by Elana Brooks
Suddenly shy, she pulled back, but didn’t stop grinning. “Adrian! You made it!”
He blinked and swallowed. The brief pressure of her body against his had set his heart pounding and left tingling echoes everywhere they’d made contact. “You look wonderful.”
Maybe that had been the wrong thing to say, but it had slipped out before he could think. But it was okay, because she responded with delight. “I feel wonderful! Guess what I did today.”
“What?” He glanced at Rabbi Sensei, but his mentor was regarding them both with a genial expression.
“So the first week I was here, Rabbi Sensei had me walking around the track up there for half an hour each morning and afternoon. It was exhausting. Then last week he wanted me to start running. Just for thirty seconds, then two minutes of walking, over and over. Monday I couldn’t even do that, but by Friday it wasn’t too bad. Then this morning, all of a sudden I could last a full minute! Every time! This afternoon, too. It was great!” She bounced on her toes and hugged herself.
Her joy was infectious. A broad grin spread across his face in response. “Wow. You’ve really been working hard.”
She deflated, shrugging, though the corners of her mouths still twitched up. “You probably think it’s nothing. I bet you’ve run marathons.”
He had, but that didn’t seem relevant right now. Her victory might appear small to him, but to her it was huge. He must be picking up her emotions telepathically, because he understood just how huge on a visceral level. “It’s not nothing,” he told her, with complete honesty. “I’m impressed.”
Her full smile returned. “I’ve got a long way to go. I made Rabbi Sensei show me what he’s got planned. Every week I’m supposed to run a little longer, a little farther. It seems impossible, but supposedly if I keep it up I’ll get to the point I can run five whole kilometers. Maybe as soon as two months from now.”
“I believe you can do it.” He did, too. “You’re the sort of person who can do anything if you make up your mind you want to.”
“You think so?” She glowed so brightly his throat caught. “You know, that’s what’s worked for me in the past, when I needed to do something really hard. One little step at a time. It helps so much to see the path laid out, broken down into nice manageable pieces.”
He was sure that’s why Rabbi Sensei had agreed to show her his plans. He was amazingly good at reading people and understanding what would motivate them. It shouldn’t surprise him that the combination of Rabbi Sensei’s wisdom and Beverly’s determination had brought her so far in such a short time. “So, what are you working on now?” He nodded to the mat.
Rabbi Sensei answered. “I’m about to introduce her to karate. I’d like you to serve as her sparring partner, if you don’t mind. I’d also like you to take over coaching her in meditation, astral projection, and the rest of the psychic skills. Working full time with you for the past two weeks has been a great pleasure, my dear,” he said, bowing to Beverly. “But I do have other responsibilities that demand my attention.”
The assignment was even more than he’d hoped for. He’d be spending most of every day with Beverly. Schooling his face to show only a decorous amount of pleasure, he nodded sharply. “I’m game. Let’s get started.”
The session that followed dampened his enthusiasm. Beverly really did have a long way to go. Her limbs went every which way, she had to stop often to catch her breath, and moves which Adrian had been performing unthinkingly since kindergarten she mastered only with great concentration and lots of repetition.
But there were encouraging signs, too. She never complained. She attacked each new skill with fierce determination and persisted no matter how many attempts it took to get it right. At the end of the hour-long session, she looked disappointed when Rabbi Sensei called a halt.
“Change clothes and go to the meditation garden as usual. Adrian will meet you there.” Beverly nodded and headed for the women’s locker room. “Adrian, a word with you for a moment?”
“Of course, Sensei.” Adrian turned his attention back to his mentor.
Rabbi Sensei kept his voice low, even when Beverly vanished through the locker room door. “As you see, Beverly has made an excellent start toward mastering her powers. The change in her is remarkable. Though I’ve seen similar transformations before. For someone who’s been repressing their powers their whole life, to be able at last to embrace and express their whole being is a powerfully liberating experience.”
