“Which is what exactly?” Josh spoke for the first time.
“We have to be smarter than him, stay one step ahead. If Eve is right, and I think she is, that he needs her to complete his machine, then we learn everything we can about the glowing Light. Maybe we’ll be able to use that against him somehow. We’ve already agreed to work with Melior Group’s research team—may as well use that to our advantage. But let’s keep as much to ourselves as we can, OK?”
Ethan frowned and shared a look with me and Josh. “Are you saying we can’t trust Melior Group? What’s going on?”
“Nothing I can put my finger on yet.” He exchanged a loaded look with Alec. “All I’m saying is, we should keep our cards close to our chests. People are scared, and scared people do stupid things. In the meantime, now that he’s surfaced, we have eyes on Davis. He’s hiding behind powerful men with even more questionable morals than his, but at least we can track him now. As soon as we can take him down discreetly, we will. All we can do now is stay vigilant and gather as much information as we can.”
“And above all”—Alec rose to his feet, turning to face me—“we protect Evelyn.”
Ten
After ten minutes of focused mindfulness, I opened my eyes.
Controlling my Light flow had become second nature, almost instinctual. Our Bond was settling; it was formed, strong, equal. No one held back and created an imbalance in the connection, and the Light no longer gushed dangerously out of me in order to solidify our Bond. Transferring Light was just part of my physiology now—almost as effortless as breathing.
But the glowing Light required more intention. I’d only glowed in a handful of situations—most of them highly stressful and potentially deadly.
Continuing to take deep breaths, I uncrossed my legs and dropped them to the ground in front of the couch. Ethan and Josh sat in matching armchairs across from me, a heavy stone coffee table between us. The rest of the room was decorated like a modern living space—polished concrete floors, leather furniture, open bookshelves styled meticulously, hints of metallics and marble in the decor—but the heavy white drapes had nothing but thick brick walls behind them, and the giant mirror to my left concealed a team of Melior Group researchers, watching my every move.
This session was meant to be as “natural” as possible, hence the living room setup. They wanted me to do my thing without external influence so they could observe—from behind the safety of the glass, of course. Dana was in the next room on standby in case anything went wrong.
My first session had consisted of a battery of medical tests and basic observations of my Light levels when I let it flow into me unobstructed, when I mentally shut it off, when I transferred to someone in my Bond, then someone outside of it. Those were baseline tests.
This session would be the first time they observed the glowing, and since we couldn’t be sure it wasn’t dangerous, I had to have my Variants there to transfer to. I didn’t want to find out what would happen if I took in that much Light and had no outlet for it.
I sat up a little straighter and focused purely on the Light, letting my instincts take over to an extent. I not only dropped my mental barriers—unlocked the doors, so to speak—but threw them open and shouted, “I’m here.”
The Light was all around us, in the air, in every Variant, and in very tiny amounts, in every living thing.
I pulled, imagining the warm white glow on my skin. As if imagining it had made it manifest, I started to glow. It slowly got brighter and stronger.
Ethan and Josh wore matching brilliant grins. Both of them sat forward, their elbows on their knees, their faces full of pride, wonder, love.
Before the glow became blinding and made it impossible for anyone to observe anything, I reached my hands out. Neither of my Variants took my hand. They just waited, patiently.
I sent the Light to them; it felt like warm water running over my skin.
After a quick transfer, the glow faded, and I stopped the flow of Light.
We sat in silence for a few moments. The head researcher, Karen, usually used the intercom system to give us instructions, her calm voice filling the room through the built-in speakers.
But after I finished my glowing transfer . . . nothing.