All the Light There Is

by Anise Eden

  Kai just shrugged as Asa and Eve approached us. “Isn’t this awesome?” Eve asked, grinning. “The Smithsonian! I told my parents; they are so psyched.”

  “When did you all find out about this meeting?” I asked. Our group and Dr. MacGregor had been guests at a banquet in D.C. the day before, but Ben and I had left early and driven home to Baltimore. We were notified about the Smithsonian meeting in an early-morning phone call from his mother.

  “Dr. MacGregor told us after the banquet yesterday,” Vani said. “Since we all still had our suitcases packed, it made sense to just stay in town. She put us up in a place just a few blocks from here.”

  “Our hotel was sick!” Asa exclaimed gleefully.

  “How would you know? You barely left the room—up all night playing video games!” Vani gave Eve and Asa a warning look. “You’d better not fall asleep during the ritual.”

  “Don’t worry,” Eve said. “We’re too pumped to be tired!”

  “Totally,” Asa agreed. I was relieved to see that he was wearing the bracelet Kai had made for him, a piece of black obsidian woven into a hemp band. It was designed to protect Asa from unintentionally hearing others’ thoughts—a phenomenon that disturbed him greatly, and also gave him migraines. Asa caught me eyeing the bracelet and gave me a thumbs-up sign, which I returned.

  A series of crisp claps got our attention. “If you’re all ready,” Dr. MacGregor said, “we’d like to get started.”

  Ben met me back at our seats. “You look more relaxed.”

  “I am, I guess. The others don’t seem nervous.”

  “Like I said.” Ben reached under the table and took my hand. “Nothing to worry about.”

  But as the room fell silent, my stomach did a flip. “I’ll hold you to that,” I whispered.

  Chapter Two

  Dr. Abera spoke first. “Dr. MacGregor has asked me to summarize our research, just to be sure we’re all on the same page. My apologies if this is repetitious for some of you.”

  She went to the dry-erase board at the front of the conference room and picked up a red marker. I had a flashback to the Parapsychology 101 class Vani and Kai had given me on my first day in ParaTrain. “There are two main theories about the origins of paranormal abilities,” Dr. Abera said, drawing two dots. “One is evolutionary—the theory that these are traits that evolved naturally over time, like variations in hair and eye color.” She wrote “evolution” under one of the dots. “Some call the second theory spiritual, some call it mystical—and some call it preposterous.”

  All of the researchers smiled at Dr. Byrne, who noisily cleared his throat.

  “The spiritual theory says that paranormal abilities were gifted to select individuals in five Bronze Age civilizations by a divine force, and for a divine purpose,” Dr. Abera continued. “Further, this theory holds that the gifts have been transmitted from one generation to the next via lineal descent. Over time, numerous branches of ‘sensitives’ have been created—our term for people with paranormal abilities. We’ve learned more about the spiritual theory since the recent discovery of the kheir tablets. They were found by Chinese archaeologists in an underground chamber near the Terracotta Army site.”

  “Whoa,” Asa said, giving voice to the awe we were all feeling.

  “Quite,” Dr. Abera said. She drew the outline of a hand on the board. “I know you’re all familiar with the concept of the ‘kheir,’ a term derived from an ancient Roman word for hand.”

  “Yes,” Vani said, “and the belief that a kheir—five fingers, working together—can accomplish great things.”

  “And two hands can accomplish even more,” Dr. Abera said, drawing a second hand. “A double kheir.”

  “This might be a good time to remind everyone who’s who in our double kheir configuration,” Dr. MacGregor said. “Ben, will you do the honors?”

  “Of course,” he said. “As you know, one hand represents the five categories of paranormal gifts, and the other represents the five civilizations to which those gifts were originally gifted—according to the spiritual theory, that is.” Ben nodded at Dr. Byrne, who seemed to appreciate having his skepticism acknowledged. “All ten fingers, as it were, are present within the MacGregor Group. We know this in part because Vani has been specially trained to read sensitives’ auras and identify from which of the five Bronze Age civilizations they are descended.” Ben turned to us. “Would you like to introduce yourselves, or would you prefer…?”

