Serenity

Chapter 10

Tami

My mouth dropped open as I listened to Nan joking around with Julian. At least, I hoped she was just joking. Nan has a dry sense of humour and it's hard to tell sometimes if she was joking or serious. I was about to give him respect for his answer when he winked back. "But that doesn't mean I won't stop trying to win back her trust. She needs me on this."

"You have your work cut out for you. Tami's too stubborn to see when something's for her own good." Nan's laugh died out as she placed her hand on Julian's shoulder. "You did the right thing. For you both. Neither of you had the emotional maturity to bond back then. I still have my doubts. But Gaia must think otherwise, because she has brought you both together again."

"Then why do I feel like I was an idiot that threw away a special gift because I was too stupid to understand just how precious it was?"

Nan's eyes focused on mine for a moment, and her brows dipped as they met in a small frown. "Not stupid, just young. Just as Tami needed that time to finish growing up, you also needed it to develop maturity and confidence in your own skills."

I spun around and fled the room, unwilling to hear any more.

The second I got out into the hall, my feet stopped moving. The panic that had driven me from the room settled. I stood in the hallway, bewildered and confused about what to do next. Restless and unable to stay in one place for more than a few minutes, I wandered from room to room.

Nan found me staring out a window, my eyes focused on nothing. Her voice registered at the edge of my subconscious. It wasn't until her hand landed on my shoulder that I pulled myself from the void my mind had descended into. My head turned towards her, my eyes still unfocused. "Tami. Keep coming back. You're not all the way back yet."

"Is she all right, Elizabeth?"

The concern in the voice teased at the edges of my awareness, but it was the voice itself that brought me all the way back. I glared at Julian, daggers in my eyes. "I'm fine. You lost the right to worry about me a long time ago." I spun on my heels and stormed away, headed for the roof.

"Tami. I–"

Nan's voice reached me from the stairwell, cutting off whatever he had been about to say. "No, Julian. I know what's bothering her. You'll just make things worse if you try to talk to her before she's ready."

I didn't wait around to hear his response. In less than a minute, I had climbed the stairs to the rooftop garden. There was a slight breeze that called to me. I stood with my arms outstretched and turned into the wind so that it caressed my face.

The air called to me.

It took only moments to decide. Ocean surrounded the building and the chances of an ambush were slim. I could take the time to fly just for fun. Seconds later, my bird form soared through the air. I played in the air currents, allowing them to carry me high into the sky. The local birds even joined in on the fun. We spent hours playing in the air currents, climbing high into the air, then skimming across the surface of the ocean while they hunted for food.

As the sun lowered on the horizon and the birds returned to land, another mind brushed mine. It was at the farthest edge of my range, but I sensed the intelligence behind it. I sent a pulse out. The response confused me. It didn't have the malice I expected to find if it was a vampire. It was more like another druid was out there with me. No. Not out over the ocean. There was an interference to it I didn't expect to find if the mind was on the ocean. I turned to face the direction the other mind had come from. On the horizon, far in the distance, I saw the outline of the coast. That had to be the explanation. Crossing the barrier from land to water sometimes creates a turbulence in the signal that can act like interference.