Page 46 of The Beyond
“Who? Them?” He almost laughed. Then he frowned. “Damn. Why didn’t I see it before now?”
Selene chuckled. “I doubt they even see it.” She sighed. “I’m hungry. How about we break for lunch?”
“Can’t, until Mia lets us out of here.” He glanced around at the odd-colored world.
“Right.” Selene frowned. “Should we interrupt them?”
He shook his head. “Nope, I’m too afraid of Mia.”
Selene chuckled. “Yeah, my brother doesn’t scare me as much she does. Not after sparring with Mia. I got this close”—she held her fingers an inch apart from one another–“to actually touching her during our last fight. She’s fast.”
“You’ve improved since we’ve gotten here.” He turned to Selene. She looked happier than he could ever remember her being before. He felt a whole lot happier than when they had first arrived as well.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her until the warmth of her spread throughout every part of his body.
“Get a room,” Mia said, storming past them. Then she snapped her fingers, and they were out of the Between. “It’s lunchtime.”
“She’s just upset because I won,” Lucas said with a smile as he walked by them.
“Did not,” Mia called back.
Lucas glanced over his shoulder and winked and nodded at them.
“I saw that,” Mia said as she climbed the deck stairs.
Selene glanced over at Scott, and they couldn’t help but chuckle as they strolled inside together.
“Now that the training part of our trip is over, I guess we need to strategize some more. I still feel like we’re going into this blind,” Scott said as they ate.
“We all are,” Mia agreed. She looked to Lucas, who frowned into his beer.
“There is nothing more I can tell you. Everything in the… Beyond is shielded from me.” He glanced up at Selene. “I can only see the four of us traveling there and what skills we need for the desired outcome.”
Everyone soaked that bit of information in.
“Then we go in blind,” Scott said. “We have the skills we need.” He glanced over at Selene. “That’s got to count for something. Right?”
“I could look?” Mia suggested. “See if I can see anything you don’t have the skills to,” she said in Lucas’ direction.
Lucas frowned. “I have the skills, it’s hidden from me,” he retorted.
Mia waved her hand like she was dismissing a child.
“How can you look?” Selene asked.
“It’s sort of a ritual,” Mia answered. “We’ll have to start at midnight.”
“What? Like a séance?” Selene asked with a half chuckle.
“Something like that,” Mia said with a solemn look.
“Okay, I’m game,” Selene said eagerly. When he looked at her with an are-you-serious look, she shrugged. “I’ve always wondered if they were real.”
“So, we have a ritual.” Lucas stood up to take his dish to the kitchen. “I have a few calls to make,” he said, and then disappeared.
“He’s still sore I kicked his ass,” Mia joked.
“I would think that the CEO of a large corporation had a few hours of business he had to tend to each day,” Scott said with a shrug. “I’m just thankful he’s giving me the time off.”
