Designed with a Destiny (10 page)

The Cessna makes two more passes before
disappearing inland and only then do I turn to Zane who is watching
me with a sad smile.

“Look—about my earlier confession—it was
completely inappropriate, and I can see now that it was a mistake
to…"

“Follow me—I have something to show you,” I
say cutting him off. I know I'm taking a gamble, but something
inside tells me he'll be receptive to the concept once it's
explained. He follows me into the trees, and after finding an area
large enough for the both of us, I clear a space on the ground, sit
down, and motion him to do the same.

“Picnic?” he asks.

“Nope—I have a confession of my own.” He
cocks his head to one side, eyeing me carefully as he sits down
next to me.

“It’s an energy thing, Zane. I don’t believe
you’re really in love with me. I believe you're just experiencing a
shift in your energy field-that's all.”

“Huh?” He looks at me with a bemused
smile.

“Have you ever heard of Quantum Physics?" I
can tell by his face that he has, but he shrugs his shoulders
instead of saying so.

"It's the proven scientific principle which
says that everything in the universe, including thoughts and
emotions can be traced back to sub-atomic particles. Those
particles are comprised of pure energy and I’ve been purposefully
designed to see and manipulate that energy. I've been using that
gift to…"

"Make me do ridiculously embarrassing things
for your entertainment?" he asks, raising an eyebrow and pursing
his lips in resentment.

"Yes. I mean no. I mean…well that's one way
I've used it, but there's a much more important way that has a
better possibility of provoking loving thoughts." I say unable to
keep from grinning. His face immediately relaxes.

"Loving thoughts huh? And what would that
be…?"

"It would be using my energy to alter your
color screening…to increase your vibrational rate from slow and low
to fast and high.”

“I had something entirely different in
mind,” he mumbles disappointedly.

When's the last time you’ve been truly
happy, Zane?" I ask, changing the subject.

"I suppose back when my mother was alive,"
he finally says, swallowing hard. "When she died, I became consumed
with attaining power…just like my father. Controlling the Designers
offered the most likely way of controlling the world," he admits,
looking at me with serious gray eyes.

"What if I told you that I think it’s
possible for you to attain powers similar to mine,” I calmly say
watching his expression. Predictably, he looks at me in
disbelief.

“Is that a joke?”

“It’s not intended to be. I believe I can
teach you how to see the same energy fields that I do?"

“Why would you?”

“Because when you see things, such as people
and situations in terms of energy it changes everything. I know
that when it happens for you, it will change how you think of the
world. It will change how you treat other people.” I hold my hand
out to him and he hesitates, before slowly placing his in mine.
When I link my fingers around his it’s as if we are old family
friends, and all wrong doing is temporarily forgotten.

"Cataryn, if this feeling I get, every time
you touch me isn't love, you’re doing a hell of a lousy job
convincing me otherwise," he says, deliberating over each word. I
meet his gaze, and for the first time consider how I might feel
under different circumstances—if there were no Ronan or
kidnappings. Could I ever feel about this man or any man, the way
that I do about Ronan? I smile inwardly with relief a few seconds
later when I conclude…never.

“Zane, I’m about to change all that. And
besides, if you fill your mind up with thoughts of me, you’ll never
recognize the right girl when she comes along,” I say, softly
easing the rejection.

***

“It’s easiest to see the energy fields in
nature. Just focus on the trees and plants around us. Breathe in
and exhale slowly,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. I watch
as his color screening reaches almost a solid yellow under the
blanket of white particles dancing around and through him. Several
seconds pass before he shakes his head in frustration.

“Let’s try something a little different.” I
let go of his hand and crawl behind him, kneeling with my elbows on
his shoulders and a hand on each side of his face. Closing my eyes,
I concentrate fully on thoughts of love, purging my mind of every
negative emotion I’d collected over the past several weeks. I can’t
say for sure how long we sit there in silence, but when I feel a
smile forming beneath my hands, I know instantly that he’s
succeeded in rising to a level of awareness that will have a life
changing impact on him. He doesn’t move an inch when I release my
hands and get up, nor does his smile fade as he sits with his eyes
transfixed on the trees in front of him. His color screening is a
heavenly pale yellow when I turn to leave, and I am so distracted
by the turn of events that I walk right past the tall, dark-haired
man with eyes of liquid gold, leaning against the tree watching
us.

