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Gabby collapsed on the herb-scented bed of feathers in Jaxxson’s hut and sprawled. She’d once been forced to run track with a bunch of physical overachievers.
It had taken her three days to recuperate.
That had been nothing compared to how beat up she felt now. “Do you think the ward will hold?”
Jaxxson stood at the entrance of his hut with his back to her as he sealed the passage. The opening disappeared, filled in with more indigo-blue feathers to match the rest of the walls, then Jaxxson turned to her.
Fatigue left dark shadows under his eyes. “I’m not sure, but Callan believes we’re secure, so I will accept that.”
Pushing up on her elbows, Gabby swallowed a yawn. “How are the children?”
On the way back to his hut from powering the ward earlier, Jaxxson had split off from her to check on two children who had shown signs of their magic reacting to the Sphere. “They had mild rashes. I was able to clear that up and ease them to sleep. What about V’ru and Tony? Any progress on the prophecy?”
“Some. They’re working late. If anyone can figure out how to make that computer work, it’s Tony.”
“I don’t understand how they determined that we need the computer,” Jaxxson commented as he walked over to where he kept a gourd of water on a bench Gabby had used earlier for a chair. “I know the words of the prophecy, and nothing was said of a computer.”
She chose her words carefully, trying her best not to outright lie to Jaxxson. “The way I understand it, a TecKnati got sent back two thousand years in time and he built an analog computer that sank a ship near a Greek island. The prophecy started back then. It’s some parallel to that ancient computer.”
“I’ve read some on that, but who made the connection to us needing a computer now?”
Gabby shook her head thoughtfully. “I would ask more questions, but everyone is working so hard to solve the prophecy and find a way out that I don’t want to make it any more difficult than it is for them.”
“Me either,” Jaxxson assured her as he brought the gourd to her so she could drink first.
While she took a drink that soothed her parched throat, Jaxxson knelt on the bed.
He turned with a groan and sat hard. “Someone must have beaten me when I was asleep to make me this sore.”
Gabby took the opening he gave her to shift the subject away from the prophecy. “I hear you. I feel rode hard and put up wet.”
Jaxxson smiled at her. “You say the most unusual things. You are both beautiful and entertaining.”
And he made her feel like an amazing woman just for bringing a smile to his face.
Why hadn’t they been born in the same era?
She wouldn’t dwell on that and turned the subject back to what had drained them physically so much tonight. “Once I understood how to push our power into the ward and got the hang of it, I started feeling the energy in the ward.”
“You’re getting much stronger and gaining more control. I’m so proud of you.”
She smiled her appreciation, but she hadn’t been fishing for a compliment. “What I mean is, I could tell the ward was struggling to stay intact. We need more power than we’re generating. Do you think Rayen could help?”
Jaxxson’s face paled. “She might be able to power the entire ward, but she also might blow all of us up. She has no control of her power.”
He had a point even if he had made Rayen sound like the antichrist.
Gabby hadn’t told Jaxxson that it appeared Rayen was important to fulfilling the prophecy. The minute she did, he would ask questions Gabby doubted she could dance around as easily as she had a moment ago. Keeping her encounters with Mathias from Jaxxson was chewing her up inside, but Mathias had been adamant that she would put the MystiKs at risk if they knew what had happened to him. Mathias worried that Jaxxson and the others would try to reach out to him and open a door for the wraiths to attack them before they turned eighteen.
Jaxxson drank his fill of the gourd and lay back, pulling her down to his side. A week ago, she would have panicked at merely touching anyone, especially a guy, because she had feared hearing thoughts. And she had no experience with boys, but Jaxxson was in a league of his own.
He made her feel safe and comfortable, and loved.
Not that he’d said the L word. That was her mind playing the love game, but she’d never had the opportunity for a relationship with a guy, and after years of not even being hugged she craved this closeness.
Jaxxson waved his hand and the glowing rocks dimmed, leaving the room almost completely dark. His voice swept through her with a calming quality that came from his healing powers. “You will eventually leave and not come back.”
Those words yanked her right out of Calm City. “I don’t want to think about that.”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“I’ve been thinking about ... us.”
In the silence that followed, she considered what he was saying. At some point, the MystiKs had to go home. Gabby did, too. She had no idea what awaited her, Tony or Rayen in the past, but the longer they remained in the Sphere, the more dire the consequences when they returned. The idea of Tony going to jail turned her stomach and the thought of losing Rayen if they took her away permanently left Gabby with just as sick a feeling.