  “I’ll go first,” Vani offered, raising her hand. “I’m Vani. As an aura reader, I represent the gift of clairvoyance, and I’m descended from the Indus Valley civilization.”

  Sitting next to Vani, Asa went next. “I’m Asa, telepath. I represent Egypt.”

  Then Kai gave a graceful finger wave. “And I’m Kai. Mediumship, Mesopotamia.”

  “Eve!” Eve smiled brightly. “Precognition, China.”

  All eyes turned to me. I swallowed hard. “Um, you can call me Cate,” I said. “I’m an empath, so I represent psychokinesis. And I’m descended from the Caledonian civilization, or so I’m told.”

  Vani piped up, “That’s right. Caledonia, or ancient Scotland.”

  There was a moment of silence; no one seemed sure where to take the conversation next. To everyone’s surprise, Pete stood up. “So, I’m Pete,” he announced. “My tribe is the United States Marine Corps. My special ability is wranglin’ cattle, but nowadays I help Ben keep this double kheir in line.”

  Smiles broke out around the room. Ben and Pete had served in the Marines together. After Ben’s father had died several years before, he’d left the Corps to help his mother get the MacGregor Group started. Pete had then accepted Ben’s invitation to help run the clinic. Officially, he was in charge of operations and security, but he really did whatever needed doing.

  “Thank you, Pete. Everyone,” Dr. Morgan said. “As you’re all aware, information about the double kheir has been hard to come by. What little we do know has been pieced together from various historical sites and archaeological digs. From what we gather, it seems that the double kheir is a rare configuration that could potentially give sensitives immediate and full knowledge of how to use their gifts. Researchers across the globe have been trying to figure out how to activate this rumored power to bestow instant knowledge. While several groups have noticed that their rituals in general are more potent when they have a double kheir configuration, experiences of this ‘downloading,’ as we’re calling it, have not yet been reported—until yesterday, that is, when Ben told Dr. MacGregor about your recent experience.”

  Dr. Morgan focused in on me, and I felt my face start to flush. “Cate, we’re told that you might have undergone this ‘downloading’ phenomenon during a ritual last week. We understand that the project you were working on is top secret, but we were hoping that you could tell us whatever you can about what happened.”

  “Top secret” was putting it mildly. Our group had spent the past week sequestered in a secure sub-basement under the National Institutes of Health. We had been called in to try to solve an attempted murder while being guarded by Yankee Company, Ben and Pete’s former Marine Corps unit. We had all been sworn to secrecy about the mission, so I wasn’t sure what, if anything, I was allowed to share.

  Ben seemed to tune in to my dilemma. “It’s okay, Cate,” he said softly. “Nothing about your experience with the ritual is confidential.”

  “Okay,” I whispered, but then fell silent. I had no idea where to start.

  Thankfully, Vani came to my rescue. In her smooth, professional voice, she said, “Since I designed and led the ritual in question, I can set the stage for everyone.”

  The researchers sat in rapt attention. Vani explained that someone we were treating had died. That trauma had caused the surfeit of toxic emotional energy within me to break loose from the psychic vessel I’d built to contain it. The toxic energy surrounded me, putting me into a state of complete paralysis.

  As she spoke, I remembered the
terror I’d felt, lying in the hospital bed, unable to move, speak, or even open my eyes, and listening to people talk about me as though I couldn’t hear them. My throat tightened. Ben reached under the table, rested his hand on my leg, and began massaging gently. Leaning in close, he whispered, “Are you okay?”

  His touch stopped the rise of the panic attack. “Just keep doing what you’re doing,” I whispered back.

  “Gotcha.”

  As Ben redoubled his efforts, Vani described the ritual they’d designed to clear the toxic energy and cure my paralysis. Kai used meditation and Tibetan singing bowls to put Asa into a trance. Asa then read my mind, acting as a conduit and allowing me to speak through him. Meanwhile, Eve sat behind me performing acupuncture while Vani asked me to visualize the toxic energy like a balloon surrounding me, filling with air and expanding until it disappeared.

