Shattered (8 page)

“I was just about to give up on you.” I quickly came to him, but it was the horse that so capture my attention. “What a beautiful beast you are.”

“I apologize for the delay. Akita wasn’t feeling like his usual self this morning.”

“Wel , I’m certainly glad you waited until he felt better. He’s magnificent.”

“I thought you’d like him. And he’s a flirt.” I giggled as Akita leaned his head into my hand, pressing me to continue scratching his cheek.

“Aren’t you a beautiful boy? Oh…” I turned to the table. “I had an apple in my breakfast. Do you think he’d like that?”

“I’m sure he would.”

I held my hand out and Akita immediately took my gift.

“I’m starting to get a little jealous.” His eyes glimmered with laughter as he jumped off the horse and came around to pul me into his arms. “Do I get such a warm welcome?”

“Would you like an apple as wel ?”

“Not real y, but that scratching thing you do on his cheek looks interesting.”

I put my fingers to his cheek and raked them up into his thick black hair. Just as Akita had done, he leaned his head into my hand, then turned to press a kiss into my palm.

“Are you ready for a day of lessons?” he mumbled into my hand while his eyes held my gaze with interest.

Pul ing my hand away, I returned my attention to Akita. “Do I get to ride him?”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt for you to learn to ride.”

“Learn? f youWhat makes you think I don’t know how to ride?”

“Hmmm, let’s see. I don’t real y remember too many horses in Arcadia.”

“Cute. Okay, so maybe I don’t real y know how to ride, but how hard can it be?” He climbed back onto Akita. “Wel , let’s get you on here with me and see what you can do.” I winked at Akita, hoping he’d take wel to having me on his back. Torrid held his hand out, ready to help me up. Suddenly the prospect was more daunting than I’d expected.

“He’s so tal ,” I muttered as I reached up for the saddle horn.

“Yeah, horses tend to have that little flaw.” I put my foot in the stirrup and pul ed on Torrid’s hand to climb up. Seated in front of Torrid, I suddenly felt a new sense of excitement. My entire suddenly felt a new sense of excitement. My entire body was aware of Torrid’s nearness. How his presence radiated through mine as though we were one. The security of Torrid’s hold with the intimidating strength of Akita; joy and fear caused me to flush a little.

“You okay?”

I nodded. “So, where do we start?”

With a feather touch to the reigns, he turned Akita away from the terrace and led him away from the palace. Before long, Torrid gave the signal, a barely audible cluck of his tongue and Akita took to a ful gal op.

The wind in our hair, the fields of wildflowers and the bril iant sun… who needed magic when everything was so perfect?

Akita climbed a hil side, coming to a stop just short of the cliff.

“How’s this for a classroom?”

We had a view of the Nethers… the mountains, the val eys, the rivers and streams that glistened as they flowed out to the ocean.

Torrid slid off Akita’s saddle and held his arms out to catch me as I slipped one leg over Akita and let myself into his arms.

He whispered into my ear, “while I would love to simply spend the day gazing into your eyes, tasting your lips and breathing in the lovely scent that is distinctively yours, we have far too many lessons to see to. So…”

“Let’s have at it,” I said with a clap of my hands. I was eager to learn more, eager to perfect what I'd already learned and eager to get back to the battle I knew I belonged to.

f heiof

We reviewed what he’d already taught me.

After only a few minutes he sat back and leaned against a large oak.

“Okay, so thought blockage… check. You did great. Not only did you manage to block your thoughts from me, but you actual y misled me into believing your thoughts were going in one direction when you were going in the other. That’s very impressive. It took me considerable time to master that.”

“I’ve been practicing a lot. With everything that’s been going on in Arcadia… what with Dr. Sanz and everything, I real y had to do my best to block him. It wasn’t always easy. Just a little distraction would easily open me up and I was al too easy to read. I don’t want to let that happen again.”

“Okay, wel , now that we’ve taken care of that, let’s see what your mind can do. I’d like to see you pick up that stone.” He pointed to a rather large rock.

