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Gabby had traveled the world with her surgeon father, and they’d stayed in five-star hotels where the staffs had catered to her every whim. Not one of those places had been memorable, not like Jaxxson’s hut.
She’d missed the simplicity of his space with its dried herbs and tree stumps for chairs. Being back in his personal space filled her with a joy she’d never found in her own world.
Okay, to be honest, having Jaxxson carry her into said hut had a lot of influence on her frame of mind.
He still had the pile of blue-and-gold tortalone feathers on the floor where he’d placed them during her last visit.
Another reason to smile for no real reason.
She was officially an idiot. Over him.
But being with Jaxxson felt like coming home.
All semblance of home had vanished for Gabby after her mother had died in a car wreck. That death had been Gabby’s fault. She’d been a small child, but even then, she could hear a person’s thoughts if she touched their skin. She’d blurted out something she’d heard in her mother’s mind, a secret love affair that had been playing through her mother’s thoughts. Gabby had terrified her mother to the point she’d raced away from her demon child and lost control of her convertible, rolling it.
In all the years since then, Gabby had isolated herself, refusing to touch or allow human contact. She’d gone from one location to the next with no urge to return or stay anywhere.
Jaxxson’s hut had changed little since she was last here. Gabby had spent fourteen hours back in Albuquerque, but in that same time, two days had passed here in the Sphere.
Stopping in the middle of the room, Jaxxson lowered her feet to the ground.
But her feet refused to stay down, as if she wore anti-gravity boots instead of her scuffed black ones. Floating a foot above the ground was strange, but not a bad strange except for when she had to move around.
She lifted her hands. “What now?”
“You have to take control of your power, Gabby.”
She would not bite Jaxxson’s head off again about telling her to do something as if she could just snap her fingers and make her power perform. “Okay, let’s take this one step at a time, Jaxxson. First, I don’t feel that bright green power like I saw inside myself last time when you showed me how to find it.”
He smiled. “You are annoyed with me.”
“I was trying to not let it show.”
“Your thoughts are hard to hide from a healer.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Then why don’t you get busy healing and fix this?”
“Because if you recall, last time I made a mistake by tampering with your power and almost lost you. I will not suffer that moment again. You are the only one who should be controlling your power at this point.”
She grumbled, “Then get ready for me to turn the village into a category-three weather event.”
His smile slipped. “No, do not do that.”
“It was a joke.”
“You have a twisted sense of humor at times for such a pretty girl.” If he hadn’t smiled when he said that—and added the compliment—she might have been insulted, but Jaxxson would never say anything unkind to her. “Back to your power.”
“What am I supposed to do to make this stop when I don’t want to float? Why can’t I see that green power inside me?”
“That’s because the power is becoming one with you. When you’re unfamiliar with it at first, the power feels like something added on or stuck inside you.”
“I remember that feeling.”
“Since then, your body has joined with the power, so you do not have to go search for it, but you do have to feel it.”
Gabby crossed her arms and stared almost eye level with him. She could get used to this floating thing if she could reverse it when she needed to walk. “Well, I don’t know how to feeel it.”
Jaxxson crossed his arms now, which she read as impatient. Not a good sign. “Sit down on that stack of feathers, Gabby.”
She gave him the stink eye, which turned out to be a wasted effort when he ignored it. Unfolding her arms, she flapped, trying to push herself down the way she would if she were in water. “Clearly, ordering me to sit doesn’t work. Not that you’d miss that in your diagnosis, being a skilled healer and all. Just ignore me while I do what I’ve been doing since I left here. It’s worked so well up until now. I only had to wear a thirty-pound backpack to keep my feet on the floor.”
“There must be something wrong with me, because I have missed your caustic tongue.” Jaxxson sighed. “You are not even trying to use your powers.”
Gabby stopped flapping. She was not going to say another word until he figured out that telling her to just do it was not working.
His eyebrows jumped up. “Well?”
Nope. Not answering him.
“Let’s try this. Close your eyes, Gabby.”
She hoped this meant he was finally going to tell her something useful, so she closed her eyes and waited on his next instructions.
“Now tell your body to breathe.”
Her eyes flew open. “What? That’s ridiculous.”
