his
face to make a blanket.
-That's the Chief of War,
Idelfons Heilbronner.- Willow nodded
her head in the direction of the man sauntering onto
stage. - Your brother is his second in
command.-
The man spoke for a while with a
painfully thick German accent about something called the Pendulum
Initiative. I understood nothing of what he was saying about it, so
I stopped listening. I felt Willow's link at the back of my mind,
and I tried grasping at it. She must have sensed it and
responded.
-Want to
practice?-
I nodded my head.
-Okay, can you find my
link?-
I nodded again.
-Alright, try to imagine
your thoughts as a stream and push that stream to my link. Think of
the stream going between speech and thought.-
I tried as she said, but I felt no
response from her.
-Remember, try to find the
in-between. If you have to, close your eyes and
visualize.-
I did as she instructed and closed my
eyes. How do I find the place, the idea between thought and speech?
I tried to think about speaking, but I got no response. I tried to
speak without moving my mouth, but still nothing.
I went back and forth for a little bit
with myself. I thought about Willow and what she had meant to me my
whole life. We had been the best of buds for longer than I could
even recall. I don't think I had spent more than a month outside
her company. As I felt around in my head for the intangible link
between our minds, I envisioned her face, her hair, and the little
blue hairpins she always wore. I reached for that image, the sound
her voice, the way her hair looked in the sun, the touch of her
fingertips on my face.
Can you hear
me?
-Oh, look. It's
Jacob!- Willow said without
answering.
Jacob stepped out onto the stage. He
stood out like a sore thumb with no suit jacket, no tie and rolled
up sleeves. His mentor stood next to him on the stage and patted
his back encouragingly. I was still grappling with the link from
Willow, so I almost didn't catch that he was getting ready to
speak.
I shook my head, as though that would
get rid of a mind link.
Jacob took the podium and cleared his
throat.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to
present to you a new plan that my mentor and I are developing. If
you look here," Jacob pointed a clicker at the projector, and the
screen behind him changed from a rotating Alliance Insignia to a
map of the world, "you can see the clear territories between
Anyan's Alliance and the Isiroan Legion. Over the course of the
last hundred years, they have taken territories in the mountainous
regions in nearly every continent. In the past two years they have
begun taking over well-forested regions."
He changed the screen again. This time
to a grainy picture of a compound filled with oddly shaped
buildings. The picture showed some kind of construction work around
a circular building.
"It has become clear to me and the
Chief of War, Idelfons Heilbronner," he pointed to his mentor,
"that the Legion is taking key territories around the planet. As
you all should know, Isiro is a very old being. His access to vast
banks of alien technology is becoming increasingly used in Isiroan
defenses. This is clear because sensory-field Kinetics cannot
penetrate the electromagnetic barriers set up around each and every
one of the Isiroan Legion bases. Our researchers have no idea what
kind of technology he is using or even how to begin
reverse-engineering it."
I glanced back at Willow who was
staring at Jacob. She wasn't blinking. Her face was so still as she
concentrated on his words that I felt a little
uncomfortable.
I turned around and crossed my arms. I
wondered if she was still holding a torch for him. Could she not
decide between my brother and Harry? I suddenly hoped Willow's link
didn't pick up on my train of thought. I wasn't sure if it could
work like that. I tried to imagine a brick wall and only a brick
wall, willing the disappointment to go away.
My brother went on to talk
about changing key policies in the Alliance laws. I
face to make a blanket.
-That's the Chief of War,
Idelfons Heilbronner.- Willow nodded
her head in the direction of the man sauntering onto
stage. - Your brother is his second in
command.-
The man spoke for a while with a
painfully thick German accent about something called the Pendulum
Initiative. I understood nothing of what he was saying about it, so
I stopped listening. I felt Willow's link at the back of my mind,
and I tried grasping at it. She must have sensed it and
responded.
-Want to
practice?-
I nodded my head.
-Okay, can you find my
link?-
I nodded again.
-Alright, try to imagine
your thoughts as a stream and push that stream to my link. Think of
the stream going between speech and thought.-
I tried as she said, but I felt no
response from her.
-Remember, try to find the
in-between. If you have to, close your eyes and
visualize.-
I did as she instructed and closed my
eyes. How do I find the place, the idea between thought and speech?
I tried to think about speaking, but I got no response. I tried to
speak without moving my mouth, but still nothing.
I went back and forth for a little bit
with myself. I thought about Willow and what she had meant to me my
whole life. We had been the best of buds for longer than I could
even recall. I don't think I had spent more than a month outside
her company. As I felt around in my head for the intangible link
between our minds, I envisioned her face, her hair, and the little
blue hairpins she always wore. I reached for that image, the sound
her voice, the way her hair looked in the sun, the touch of her
fingertips on my face.
Can you hear
me?
-Oh, look. It's
Jacob!- Willow said without
answering.
Jacob stepped out onto the stage. He
stood out like a sore thumb with no suit jacket, no tie and rolled
up sleeves. His mentor stood next to him on the stage and patted
his back encouragingly. I was still grappling with the link from
Willow, so I almost didn't catch that he was getting ready to
speak.
I shook my head, as though that would
get rid of a mind link.
Jacob took the podium and cleared his
throat.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to
present to you a new plan that my mentor and I are developing. If
you look here," Jacob pointed a clicker at the projector, and the
screen behind him changed from a rotating Alliance Insignia to a
map of the world, "you can see the clear territories between
Anyan's Alliance and the Isiroan Legion. Over the course of the
last hundred years, they have taken territories in the mountainous
regions in nearly every continent. In the past two years they have
begun taking over well-forested regions."
He changed the screen again. This time
to a grainy picture of a compound filled with oddly shaped
buildings. The picture showed some kind of construction work around
a circular building.
"It has become clear to me and the
Chief of War, Idelfons Heilbronner," he pointed to his mentor,
"that the Legion is taking key territories around the planet. As
you all should know, Isiro is a very old being. His access to vast
banks of alien technology is becoming increasingly used in Isiroan
defenses. This is clear because sensory-field Kinetics cannot
penetrate the electromagnetic barriers set up around each and every
one of the Isiroan Legion bases. Our researchers have no idea what
kind of technology he is using or even how to begin
reverse-engineering it."
I glanced back at Willow who was
staring at Jacob. She wasn't blinking. Her face was so still as she
concentrated on his words that I felt a little
uncomfortable.
I turned around and crossed my arms. I
wondered if she was still holding a torch for him. Could she not
decide between my brother and Harry? I suddenly hoped Willow's link
didn't pick up on my train of thought. I wasn't sure if it could
work like that. I tried to imagine a brick wall and only a brick
wall, willing the disappointment to go away.
My brother went on to talk
about changing key policies in the Alliance laws. I
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