The Search for Artemis - By P. D. Griffith Page 0,42

polished silver.

“Please, come here,” she beckoned, raising both arms toward him. Her voice was ethereal and calm.

Landon plodded over to her and stopped a few feet outside of her reach.

“Please, come,” she repeated. “Take my hands and sit with me.”

Landon cautiously placed his hands in hers, but his worries were needless. She delicately closed her hands around his and pulled him closer. Her hands felt soft and smooth, like alabaster. She guided him to a spot under a large branch and descended to the floor, sitting with her legs crossed. Landon joined her, mimicking her position, and stared wonderingly at her.

“I can feel how nervous you are. Your entire body is tense,” she said. “I know you don’t really know me, but I wasn’t lying before. I think I can help you. Your problem is your sense of touch—it’s blocked.”

“My sense of touch?” Landon asked.

“Yes. It’s how we use our gifts,” she continued. “We reach out and touch the area around us. I was born blind, but what no one realizes is that I can see more clearly than anyone else in this place. I’m not strong—my lifting is nearly nonexistent—but my abilities, they are my sight. That’s how I knew it was you standing in the hallway just now, and how I knew exactly where to find you this afternoon to tell you I could help. I can feel you. I can feel everyone in this place. And that feeling—that’s your issue. You can’t figure out how to touch.”

“I’ve tried,” Landon said.

“But I believe you are going about it the wrong way.” A beam of light streamed through the branches casting a shadow across her compassionate face. “Please, all I ask is that you try something with me tonight. If it doesn’t work, you can continue doing what you were doing.”

“Why do you want to help me? We don’t even know each other.” Landon searched to understand the enigmatic stranger sitting before him. He knew she was only a year older than him, but her impaired eyes appeared to run deep with wisdom.

“Because I know what it’s like to be alone. I know what it’s like to be trapped in a place where everyone around you can do something you can’t, something that seems so basic to them yet impossible for you. I know what it’s like to be lost.”

“You think I’m lost?”

“I know you’ve spent almost every night since you’ve gotten here on the fifth floor of the Library poring through books, trying to understand who you are and what you’re becoming . . . searching for answers but finding none.”

“How do you know that?” Landon asked defensively as he rose to his feet.

“I told you, I can sense it,” she explained. “Now, please, sit back down and let’s see if you can at least solve one of your problems.”

It took a few moments before his curiosity grabbed hold of him, and he returned to the floor.

“Good. . . . Now let’s start with this,” she proceeded as she slipped a simple silver band off her finger and placed it in her palm. “Lift this. You don’t have to move it or place it back on my finger or anything. Just lift it off my palm and let it hover there.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes. . . . Lift the ring.”

Landon exhaled deeply, thinking her request ridiculous, but he decided to at least humor her. He focused his attention on the tiny circle of metal resting in the palm of her hand. He then tensed every muscle in his body, willing the ring to rise into the air.

“That’s never going to work. Can you even feel the ring?” Peregrine asked while knowing the answer. “If you can’t feel it, you aren’t going to be able to move it. Tell me, what’s in this room?”

Landon looked puzzled, unsure if she was asking a trick question. He cautiously replied, “Umm, the oak, some pillars, you, your ring and I.”

“Wrong,” she said. “You’re relying too much on your other senses. When I asked you that question, you looked around and told me what you saw. It’s expected. You seeing people were taught to rely on your sight to identify something, but vision is limited. You’ve only touched the surface of what’s in this place. Now close your eyes and relax. You’re way too tense. And clear your mind. Don’t try to think.”

As she continued, Landon complied with her instructions. He was lost to her intentions with her seemingly random commands, but he was starting to