Soon we land and the room stabilizes. We’re back in Margaret's tea room and right there on one of the tables between the sea of couches is the watch. Holy crap, he somehow transported us right to where he placed it. I turn to him. "How did you do that? We can only transport when we have a job."
"Not us." He lifts his chin and motions a finger back and forth between us. "We can transport anytime we want to. We just have to lock in on something and we can get there."
Holy shit. I wish I would have known that a while ago. It would have made a lot of things a whole lot easier. "Okay, so how does it work?"
He walks over to the table where the watch and a folder lie side by side. He puts his watch back on and then grabs the folder. He pulls out a picture and purses his lips. "Let’s find this man. Pull him up in your mind."
Taking a deep breath, I take the picture and look at it. He’s an older man about the same age as the elder. I’m not sure why he wants to go there, but it’s not like he can’t him find himself. I close my eyes and find him inside of an apartment. "All right I have him. He’s in an apartment."
"Okay good." He licks his lips and holds out his hands. "Now imagine there are no barriers. Remove all the walls, stairs, whatever there is between you."
Biting my lip, I imagine there is nothing between us but distance. In my mind, I tear down the walls. "Done."
Reaching out, he places his hands on my shoulders. "You're a natural. I wish things were this easy for me."
The urge to slap him courses through me, but I just focus on my task. None of my life has been easy so it irritates me to hear that.
"All right, now just propel yourself to him. Just close the distance, but move yourself to him, not the other way around. Just make sure you drop us outside of his apartment. It would be awkward otherwise." His fingers dig into my arm a little.
I imagine myself lifting up in the air. As I do this, I feel the air churn around me. Holy crap I think I'm doing it.
"Keep going." His tone is sharp. "Don't break your concentration."
Dammit. He's right. If I'm not careful I will. I then imagine I'm floating toward the Council Room. The air is spinning but I focus on my task and the fingers digging in my arm. When we reach the location in my mind, I float us down to the ground and open my eyes.
"You did it." His tone is full of admiration. "I can't believe you did it on your first try. Next time we will try something harder."
My eyes open and I find we’re in a back alley with dumpsters just a few yards away, thankfully alone. I never knew I could do something like this. "Holy crap. So, we're the only ones capable of this?"
His face returns to a mask of indifference and he crosses his arms. "No, Selena can as well. She's a tracker but cannot bring a soul back to life. That is one of the reasons she's such a treasured reaper and valued by the council."
So at least one of my questions are answered about her. "So, she'll be an elder?"
"No, she's not loyal enough for a seat." He shakes his head and glances at his watch. "Just valuable to us. Remember, the council isn't the bad guy, so we need loyal, dependable members. Look, I have somewhere I need to be, so I need to get going. Welcome to your new apprenticeship. You can see your own way back." Then he disappears from sight.
8
It takes a second for his disappearance to click in my brain. For some messed up reason, I kept waiting for him to come back.
Dammit, that jerk left me here. I glance around the alleyway which is still deserted. That is a blessing, but hell, I'm nowhere close to my car. What kind of mentor leaves their trainee behind like this? This must be some kind of joke.
Who am I kidding? They've sent me off to find artifacts on my own with no resources. Why am I surprised by this? I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. I've got to focus. Being angry is not going to get me home any quicker.
So, what all did Luke tell me to do? I'm going to have to transport my way back to my car. I lock the imagine of my car in my head and begin to propel myself towards it. The air churns around me, surrounding me in the smell of decaying trash. I want to gag but I try to ignore it.
Not soon enough, the ground underneath me gives and I drop. Thank God, I must be doing something right. I keep the car pulled up in my mind and then the winds around me begin to slow.
When I find myself on solid ground, I open my eyes and find myself in a dark room. Even with supernatural vision, I can't make out anything. What the hell? I should be outside next to my car.
I reach out and touch something like metal, cool to the touch and round. There are several of them in similar sizes and shapes on what seems to be a shelf. I reach down below and there seems to be boxes of various sizes. I step forward keeping my hand on the shelf and just find more of the same.
Am I in a closet or something? Where the hell