“Exactly. You do not tell your body to breathe, just as you should not have to tell your feet to stay on the ground. Your body knows what it must do to keep you alive, and your power will know what to do when you direct it. Close your eyes again and envision standing on the ground.”
Here we go again.
She pictured her feet moving down and taking her weight again. She pictured weights dragging her feet down. She tried a couple of mental commands. Down, girl. Feet on the ground, now!
When Jaxxson said, “Try picturing yourself sitting on the feathers behind you,” she instead pictured grabbing Jaxxson by the neck and shaking some sense into him.
Her skin chilled, then a voice whispered in her ear. I told you I would help you if you kept my secret. Let go of your anger and I will move you to the feathers.
Her neck muscles tensed.
She recognized that voice. It was Mathias, the former MystiK leader for this village. She’d seen him in ghost form last time she was here. Jaxxson hadn’t seen the ghost and Gabby didn’t tell him that she had.
Mathias had warned her not to, for one thing.
“Very good, Gabby!”
She opened her eyes and looked up from where she sat cross-legged on the feathers.
She whispered, “How’d you do that?”
“I didn’t do that. You did.” Jaxxson grinned at her, and she felt like a star student, when she was anything but. “See how it works now?”
No, she didn’t see. Mathias had moved her, but she couldn’t tell Jaxxson about her invisible consultant. Like the rest of the village, Jaxxson believed that Mathias had left the Sphere and was being held in a TecKnati facility back in Jaxxson’s home world.
She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. When she dropped her hands and looked up at Jaxxson, he was still smiling at her.
But standing next to him was the translucent image of Mathias frowning at her.
Reacting to either expression was not going to go well since Mathias might take offense to her returning Jaxxson’s smile and Jaxxson would question her glaring at Mathias.
Jaxxson’s gaze strayed away from her, staring at nothing. She’d seen him like that before when someone called him telepathically.
He swung his attention back to her. “Zilya is calling for me, because Kenja is arguing with her. Those two are making me crazy. Stay here and practice using your powers. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Sound good?”
She gave him a plain smile and nodded.
The minute Jaxxson stepped outside, and the sound of his footsteps faded, she arched an eyebrow at Mathias. “Okay, time to start talking and tell me what is going on. What happened to you? Everyone thinks you’re back home.”
“I cannot stay long so listen closely.”
“Do you really think you don’t have my full attention by now, Math—”
“Silence!”
She scowled and crossed her arms. “Yelling at me is not a good way to gain my help.”
His form wavered in and out. “I don’t have much time.”
Now she felt bad for snapping at him. “Sorry. Tell me what you came to say.”
“The prophecy must be fulfilled.”
“What’s with this Damian Prophecy anyhow? All I hear is that it has to be fulfilled and time is running out and the world is coming to an end.”
“You made that last part up. I heard nothing of the world coming to an end.”
She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Okay, so no world is coming to an end part, but everyone acts like there will be dire consequences.”
“That part is true. I did not understand the significance of the prophecy until I died. I have moments that things come to me, but I have not been able to relay what I learn to Callan.”
Gabby perked up at that. “Does Callan know about ... you?”
“Yes. So does Rayen.”
“Are you serious? And she didn’t tell me?” Gabby was so giving Rayen a tongue lashing over holding out on her.
“She gave me her word. You should know by now that Rayen will not break her word no matter what.”
True, but Gabby still intended to bust her on it. Friends told each other things. Like when someone freaking died. “Why can I see and hear you, but no one else can?”
“Because you are a Hy’bridt. Your powers are ancient and formidable. The Hy’bridts who live in our time are revered for their abilities to move between worlds.”
Gabby shook her head. “I don’t want to move between worlds if you’re referencing the world that you’re in right now. I have no control over my powers. I’d never make it back here and I might destroy your world at the same time.”
“That is not necessary.” Mathias waved her comment off with his ethereal hand. He moved across the hut, pacing back and forth, if you could call it pacing when his feet didn’t move.
Maybe she should give him the “just put your feet on the ground” talk.
He paused and focused on her. “You must ensure that the prophecy is fulfilled.”
“How am I going to do that?”
“By following your heart when it comes to caring for people. You hide your feelings behind a sharp tongue, but you will not stand by and allow these children to remain trapped here.”
