Ezra yells, “Enough!”
This gets Nate’s and Nick’s attention. They both stop wrestling immediately.
Nate sighs. “C’mon, Ezra. We have been working so hard. Being ten minutes late isn’t the end of the world.”
“On the contrary, Nate, that is the very thing on the line here. And you are going to be on THAT front line in under two weeks!”
Siobhan starts in. “You really don’t comprehend this, do you?” She slowly walks over to Nate, then me, looking each of us up and down with her steel blue eyes. She stops at Angela and stares at her with anger.
Angela looks at me, then Ezra; fear is in her eyes. I can hear her thinking about Siobhan.
What?
Why are you looking at me like that?
She looks like she is going to attack me.
Siobhan steps closer to Angela; they’re nose and nose. I can’t read Siobhan’s thoughts. She has blocked me. Angela knows that I am reading her.
Angela thinks, No, I won’t. I’m not. That is absurd. Stop. I do take this seriously. I will prove it in two weeks. The hell you will!
I can’t help Angela without being able to hear both sides of the conversation. I can feel the tension between the two of them, though. I think we all can feel the tension by the looks I see around the room. All of a sudden, I feel a small vibration within me. It feels strange at first since I haven’t experienced it in weeks. The hair on my arms stands on end as a result.
Why am I feeling this here, in the facility?
I look at Nate. Then at Ezra. Siobhan pulls out a dagger from her belt. Angela pushes past Siobhan and is in a combat stance quicker than I can blink.
What the hell is going on?
Ezra? Luke? Jake?
They hear me. They look at me with stoic faces.
They’ve blocked me. They’re testing us.
Nate takes my arm. Back up, Jes. Don’t get involved.
I have my wall up. How did you get into my head?
It wasn’t easy, Jesca.
Nate pulls me close to him a second before Siobhan swings her blade at Angela.
Angela flips backwards, landing in a hunched stance ready to attack. Her movements look like a quick dance; it is crazy fast.
Siobhan shifts her body to stand normally. She places her dagger back in her belt and begins to stretch her arms. Angela doesn’t let her guard down. Siobhan fastens her belt.
“Ezra, Jake, Luke, and I think it is about time for us to put all of the training to practice.”
Luke starts in. “Siobhan, if I didn’t know you better, I would say that this is your favorite part of the training.”
Siobhan finishes her stretch. “Well, yeah! This is the closest to real these green peas will get. Then they will be plummeted into their territory and scared to death.”
Ezra has his arms crossed the whole time, watching the interaction. Jake pulls off his sweatshirt. “Well, I’ve been ready for about a week now!”
Jake walks over to Nick. Nick pulls off his wind pants, leaving shorts in their place.
Nick says, “Hell yeah, baby! I’m ready! This is awesome! Mock combat.”
Luke and Jake give each other a sideways glance and mouth, “Mock combat?”
Ezra pipes in, “All right, take it down a notch. We are going to wait ’til mid-week to begin that phase of the training. However…” Ezra pauses.
He is obviously trying to ease us into the back-story.
Luke doesn’t hesitate. “…something catastrophic has happened in Japan that is very relevant to our purpose as guardians.”
Nate releases my arms, but is still standing close behind me. Nate asks Luke, “What is it?”
All of us become very serious. Angela stands next to Nate, Nick and I now.
Ezra says, “Many years ago, it was theorized that wormholes could occur in close proximity to areas of high electromagnetic fields, EMFs. The EMF made the opening of the wormhole much easier to maintain since strong electric energy was naturally in the atmosphere. There is said to be a handful of locations that emit such EMFs. Two locations on two different continents have been publicized more than the others in recent years.”
Angela breaks in. “I read about this. The Bermuda Triangle and the Dragon’s Triangle.”
Ezra nods. “Yes, those are the two areas: the Devil’s Sea near western Japan, north of Tokyo, and the Bermuda Triangle near Florida. Einstein spent some time in Bermuda back in the 1930’s. It was said that Einstein lived there in order to qualify for US citizenship. Albert was then employed by the US government to investigate the Bermuda Triangle, and its justification involved his infamous Einstein-Rosen Bridge theory.”
