Chapter 22

Reece?” Levi said with concern in his voice.

He gently caressed her cheek, encouraging her to pull her forehead from his and bring her eyes back to his. She stared into his brilliant blue eyes, searching for strength.

“Sorry about that. All of this gets a little overwhelming for me sometimes.”

He nodded and gently kissed her lips. “I know it is, love, whether you tell me so or not.” His eyes were set with purpose. “It is persistently overwhelming for me as well. I have battled with this since I first learned you were to be involved, as I have told you before. It is my greatest desire to have you remain safely at the palace, waiting for us to return with my father.” He shook his head. “However, in order to bring him home and ensure the safety of Earth and her dimensions, it cannot be that way.”

Reece forced away her natural human fear and focused on regaining her courage. She did not want Levi to start worrying over her again or start second-guessing her helping their cause. Whatever had to be done, she would do it. She had the genes within her to help her, and she would maintain a great focus on the new abilities that resided within her.

“I know.” She smiled. “Well, the way I see it, the longer we sit here talking about what I need to do, the longer it’s going to take for me to learn it.” She sighed. “So when do we start the underwater challenge?”

Levi faintly smiled and looked out at the sparkling water in front of them. “We can start now, if you are ready. I informed Harrison that I would spend the rest of the day out of meetings helping you with this.”

“Did you bring some swimsuits for us?” She laughed.

“Do we really need any?” He kissed her nose. “Of course I did.” He laughed.

Once changed into their swimming attire, they got into the water. Levi took advantage of the moment and brought Reece into his arms, starting this new training with a heartfelt kiss. As he did, Reece’s mind began to unwind and calm down. She seemed to absorb the strength and power that always seemed to radiate from him.

She gazed intently into his eyes, relaxed and ready to proceed. “How do we start?”

“It is as simple as what you did with Harrison on your run the other day, and when you worked with Brandon in the training unit. Clear your mind of any fear. Simply stop breathing, and convey to yourself that you do not require oxygen. Your body shall acquiescence, so long as you believe that you do not need the oxygen.”

She closed her eyes, trying to figure out how to tell her body it wouldn’t need oxygen underwater. Breathing was such a natural thing. She never felt as though she had to tell herself to breathe, so telling herself not to do so now was difficult.

“Are you ready to try?”

She nodded.

“Open your eyes, love.”

She did.

“Reece, do not fear. If you cannot do this yet, we will keep working on it until you are able to.”

“Call me crazy, but trying to turn off an involuntary bodily process seems a little bit unnerving,” she said uneasily. “Not to mention the fact that I’ve had a fear of drowning since I had a close call at the beach when I was little.” She sighed. “So nice of that memory to return to me at this point in time.” She thought for a moment. “The man who saved my life, he came from nowhere and reached me before the lifeguard did. Was he my—?”

Before she could finish, Levi grinned and nodded. “Your Guardian? Yes.”

“Wow, you guys weren’t messing around, were you?” She shook her head in disbelief. “All right, here we go. Let’s hope I can do this.”

“Remove fear from your mind.” Levi ran a hand over her hair. “Allow your mind to relax. Let us start first by going under water. Hold your breath, and see if you can mentally overcome your need for oxygen.”

She inhaled deeply. “Okay.”

Levi nodded. “Whenever you are ready.”

With that, she held her breath and went under water. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on not wanting to breathe, but it seemed the more she focused on that, the more she wanted to. She began to panic mildly, and her body would not comply with her mental command. She desperately needed air.

If I couldn’t do this, Levi wouldn’t be attempting to try this with me. I don’t need to breathe. I don’t need air.

It was too much. She erupted out of the water, gasping for air. Levi was there with her, smiling with encouragement.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Do not apologize. When you are ready, we shall try again.”

She bit her bottom lip in concentration. Maybe it would help this time if she opened her eyes and focused on Levi. “Go under with me,” she requested.

“As you wish.”

They went under the water together, but her plan didn’t work. She could not do this at all. She came up from underneath the water breathless, her lungs screaming for oxygen.

“I really don’t think I can do this,” she said in remorse. “I think you guys may be wrong about me. If I can’t do this, how are we to go to the stone?”

