Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) (44 page)

Robin cracked a rare smile.
 
“I assure you – I will not be giving any orders to shoot today.
 
I specifically asked the witches to provide us with a safe training ground for our work this afternoon.”

I looked around.
 
“Are they here now?”

“No.
 
But if someone tries to tamper with their spell they will come.”

“Okay then,” I rubbed my hands together.
 
“What do you want me to do?”

“Zap ‘em!
 
Send their sorry elf butts into The Green!” yelled Tim, gleefully.

“
Shhh
!”
I said out of the corner of my mouth, immediately smiling afterwards at the group so they wouldn’t think I was nuts.
 
Even though they knew I could hear Tim, I knew it still looked weird to them – like I was always talking to myself.

Robin was too distracted to notice.
 
He was trying to act all cool, but failing miserably.
 
“Well, we had all been hoping, that you might work with us to find a way to use your power over The Green to enhance the work we do.”
 
His eyes were bright with expectation.

“
Liiiike
, in what way?”

“Well, our work focuses on hunting, tracking, and fighting with bow and arrow.
 
We do all of our work in the forest ... and your power is focused in the forest.
 
So maybe there’s a way to perhaps enhance our skills through your connection to The Green.”

I wasn’t really sure what he was getting at, but I felt like I needed to clarify a couple things.
 
“Just so you know, my power isn’t necessarily focused in the Green Forest.
 
I draw power from the trees and so on, but the connection is with everything, everywhere.
 
The greenery, the creatures, the spirits, the memories – here and everywhere.
 
I think it’s more attached to the Earth as a whole system, rather than just the forest.”

Robin and many of the others were nodding as they considered this.
 
Falco spoke up, “That’s a lot bigger than I thought.
 
How can you handle that much power?
 
Seems like you’d explode or be absorbed into it.”

Both his friend and Finn dropped their heads, shaking them slowly from side to side.
 
Apparently, Falco was a lost cause.

I smiled at him.
 
“It
is
big, and I’m not sure how I handle it.
 
I’m not sure that I’ve ever handled more than just a little bit of it.
 
I pull in what I need.
 
Honestly, I don’t know how I do it or how I regulate the amount.
 
It just sort of happens.”
 
I shrugged, a little embarrassed.
 
“I’m sorry I can’t describe it any better than that.
 
I’m new at this.”

That earned me a few smiles from the elves, especially Falco.
 
He probably felt better knowing he wasn’t the only dumbass in the place.

I looked out over the sea of eager faces in front of me.
 
“I worked with Céline once, and I was able to isolate her energy in the mix.
 
Would you like to try something like that?” I asked.

“What do you think we could achieve with isolating energy?” asked Robin.

“I don’t know.
 
Maybe if I can find you in the links, I could channel some of my power into you?”
 
It was an idea anyway.

Robin shrugged.
 
“I am willing to try.
 
But I do not know that it is wise to involve the entire group.
 
Just in case something goes ... not as planned.”

“Wrong, you mean.”

Robin tipped his head to me, saying nothing.
 
He was nothing if not polite.

“Okay, so who’s going to be the guinea pig?”

“Pardon me?” asked Robin, confused.
 
“You want someone to be a pig?”

“No, it’s just an expression.
 
Not a pig.
 
Who is the elf who’s going to try this with me?”

Falco took three giant steps forward so he was standing in front of Robin.
 
“Robin, I would like the honor.”

Falco’s friend came pushing through the elves to grab him by the shoulder and pull him back.
 
“My apologies, Mother, he does not know his place.”

I reached out and grabbed Falco’s hand, pulling him back towards me, temporarily engaging in a tug-of-war with the elf.
 
“First of all, don’t call me that, or I’ll have to slap you silly.
 
And second of all, Falco can do it just as well as anyone else, unless Robin has a problem with it.”

Robin raised his eyebrows, but stepped back, nodding his head at me.
 
The other elves took his cue and also moved back a few paces.

I could tell Falco was totally psyched.
 
He was practically bouncing with enthusiasm.

“Just let me zap him once, Jayne,” said Tim.
 
“Just one little
pixying
... ”

I turned my back on Falco for a second to whisper-yell at Tim,
“Pixie anyone in this group and you’ll get a one-way ticket to the pixie colony that is farthest away from me!”

“Okay, okay, geez, lighten up there, dragon slayer.”

I turned back around to face Falco again, clearing my throat.
 
“A-
hem ...
how about if we start with you holding my hands?
 
Maybe ... I don’t know ... it’ll be easier for me to find your energy source that way.”

Falco looked happily terrified at the idea.
 
“Oh ... uh ... okay.”
 
He reached his hands out in front of him and I saw immediately that they were shaking.

I stepped forward and took his hands in mine.
 
They were soft in places and hard in others.
 
He had callouses in a couple spots corresponding to the weapon he used every day.
 
They were clammy too.
 
I looked up and noticed
a sheen
of sweat on his forehead.

“Don’t worry.
 
I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I know,” he said softly, with barely contained excitement, “it’s just that this is the single most exciting moment of my life!”
 