I ask, “The government paid him to try to find the other end of the wormhole?”
Ezra replies, “It was only a theory with very little justification. Einstein spent over 15 years being commissioned by the government to make the wormhole theory plausible and true. His research continued until his death. He never finished resolving the theory.”
Nate asks, “Do you think he knew? Do you think he discovered that it was real and didn’t publically disclose the results, like Sebastian and Balthazar?”
Ezra shakes his finger and smiles. “Ahh, Nate. I believe that Einstein’s purpose was very significant. I believe he chose to protect the world until his death. Unfortunately, others were not so insightful and cautious.”
I realize what Ezra is saying. “So you think he knew, but kept it to himself to protect us from ourselves.”
Ezra says, “Potential misuse of the discovery. To be tempted by the power and control this truth could produce. To reveal a treasure that should be protected and regulated, not exploited and abused.”
Nick brings us back to the pressing issue. “So what happened? What catastrophic event has increased our need to be ready sooner than later?”
Ezra replies, “Three days ago Japan suffered the worst earthquake in its history. The quake’s initial destruction was significant and horrific. Aftershocks are still being felt in Japan as strong as 7.7 on the Richter scale.”
Angela says, “That is terrible. But I fail to see how this links to us, though.” Angela’s face changes. “Unless you think the quake had something to do with the Dragon’s Triangle. Did a wormhole opening cause this?”
The four mentors look at each other.
Luke begins, “The guardians we have in Japan were sabotaged last night. We sent five guardians in to shut down the unit of Sondians that were opening the wormhole there. The wormhole had been open for more than thirty minutes from what our surveillance showed. That type of length could create a gravitational instability in our world, like a quake of great magnitude.
“Unknown to us, three of our five guardians were deep cover Sondian guardians. Once our guardians were in the warehouse, the three deep covers eliminated Jonathan Hatton, one of our two true guardians. Joan Leal, the other guardian, was the one that single-handedly wired the explosives, then terminated the Sondian unit’s warehouse, closing the wormhole.”
I ask, “Where is she now?” I was intrigued by her strength and selflessness.
Luke says, “In order to shut down the unit, she had to choose: try to escape, surrender, or save humanity by destroying everything including herself.” Luke pauses and looks down. “She saved humanity for one more day.”
Everyone is silent. Partly for such a brave and selfless act. Also, partly because of what we have become—guardians. We can feel the fear shoot through each of us. Soon, one of us may be expected to make that same choice.
Siobhan says, “She sacrificed herself. Needless to say, somewhere along the chain of command, someone let their guard down. The momentary lapse could have been a temptation, or pride, anything. And now we have to replace the guardians we lost.”
Jake breaks in, “And no, Nick. You are not going to Tokyo.”
Nick looks slightly disappointed.
Jake continues, “We have mentors and guardians scattered throughout the wo
rld. The hot spots for now are in the US and Japan, for obvious reasons.”
Ezra says, “There are guardians already in position to take over in Japan along with their mentors. And the sleeper cell has cleaned up the aftermath and covered up any reason for police investigation.”
This is a well-oiled machine. Systems are in place to replace those that perish without missing a beat.
Luke regains his frustration. “So when you guys strolled in ten minutes late, like you owned the place, it was hard for us to handle.”
We all feel the pangs of guilt.
I speak up. “We are very sorry. It was irresponsible of us.”
Siobhan says, “This is why we are changing training a bit today.” She looks at Ezra for confirmation.
Ezra adds, “The remainder of your time in the facility will focus on three core activities: abilities training, mission combat, and intelligence training. You all need to know the back-story and most recent accounts of enemy attacks on our guardians. The more you know about Dobrian and Sondian guardian warfare in the past, the better guardian you will become for the future.”
“How is the combat going to work?” Nate asks.