Levi kissed her softly. “I believe the reason this is not working is because you doubt yourself. You have the ability, and you are already demonstrating that you can control your body with the power of your mind. You simply have to believe you can master this particular skill, and it will happen.”

She shook her head. “Easy for you to say, Mr. I was born with these talents!”

“Ah! A new pet name for me?” Levi teased.

“I’m glad you’re finding this all humorous.”

Levi smiled at her sweetly as he tucked her wet hair behind her ear. “Reece, close your eyes. Allow your mind to drift off and relax. Focus on something that will take you out of this moment.”

She exhaled, somewhat frustrated. “Levi, I can’t do—”

He pulled her in close to him and brought his lips to her neck. He softly began placing tender kisses along her skin, and Reece closed her eyes with satisfaction. She let her head relax back into the palm of his sturdy hand. Her mind calmed as Levi continued placing kisses along her jawline. Her heart rate slowed, as well as her breathing.

His lips were at her ear. “Hold your breath,” he whispered.

She did. They remained above the water, and Levi continued to kiss her. She thought about the desire to breathe and no longer fought the need for air. At that moment, the sensation of wanting to inhale or exhale vanished. She was doing it. It was that simple? she thought. After five minutes of not breathing, Levi slowly brought them under the water again. He released her from his embrace, allowing her to do it on her own.

She kept her eyes closed and continued to focus on remaining calm. Being under the water was somewhat of a change, but as long as she remained calm, her mind did an excellent job of persuading her body to not seek oxygen. In her mind, she knew that exactly ten minutes had passed, and she still had no desire for air. She opened her eyes and saw Levi’s brilliant ones staring back at her.

She couldn’t resist the urge and impulsively brought her lips to his. The next thing she knew, her heart was racing and she needed to breathe. Nice job, Reece! she thought while pulling away from him and popping her head up out of the water.

She smoothed her hair back with both her hands. “Ugh! I was doing a good job, too!”

“You did an excellent job,” he said with excitement.

She sighed. “Let’s do it again.”

“Will you require my assistance in order to help you concentrate again?” he said with a mischievous grin.

“As wonderful as that was, no, I don’t think so.”

She wanted to do this on her own. Her mind grew calm, her heartbeat followed, and she halted her breath. Slowly, she went beneath the surface of the water. She gracefully pushed off the soft sandy surface beneath her and began swimming through the water. She let the beauty of the unique fish swimming throughout this body of water calm her. So entranced by the beauty of swimming through the waters, she had no idea how long she swam beneath the surface.

The water became increasingly less visible the deeper she swam. She watched as Levi gracefully dove down toward the darkness below them. Feeling much braver, she followed him. She thought of nothing more than how enjoyable this was. To swim with Levi in this way, and to have the same talents that he possessed, was indescribable.

How deep is this lake? It became extremely dark, and the only light was far above them at the surface. Oh no! Reece thought as she felt panic begin to set in. What if she needed to breathe? How long could she go without oxygen? The thought made her body wretch by the need to breathe. She began swimming upwards, hoping she would make it to the surface while she fought the urge to inhale water into her lungs. She wasn’t close enough, and she knew there was no way she would make it. Then without warning, she was in Levi’s powerful embrace. He covered her mouth with his and breathed into her mouth, filling her burning lungs. She was weak and lightheaded with relief.

She clinched her eyes shut as Levi swam them both to the surface. Once at the top, he held her in his arms, swimming them to the shoreline. Reece was barely able to stand once they were in shallow enough waters.

Levi kissed her forehead as she looked at him in pity. “Sorry about that,” she managed.

“I am exceedingly proud of your efforts today,” he said with his usual striking grin. “I was not sure that you would make this much progress in such a short amount of time.”

His words were encouraging, and Reece felt proud of herself. She could do this, she was doing this; she had no other option but to believe in herself fully from this point forward. She embraced Levi tightly, excited that they would be journeying to the stone soon.

At the palace, Levi helped Reece off her saddle. He drew her arm up into his as he led her up to the gardens of Pasidian. Excited by her accomplishments from earlier, she couldn’t remove the idea from her mind that they would be headed back to Earth to get the stone soon.

“Levi?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think I did well enough today that we’ll be able to leave for the stone soon?”

