Blaize and the Maven: The Energetics Book 1 (32 page)

Cuinn frowned. “What?”

“Promise me you'll hear me out."

"Get on with it, Tierra. We don't have time for games," Cuinn said.

"Let’s blend energies. You can take some of my energy.”
 

Cara gasped, and Fintan’s eyes narrowed.
 

“It’s an unusual situation, and I know you won’t take too much,” Tierra said quickly. “And no one else ever needs to know. I’m the only one here who can share energy with you; the others don’t share either of your chakras. It has to be me.”

“This is a very bad idea,” Fintan said. “Blending is forbidden other than between Mavens and Adherents. For good reason. People get addicted doing it. That’s how you get Leeches in the first place.”

“Cuinn and I are strong enough to do this. He’s a Maven with experience of sharing energy."

“With his Adherents, maybe, but it's not the—”

Tierra gestured with a hand and cut across Fintan. "No one is going to get addicted. We can’t stop him from going back to the dreamscape, but if he goes as he is, he either won’t have the strength to deal with the Rogue when he finds her, or he’ll harm himself. Cara’s a Healer—as am I—and she can make sure we stop in time.”

Cara nodded slowly. “I can do that.”

Fintan jerked his head round to look at Cara. “You approve?”

She winced. “If the two of them want to do it, then I’ll support them. I don’t think it’s the world’s best idea, but I’d rather help them than have them do it unsupervised.”

 
“Let’s do it,” Cuinn said. “Anything that helps me to search is good right now.”

Fintan shook his head again but appeared more resigned. “Tierra, a word?”

She huffed, but the two of them went out of the kitchen together.

“Eat more rice,” Cara said. “You need anything that will support your energy.”

Cuinn took another mouthful. After a few minutes, Tierra and Fintan came back into the room, a frosty silence between them.

“We’ll do it in a couple of hours. I need to prepare, as it's been a while since I worked with my Maven and shared energy with anyone. And you should rest Cuinn.”

“I’m too wired to rest.”

“Well, you need to relax then. Wired isn’t a good state to be in for the energy transfer.”

“And you’re sure you’re okay with this?”
 

“You know I am.” She took a forkful of rice and a drink of water. “Now, eat.”

***

The four of them gathered an hour later in Tierra’s workroom. The usually cosy room felt crowded to Cuinn with all of them present. He paced while Tierra prepared her sacred space. She had opened her glass doors to the evening air and surrounded her mat with plants. Cuinn had brought his own mat down from his room, and Tierra put handfuls of earth in the corners. He’d protested at first, but she’d reminded him he most often used the mat for Ajna work, and that this was Muladhara. She grounded his mat as best she could.
 

“You also need to get grounded,” she said to Cuinn. “You need to relax.”
 

“I don’t feel relaxed.”

“Sit and do some breathing exercises. This will be harder for both of us the further away from the earth you feel. At the very least, pace outside in bare feet so you connect with the earth.”

Cuinn spun on his heels and stalked out of the glass doors. He shucked off his shoes and socks on the stone patio and stepped onto the cold, wet grass. At first the sensation was unpleasant, but as he dug his toes in, he felt his connection to the earth revive. He breathed in moss and damp soil. The garden was dark, the soft candles from Tierra’s ceremonial setup behind him was his only light. He forced his breathing to deepen. He connected to the woods, to the earth, to the environment around him.
 

“The earth supports me, and it meets my needs.” He repeated this mantra as he stretched out his arms, and thought of family, home, safety, security, and boundaries. And trust. Trust for the cousin who was more like a sister, and was prepared to break an energetic taboo to save another's life.
 

He grounded himself in his body, pulling a little energy from the earth around him. By the time he caught Tierra’s shadow as she stood between the doors, he felt more himself.
 

A few minutes later he sat opposite Tierra in the space she had prepared. She took his hands. Fintan sat behind her, angled so he was able to see both her and Cuinn, and Cara was sitting behind Cuinn. They were energetic ‘spotting’—making sure Cuinn didn’t take too much energy and damage Tierra, or become addicted—both real possibilities, and the main reason that sharing energy between energetics who weren’t Maven and Adherent was forbidden by the Circle. All of them could get into trouble for taking part in this activity, even if it went perfectly. For Cuinn, it was a risk he was willing to take for Blaize, but he felt a stab of guilt at involving the others.

Tierra had put on some low drumming music in the background, and the beat was rhythmic, hypnotic. He closed his eyes and centred himself in the element of earth, in Muladhara Chakra. Pine incense floated around him, further connecting him.

Each type of energy was shared in a different way. For Ajna elements, it was in the dreamscape. Fire energy was shared through an intense, unblinking gaze. For earth, it was through the power of touch.

He focused on his hands, and on the connection between himself and Tierra. After a few minutes of concentration, he could feel her energy like a prickling heat in his hands. This was an unusually fast connection, probably because of their relationship and the fact that they knew the feel of each other’s energy so well.

He opened himself up to her energy, which pushed at him, eager to move from Tierra to him. He pulled a little, just as he would when pulling energy from the environment and astral plane, but this time he pulled from Tierra herself. He could almost see the strands of energy looping between them, replenishing his own dwindling stores.
 

The feeling created an endorphin rush, which was the reason it was easy to get addicted. It wasn’t like pulling from the environment, which normally topped out at what each individual energetic could handle. When you drew from another energetic, there was no limit to the power you could take—until the other person died.

He tried to maintain his own Ajna activation while focusing on the Muladhara energy, a fine line to balance. But keeping his mind energy alert would give him the discernment to say stop.

