Parallel (Mortisalian Saga Book 1)

by L. J. Stock

  “Still good for a newbie. Seems to me you’ve discovered exactly what your focus has to be on.”

  I shook my head and forced myself toward Alexa, reaching out and squeezing her arm to make sure she was the real one, because being in the water, I could still see Damon behind her.

  “Yes, you're really here,” Alexa teased, her arms enveloping me in an embrace filled with pride. “I knew you'd be a natural once you got it.”

  “T-t-time out?” I stuttered. I hadn’t realized that we’d gone way beyond both of the regular time limits.

  Alexa made me sit in the truck for a good thirty minutes, making sure the heat was just right as I regulated my body temperature. It was nice to take a small break, even if the others were in the car talking at me about the theory of connecting to the energy of the water rather than a person. It was pretty much the same kind of thing – keep my attention on the water I was aiming for and push through.

  Alexa led the discussion by using an example. She confessed that one of her favorite spots to go when she needed some time to herself was Lake Tahoe. In the winter it was too cold to translocate directly to the lake, so she would use one of the hot tubs in the many houses on the mountain. According to her, all she did was form an image of the machinery, and the bubbling heat of the water, and the tangy smell of the chlorine. It sounded like fun, but going somewhere cold seemed a little redundant to me.

  I felt beyond exhausted as I sat there listening to them. Now that the heat was surrounding me and the shivering had subsided, all of my energy had depleted, leaving me tired. My limbs felt like lead weights attached to my body. Despite the fatigue weighing me down, I couldn't help the exaltation that had settled in my chest at my success. I really was a part of all this now, and I had a whole new world to explore as well as access to pretty much anywhere in this world that I wanted to go.

  As long as there was water, I had admission. Even in theory, it was more liberating than I would have thought, like an all access pass to the world. I could think of so many places I wanted to go, but the foremost thought was that I had a way to get to see my brother. I was no longer reduced to riding for hours in a car. In one blink of an eye I could be with Steven and his family.

  I was eager to try traveling by water, but I knew there would be more talking, theory and practice before I was set free to wander. I also had to factor in that we worked for the king of Mortisali, and for whatever reason, they believed I was part of the prophecy.

  If it was true then I knew I needed to be able to defend myself. The king and the Vis Liberi wouldn't be the only ones with the belief that I was the woman the prophecy described. I was certain that this evil, dark, and black magic wielding Thánatos had to figure something was up. From the story Acantha had laid out, he had access to magic. He was powerful, and I was supposedly his coup de grâce, which had to translate into me being an important target in his eyes.

  It was a terrifying thought to know that someone would be more than happy to see me take my last breath. It was even more horrifying to know that I might have the capability to end someone else’s life. No one should have that much power, and I wasn’t even sure I wanted it. I didn’t want to be anything other than a simple, regular, run-of-the-mill Vis Liberi, but everyone seemed to think that was impossible. For me, this was still based on a big, fat if. If I were this person, I would need to defend myself. I needed training and it had to be soon.

  “Hey, Damon?” I said quietly, now that the aches from shivering were subsiding. I could hear the exhaustion in my own voice but I wasn’t going to let it stop me from getting to the point.

  “Yes?” he answered, his voice sounding distant.

  “Do you think you could train me now?” I asked, pausing long enough to catch my breath but not enough to give him time to shut me down. “I mean... I know you think I'm someone special, but I was hoping maybe you could just train me like everyone else.”

  “And what does Acantha think about that request?” he asked, an amused tone to his voice. I hated to think that he was humoring me.

  “She said it wasn't her decision to make,” I admitted, sighing loudly in the space of the truck. I could see Alexa and Zander trying to make themselves disappear so they wouldn't intrude, but I'd brought this up with them here. Whatever I had to say, I could, and would, say it in front of them.

  “Can I ask why you're so determined? This is the second time you've brought this up with me. I already told you I can't make that decision.”

  I shrugged even though he couldn't see me. I wasn't sure how to get across to them all that I was just like them. That I didn't want there to be any inequalities because of who they seemed to believe I was. I wasn’t going to keep showing my doubt because I knew agreeing to this craziness could be the only thing to get me what I wanted.

  “I just think that if I'm going to do this, I need to do it right. It's not fair that all of the other Vis Liberi have to go through rigorous training, while I sit back and play with the minimum. And if I really am who you say I am, shouldn't I have the ability to look out for myself? To win this fight I’m supposed to have? To at least make my own decisions should it come to that?”

  “Cass, you won't ever be sent out on missions like we are,” Alexa added gently, her eyes soft and her body curled around the chair to see my face. “It's too dangerous for you to be sent out.”

  “She's right, Cass. The King would never risk your life like that. You're too important.” I could tell from his tone of voice that he was trying to placate me.

  “Important or not, shit happens. Don't you think I should be prepared for anything? I'm not saying I'll use the training, but shouldn't I have it anyway, as a contingency plan?”

  “She has a point,” Zander mumbled. I gave him a smile of encouragement, happy that I finally had someone on my side. Even if he did cringe as Alexa glared at him. “What? I mean she's not going to be hidden away from the world. If she has a chance of running into danger, she needs to have the skills and knowledge to deal with it. If she's going to be part of this, she needs to know everything. The Prophecy does say a battle of some sort is supposed to play out.”