Levi brought his other hand up and covered hers that rested in the bend of his arm. “It is still unclear to me at this point. You did very well; however, I am unsure as to how you will react in the dark water of the ocean right now.”

She recalled her panicking in the deepest part of the lake. That’s why he dove down. He was testing how I would react to that.

“Is it really that bad?” She sighed. “That deep?”

He halted their walk. “The stone is located amongst isolated islands. These peculiar islands have numerous rugged caves everywhere. There are very narrow passageways, and in order to get to the location of the stone, we must dive deep below the ocean surface and swim through those underwater caves.”

Reece’s eyes widened as she imagined the reality of the task at hand. “There’s no access to this place from the surface?”

He shook his head. “Unfortunately, there is not. The images that the map has displayed within my mind show this as the only route.” He gazed past her. “It is strange, the way that I view this location and see the map, it’s as if I am seeing the memory of Paul Xylander making this journey himself.” He looked down at Reece.

“That is strange, but believable, I suppose. I wonder if that’s what the map really is, a memory of Paul’s that passed down genetically.”

“It would make sense, yes. However, I also have coordinates and graph images, as a map would have.”

Reece grinned. “Where is this stone anyway? I’ve never thought to ask you about it before, but since we’re so close to going there, can you say?”

Levi grinned. “As desperately as I want to tell you, I cannot. While Mordegrin is in Pemdas, I do not feel it is safe to say. I am unsure as to how powerful his abilities might be. I almost told Harrison the stone’s location, but I had a strange feeling that Mordegrin may somehow be able to listen in on our conversations.”

“Well, we’ve learned never to be too careful in the presence of anyone who takes an interest in the stone, haven’t we?”

“I don’t trust that man.” He touched her cheek. “It is why I have him far from the palace. I cannot trust his intentions around you. He gives me a bizarre feeling whenever I am close to him.”

“With all that has been happening with me, is there any way that you will start to consider a time frame for us to get the stone?”

“After witnessing your swift progression with your abilities,” Levi inhaled, “I believe I can. If you continue to improve at this rate, we may journey to the stone before the week is over.”

She sensed his uncertainty. “I’m not really close to being ready, am I?”

“You will be, in time.” He sighed. “I will not allow you to take such a journey if there is a possibility you might panic and put yourself in grave danger.”

“I’ll keep practicing.”

He drew her arm back up into his, resuming their walk. “I know you will.”

Reece remained quiet, walking alongside of him. She needed to find a way to prove to him that she could be ready faster. She was the hold up; she could see it in his eyes. She could tell he desperately wanted to get all of this done and over with. She figured that if she was more successful today, there would have been a better chance of leaving for Earth either the next day or day after that. How do I find a way to improve faster? she thought.

“Levi, Reece!” Harrison said enthusiastically as he approached them.

“On your way to the training center, I presume?” Levi returned.

“Yes, the Guardians we have chosen to journey into this new galaxy are slowly starting to arrive at the palace. Most of them will be here within the hour, and the rest by tomorrow morning. I plan to start their training as soon as possible.”

Levi nodded. “That is excellent news.”

“How did you do today, Reece?”

“I didn’t do as well as I would’ve liked. Would you mind if I joined you and the Guardians as they train tonight?”

“I am certain you have not eaten anything today. Would you prefer to freshen up after swimming in the lake?” Levi answered.

“If you keep trying to pamper me, I’ll never be ready.” She smiled confidently at him. “I’m fine.” She looked back at Harrison. “Well? Are you up for a little hand-to-hand combat with me?”

Harrison grinned. “Why, I thought you would never ask!”

Levi gazed sternly at Harrison. “Go easy on her, Harrison. She is doing very well, however—”

“Levi,” Reece firmly interrupted him. “Please, have a little more faith in me. I need more challenges if I’m going get better at this.”

“She will be fine, Levi,” Harrison said, then he looked at Reece. “And you are correct, you must indeed be challenged.” His smile broadened. “And I shall be delighted to be the one offering the challenge to you.” He winked, and then looked back at Levi. “My father and King Hamilton are still going over some of the details we discussed after you left the meeting this afternoon.”

“Very well. I will search them out so they can inform me of any new information.” He looked at Reece. “If I am able, I will dismiss the meeting early in order to spend the evening with you.”

