She could even see that as logical.
“So, how do we make it so you can come along with me?” As she spoke, he moved aside so she could sit up.
Let’s start with something familiar—let’s find out how far I can get from you and still feel our—bond.
Good idea.She stood and walked out of the room without looking back, trying to keep the connection going.
We’ve got more space to maneuver if we’re outside,he said.
Changing course, she walked through the front door and dragged in a lungful of the cooler evening air.
When she looked back, she saw Travis standing by the door. She turned again and walked down the driveway toward the road. At first, she felt his presence as strongly as if she’d been standing beside him. But after about fifteen feet, she could sense the bond weakening. She focused, trying to make the connection come back to full strength, but she couldn’t figure out a way to do it.
They spent several frustrating minutes trying to get the effect they wanted, each of them mentally reaching for the other, but she simply didn’t know how to make it happen.
Finally, she walked back and pressed her shoulder to his. “When we did the other stuff, we were touching—one of us giving the other energy.”
But I think we have to do this without touching. What if you try to forge a deeper link, and I lend you power?
Okay.
Once again, she put distance between them, walking to the limit of where she could feel him faintly in her mind. Sweat broke out on her body as she struggled to bring him into sharper focus. No matter how much she tried to invite him to join with her, it had no effect.
Switch roles,his faint voice suggested.I was the one who reached out to you first.
Yes.She let him take control, reaching out to draw her to him. As he did, she fed him energy. Again, it had no effect.
Exhausted, she staggered back to the patio and plopped into a chair. “So much for our awesome abilities,” she muttered.
She sat with her head bowed, breathing hard, trying not to feel like she’d been doing a tremendous amount of physical labor. Whether she fed him power or they reversed their roles, it didn’t seem to make any difference.
Frustration bubbled inside her, and she made one last desperate attempt to pull him toward her in a way that would keep him there. But she simply couldn’t do it.
Tears leaked from her eyes, and she struggled to hold them back, but she knew Travis felt her sense of failure. He had found her when it should have been impossible for them to connect. And since then, they had done some amazing things together. But this even more intimate link seemed as likely as spinning wisps of cloud into silk.
She tried to think about it logically—if you could apply logic to such a seemingly outlandish situation. Travis was the one who had found her. She had to be the one to cement his attachment to her, but she simply couldn’t figure out a way to do it.
He stood behind her, rubbing her shoulder, and she knew he could feel the tension that tied her muscles into knots. She had been putting everything into this new effort, and it had gotten her nowhere. She glanced around and was shocked to see that it was pitch black now. She’d been at this for hours, and she simply didn’t have the energy to continue.
“He’ll come here tomorrow, and I’ll have to tell him we couldn’t do it.”
He wasn’t expecting any help from you when he took the assignment. He didn’t even know that you existed.
“He didn’t know what he was up against. We may be the only thing that can keep him from ending up in Smith’s torture chamber—and then the bay.”
She felt Travis shudder as though he were reliving what had happened to him—and then absorbing the enormity of the task ahead.
Still, his silent voice was calm as he said,You can’t keep pushing yourself like this. You need to eat something and then get some rest.
I’m not hungry.
You need food if you’re going to continue. You’re not going to accomplish anything in the state you’re in. You have to recharge. Eat something and then lie down for a while.
His words made sense. Almost too tired to move, she heaved herself up and shuffled into the kitchen. When she opened the refrigerator, she found several cartons of food she’d ordered. Pulling one out at random, she stuck in a fork and ate some. It was cold, and she didn’t even know what it was, but she shoveled in a little more.
When she’d eaten all she could stomach, she shoved the carton back into the fridge. As she closed the door, she struggled to stand, swaying on her feet. If Travis hadn’t been there to wrap an arm around her waist, she might have toppled over. Instead, she let him lead her out of the kitchen. She looked at the stairs, thinking she didn’t want to expend the energy to climb them.
You can lie down on the sofa again.