  “Exactly!” I crowed, leaning forward in my seat and putting my hand on Zander's arm. “I'm not saying I want to risk my life and go out and help nymphs and whatnot. Well I do – want to help nymphs, that is – but I can accept if that’s not my fate. I just think I should have the ability to fight and protect myself should it come up.”

  “Fine. Let me talk to the king.”

  I stared in the direction of Damon’s voice, my mouth hanging open with shock. He wasn’t happy about it, but it was a start.

  “You'd do that for me?”

  The disembodied chuckle made me realize I'd missed something in his agreement. I felt my cheeks flare and I ducked my head in embarrassment. Finally, when the silence became too much, I spoke up.

  “What?” I whispered.

  “I am going to ask him to grant you an audience,” he informed me, his amusement lacing every word. “I think you're the only one who can convince him of what you want.”

  “Why would he be more inclined to let me convince him?”

  The silence that followed that statement was almost deafening. In fact, if it hadn't been for the heavy engine and the constant whir of the truck’s heater, I was sure my ears would be ringing. Everyone averted their eyes, the last secret they held locked away so I would discover it myself.

  “Fine. Whatever,” I snapped, fed up at hitting yet another brick wall. Their deflection was beginning to wear me thin. “Request an audience on my behalf and I'll grow some balls and ask him my damn self.”

  Leaps and Bounds

  It had been a week since I'd put in my request for an audience with the king and there was still no answer. In fact, there was still no Damon. I sometimes felt as though he was close, but Acantha had explained that was due to our unusual bond. Apparently he and I, against all odds, had built a connection between the veils of dimensions
thanks to our initial friendship.

  Acantha tried to explain why Damon had been taken away when we were children, but all I got out of it was a nagging sense that they’d hoped separating us would break our fateful alliance. Yet, in a moment we’d shared alone, Acantha had confessed her opinion that they never should have tried to keep us apart and that she was thankful the separation only made the bond between us stronger. It was just fortunate that Damon being trained in the Regius Custos – the king’s personal guard – was a blessing in disguise. Of course, when I asked exactly what she meant, I got another non-answer. Just another thing to add to the list of things I didn’t understand.

  There was still so much I didn't know about my new life and the two worlds I had footprints in, and every day was like a learning curve filled with the unexpected. Something new came up in every lesson, and much of the time I felt like a toddler learning to walk again. Two days after I had first translocated successfully, Alexa was teaching me how to use the gift in my genes to travel in my own dimension. She’d figured that talent would help with the hit and misses I was going through while trying to translocate to Mortisali.

  She had me centralize all of my energy on somewhere I'd always wanted to go, somewhere I could picture clearly, and visualize the delineation so I could feel the energy of the space. I did as she asked and focused on a beach in Hawaii I'd seen an image of when I was in high school. It took a lot for me to not focus on my brother. Especially with how much he and his family were on my mind now that the visit I’d been expecting had come and gone with little acknowledgment. I missed them all terribly. Unfortunately, this moment in time was not the right one to spring myself on them, so I pictured that Hawaiian beach with everything I possessed.

  I remembered the white beaches clearly, the aquamarine ocean that was clear enough to see the gentle rise and fall of the sands below it, and the heavily laden palm trees with coconuts lying below them in a state of disarray. The image was so luminous in my mind because of what it had meant to me at the time. The scene was a picture of solitude and peace, a serenity I had longed for since Damon had left. Everything in the picture had screamed calm, silence and tranquility.

  My first time out of the gate, I lost my concentration as I started to push through the boundaries and ended up in a freezing cold Lake Michigan because I’d been thinking about the palace, the king and where I thought they were located. I'd looked it up on the Internet after Damon had mentioned the distance and come up with a small radius of where it could possibly be. Standing in the middle of Lake Michigan, I’d had no idea of what dimension I was in, because there was nothing but water as far as I could see. So I’d concentrated on Alexa and zipped back to the equally freezing river where I started. She'd looked at me expectantly, but I shook my head and tried again. This time, I closed my eyes and focused on the beach and the cerulean blue water from the image in my head.

  Somewhere in the midst of visualizing Hawaii, I’d thought of my brother. The stray thought hadn’t been deliberate, but it had occurred to me just as the pull to translocate began, sending me straight to the beach on Back Cove, where the water was freezing and the Cape Cod style homes lined the streets across the road that divided the water from the land. I was deafened by the screams and ghostly images of the small village currently visible in my line of sight because of my feet being submerged in the water.

  The urge to walk to the small whitewashed home that belonged to my brother and his family was almost more than I could stand. I'd barely made it two steps when Alexa's voice cut through the din of the village scene and called me back. I was glad she couldn't see where I'd ended up. I knew she would think my considered deviation from the plan was reckless, and she’d have been right. The only thing keeping me away from my family was the constant thought that I was putting them in danger. So I headed back and stood in the freezing river, my hands on my hips as another idle thought occurred to me.

  “How did you do that?” The question was ridiculous considering I'd probably done the same a hundred times in the weeks since I'd started my training.