Siobhan walks up to Angela. “First, we will combat mentor against trainee for a solid two days. Then you will team up together and combat the mentors. You need to have team experience as well. Using your abilities together makes you stronger than using your abilities individually. Energy attracts energy. The buildup of the energy infuses with your abilities and can be exchanged through you both like magnets drawn together. Your abilities will work in unison.”
Siobhan walks over to stand in front of Jake. Siobhan closes her eyes and clasps one of Jake’s hands. Jake closes his eyes and smiles. At first, I thought the ground was lifting under them. Then the slow rise becomes sudden and they are about twelve feet off the ground.
Nick whispers excitedly, “Aw, sweet!”
Siobhan and Jake open their eyes.
Jake speaks to Siobhan. “You ready?”
Siobhan looks over and smiles at him. Jake opens the palm of his other hand. A vapor stirs from it. Then fire from his palm turns orange, then blue. They both simultaneously turn their bodies toward each other. Siobhan voluntarily raises her open palm to Jake’s palm. The blue flame dances from Jake’s palm to Siobhan’s.
Ezra explains, “Siobhan and Jake are able to share their abilities, like Siobhan was describing to you. What you don’t see is the metaphysical aspect. The mind of one being evolved and permitted these abilities to infuse and manifest in another’s open mind. It’s harder than it looks, kids.”
Siobhan and Jake return to the ground, and the flame dissipates. Siobhan leans against the wall for a minute. Concerned, Angela walks over to Siobhan.
Angela asks, “Are you all right, Siobhan?”
Siobhan tilts her head upward and then pushes off the wall. “Yeah. Yeah. We haven’t teamed up in a while. It’s been about a month, month and half now. Right, Jake?”
Jake is squatting on the floor, taking a few long gulps of Gatorade. He ruffles his hair a bit and looks up at Siobhan and winks. “Yeah, it’s been a while. But it’s like riding a bike. You don’t forget.”
Seeing the way they are looking at each other makes me a little embarrassed for having spied such a personal exchange between them. I block my thoughts for a moment.
Are they romantically involved?
I shift my eyes to Nate. He must have seen it too since he looks away from them then at me also.
I wonder how they became more than just friends, if that is what is going on. My mind starts to create its own story for them.
Nate elbows me and whispers, “Oh, this is so sweet it’s giving me a toothache.”
I elbow him back and feel my cheeks turn red. How did he get through my mental block, again? I growl, “Will you stop that, damn it.”
I retaliate by listening in on him as he rolls his eyes at me and thinks, What?! It was sweet though, right?
We both are looking at each other now, fire in my eyes and Nate with his boyish playfulness.
I roll my eyes and mumble, “Whatever.”
Ezra claps his hands, bringing us back. “All right, kids, now it is time to see you in action! First, we split up with our mentors. We will combat, and then work on exchanging energy between each other. Then we will do the same between the four of you only. We will divide you up into a pair, and you will combat each other. Then you will exchange energy with your partner. If you don’t mind, we will save the ultimate combat of mentors vs. trainees until after lunch. I never like to whip up on green peas on an empty stomach.”
Luke laughs. “Touché, Ezra!”
Luke and Ezra exchange a high five. The four of us “green peas” look at each other with competitive zeal and huge grins on our faces. Nobody needs to say anything. We all simultaneously feel the same way. This is what we have been waiting for.
Chapter 25
Each of us partner with our mentor and go to our own part of the facility. Angela and Siobhan take the open gym area. They need space with the very acrobatic combat style they both possess. Jake and Nick head to the pool. They need to be in close proximity to water just in case Nick’s fire-starting gets out of control. The shifting for Nick can be done anywhere, but they are going to try to incorporate that under water as well. Since being in the facility, Nick has graced us with a German shepherd shift, a camel shift, a Zach Efron shift, and a Kristen Stewart shift. He took requests also. It was awesome. But Nick needed to work on shifts that helped him blend into the environment, not draw attention to him.