The moment Harrington's island is within
view I know that I made a terrible mistake as I watch the flames
explode in the canopy of the trees moving distinctly towards the
eastern part of the island. It’s as if my heart ceases to beat with
the realization that I sent my wife directly into the path of the
flames, and a silent “
No!”
lodges in my throat as I recall
my last words to her.

“The coliseum is over there,” Sophia says,
pointing to a hillside with a barely visible dome structure nestled
among the trees near the north side of the island. “And the house
should be on the other side of the runway,” she murmurs, swinging
her finger to the left. The glow from the burning foliage lights up
the night just enough so that the landmark clearing of where a
house once stood and the adjacent runway are apparent once pointed
out by Sophia. She knows the island well enough that even without
enhanced night vision she’s instrumental in helping Brandon get the
aircraft on the runway. Of course it takes additional telekinetic
skills from Austin to clear the scattered debris so that Brandon
can land without damaging his airplane. The presumably once lush
island looks like a war zone with scattered metal scrapings strewn
amongst hotspots of smoldering trees and wreckage.

“This fire wasn’t caused by an act of
nature,” Austin says, as the four of us step out of the
airplane.

“Nope, not when the fuselage of the airplane
is thirty feet from where it belongs,” Brandon responds grimly,
quickly spotting the plane's body in a pile of rubble.

“Ronan, where are you going?” Sophia asks,
as I immediately head towards the eastern tree line.

“To look for bunnies,” I grunt in response,
and hear her whisper, “Be an asshole,” under her breath. It’s a
title I’ve heard whispered more often than I care to count, yet
this time I react unexpectedly to the insult, using Sophia as a
scapegoat for my growing anxiety.

“If you don’t like my attitude, then you
should have stayed at the estate with the others,” I hiss through
clenched teeth, turning abruptly to face her.

“Whoa, Ronan back off—she did help us find
the runway,” Brandon intervenes, immediately coming to her
defense.

“No, it’s okay Brandon. I get it. He’s never
going to forget that I worked for the Harringtons,” she says, her
brown eyes brimming with tears. “Regardless of what you think
Ronan, I did everything I could to make sure that Cat was
comfortable. We actually became friends while she was there and I
want to see her again just as much as anyone else.” The sincerity
in her words squelch the dickhead comeback I was preparing to lay
on her use of the word "comfortable", and I sigh heavily
instead.

“During my remote travel event, I thought
the fire was moving to the west and I sent her to the east side of
the island. I’ve been trying to connect with her telepathically
since we landed the plane and she’s not responding,” I admit
quietly, desperately wanting their reassurance and immediate
dismissal of my fears. When nobody says a word, I turn toward the
smoldering tree line, carefully stepping over charred branches as I
make my way deeper and deeper into the forest, silently calling
Cat’s name in an attempt to make some sort of a mental
connection.

***

“Do you think it’s possible that Cat and
Zane made it off the island and are traveling by airplane? Or,
maybe she’s being held in an area that’s shielded from telepathic
energy waves?” Brandon proposes as my three companions finally
offer speculations as to why Cataryn hasn’t responded to me.

“It’s two o’clock in the morning—ever
consider that she might be asleep?” Austin mumbles, yawning for the
umpteenth time. The suggestion that Cat would fall asleep knowing
that I’m here to rescue her is preposterous, but I don’t bother
explaining this to him.