Adrian’s throat felt tight. “She’s so much happier.”
“She is.” Rabbi Sensei looked narrowly at him. “And, dare I say it, so are you.”
Adrian looked away, his face hot. Hopefully his blush didn’t show—that was one advantage to dark skin. “I feel responsible for her.”
“Yes.” Rabbi Sensei sighed. “Adrian, I’m going to be blunt, because we have no time for subtlety. The two of you are soul bonded. Even if I hadn’t known already, it would have been obvious to me as soon as your eyes met. The connection between you is evident to anyone with even a trace of psychic sensitivity.”
Adrian tried to meet his eyes, but had to shift his gaze away. “I know.”
“Do you love her?”
Adrian felt like he’d been punched in the gut. When Rabbi Sensei said he was going to be blunt, he meant it. “I—I—we barely know each other. We’ve only talked a couple of times.” Although each conversation had veered quickly into emotionally intimate territory. Had he ever known another woman, even those he’d interacted with for years, as deeply as he knew Beverly already? “It’s much too soon—”
“Let me rephrase the question, then. Can you love her? In the fullness of time, assuming the relationship continues to progress, is she someone you are capable of loving with your whole self? Body, mind, and soul?”
Adrian balled his hands into fists. “How am I supposed to answer that? I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, I feel—” Those feelings were none of Rabbi Sensei’s business. “I know I care about her. Even though she’s not anyone I would have chosen to get involved with, now that it’s happened, she means a lot to me.”
Rabbi Sensei nodded slowly. “Neither of you chose the other. That’s the crux of the matter. Can you, having been robbed of the choice that should have been yours, move beyond the circumstances that brought you together? Can you overcome the barriers that separate you? They’re not inconsiderable.” He raised a hand to still Adrian’s protest. “She is of a different race. She is of a different class. And she is of a different physical type. Although her training will undoubtedly have the side effect of reshaping her body into a form somewhat more to a young man’s tastes, that’s not its purpose, and she’ll never completely match this culture’s standard of physical beauty. Are you willing to work through whatever troubles those very real differences bring you? Can you set them aside enough to experience the essential affinity of your souls?”
“I think so,” Adrian whispered. “I hope so.”
Rabbi Sensei smiled at him, eyes heavy with ancient sadness. “I hope so, too, my son, for your sake. Soul bonds are dangerous. Even for those who enter into them with full willingness, after much consideration, they sometimes prove deadly. In your case, it’s astonishing that you could form a bond at all, and that it didn’t tear asunder immediately, destroying you both. The fact you could and it didn’t shows there’s some spark between you, some possibility that your bond can in time become fully realized. Yet the danger remains. If either of you veers from the path that leads toward the other, the bond will react. Your experience last week was only a very mild taste of what could happen. If a soul bond is strained too severely, it can snap. Do you know what would happen then?”
Adrian swallowed. “What?”
“You would both die.” Rabbi Sensei regarded him gravely. “I won’t allow that to happen.”
Adrian’s mouth was so dry he thought he might choke. “No.”
He wanted to look away, but Rabbi Sensei’s eyes held him as the
old man spoke. “You know, my son, that you’re expendable, while she is not. I dearly pray the two of you will come together fully and your bond will magnify you both into mighty warriors for our cause. But if I become convinced that won’t happen, I’ll act to save Beverly. If necessary, by destroying the soul bond in the only way possible.”
“I understand.” He’d told Beverly any member of the Covenant would be willing to sacrifice their life in order to defeat the Seraphim. “That’s why I attempted the bond in the first place. Because we need her powers.” He licked his lips. Terror and resentment and a desperate desire to live clamored in his heart, but he shoved them down. He pictured the sky outside darkening, rain pouring down, the waters surrounding New York rising to engulf the city. “You have to do whatever it takes to protect her. When I joined the Covenant, I pledged my life to our cause. That hasn’t changed.”