It didn’t take long for the rush to turn into a high, a euphoric feeling that had an unwilling smile edge across his face, though his eyes were still closed. The smile, more than anything, brought him back to the moment. He’d never felt less like smiling in his life.

The line between pain and pleasure at this point was delicate, and the connection between his hands and Tierra’s smaller, more delicate hands felt intense. He could almost feel every individual whorl and line of her fingers.

“I think … we should stop,” he said, over the drumming. But he didn’t break the connection, unwilling to let go of the rush quite yet.

Cara stood and touched Tierra and Cuinn on their shoulders, and closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, she nodded. “I agree. Enough Tierra.”
 

Nothing happened for a moment, and then Cuinn felt Tierra’s energy cut off. He held back a groan as the pleasure left him. He rubbed his hands together, his eyes still closed. The incense hung heavy in the air around them, the drumming continuing. Everything felt suspended in time.

He opened his eyes just as Tierra let out a gasp, and Fintan moved forward to support her. Fintan scowled at Cara and Cuinn.
 

“She’s fine Fintan,” Cara said, that hint of amusement back in her voice. “Help her into her room to lie down and get her to eat something light.”

Fintan nodded and let Tierra rest in the crook of his arm for a while as Cuinn got up and stretched. He felt amazing. “I’ll go back into the astral realm and see if I can make contact. She might be sleeping, so there’s the possibility I might be able to connect to her dreams.”

Cara rose. “I’m right behind you.”

Blaize woke up. And almost wished she hadn’t. She was still trapped in the disgusting room, and her arms and legs ached from lying down for the last twenty-four hours. She felt better than the last time she’d been awake—perhaps the pizza and shake had helped after all though she could tell she had already lost some weight. Indigo was right; taking her energy was draining her physical body quickly. She’d have to eat more if she wanted to keep herself going.

She lay, staring at the ceiling, trying to work out what to do. What she could do.
 

Part of her felt shame—shame that she had been captured so easily. Cuinn would be so angry with her. She winced, remembering Indigo’s sharp comments about her own ‘romantic notions of rescue.’
I have to hope. It’s not naive to think I’ll get out of here.
 

She was strong, stronger than Indigo. But while Indigo was weak, she was also unpredictable, addicted as she was to the energy.

All Blaize needed was a moment. She didn’t think she could break out of the shackles she had on, but if she could get control of herself in the dreamscape, she thought she could contact Cuinn.

And that had all better be done fast. Indigo was already talking about moving her.
 

The door opened again.
 

“Good morning, bitch.” Indigo sang out the words. She walked jerkily to the end of the bed. Her eyes darted around the room and over Blaize, the pupils pinpricks.
 

Is she still high?
Blaize shivered. It was hard to see how Indigo could be even more disturbed. She was already unpredictable enough.
 

“How are we today? A little thinner I see. Ooops!” Indigo covered her mouth with a hand. “I took more than I meant to yesterday. But you, Blaize-bitch, are dee-licious. I’ll have to keep myself in check in the future, or there won’t be enough of you to go around, and I’ll get into trouble!”

“What do you mean, go around? Are you working with someone?” Blaize’s voice was scratchy.

Indigo froze for the smallest of moments, then laughed. “Just me BB.”
 

She put a can she’d been carrying next to Blaize.

“I brought you a protein shake. One of those meal replacement thingies. Enough calories to keep you going.” She turned on her heel and walked out.

Blaize needed to drink it if she was to be well enough to take advantage of any chance that arose to get a message to Cuinn. She took a sip, grimaced, and started working on a new plan.

***

When Blaize hit the astral plane this time, she didn’t wait. She knew what to expect, and as soon as her eyes opened in Indigo’s tasteless Haven she focused the hottest fire she could create on her chains and broke them.
 

Indigo stepped back a pace, and her eyes widened. Blaize was able to land a backhanded blow across Indigo’s gaunt face before she recovered from the surprise. But Indigo had the advantage health-wise, and even as her head snapped to the side from the blow, she came back with a hammer fist that just missed Blaize’s cheek, catching her on the shoulder as she moved out of the way. Pain blossomed across Blaize’s upper arm, and she staggered.
 

They fought in earnest, but Blaize had thought about this already. Physical fighting was only part of the tactics that could be used in the dreamscape. After a handful more blows were exchanged, she drew back from Indigo, bending forward slightly as if she was getting exhausted, but, in fact, creating space and distance between herself and the other energetic. She drew on the energy that she saw around Indigo, weakening her. The energy felt tainted, giving Blaize strength but also making her feel nauseous, so even as Indigo staggered, Blaize wobbled on her own feet.

Indigo fell onto her hands and knees and looked up at Blaize, hissing through her inky hair. She pushed off the floor and launched herself at Blaize, flying through the air with more height than Blaize could have managed in the physical plane. Her hands were grasping claws and the force of her landing pushed Blaize to the floor.

"You're nothing," Indigo hissed into her face. "You think you're somehow special. But you're nothing. You shouldn't have even been born."
 

Blaize was on her back with Indigo’s hands around her neck and was perilously close to losing consciousness. But Indigo's words penetrated her brain.
What the hell?

"You know nothing about me." Blaize panted out.

"I know your parents were told to stay apart. And look what happened to them. Your father became a Rogue, who killed your mother and himself."

When the anger washed over her body, Blaize didn't fight it, but she did hold on to her focus. She wouldn't let the anger control her this time. She would use it.

Blaize planted her feet firmly on the ground. She shifted her hip, ready, and took hold of Indigo’s right arm. Blaize shoved and pushed her hips up at the same time, which tipped Indigo to the side, and Blaize used the momentum to switch places with Indigo.