“Amber, listen carefully and do exactly what I say.” His tone deepened, somber and serious. He started to reach out for me, but then pulled back, obviously remembering our “no touch” agreement.
“Just tell me what to do,” I said, my voice softer than the bubbling hum from the surrounding fish tanks. “How do I reach Alyce?”
“Tap into your innermost passion. What do you love more than anything?”
“My family.” And Eli, I thought privately.
“Not human attachments — your personal passion. For a pianist it might be playing at a concert, sports for an athlete, and for my ex-boss it was buying exotic fish.”
“Fish leave me cold. I don’t play an instrument or do athletic anything.”
“Dig deep into yourself — what brings you great joy?” Gabe persisted.
I thought of something but hesitated, embarrassed. “Promise you won’t laugh.”
He pantomimed crossing his heart. “I shall resist laughing.”
“Okay…” I clasped my hands. “I’ve got a thing for …
um … chocolate.”
He burst out laughing.
“You laughed!” I accused, scowling.
“I did resist … briefly. You continue to surprise me.”
“I’m not a choco-pig.” I lifted my chin, striving for dignity. “I just enjoy the smell, texture, and taste of chocolate. But it’s not like I go crazy and eat tons of chocolate. I know how to use restraint.”
“No restraint tonight — not when we need to tap into your power. It’s much easier to find chocolate than a piano.” Then he walked over to a display shelf behind the check-out counter and offered me a Milky Way candy bar — king size.
Immediately my mouth watered and the choco-pig inside me snatched the candy bar from his hand. I ripped the wrapper and then slowly tore the rest of it off, revealing the chocolate bar. The smell … the smooth, rich, creamy milk chocolate layer … the gooey spurt of caramel … then the decadent sweet taste spilling into my mouth.
“Wait!” Before I could take a second bite, Gabe pulled back my arm — his touch shocking me like an electric jolt. “Don’t eat it all yet … stop and think about everything you’re feeling.”
“Your hand. On my arm,” I accused.
“I apologize.” When he pulled back, my skin was warm where he’d touched it. “But we’ll need to be close during these lessons, so while I can promise not to drain your energy, I can’t promise not to touch you. You do want to learn?”
I nodded.
“Then close your eyes.” His voice washed over me, compelling, hypnotic, and impossible to resist. “As chocolate melts over your tongue, allow yourself to feel the happiness and let it fill you up like air inside a balloon. Happiness creates energy that lifts the soul.”
It seemed odd to hear him talk about happiness, considering he’d spent a century causing tears and heartbreak.
“Stay focused,” he said sharply, as if he could see inside my mind. “Keep your eyes shut and wrap all your senses around your emotions for chocolate. Feel power surging through you.”
I focused inward, but didn’t notice any sudden influx of power. Still, what I was feeling was nice. My negativity was melting away, leaving only calmness, peace, and trust. There was a little dizziness, too, which probably had more to do with his energy than mine.
“You’re doing well, Amber,” Gabe’s voice guided me. “Gather your most intense feelings and imagine them spreading through you. Yes! I can see it in your aura — it’s brightening as if electrified. Keep visualizing. Your power heats like melted chocolate and fuses with soul energy.”
I did feel an electricity, but it wasn’t shocking; it was warm and so delicious that I could taste sweetness. Energy sparked as if lightning, not blood, surged through me. And it felt good, like I could reach out and hold the entire world in my powerful hands.
“Now think of your Host Body.”
“Alyce,” I whispered.
“Visualize her, not how she looks but who she is. Can you see her?”
I tried but all I could manage was the memory of looking into a mirror at Alyce’s face. “No.”
“Dig deeper into yourself. A part of her is attached to this plane, so she’s never really far away. Spread out until you feel her … find her.”
And just like that, I saw Alyce, or at least how I imagined her, lying on a beach with the surf lapping close by like a lullaby. She wore a gold bikini and glowed with a tan that never burned. Her eyes were closed and she looked so peaceful that I felt reluctant to invade her paradise.
“Go to her,” Gabe urged.
“I can’t … I don’t belong there. I’m afraid I’ll hurt her.”
“You’ll hurt her more by doing nothing. As Plato said,
“But she’s sleeping … it wouldn’t be right.”
“It’s your right to have questions answered,” Gabe said forcefully. “Go. Now.”
So I went, surprised at a rough warmth of grainy sand under my feet and sunrays warming my skin. Still, prickles of fear made me shiver because I felt like an intruder. But I’d come too far to leave now. I had to help Alyce … no matter what happened to me.
“Alyce,” I whispered, taking another sandy step. My fingers, an unearthly shade of gray, hovered over her shoulder.
She gave a low moan, shifting on the beach blanket, one hand clutching tight to a beach towel as if it were a child’s blankie. She seemed so vulnerable that my heart twisted in guilt for what I was about to do.
“Touch her,” Gabe told me.
“I can’t.”
“You must!” he ordered. “Put your hand on her now.”
Standing over Alyce, I whispered her name and waited for a sign from her that I was doing the right thing. But her eyes stayed closed and I could hear Gabe’s voice urging me to touch her … so I reached down and placed my fingers on her skin.
Electricity exploded under my fingertips and my world reeled into a spinning vortex of sand, beach, and waves. And I fell, fell, fell into Alyce’s thoughts.
Whirling deep into her memories, I lost almost everything of myself … except a lingering, sweet scent of chocolate.
13
I was more than Alyce, more than myself, more than human.
Everything was different, as if I’d left a well-marked highway for uncharted roads with unknown destinations. But there was also a sense of homecoming, too.
When I’d stepped into Alyce’s body yesterday, adjusting to ordinary things like brushing my hair and putting on clothes made me feel like a toddler taking first steps. But this experience wasn’t bound by flesh or gravity. I wasn’t sure whether I was beside, above, or inside Alyce as I was swept inside her memories — part voyeur, part companion.
Her long black hair danced in a thick braid, like a wild snake trying to catch us as we ran through the kitchen and hid under the table. It was strange how this table seemed so large, as if it had doubled in size since that afternoon.
