Hesitantly, Willow took out her cell and made sure it wouldn’t become a way for someone to reach her until she wanted it to. She hadn’t missed what Ben did with his own phone.
“It’s warm in here,” he said and switched on the overhead fan. He raised his face and said, “Better.”
“It’ll be cooler in the living room,” she said and hoped he didn’t hear her swallow.
“Nope. This is the coolest room. This side of the building always is.”
“This is my bedroom, Ben.”
“I noticed.”
What was she supposed to say to that? Walking out would make her feel like a silly kid, but it was what she ought to do.
Ben went around the bed, flipped off his shoes and stretched out on the other side. He patted the mattress beside him and Willow turned hot, then hotter. She radiated heat.
“C’mon,” he said softly. “I’m not dangerous. Promise. We’ve earned some relaxation time.”
“And lying on my bed with you beside me is going to make me relaxed?”
“We-ell—you do have a point. But it’s up to you to control yourself.”
She bit back a smile. He always had the smart comeback. Willow sat carefully on top of her white cotton spread at the very edge of her bed.
“What was happening down in the courtyard?” he asked. “You saw something, didn’t you?”
“You know too much,” she said. “I keep telling you you’re too powerful for me.” Willow closed her mouth firmly. That was not what she had intended to say.
His silence unnerved her.
She undid her sneakers and kicked them off, then threw her socks on top. Very carefully, she settled herself in the horizontal position, but as far from Ben as she could get without falling off the bed.
The fan moved a soft breeze across her face. It felt good, or it might if her stomach didn’t keep turning over and over and her heart would stop trying to leap out of her chest.
She would wait until he said something.
All she heard was Ben’s quiet breathing.
He had said he was tired. More or less. How dare he come into her bedroom, get on her bed and just go to sleep….
Steamed, that’s how he made her feel. She rolled her head toward him—and looked directly into Ben’s blue- flame eyes. He didn’t smile, but he stared back at her and they didn’t need to touch for her to tingle all over.
“Do you want to go first?” he asked.
“No. It was a bad idea to say I wanted to talk. There are things we have to do alone.” Like deal with shrimpy little creatures that sounded like people she knew. Telling him about that would
He reached out and settled his fingertips on her cheek. They both drew in a sharper breath, but Ben’s gaze grew so intense Willow felt it branded her.
“Ben, after we left Nat’s office this morning, what happened while we were talking on that sidewalk? When I told you about something touching my neck?”
His eyes never left hers. “I listened to you. I believed you.”
Gathering her courage she said, “You left, didn’t you? Just for…part of an instant? I didn’t see it, but I did in a way. Where did you go?”
“I was there.” But his mouth set in a hard line, and the way he watched her changed. She had surprised him.
“Are you going to tell me what I saw?”
“Have you accepted that you aren’t what you like to call
If she avoided the dreaded question, he might assume she’d meant to say yes, and tell her what she wanted to know.
His fingers brushed from her cheek to her hair and slowly down over her shoulder and along her arm.
Willow tried to keep staring at him but failed. She screwed up her eyes and sucked a breath through her teeth.
“Look,” he said, with all kinds of persuasion in that one word, “you
“The gift?” she muttered. “Why is it called that?”
“Just answer me.” The tips of his fingers traced tendons on the back of her hand. Back and forth, back and forth.
“Are you being fair?” she said.
His smile did just what he intended; it made her smile back.
“This isn’t about being fair,” he told her. “And it’s not a joke, not anymore. We’ve got to circle the wagons, my love, for everyone’s sake. I need you to admit what you are and let me know I can trust you to use the talents you have.”
“What am I, Ben?”
“You tell me.”
“I don’t know.” She looked at his face again, at his eyes. “Chris is in terrible trouble. He’s trapped in sand or something. In a thick glass thing. There’s a woman with him.”
“At least he’s not alone,” Ben said, showing no surprise at what she had told him.
“That’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t meant to be. Believe me, two is better than one most of the time. Is this what… In the courtyard, is this what you found out?”
“I heard Chris, then I saw him. Then I heard her, but I didn’t see her. I never did see her.”
“What would you say that makes you?” he asked quietly.
“Not normal.”
“You can do better than that.”
“First I feel strong emotion—not mine, someone else’s,” Willow said. “Sometimes, after that, I see what made them feel the emotion. Fear is the strongest one. Pain. Sadness. I felt anger and fear everywhere before I heard Chris. Then I knew he was trying to be funny and brave for the woman.”
Ben took her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.
“I think I may be clairvoyant,” she said softly.
“Tell me something I don’t know.” His breath was warm on her skin.
“Give me a break. Now I’m admitting it. That isn’t easy for me, and it’s not easy to admit I’ve heard what other people are thinking. I’ve only heard you when you talk to me—without talking.” If she was supposed to feel relief at saying all this aloud, it wasn’t happening.
He held her hand against his chest. “But you’ve tried to listen to what I’m thinking?”
She felt the steady beat of his heart. “Yes,” she admitted. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“You’re only human,” he said.
“Evidently only barely,” she said bitterly. “I’ve fought this for a long time.”
“I know. Now it’s time to quit that and start using your strengths.”
Willow spread her fingers on his chest. “One of our rules is that we can only use our talents for good. And we’re not supposed to listen in to other people without asking permission first. If we don’t get it, we don’t listen.”
“Good stuff,” he said. “Unless by breaking a rule you do the right thing. I did leave you when we were walking this morning—just for a nanogap.”
“What does that mean?”
He gave an eloquent shrug. “Planck time. Parallel shift. The shortest measurable length of time, and it appears instantaneous. I passed through a nanogap because I thought I saw the suggestion of a manifestation.”
She held her breath and waited.
“I did see it. A wisp of a thing that moved as if it flew. It shot upward—away from you—and I followed, but couldn’t grab the thing.”
Willow shifted closer to him. “No! I’m glad you didn’t touch it. What if it did—you know—what happened to
