Chapter 19

The noise is maddening! Allie cranked up the volume to drown out the distractions. “Thank you, Mr. Bach, for your lovely Cello Suites.”

Her senses were in overdrive, and she was desperate for the escape of sleep but found herself staring at the ceiling instead. Naeemah prepared her for this. Apparently, she would feel restless and uncomfortable for weeks.

Allie tossed and turned, but even the weight of the cool sheet was annoying. Just when she was almost comfortable, a loud clanking sound had her on her feet and across the room in an instant.

A strange earthy scent hung heavy in the air, and the churning sensation she was learning to associate with her rising power made her head spin.

“Aidan,” she snarled. He was driving her crazy.

A shadow moved on the balcony, and she flung the doors open. She moved faster than she intended and crashed into him. He flew over the railing, landing in a heap among the bushes below.

“Ow! Alexis Ann, what’s the matter with you?” His voice echoed in the darkness.

“Sorry! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, although I’m starting to doubt if I will survive you.”

“Well, you should know better than to sneak up on me like that.”

She watched him climb onto the porch roof below. With a running start, he made an impossible leap to grasp the iron rail at her feet. He used his momentum to swing into a graceful flip, landing effortlessly at her side.

“In the last week, you’ve managed to break my hand and throw me off a building. Let’s not go for three.” He glowered with that eerie, shifting golden light in his eyes.

“You didn’t break anything, did you?”

“Just the bushes.” He grinned, instantly forgiving her.

“I have a door, you know.”

“Where’s the fun in that? Get dressed. We’re going out.”

“Aidan, it’s late.”

“Do I really have to teach you how to stay up all night?” But Allie wasn’t listening; her head was still spinning.

“Hey, deep breaths.” His tone softened as the odd earthy scent filled her senses.

“I just don’t feel like me.”

“It will get better, I promise.”

“What did you have in mind?” She pulled on her recently discarded jeans and sweater.

“If anyone asks, I left you alone. I may have promised not to bother you.”

“Didja now? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Come on, red.” He headed for the balcony just as Allie turned for the stairs.

“I’m so not jumping off that balcony, Aidan Loukas.”

“Just do what I do.” He vaulted off the terrace without looking.

She ran to the door in time to see him swing into a wild flip, spinning in the air for a long moment until he landed silently on the ground. His laughter floated up to her—like he did this all the time.

“You’re going to make me jump, aren’t you?”

“Yup,” came his soft reply.

She took a deep breath and gingerly climbed down over the railing, where she began to swing as Aidan had. She closed her eyes and went for it. Turning into a mid-air backflip she didn’t know she could do, Allie came to rest in a crouch beside him.

“Okay, that was actually fun.” She reached for his hand as they ran for the beach. He had a small driftwood fire and a chaise lounge waiting for them.

“Look at me, Lex.” He tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. “You’re putting up a brave front, but this is me. How are you really doing?”

“I think I’m fine. It’s just a lot to take in.”

They curled up on the lounge together, and it was the first time she felt calm all day.

“This is nice.” He pulled her close. “No more secrets.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. But Naeemah’s words of caution came back to her. She knew she shouldn’t allow the affection they shared, but no one understood her the way he did, and she found such comfort in his touch.

“What’s wrong?”

She couldn’t help it. It all just came tumbling out. “It’s like my body is rebelling against me, and my mind is running at warp speed. Everything’s so freakin’ loud. I can feel the noise, Aidan. And I can’t concentrate on anything longer than five seconds. I’m all, ‘ooh shiny!’ all the freakin’ time. My vision is weird, and I’m dizzy. I’m so sick of thinking about food. And this is supposed to last for weeks?” Her voice came out in a squeak.

“I’ll tell you a secret no one knows but Dad,” he said. “I got through this stage in less than a week, and I think you can, too.”

“Cheers to that; show me.”

“Okay, the important thing to realize is your senses are waking up after laying nearly dormant most of your life. I remember how frustrating those first few days were. You just need to learn how to distinguish what you’re feeling, and it will fade.”

“I take it there are more than the traditional five senses?” She couldn’t keep up with all the weirdness.

“More like eight or nine depending on your strengths.” He laughed at her look of disgust.

“You have a sense of smell and taste, but you also have a sense that is a blend of the two, so it’s really something on its own. For instance, your scent tastes like honey and citrus.”

“I don’t even wear perfume, Aidan.” She rolled her eyes.

“Your natural scent, Lex.”

“So, that’s you I smell? Earthy, like evergreen and juniper, and I think it tastes like mint and… dirt.”

“Dirt?”

“Yes, dirt. You know this is nuts, right?”

“I may have known it was coming, but I had to start here too,” he reminded her.

“I’m never going to wrap my brain around all this.”

“One thing at a time. It’s our nature to know and understand everything happening around us. It takes most young Immortals weeks or even months to figure out how to process so much information at once, but when you do, volume will fade, sight will focus, and you’ll feel more like yourself again.”

“Sight is killing me.” She closed her eyes, reeling from another spinning fit of vertigo.

“Let’s try it. Sit back, relax, and pick one star as a focal point, and don’t look at anything else.”

“‘Kay.”

“What do you see?”

“The sky.”

“Brilliant. I’m so glad you left the sarcasm at home. Focus on your star, and when you’re comfortable, pick another. Keep doing that until you’ve picked the faintest star in the sky.”

He waited, absently stroking her hair as she concentrated. Just when she was about to give up, the universe exploded at her fingertips. Her hair stood on end, and she felt a strange vibration.

“You see it now?”

“It’s amazing! It’s so close. And so much more than sight,” she whispered in awe, attempting to explain something she had no words to describe. “There’s a faint pulsing sound, like I can hear the universe expanding. There’s a vibration too, like something I can feel, hear, and see. Aidan, it’s so beautiful I can hardly stand it!”

“It will only get better with practice.”

When she finally came back down to earth, she no longer felt the nausea and discomfort.

“Oh, that’s so much better.” She had it under control now.

Allie stared into the dazzling flames of the driftwood fire, and for the first time, she understood how much more powerful she was than the others.

“What are you thinking?” He rested his chin on her head.

“Does it ever overwhelm you? Your power?”

“All the time, Lex.”