But the real killer would be waking up the day that she’d never see Jaxxson again.
That was reality, whether she wanted to avoid it or not.
“You are thinking about us, too,” Jaxxson whispered.
“Yes.” There was no point in trying to lie. He would know. “It’s just that I know it’s going to be hard to live without ever seeing you again, so I don’t want to think about it right now.”
He hugged her to him and kissed her hair. “There is a way to stay connected.”
Gabby turned, pushing herself up to look him in the face. “We can be together?”
His grim expression was answer enough, but he lifted a hand to her cheek, brushing his fingers across her skin. “You are not of age for what I have in mind—”
He had an idea? “Don’t even start with me that I’m too young for something at sixteen. In your world, they expect a lot more of someone my age than they do in mine, but I’m an old soul in a young body. It’s not the age, but the miles, and I’ve had my share because of my gifts. I’ve lived alone for so long even among others my age that I’m tired of being alone. What are you suggesting?”
“I will tell you, but this is not something that can be changed once it has been done.”
“I’m listening.” She leaned down with her arm crossed over his chest and propped herself up inches from his face. Jaxxson wasn’t built like Callan and Kaz, but more like a toned athlete. An Adonis athlete.
Both of his hands moved to her hair where he began to methodically undo each of her eight ponytails as he spoke. “There is a way to stay connected throughout time. It is called bonding, but it is only for a couple who believes they were meant to be together forever. We are halfway to bonding.”
What? Wait a minute.
Hadn’t Jaxxson executed the equivalent of jailbreaking her mind to help when her power was out of control during her last visit? He’d hesitated, saying if he pierced her mental veil, it would start a bonding.
Hadn’t Mathias said something about the bonding must happen?
Now that she thought on it, Tony and V’ru had mentioned that even if they figured out how to fulfill the rest of the prophecy the last line would stop them.
A bond of two will set us free.
Was that why Jaxxson was bringing this up?
She stayed away from the prophecy discussion, wanting to hear what he had in mind. “Are you saying you have divorce issues in the future, too?”
His lips tugged up in a half grin. “There will always be those who treat a relationship as temporary or disposable, but some believe their soul is meant to unite with only one forever.”
Her heartbeat tumbled along at a fast rhythm that was picking up speed as she realized what he was talking about. Was she really considering this? “Are you saying you want to finish forming the bond with me?”
Jaxxson’s gaze moved over her as his hands kept unwinding the ponytail bands. “I have a hard time admitting the truth, but yes.”
Call her idealistic, but she loved hearing that. “Why is it hard to admit?”
His gaze slid back to hers. “Because it would mean that you would never bond with another, only when you found my soul.”
The light bulb flashed in her head, and it had nothing to do with solving the prophecy problem. “Wait, are you saying I could find you in the past?”
“Yes, but—”
“Oh my God, oh my God ...” She shoved up, ready to dance around the hut to celebrate this news. “Yes, a thousand times yes. Of course, I’ll do this. I want only you!”
Jaxxson wasn’t jumping around celebrating with her. What was wrong? He swallowed and studied on his thoughts for a moment before replying. “You won’t find me in the past.”
“What do you mean?”
“If we are bonded, your soul will search for mine and you will find it if my soul is there.”
“Are you saying your soul travels through time?”
He did smile at that. “Not exactly. My soul—and yours—remain in the human body until that body expires then the soul moves to a new body. I researched this with V’ru while you were gone. The way I understand it, once souls are connected, they will continue to reunite with each other as soon as both reach maturity. One will always wait for the other one to return. The maturity part is a gray area, but the best I can tell, it means whatever adulthood is in each of our lives.”
She eased back down to his chest, considering what he’d explained. “Then if we bond, I would be able to find you in my time as soon as I hit adulthood?”
“Give or take a year or two, plus the fact that it will not be me physically as you see me right now, but yes, your soul would recognize mine.”
She massaged that thought, looking at the possible downside as well as the benefit. Would she be open to caring for someone who was not this Jaxxson? “What actually happens during a bonding?”
“We each cross the veil in the other’s mind, which allows our powers to blend.”
“Is it painful?”