She smiled. “Sounds great!”

With that, Harrison dramatically raised his arm. “Shall we then, my lady?”

Reece laughed and gladly took it. “Hopefully after tonight, you won’t be referring to me like that.”

Levi softly laughed as he left Harrison to walk Reece toward the training center.

“I believe tonight is the night we prove you and Levi both wrong, what do you say? Then I shall refer to you as a brave Pemdai warrior instead.”

Reece gazed up at him in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, neither one of you believe that you are ready, or my cousin would not have that look on his face.”

“I know, I was thinking about that, too. I panicked in the water, and I think that’s what’s concerning him.”

“Reece, there is no better way to gain your confidence other than to go at this head on. We shall start with the combat skills.” He stopped before walking in. “If we can do this, and really prove it to Levi and mainly yourself, I guarantee your outlook and reservations about your abilities will change.”

“Gonna beat it out of me, eh?” she teased.

Harrison opened the door and smiled mischievously at her. “Absolutely.”

At first it was only Harrison and Reece in the training room, and then close to an hour later, others began filtering in and started performing their drills when the instructors gathered in the room. Harrison kept Reece off to the side, working on his own combat drills with her. They went through a lot of the same fighting moves that Brandon had done with her earlier that day, and Reece was becoming bored with all of it.

“So when are you going to show me how you really fight?” she said with a laugh.

Harrison raised his eyebrows at her. “That’s the spirit.” He squared up to her. “You ready?”

She prepared herself for the attack. “Whenever you are.”

Harrison swiftly advanced on her, planting a foot and throwing a straight arm punch directly at her, which she easily deflected. Harrison quickly countered, pulling her into a powerful embrace. She should have felt the pressure of the tight embrace, but she didn’t. She felt nothing but power, and she knew what her next step was. With Harrison standing behind her and the wall before her, she used it to climb it swiftly with her feet, flipping herself up and over his head and freeing herself from his grips. Before he could turn around to face her, she squatted down and swung her leg around his ankles in an attempt to bring him to the ground.

She was almost successful, but Harrison quickly regained his balance. She was on her feet at that time and was ready for his next move. Every move Harrison came at her with, she countered perfectly. She wasn’t as strong as he was, but her mind kept her ahead of his every move and out of harm’s way. They went aggressively like this for close to two hours, never stopping to take a break. She wasn’t breathing heavily, and her heart wasn’t racing, she was simply fighting him. No matter what he did, she was just as fast, if not faster, than he was. He tried more than once to pin her, but her mind easily calculated a way out of the position he held her in.

As she went to counter with a jab, he caught her fist and laughed in delight. “Now, that is what we want!”

She gave him a smug grin. “You quitting so soon, Commander?”

He shook his head. “As much as I desire to continue our match, I must send for Levi. He needs to witness this for himself.”

She cocked her head to the side. “I did it, didn’t I?”

“Reece, you were brilliant. I believe you can guard on Earth now if you like. Your speed is phenomenal, and the style in which you fight was even a challenge for me at times.” He grinned. “That is why Levi must witness this for himself. You aren’t thinking about anything as you fight me, are you?”

“No. It’s like my body has full control. If I start to think about how I am doing it, I’ll screw up.”

“Go hydrate yourself. I shall be back in a moment.”

While sipping on her water, she watched the other Guardians as they went through their drills together, learning more moves in the process. They fought with their long swords, and it was mesmerizing for her to learn this new skill by simply observing them.

“Reece, remember what we have been working on. You can do this again. Levi will be here at any moment. I want him to see this,” Harrison said as he walked back into the room.

Wait! What? This was very familiar to her. Wow! She had done this before. The men fighting in the room around her, Harrison approaching her—but when?

“Harrison, we’ve done this before. Haven’t we?” she asked in disillusionment.

Harrison laughed. “Very funny.” He looked past her. “Ah, he has arrived. Wait here,” he said in enthusiasm.

She turned and saw Levi dressed in slacks, shirt, and waistcoat, opposite of Harrison and the others in the training unit. Levi’s expression was somber as Harrison approached him in conversation. He glanced briefly at his cousin before he directed this very grave expression toward Reece. He nodded, stood back, and crossed his arms. In that moment, Harrison turned back toward Reece. His expression was radiant with excitement. Then she remembered; everything about this was identical to the vision she had on their honeymoon. Another premonition coming to fruition!

