New Sight (14 page)

“Really?” Inez asked, throwing a hand up into the air.

“Yeah,” Brady said. “It would be like your horoscope. Mars, uh . . .” He trailed off. “What’s your sense?”

Mark turned to her. “I’ve been wondering that myself.”

Inez didn’t meet anyone’s eyes. Instead she glanced at Mark’s feet. “I’m not really sure.”

Mark nodded. “That’s okay,” he said kindly. “What happens to people when you use your magic on someone?”

“I, uh.” She cleared her throat. “People usually do things that they wouldn’t normally do.”

“Like what?” Mark prompted.

“Like falling all over themselves to help me when I want them to,” Inez said.

Brady snorted. “Pretty sure you don’t need your magic for that.”

Inez shot him an annoyed look.

He held up his hands. “I’m just sayin’.”

“She makes me think of food all the time,” Peter said.

Mark nodded. “Ah, so you’re a taste user.”

“Taste?” Inez asked, her eyebrows knitting together again.

Brady made a face. “Is that any better than smell?”

“Shut up!” Peter said. Brady laughed.

Mark held up a hand. “It’s different. Taste doesn’t just deal with food, but with people’s appetites.” He turned his attention back to Inez. “So things like greed, lust, and anger are probably pretty easy for you to bring out in people.”

Inez nodded.

“Okay,” Mark said, “So no one here is the same sense as anyone else but Brady and me. That will make things more difficult, but we’ll give it a try.”

He sat down at the head of the circle. Lys noticed that he moved slowly, and she remembered the bruises on his stomach. How badly had the New injured him?

“Everyone close your eyes.” Mark waited a few moments before speaking again. “Take a deep breath.”

Lys did so, and she could hear the others doing the same.

“Make sure to breathe from your stomach and not just your chest. Fill your lungs to capacity, hold it for three seconds, and then let it out—slow, like air coming out of a balloon through a pin hole. Keep going.”

From her stomach? Lys took another breath and found that only her chest moved when she breathed. She let the air out and tried again. Starting from her navel, Lys slowly drew air into her lungs, amazed as the bottom of her lungs filled before the air topped off in her chest. Three seconds of holding the air in made her mind scream in protest. Then she slowly let it out, imagining it as a thin wire of air coming from her nostrils, hitting her legs, and curling back up around her like smoke. She’d taken a self-defense class for a while, and she’d never quite got the hang of meditation.

“Use your mouth to breathe out if it helps,” Mark said after a few seconds. She tried it and found that although it was louder, it seemed easier to control coming from her mouth.

In her mind, Lys started to count the number of breaths she took. When she reached twenty-three Mark spoke again.

“Good. Now keep breathing. As you exhale, try to rid yourself of excess thoughts and worries.”

Lys tried not to shake her head. Excess thoughts and worries? That’s all she had!

“Keep breathing,” Mark said. “If you can’t empty your mind, imagine a blackboard. Toss everything you’ve got at it. Take a look at each item—problems, worries, distractions, everything—and erase them one by one as you exhale. If it won’t go on the first try, do it again. Keep it up until there is nothing left but a blank board in front of you.”

“Do we use an eraser, or what?” Brady asked.

“It’s your subconscious,” Mark said. “Do whatever comes to your mind. If the blackboard analogy doesn’t work for you, think of something else. Some people use sitting on the bottom of a pool as their meditation platform.”

Lys tried to come up with her blackboard, but got caught up in what it should look like. Did it have to be black, or could it be a white board? Could she use different colored markers to write with? And was it okay that she wanted to wipe the items off with her hands and then clean her hands on a pair of old jeans that she loved?

“Try not to get too caught up in the details,” Mark said. “Just let your subconscious take you where it wants to go.”

How did he know? Was he listening to her thoughts?

Finally Lys had her board; about a million problems covered it, leaving hardly any of the white showing. With an internal sigh, Lys started to wipe them off, letting them go. Sometimes it worked, other times it just made her think of three more things she needed up there, and any space she’d cleared filled with new concerns.

“Does everyone have a clear mind yet?” Mark asked.

Lys didn’t say no out loud. She’d just gotten to Kamau’s name, and a whole new world of issues popped up. However, she kept listening to Mark.

“Now open up a hole in the middle of your board. Let it represent magic. It’s not an outside problem, it’s something that comes from inside of you, therefore, you can control it.”

After a moment of satisfaction when she allowed herself to think of Kamau’s strong hand around hers, she exhaled and blew all of the remaining words off the board. It stood white and clean, ready for use.

