Page 50 of Wonder
“Um, how about sitting or lying next to me? I think it’d be less distracting if I was touching you with my shoulder or leg instead of our hands.”
“Got it.” He shifted his grip to my upper arm as I got onto the bed. I hadn’t bothered to pull the quilt up after we’d had sex earlier, so I just kicked it out of the way of my feet for now. I shuffled my body to the far side of the bed, and Simon tossed his phone onto the mattress then climbed in after me. Soon I was lying on my back with my head on a pillow while Simon sat propped up against the headboard. My shoulder and upper arm were pressed into Simon’s thigh. It was oddly comforting, knowing he was there. He was trying to focus on his phone, but his worry and concern for me were coming through the bond.
I was worried too. Worried I couldn’t call a vision. Worried those two vampires were out there attacking more Wonders. Worried I’d made Simon bond with me for nothing.
His hand landed on my arm, and I jolted, my eyes flying open. He stared down at me. “You’re supposed to be meditating, not stewing over things you can’t control.”
I put my hand over my eyes. “Sorry.”
“Here.” I looked to see him put his phone on the nightstand. Then he scooted himself down on the bed so he was lying next to me, our shoulders and arms pressed together. “Okay, we’ll both meditate. Match my breathing. In.” He sucked a breath in for longer than I usually did. “And out.” That also pushed my lungs’ comfort zone. Which was of course the point. I had to pay attention to my breathing to sync it with his. After a few minutes I relaxed and felt centered enough to try for a vision.
Where were Roibeart and Marcas? I pictured their snarling faces and opened myself up to receiving a vision of their whereabouts.
But I got nothing.
It only took a minute or two of trying before I gave up. I opened my eyes. “It’s not happening.”
Simon rolled up onto one elbow. “It’s okay. We can work on healing our bond, then you can try again.”
I rubbed my face. “What if it doesn’t happen? I don’t want to have to use Nicky as bait, but I don’t see any other option.”
He blew out a breath. “Let’s ask Cal to get Delphia and Edgar to come back from their trip. That’ll give us a couple of days to work on the bond, and if we haven’t fixed it enough by then, we’ll have two other Seers who can call visions.”
“Okay.”
Simon grabbed his phone and dialed Cal. He put the call on speaker and held it between us.
When Cal answered, we explained the situation with our bond and that I couldn’t call a vision.
“Fuck. I’m sorry, y’all. Let me look at the river cruise itinerary and see when they’ll dock next.” We heard clicking. “Uh, this isn’t good. They won’t dock again until tomorrow afternoon their time, which will be around 8:00 a.m. here.”
“Shit. Can you think of anything else we can try in the meantime?” When had I taken hold of Simon’s hand? I dismissed the question as unimportant and laced my fingers through his.
He made a humming noise. “Okay, I couldn’t see anything when I tried to call a vision from here, but my head’s fully healed now and I’m good to drive again. I’ll try again to call one here, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll drive to, say, Cuero. Then I’ll be within a hundred miles of you, which is well within my usual range. Even Greg won’t be able to bitch about me putting myself in danger at that distance.”
I sagged against Simon. “Thank you, Cal. Really. That would be amazing.”
“Anytime.”
We hung up and sat there in silence for a moment or two before Simon spoke. “Do you still want me to see if the bond can be broken?” His voice was neutral, but I could feel his reluctance.
Still, I felt bad keeping him bonded to me when I obviously wasn’t as committed as he was. Even the magic could tell. “Yeah, I think it would be for the best.”
He nodded. “Okay, but only if it can be done easily. If it will be debilitating, we need to wait, because I can’t risk impairing my fighting abilities.”
Raising my eyebrows, I pointed a finger at our arms, which were smashed together as we sat on the bed.
He rolled his eyes. “For the duration of a fight, I can suppress the bond like I did our connection at the park. Now let me concentrate.” I grinned at his snark. At least he didn’t hate me for putting him through all this.
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – APRIL, 1992
“This is home.” Davi unlocked the door to his apartment and waved me inside. The building was modest, but he’d done a nice job decorating his place in aquas and beiges suitable for a seaside city.
“Wow, what’s all this?” Half of his living room was taken up with a row of desks, each with a computer and multiple monitors. There was even a camcorder on a tripod. One desk chair on wheels, with what looked to my untrained eye like a hand-knitted throw blanket draped over it, was positioned in the center of it all.
He took the food bags from me and carried them into the kitchen. “I do freelance computer programming. Some of it’s even legal.”
I laughed. I hadn’t made time to learn to use a computer. Theluchd-òl folacertainly didn’t own one, so I hadn’t seen the need.
