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Chapter 114
Leesa Nyland stood with her arms hanging loosely at her sides, her blue eyes closed, her breathing soft, slow and rhythmic. As the wizard Dominic had instructed, she tried to empty her mind of all thoughts, but she was failing miserably. The tiniest things intruded into her awareness—the low hum of the mini fridge behind her, the way her shoe pinched the inside of her bad right foot just below her ankle, even the weight of her long blond ponytail against her neck and back. The harder she tried to push these intruding thoughts away, the more of them she seemed to notice.
She wondered if Dominic’s magic enabled him to sense how much trouble she was having fulfilling her task. Dominic was the last of a race of wizards known as waziri—the last, at least, that had not given themselves over to the black arts. Thinking of the renegade wizards brought Leesa’s thoughts to the mysterious figure they had allied themselves with, the Necromancer, who was trying to
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Leesa's Advent Chapter 115
Leesa took a deep breath and then started again at the beginning, counting out her inhales and exhales, increasing the length of each by one count until she reached eight, then counting back down to two. She went through the routine twice before turning her attention to her foot, trying to feel every little detail of the sensation. She imagined she was writing a five page paper just on the way her shoe pinched her….“Open your eyes, Leesa,” Dominic said.The wizard’s voice seemed to come from somewhere far away. When Leesa opened her eyes, Dominic was sitting again.“Why did you stop me? I think I was just getting there.”Dominic smiled. “You were more than ‘just getting there,’ believe me. How long do you think that was?”Leesa pursed her lips in thought. “I’m not sure. Two or three minutes, maybe?”“More like ten,” Dominic said.Leesa’s
Leesa's Advent Chapter 116
Dominic’s forecast proved accurate.After a brisk fifteen minute walk, Leesa and Dominic returned to her room to practice what Leesa had taken to calling the “everywhere/nowhere” thing. She had just opened her eyes and was about to describe her most recent experience to Dominic when movement outside her window caught her eye and distracted her. She turned her head and saw snowflakes—huge and numerous—floating down outside the glass. Forgetting everything else, she limped swiftly to the window, almost pressing her nose against the cold glass as she drank in the wondrous sight.At first, the giant flakes floated lazily past on unseen currents of wind, seemingly reluctant to let go of the air and fall upon the ground. As Leesa watched in fascination, the flakes began to fall faster and faster, until they were pouring past her eyes in a great white sheet. To someone who had lived in San Diego since she was a little girl, the scene outside her
Leesa's Advent Chapter 117
As soon as they stepped out into the courtyard, Leesa closed her eyes and turned her face up toward the snow. The air was cold, but the wind had slowed at least a little since her walk and the buildings blocked some of its force. Her layered outfit kept her plenty warm. The giant snowflakes tickled her cheeks and chin as they landed and melted slowly upon her skin. When she opened her eyes, she felt as if she were looking up into some kind of magical fairyland—all she could see was a never ending river of dancing white flakes pouring down at her. A sudden smack against her chest pulled her back to reality. She looked down and saw the remnants of a snowball sliding down the front of her parka. A few feet away, Cali had a big grin on her face. “Earth to Leesa,” she said. “Rule fifty-three: when there’s snow on the ground, pay attention! Now get over here and join in the fun.” Cali had no sooner finished talking when a well-aimed snowball thrown by Caitlin crash
Leesa's Advent Chapter 118
He breathed a silent sigh. He had been planning to go to Middletown tomorrow to see Leesa, but doubted he would be able to do so now. Snow was the one thing that made it impossible for him to conceal his nature—the circle of bare mud around his feet gave ample evidence why. And the longer it snowed, the longer it would take to melt. Rave decided he would be patient to a point, but if his wait grew too long, he promised himself he would figure out some way to be with her. He smiled, picturing Leesa playing in the snow, probably with her friends. She would be loving it, he knew—she’d been complaining about the lack of snow all winter. He hadn’t had the heart to tell her he was hoping it would never snow, because he knew it would keep them apart. He wondered if she had figured that out yet. He breathed another deep sigh and turned back into the cabin. It was out of his hands, for now. At least the wizard Dominic was with Leesa to keep her safe. Rave returned to his
Leesa's Advent Chapter 119
By the time the snow stopped falling on Monday morning more than two feet of the stuff blanketed the Weston campus. Classes were cancelled for the day and the entire region was at a standstill. The governor had declared a state of emergency, closed all the schools in the state, and urged the public to stay home and off the roads, most of which were impassible by anything short of four wheel drive vehicles with snow tires. Even those risked becoming stuck in the five and six foot drifts which seemed to be everywhere. Many areas of the state were without power, as snow laden tree limbs broke off and fell onto the electrical lines, snapping them. Luckily, the campus had been spared any power outages.The cook for Leesa’s dining hall had been unable to make it to work, despite living barely a mile from campus, so Leesa and her friends had gathered downstairs for a breakfast of toast, cold cereal and hot chocolate heated in the microwave. Leesa thought if the cook had been r
Leesa's Advent Chapter 120
Getting back up onto her feet proved difficult—when she pushed down with her hands to get some leverage, they just sank deeper into the snow. Finally, after much twisting and turning and pushing, she managed to hoist herself back up. She brushed the snow off her parka and looked at her friends. All three had big grins on their faces. Leesa smiled back. She imagined she’d probably looked pretty funny trying to get up.“I wish I had video of that,” Cali said. “I can see it on YouTube now—California girl drowning in the snow.”They all laughed, Leesa included. For a moment there, she had felt almost like she was drowning—or was about to, anyway.“Since you’re so smart,” Leesa said when she finally stopped laughing, “maybe you can explain just how we’re supposed to roll snowballs in snow this deep to build a snowman.”Cali swung her head from side to side, eyeing all the snow.
Leesa's Advent Chapter 121
Late Wednesday afternoon, Leesa was alone in her room, sitting on the edge of her bed and practicing her everywhere/nowhere meditation. She had hoped the technique would be one of those things where once you got it, you could do it almost every time, but sadly, that had not turned out to be the case. About half the time she successfully reached the intended state of emptiness, but the rest of the time she was unable to flush interfering thoughts from her head. Dominic said this was normal and to try to stop fighting it, because fighting it almost guaranteed the opposite result from what she sought. Not fighting it was easier said than done, however.She expected him to arrive any time now to work with her some more. Dominic didn’t have a phone, so of course they couldn’t make arrangements like normal people. Leesa shook her head and smiled wryly. Everyone had a cell phone nowadays—how had she managed to find a boyfriend and now a mentor without one? She wond
Leesa's Advent Chapter 122
Leesa’s eyes widened in surprise. “Ten or twelve thousand dollars? You carry ten or twelve thousand dollars in cash around with you?”“Plus gold and jewels,” Dominic reminded her. “Where else am I going to keep it?”“I hadn’t really thought about that. I guess I thought you might a have safety deposit box somewhere, or something like that.” She studied the wizard closely. His clothes didn’t show any bulges where he could have so much money and jewels stashed away. She wondered if he might have a money belt under his shirt, but his slender form sure didn’t look like it.Dominic stood up and extracted an old brown leather wallet from his back pocket. No, not really a wallet, Leesa thought. It was a little too big to be called a wallet, and it had an inch-wide strap and a brass clasp that kept it closed, like a purse. Yet it was too small to be considered a purse. Whatever it was, it was clearl
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