  Eventually, I felt able to join the conversation. “But the ritual wasn’t working,” I explained. “Or it was working, to an extent, but I’ve never been very good at visualization. So after a certain point, I couldn’t seem to push the balloon out any further. I felt like I was using all of my strength, but it wasn’t helping.”

  “We decided to try forming a circle around Cate, holding hands,” Vani explained.

  “And then…” I cleared my throat. “Well, something happened.”

  Dr. MacGregor must have sensed my hesitation. “In your own words, dear,” she said.

  Ben gave my leg a reassuring squeeze.

  “Okay.” I said. “It was like the air in the room began to vibrate.”

  “We all felt it,” Vani said.

  “That’s right,” I said. “And then the inside of my body began to vibrate, like every atom in every object and person in the room was pulsating to the same rhythm. It was like we were all making music, and suddenly, I knew how to conduct. I don’t know how else to explain it. All at once, I just knew exactly how to control the vibrations and direct the energy so that it would expand the balloon. Then, just when I felt like the pressure inside of the balloon was too great, it disappeared.”

  “Pop, and it was gone,” Kai elaborated.

  “That’s incredible,” Dr. Singh said, his excitement tempered with caution. “So then you were no longer paralyzed?”

  “Well,” Vani said, “it was a bit more complicated than that. We needed to do more work to cure the paralysis, but at the end of this ritual, she was free of toxic energy. We had to take care of that problem before any other interventions could even have a chance of helping her.”

  Each of the professors took turns politely picking our brains about the exact details, like what acupuncture points Eve had been using, and whether Asa could remember any part of the experience.

  As Vani explained again how we had all been positioned, I prompted her, “Don’t forget, Ben was there, too.”

  Dr. MacGregor said, “Well, we assumed Ben was there—”

  “No,” I clarified, “I mean when Vani decided they should all form a circle around me, Ben was in the circle, too.”

  The researchers exchanged puzzled glances. “Why was Ben in the circle?” Dr. Singh asked, sounding baffled. “Does he have a paranormal gift as well?”

  “No, no special gifts,” Ben said. “I just joined the circle because that’s what Cate said she wanted.”

  “But…why?” Dr. Singh asked, turning to me.

  “I don’t know why,” I said, “I just felt strongly that I wanted him in the circle, that it was important for him to be there.”

  “It may be relevant that Cate and Ben are a couple,” Dr. MacGregor told her colleagues.

  Dr. Abera shook her head. “I can’t see how that would make any difference—paranormally, I mean—although I’m sure his presence was a comfort to Cate. But it has never been proposed that the relationships between kheir members matter, just the combination of their individual gifts.”

  “That may be,” Kai said, “but it wasn’t until after Ben joined the circle that the vibrations started. Isn’t that right, Cate?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s true,” Vani said. “I remember.”

  “Well, that is interesting,” Dr. Morgan said. “Ben, did you do anything in particular while you were in the circle?”

  “No,” Ben answered. “I just stood there.”

  “Fascinating,” she replied. “Of course, without a comparable ritual not involving Ben, we have no idea whether his presence there had any significance. And even if it didn’t, it is noteworthy, at least, that having a non-sensitive as part of the circle wasn’t detrimental. I agree with Dr. Abera; it seems unlikely that the special relationship between Ben and Cate had anything to do with what happened. However, at this stage, we should keep an open mind.”

  Ben must love hearing that he’s not detrimental, I thought. Sure enough, I glanced sideways to find Ben suppressing a smile.

  “What about the palm?” Dr. Singh asked.

  “What palm?” Kai asked.

  Dr. MacGregor answered. “This is one of the puzzles we’ve been trying to solve with the terracotta kheir tablets,” she said. “We’ve found some references to the kheir that describe not only the five fingers of the hand as being essential, but also the palm of the hand. So far, we’ve only found the palm referenced a few times, but it has been called the ‘heart of the kheir’ and ‘the center.’ If your double kheir didn’t activate, so to speak, until Ben joined in, that could suggest that there is a role for a sixth person—even a non-sensitive—in this configuration.”