Rabbi Sensei put both hands on his shoulders. “You make an old man’s heart proud.” He blinked and gave Adrian a genuine smile. “The Covenant would suffer gravely to lose you, as would I. So unless and until I have no choice, I’ll do everything in my power to bring the two of you together. Woo her and win her, my son, and this discussion will prove academic.”
“I’ll try.” And not just to save his own life, either. He remembered the way Beverly’s eyes had lit up when she’d seen him. If there was a way he could bring that glow to her face to stay, it would be worth any price.
“I have great faith that you’ll succeed.” He beamed at Adrian, and for a moment Adrian shared his certainty.
But then his mentor’s eyes sobered. “However, if the time comes when you realize that for whatever reason you cannot succeed, and that Beverly must either be freed from the soul bond or perish, come to me. There are tasks which must be done that carry great risk. If your life must be forfeit, we’ll spend it to save many other lives along with hers.”
“I will. I promise.” Adrian felt lightheaded, but he shook the sensation off.
Rabbi Sensei clapped him on the shoulder and released him. “Go. Meet her in the garden and teach her more about her powers. She’ll be delighted if you take her flying; I haven’t let her venture out of the building yet. Here, this is how to release the block I put on her.” His brow creased in concentration for a moment, and Adrian opened his mind to receive the wordless knowledge. “I trust you to judge whether her attachment to her body is firm enough to allow her to remain unblocked. I think she may have reached that point. If not, call me and I’ll reinstate it. I think it wiser not to put you in the position of being the one to restrict her freedom.”
“No.” Adrian smiled, his cheeks feeling as stiff as if it had been years since they’d last formed that expression. “She’d be furious at me. Not exactly a good move if I want her to—” To open up to him, to fall in love with him, to kiss him, to… “—to learn to trust me.”
“Not at all. Also, I suggest you not mention what we’ve just discussed. No woman likes to think a man is pursuing her for any reason other than her own desirability.”
“Oh, no,” Adrian agreed fervently. “I won’t breathe a word.” With any luck, things would go well, and Beverly would never have to know what might have happened if they hadn’t.
Adrian headed to the locker room to change, thinking about how best to approach Beverly with his new goal in mind. Surprisingly, the resentment he’d felt earlier had evaporated. There was a wonderful freedom to knowing it was no longer a question of whether or not he would pursue a deeper relationship with Beverly, but only how.
A deep, warm gladness washed over him, mixed with a simmer of anticipation. This was what he wanted. He couldn’t doubt it any more. It surely wouldn’t be easy, it might not always be comfortable, it would likely push him to the edge of what he’d previously believed himself capable of and beyond. But it was good, it was right, it was exciting.
He couldn’t wait.
Chapter 13
Beverly sat on the bench by the fountain and scowled at Adrian as he approached. Her earlier delight and excitement had vanished. All she could think about was how horribly inept she’d been in her first karate lesson. Had Rabbi Sensei really had to put all her shortcomings on display in front of Adrian like that? He’d tried to hide it, but she’d seen the dismay on his face. He’d tried to be patient when it took her dozens of tries to get the simplest move right, but his eyes had kept shifting off hers whenever he’d assured her she would get it eventually, and his fingers had fidgeted with the ends of his black belt when he thought she wasn’t watching. He would have much rather been working with someone at his level, someone who could challenge him and give him the chance to use his strong, graceful, highly trained body to the full extent of its abilities. Not waste all that magnificent potential babysitting someone who couldn’t even get through the first kata without a dozen mistakes.
His pleasant smile faltered when he met her frown, but she couldn’t force her face into any other expression. She looked away and raised one shoulder defensively. “I really stunk up the room down there, didn’t I? Bet you think I’m hopeless. I’m such a klutz.”
She didn’t want to wall him out this way, but she couldn’t help it. Even the puzzled hurt in his eyes couldn’t convince some deep, vulnerable corner of her heart that he was no threat. She could open the door to him, just a crack, but as soon as he accepted her invitation and stepped over the threshold, the burglar alarm sounded and all her defenses slammed back into place.
