intensity in his expression, and the lilting cadence of his words. Although his body may have been borrowed, Gabe’s true personality dominated its flesh and features. I longed to be even closer to him — which frightened yet thrilled me. What was going on with me? My body, thoughts, and desires were strange and traitorous.
“What’s inside?” I looked down at the ordinary paper bag, hoping to hide how my cheeks flamed as I anticipated what we were about to do together.
“You’ve heard of gateway drugs? What I have isn’t a drug, but its ordinary sweetness can open our gateway to alternate planes of consciousness.”
“I don’t get it.” I furrowed my brow.
“But you will,” he said with a mysterious smile. “You’ll get more than you can even imagine.”
“I have a pretty good imagination.”
“You’ll need it.”
“Are you trying to scare me?”
“Prepare you,” he corrected. “As Einstein said,
I took a deep breath, then nodded.
“Concentrate and keep focusing, no matter how strange things may seem. What you experienced last time was only a taste of power. Now I’ll show you the real thing — merging soul energies. Fusing.”
That ordinary-yet-eerie word hinted at a closeness more profound than anything I’d ever experienced. I wasn’t afraid in a young-girl-with-older-guy way, because I knew this wasn’t physical. I didn’t understand how our souls could merge. I wanted to learn, though, especially if I could gain abilities that would help with my Temp Life job.
“Close your eyes and hold out your hands,” he told me in a commanding way I couldn’t refuse even if I’d wanted to … which I didn’t.
I cupped my hands together, closing my eyes. A memory flashed in my mind of another girl holding out her hands for Gabe and his heartless betrayal of her love, but I pushed it aside because that was the old Gabe, not this upgraded version.
There was a whispery rustle of paper, then something small and smooth fell into my palms. Opening my eyes, I stared down at a colorful rainbow of wax-wrapped candies.
“Saltwater taffy,” I said, moving my fingers so the wrapped bundles rolled like tossed dice against my skin.
“Combining your hunger for chocolate with mine for the ocean.”
“But there’s no saltwater in taffy. It’s an urban myth.”
“Right.” He beamed at me like a teacher giving kudos to a top student.
“I read about it somewhere,” I said, smiling. “I think the candy was created on the Atlantic Beach Boardwalk like a hundred years ago.”
“Longer — in the 1880s. Some people credit it to Joseph Fralinger, who was known as the Saltwater Taffy King.”
“Did you know him?”
“Sure, I know all famous dead guys.” Gabe chuckled. “Not really. That was even before my time.”
“If there’s no saltwater in taffy, how will it work for you?”
“I’m skilled enough to connect without any stimuli. Still, there is salt and water in the candy mixture, and I associate this candy with the ocean even if it’s not made with sea water. I brought the candy to help you focus, choosing chocolate varieties like rocky road, caramel, and chocolate chip cookie dough.”
“Mmmm … cookie dough.” My mouth watered.
“Go ahead,” he urged. “Unwrap a candy and put it on your tongue, tasting and enjoying it as it slowly melts.”
“Can’t I chew?” I asked.
“Hold off until you can’t resist, building on the sweet taste until you reach a happy, peaceful state of mind. Allow the candy to seep into all of your senses: see the chocolate in your mind, hear your throat swallowing, feel and smell melting sweetness and savor the taste. Combined together, the five senses create a sixth and more energized sense that lifts you to a higher plane.”
I nodded, listening to the crinkle of the waxy paper as it fell from my fingers to the floor, and then bringing the soft smooth taffy to my lips.
As I sank into all my senses, I was still aware of Gabe. He was pulling seven small, spiraled candles from his jacket pocket, arranging them in a circle on an upturned barrel. Almost reverently, he lit each candle, whispering foreign words. Then he pulled two cushions off the couch and tossed them to the concrete floor, near the barrel. He gestured for me to sit down on one while he knelt on the other, his arm so close to mine that our elbows brushed.
I was on fire, probably more from his touch than the heat wafting from the candles. I could heard my own heart, thumping like it was competing in a race. I wondered what I’d find at the finish line.
Gabe swirled his hands in circles over the candles, stirring up the smoke so it seemed to merge and blend into a gray cloud.
“Do you feel the energy, Amber?”
“I feel … everything.”
His eyes shone approval. “It’s beginning. Now things will move fast and you must promise to follow my instructions. It’s already starting, more intense than last time.”
“What’s happening?” I said through a dizzy fog.
“Fusing,” he whispered and an electric charge shot through me.
“Fusing,” I repeated, awed by the wondrous exhilaration of Gabe’s nearness. This wasn’t lust or love and had nothing to do with my feelings for Eli. Gabe was guiding me on a non-physical soul journey; I was guilt-free.
Unable to resist any longer, I chewed and swallowed, closing my eyes. The taffy melted like sugared wine, intoxicating and hot, as it spilled down my throat. I started to reach for another candy, but Gabe was already unwrapping one and offering it to me. When his fingers touched my lips, I tasted warm, delicious bliss. Beyond thinking or questioning, I soared somewhere that seemed both familiar and terrifying.
“Amber,” he intoned my name with the soft intensity. “Take my hand and repeat everything I say.”
Some part of me resisted, because the mere touch of his hands could destroy me, yet this wasn’t about destroying — this was about learning powers. So when his fingers found my own, I held on.
I wasn’t sure what I was feeling or even who I was anymore. I seemed to be disconnecting from flesh, rising away from the body I knew to be Alyce.
My eyes were still shut but I saw Gabe against a backdrop of dazzling stars, as if he stood poised against the edge of a world with infinite galaxies. And there I was beside him, looking like myself although draped in luminescence. We held hands, suspended together in soul. I didn’t understand, and was struck with acute fear that he’d let me go and I’d fall into a black void of nothingness.
“Don’t hold back, Amber.”
“I’m not … I’m just confused. How will this help Alyce?”
“Don’t think of her. There is only now. Only us.”
“I don’t understand.” The stars darkened and my fingers slipped, but he grabbed and held tight.
“You will soon,” he said.
And I wanted to, as I was swept along a current of absolute joy, rejoicing in the freedom of being in spirit. Energy was building like powerful clouds, lifting us away from mundane things. Gabe no longer wore his borrowed body so I saw him in true form, with his dark ponytail and sun-kissed skin and those compelling, gray-green eyes. His hat slouched over his brow, drawing attention to the sharp curves of his cheeks and soft, full promise of his lips.
His lips curled up at the corners, as if he was thinking of deep secrets. His soul body moved slowly, lightning strands of energy connecting us in a way that seemed more intimate and personal than human touch.
An ocean scent swirled around me as Gabe pursed his lips in invitation. “So close now,” he intoned in a sultry voice. “Come seal our union. All it takes is a kiss.”
“I can’t!” I jerked away. “I have a boyfriend.”
“We are no longer bound by human rules. Here, we make our own rules.”