  “Do what?”

  “You talked to me while you were here and I was… there. Thousands of miles away.”

  “Cass, it’s nothing new. We've done it before. It's the elements and connections between people. The connection is really simple, though a little more difficult to explain the inner workings of.”

  Explanation of the inner workings or not, I was suddenly resenting Damon for the years of silence between us, and now, on top of all that, these long days of waiting for news about my visit with the king. To think he could have easily just focused on me and let me know what was going on, like a phone call without the hardware, made me angry. He'd lied by omission. He’d told me he couldn’t talk to me because he was thousands of miles away, and in another dimension, which, by all accounts, wasn’t an issue at all.

  “You want to try again?” she asked, blessedly not noticing my distraction.

  “Sure,” I conceded, scrunching my toes to get feeling back into them.

  “Okay, now focus.”

  I visualized the tropical paradise from the picture I’d seen and once again tried to focus on getting there. It took a lot of effort to push this time, and the translocation wasn’t as immediate as I would have liked either, but finally, I felt the shimmer in my body.

  The tepid water surrounding my legs alerted me to my success. The warm sun licked my skin as I swayed in place before opening my eyes. Thankfully, people were too caught up in what they were doing to notice my sudden overdressed appearance. The beach was just as beautiful as it had been in the picture. The palms trees leaned lazily toward the water, shading the people lounging by the hotel on the almost white sand that lined the beautiful turquoise water. The balmy ocean breeze danced over my skin, warming me as I wandered slowly to the beach. I knew I couldn't stay long, but it was nice while I had the time to enjoy it.

  After my trip to Hawaii, I learned how to go pretty much anywhere I wanted. Translocating had slowly become intrinsic to me, and even though I hadn't perfected it enough to pull off the trick that Alexa had with the palm full of water, I knew I wasn't far from trying. I wasn’t as quick or as accurate as Alexa, but I was closer to the ease of launching using minimal fluid than I had been. The more I practiced, the better I became. I had also learned the hard way that I had to keep my wits about me while in the vicinity of water, but that was a different story entirely.

  My next hurdle was to learn about how to land in a more diminutive space. I hadn't tried very often, but I believed it was my own mind stopping me from succeeding whenever I did try. Landing in a bounteous accumulation of water was easy because it wasn't so hit and miss. I'd even managed to translocate to a stream because it was enough to submerge my body. It was the thought of appearing from the end of a garden hose that left me nervous.

  I’d only seen Alexa do the water hose trick once, and even with someone as graceful as her, the transition of shifting from one place to another still looked difficult and awkward. When she’d landed on her ass and scowled, I knew that it wasn’t going to be any better for me. My trepidation had become a mental block, and when I focused on the hose, the only thing I saw was Alexa landing on her ass, and so I’d ended up translocating three feet to my left so I was standing in front of her in the river.

  During the week of practicing, I’d also ascertained a lot more information about communication between dimensions. This came with my comprehension of how to combat the sounds that had been my constant extracurricular soundtrack for years. The experience was enlightening. The more I learned, the more I realized how easy it would have been for Damon to get in touch with me... Had he wanted to.

  The powers that be assumed that Damon and I were inscribed with one another because we’d gravitated together as children. That was one of the things Acantha didn’t seem to have a problem talking about with me.

  Inscribed, for Vis Liberi, meant a mental connection that could help us zero in
on one another, especially in a time of need or while experiencing heightened emotions. Damon was older than me, but the age difference didn't stop our voices from finding one another, and connecting. This process was how Litsa and Galen had found Alexa and Zander. Once Alexa and Zander finally focused on something other than the longing for something more in their relationship than simple friendship, their minds opened up and they found their watchers giggling at them after their first kiss.

  That bond was what made talking between dimensions so easy, and it confirmed the first lie Damon had made to me by omission. Had our roles been reversed, I would have sought him out. I could never have stayed away from him, but maybe that was the point. I was too attached to him and our connection. This interdependence was more than just a simple mental bond for me. The moment I'd seen him in the burning village, I'd felt alive again. All of the lethargic day-to-day monotony of the hospital had fallen away, the fear of the situation had bled dry, and for the first time in years, I’d realized I wanted more. More than the hospital, and more than simply existing as I had been doing for so long.

  The unfortunate truth was, the longer Damon stayed away, the more I thought about him. The more I thought about him, the more I realized my reaction to him wasn't simply because we had a basic connection. It was these thoughts that would throw more of my focus into my training. I had finally learned to dull the sounds from Mortisali and I planned on using that as much as I could.

  Litsa and Galen had been my guinea pigs, because for me they were simply noise. I hadn't bonded with them, which meant I constantly heard them. Litsa, who had a similar personality to Zander’s, had been singing every time she was around me, so I could learn to tune her out while Damon wasn’t around. Once Damon showed up again, I had planned on working the opposite and tuning her in until I had it perfected. The longer I practiced, the more I was able to diffuse the cacophony of Mortisali. The ambiance was still there, which was something we all had to live with, but it wasn't the only thing I heard. It no longer consumed me. I could turn the volume up and down at my own will now.