Imagining the center of the surface, Lys placed a hole the size of a pin. Golden light surged from it, reminding Lys of the end of a firecracker as it lifted into the air.

“Is there energy coming out of the hole?” Mark asked.

Lys nodded. Did everyone else?

“Good.” Mark seemed pleased. “Now, put your hand on the board, and move in front of the energy.”

Lys’s ethereal body placed both hands on the board before she moved her face in front of the beam of energy. It tossed her hair back and tickled her cheeks. She took a breath before scooting over until one of her eyes looked directly into the beam.

A surge of pleasure filled her. The golden energy connected with her eye and Lys felt the Need cringe back. The beam was light and the Need was dark. They couldn’t be in the same place at the same time.

“Everyone there?” Mark asked. Lys didn’t hear anyone answer—she nodded again.

“Good, now let the energy go through you. It’s very important that you don’t let it fill you because if that happens, you’ll have to break all over again.” Mark paused only for a second. “Find it an outlet. Use the end of your finger or your eyes or your hair or whatever.”

Once Mark warned her not to let the energy fill her, Lys noticed that this is exactly what it was trying to do. She looked down and saw her hands first. She imagined them filling with the energy, and as she did so they started to glow. Turning them to the sides, Lys shot the energy away from her, just like she saw super heroes do in the movies.

Lys stood there, eyes taking in the beam of energy and channeling it out through her hands, for what felt like an hour. However, with each passing second, Lys found a better balance than she’d had before. The energy began to leave a song in her head—a buzzing of unfamiliar but not discomforting tunes that she almost recognized.

“Once you think you’ve got that,” Mark said, “try to use your magic.”

Chapter 18

Use her
magic? How exactly did he expect her to do that?

At first nothing came to her, but then she remembered what happened when she broke, and all those times she thought she’d been hallucinating. Seeing through other people’s eyes.

She didn’t want to end up seeing through a million eyes at once again, so Lys concentrated on one person. And since the only person in the room that might have their eyes open was Mark, she tried to find him.

At first nothing happened. The
light continued to go through her, and Lys did her best not to panic. She told herself to concentrate—focus.

Once again she tried to find Mark. The magic curled around her, vulturing, looking for a path. She thought about Mark’s dark eyes and the magic shot to her right. Lys let her mind follow it, and a moment later a gray haze—like back at the hospital—surrounded her. It lifted almost as fast as it came, leaving Lys with a clear view of the ballroom with Inez and Peter sitting on the floor. Lys grinned.

Peter sat taking deep breaths and Inez’s scowl had almost disappeared. Almost. Her perspective turned, following Mark’s gaze, and moved past Kamau until it settled on her. She laughed when she saw her own, smiling face.

“What’s funny?” Mark asked.

“I can see myself.” Okay, seeing herself talk but not looking in a mirror had to rank up with the strangest things she’d ever done.

“You can?” Mark looked around.

“Well, not when you move your head.”

“What do you mean?” Mark turned his attention back to Lys.

“I can see through your eyes.”

Mark blinked. “Through my eyes?”

“Yeah.” Lys suddenly felt like she’d done something wrong, and tried to pull out. Nothing happened. She saw her own face go from laughing to scared.

“What’s wrong?” Mark asked.

“How do I get out of it?” She felt her breath catch as she tried to push herself away from the energy coming from the hole. “I can’t get out of it!”

“Don’t panic,” Mark said, standing and taking a few steps toward her. “If you can’t get yourself out, I can do it. But first, try this. Let more out than you’re taking in.”

More of the energy? Lys tried to concentrate on the beam, but couldn’t with Mark looking down at her grimace.

“Close your eyes,” she said.

Mark did, and she was able to once again focus on the hole. With all of her might, she pushed the magic out of her. Unfortunately it felt like trying to shove a watermelon through a smoking pipe. Nothing happened, so she pushed harder, using every ounce of willpower she could find. Still nothing.

“It’s not working,” she said, panic rising in her voice.

“Keep trying.”

Lys pushed, she pulled, she fought—all to no avail. The balance she had so carefully constructed began to break down, and the energy filled her.

“It’s really not working,” she said, this time through gritted teeth. The view through Mark’s eyes opened again, as did about fifty others. Most showed only black or shadows, but plenty of others filled her mind. Lys saw herself flinch back.

“Okay,” Mark said. “This might not be comfortable.”

A jolt of white hot
electricity seared through Lys. It raced to the hole in her board and struck, leaving the board a smoking, charred mess. Lys felt herself yanked from her meditation and thrown back into the real world.

