Helpless (Blue Fire Saga) (10 page)

13. A PLEASANT SURPRISE

S
aturday morning, Dominic did not take off his jacket when he entered Leesa’s room. Instead, he told her to grab her coat.

“We’re going for a ride,” he said.

“Where to?” Leesa asked as she pulled her parka from its hook in the closet.

“West,” Dominic replied. “We are going to try something new today, so I think it’s a good idea to do it far away from here.”

Leesa wondered what Dominic had planned for her. They had spent a few hours yesterday refining her everywhere/nowhere technique and she was becoming pretty good at it. Near the end of her session she even managed to complete the technique while looking Dominic in the eye, which was a major breakthrough. She still hadn’t been able to do it staring at her reflection in the mirror, though. She was pretty sure that was going to require a lot more work, and a bit more self-esteem, too.

Heading down the stairs, Dominic handed Leesa the keys to the Blazer. As they had agreed, she would drive any time they were together. Leesa did not get to drive very often, so she was very happy with the arrangement.

Outside, the sun was shining brightly, reflecting off the snow with an almost blinding glare. Leesa shaded her eyes with her hand as they walked to the Blazer, parked at the curb a short distance from the dorm. It wasn’t too cold out, so she didn’t bother zipping up her parka.

When she got into the car and switched on the ignition, classical music spilled from the radio, an orchestra symphony of some kind. Leesa had no idea who the music was by, but she kind of liked it. She guessed this was the kind of music Dominic had enjoyed a long time ago back in Europe and was glad he had been able to find a classical music station. She hadn’t even known there was one in the area.

“It’s Franz Liszt,” Dominic told her. “I had the pleasure of watching him conduct this very symphony once, many, many years ago.”

“Cool,” Leesa said. She wondered if a couple hundred years from now she would be casually telling someone she’d had the pleasure of hearing Coldplay perform. Somehow, she doubted it.

“Head toward Meriden,” Dominic told her, “and then get on the 691.”

Leesa drove slowly through campus, where the narrow roads had been further narrowed by the piles of plowed snow piled against the curbs. Once she turned onto highway 66 she was able to drive at a more reasonable speed. Traffic was light and they made good time.

As they neared Meriden, she was tempted to swing by and say hello to her Aunt Janet and Uncle Ralph, but decided against it. She hadn’t told anyone in her family about Dominic yet, and had not figured out how she was going to introduce him. Besides, she didn’t know how far they were going and how much Dominic had planned for her to do, so she didn’t know if they could spare the time.

Interstate 691 was completely free of snow and ice. Traffic was moving freely at sixty-five miles per hour. Leesa tried to remember the last time she had driven this fast and realized it had been almost a year ago, back in San Diego. The Blazer rode pretty smoothly, and she enjoyed driving it, perched higher above the road than she was used to. Now and then they crossed wide puddles formed from melted snow streaming across the pavement. Leesa knew the water would freeze into sheets of ice at night, making driving treacherous, but right now it was no big deal, other than when cars in front of her spattered her windshield, making it necessary for her to use the windshield washer. The wiper blades were in good condition and did a good job cleaning the window. She guessed that Walt had replaced them prior to selling the Blazer.

At Dominic’s instruction, she merged onto 84 West. After an hour or so of driving, they crossed the border into New York state. Leesa wondered how much farther they were going, and why Dominic was familiar with this area, as he seemed to be.

They followed another interstate south for twenty miles or so and then Dominic told her to exit onto a local highway. He guided her through a couple more turns, until she saw a sign for Whippoorwill Ridge Park.

“Pull in here,” Dominic told her.

“How on earth do you know about his place?” Leesa asked as she swung into the tree-filled park. They were more than an hour and a half from Middletown.

“I’ve been exploring places where we could work. I don’t sleep much, so I’ve got lots of free time. Turn here.” He indicated a small parking area to the left.

As she turned into the empty lot, Leesa thought her eyes were playing tricks on her—but what a wonderful trick it was. Sitting on a large gray boulder, smiling and waving to her, was Rave!

He was wearing his black and white flannel shirt and black jeans. He looked amazing, as always.

Leesa almost fell as she scrambled out of the car and raced toward him. He got up off the rock just in time for her to leap into his arms and wrap her legs around his waist.

“What are you doing here?” she asked breathlessly. “How did you even know?”

Rave slipped his hands beneath Leesa’s thighs to support her weight. “Dominic told me yesterday and gave me directions. Traveling in the middle of the night by the less travelled roads let me get here without being noticed.”

Leesa squeezed him tight. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”

“I told you, a hundred mile jog is nothing if you’re at the end of it.”

Leesa kissed him on the cheek then twisted her head around toward Dominic, who had joined them. “Thank you!”

“It never hurts to have a little added protection around, just in case,” Dominic said. “Besides, Rave will be a good test for you. Let’s see if you can do everywhere/nowhere when you are distracted by him.”

Leesa had not been expecting that. Could she possibly do it while looking at Rave’s handsome face? Dominic was right, she thought. That would be a
really
good test.

