52
Reluctantly Sean and Dillon accepted the presence of three more teams of Watchers. But only after authority for the newcomers was transferred to Chenel. The lady was one of them now and understood the need to maintain the lightning-fast forays. She monitored the newcomers until she was certain they both understood the gravity of her orders and obeyed. Sean did not speak with them at all. That first day, he stayed busy trying to teach Elenya how to hunt.
She was a remarkable student, though the process did not come natural, and Sean doubted she would ever find this a comfortable task. Elenya listened with her customary gravity, tried, and failed. Time after time they went through the motions, until they were both too exhausted to continue. She did not grow angry. Frustrated, yes. And her comments certainly took on a very crisp edge. But she swallowed her ire better than Sean ever could and kept at it.
The café now served as headquarters for Sean’s team. He and Elenya used what had previously been the café’s office, where they dragged in a futon and laid it in a corner. Mobile residences were hooked up to serve as bunkrooms and showers and kitchen. Their café was now rimmed by more temporary structures that housed a growing number of people and equipment. Sean did his best to ignore them all. Having the job of teaching Elenya to fly without her body was an excellent way to stay focused.
That night he and Dillon shared a sleeping room, with the girls bunked next door. Before they cut off the light, Sean watched Dillon reach out and touch the wall separating him from Carey. As he did so, there was a soft knock from the other side.
Sean asked, “Have you tried the spook-speak with her?”
“All the time.”
“And?”
“No contact with thoughts. But sometimes when she, you know . . .”
“Reaches out to you in love. I know.”
“You too?”
“When we took off yesterday, I saw this light or something around Elenya.”
“Carey calls it an aura.”
“That’s it.” He smiled into the room’s utter dark. Overhead the heating unit gave off a comforting hum. “I used that as my beacon coming back.”
“Nothing better. Sorry, bro, but I’d much rather aim for Carey than you.”
“Like I want to keep holding your hand one second longer.”
“Yo.”
“You’re planning something. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Sean did not reply.
“You going to talk about it?”
“Elenya knows.”
“Oh, is that so? And just exactly when were you going to share it with your wingman?”
“Wingman. I like that.” And he did. A lot.
“And?”
“I needed to work out some things first. Like bringing Elenya on board. And making sure I could hunt.”
“So you’ll tell me tomorrow?”
“First thing.”
“Good.” A moment’s silence, then, “And we’re doing this together, right?”
Sean let his eyes drift shut. Satisfied and comforted both. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Over breakfast the next morning, Sean explained what he had in mind. His brother was far easier to convince than Sean had dared hope. Carey was horrified, but Elenya’s strong grip on her hand kept Carey silent.
Dillon only had one question. “It came to you like the hunt concept did with me?”
“Like it was a cloud of an idea, and I just walked through it,” Sean confirmed.
“Then that’s it,” Dillon said.
Carey could not hold back any longer. “Are you serious?”
He gave a warrior’s shrug, equal parts determination and grim humor. “If I had told you I was going to leave my body and go for a walkabout, what would you have said?”
“This is different!”
“Absolutely.” Dillon was adamant. “This is one step further. And it’s the right thing to do.”
Elenya demanded, “You truly think this?”
“Totally.” Dillon checked the wall readout. “We’re up in five.”
Elenya slipped into the place Dillon vacated. She pushed his breakfast tray to one side and reached for Sean’s hand. “About the hunting exercise. Perhaps I should accept this is not for me and—”
“I had an idea last night. Something that might help.” He explained what he had in mind.
Elenya gave him that look. The one where she opened her gaze and allowed him to see her hidden depths. “Whether or not it works, I like very much that you try to help me like this.”
They stayed like that, holding hands across the table, until Dillon came for them. Sean felt Elenya’s concern pass through her fingers and into his frame. He knew she was worried about what he intended to try later on, but there was nothing he could do about it. He wanted to tell her it was all going to work out. He wanted to say a thousand things. But this was no time for lies.
The café’s main areas had been split into three sections. The largest was where they had breakfasted, what Chenel and Baran called the ready room. Beside that was the duty chamber. Up by the front door was a smaller room with two desks and a couple of chairs. Carver or Josef or Tirian manned that position and kept most of the others from setting foot inside. This became an increasingly difficult job with every passing hour, but not for Tirian. The former Examiner stopped traffic with his scowl.
Before he settled onto the duty room’s couch, Sean shifted the curtains and looked out at the growing horde that surrounded them.
Dillon said, “I wonder how the Cyrian authorities are explaining this buildup.”
Sean nodded to the snow-flecked glass. He thought his reflection looked scared. But there was nothing he could do about it, so he focused farther out, where the former park between the café and the main station was now jammed with equipment and mobile units and people.
Dillon went on, “Police carnival, maybe. Public display of angry egos. Has to be something.”
Carver entered the room and asked simply, “Ready?”
“Absolutely.” Dillon settled into the padded station and smiled at Carey. “Matter of fact, Sean is ready to take his own watch now. He’s good to go.”
Sean looked over. His and Dillon’s pallets were separated by a low table holding a comm link and an alarm button, and the chairs for Carver and Carey and Elenya. He said, “I need to be sure we’re in total sync for phase two.”
Dillon offered a mimic of Carver’s swift smile. “So why don’t you take lead?”
“I like how things are.”
Dillon snorted. “As if any of this was about what you like.”
“Good point.”
“So you take the hunt, I’ll follow along.” Dillon reached for Carey’s hand, shared a look with his lady, then shut his eyes. “Carver?”
“Ready when you are.”
Sean discovered a subtle pleasure in taking the lead position. He followed Dillon’s pattern, though everything he did was somewhat clumsier. He tried to hold to his brother’s speed and agility but knew he fumbled the job. Even so, Dillon stayed with him, searching where he missed, letting Sean grow comfortable with being the guy up front.
As soon as they returned and reported no change, Sean drew Elenya into the former office, settled her into position, and repeated his idea for how he might help her learn to hunt. He knew she didn’t need to hear the instructions a second time. But he could also see that she liked him forming this verbal link.
Sean suspected she might be held back by the same terror he no longer felt. The panic attack that every new Watcher most likely faced could be the deciding factor of who actually graduated into their ranks. Sean imagined those who were least comfortable with their own world and physical life were also those who made it easiest through the fear barrier. Who let go and accepted the small death. Who could roam free. And hunt.
His idea was simple enough. Focus the energy at the core of his being and distill it through his feelings. Try his best to push aside all the nervous chatter, the pressure, the worries, the uncertainties, his own fears, everything but the chance to give this amazing woman what she deserved. All he had that was good and his to give. As she settled down and breathed and tried to still her fears, he fashioned his shield into a link and poured everything that might help create both calm and confidence . . .
And she was gone.
He could actually feel it happen. Like she had moved beyond him. That she was with him no longer.
And with a terrible start, he realized for the very first time what it would mean to lose her.
He knew there was no logic to this. But they had long since entered a realm where logic held no sway. Sean watched her lay there, silent and scarcely breathing, and suffered through a glimpse of the inevitable. That even if they succeeded in fashioning a life together, even if they lived all their days as one, someday she would depart. And she would not return.
Elenya sighed softly, opened her eyes, and asked, “Why are you crying?”