Gasping for breath, she doubled over, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to get rid of the fading images that crowded her mind.

“You okay?” Mark asked, squatting down in front of her. His hand lay on her bare forearm.

Lys slowly opened her eyes, her vision returning to normal. “Yeah, I think so.” She looked up at Mark. “That’s scary.”

Mark smiled. “Sure is, mate.” He stood and looked around. Lys followed his gaze and found both Peter and Kamau watching her. Inez and Brady still sat with their eyes closed.

“Not bad for your first time,” he said.

Lys felt like a fish out of water. “That’s magic?”

“Yes, it is.”

“How do you feel?” Kamau asked.

Lys thought about it before she answered. “Good, actually.” And she did. The remaining buzz of the magic echoed around in her head. The Need lurked in the shadows, unable to come out. Both resided inside of her?

She opened her mouth to ask Kamau how he felt, but Inez’s eyes shot open, and she gasped, looking around frantically.

“What is it?” Mark asked, moving to her.

Inez took in her surroundings, and as soon as her eyes settled on Peter she calmed down. “Nothing,” she said to Mark after a breath or two. “I just had a hard time getting out of it.”

Mark nodded, then turned his attention to Brady. “Hey, Brady, come up for some air.”

Lys noticed that Brady’s eyes moved back and forth behind his eyelids. He didn’t say anything.

“Hey, mate,” Mark said, striding across the circle. “Get out of it.”

Brady moaned. “Can’t,” he said softly.

“Try,” Mark ordered.

“Don’t want to.”

A scowl moved over Mark’s face. “Now.”

This time Brady’s eyebrows knit together, and his face screwed up in concentration. Sweat broke out on his forehead. “But I can feel everything.”

“You can feel everything later,” Mark said. “Right now I need you back here.”

Brady nodded. His shoulders shook like he had the chills, and a moment later he opened his eyes. Lys noticed that his oily eyes swirled the fastest of anyone, and his hands shook like an old man’s.

“You okay?” Mark asked.

He nodded. “I think so.” A small grin broke out on his face. “That’s pretty damn cool.”

“Isn’t it?” Mark said with a knowing smile.

Kamau frowned. “Why is it hard for some people to come out of the magic?”

Mark looked at him for a moment before answering. “Magic is different for everyone. Some people can access it easily but have a hard time getting out. For others it’s the opposite. Did you have difficulty breaking away?”

“No,” Kamau said, shaking his head. “Not at all.”

“Ancients have more control in general,” Mark said before looking around. “Why don’t we break for lunch. Inez, we need to get a hold of Mason. Do you have a cell phone?”

“I can steal one.”

“That works. I need to tell him where we are and find out when someone can come pick us up.”

Inez didn’t look particularly happy with the idea of calling Mr. Mason, but for once she didn’t argue. Instead she just stood and pointed down the hall. “There’s some food in the first room. Help yourselves. I’ll go get a phone.” Her eyes briefly flickered to Lys as if to say, “Don’t even think about following me.”

Right, like Lys would put herself in a position where she’d be alone with Inez.

Lunch went quickly. Lys inhaled
some chips and a small sandwich, hardly listening to Brady throw out ideas for renaming the power levels, and barely noticing Kamau’s leg pressed up against hers. She wanted another go at her magic. Sure, it terrified her, but on the other hand, for a few minutes she’d actually felt like she was in control of her own destiny. Maybe she could go on. Maybe her life wasn’t over after all.

Before they’d finished, Inez returned with a cell phone and a bag full of fruit.

“Here,” she said, dumping it on the table. “The phones usually get reported stolen within a few hours, so you should use it now.” Without another word, Inez snatched up an apple and left the room, gracing Lys with yet another withering gaze.

“Don’t worry, she’ll calm down soon,” Peter said, following Lys’s eyes.

Lys shrugged. She didn’t care much about what Inez thought or did. At least that’s what she kept telling herself.

Mark took the phone and left the room, dialing as he went. His voice faded after the word, “Hello, Jeremiah?”

Lys stood and made her way back to the ballroom. For some reason she felt better about dabbling with magic there. Inez sat on the floor in a far corner, her eyes closed. Going back to her previous spot, Lys settled down and tried again.

This time it was easier to clear her mind, but getting to the magic took a while. She heard the others shuffle back in, but no one said anything.

When she finally got the hole in her board, and the magic began to fill her, Lys had to have Mark get her out because she couldn’t open an outlet. Magic poured into her body like water filling a glass, and when it got to her waist hysteria kicked in. That happened twice before she got it right.

