Designed with a Destiny (30 page)

“For the record, how about the women decide
for themselves,” Alisha says, coming to stand beside Cat in a show
of comradery. Jason squeezes his eyes shut as if already blocking a
painful showdown.

“Yeah, that sounds like a more modern
scenario than the chauvinistic one being proposed by some of the
men in the group,” Natalie says, joining Cat and Alisha. Claire
gets up too, reaching for Cat’s hand in a silent statement of
unity. She actually might be my saving grace. Cat surely will never
allow her to go, and she won’t let Cat go without her.

“If anyone should go, it should be me since
I have no real family to leave behind,” Elizabeth says, standing
up. I glance over at Zane and see his jaw tighten—taking the whole
idea a little more serious now that his newly found little sister
is in the mix of sacrificial lambs.

“Everyone hold on,” Lawrence finally speaks
up, in his soft but aristocratic way. “The key to success is unity.
Ronan—what is it that makes you want to hold Claire and Cataryn
back?” he questions, putting me on the spot.

“I want to protect my wife and family,
something you wouldn’t know anything about Lawrence,” I backfire,
hoping to distract him. The lines near his eyes crease with his
wide grin, as he overlooks the taunt.

“It’s not that you want to protect them so
much as that you fear losing them—am I right son?” Of course he’s
right—they don’t really need me to protect them—but there’s no way
I’m conceding to it, just so he can give me a lecture on the
destructive nature of fear. As fate would have it, he doesn’t need
to speak a word. Claire approaches me and does a cursory wave of
her hand over the top of my arm then looks up at me with a
concerned expression.

“You used to be four hundred-seventeen, and
now you’re not,” she accuses, giving validation to Lawrence’s
theory without actually saying the word fear out loud.

Lawrence is a master at bringing our group
back into focus after the man versus women showdown over the nature
of future Designer assignments. Thankfully, Ronan’s relinquished
the idea of sweeping me away to safety—living happily ever
after—even though he holds my heart in the palm of his hand, and
could if he really pushed the issue. It’s his notion that women
should be protected—not placed in danger that erupts into a battle
of the sexes. It’s only after Lawrence warns us that permanent
ascension can’t be achieved until we master self-control over our
emotions and actions that we mumble our apologies to each other and
move on to the next item on the agenda.

“Before we get started with training, I
would like to have a private talk with Elizabeth, if I may?” Zane
announces, stunning her as much as anyone. “Would you mind coming
for a walk with me?” he asks, reaching down to help her up off the
ground. She hesitates long enough to make me think she might
refuse, but after getting a nod of encouragement from Lawrence she
takes his hand, and they head for a nearby trail that leads to a
bluff, overlooking the resort. I look at Chord, and we
simultaneously glance over at Claire who’s preoccupied with the
ranch’s two dogs—a yellow and chocolate lab who are happily running
around the property trying to catch a tennis ball that’s floating
and bouncing just out of their reach. Telling her about our parents
now might be just as good of time as any.

“
I think we should hold off,”
he
mentally acknowledges my unspoken question. We used to drive my
parents crazy with our partial dialogue—a look, followed by a nod
or answer. Even back then, we unwittingly had the ability to
communicate telepathically, just not with actual words.

“
Yeah I think you’re right—there’s really
no hurry,”
I reply, suddenly blinking back tears as the reality
of having him not only alive but here with us, hits me.

“
I’m glad to be back too,”
he says,
giving me a playful shove, snapping me out of my emotional
moment.

“Cat and Ronan, why don’t the two of you
work with Chord and Kennedy getting them up to speed, while we do
some one-on-one with Lawrence,” Alisha states, sounding much more
like the take charge physician I remember. Jason is less than
thrilled over her decision to continue working with us, even while
pregnant with his child. He’s looking for a happy-ever-after as
well, and believes the only way he’ll find it is by getting her to
marry him and settling down in a quiet little town to practice
medicine.