“Are you saying I have the power to do that?” She shoved up to her feet, stomping over to Mathias. “Are you saying I could have gotten them out of here by now? If that’s the case, you should have come to me sooner.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t have time to explain things that you will not understand.”
“So now I’m a moron?” she groused, hands on her hips, not backing an inch away from him.
His image shook with anger and the room vibrated around her. “How does Jaxxson deal with you when no one else can?”
“By not talking to me like I’m an idiot.” Could he choke her as a ghost?
“I don’t think you are a moron or an idiot, Gabby, but you are unfamiliar with all that goes on in this Sphere and in our world.”
“Like I said, maybe if you’d have come to me sooner, I would be more up to speed by now.”
“I couldn’t come to you before or I would have.”
She grabbed a handful of her ponytails and growled. “Why not?”
“Because it is difficult to shield myself from the wraiths for long.”
“What wraiths, Mathias?”
“No! Never say my name!” The terror that filled his eyes bled through his body, shaking his form to the point it was hard to identify the wobbling mass as any version of Mathias.
Howling started inside the hut, but it sounded as if it was coming from somewhere beyond the Sphere. Mathias looked right and left, shouting at Gabby, “You must send the children home.”
“How?”
“The prophecy. Fulfill it and ...”
Dark shapes flew into the hut, coming out of nothingness to form and fly around the room. Wind battered everything, slapping her ponytails against her face.
Gabby backed up, waving her arms. “What can I do? How do I stop them?”
“Nothing. They won’t ... touch you,” Mathias choked out before his head jerked back. The muscles in his face and throat stood out in thick cords. He clenched his jaw and groaned, struggling against an invisible force that yanked him right and left.
Her ears should be bleeding from the noise those things were making.
Mathias forced out his next words. “V’ru ... has ... prophecy. Help him ... decode it. Bonding ... must happen—”
Black shapes flooded the room, swarming Mathias. He cried out, swinging his arms, and fighting them until his arms were snatched behind him and he was dragged up toward the open roof of the hut, where the sky arched overhead.
The black swarm spun into a tight knot, then ... poof. They were gone and so was Mathias.
Gabby’s knees gave out. She hit the feather bed hard and looked up to see nothing but a sky losing light with every second that ticked toward moonset.
Ten minutes later, Jaxxson came walking back in. He glanced around at the hut, noticing herbs blown into a corner and gourds on the floor. “Did you have a weather event?”
I’m going to take one for the team, Mathias. Gabby nodded.
“Come on, Gabby. I thought you were going to practice. You shouldn’t be intimidated by your power. It is yours to control.”
She moved her mouth like a guppy struggling for air. Breathing wasn’t a problem. She was trying to figure out what to say. “Did you hear anything while you were gone?”
“Like what?”
“Wind noise. Howling wind noise?”
Jaxxson’s forehead creased in thought. “No, I heard nothing.” He looked more closely at her. “Are you okay?”
No, she wasn’t okay, but neither was she ready to talk about what she’d just witnessed. Poor Mathias had died a horrible death if those wraiths are what killed him.
And she was the only one who could hear or see him, so it was her job to do what he couldn’t and make sure these children returned home.
She recalled what he’d said.
Fulfill the prophecy and the MystiKs would go home.
Plus, something about a bonding that had to happen.
The only problem with what he’d told her was that she didn’t have any idea how to unravel the prophecy. That meant she had to talk to Mathias again, but this time she wouldn’t waste time arguing with him and she sure as heck wasn’t saying his name again.
Finding a smile for Jaxxson, she asked, “Would V’ru have information on Hy’bridts?”
“Some, but he will not be able to tell you how to manage your power.”
“That’s not what I’m after. I want to know the history of the Hy’bridt abilities.”
Jaxxson pondered that. “What exactly are you looking for?”
“You know, things like if they all have telepathy and if they all levitate.” She let her words trail off, because what she couldn’t tell Jaxxson was that she wanted to find out if she could cross over to another world and come back.
If Hy’bridts were so powerful and could walk between worlds, then why couldn’t she go into the place where Mathias was caught and free him? It was the least he deserved after sparing Rayen, Tony and her on their first visit to the Sphere.
