Excerpt:
 

Calissa strolled into the kitchen and fixed herself a cup of coffee. Caryn had grown quite a bit in the weeks since her birth and with the advanced development, came a lot of crying. She had finally gotten Caryn to sleep and needed a boost.

Grio had told her that her daughter's accelerated growth rate was not caused by the disease progeria, but was due to the fact that she had been born to her and her beloved. Caryn's advanced aging was a sign that their time on earth was drawing to an end. Her daughter would continue growing and aging until she enlightened. The fast progression bothered Calissa. What if Caryn didn't enlighten? Would she just grow old and die before it was time to move on? Grio had assured her that wouldn't happen, told her not to worry and to have faith that Caryn would come to realize her purpose well before the great teleportation. She hoped he was right because one day she wanted her daughter to meet her father.

Wrapping her arms around her middle, she hugged herself, wondering what JT would think of Caryn. Though the misery of the night she left still haunted her, she missed him. There had been moments over the months, just like now, when she would have given up her position of safety to see the lines crease around his eyes when he smiled, to hear his beautiful voice recite lines of Shakespeare, to run her fingers along the creases of his muscles. A tear of pure nostalgia escaped the corner of her eye.

"Miss Calissa?"

A block to her thoughts swung up in her mind and swiping the tear away, she turned toward the young woman who Grio had hired as Caryn's nanny, a nice enough girl who had recently enlightened and come to Grio for training. "Yes, Eve?"

"Mr. Grio wanted me to tell you that we're going out into the woods for one of my lessons, just in case you were set to wondering where we went."

"Thank you, Eve." She forced a smile to her lips and searched the young woman's mind to make sure she hadn't learned anything she shouldn't have. It wasn't safe for anyone to know whose daughter she was. Andi had been sworn to secrecy and instructed to tell anyone who knew about Calissa's pregnancy that the baby died of complications at birth. The story they concocted was that Caryn was the illegitimate child of a cousin of Edna's who died during the birth and Edna offered to raise the baby. Grio said this would be the best course of action to keep Caryn out of harm's way. If the other side ever got wind that Calissa and JT had a child, Caryn would be the Sufs prime target. The Sufs didn't want the prophesy to be fulfilled, they wanted ultimate control.

"Miss Calissa?" Eve inquired in a hesitant tone, rubbing the left side of her neck. "Why are thoughts of that man making you sad?"

"Explain. What man?" Calissa sighed, realizing her guard had been down and she hadn't put the block up in time. Eve had picked up on her reminiscing about JT. She didn't want to rehash the painful memories, but part of Eve's training was to give descriptions of what she picked up on in another's mind.

"The one you miss. The one you want to hear poetry from. The one whose body you want to--"

"That's good," Calissa snapped, throwing up her hand to ward off any more information. She would have to make sure not to let her mind wander like that anymore, especially with the trainee around. "You did well, but you do realize it's an invasion of privacy to read one's thoughts when they don't give you permission, right?"

"Yes I do, but sometimes the impressions come in too loud to ignore. So why are you sad?"

"I was thinking about a sad story I read once upon a time to a friend. When you and Grio are out training, tell him of this incident and that I suggested more exercises for mind control."

"Yes, ma'am."

Calissa watched Eve hurry from the kitchen, waited for the backdoor to close, then made her way to the library to catch up on some work. Years ago, a surprise Grio had thrown her way when she first came to live on his property was that he was the owner of the head corporation, which controlled the companies she had worked for. From the time she left college, she had been under the employ of The Great Bear Corporation. He had bought, sold and merged companies to keep close tabs on her. He had been the one Jacquie consulted with when her job was in question due to her pregnancy. The GBC had its fingers in a lot of different pies, from hospitals and pharmaceuticals to environmental and political concerns. And she had become the public relations guru controlling the strings from behind the scenes. Grio had nailed her on the head with his initial assessment of her, saying she was a wheeler-dealer and enjoyed becoming involved in manipulating people in their human situations. It also didn't hurt that over the course of time her psychic ability enabled her to respond to outside stimuli that others were not aware of and helped her to save a few companies from eventual doom.

She leafed through some papers on the desk, replied to some correspondence and prepped it for the mail. A quick glance at the clock on the wall let her know she still had a chance to put the letters in the mailbox and have them picked up.

Out at the box, the mail tucked in it, she flipped up the flag and viewed the house. The Federal-style brick house was old, but beautiful. Closing her eyes, she turned her face toward the sun and delighted in its warmth.

"Calissa?"

Her eyelids flew open and her head jerked toward the male voice. When her eyes adjusted to the change in light, she gasped at the sight of the man several feet away, kicking herself for not noticing him when she first stepped out of the house. His presence alarmed her, reminded her that she had been lax and needed to be more alert, more careful since her and her daughter's safety was at stake. She squinted and gulped. Her hand flew to her fast beating heart. "JT? Oh my God. What are you doing here?"

JT pushed off the front hood of the car he leaned against, strode toward her and pulled her into his arms. He nuzzled his face in her hair. "I've finally found you." His arms squeezed her tight. "You were so hard to track down."

Calissa wrestled from the confinement and moved from his embrace. Her gaze darted up the road, behind her to the vacant lot and down to the meadow between the house and the river to make sure he was the only one who had breached the security of the street. With a quick thanks to God that Edna had the day off and Grio and Eve were in the woods, she took his hand and led him up the stone steps hidden within low-lying bushes to the second entrance. "Come inside and tell me how you discovered where I lived." She ushered him in through the breezeway to the kitchen. "Have a seat at the table. Do you want anything to drink?"

"No. I'm fine thanks." He sat with his back to the window that overlooked the patio made out of the stones from the mill. "You're looking good. Nice property you have here."

"Thanks and this house, I'm sorry to say, isn't mine. It's my boss'. So tell me, how did you find me?"

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