Chapter 37
“Very good. Try it again.”
Dylan sighed. Carina had been working him and Gabriel beyond the point of exhaustion for seven days. “Give me a minute.”
“No.” Her words carried no anger or frustration, but Dylan’s nostrils flared, and his eyes shot up to glare at her, just in time to see a tennis ball hurtling toward him. He raised a hand as if to catch it, and the wind he summoned shot it back in her direction.
She arched an eyebrow. “You cannot let your frustration take control. It could be disastrous in battle.”
He huffed. “I know that.”
“Do you? Because you have been improving, but I think you are still holding back. Do you understand what’s at stake here?”
He nodded. “I do.”
“Do you know what they will do to your family if you fail?”
“No. But I doubt it’d be good.”
Carina closed her eyes and smirked. “That is putting it mildly.” She sighed. “They will be taken back to Tiresia. To a palace they have never known. Tortured until they surrender all claims to the throne and declare fealty to the Vurdalans. They will then be executed for treason. Publicly.”
Dylan narrowed his eyes. “Guess I can’t fail then.”
“Then act like it. You have more power in you than anyone else alive. Learn how to harness it to your advantage.”
She threw another tennis ball in his direction, and he burned it in midair.
“No one has ever controlled all the elements.” She threw another, and he raised a wall of stone blocking it. “Use that to your advantage.”
The wall descended. “What do you mean?”
“You also see the future, even while your grandmother no longer can.”
“Maybe. I still don’t understand what any of that means.”
“My own visions ended the day the war started. From what your grandmother said, hers ended recently. Time is different here. I suspect the stew I was cooking still isn’t done, though I have been here for days. I think that is why the Coates conspired with the royal family to hide them here, along with all of the gatekeepers.” Her face softened into a wan smile. “Perhaps that is what we need to do. Work on that. Tiresians were always a military power because they could predict the next move.”
“Then why was it only the gatekeepers and royal family who got out? Why didn’t they do more to stop what was going to happen?”
She shrugged. “That I do not know. I do not think it was malicious, though. Remember, for everyone else, it has only been a few months, not generations.”
Dylan nodded.
Carina stepped toward him. “Dylan. Sit down. Close your eyes. Tell me what you see.”
He let out a deep sigh and did as she asked.
Her voice was barely a whisper. “Deep breaths. In and out. Slow. Deep.”
He inhaled, counting to ten, letting the breath out just as slowly. “I don’t see anything.”
He heard her soft footsteps getting closer.
“I know. Relax your mind. Your mind can not relax until your body does. Keep breathing.”
A gentle hand rested on his shoulder. “Dylan. Relax.”
He listened to the calm in her voice, and with each exhalation, he felt lighter. It started in his arms, then down his torso. It was as if he was flying.
“What do you see?”
He opened his mouth to tell her he still didn’t see anything, but before the words could come out, a small bright light appeared in his field of vision.
“I see a light,” He paused. “And don’t even say I should go towards it.”
“Why not?”
He chuckled softly. “Remind me to tell you later. I don’t want to get distracted. It’s getting bigger.”
“Good. Now focus on a specific time and place. Or a person. For me it was easier to see my own future at first, and the shorter the timeframe, the easier it is to see. Try to see yourself tomorrow.”
He concentrated on the light, thinking about what he would be doing the next day. He already knew he and his mother were going grocery shopping, but as the light grew past his field of vision, he saw Gabriel. They were standing in a gun store, looking around. Dylan had never been in a gun store and wasn’t sure where the nearest one was. The fact Gabriel was supposed to be training with Carina was at the front of his mind.
“I see me and Gabe in a gun store.”
“Really? Are you certain it is tomorrow?”
He looked around and found he could move around the space. No one else could see him. He tried to touch the glass, and his hand passed through it as if he wasn’t even there. He walked behind the counter to glimpse the computer screen and confirmed the date.
“Yes.”
“Strange. You and your mother were to go shopping, but Gabriel was supposed to be here with me. What are you doing?”
“I can’t really hear anything. It’s like a roar.”
“Just relax, and focus.”
Gabriel turned to the other him and said something. The roar faded just as they exited the shop. He heard the door chime as they stepped out. His eyes flew open.
“Holy shit Carina.”
“What?”
“They… I mean, we left the store, but that’s the first time since I looked back in time that I felt like I knew what I was doing!” His heart raced, and a wide grin spread across his face.
She chuckled, shaking her head. “Good. Now…”
Dylan’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He glanced at the screen. “Gabe and Johnny are back. Said we need to talk. The four of us.”
She sighed. “Very well. You have done well today, young Coates. I would think whatever they have to tell us may explain the alteration of the training schedule. But be warned. Do not speak of what you saw, lest you change it.”
He sighed as he summoned fire to light a cigarette. “Fine.”
The stones stopped glowing, and the door at the top of the stairs flew open.