Chapter 19
Raphael
It was still light when we got back to Joe’s cabin, but shadows were sliding down the mountain like some dark force. I shook my head at the thought. I didn’t need to psych myself out before a fight. We landed beside Joe’s pickup and dismounted.
I noticed that Tess took a moment to stroke Maia’s head and say something to her before she joined me. She unzipped her jacket until the generous swells of her pale breasts were obvious. I cocked an eyebrow, and she acted as if she hadn’t noticed me looking.
We walked up the drive toward the cabin. We’d only gotten a few steps when the front door opened, and Joe stepped out holding three beers.
“Now that’s what I call service,” I called.
“I felt you coming and figured you might have worked up a thirst,” Joe called back.
“How does he do that?” Tess asked.
“What?”
“Know before we show up. Is he psychic or something?”
“Could be or it could be that some little bird told him we were coming,” I answered.
“A bird? Seriously?”
I laughed.
“Damn it, Rafe. I never know if you’re pulling my leg or making an honest statement. Come on, which is it?” Tess complained.
I checked my laughing. “It could be either. I know he can talk to some animals, I’ve seen him do it, but he may also be psychic. You’ll have to get the skinny directly from him if you want the absolute truth, but why bother? Does it matter?”
Tess shook her head. “It doesn’t really matter, but I’m the student here. I’m trying to learn everything I can about your world so I feel I need to know. It doesn’t matter, now, but I don’t know what might be important for me to know five or ten years down the road. I have to learn everything if I’m going to survive.”
I stopped short and took a good look at my apprentice. She had seriousness written all over her face, and her stance echoed that as she stopped and met my gaze.
I frowned and nodded. “You’re right, Tess. It is important for you to learn as much as you can as soon as possible. You ask Joe about it. I’m sure he’ll tell you.”
I motioned toward the cabin with a sweep of my hand; Tess nodded and hurried up the steps. She reached him, relieved him of one of the beers, and took a long swig as I joined them on the porch. I took Joe’s extraneous beer; if I didn’t take it soon, I was sure he’d drink it.
I sat in the chair beside Joe and Tess dropped to the porch cross-legged at Joe’s feet.
“Joe, may I ask you a question?” Tess said.
The old man took another swallow of beer and then studied my apprentice. After a few moments, he nodded. “You may always ask, young one. If the question is worthy, I will answer truthfully.”
“Thank you, Joe. I was wondering how you know before we arrive. Yesterday you said you were expecting us and just now, you said you knew we were coming and would be thirsty. Is this some power you have or what?”
Joe gazed out to the east at the Springs for a full minute before replying. “It could be just that I knew how long it would take you to set those three rods and get back here.”
Tess frowned, and Joe held up a hand.
“I said it could be. In truth, I can foresee the future, but not very far. When someone is coming to see me, like the two of you, I sometimes dream of the visit beforehand. Other times, especially when it’s an old friend such as Raphael, I can almost picture him riding up the drive and getting off of Beast. In either of those cases, I believe it’s a vision that the great bear spirit sends me. Just as he warned me of the coming fight, he drops me a hint when something important is about to happen.”
Tess nodded, at least partially satisfied. “And today, Joe? How did you know we were almost here and that we’d be thirsty?”
Joe chuckled. “As for that, well young one. I may be old, but I can still see through a glamour and when I see a manticore and a hippogriff carrying passengers flying toward me, I can guess that it’s my friends coming back. And as for the thirst, well, I’ve never known Raphael to show up and not be thirsty.”
I covered my own grin with my hand by raising the bottle to my lips and taking another long pull.
Tess, bless her heart, actually colored, the blush spreading down her throat and to the swell of her breasts.
“So, Raphael, how did your work go?” Joe asked, turning away from Tess and facing me.
I forced my eyes off of Tess’s spreading blush and met Joe’s gaze. “Everything went smoothly, no problems. Now if it’ll just work.”
“I believe what you’ve done is well within your powers. You shouldn’t have a problem. But will it be enough?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I have another idea, but I’m not sure I can make it work. Joe, you can open portals. How good are you with them?”
“How good? What’s that mean? I want a portal, I open a portal, there’s no good or bad in my technique,” Joe said.
I shook my head. “What I want to know is whether you can open a portal from one place to other places that don’t necessarily line up on the other plane?”
“Not line up? Oh, I see. You always cross over to the identical spot in another dimension. You don’t ever adjust the point that the portal opens?”
“Is that possible?” I asked.
“Certainly. Why haven’t you ever asked me about it before?”
“Because I didn’t know it was possible. The subject hasn’t come up, and Walt never got that far in his instructions. I have never spent much time in the other worlds and
