“Are these people born with special powers or something?”
“No. It doesn’t take special powers. In fact, anyone can master it, given enough training.”
“When you say ‘master it,’ what exactly do you mean?”
“Ancient practitioners called it The Power Within. In pop culture, it’s been referred to as the Law of Attraction, The Power of Positive Thinking, New Thought, The Power, auto-suggestion, positive mental attitude, quantum mysticism, or magical thinking. The people who taught me and I call it Refined Transcendent Power, or RTP for short. Some people believe it’s a form of faith and there are references to the use of RTP in many religious texts. In a religious context, it has been described as the cosmic force of infinite intelligence, the universe, God, God within, Allah, Buddha, and others. The basic concept is that whatever you focus your thoughts on, you can attract into your life. Think it, believe it, and manifest it. Regardless of your personal, spiritual, or religious beliefs, the point is, it doesn’t matter how you label it, we all have the ability to do it.”
Adam couldn’t fathom what he was hearing. He said, “If anyone can do this, then how come I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before? I mean, I have heard of people having faith and thinking positively. But I have never seen anyone materialize things right out of thin air like you do.”
“Believe it or not, most people use RTP in their daily lives, to a lesser degree, without even knowing that’s what they are doing. And many high profile people have mastered using RTP over the centuries, such as Rameses the Great, Moses, Beethoven, Einstein, Thomas Edison, and Andrew Carnegie, to name a few. I’ve heard that some modern-day celebrities and political figures have used it to achieve their successes. I don’t have first-hand knowledge of that but I do know that some people, like my ex-husband, Paul, use it for evil and illegal purposes and personal gain. They disregard the law and believe that knowledge of RTP should be kept a secret. They’ll do anything to keep the awareness of it from the general public.”
Adam rubbed his face with both hands. “What do you mean ‘they will do anything to keep it a secret?’ ”
“Many years ago, Paul formed a group called the ‘Keepers of Transcendent Power,’ known to us outsiders as ‘KTP.’ The KTP use Refined Transcendent Power for evil, such as revenge killing, illegal gambling, racketeering, and oppression. They have tried, and succeeded in many cases, in forcing peaceful practitioners of RTP to join their ranks. Anyone who refuses to join is put to death.”
Adam’s eyes widened in horror. This was the most bizarre thing he had ever heard.
“Those of us who are peaceful, and who do not want to join the KTP, have entered into a sort of self-imposed witness protection program. We have gone underground and changed our identities so that we cannot be located.”
Adam felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. It was becoming painfully obvious that he knew way less about this woman than he thought. In fact, he knew absolutely nothing about her true identity.
Did he even want to hear more? Maybe she was right—there was no turning back now. He took another gulp of beer, swallowed hard and said, “So your name’s not even Madeline Smith?”
She looked at him sheepishly—like a kid who had been caught in a lie—and shook her head as she said, “My first name really is Madeline, but my true last name is Locke.”
“Why didn’t you change your entire name?” he said.
“Well, my name changes depending on where I am living at the time. Like now that I’m living in New York City, it is pretty safe to keep my original first name. Do you know how many Madeline Smiths there are here? Probably hundreds. It would take a long time for someone to figure out which one was me. Plus, I’m guessing they probably wouldn’t expect me to use my real first name, so that would throw them off. I’ve moved around so many times over the years that I’ve learned how to blend in well. I never stay in one place for very long. Because if I stay put for too long, eventually they will catch up with me.”
Adam let her words sink in for a few moments before saying, “Are you saying Paul knows where you are now?”
“I don’t think he knows where I am now because if he did, I think he would’ve already shown himself. I haven’t seen any physical signs of him or his followers. But my sources tell me that in recent times his ability has grown stronger. He has found a way to use RTP…remotely, if you will, to control the forces of nature. They are speculating that even though he doesn’t know my location, he can use negative thoughts about me to cause bad things to happen to me, such as the fire and the avalanche.”
“So, you think Paul was the one who caused those things to happen?” Adam said incredulously.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “It could be possible. But if he has learned to channel RTP in that way, then that is not good at all. He could use internet searches and news reports about the events to narrow down his targets’ locations. We should all be very afraid.”
“But what does he want?”
She sighed and said, “That’s the long part of the story. We’ll get there.”
Chapter 21
Adam and Maddie sat quietly for a few moments. His mind was racing, trying to process all of the incredible information. He had so many questions. She had indicated that it would take a long time to tell the entire story. But out of all the questions he had, one troublesome thought kept occurring to him.
He broke the silence and said, “Earlier, when you were demonstrating your powers to me, you mentioned something about eternal youth. What exactly did you mean by that?”
She studied his face
