Chapter 10

"Shouldn't we dim the lights and turn off the TV?" I was about to demonstrate my meditation technique and I was nervous enough. I didn't need a bunch of noise. "It's hard enough to meditate even without all those distractions."

"You've been practicing in those conditions for months now, it's time to prepare for the real world. What are you going to do? 'Hey, mister bad guy, could I get a few minutes of quiet so I can get ready to kick your ass?' Sure, kid, that's how it works.

"How about I get it down first, then start to introduce other influences?"

"How about you learn to do it with the other influences right from the start? It shortens the whole process."

I really hated it when he was right. He continued his lesson.

"Meditation, when done right will let you see things far more clearly. So far, what you have been doing is the equivalent of taking a weapon apart and putting it back together blindfolded, but you've never done it, or seen it done without the blindfold. You can learn to do it that way, and you can learn to do it fairly well – but there are things you could do easier, faster and even better if you could see it. Now, we are going to take off the blindfold."

He had me sit down on the floor with my back against the wall. He then spoke in low relaxing tones.

"Take a deep breath and slowly exhale until your lungs are empty. Good, now another, inhale slowly through your nose, and exhale completely. Now breath deeply and slowly, exhaling naturally now. Concentrate on the breathing, in ... out ... good. Actively think about inhaling and exhaling, feel the air rushing past the tissues of your nose, mouth and throat, feel your lungs expanding and contracting – concentrate on the action and sensations. Now, continue to think about your breathing, but also focus your attention on your forehead. Make an equilateral triangle using your eyes as the corners of the base. Now focus on the top of that triangle – don't try and look at it, just think about it. Envision the number fifty in that spot. Now every time you exhale drop that number by one. Keep thinking about your breathing and the number on your forehead."

He stayed quiet for quite some time after that. I did as he said and it was all I could do to think about the various aspects of my breathing and keep track of the number I was envisioning on my forehead. Despite my best efforts, stray thoughts began to creep in as my concentration waned. Alek noticed my frustration.

"Go easy on yourself." There was a trace of amusement in his voice, "You're relaxing as hard as you can, and that never works. Just breath easy and when you realize you've allowed other thoughts in, gently remind yourself about the breathing and push them out by refocusing on that."

"What if I lose count?" I asked since that was what had just happened.

"Pick it up from wherever you think you are. It's not that important, the counting is just another focal point, the descending numbers tend to draw you deeper into yourself."

I tried again, doing just as he suggested and this seemed to work a lot better. I restarted the countdown and all other thoughts and concerns faded away as my ability to concentrate was taxed to its fullest. He seemed to know what number I was on because just as I changed the number from two to one he spoke, again in low relaxing tones.

"As the number on your forehead becomes a zero I want you to picture it as a closed eye. You now have three closed eyes. Keep your breath in your thoughts and while keeping your real eyes closed, open the one on your forehead."

It was a very odd sensation but I did as he asked and when I 'opened' my third eye the world exploded in a rainbow of colors. I was so shocked I opened my real eyes and the fiery shoots of color vanished leaving me looking at Alek. He was grinning.

"I guess that means it worked."

"What the hell was that?"

"We call it Psychic Sight. You were seeing my aura. Well, auras actually."

"There's more than one?"

"Yes. They cover the entire spectrum of human emotion. The auras brighten and fade along with the corresponding emotion. Now that you know how to see them, you just have to learn what they mean."

"So, do you have a color chart or something?"

"Not that easy," he chuckled, "we all see the auras our own way. While anger looks orange to me, it might look blue to you. It seems to be based upon your personal formative experiences and all that psychobabble crap. What we'll have to do is go somewhere there's a lot of people and compare notes, it doesn't take that long to figure it out."

Learning a new trick is always exciting, but, "Okay, now I can tell what emotions a person is feeling, how is this supposed to help?"

"You can use an aura as a conduit into the other person's mind. It strengthens the force of the connection and gives you immediate feedback on your suggestions. It also gives you more precision. Up to now, your auras have been reaching out all willy nilly, connecting at random and by chance. The focus and concentration you've learned has helped you consolidate and guide them, as a group, in directions you want, but you've still been doing it blind."

"So that's how Sam knew what I was doing and why she heard me thinking about my plan."

"Right, with your auras reaching out at random, you just happened to make a connection before you were ready and let the cat out of the bag because you weren't aware that you were thinking hard enough to send her those thoughts.

"You've heard all through your training that focus is what it's all about, but nobody ever told you what to focus on. Let's try it again, this time you won't be surprised and we'll see if you can hold on to the sight."

We practiced for the rest of the day and by the time we were finished I could hold onto the sight for quite a while but I couldn't keep seeing the auras when I opened my real eyes. I found that frustrating but Alek said it was normal and that it generally comes along pretty fast, so I guessed I was doing okay. I had to wear dark sunglasses when we went to the mall to compare notes so I could learn what colors meant what.

When vacation ended and we headed back to school, I could pull up the sight pretty quickly but I still needed to keep my eyes closed in order to hold it.

Samantha and I were walking hand in hand into the school that first day, I was reveling in the shocked looks I was getting, when she gestured subtly.

"How would you feel about fucking her?"

"What? Who?" I asked, still seemingly perpetually confused where Sam was concerned.

"Tiffany, over by the trophy case, how would you feel about her joining us in bed?"