His voice
raised
up to a squeak at the end, which he tried to recover from by coughing lightly.
 
Poor kid looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

I tried not to be too flattered by his compliment, otherwise the universe would surely cause me to lose control and send him to la-la land as punishment for me getting too cocky.
 
I pulled some of The Green into me and sent it through my hands to Falco, just enough to help him calm down.
 
I could see the effect immediately, as his eyes first widened and then his lids dropped down, his face now looking much more relaxed and mellow.

“Wow.
 
That’s ... nice.”

“Yes,” I smiled back at him, “it is, isn’t it?”
 
So far so good.
 
I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the next experiment.
 
“Now, I’m going to open up this field of energy to include everyone here.
 
I just want to get a feel for all of you, to see if I can pick Falco out of the group.”

Robin and the others nodded their acquiescence.

I reached out through The Green, bringing the elves into the fold and then searching through our connection to find their energy signatures.
 
During my work with Céline, I learned that every creature has a unique presence – and once I knew that creature’s signature inside the connection, I could find it again.
 
Now, I could sense the group of elves with me, all of them linked up to every other thing here and beyond.
 

If I were to put into a visual image everything I felt whenever I touched The Green, it would be like a picture of a tangled ball of string that has no beginning and no end, turned around and in on itself, sometimes touching, sometimes just passing by another piece of itself.
 
And all of the living things on this planet are a part of that string.
 
We
are the string.
 
I could never understand ‘string theory’ in physics
class,
it was beyond my mental capabilities – but my own string theory?
 
The Green String Theory?
 
Now, that was easy.
 
It’s based on one simple premise: we are all part of the same thing.
 
We are all part of the One – a giant ball of cosmic, tangled up string.
 

I heard a little noise by my ear, a tiny squeak – then Tim saying, “
Ooopsy
, ‘
scuse
me.
 
I think it’s the grapes from lunch.”

Nothing like a pixie fart to bring a girl’s head out of the ether.
 
I reached up to flick him, but he moved nimbly to the back of my head, grabbing onto and swinging from my ponytail as he giggled maniacally.
 
I gave up on my retribution and got back to the task at hand.
 
“Okay, can everyone feel the connection?”

I saw smiling elf faces and nods all around.

“Okay.
 
Now, Falco, I want you to push back on the connection.”

“Push back?” he asked, a bemused expression on his face.
 

“Yes.
 
You’re holding my hands right now.
 
If you have to, use my physical connection to help you get the feel for it.
 
Push on me.”

He shrugged his shoulders, “Okay, you’re the boss.”
 
He pushed on my hands, but I felt no difference in the connection.

“You have to push mentally, not just physically.”

Falco’s eyes rolled up into his head a little as he chanted quietly to himself, “Mentally not physically, mentally not physically, mentally not physically...”

I felt the gentlest push against our connection.
 

“Good!
 
Keep doing it.
 
I can feel you now.”

His chanting continued as I felt his energy’s presence grow, “Mentally, mentally, mentally not physically, mentally, mentally, mentally...”

I dropped his hands, and he didn’t even notice.
 
There was no glitch in the link – he just continued to push on our connection, his signature now coming through loud and clear.

“Okay, now, stop pushing back.
 
Just relax for a minute.”

He complied and I closed my eyes so I could concentrate better.
 
I could feel all the elves near me, their energies melding into the mass of others that were here with us in the forest – but now I could also specifically feel Falco’s signature.
 
It was so easy now that he’d temporarily separated himself out for me with that mental pushing.
 
His pulsating energy reminded me of a bouncing puppy, eager to go outside and play.
 
My lightheartedness got the better of me and I accidentally let a little of it slip into The Green.
 
I heard a few gasps of surprise from the guys in front of me.

“
Whoopsy
, sorry about that.
 
Just a little happy is all.”
 
I opened my eyes and noticed many sets of closed eyes and a few slack jaws.
 
“Oh shit, you guys aren’t going into comas, are you?”
 
Motherfucker
, I was going to get an F on the gray elf report card if I kept doing this shit.
 
For the first time in my life, I cared about grades – of course it was when there were no grades actually being given out.

Robin opened his eyes and spoke.
 
“I’m still here.”

Other eyes around the circle opened up and chimed in.
 
The last was Falco who finally closed his mouth and opened his eyes, saying, “Whoa, am I
here!
 
Yes, I am still here!
 
Whoot
!”
 
His joy was palpable.
 
I could feel the waves of it coming through The Green, multiplying and spreading out like the ripples on a lake after a stone is dropped in.
 
The smiles of his cohorts told me that they could feel it too.
 
Maybe this is what they used for their telepathy – The Green.
 
I wondered if they even knew.

“Wow, this kid is really excited.
 
Better step back.
 
I see a green elf make-out session on the horizon,” said Tim.

I ignored him, knowing that Falco and probably all the rest of them were too damn intimidated by my weirdness to want to kiss me.
 
It might have bothered me if I hadn’t already decided that all the green elves I’d met so far weren’t my type.
 
Too nice, too serious, and too damn polite.