“So what’s up with Zane and Liz—are they an
item?” Chord asks, watching the two with curiosity. Claire
introduced him to Elizabeth last night and the two spent the rest
of the flight talking like old friends. I’m not surprised—she has
exactly the type of personality traits that he would be drawn to;
quiet, observant, gentle and sweet. Her beauty is just an added
bonus. Kennedy couldn’t be any more the opposite—a genuine
smart-ass with enough arrogance that she and Natalie have already
clashed over the meaning of Article 32, a military legal term which
they both feel is within their expertise to talk about. Even now,
she ignores Alisha’s orders to train with us, instead begging
Austin to levitate her off the ground one more time. Alisha purses
her lips disapprovingly, glancing around nervously even though
Rosie—the manager of the ranch—assured us we’d have the place to
ourselves today. The last of the guests checked out this morning
and Rosie granted the ranch crew and staff the rest of the day off.
We’re on our own until dinner.

“No—they’re anything but an item,” I say
with a smirk. Chord looks at me questioningly. “Zane’s about to
tell her that they share the same father,” I whisper.

“No kidding?” His eyes widen in surprise,
and when he glances up at them again, his brows are furrowed with
more than mere curiosity, although I can’t say for sure what he’s
thinking.

“What about you and Kennedy—aren’t you two
an item?” I probe. He smiles knowingly as if the question was
anticipated.

“Kennedy and I are kindred spirits, who have
the potential to get in a hell of a lot of trouble when we’re
together,” he says laughing and not really giving a straight
answer. “Hey Kennedy—let’s go!” he hollers, waving her over before
I have a chance to question him further. Whereas Alisha’s commands
go unacknowledged, Chord's elicits an immediate response. She’s
bubbly with enthusiasm when she sprints over, and slaps him on the
butt, mumbling, “Tag—you’re it,” before ducking out of his reach.
He’s easily provoked into playing a game of cat and mouse with her,
leading me to believe that he might not be joking about the nature
of their relationship.

***

Kennedy learns to see energy fields after a
minor enhancing boost from Ronan and me. Although she already has a
gift for telekinesis, she now understands the science behind it and
gains a new confidence in using it for different applications other
than for hurting people. Chord on the other hand, is similar to
Ronan in that he has a greater ability to sense energy versus see
it, and the two pair off practicing a more tactile version of
moving matter. I’m relieved Ronan’s found an ally in him—he now
views their uniqueness as an asset versus a flaw.

“Alright, you’re ready to try it out on me,”
I tell Kennedy. She’s put me off long enough and I can’t figure out
why she’s so nervous about practicing on me when she can easily
move any mid-sized inanimate object without any effort at all.

“Are you sure—what if I drop you?” she
questions, biting her lower lip, her hazel eyes full of worry, even
as she raises the palm of her hands to the sky, positioning them to
stream energy in my direction.

“Don’t worry—I have feline DNA. I can land
on my feet from twelve feet up,” I brag reassuringly. My feet leave
the ground and I stiffen my whole body, enjoying the feeling of
weightlessness as I drift above her head. The ranch sits on five
hundred thousand acres of open land, and we’re situated on the
opposite side of the stables as Ronan and Chord. As soon as I see
them over the roof of the various outbuildings, I tell her to
stop.

“Kennedy, that’s high enough,” I reiterate,
when I continue to slowly climb higher. Her focus is so strong that
she appears to not even hear me so I try a more urgent telepathic
command that still goes unacknowledged.

“Kennedy—stop! That’s high enough,” I call
even louder, trying to break her trance-like state, and drawing the
attention of Ronan and Chord. My attempts to halt the ascension are
futile and I fear that blocking her energy completely could have
disastrous consequences, so I continue floating upward like a
balloon.

“Hey Kennedy, that’s high enough—bring her
back down!” Ronan shouts, sprinting over corral fences to get to
her. I am in plain view of the others down at the ranch and there’s
a commotion as they, too, race over to find out what’s going on.
Even with enhanced vision, I have to squint to see Chord gently
shake her trying to break her concentration.

