Dream Walker

Chapter 34 | Bad Blood

The bitter scent of coffee beans permeated the air, and it had a calming effect on Callie's mind. Though she drank coffee for the caffeine and not the taste, the smell of it acted like a placebo to focus her thoughts. The noise in the coffee shop was a low buzz, mostly due to the rare patrons that weren't students studying for finals.

She took a long sip of the caramel-flavored drink in front of her, too stressed to worry about the negative effects the sugar and caffeine might have later. Lynn was beside her, eyes fixed to her computer screen and hand occasionally reaching for her own beverage. The temperature had dropped abruptly outside, so hoodies and hot drinks had become a necessity.

She glanced up briefly when Quinn returned from the bathroom and sat back down on the opposite side of the small table. Her lips turned up as she saw the cute pair of glasses perched on his nose. Though he only wore them when his eyes were too irritated for contacts and claimed to hate the way they looked, Callie thought they were a nice contrast to his intimidating frame.

The three friends were quietly supporting each other as they each studied for various exams. Callie figured Quinn was writing some long research paper and Lyn was preparing for some horrific exam on fluid dynamics, or something like that.

Despite her stress, she felt reasonably confident in her knowledge for most of her classes. Essentially, she was fine with everything except physics, and she refused to ask Alex for help. They hadn't spoken since her abrupt revelation. That was the result she was hoping for, and yet she felt an aching pang of regret in her chest when she thought about what she'd said. Don't be weak, she told herself.

The previous day, Callie had trained again with Cyril, the lord of unseen people in a strange world. As always, he had been in his private home, alone, ready to help her test her psychic range. She continually ignored certain red flags like this, because she felt relatively safe with him. Why would he help her harness her powers if he meant to harm her?

Her thoughts returned to yesterday's training with Cyril. Rather than a satisfying success like she experienced with her previous lessons in defending her mind, the session had consisted of failure after failure.

He encouraged her to reach out to his mind, to attack it, using her energy as an invisible weapon. Other than catching a few stray thoughts, she hadn't been able to push past his mental defenses once. And when he lowered them to allow her entry, she had seized up, unable or unwilling to attack his defenseless mind.

When they were both frustrated with her ineptitude, he switched tactics and attempted to show her how to use the energy for healing purposes. Under his gentle touch, a wilting flower straightened, petals stretching out to greet the warm air. It resembled a lily, and its scent wafted through the air, decadent in Callie's nose.

"Now your turn," he said. Without warning, Cyril pulled a knife from one of the many pockets in his pants and cut a gash across his forearm.

Callie paled in shock, breath freezing in her throat. It was not the blood that bothered her. She'd seen plenty of blood in her life. Instead, she felt a bubbling fear that appeared just as suddenly as the wound on Cyril's arm. His request seemed impossible. She couldn't magically heal anyone, right? She'd tried once, and...

No, don't think about that. You couldn't save him. It was too late.

But was that true? Was Cyril saying she could use her powers for something other than intruding on people's thoughts and wandering through parallel worlds?

"I—I can't, I'm sorry, I don't know how..."

"Hush, child," he said. "You need to focus. Feel the energy flowing through your body."