Luke and Nate target his Latrosis, Nate’s ability to physically heal others with his mind and inner energy, his Qi. This ability is very valuable, but very difficult to balance and master. Luke thinks it would be best to start small. Scrapes, blisters, nose bleeds, headaches, and vertigo from the energy drain we experience after using our abilities. All of these are bound to happen with us using our abilities rigorously today.
Nate moves from Angela, to Nick, to me in rotation. He observes and takes inventory of our wounds and heals us with Luke’s monitoring. One slip-up on Nate’s part can leave any of us in really bad shape. Luke told us that Nate could be attempting to heal a blister on a finger and send a surge of energy too strong that could burn the finger to a crisp.
I can see Nate is very apprehensive to say the least. He knows that he could lose control and balance and hurt one of us. Luke reassures him that he is right there to step in if he senses an imbalance or surge coming. Luke developed a bit of Clairvoyance, being able to tell the future, over his years as a guardian.
Then there is Ezra and I. Ezra plans to work on the abilities that have been hidden, that I have not experimented with yet. I have already had plenty of practice with Telepathy and blocking my mind from others. Nate’s recent break-in still has me wondering about my strength. The other three abilities are still weak. I tell Ezra that they really don’t appear to be abilities at all.
Ezra says, “Oh, I assure you, Jes. You don’t realize what you have stored up inside of you.”
Ezra is as giddy about my gifts as a child would be waiting to open a birthday present.
Ezra and I head to the trails.
The trailhead?
I understood why the others are in the designated areas that the mentors chose. Jake for the fire stuff. Angela for the space. But which of my abilities qualifies the trails as my training area? I stand apprehensively thinking of all the possibilities.
Ezra says, “Jes. Take a leap of faith. You have spent most of your life calculating and organizing a bulletproof plan. It’s time to let go. Here you are safe. This is the time and place to practice your faith, your gut, and your intuition. All of those abilities within you have been weakened by having every little detail planned and accounted for in your life. You will need these skills as soon as you set foot above ground. Embrace them. They are within you, waiting to be awakened.”
Ezra walks ahead o
f me. I stand there, like I am physically stuck in setting quicksand. The longer I stand and think, the more indecisive I become. My ears follow Ezra’s footsteps leaving the gym. I put my head down and close my eyes.
Go, Jes. Leap. Don’t wait. Don’t hesitate.
I open my eyes and jog to catch up with Ezra.
* * *
Ezra and I stop at the mouth of the trail.
“All right, let’s go!” Ezra smiles and disappears right before my eyes.
What the hell?
I feel a warm presence near the back of my right shoulder. I turn, instantly in combat stance, and ready myself.
Ezra says, “Just jumping! Don’t tell me you’ve never tried it.” Ezra is standing there with his arms crossed over his chest now. “We aren’t going to fight yet, Jes. Just going to work on finding you.”
I roll my eyes and relax. “Okay. So what am I trying to find within me? And this jumping thing? I have only done that in my dreams.”
Ezra points at me. “Exactly. Lucid dreaming. It is like physical jumping, but in the ethereal sense. Astral projection can be lucid dreaming as well. Quantum jumping is the use of your inner life force and energy in waking hours. Lucid dreams are jumping using your life force and energy in your sleep.”
Again, I had the blank look on my face. “Uh. Okay?”
Ezra sighs. “Tell me about your dreams. Like the most vivid ones that you have had lately.”
I respond, “The most vivid one is the one where I am running to Mom and Dad’s house and I am confronted by a dark being.”
Ezra interrupts, “That is a life force that you experience. A Sondian guardian trying to enter your mind with his or her well-tuned abilities. The dark aura you see is the form your mind has given this life force. It is a person. Has it happened to you in waking hours?”
I reply more anxiously now, having heard this dream experience was becoming reality, “Yes. I had one on a daily basis until we came here.”
Ezra rubs the stubble on his chin.
I wait for a few moments. “Ezra? What? You are making me worry?”
Piercing The Fold Page 12