“Can’t we start with something a little smal er? I mean that thing must weigh a hundred pounds.”

“I have complete faith in you.”

I stared at the rock, so large, so formidable, so darn heavy. I concentrated, pul ed al my mental energy together, but the rock didn’t move.

“What are you waiting for?”

“I’m trying. I’m trying. It’s just too heavy, Torrid.”

“The weight has nothing to do with it. You’re letting it intimidate you. You have to focus on the task you want to achieve, not the reasons that’l keep you from achieving it.”

“Right… look, I’l make a deal with you.”

“I didn’t real y come out here to deal.”

“If you can lift that rock with physical strength, I’l lift it with my mind.”

He glared at me from under his brow, while a sinister grin spread across his face. Standing to his ful height, he pul ed back his shoulders and threw off his jacket. With a teasing flex of his muscles, he turned to the stone and gauged how best to lift it.

“Not as easy as you thought, huh?”

“I’m just ensuring I get the best grip.” And with that, he picked up the stone and hefted it up to his shoulder. “How’s that?”

Blushing, I chuckled softly. It was obviously effortless. Al of the preparation and hesitation had been a charade. fmes

“Can I set it down now? Or do you want me to…?” He placed his hand under the rock and raised it high above his head.

“Okay, okay. I get it. You can lift the stone…

easy.”

“And so wil you.” He let the stone fal heavily to the ground and came to stand behind me. “Forget the weight. Forget the size. It’s light. It’s airy.” Closing my eyes, I focused on lifting without actual y thinking about the object itself. I let Torrid’s words break through my consciousness; light, airy.

words break through my consciousness; light, airy.

When Torrid’s grasp of my shoulders tightened, I opened my eyes and gasped. The stone hovered inches above the ground.

“Higher,” Torrid urged.

Simply

hearing

the

command

and

transmitting it through my own thoughts, the stone rose higher stil .

“I want you to shift it over to the right… let’s say two feet.”

I fixed my gaze to the stone and simply shifted my gaze two feet to the right. The stone fol owed.

Letting out a little yelp of pride, I clapped my hands.

“I did it.”

“You did?”

I turned to him suddenly only to be startled by the stone that fel once I’d left my focus. “Are you sure I did al that on my own, or did you help me?”

“It was al you, honey.”

Feeling more self-assured I turned my focus to a nearby log. Under my control, it rose and came to rest against the oak.

“Very good. Now let’s see you put up a barrier. It’s similar to control ing objects with your mind, only now you want to keep people and sometimes objects from entering your safety zone.

General y speaking, it’s easier when you keep the barrier closer to you. Of course the disadvantage to that is you have little time to react should the barrier not be up as you’d planned.” He backed away leaving a few yards between us. “Now, focus on yourself, your safety. You want to create an invisible wal , but you want to be sure that wal is erected where you need it. Many novice djins create a wal al right, but they put it where it’s of absolutely no use.”

“Okay.” I looked at him, ready to go.

“Al right then, I want you to keep me from approaching you.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

He took a few steps and easily made it to my side. “We’l put that down as a miss. Let’s try again.” He backed away and gave me a nod.

Once again I prepared to block him and once again he took a few steps forward, this time stumbling only a few feet away from me.

“Hmmm, building from the bottom up,” he observed with a chuckle. “Interesting, but you’l have to go faster than that. One more time.” This time he bumped his shoulders against an invisible force, but stil managed to squeeze through to me.

“I’m beginning to think that I’m the problem,” he said.

“How’s that?”

“Wel , how can you possibly want to keep me from getting close to you? Obviously, your great attraction to me is keeping you from barring me completely.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Real y?” I droned with mock indignation. “Hold on a minute.

Let me try it once more.”

“Fine.” He backed away, a teasing gleam in his eyes. He marched confidently back to me only to come to a sudden stop just inches from me. After a groan of pain, he laughed. “Now that’s a strong barrier.” He put out his hands to embrace me, but was unable to due to the barrier.

