Chapter 23: Spirit Walk

The following morning started with Ginny and I being interested observers as Sylvia Porter and Whit Levine, disguised to look like us, took off for Angel's Camp in Ginny's GTO.

First thing in the morning I had told Tony Herrera what I wanted.

"I thought about this all night. I want these guys to know we know they're there, and that I want them gone. We need to show them that we have our own very good security, and that we can take care of ourselves."

I got a big grin in response. And nervous laughter from Sylvia and Evan.

"That's what we were going to propose for this morning, but we didn't think you'd buy it. Figures, the way you guys are always surprising us that you'd beat us to the punch with our own idea."

We got to ride in a helicopter, and watch from a good distance up and away as our two tails pulled out and began to follow the GTO. A few miles down the road two moving vans sandwiched them, and just as quickly a pair of Dodge Durangos slipped into position, front and rear, to get the FBI car boxed. They then forced them to a stop. Almost immediately Chet, Cyrus, Tony and Evan were in their faces with guns drawn asking for I.D.

With their FBI IDs in hand and the two men disarmed and out of their car, Tony spoke into his headset calling the all clear. We heard it on our own headsets, and that was our pilot's signal to bring us down.

I felt both pair of eyes tracking Ginny and I as we ran under the helicopter blades to their car. Tony handed me their licenses and I looked them over, but of course I already knew everything they could tel me about the two men.

"Special Agent Foster and Special Agent Shipley. You know who I am. You have been following me. As have four other agents."

I paused to give them a chance to comment, but I didn't expect them to, and they didn't.

"We believe we know why the FBI has me under observation. However well intentioned it might be, I have my own protection. Quite adequate protection, as you can see. We would like this ended immediately. Please pass that on to your superiors. If you are observed again, and be advised, you have been observed from the beginning, we will escalate our attitude and go public."

With that I turned with Ginny's hand in mine and walked over to the GTO. She let me drive, and we did a 180 in the middle of the road and headed back to the Obsidian Research facility.

It was a week later when we started. We jumped straight to the 'Eru Jehn School of Soul Diving', which was a large area on the upper floor of a warehouse owned by Master Lev in the seaport city of Sheye. The large room was divided into different areas with bookcases and shelves and even a hanging tapestry or two. The floors were bare polished wood, but there were thick, ornate rugs scattered here and there throughout the space.

Eru, Felicia and the two young girls, the twins Riah and Zaia were sitting on a large rug in the room's large central area. The West Coast to East Coast hop had brought us through to the early afternoon in Sheye. I sent a little trickle of thought to Eru the instant we popped in, so without looking up, Eru announced our arrival.

"Ah! Ladies, we have visitors! Please Greet Master McKesson and his wife Ginny."

Felicia rose, walked over to us and bowed.

"Have fun you guys!" She said. "I hope the girls don't wear you out!."

Felicia kissed us both on the cheek and bowed to Eru before walking away from us and out of sight behind a row of bookcases. In my mind I felt her touch the bracelet on her wrist and make the jump back to Meadow.

Eru had obviously coached the twins in advance, they looked at him, and I saw him give them a barely perceptible nod. They both rose and came to stand before us, bowing as Felicia had.

"You honor us Teacher!" They said in perfect synchronization. "We open our thoughts to you, that We may learn."

I decided it was the perfect time to mess with them, so Ginny and I pulled ourselves into our tight, lightly Light-connected merge.

"You do your Teacher honor, young ladies. Thank you for your greeting." We spoke in perfect synchronization.

Eru's raucous laughter seemed almost jarring to us, freshly arrived in this tranquil spot, but with the 'serious' stuff over we took off our shoes and sat beside him on the rug. Ginny leaned over and kissed his cheek. Eru looked at me, raising an eyebrow, as if he were waiting to see if I would match her action. This got the girls laughing. When the laughter passed and everyone was settled back in their spots across the rug from us, Eru spoke into our thoughts.

<We have not spoken of Spirit Masters during our lessons before this, but the legends we all learn as children tell us that even before the beginning of the ancient times the Spirit Masters came to Taluat and from out of the chaos they sheltered and taught the first of the Soul Divers and set them the task of serving as teacher, guide and spiritual healer to the people. Riah, what else do the legends tell us of the Spirit Masters?>

<The legends say that the Spirit Masters were made of ageless flesh, and could move objects with their minds.> Riah's thoughts were clear and clean and rang in my mind like a bell.

<What else do the legends say, Zaia?> Eru prompted.