She’d been such a fool to display her delight at seeing him again so openly. He must see her as desperately needy, misinterpreting his polite concern as interest, shamelessly fawning on him when he felt nothing more than mild friendliness. If that much.
He sat down on the bench next to her. “Actually, for a beginner you show great promise. I was very impressed with how much effort you put into it. If you keep giving that much energy and focus to your lessons, you’ll learn fast.”
She laughed without humor. “In other words, I was lousy, but I tried hard. Thanks a lot.”
In her peripheral vision she saw him turn to look at her. “That’s not what I meant.”
She kept staring at the fountain. “It’s just that you’re so much better at it than I am. I saw how you were holding yourself back when we were doing throws. You could have tossed me across the room if you’d wanted, and I could only put you on the mat because you did half the work for me.”
“Well, yes, but that would be the same with anyone who’d never tried karate before.”
“Maybe, but anyone with even a little natural talent would’ve at least not kept making the same mistakes over and over.”
He bent forward to try to catch her gaze, but she avoided his eyes. “Natural talent isn’t half as important as dedication.”
She shrugged. “That’s easy to say when you’ve got both.”
He was silent for several seconds. When he finally spoke, there was a light, teasing note in his voice. “Tell you what. I know something we can try that you’ve got way more natural talent at than I do. I guarantee that by the end of the first lesson, I’ll have to use every bit of training I’ve got just to stay even with you. And even so, you’ll probably cream me.”
Despite her wariness, she brightened. “Really?” Before she thought about it she shifted to face him.
“Really. Come on. The arenas are on the next floor.” He rose and extended his hand to her.
Cautiously she took it and let him draw her to her feet. “Does Rabbi Sensei think I’m ready to try whatever it is?” she asked nervously.
“He didn’t specifically say, but he told me to use my judgment. It’s safe enough. I’ve had tons of practice, and I’ll be careful with you until I’m sure you know what you’re doing. I promise, you’ll like it.” His encouraging grin was so contagious she found herself grinning back. She dropped his hand and turned away, but when he headed for the elevator, she followed without further protest.
One floor up, the elevator opened on anot
her meditation garden. This one was set up differently. There were far fewer plants, and instead of meandering at random, the paths divided the space into four quadrants. In the center of each was a large empty circle paved in stone, with cots spaced around its edge.
“These are arenas for a game we call energyball.” Adrian led her to the nearest, sat down on one of the cots, and gestured to another. “Rabbi Sensei showed me how to unblock you. Let me in and I’ll take care of it, then meet me in astral form.”
“All right,” she said, sitting down. Eagerness and resentment warred in her heart. “Are you going to block me again when we’re done?”
“Nope. Rabbi Sensei told me you were ready to do without.”
That was such welcome news all her wariness evaporated. She flopped on the cot and lowered the walls around her mind that Rabbi Sensei had taught her to create and control. Ready.
All right. Here. She felt the same lurch of déjà vu as always when the block was removed. It felt impossible that she’d ever not known how to separate her soul from her body. It was as easy now as walking or speaking or reading—skills she’d learned so long ago and so completely they’d become instinctive.
She drifted up, stretching her astral limbs, luxuriating in the freedom, then bounced to her feet and bounded to the center of the arena. Adrian moved to meet her. His tether stretched thick and solid back to his reclining body. Seeing it reminded her to check her own. What did you know? Even though she hadn’t thought about it, it was almost as bright and firm as his. She strengthened it even more for good measure, feeling Adrian’s approval like a wash of warm sunlight.
He gestured up to the walls, where the same dark windows as in the meditation garden lurked near the ceiling. “There are guardians on duty if we get into trouble, but we shouldn’t need them.” He grinned and quirked an eyebrow at her. “In energyball, the goal is to break your opponent’s tether.”