“Cat and Zane are both pilots—they are
trained to recognize direction of air currents. I know this might
be hard to believe, but did you stop to think that maybe she didn’t
take your advice Ronan—that she didn’t run straight into the path
of a firestorm?” Brandon says irritably, picking up on my growing
fear, anger and helplessness. After three hours of painstaking
travel which often included backtracking in order to avoid the
fast-moving crown fire ahead of us, we’re finally standing on a
sandy beach at the water’s edge, where just north of us the fire
continues to burn. Although Canada has had one of its warmest
winters on record, January temperatures still drop below freezing
at night and the radiant heat from the fire offers a blanket of
warmth that makes it possible for the others to consider getting a
few hours rest. I on the other hand promised Cat she would fall
asleep in my arms tonight and with only a few hours left to make
good on my promise I continue my search, combing the beach for any
sign of her. Brandon was right, there had to be some other
explanation for me not being able to connect a mental call with
Cat. I wouldn’t give Zane so much credit, but Cat would definitely
have enough sense to avoid traveling in the direction of prevailing
winds with a forest fire chasing her.

***

Watching Cat pitch a duck decoy at Zane’s
head, and seeing a look of fear in his eyes is satisfying enough,
but when she follows up with a powerful use of telekinetic energy
causing his body to slam repeatedly on the deck floor, I am
perfectly happy not interrupting her with a telepathic call. One
minute she’s completely unreachable by mental radio and the next
minute I am summoned to her by the extreme emotion generated by his
actions. My only disappointment is that I’m not there physically to
take over, and I silently cheer her on each time his body hits the
floor with a loud thug. Drugging my wife is just one more thing to
add to the long list of assaults against her, and I silently vow to
personally make him pay for each one, as I see her tear up in
frustration.

No one is more surprised than me when Zane
makes a declaration of love for Cat. Up until this point, I hadn’t
even considered that he might have feelings for her, and I hold my
breath waiting for her response. I expect her to show immediate
disgust to the news so when I see her eyes soften in response to
his announcement, I have a moment of doubt which almost immediately
explodes into a monster of insecurity. It’s been close to two
months since I’ve held her in my arms and god only knows what he’s
done to influence her during that time. In less than fifteen
seconds, I’ve managed to concoct a variety of scenarios that range
from brainwashing to swaying her with affection and promises of
seeing her family. Not even the loud crash of their vessel jars me
to my senses and based on my unreasonable fears, I slip into a
jealous rage for the first time in my life.

“Ronan, you look like you just fought off a
grizzly bear,” Brandon says when I burst through the trees and
startle the three of them awake. For some reason, the fact that
Sophia is curled up sleeping next to him agitates me even more.

“I found Cat—let’s go!” I yell, snatching
the blanket off of them and stuffing it in the backpack, which
Sophia insisted on bringing along.

“Uh, Ronan, whatever happened to you it’s
influencing your color screening big time,” Austin says, eyeing me
suspiciously. “Blue, with a few streaks of orange and that’s if I’m
being generous,” he continues, as he slowly gets up and folds his
blanket, never taking his eyes off of me. “Wow, I’ve seen people
change color before, but never by more than a shade and never this
quickly,” he continues, shaking his head. I hated that there was
now no privacy for me to even hide my emotions from them. It didn’t
matter how much I masked my feelings, the aura of my energy state
would always give me away, and this thought darkens my mood even
further.

“Look, I’ll be okay—I just need to get to
Cat now. She’s on a yacht with Zane up the coast near the mainland.
How fast can you run?” I ask, directing my question at Sophia, for
no other reason than to point out to Brandon how much her presence
is slowing us down.

“I can stay here and wait for you to get
back,” she says quickly, taking the hint graciously.

“We’re not leaving you here alone,” Brandon
immediately objects, shooting me a dirty look.

To my relief Austin volunteers to stay
behind with Sophia, leaving Brandon no good excuse for delaying our
flight.

“Come on, we’ll be back in a few hours,” I
reassure him. “I’ll meet you at the airplane.”

I take off in a full thirty mile per hour
sprint through the forest, not waiting for his agreement to the
deal. I can’t be sure if the overpowering urge to get to Cat is
based on human emotion or some instinctual pull from the mammal DNA
in me, but only death will keep me from finding her this time.