“You’d better put me down, Rave.”

Rave looked at Dominic, who shook his head.

“Do it right where you are now,” Dominic said to Leesa.

Leesa’s eyes grew wide. “You’re kidding, right?”  No way was she going to try this with her legs wrapped around Rave’s waist and his face mere inches from hers. She could feel his heart beating against her chest and smell his sweet warm breath. This was crazy. She could barely even remember her name when he held her like this, much less do anything as difficult as everywhere/nowhere.

Dominic smiled. “I said it would be a good test, didn’t I? It’s not like being in the middle of a battle, but I think the distraction factor might be similar.”

Leesa wished there was a battle somewhere nearby. She’d rather try it there than where she was now.

“Okay, I’ll try,” she said. She closed her eyes for moment to gather her wits and then took a deep breath. “Don’t smile while I’m doing this, okay?” she told Rave when she opened her eyes.

“It’s hard not to smile when I’m holding you like this,” Rave said, grinning.

Leesa felt her heartbeat quicken and felt herself begin to melt. She gave him another quick peck on the cheek.

“Okay. But try not to talk, at least. Deal?”

Rave gave her a little extra squeeze. “Deal.”

Leesa took a deep breath and blew it out quickly. She ran through the breath counting thing and then picked a spot in the middle of Rave’s smooth forehead to concentrate on. This close she could see every pore. She noticed how evenly spaced they were and then thought about how she might describe the unusual bronze color of his skin.

Before she knew it, Rave was setting her down onto the ground.

“That was amazing,” he said. “You were right here, yet you seemed a million miles away. I’m impressed.”

“That’s why I call it everywhere/nowhere,” Leesa told him, smiling. “It wasn’t easy to do with you holding me like that, believe me.”

“Well done, Leesa,” Dominic said. “You’ve come far in just one week. I think it’s time we moved on to something new.”

“Before we do, I have a question. I love the breathing thing. It totally relaxes me and really gets me ready to concentrate. But it takes such a long time to do. What if I ever have to use magic quickly? Surely you don’t go through that every time you use magic, do you?”

“No, of course not,” Dominic assured her. “And neither will you. That’s one of the things I want to you start working on. You can practice it on your own, so we don’t have to work on it now. I want you to choose a trigger word—something simple, like ‘breathe.’ Repeat it three times every time before you start counting your breathing and again when you finish. Your mind will begin to pair the trigger word with the actual breathing. Before long, you will be able to send yourself directly into the relaxed state just by thinking your trigger word.”

“Really? That’s amazing.” Leesa grinned as an idea came to her. “That’s going to be really useful when I take my exams.”

Dominic chuckled. “That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but yes, that could be one use for it.”

Leesa let her eyes roam around the park. She could tell it would be a very pretty place in the spring and summer, but it was kind of barren now.

“I’m pretty sure you didn’t bring me all the way out here just to do everywhere/nowhere in Rave’s arms,” she said. “Not that I wouldn’t mind practicing it a bunch more times. What’s next?”

“Next, we build upon what you’ve already been doing,” Dominic said. “To make the best use of your dream power, you need to be able to direct it.”

Leesa was excited to hear that—she was eager to no longer be at the mercy of her dreams. In her current state, they were way too stressful and usually left her feeling confused and helpless. She would love to be able to change that.

“That’d be wonderful. Show me how.”

“Everywhere/nowhere can help you,” Dominic said. “We’ll begin with the easier part, dealing with a dream you have already experienced. The next time one of your special dreams awakens you, go immediately to your breathing, or to your trigger, once you have mastered that. Choose something from the dream as your point of focus, just like you do with everywhere/nowhere. This will return you to your dream, which should now be clearer and filled with additional details. You will also know whether the dream is something that has already happened or is something that might happen.”

Leesa listened closely. Anything that would make the dreams less ambiguous and confusing would be wonderful.

“I’ll try to remember that for next time,” she said. “I wish I could try it right now. I don’t suppose I could take a quick nap and see if I have a dream, can I?”

“I could make you dream,” Dominic replied, “but doing so would require active magic. Eventually, you will be able to direct yourself to dream whenever you wish, and to choose the subject besides. I must caution you, though—you won’t always receive useful information.”

Leesa wasn’t sure she quite understood everything Dominic was telling her right now, but she guessed understanding would come with time. For the first time, she hoped she had another dream soon.

Dominic walked over to the Blazer and pulled a can of tennis balls from the back. Leesa took advantage of the break to move closer to Rave. He slipped his arm around her back.

“Now, for the reason we came out here,” Dominic said when he returned. He pulled a ball from the can and bounced it in his palm a couple of times.

Leesa watched, puzzled. She was pretty sure they hadn’t driven all the way out here to play catch. She wondered what the wizard was up to.

Dominic bent and set the ball down on the pavement. “Move it,” he told her. “With your thoughts.”

Leesa looked down at the ball, then back up at Dominic. She had moved a couple things in the past with her thoughts, but never intentionally.