Destiny's Revenge (Destiny Series - Book 2) Straight, Nancy (book club reads .TXT) 📖

took Peanut into the bedroom and lay down trying to imagine Rachael and her boss again. It didn’t take long to feel a tunnel approaching. I stepped into the tunnel, and I was right there with Rachael in her cube. It had been weeks since I had felt this strange sensation. Rachael had a fresh cup of Mocha Latte at her desk; the aroma was wonderful. A dull light overhead was outshone by a light in the cubicle she worked in. I saw her mindlessly reading news on the net. I stayed with Rachael for about ten minutes. Nothing more exciting than her clicking the mouse on her computer happened, so I quickly grew bored and decided to return to my awaiting body.

When I opened my eyes, Max and Joe were both shaking me, while Peanut lay motionless on the bed watching them. I could hear Max’s frantic voice yelling, “Lauren, Lauren, wake up!”

Startled when his face came into focus, I looked at both him and Joe: the two were sheet white and near hysterics. In a calm almost sleepy voice I asked, “What?”

Joe put his hand over his heart and took a step back from the bed. Max eased himself into a sitting position beside me. “Lauren, we tried to wake you and couldn’t, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Haven’t you guys ever heard of a nap? What was so important?” I was feigning frustration, and I did it so well that Max looked like I had just slapped his face.

Joe decided to step out of the room. In a much quieter voice, I said, “Sorry, Max, I was checking in on Rachael, she’s surfing the net at her desk right now. I should’ve told you what I was up to.”

Relief spilled over Max’s features when he realized that he wasn’t over-reacting. I wasn’t at all upset about being woken up from a nap I wasn’t taking. “I didn’t mean to freak out. I just came in to check on you, and you were sound asleep, at least I thought you were. Peanut was just lying next to you - watching you. It was a weird scene; I was worried that something might have happened to you. When I tried to wake you up, you didn’t respond.”

“Something did happen. My power of sight works on someone besides you. The last time I tried, I came up empty, but today, it was a piece of cake. Weird though, I left Rachael because she wasn’t doing anything very exciting. It didn’t have anything to do with you shaking me like a maraca.”

“We’re going to have to work out some hand signal or code word when you are going off to do this, because it really didn’t look much different from when you were….you know.” Max avoided using the word coma, almost as if he were superstitious that saying the word would cast me into a deep sleep.

“I don’t know about a hand signal, how about I just tell you I’m going to see if I can find Seth now?” Max nodded and lay down on the bed beside me. I shut my eyes again and this time imagined my last conversation with Seth, of driving to school in his car, of playing on the swing set as kids. No matter how many memories I tried, I couldn’t get the tunnel to appear in my mind. I finally opened my eyes after ten minutes of trying, and there were Max’s eyes staring back at me.

“How did it go? What is he doing?” Max didn’t realize my attempt had failed.

“Would you mind going in the other room? I’m not sure why, but I didn’t have any trouble getting to Rachael when it was just Peanut and me. I want to see if maybe I need to be alone to make this thing work.” Max didn’t argue, but he was none too thrilled to be banished in favor of me experimenting with this weird gift.

Sure enough, as soon as it was just Peanut and me in the room, I imagined the last conversation I had with Seth, and the tunnel appeared right in front of me. Seth was talking to someone on the phone. I could only hear his side of the conversation but knew exactly who he was talking about when I heard, “I don’t know, they couldn’t have just disappeared….I haven’t tried calling, maybe there’s a problem with the phone service….He said they went out of town where?. . . .When are they coming back?. . . Maybe you should file a police report….She registered three? What would she need three handguns for?”

Crap! I hadn’t called anyone to let them know where I was. I listened a little longer, but the remaining bits were just conjecture on where Max and I might have run off to. Seth ruled Vegas out after the person on the other end had told him Max and I bought three handguns. This little revelation came after whoever it was on the other line tried to file a missing person’s report. I was pretty sure the person on the other end of Seth’s phone was my mom. I left Seth and returned to my body without incident. I decided I’d call him rather than my mom, since from what little I could understand over the phone, she was near hysterics. If I called him, at least he could calm her down for me.

As I opened my eyes, Max was again looking at me, but this time not shaking me or yelling. Peanut hadn’t left his post the whole time. “I need to call Seth.” I stood up and walked toward the phone, but Max stepped in front of me.

“That isn’t a good idea. Remember we’re here because we needed a place to hide out. As soon as Seth knows where you are, so will your parents, Rachael, and Amanda. We have to assume something might be watching them.”

“I just heard half of a telephone call. My mom has already