I put on sunscreen three times, but I still came away from the river a little bit sunburned. Not bad—not as bad as it could have been—and I was thankful I’d kept the windbreaker on despite the fact I got a little too hot at one point. It saved my arms from sunburn too. What really annoyed me was that baiting Joey out into the open hadn’t worked. We hadn’t even seen any members of his mob. Our plan had been a total bust and I wasn’t happy about it.
I was half dead coming back to the cattle ranch, but we’d done everything we could for the river area inside city limits.There would surely be ghosts wandering up and down the whole riverbank, which we’d tackle as we saw them, but for now? Riverbank was done.
I was so thankful I could cry. At least I wouldn’t need to walk my legs off anymore outside. I’d take whatever win I could.
I dragged my sore, tired ass into the building to find someone had once again made dinner. Bless them. It smelled amazing, though I couldn’t identify it by scent. Anything I didn’t have to make was perfect.
My apprentice sat at the table, her craft project spread out on the far end. Seiji was right there with her, working knots into the cord. He was such an interesting man. Honestly, if you put him in a suit, he’d look like your average white-collar worker. Then you strapped swords on him and he looked like a ninja in search of a lord to serve. Now, in jeans and a shirt, making a necklace, I could buy that he was some sort of new age bohemian who skated by in life.
Was he a chameleon?
But his eyes could apparently see a lot, something I’d been uncertain of myself. I’d seen something interesting in Gwyn’s aura but wasn’t at all sure what it might be. I’d figured I’d sit on it until we got home, as Jon surely could tell me. Nothing got past his eyes. But apparently waiting wasn’t necessary, as we had the answer already. A Psychic Energy Reader, huh?
Wow, she was going to be a lethal combination.
Seiji glanced up as I approached. “Ah, welcome back. Where’s the rest of our river crew?”
“They stopped for gas and beer before coming back. We all voted for beer.”
“But you succeeded?”
“As much as we could today, anyway. Joey, the asshole, never showed up. But we’ll discuss how to deal with him later. So, uh, I have questions?”
Gwyn popped up with a necklace in both hands, and she immediately came in close enough to put it over my head. “If your first question isWhere’s my necklace?, I did yours first.”
“Aww, thank you, Gwyn.” Apprentices were the best. She even put it on for me, which was sweet of her. The feel of it was interesting. I could sort of sense the vibration, the energy of the amulet, but couldn’t see a damn thing. It wasn’t spectral energy, after all.
“You’re welcome. Don’t worry, Brandon, I got yours too.” Gwyn deviated back to the table to seize a necklace with two pendants on it before lifting on her tiptoes to put it on Brandon. He still had to bend in half, but he smiled the whole time, clearly pleased. “I just doubled up the necklace so it has one fastener.”
Apparently, Lachlan’s teasing about taking no chances with Brandon being possessed wasn’t entirely in jest. I was with him, though. The only other person I absolutely did not want possessed was Eli, and she could defeat something before it wiggled its way into her skin. Well, or Quinn, but Eli would go apeshit on anyone who tried to possess her husband, so same difference.
Brandon straightened and picked up the necklace to get a better look. “This is awesome. So, uh, elephant in the room—I thought I understood what you do, Seiji, but I clearly didn’t ask the right questions. I didn’t expect you to craft necklaces, for instance.”
“I think I only gave you a broad stroke outline of my limitations.” Seiji sat back, hands stilling for a moment as he focused on us. “In essence, I am a psychic energy manipulator. I can, of course, see energy in all forms, even spectral, but I can also cut, destroy, redirect, or even rebuild energy patterns. It is why I can reverse vortexes, dismantle portals, and destroy energy lockers.”
I pursed my lips in a low whistle. It sounded crazy what he could do, but if you thought about it, really thought about it, this man had the ability toshut off portals to another dimension. Like, I’m sorry, what? This man was like a walking demigod. I wasn’t sure who was more OP, him or Jon.
“Brandon, I assume you said something to Mack?”
“I did,” he confirmed in his deep voice.
“About her being a Psychic Energy Reader?” I indicated Gwyn with a wave of my hand. “Yes, he did. I knew something was up but couldn’t pinpoint it. I thought to wait until Jon could look at her. That’s an incredible skill to have, Gwyn.”
“Seiji’s explained some of what I can do with it,” Gwyn conveyed, nearly bouncing.
She was so different from the child I’d first met—a little girl running scared who was desperate for any helping hand. Now she glowed with hopes and dreams, and I loved seeing it.
I’d support her in all her dreams, one hundred percent. “So what all can you do? Wait, let me shower and eat something, then you can go into depth.”
“Okay! Oh, we made Swedish meatballs with egg noodles.”
“Sounds lovely.” And like something I could eat.
I took a shower and felt better for it. Came back out to find Brandon had beaten me to the kitchen and was already loading up a plate. Everyone else had arrived, too, and were either eating or going for showers themselves. I hadn’t beaten them here by much.
I filled up a plate, snagged a beer, then relaxed into my meal. Ah, this was good. Seiji and Gwyn were apparently good cooks and I appreciated their efforts.
Seiji moved to sit across from me, hands free this time, so he was either done making amulets or taking a break.
