“How long do you think it will take Titus to learn not to pee on things? Or people that he feels like he needs to mark?” Sally asked sweetly, as she blinked in what Kara thought was an attempt to look innocent.
Rachel held up her hands. “I call a truce.”
“I second.” Sally gave her a thumbs-up. “Any nays?” She looked at Jewel and then at Kara.
Kara looked from Rachel to Sally. “I’m just here to invade people’s minds. What you two do with your kids and inner-Jen-Black-Deaths is your business.”
“All right.” Jewel turned back to the door. “Let’s go follow that cord.”
“I feel like that should have sounded much more exciting,” Sally said as she, Rachel, and Kara followed after Jewel.
“Did you want her to put a fist in the air and add a rallying cry?” Kara asked.
Sally tilted her head and puckered her lips. “It wouldn’t have hurt.”
“Jen always gives some grand exhortation at the conclusion of meetings,” Rachel explained. “I think Sally’s just gotten used to them.”
Kara raised her fist in the air and started pumping it up and down. “Who let the healers out? Wooo, Wooo, Wooo.” She sang as they walked through the door and stood beside Jewel, who was staring at the large golden cord. “How was that?” Kara looked at Sally.
“Not great from a motivation perspective but hilarious. I wish I could have recorded that.” Sally laughed. “Although I can play it back for Costin, and the other healers, and Jen and Jacque because we have this weird bond mojo going on, too. Okay, so I guess I didn’t need to record it.”
As they stepped out onto the cord, Kara watched as their bodies, which had manifested in the same image as their physical forms, once again turned into streams of light. They moved over the golden cord. Kara wondered if it had always been there, or had it developed over the time since they’d met? Had it started forming when Rachel and Sally were introduced? It was something she’d have to remember to ask Rachel.
As they traveled down the cord, Kara noticed the strands begin to change. She saw one was white, which she recognized as her own. She knew Rachel’s was opal. She’d seen it as they tried to enter Sally’s mind, and the silver one was Jewel. Sally’s cord was also there. Hers was iridescent and shimmered as it flowed. The others were deep blue, sea green, a vibrant red, and dark purple. Eight different colors for eight healers.
Sally took the lead in the group, and they followed her as the golden cord, now intertwined with the different colors, led them to another door. The deep blue chord flowed underneath the door into whoever’s mind they were about to intrude upon. They stopped in front of it, and Sally’s light gave it a gentle nudge. The door swung open without resistance. Kara and the others couldn’t exactly look at one another. But she felt the others were as confused by this as she was. They had expected a little more resistance. Sally’s light went straight through the open door. Kara and the others quickly followed.
Once again, their bodies materialized, and their lights dissolved. They stood in a space illuminated by pulsing strands of light that flowed over and around them.
“Synapses.” Jewel pointed, looking as excited as a child on Christmas morning. “Why didn’t we see these in your mind, Sally?”
“I like to keep my synapsis private,” Sally deadpanned.
Kara snorted.
Jewel stared at the firing brain waves. “So whose mind are we in?”
“That would be mine.” Stella suddenly appeared in front of them. “And I’d like you to explain quickly because Ciro is having a little bit of a stroke over sharing this incredible place of knowledge.”
Kara didn’t think about whether she’d actually be able to hug her friend. She just launched herself at the woman and was thankful when her body hit Stella’s, just as if they’d been together in the physical world. “Holy crap, it is good to see you.” Kara squeezed Stella tightly.
Stella held onto Kara just as tightly. “You too, Kara Bear. You, too.”
“The synapses that fire in the brain when a person is experiencing joy actually help shut down other synapses that cause negative emotions,” Jewel said. Kara felt Jewel join them in a group hug.
“Still spouting off random bits of knowledge.” Stella chuckled. “All is right in the world if Jewel can still sound so much smarter than everyone else around her.”
“Knowledge is power.” Jewel pointed out. She stepped back, releasing Stella and Kara.
“Can it kill all the vampires at one time with a snap of your fingers? Because that’s the kind of knowledge I can get behind.”
Jewel scrunched up her face as if she was thinking about how to answer Sally’s question.
Kara laughed. “No, Jewel. The answer is no. No matter how much you want knowledge to actually be power. It is not. At least not that kind of power.” Jewel opened her mouth, but Kara continued. “However, knowledge can definitely give us an advantage over our opponent. And that is a type of power.”
Jewel pointed at Kara but looked at Sally. “What she said.”
“Good grief, I have been bored without you girls.” Stella sighed. “Where are the other two troublemakers?”
