Jennifer Rardin - [Jaz Parks 1] - Once Bitten, Twice Shy

'Like hell!' said Cole, while at the same time Vayl snapped, 'You will not do this!'

I took Cole by the hands, but I spoke to Vayl too when I said, 'You have to trust me now. Believe me. I know what I'm doing.'

Vayl's voice blared in my ear as Cole tried to shake his head without passing out. 'Jasmine! I forbid this!'

'Now!' yelled Assan. 'Switch!'

I squeezed Cole's hands as hard as I could, yanked him out of his chair and took his place. He staggered backward until he collided with a pile of boxes. I thought he'd hit the floor next, but he found his balance.

'Time to go,' I told both of my men, before either could argue. 'I'll see you again. Soon.'

'I'll be back for you,' Cole vowed, his battered face combining with his ferocious expression to make him resemble a biblical prophet. Wild.

'I'm counting on it,' I said. I checked Grief to make sure the safety was on, tossed it to him. 'Shoot anyone who tries to stop you. Now get going.'

With a final nod, Cole stumbled out of the room. I didn't have time to worry about whether or not he'd make it down the ladder, much less the stairs. The three amigos were still tuned in and I really needed to get rid of them.

'Would you like me to prepare you for tomorrow's activities?' Assan inquired. 'We have such a fantastic evening planned.'

Oh goody, I've given myself over to the Cruise Director of the Beast Boat. 'Why don't you surprise me?' I suggested. 'You give me too many details and I may just decide to walk away from this whole deal.'

'But—you would be blown up!'

'Exactly.'

He and Aidyn exchanged a quiet word with the senator. 'Very well then, we will leave you in peace.' The picture flickered and faded to gray. They'd gone, though I was sure somebody over at Psycho Central still kept tabs on me.

I closed my eyes and lowered my head. Hopefully my watcher would assume I was praying. And in a way, I was. As when I made my out-of-body visit to David, I focused my entire mind on what I wanted. Except this time I had the right words to go with it, words the Voice gave me now in tremendous, booming thumps, as if they resounded from the world's largest drum.

My voice was a quiet murmur, fitting perfectly with the dust and neglect surrounding me. As the words spilled over my lips I began to feel dizzy and disconnected, as if the moment before sleep falls had been magnified a hundred times. My entire body began to tingle, and if I touched someone right now I'd expect to shock them.

I opened my eyes as I felt myself rise. It scared me, actually. I thought maybe I'd truly begun to stand up, and I sure didn't want to end it all with an accidental Ka-Boom. Part of me, the gravity-bound bomb-sitter, stayed put. But another part continued to move up to and through the ceiling, into the roof's crawlspace and through that as well. I started to wonder if anything would stop me from floating away like a hot-air balloon minus its release valve. I tried to direct my movements, without luck. Up, up I went, a space-bound spirit with no hold left in the world.

'WRONG!' It was the Voice, still sounding more like thunder than communication. 'LOOK!'

I am looking! The snippy little reply was on the tip of what now passed for my tongue. It was also a lie. All my attention had been directed inward. Now I looked outside myself. Seven golden cords stretched from various points of the earth up, up to me. I concentrated harder and realized I could tell who the cord was touching simply by the way it vibrated. Actually, the vibration was more of a song. I identified Albert and Evie immediately. Dave, whose cord had just been a yellow blur the first time I'd traveled beyond my body, was there too. Vayl had his own tune, as did Bergman and Cassandra. Cole's was the one I focused on, however. I grabbed that cord of music with what passed for my hands and hurtled down it, delighting in the speed, wondering if this was how it felt to be a skeleton racer.

I stopped just short of ramming into Cole or, more likely, through him. He slumped against the post of a traffic sign, trying to hail a cab. But nobody wanted to stop for a guy who looked like he'd just been mugged and, therefore, had no money for fare.

'Cole,' I said softly, whispering right into his ear. 'Relax. Vayl's coming.'

He jerked upright and spun around, his face a picture of relief and joy. The picture quickly changed to confusion and disappointment. 'She's not here, fool,' Cole chastised himself. 'She's sitting on a bomb. Where you should be.'

Okay, I'm invisible. Why is that? Dave saw me.

I let go of Cole's cord and grabbed Vayl's. It took me right into the van, which he was trying, and failing, to start. I settled into the passenger seat as he cranked the key and stomped the gas pedal. Over the sound of the struggling engine I heard him mutter, 'Stupid, stupid, stupid son of a bitch!' He slammed the steering wheel with both hands, making it shudder on its perch.

'Geez Vayl, chill would you? At this rate Cole's going to freak out and walk in front of a bus while you're still deciding whether to flood the van or trash the steering column.'

He gaped at me, smiled his dangerous smile and grabbed for my arm. I think he was hoping for a hug, but his fingers went right through me. The dismay on his face would've been funny any other time. 'Um, I guess I should've warned you I'm not quite solid. But I wasn't sure you'd see me.'

He shook his head slowly. 'Unbelievable.'

'You say that like you're impressed, but you're making that face, the one I get after I've made a stupid mistake.'