Blaize and the Maven: The Energetics Book 1 (8 page)

“And I will … but I thought I had more time," Blaize said. More time to spend growing in other areas before I committed to the intensity of training again.” She wasn't going to win this argument. She saw no cracks in either Fai, or more unusually, in Marius's determination. Usually, she was able to persuade Marius to her point of view, but he appeared just as committed to this future as Fai.

“Go back to your bungalow, take a shower, and get some rest.” Marius moved over to her and took her hand. “Have you eaten anything yet?”

“Some fruit, with Nixie. Wait, does Nixie know?”

Marius shook his head. “No. Do you want to tell her, or do you want us to tell her while you’re sleeping?”

Blaize closed her eyes briefly. “You can tell her. I’ll speak to her when I wake up. I’m so tired.”

She got to her feet and headed out of the door, too tired for further conversation.
More training. Another Maven.
Her throat ached, and her eyes were damp. If she stayed in the room with her Aunt and Uncle, she might cry.
 

She really hated to cry.

***

CUINN came to, cold and stiff, on the floor of his workroom. He'd decided to try a quick dreamwalk, and had lain on his ritual mat, and sunk into the light trance that enabled him to go to the etheric plane.
 

He'd been out all night.
 

His body cramping, he sat up and stretched out to grab the nearest paper and pencil. He needed to capture every possible detail of what he'd discovered.

As always, the details were sketchy. In previous dreamwalks he’d seen various shadowy figures, and he wasn’t sure if they were humans or energetics.
 

They were accompanied by a sense of foreboding, of something off, something beautiful and good perverted for illicit ends. This dreamwalk had been the same as all the others
—
the presences were taunting him as he stood in front of the race of energetics, knowing he was all that stood between this evil and his race, his people.
 

As before, there were five male energetics to his right, and six female energetics to his left. He usually couldn’t make out much about any of them apart from their genders, and some kind of coloured bracelets on each wrist
—
the right wrist for men, the left for women.
 

But in this dreamwalk he'd gathered some new details.
 

One of the females had stepped forward in front of the other energetics
—
and in front of him. She’d raised a sword of fire, and run towards the shadowy figures. Watching, he hadn’t been able to move, shout, or do anything to stop her from sacrificing herself. And it had been agony to watch. Her energies shone, but the figures soon surrounded her, and their darkness absorbed her light like blotting paper.

He came out of the trance with a queasy feeling in his stomach, and a deep sense of unease. The female figure was important, as were the line of females and males he stood with in the dream in front of those shadowy figures. And he also had a role. He just didn’t know how, or against what. The frustration made him feel scratchy and irritable.

He sighed, noted the date and time, and put the pencil and paper down. He would file it with the others later.

"Did Fai talk to you?”

Nixie bit her lip. Her eyes welled up and tears overflowed as she sank into a cross-legged position next to the hammock where Blaize was lying, and rested her head on Blaize’s leg.
 

Blaize had slipped home the night before without calling on Nixie, but Nixie had shown up on Blaize's balcony soon after she was up and about.
 

Blaize's anger and upset of the night before had turned into sadness and resignation this morning. She'd go to Vancouver. And if she was honest with herself, a part of her loved the idea that she would get to push on with her training this fast. Most energetics would need a year or more between trainings to let one side of themselves settle before they started working with the next. Fai must be very confident of her abilities to ask her to start training in her auxiliary this quickly. But Blaize had been looking forward to more of a break from learning, and time to actually use her abilities as a Warrior.
 

“I’m the one going Nix, not you." Blaize bent and touched Nixie's cheek. "It’ll be fine. We’ll call; you’ll visit.”

Nixie nodded. “I know. But … I’ll miss you.”

“You managed when we were at university, and then when I lived in Singapore and you were doing your Chakra training.”

Nixie had taken a different path. She had started as an Adherent directly after leaving university at twenty-one, so she’d completed her training in her dominant Chakra, Svadisthana, the water element, a while ago. She’d decided to take a break before starting her next Chakra training
—
just as Blaize had intended to do.

“Yeah, but it’s been a good few years since we’ve both been back here and able to hang out together. I like it. Friends and family close by.” Tears leaked onto Blaize’s leg. As a water element, Nixie had a tendency to express herself with tears
—
happy and sad
—
a lot more frequently than Blaize, but Blaize was used to it, and just ran a hand over Nixie’s glossy hair.

“How do you feel?” Nixie said.

Blaize lay back and looked up at the sky. “Like I’m not just tired today, but tired more generally. The Manipura training was tough, and I so wanted to do well. I feel like I did, but I also made mistakes. I’d have liked a break before I start studying something new."
 

She paused, looking out at the dense green jungle at the edges of the large plot their houses stood on.

"I love it here too. I love you, Fai, Marius, the people we know, our friends. The energetics community here and the humans. I love the pace of life, being able to go out trekking in the jungle or lie on the beach. Singapore was so built up, so many people, so many buildings, vehicles. I don’t want to go back to a place where there are that many people.”