“Cat hold on!” Ronan hollers. He makes a
running jump for the roof of the shed below me, holding a calf
rope, and Claire follows, running along the fence, before leaping
to his side. Ronan hands her the end of the rope, then she steps on
his hand, and he catapults her through the air like a shot put,
aiming straight for my feet. When she latches hold of my jeans,
they’re almost yanked off my hips. He had to be super confident in
Claire and his aim to stick a shot like that—there was no margin
for error. I trust his judgement but don’t like the risk he’s
taking with Claire at all.

“Way to go Claire!” Everyone yells and
claps, making her an instant hero. The lack of fear in her eyes
always makes me a little uneasy, but I give her a thumbs up anyway.
She hands me the rope then swings her legs around my foot, letting
go with her hands to hang upside down, her blonde curls blowing in
the breeze, as Ronan slowly reels us in with the rope.

“Claire, knock it off. Here grab my hand,” I
say, reaching down for her. She reluctantly obeys, grasping my hand
to pull herself up, and without warning the energy that was holding
us up by Kennedy is suddenly withdrawn, and the two of us freefall
toward the ground.

***

Ronan is livid with Kennedy even though she
appears horrified after Claire and I nearly plunged to our death.
They were able to break our freefall with an invisible web of
energy that acted like a safety net—but it wasn’t until we were a
mere four feet from the ground. He isn’t about to let that one
slide.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Ronan
shouts, his jaw tight with anger.

“Hold on son—she didn’t intentionally misuse
her skills,” Lawrence, the voice of reason defends her.

“Honestly I really didn’t do it on purpose.
I guess I blanked out. I don’t remember any of it.” Her eyes fill
with tears as she tries to explain.

“I believe that Kennedy has what scientists
refer to as psychic energy absorption—a sort of energy vampirism if
you will. When she’s in a certain state of mind and open to moving
energy—she unintentionally steals any available energy in the
vicinity. It’s possible that it causes a mental overload or
temporary short circuit. It might be wise to refrain from using
psychokinesis until we can figure how you can block it,” Lawrence
says.

“Ah—so you’re an energy kleptomaniac,” Chord
jokes, putting his arm around her, trying to cheer her up as she
walks away sulking.

***

Zane and Elizabeth return just as the rest
of us are sitting down to eat dinner. Her eyes are red from crying,
but she has her arm linked in his, indicating a certain level of
acceptance of their family connection.

“May I announce it?” he murmurs in her ear,
as he pulls a chair out for her at the table. Liz nods, quietly
taking a seat, allowing him to do the talking. Natalie sucks in a
deep breath, a look of hurt and confusion prematurely spreading
across her face. It’s clear she has feelings for Zane and is
anticipating a different sort of announcement—a Brandon and Sophia
sort of announcement. Her relief is obvious when Zane declares that
Elizabeth is his sister, and I don’t think it goes unnoticed by
Zane either.

“Is Zane a Designer?” Alisha asks
Lawrence.

“No Alisha—that would have required some
pre-planning on the part of my parents, and I was anything but a
planned pregnancy considering my father was married to Lizzy’s
mother at the time,” Zane’s quick to reassure her with distain. He
pours himself a glass of wine and holds it up. “However, I am
thrilled and honored beyond words to have Elizabeth as a sister. I
would like to make a toast…here is to family and new beginnings,”
he says smiling. The rest of us drink to his toast, and murmur our
congratulations, then for the first time in a long time, we enjoy a
meal together that’s relaxed and upbeat. The staff at the ranch
goes above and beyond creating a delicious authentic Mexican feast
that has everyone complimenting Rosie, and Bernie begging her for
recipes. There’s only been a few times in the past six months that
I’ve felt part of something normal, and this happens to be one of
those times, at least until Lawrence reveals his plans for the next
level of training which involves an early morning excursion to
Mexico City.

“Rosie says tomorrow is the International
Day to End Violence Against Women, and there is a protest planned
against the government for not investigating and protecting women
against crimes. While not nearly as dangerous of a venue as the
Middle East, Mexico is not without a reputation of intense
violence, especially toward women. In fact, the United Nations has
declared violence against women as a pandemic in Mexico, and an
event like this is sure to attract the very men who commit these
violent crimes. I think it’s the perfect place to change the social
atmosphere by raising the vibratory resonance of the people there,”
he says matter-of-factly.