  “Or it could suggest nothing at all,” Dr. Byrne said. “We’ve all agreed that the palm is most likely just a metaphor for something abstract, like a divine force.”

  “But it worked!” Dr. Singh said excitedly. “You can’t dispute that whatever they did worked. They figured it out, Byrne. No one else has even come close.”

  “Whatever they did—that’s the point,” Byrne responded. “We don’t know what aspects of their ritual made it work. Without controlled experiments—”

  “I’m not saying we shouldn’t replicate it,” Dr. Singh said. “As soon as possible, preferably.”

  “Well, if you want to cook up an experiment,” Kai said, “we’ve got all of the ingredients right here. We have a demonstration planned; there’s no reason we couldn’t try it with and without Ben, just to see what happens.”

  There was a moment of stunned silence, as though the researchers couldn’t quite believe that this rare opportunity was being presented to them. “Yes, of course,” Dr. Morgan finally said. “That’s a wonderful suggestion, Kai. I’d like to thank all of you for sharing your experiences—especially you, Cate. It can’t have been easy to relive something so harrowing.”

  “Thank you,” I said, doing my best to smile.

  “Shall we move on to the demonstration, then?” Dr. MacGregor suggested.

  Chapter Three

  We were led to a large, open room, empty but for a couple of dozen chairs scattered about and a water cooler in the corner. The blinds had been drawn and some gym mats placed on the floor. I didn’t know what I had been expecting—maybe a place like the basement of our church headquarters, decorated with warm colors and filled with New Age paraphernalia. At least Kai had brought some crystals and candles so we’d feel a bit more at home.

  Dr. MacGregor explained that she and Kai had designed a demonstration that would give the researchers an idea of our “baseline,” in terms of our abilities and how we worked together. In this case, it was a simple illumination ritual in which each of us would use our different gifts to discover things that were previously unseen or unknown. We decided to do the ritual first without Ben, then add him in to see if it made a difference.

  Feeling a little bit like a circus freak, I tried to remind myself that we were taking part in a global research initiative at a respected institution. The five of us sensitives sat in a circle on the gym mats, while the researchers arranged chairs around us and sat poised with their notebooks. Ben and
Pete stood outside the circle, offering thumbs-up signs. Kai arranged three rough, pointed crystals in a triangular formation in the middle of our circle, then put a few candles around the triangle and lit them. He then gestured for us all to hold hands.

  Once we were ready, Kai began to speak, falling into a rhythmic tone and cadence. “I ask the gods and goddesses, spirit guides, and guardian angels, spirits from beyond the veil, and all those who wish to support us in this illumination ritual to be in attendance with us now.”

  In the pause that followed, I felt a soft flow of cold air blowing on the top of my head, just as I had during my first ritual in the church basement. So it had been spirit energy, after all, as Kai had said, and not an erratic air-conditioning vent. I looked around the circle and saw that everyone else had their eyes closed, so I closed mine as well.

  “Dr. Byrne,” Kai said, “your mother is here. May I have your permission to speak to Elba?”

  I heard Dr. Byrne spit out a mouthful of what I guessed was his coffee.

  “Sorry for the surprise,” Kai said. “We never know who’s going to come through in these things.”

  “It’s fine, fine,” Dr. Byrne sputtered. “Yes, you have my permission.”

  “You inherited her cat, Luna?” Kai asked.

  “Ye—yes.”

  “Well, Elba is saying that you should stop feeding Luna those liver treats. She knows they’re cheaper, but apparently some of the ingredients are carcinogenic. She wants you to buy the organic kind. Okay?”

  I peeked at Dr. Byrne, who had gone as white as a sheet. “Organic. Yes, okay.”

  “Good. All right, Elba and the other spirits are pulling their energy back, but they’ll stay nearby for now,” Kai said. “As a medium, that was my offering to the illumination ritual. My gift has shared what it has to share. Everyone else, go ahead and share as you feel inspired, whatever your gift is giving you.”

  Vani spoke first, unable to conceal the concern in her voice. “Dr. Abera, I am feeling drawn to your aura. May I have your permission to read it?”