Harrison squared up into position. “Now, we will start slow. When you feel your body taking over, just go with it like you did before.”

In that moment, Harrison jabbed out at her, and without thinking she deflected the punch. His grin widened. Before she knew it, she was fighting Harrison again, defending herself against the strong man’s every move. Her mind knew what he was going to do before he did it, and as quickly as he moved, she countered back even faster. Harrison was trying to challenge her more than before.

When they finished, Levi walked out to where they stood. He grinned at Reece. “Truly amazing—”

“Exactly. See, she is ready. She will be fine,” Harrison said confidently.

Levi smiled at Harrison. “She will be fine in combat should harm come her way. I can definitely see that.” He looked back at Reece. “Tomorrow we shall practice your swimming again.”

“Tonight!” she interrupted him. “If you can’t go, then I will have someone else go with me.”

Harrison laughed, and Levi stared at her in astonishment. “You need to take a break.”

She shook her head. “No! I can do this. I want to do this.”

Levi eyes were lit with pride. “There is a large pool in the eastern courtyard of the palace, we will practice there.”

She shook her head. “I have a better idea. Give me five minutes, and tell Javian to saddle Areion for us.”

With that, she jogged past Levi and Harrison out the door. She made it up to the palace swiftly and into her and Levi’s living quarters. “Jasmeen, can you have Henry get Levi’s swimming shorts? I need my swimsuit as well.”

Jasmeen laughed. “Your swimming attire is at the front of your closet in the short cabinets. It appears you are in a hurry, so I will notify Henry immediately.”

Once Reece retrieved their swimming attire, she walked quickly through the palace halls and out to where Levi and Harrison were waiting at the stables for Areion to be saddled.

“I’m not interrupting your meetings, am I?” she said to Levi.

Levi grinned. “The meetings can wait. I believe this is more important.”

Javian approached with Areion, and Harrison clapped Levi on his shoulder. “Let me know if we will be leaving tonight or first thing tomorrow to retrieve the stone.”

With a wink to Reece, he turned and walked back toward the training units.

Once they were on Areion, Levi asked, “Where exactly is it that we are going?”

“Find the closest, darkest lake. I don’t care.”

She felt Levi laugh, and then they were off. Not long after, they approached a large lake. They dismounted and prepared themselves to swim. Reece’s mind was desperately ready for this, and unlike earlier, she was not afraid. Without waiting for Levi, she jogged out into the water and dove below its surface. Without the desire to take a breath, she swam in the dark water, watching the fish cast flickering, illuminating rainbow trails all around her. When she felt she was deep enough and she saw Levi at her side, she dove deeper. There was no need to inhale or exhale, she’d hardly breathed at all while fighting Harrison. Everything was coming to her now, and this was more enjoyable than anything.

She swam like this for close to forty minutes before she thought it was best to return to the surface to see what Levi’s thoughts were about her progress. Once at the surface, Levi pulled her swiftly into an embrace, and she squealed with delight.

“See, I did it!” She giggled.

Levi stared at her in astonishment. “I do not understand how quickly you were able accomplish this.”

“You don’t have to.”

He laughed and kissed her lips.

“Now, when do you think we’ll be able to go to the stone? Was that my final test?”

Levi nodded seriously. “Are you feeling that confident?”

“Levi, we could swim all night, and I wouldn’t care.” She laughed. “I haven’t had anything to eat at all today, yet I won’t allow my mind to think I am hungry. I’m doing all of this so much easier now.”

“If,” he kissed her softly, “you return to the palace and eat something, I will notify Harrison that we will leave for the stone shortly after you have finished your meal.” He stared into her eyes. “Unless you would like to rest for the evening? In that case, we can leave first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Tonight?” she said with determination and excitement. “You have been more desperate to go to the stone than you were letting on.”

“I would never pressure you.”

“Then we leave tonight.”

He kissed her again. “Yes.”

Reece could not be more relieved that this was all finally starting to move forward. It would not be long before they could all journey into this new galaxy and recover Emperor Navarre.