“It is ... intense. Not painful, but life altering. I’m told you experience a level of understanding for everything around you that feels like the world is amplified at first. Once you become comfortable with the connection, then everything will recede, still more sharply in focus, but not as overwhelming.”
She latched on to the part about their powers blending and couldn’t ignore the question hanging in the back of her mind. Was this about solving the prophecy riddle? She just could not believe that Jaxxson would ask her to do this solely for the prophecy. Every ounce of her being wanted him in a way that she doubted she’d ever feel again, but she still had to know. Instead of asking about the prophecy, she chose a parallel that would answer her question.
“If we bond, will you and I be able to offer more power for shoring up the ward, Jaxxson?”
“We could, if I allowed anyone to know, but I won’t because I refuse to have you used like a charging source.” Jaxxson’s calm voice boomed with protectiveness. “Your power is greater than mine. Combined, it would expand and grow, but it takes time to become accustomed to the change. You’ve seen what happened as your Hy’bridt powers developed. No, this village will have to survive without putting you under that kind of stress.”
This really was only about the two of them.
For the next few minutes, she chewed on her lip, thinking how it would be better to take a part of Jaxxson rather than lose all of him.
Finally, Jaxxson groaned. “Please do not do that.”
“What?”
“Biting your lip.”
“Why?” She had a feeling she knew why but the vixen inside her had to tease him. It was Jaxxson’s fault after all that she’d come out of her shell of cold indifference to live like a real person.
“Because I want to kiss you and will forget about this discussion.”
Her hair now fell around her shoulders in a way that hadn’t felt normal in a long time. She’d planned to live her life alone rather than face any more heartache over the gift that had been the catalyst for her mother’s death. That was the reason she’d pretended to appear as strange as possible, to avoid connections.
But now?
Gabby considered her options now that she knew how to block the thoughts of others and had developed powers attributed to being a Hy’bridt ancestor.
Even if she could now be with another person and protect her mind, she would still be living in the shadows, hiding her gifts. She asked, “If our souls meet in the past, would yours be open to my powers?”
“If we bond, your soul will find mine and, yes, mine will have powers as well so it will feel protective of you and your power. However, since that will happen so many years in the past, my soul would very likely need you to help it understand those powers.”
So, somebody in the past would need her, but the same question kept niggling. Could she bring herself to care for someone who was not physically Jaxxson? “What if I meet this person and I don’t ... connect to him?”
Jaxxson’s smile was full of warmth. “That is the beauty of bonding. You will care for him, but you will not be forced to stay even though it will be difficult to walk away.”
“Why?”
“Because he will fall madly in love with you the moment he sees you and be ready to lay the world at your feet.”
She laughed, a light sound that filled the hut. “Like that would ever happen.”
“It already has.”
Her heart clutched at the sincerity in his words.
Jaxxson lifted his head and kissed her. His firm lips moved over hers in a dance that was familiar now and had her forgetting everything around her. The next thing she knew, she was on her back, and he was still kissing her. His fingers wove into her hair and touched her so lightly it was if they had moved to another dimension.
When he stopped, he lifted his head, drinking her in with his eyes.
She drank her own fill of him at the same time. “If we do this, will you want to, uh, ...”
He cocked a look at her but didn’t force her to say it. “To truly share my bed and have sex?”
Her face felt so hot she had to be tomato red. “Yes.”
“No. That is a physical bonding that should never happen until you have reached the point when you are prepared for that step. In your time, it would be when someone was prepared to make a commitment. But in my time, it is a vow of commitment to marry and a union of Houses.”
She probably shouldn’t feel such relief, but she wasn’t ready to take that step, even knowing she would never get the chance with Jaxxson. “Is it strange that the idea of bonding feels more important to me right now?”
He shook his head. “It is more important than a physical act. To unite two souls is eternal. If we had time to spend together, I would wait to discuss bonding, but I can’t live thinking about you alone in the past.” His chest moved up and down with a deep breath. “I would be dishonorable if I didn’t admit that I have a selfish motive. I want you in my future as much as I want you to have someone in your world. I love you, Gabby, and my soul will never want another.”
Her vision swam with tears. No one had ever wanted her, not like this. She trusted Jaxxson enough to believe that she could care for him—even if he looked like someone else in a few years—and that she’d recognize his soul when she met him.
And now she could do something for him and this village as well.
If they bonded, that would ensure a real chance at fulfilling the prophecy and sending Jaxxson home.