<The legends say that the Spirit Masters walked between the worlds, and that one day, in the ancient times, they left our world and have never returned.> Zaia answered, her thoughts as clear and sweet as her sisters.

Eru gave me another of those slight nods, letting me know I had the floor.

"Come sit closer, join us in our circle." I spoke aloud. The three of them quickly scooted across the rug so that we were each only an arms length apart.

<You are a Spirit Master?> The twins said simultaneously.

<Yes. And so perhaps shall you be, someday.> I answered.

<Can you walk among the worlds?> Zaia asked.

<Yes.> I answered. As I did, I jumped us to the meditation chamber on Obsidian. The girls immediately shrieked in excitement and spent several minutes running around, examining things before returning to the center of the chamber where we were waiting.

"I have met, as have Eru and Ginny, three living Spirit Masters. Their names were Kes, Aya and Beloth. Some day you will hear their story. It is the story of the end of the Spirit Masters, and how they sacrificed themselves to save all of the people of all of the worlds from a disaster. Those three great souls spent at least four thousand years, but probably much longer, waiting for a new Spirit Master to be born who would set them free."

"they had been waiting to be free, so that they could finish living and join their long lost brothers and sisters in the afterlife." Ginny told them. "But they remained among us for a while so that they could teach Dave."

<Now, open your minds to us!> I thought at them.

We jumped into our full Light-fueled fusion and dived into them. A quick body scan showed us that they were both perfectly healthy twelve year old girls.

Eru had said we would be surprised when we saw their minds, and he was right. Both of them were nearly bottomless pools of creativity and mental power. We pumped a large bundle of Light into all three of them.

<<Join your minds together. As tightly as you know how.>> We sent to them. We watched them slip quickly and efficiently into that high state we were familiar with, at the peak of what we ourselves could do without touching the Light.

<<Come Eru, Zaia, Riah, look into our mind.>> I/We sent them, washing them in another wave of Light.

We turned our senses inward and focused on that Light-sensitive place in our brains. We worked to strengthen it and expand it, as we had been doing every day. Today we had an audience that could at least sense what we were doing, if not see it as clearly as we did.

We pulled another wave of light into our own fusion, and slid out of it into that almost-fusion where we were no longer within the light, but in full contact with it.

<Join us.> We sent, reaching out to draw them into our merging. Their thoughts danced around and through our union of thought, trying to match us and slip within the bond. There was a single moment, less than an eye blink where I felt them join, and then it collapsed, as they reacted to the success and lost focus.

Three groans of frustration echoed through the chamber, and I could sense the exhaustion in all of them.

<Reform the circle.> I called, and the five of us were quickly sitting in position.

I jumped us back to the Rug in Eru's school room.

"That was a very good first day, but I know you are all tired, especially from the excellent effort there at the end."

"We found it there for just a moment, didn't we?" Riah asked.

"Yes, you did," I said. "and that is an important first step to touching the Light yourselves. Good work, all of you!"

Eru sent the girls down to get their ride home for the day, and we waited until they were gone.

"Eru, I imagine you are feeling right now as if you have gone from being the teacher to being at the bottom of the class in a new school."

"Yes, very much something like that. I find myself struggling to contain my frustration." He answered.

"That is why you will be joining Ginny and I every day for our second session." I said.

I jumped the bundle I had prepared for him into his hands.

"Put these on and meet us on Meadow." I said.

In our own bedroom on Meadow, we quickly changed into our running gear. We were there waiting for Eru when he jumped into Level One.

He held his arms out and looked down at himself, then at us.

"Is this apparel intended to be worn during some sort of... physical activity?"

"Yes Eru, we've decided its time for you to stop being the old, slow fellow in the crowd, so we are going to get you into shape!"

I jumped us to the front doors of the tower on Obsidian, our usual starting point. I joined Ginny in our Light-touching merge and with both of us focusing ourselves on Eru's physical signature, I washed us quickly in Light.

"Let's run!" I said, and we were off.

We kept to Eru's pace, while I fed him enough Light to keep him from tiring.

<We are joined in our minds. Let your body do the running while your mind tries to join ours.> I thought to him.

We ran.

While Eru slid around and around the bubble of our joined minds, trying to feel a way to join us there, we concentrated on Eru's body. We worked on the Light signature that represented him, and sent wave after wave of encouragement to it, coaxing it to remember itself as being twenty five again.

After the run we cooled down in the meditation chamber. This time we meshed our thoughts with Eru's in our normal classroom manner and then boosted ourselves into the tighter mesh again and again, each time pulling Eru into it with us, and watching him struggle to find and maintain a place within it.