Chapter 48
They rode in the truck for a while in silence after that. Amaris heard Anna’s voice in her head. “Testing, Testing. Does this still work?” Amaris let out a small giggle. “Yes it still works.” she mind linked back. Marco made a brief look over at them. He seemed to be considering them for a minute and then said “Can you do that with anyone or just her?” Looking at Amaris briefly before looking back at the road. Amaris was dumbfounded. How did he know?
“I am not sure. I’ve never tried it with anyone else.” “Try it with me now.” Marco said expectantly. Amaris did not know how to make it work with anyone else. It just happened with Anna. She closed her eyes and thought hard "Hello Marco" over and over. Suddenly he started laughing. "I can hear you." Came his reply back in her mind. "How long have you been able to do this?" Marco inquired curiously, out loud this time. "Since the incident at the firepit. It just sort of happened. I had no idea that I could talk to anyone else this way." Amaris said ernestly back to Marco. "Would you be able to talk to people over any distance?" Marco was in full interrogation mode. Clearly fascinated by what Amaris could do. Amaris pondered it. She had not really thought about what it was that she had been doing. "I had been able to talk to Anna when I was in the river, but that is the farthest that I have done it." Marco seemed fascinated, "Do you think that you could contact Lyle?" Marco asked briefly taking his eyes off the road to look at her. Amaris thought about it. "I am not sure. I don't know. I have not talked with him before, so I would need to make a connection with him first." Amaris furrowed her brows considering how to do it over distance.
"Go ahead. Give it a try. I bet you can." Anna chimed in looking excited. She bounced up and down where she was squatting on the floor boards. Amaris looked from Anna to Marco. "What do you want me to tell him?"
"Whatever you want. Right now the important thing is opening up that line of communication. Can you get communication back once that line is opened up or is it only way unless you initiate it?" "No I've been able to message her on my own." Anna said looking proud of herself. "Good that could be very useful. Now once the people that you have talked to can use this with you, can they talk to each other? Anna, try to communicate with me while Mari reaches out to Lyle."
Amaris closed her eyes and concentrated. "Lyle, It's Mari. Can you hear me?" "Amaris where are you?" Lyle sounded like he was confused. She could picture him looking around furiously for her. "I am in Marco's truck driving on the mountain road right now. Where are you?" Amaris inquired. "I am in town trying to get something from the archives." Lyle messaged back almost in a whisper. Amaris wanted to laugh. He must need to be quiet where he is. "Are you guys okay? How are you doing this? This is YOU doing this I assume." Amaris smiled, even though he coud not see it. "Yes. It is me doing this. Anna and I have been able to communicate since the camp fire meeting. I am not sure how or why this happened, but I am able to communicate directly to people's minds. They can also communicate back when ever they want. I just looped in Marco as well." Amaris informed him. "I bet Marco is loving that. Any new spy toy, and this is one of the best that he has ever been given!" Lyle said with a chuckle. Amaris could imagine the lop sided smile on Lyle's face as he said the words.
Anna suddenly let out a loud cheer and a giggle. Amaris jumped and opened her eyes. She had been concentration so hard on her conversation with Lyle that she forgot about where she was. "I did it!" Anna said with a fist pump in the air. Marco grined also. It was a more knowing grin, like he had just gotten a great idea. Amaris regained her senses and looked from Anna to Marco and then said "I am in contact with Lyle. What do you want me to say?" Amaris regaining Marco's attention, waited for his answer.
"Nothing." He said taking a brief glance at Amaris. "Apparently once you have made contact with someone we can all communicate." Marco looked impressed. "Do you know if you can group 'mind text'?" Marco asked as he looked over at Amaris. "I don't know. I have never tried." Amaris said as Anna got a fit of giggles at Marco's term for Amaris' new found ability. "Give it a try now. See if you can talk to both Anna and I at the same time. You can loop in Lyle too. Lets see if it works with people that are of different distances." Amaris considered this. She nodded and took a deep breath and then let it out. Relaxing a little she concentrated. "Hello everyone. Can you all hear me?" All three voices came back in a cacophany of greetings. Marco smiled and banged his hand in a glancing blow against the steering wheel. He nodded and considered for a moment and then said to Amaris, "Reach out and make contact with Anna's parents so that we can communicate with them also. Let them know that we are heading to Greece and we will see how far this communication thing will work. Tell them I will reach out to them shortly. When Gran is safe they can meet us in Greece." Marco's face went blank as he stared ahead at the road. "Are you sure that you should be mind texting and driving Marco?" Anna called over to him with a grin. Marco laughed and then went back to his look of deep concetration while looking at the road. Amaris had a pretty good idea that Marco was going to use this new found power to his advantage.