Leo sneers at Victor. “Nowyou care?”
Victor walks over to Leo and says, “Please, listen to me. I had to project my emotions so a telepath couldn’t read my thoughts.”
Leo is taken aback. “What?
Victor looks down at Derek. “He is a telepath, Leo. And his mistake was when he talked to me in the shower.”
“He what?” Superior Charles responds shockingly.
Victorwaves off Superior Charles’s concerns as he continues, “In one of the books Leo gave me after the first time I astralprojected, it mentioned that you must be in close proximity to the individual. I never met Derek in person, so that meant he was close to me at some point. Without knowing, Derek’s been using an illusion charm to get close to me, which is probably why Superior Charles sensed Derek at the restaurant.”
Victor continues explaining as he walks closer to Derek. “The mistake he made was when he mentioned I should get another mentor. He wouldn’t have known that if he were with you. You two always bicker, which distracts some of your thoughts from him. You would always bring up something he did. But when he met me in the shower, I was thinking about the conversation in Superior Charles’ study.
“Only those with an ability can continue using it while projecting. Hence, he was aware of the suggestion to have a new mentor. I needed to test my theory. The only way to do that was to get angry. Anger is one of the most powerful emotions that can trick a telepath. So, unfortunately, I had to remain angry around you, just in case he was close by.”
Victor’s expression becomes somber as he turns to look at Leo. “The distraction of you being upset with me would be the only thing on your mind. He wouldn’t have shown up in person if he had ever discovered our plan to capture him.”
Leo looks down at Derek. “I’ve been with him for over 30 years, and I didn’t even know he was a telepath. I can’t believe he kept that from me.”
Superior Charles steps forward, commenting, “I had a feeling Derek was a telepath, but I could never figure out how to force it out of him. Telepaths can mask themselves when hiding, and illusion charms can help them. Also, telepaths are best at pushing their auras onto empaths, making them the best at poisoning an empath’s emotions.”
Superior Charles snarls as he looks down at Derek’s unconscious body. “Derek could be the reason behind Victor’srage episodes. He didn’t anticipate that Victor would recover so quickly at the restaurant, which is why I sensed him. He was probably trying to make Victor rage out before the cops arrived.”
Leo walks over and stops beside Victor. “To protect me from him, you had to cover your tracks with our plan.”
As Victor takes Leo’s hands, Superior Charles clears his throat and jerks his head, letting everyone know to give Victor and Leo some privacy.
“I hope you understand I didn’t mean to hurt you, Leo,” Victor says softly. “But I needed to keep you out of the loop to find and capture him. I’m just happy it didn’t take long. The dude has a real hard-on for me. Lucky for us, he’s not as powerful as he says he is.”
Leo looks down while he rubs the pads of his thumbs on top of Victor’s hands. Leo takes a deep breath and looks into Victor’s eyes. “I should be angry with you but keeping me in the dark was smart.” Their eye contact burns between them. “I wish I could kiss you,” Leo says softly.
Victor mouths“Me too”as he swallows his feelings. Victor shakes himself out of the heated emotion. “He should be out for a while. We only have tonight to do what I have planned.”
“What do you have planned?” Leo inquires.
Victor turns to look at the others. “Is there a mirror that can take us toTeotihuacán?”Victor shouts over to Eddie.
Eddie looks at Superior Charles, who looks back suspiciously. “Yeah, there is one that leads into the gift shop,” Eddie replies.
“What’s atTeotihuacán?” Leo questions.
Victor looks down at Derek. “It’s where I find out why someone is after me.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Three days ago . . .
Victor is nervous as Clarence saunters over to him. “It’s because . . . umm.”
Clarence places their hands on their hips, stopping just inches from Victor. “You’re not planning on another attempt to visit the astral plane, are you?”
Victor swallows dryly. “It would be better if I had one, just in case I happen to visit thereagain.”
Clarence squints their eyes as they study Victor. “Follow me.” They take Victor into a backroom. As they are about to pass through a second set of dark curtains, Clarence holds out a hand and places it on Victor’s chest. “What you’re about to see cannot be discussed with anyone. These artifacts can only be seen by those who are empathic. If your ability is not strong enough to walk past that curtain, I cannot help you.”
Victor nods and proceeds to walk through the curtains. He enters a small room with three crystal cases against the walls.The cases contain various artifacts, including rings, wands, belts, and daggers. Victor can feel the energy in the room change as a glow surrounds each artifact.
Clarence walks up behind Victor and softly says in his ear, “Can you feel them?”