“Cuinn doesn’t live in a busy place; he practically lives out in the wilderness, way outside Vancouver towards the Rockies. It’s pretty beautiful, but the sea is hours away.” Nixie shivered in mock-disgust.
 

Great. He lives in some country backwater.
Not much chance of using her Warrior training, or helping out on Rogue runs there.

“You know him?”

“Yeah. He’s a Professor at Vancouver University in the human world, and super smart. Some kind of brain science, which helps with his energetic work around the mind. I guess all Ajnas are pretty clever
—
apart from you, of course.”
 

Blaize smacked Nixie gently on the top of her head.

“Ouch. Yeah, bright, a thinker. He does a lot of dreamwalks and prophecy work for the Major and the Minor Circle. He’s maybe two hundred? Two twenty? He grew up with Dad. Not married or anything though. Which is not because of what he looks like
—
he’s pretty hot." Nixie pretended to swoon. "And Maven Adherent pairings often become romantic; it's part of working closely with someone for so long.”

“Not a factor. You know my views on relationships.”

“Well, it doesn’t hurt if the face you have to look at every day is attractive right? And anyway, you don't have to marry him, just, you know, have a little fun. ”

Blaize rolled her eyes but smiled. “Do you ever think about anything apart from sex?”

“Love?”
 

The energy of Nixie’s two Chakras meant she almost always had a boyfriend. And Nixie was quite happy to audition men for the part for as long as was needed, though she never settled for long, always looking for 'the one.' Blaize guessed Nixie’s parents also influenced her view, as they were still a solid partnership after over a hundred years together.

Blaize had a direct approach to sex, like most Manipura energetics, but she didn’t romanticise it. She didn’t see the need. She’d seen what love could do, and it wasn’t always hearts and flowers. She wasn’t interested in a relationship.

“What’s he like as a person?”

“Well … he can be a bit … stern. Focused. But because of his earth auxiliary he’s very grounded, which makes a good contrast for his Ajna. Practical. Disciplined. Works hard.”

“Hmmmm." Blaize wrinkled her nose. "Doesn’t sound much fun.”

Nixie shrugged. “He's fairly senior in the Ajna Guild, so should be a good teacher at least."

Just what I need. A strict, joyless Professor that I'll be stuck with for the next few years. Yay.

She shook her head and turned the conversation away from her departure. There was time enough for that.

***

Indigo lay on her mat and stared up at the water-damaged ceiling.
 

The prophecy was in motion. Blaize and Cuinn would meet soon. And Indigo would get her chance to repay her Maven for his teachings and support.

There was little furniture in the dark and dingy bedroom, and yet although she had the whole house to herself, the meagre possessions she’d brought with her from Vancouver were all contained in this room. She travelled light.

She got to her feet and took her cell phone out of her bag. She switched it on and dialed his number. The man she’d been with as an Adherent and beyond.

She walked to the window and looked out while she waited for him to answer. The property was at the end of a lane, a twenty-minute drive from Merrow. There would be no one to interfere when she had Blaize here.
 

A click at the end of the line. “Indigo.”
 

“Another piece of prophecy is confirmed. She’s coming. He’s agreed,” she said.
 

“Get a job in town. Get more information on Cuinn and the set up at their house. Keep seeking more of the prophecy.” The man’s warm tones were deceptive. Underneath the velvet, there was a dark brutality in the voice that expected her instant obedience.

“And she’s mine?” Indigo tried to keep the need out of her voice.
 

The silence echoed down the line, and Indigo shifted, pressing her palm against the window. The cold bled into her bones.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

She was left with silence as he hung up.
 

She felt jittery, wired. She strode over to the door and threw it open. She ran down the creaking stairs and went out the old house’s back door without pausing to grab a jacket. She was burning up, her energy keeping her warm. Too warm.
 

She went to the back of the overgrown garden where she’d set up a rough area for energy practice and stood in the centre of the charred circle. She took a deep breath. She pulled energy and forged the hottest fire she could between her hands. She put all her hate and shame into the flames. Then she spun and threw the burning sphere as fast as she could at the metal target fifty yards away. Sparks flew as the fire engulfed the metal, and it glowed a dark, angry red.

Her body trembled like an addict’s. She panted and her sides heaved as she sucked in deep breaths. She needed more energy, and these days, she struggled to draw on the ether without help. The impetuous burst had tired her out. The chill damp of the spring morning drained the heat from her, and the trembles in her limbs intensified. She trudged back towards the house.
 

She needed to conserve her energy, not waste it. Her Maven had promised her Blaize, which would solve a lot of Indigo’s problems, but only if she was able to catch her, physically or energetically. If Indigo wasted her chance, he wouldn’t forgive her. And he was unlikely to give her another opportunity. He’d punish her, or watch her suffer withdrawal symptoms.

Either of which could kill her.

FIVE weeks after her Manipura trial Blaize found herself on a plane.

Time spent meditating in the energetics’ temple had helped her process her feelings of being abandoned, or sent away, by her family. Exploring and examining them despite the ‘ouch’ feelings they brought her, she was able to realise that she had total confidence in Fai and Marius’s love for her, and their attempts to do the right thing.