister on the other foot.”

“Thank you.” She wanted desperately to ask if she did get another blister if he could teach her how to heal it herself, but she wouldn’t. Declan definitely needed a day off and truth was, she probably did too. So she bit her tongue, applying the moleskin. “You ready to keep going?”

“Only if you are.”

The trail quickly turned to rock ledge, and Caitlyn found herself scrambling almost vertically up the granite, silently thanking Declan for healing her foot. Her calves were burning and it was with great relief when they finally reached the summit an hour later. She plopped down, taking a large swig of her water. Declan joined her thirty seconds later.

From where she sat, she could see the sleepy town below, the outlines of the Trust compound so far away. It almost felt like a dream to her, these past five months, the whirlwind romance of Garrett, the daily structure that was Declan’s regimented training.

Declan took the words out of her mouth. “It’s like you can breathe up here, isn’t it? Like your life doesn’t have so many expectations placed on it.”

Her eyes slowly took in the beautiful canvas laid out in front of them. “Exactly.”

“Just me, the trees, and the mountain.”

She nudged him playfully. “Hey! Don’t forget about me.”

“Oh no, I could never forget about you.” He sipped his water, attempting to stifle the smile that was tugging at the corner of his mouth. He leaned back, lying down to stare at the clear blue sky. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

She copied him. “What is amazing?”

He motioned at the blue azure above. “Out there. There are all these stars, all these possibilities for life and other cultures out there and we have barely begun to scratch the surface of our own exploration. At night, I love to just stare at the stars and think about us coming across another planet, just like our own, with intelligent life forms on it, waiting to start a new age of peace. When I begin to feel full of myself, I look at the sky or the stars and realize just how insignificant I really am.”

Caitlyn continued to lie down, but her head was now turned to Declan while he continued to speak. He did not realize that she was staring at him at first; he kept talking, sharing his intimate thoughts and beliefs about the world.

She found that she loved hearing him talk. The relaxing timbre of his voice, the steady cadence; the way that she knew that he truly believed with every fiber of his being what he was saying. When he talked about making the world a better place, Caitlyn wanted to go out and help him make it a better one.

So she listened.

He finally turned his face to hers and her brown ones met his blue. He blushed, she guessed because he realized that he had monopolized the conversation. “I’m sorry.”

Her hand reached out to find his and she gave it a squeeze. “Don’t be. It was nice.”

Caitlyn could see his internal clock winding up again, the world creeping back into his thoughts, the concerns that plagued him every day coming to the forefront. Although Declan was obviously destined for greatness, her heart yearned for him to know some normalcy. He sat up, letting go of her hand.

She stilled his hand and jerked her head down a few thousand feet below. “Don’t. Leave it down there, Declan. Up here… up here we can breathe.” She said, repeating his earlier sentiment.

“It’s difficult not to let guilt creep in.”

“We will head down soon enough. But for now…Sometimes, even when everything seems overwhelming and daunting, sometimes you just need to take time out and appreciate life. You and I are very similar. I think it’s why we get along so well. We will push and push each other and ourselves to death if we let it. Sure, we may have strength and even power, but at the end of the day, can we say that we lived a full life if all we do is work? This is what life is about, Declan. This is what we are fighting for. Our humanity.”

A
few mornings later, Caitlyn awoke in her studio apartment to her cell phone vibrating. She saw that it was a text from Declan.

Can’t meet this a.m. for a run. Sleep in. If all goes as planned, I’ll meet you at ten in the training room.

She rolled over, her clock mocking her in all its electronic glory. Three forty five. She closed her eyes, wondering briefly why Declan was up at that ungodly hour, before passing back out into unconsciousness.

She did not have to wait long to find out. Declan greeted her in the training room at precisely ten in the morning. He wore a huge grin on his face. “Good morning.”

“Well, good morning to you too.”

Caitlyn began to shrug off her jacket. “Don’t remove your jacket.”

She put the fleece back over her shoulders, trying to figure out what he was up to. “Okay. What has you so happy today?”

He smiled broader. “I’ve decided that today is the day you are going to learn to teleport.”

Caitlyn’s eyes widened and she couldn’t help but squeal. “For real? You’re not teasing me, because if you are, that’s cruel.”

He shook his head, laughing. “No teasing. Promise. I just think that if you are going to accompany me to the arbitration, I would like you to know how to teleport first.”

Her mind was still stuck on the fact that she was finally going to learn teleportation and it took Caitlyn a few extra seconds to process what he said. “Wait. What?”

“I said-”

Caitlyn threw her arms around him in delight. “I heard what you said. You got them to agree to the arbitration?”

“About an hour before I texted you. I have been up all night since, setting up the arrangements.”

She hugged him tighter and she felt his arms wrap around her happily. “That is wonderful news. When is it?”

“In four days’ time. Just enough time to get you up to speed. That is, if you are willing to put in some very long hours over the next few days.”

“You’re serious.” She could not fathom why he would want her to join him.