As soon as she found
a balance, she opened her sight and searched for someone’s eyes to look through. She didn’t want to use Mark again, so she looked farther away. It took a few minutes, but she finally found a person. Although she had no idea how she did it—the whole thing felt like a video game that she never read the directions for.

The view from the person’s eyes came into focus, and Lys recognized that they were in the supply room. There might be a lot of bad costumes in Vegas, but how many could claim the purple and white bodice on a dress made of feathers and slabs of tire. Right, no one.

She found her perspective moving toward the wall where the door lay hidden. She expected them to hang up an outfit and leave, but instead they walked to the wall and put a hand on it. A glove appeared. A black glove.

Lys hissed in a breath. Lots of costumes had gloves—must be someone from the show. However, when the perspective swiveled to the left, Lys caught sight of two policemen, one talking into his radio and another drawing his gun.

Maybe the club got busted. Lys wished she believed that.

Pulling out of someone’s sight seemed easier than getting out of her magic. It felt like squeezing part of her mind through a funnel. Lys retreated from the policemen and searched for another set of eyes to look through. It didn’t take long, and as the now familiar gray haze cleared, Lys found herself in a hallway, standing at the back of a line of four other policemen. She wished she could hear what they were saying, but Mark had told her that being a sight user meant she probably would never hear anything when she did this.

“Get me out.” The words blurted from her mouth as she recognized where this set of policemen were standing.

Mark started to say something about her doing it on her own.

“Now!” she said, raising her voice.

The shock hit her and
Lys flew back into her own eyes, the scene around her shredding into ribbons. She blinked and shook her head, trying to clear the remnants of the magic from her sight.

“What is it?” Mark asked, arms crossed over his chest.

Lys gulped. “The police. They’re right outside the doors.”

The words no sooner left Lys’s lips than a crash came from the end of the hall. Everyone sprung to their feet.

Lys watched in horror as a police officer ran into the ballroom. The gun in his hand followed his gaze, traveling from her to the others and settling on Mark.

“Freeze!” the officer said as another man burst from the hall.

Lys saw everyone put their hands up.

“I think we found what we’re looking for,” the second officer said.

“Call it in.” The first officer returned his gaze to Lys. “You alright there?”

Lys nodded. “Yes, sir.”

This guy thought she’d been kidnapped. By Mark. That explained the guns.

“I’m fine. I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” Lys said.

“These guys aren’t all police officers,” Peter said in a hushed whisper. He inhaled deeply. “The New.”

To Lys’s surprise, Kamau stepped forward, speaking before either man got to their radios.

“Officers, I’m so glad you found us. We’ve been lost down here for hours, and couldn’t find our way out.” He smiled brightly.

The first officer looked around at the construction lights. “Lost?”

“Yes,” Kamau said, “and you found us. We’re grateful.”

The others shot sidelong glances at Kamau, and Lys returned a reassuring smile and gave her head a little shake.

“You are?”

Kamau nodded. “Absolutely.” He took a step forward. Neither police officer twitched. They both had their eyes glued to Kamau, and they listened to his voice intently. “We’re glad that your superiors sent you after a group of lost tourists.”

“Lost tourists?” Inez muttered.

The first officer’s attention turned toward Inez, and the look of serenity on his face screwed back up into a glare.

“Yes, officer,” Kamau said, glancing at Inez out of the corner of his eye. “We were on a tour, and the guide brought us into this room. He told us a ghost story and then disappeared.”

“A ghost tour?” the second officer asked.

“Yes.” Lys noticed Kamau flick a finger at Brady. He nodded and shifted his weight. “It was horrible. The girls were scared, but now you found us.”

Both police officers nodded in unison with Kamau. Their eyes sort of glazed over and they swayed back and forth.

“You should put your guns away. You’re heroes.”

The second officer lowered his gun, then they both put their guns away, grinning madly.

“My goodness, what is that on the floor?” Kamau asked.

As both officers looked down, Brady’s hands shot into his pockets. He pulled out two pieces of broken tile and threw them at the police officers. Each one struck its mark in the head, and both men slumped to the floor.

Inez swore.

“Nice,” Mark said.

“Dude!” Brady said, turning toward Kamau. “You totally just used a Jedi mind trick on those guys! I had no idea you could do that.”

“Jedi mind trick?” Inez asked.

Brady turned to her. “Yeah, you know, like Luke Skywalker in
Star Wars
?
”

Inez blinked.

“Oh, come on,” Brady said. “You know, the force,
Star Wars
, Princess Leia . . . These aren’t the kids you’re looking for.” He waved his hand in front of Inez’s eyes.