Awakening (17 page)

“But your father is an influential member of the Council and a Descendant.”

He shook his head. “The majority of the Council and Descendants did not agree and my father’s sway, while influential, is only worth so much. They are a bunch of old traditionalists. But…” He walked around the chair, closer to Caitlyn, “that is what you are here for. We are going to show them what a proper training can accomplish and its distinct advantages. Since you are my student, I’ll teach you how I feel every Actual should be taught. Are you comfortable?”

The chair she was sitting in seemed to get harder by the second. “No.”

His blue eyes danced. “No? Well, that is actually a good thing; it will make you more alert and aware of your surroundings. Look at the wall. Block your thoughts.”

Caitlyn already had her block up. Where in the beginning she had to manifest a brick wall mentally to block out others and not to project her thoughts unwillingly, she now just had a secondary instinct. Declan stood in front of her, his stare hard and piercing. She began to feel a fog overtake her, the thoughts she had becoming muddled and her clarity dissipating. She shook her head slightly and with furrowed brows, focused harder on shielding her thoughts, imagining an invisible wall between the both of them. She pushed at the fog with the same intensity it rushed at her.

For a moment, the fog relinquished, retreating. Caitlyn smiled smugly to herself, thinking she had won the battle. She looked up at Declan, grin wide on his face and she heard his voice clearly ring inside her head.

“But not the war.”

Out of nowhere, the fog returned heavier than ever, pressing forward unrelenting. As much as she tried, she found that she could not focus and could not bring back up the shield that Caitlyn had established. It felt like her brain was being wiped of everything. For a moment, she couldn’t remember where she was, what she was doing here, or even who she really was. Everything was vague. Then as quickly as it overtook her, it was gone.

Caitlyn was positive her mouth was hanging wide open.

Declan took the seat next to hers again and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“Yes.” She couldn’t stop the shakiness in her voice. She was physically fine, but it was hard to absorb that someone could take away the essence of what she was, so completely and so quickly. “What was that?”

“That was a kind of telepathy called subjective telepathy. Subjective telepathy takes away ones focus. While it is not attacking your thoughts directly, it is attacking other parts of your brain. Since your focus disappears, you cannot concentrate, hence lowering your block and allowing the person to sweep your mind. You feel in a daze and you are not sure what is happening to you. It only takes a moment and then everything is taken that the person wants, like a particular memory, a security password, a location. It is a powerful tool in the fight against the Cine Tofa and a powerful tool against us. When it is your immediate thoughts that are being invaded, the attacker can only obtain the here and now, and the mind reader cannot go beyond that. This however, this raids you of your most important secrets if the attacker is looking for them. Unless, of course, you are like my father.”

“You mean, because he can compartmentalize his brain, they can only attack one section at a time. The rest of his brain keeps its defenses up.”

“Exactly. I wish we could duplicate that and teach others how to do it.”

“So how do I block it?”

“You started off right initially. Your general block is very strong; the average Actual would have a hard time breaking through it. However, in order to stop an invasion like this, we will need to have you create a multi-layer block. I won’t lie to you, it is difficult and will take some time to learn. Possibly months. But knowing your reputation, you will probably learn in an hour and prove me wrong.”

Caitlyn laughed. As it turns out, she did not learn the multi-block in an hour. It took her only three days to learn. Declan was shocked by her abilities. For the next two weeks, Declan brought her to this desolate room, where he put her through hours upon hours of mental attacks. They would arrive before sun up and leave well after sun down. He never taught her how to do the attacks, he stated that would come later, but he was setting a foundation for her to protect herself when the time came. Finally, at the end of the second week, Caitlyn stood from her chair covered in a sheen of sweat.

“Declan. I have not asked this once in all of my training, with the exception of the first day with Garrett, but I think I am ready for a break.”

She sat down with her legs crossed. Declan followed suit, sitting close to her. He produced two oranges and two bottles of water from his backpack and tossed one of each over to her. After taking a sip of the water, he cocked his head. Caitlyn noticed that he had sweat dripping from him as well. “Your focus is incredible. The fact that we have been going at this for well over twelve hours a day, with barely any stopping or breaks and now is the first time you voluntarily request a break? You have managed to learn defenses against multiple telepathy techniques. Those defensive blocks that I just taught you, took me a couple of months to learn. You are really special, Caitlyn.”

Caitlyn made quick work of the orange peel. “Thanks. I don’t know how to describe it, it’s like this is all second nature to me, I just need to be reminded how to do it. That sounds odd, doesn’t it?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. There are some things that come more naturally to me than others. Matter manipulation for example. That trick I showed you at dinner two weeks ago? I was able to do that within the first week of my mentorship. I thought Lionel was going to faint. I did not think I was doing anything incredible, but everyone kept telling me otherwise. Telepathy however, that takes a lot of concentration on my part and it does not come as naturally to me as it does to you. But the focus that you are displaying took me years to achieve.”

“I have a hard time believing that.”

“It’s true. But, I think two weeks in the dungeon is quite enough. If you want to take the weekend off, we can, and then resume on Monday.”

Caitlyn thought about that. She had barely seen Garrett in two weeks. He stated that he was busy with an assignment that the Trust had given him, but she could not help think that it was a ruse to make her not feel guilty about the time she was spending training. She wanted to continue training. She found it very exciting when she learned something new. The Potential knew with Declan that they were going way beyond what other Actuals were capable of performing. It made her feel strong and empowered. She learned that she thrived off those feelings. Declan was not bad company himself. He was serious about the training, but she found that he had a similar sense of humor to hers and they had various things in common. She could see the both of them becoming close friends.