“I think it would provide a lot of valuable insight to you in regards to Cine Tofa. There would be myself, a seasoned negotiator name Derrick Adair, and then you.”

“I would be honored, although I am not quite sure how much help I would be.”

“You will be acting mainly as an observer. It was one of my jobs before I became your mentor, and one of the agreements is that I would continue in my old capacities when they needed me to and my father only trusts me with the job. I don’t see why I can’t combine both.”

Even though it was only as an observer, Caitlyn couldn’t wait to finally get to go out and do something that actually meant something within the Trust. Her heart felt like it was going to burst.

Declan threw on his own light jacket. “So are you ready to try Teleportation?”

She could not believe that she was finally going to be taught the one thing she wanted to know how to do more than anything since she saw Declan accomplish it in his family’s garden. Caitlyn sat down at the table, her brain moving from elation to determination. “Okay. So what do I need to do?”

Declan casually sipped from his cup, before sitting down next to her. “You know all the meditation I have been putting you through?”

Caitlyn couldn’t forget. Practically every day for the past month, Declan had set aside at least an hour where they focused on meditation techniques. It was usually a mid-day break. Everything from Yoga, Chakra, Trataka, and Mantra meditations. When they began, Caitlyn could not help but scoff lightly at them; she had not taken Declan for the new age type and neither was she. She did have to admit after a while that she felt calmer; but she never achieved that Zen like status that Declan always strived for.

“The trick to Teleportation is to let everything go; you must balance your focus and contemplation. Caitlyn, you always have had amazing focus; you can focus on a task till you have mastered it; but at the same time, your mind goes a million miles a minute. You are always trying to figure out what the next move is, how to get there, how to get it done. Teleportation is very Zen like and it’s the balance that allows you to teleport. All this time, you have been thinking that I have not been teaching you how to teleport, when in actuality, I have been doing that this whole time.”

“Okay. So where do we begin?”

Declan stood up from his seat and walked to the middle of the room, where there was the large mat that they used for meditation on the ground. He motioned to her to sit down across from him. Caitlyn noted that this was much like the first time that Garrett had shown her Projectile Telepathy. Declan crossed his legs and she did the same.

Declan sat across from her, the look he gave her, Caitlyn could only describe as encouraging. She realized she suddenly felt nervous. What if she couldn’t do this? What if she did not possess the talent?

Declan, as if sensing her nerves, placed a hand on her forearm. “You will be fine. Even if you don’t do it the first time; I know you are capable of it. Caitlyn, you have never thought you could not do something; it is what makes you so talented. Don’t doubt yourself; not now. I have never been so proud of anyone in my life. Now, close your eyes, and just listen to the sound of my voice. Okay?”

“Alright.”

Caitlyn closed her eyes, letting the world disappear. The only thing that was present was the steady cadence of Declan’s voice. “Keep breathing. Caitlyn, I want you to picture the field that we found while hiking the other day. Can you do that?”

Caitlyn did not respond, but he paused for a moment, letting her remember the field. Caitlyn thought about the grass that was just beginning to brown slightly in the meadow, the gentle sway of the wind, the way that the trees on the outskirts shot up into the sky. She recalled the way there were several openings that led to obscure trails that were no longer maintained according to Declan.

“Good. Now, what I need you to do is forget about everything else but that field. Keep that memory in your thoughts.”

He gave her a moment to do so. “Now pick one spot on that field. Picture yourself there in that exact spot. I need you to imagine yourself traveling there. You need to let go, letting your body travel through time and space.”

Caitlyn felt a flutter within her. For a split second, she could have sworn she felt the familiar breeze of the wind against her back; the cool air hitting her cheek; but when she opened up her eyes, she was back in the white room, sitting cross legged just like before.

She couldn’t help but be disappointed with herself. She had thought for a brief moment she had done it and had done it on the first try. “Try and try again, huh?”

Declan grabbed her hands excitedly. “Caitlyn, that was amazing! For a split second, you disappeared completely! Try it again!”

Declan settled back into his spot and they tried again. And again. And again. For the next several hours, Caitlyn could not even get another flicker. The harder she pushed, the less she was able to accomplish. She walked out of the training feeling defeated. Declan placed an arm around her as they walked out of the building. “Caitlyn, I did not even come close to what you accomplished the first week, let alone the first day. You are too hard on yourself.”

Caitlyn wanted to believe that, she honestly did. But she felt like for the first time since she was here, she failed. She was quiet the entire ride back to his temporary house, unsure how to feel. And Declan, sharing such a similar background, knew what she was feeling.

They sat on his porch step, Caitlyn mindlessly stabbing her takeout. She pursed her lips, lost in her own thoughts until Declan reached out to her.

“It’s happened to all of us, you know. Something we thought would come naturally, something we thought when it came to it, we would just be exceptional. But what you don’t realize, is when you are able to finally to do it, the victory will be that much sweeter.”

He elbowed her lightly and she smiled for the first time in hours. He continued, “Besides, I was starting to feel inadequate. Don’t worry-” he said patting her knee with his hand, “Tomorrow is another day.”