“Admit it. I’m a pretty quick learner.” He tried again to approach and was block.

“Just as I knew you’d be. You can let it down now.” I relaxed my thoughts. “Okay.”

But Torrid could stil not approach. “Have you let down the barrier?”

“Yeah,” I said with growing concern. “My mind is completely open to you.”

He pounded his fist at the barrier which was just as solid as the stone I’d picked up earlier.

“You're not relaxed enough. Are you miffed by what I said about your attraction to me?”

“No, absolutely not. Tel you the truth, I thought that might be the problem myself. I real y had to imagine you were someone I didn’t want near me. I imagined you were Dr. Sanz.”

“Do you stil feel the fear of Dr. Sanz, now?”

“Hmm, I guess. I mean, I’m a bit scared of what wil happen if I ever see him again.”

“If you put up the barrier with the fear of Dr.

Sanz and you stil feel that fear, the barrier could remain. It takes practice to fear one foe while being able to tear down a wal when faced with a friend.

Set aside your fear for the moment. Think only of me. Think of holding me in your arms. Think of cuddling up with me.”

I focused solely on him, on his touch, on his voice. His hand sunk slowly into the wal and soon voice. His hand sunk slowly into the wal and soon his whole arm passed through and he touched me with his fingertips. With that single light touch, the rest of the wal crumbled and Torrid pul ed me into his arms.

A wave of relief spil ed over me. I hadn’t realized just how profoundly my fear of Dr. Sanz had taken over. “I was beginning to think the barrier would never come down. What if it happens again?

What if I put up a barrier and it won’t come down when I need it to?”

“You saw how it worked. Fears can be very helpful in erecting a barrier. For some it’s vital. They can’t put up a barrier if they don’t have that initial fear… those are also the ones who can more easily be caught off guard. Use your fear to help erect a barrier, especial y in an emergency, but don’t al ow fear to be the sole instigator.”

Feeling reassured, not only by his words but by his touch, I relaxed completely and melted into Torrid’s arms.

“Tired?” He whispered. His fingers worked through my hair, rubbing away whatever remained of the fear, tension and strain of the past weeks.

“This is more exhausting than I’d thought.”

“Yeah,” he said flippantly. He pul ed away and led me to our now familiar stone and sat down.

“Most people think magical powers just come at the snap of your fingers… not so easy.”

I took the space beside him and leaned heavily into him. “What else did you want to teach me?”

“We’l take a break, relax and make sure you don’t over-exert yourself. Then we’l take a stab at corporal displacement.”

“Corporal what?”

“To shift your body from place to another.”

“Sounds complicated.”

“A bit, but it’s vital, especial y these days.’

“Especial y with Dr. Sanz on my back.” Torrid remained silent and I could feel the tension. His fingers threaded through mine and he fiddled and fidgeted with my fingers.

“I’l learn, Torrid,” I final y said, sensing his fear for me.

“I don’t want you to go back,” he said, his voice a soft whisper. “I know you’re already good with levitation and blocking thoughts, and I have no concerns regarding the setup of barriers… I know you’l get the hang of it in no time. But there’s so much out there; Catchers and Magical Ones who’l want to destroy you. Catchers are so tricky, their magic, their ability to transcend physics. It’s not too much of a big deal for experienced djins, but many inexperienced or careless djins have gotten caught.”

“I wil learn, Torrid, and I’l never be careless.

I’ve seen up close what Magical Ones can do. I won’t let it happen to me, I promise.” His tight hug spoke of his fear… and his growing love. I felt the emotions mirrored in my own heart, but was stil reluctant to speak them aloud.

A tug of guilt touched my heart and I knew it was Liam. I shouldn’t be here, so happy, so secure and safe. I shouldn’t be learning magic from a perfectly divine looking djin. I had to go back to help Liam, to help Jocelyn and Matthew. Despite my fear of Dr. Sanz, I had to face him again. That was my destiny.