However, her longing to see Garrett won out. She missed him. They had barely made their feelings known to one another when he was separated as her mentor. She wanted to keep that fire going in their relationship. Garrett was special, she knew that. There was something in the back of her mind that was preventing her from being able to give herself wholly to him, without hesitation. Spending time apart would not help the situation.

“You know, the weekend off does sound good. So if you are tired of the dungeon, where are we going to train?”

“We can return to the new training facilities in the main building. We have not even skimmed the surface of what you are going to be capable of. Monday, wear comfortable clothes and running shoes. Show up at five am.”

She groaned as she stood up. That was early for even her. “Five am?”

“Yes. Be in a good mood. Have a nice weekend, Caitlyn. Enjoy.”

With that, Declan McPherson transported to who knows where.

T
he weekend had been more than pleasant for the most part. Garrett had returned late Friday night. The Councilmen had kept him more than busy over the past week; their primary objective had been to get him to resume his role as an Inquisitor. After Caitlyn had left the briefing room, the Councilmen made it no secret that they wanted to promote him within the group. They acknowledged his talent level, for the ability was rare and as a result he would be most useful in the more difficult cases.

Garrett was not very inclined to oblige, especially after they took away his mentorship. They reiterated time and time again that the change was in no way a reflection on him, but it was simply that Caitlyn was exceptional and needed guidance beyond what he could provide.

He refused to believe that. Caitlyn was exceptional; there was no doubt about that. But she was still advancing far beyond her peers at this stage. The change to Declan was not a well thought out one and a rash one at that. Caitlyn and Declan were a dangerous combination. Both were extremely too driven. He firmly believed that Declan did not understand that Caitlyn would need to learn to pace herself.

He did not want Caitlyn just to become another tool that the Trust could use. He had seen it happen before with Actuals of significantly less power than she had. They became soldiers of the Trust; their lives completely dedicated to the Trust only, their personal lives second to their loyalty of their organization.

Declan was the embodiment of this belief. Declan was so wrapped up in Trust business, it was well known that it he had not even had a personal relationship in more than two years. His life was the Trust and nothing else. Garrett hated the idea to losing Caitlyn to that. In the past three weeks since the Council handed down their decision, he had only received a few intermittent phone calls from Caitlyn. He felt that Declan’s influence was already beginning.

Garrett was a little more than surprised to see Caitlyn at the door when he arrived home. He was pleased to note that she appeared almost relaxed as she waited for him, with a bottle of wine in her hand. She smiled that beautiful smile that made him relax every time he witnessed it. He missed her more than he wanted to admit.

Garrett could not keep the longing out of his voice. “You are here.”

Her voice was as soft as her smile. “I’m here for the whole weekend. Unless…” a look of uncertainty crossed her face. “You have plans?”

He shook his head no. Even if he had, he would have canceled them immediately just to spend time with her alone. He crossed the final four steps over to where she stood before taking her in up his arms. It was as wonderful as he remembered, her body molding perfectly into his.

He kissed her, a thousand sparks igniting between them in that moment. When they finally pulled away from each other, breathless and with lips swollen, he spoke. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

The early fall night air was cold, and he opened the door letting the both of them inside the house. She placed the wine on his kitchen counter, fumbling through his drawer looking for the wine opener. Garrett couldn’t help but reach out and touch her.

The rest of the evening was spent in front of a warm fire, with Caitlyn’s back laying against Garrett’s chest, catching up on what had happened during the last three weeks. Caitlyn listened with interest as Garrett talked of the Trust reinstating him as an Inquisitor. She turned her face to his, her hand resting on his cheek.

“Are you happy with that?”

Garrett shrugged. He did not know if he was. There was a time he loved his old job, but now, in the past couple of weeks, it left him somehow unsatisfied. The gratification that he used to get from finding a memory that was altered or hidden in the recesses of one’s mind when other Inquisitors could not, was no longer there; instead, he found himself missing the excited expressions that Caitlyn wore when she discovered some new talent.

The Trust had technically given him the option if he wanted to return to his old job. They advised him that the choice was his, but if he chose the private sector, then he would be relocated from this town, away from her, and that was something he was not willing to give up at this point.

“It’s a job. It keeps me closer to you, which is all that matters.”

She looked at him pensively, and he could not tell what she was thinking at the moment, which frustrated him. Did she want him closer? Her answer did not clarify things. “I think you should do what you think is best for you, not me. I do not want to be the reason for holding you back.”

“Held back?” The laugh that fell from his lips could not be prevented. “Caitlyn, being an Inquisitor is not being held back by any stretch of the imagination. Most Actuals would love to have my abilities and an Inquisitor is a very high-ranking position. They have even promoted me as a result of you. I had my security level clearance increased to a three.”

“Oh.” Was the only reply that fell from her lips.

He cupped her face. “Besides…if I am with you, I could never be held back.” It was the closest thing Garrett could do for a declaration of his affections to her.

Caitlyn leaned into his left hand but he felt her pause slightly beneath his touch. “Garrett, why is that you have never taught me subjective telepathy?”

“Caitlyn, I am sure you have heard the saying, ‘Too Much, Too Soon’?”

“But for me it is not. I can handle it. I wish you would give me credit where credit is due.”

“Of course I give you credit where credit is due. I know you are capable of it, but just because you are capable doesn’t mean that you should be taught it yet. I had already passed the Threshold when I began just to study the concepts. I’ve told you a hundred times; the Threshold does not mean the ending to your education.”

“But it does delay it. You study it in between your profession. It does not allow you to solely focus on it and refine it. How can you expect to master as much as possible if you are not given the time to?”

“I mastered them.”

“But most Actuals have not, nor will they ever.”

“Most Actuals do not have the capability that you and I have, Caitlyn. You make it sound as if each Actual is as talented as you are. When are you going to understand that you are the exception, not the rule?”