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Lincoln gave me one of his signature smirks, and I found it hard not to roll my eyes at him. “It seems like a lot of your other gifts require you to focus on feelings; with jumping you have to just let go. When you partially jump, you’re holding back. You need to focus on letting go, or if someone is really strong-willed, they can push you out. Maybe not consciously, but they do. Sometimes people will be doing something, and suddenly they stop and think, ‘wow, how did I get here?’ They get this surreal feeling. More than likely they were jumped and didn’t even know it.
“Once you let go and just embrace the other person, you obtain their memories, feelings, and consciousness. They have no clue you’re even there. Then when you want to return, you remember who you are and you return to yourself. The tricky part is doing it when you’re awake and not sleeping. I was sleeping when I did my first jump.”
I must have made some kind of noise because he put a hand up to his mouth to hide his grin. I backhanded him on his chest, and he laughed aloud.
“You are so disgusting.” I rolled my eyes, trying not to grin back.
While we talked, the world burned down around us. It was slightly perplexing to know fires raged beyond the shield I erected. I had to mentally tell myself we were okay. We couldn’t feel the heat or hear anything while the flames crashed around us.
“What? I didn’t say anything?” he said smugly even though we both knew we remembered the first time I jumped. “Anyways, you need to find something to keep you…grounded so you don’t lose track of time.”
“Like your necklace?” I asked. My energy was nearly gone. I felt so tired. I was hungry, and truth be told, I was aroused.
His head whipped around and his unique eyes met mine. You really could get lost in them easily. I felt my eyes drooping. “I’m not sure…I can do this much… longer,” I admitted.
And as if my words were heard, the storm door was wrenched open, and I saw the fantastic sight of firemen charging forward with their hoses. His mouth was agape as if he was mystified that the hostages remained unharmed while the house burned down around us.
The frontman aimed the hoses our way and then took a step back with a look of wonder when the water from his hose sprayed back onto him.
Alex giggled, reminding me that he was still in my lap.
I stroked the hair off of his face and smiled. “I don’t think he was expecting that, but it’s not safe to drop it yet.” I flinched when another board collapsed above us.
“Hang in there,” Lincoln murmured to me. “Just a little bit longer.”
In silence we waited for the flames and wreckage to abate and the smoke to clear. A few firemen rushed forward once they realized the hostages were huddled behind us. I saw the look of shock and revulsion behind their mask as they approached them.
I didn’t drop my shield in time before one of the men advancing towards us bounced off of it.
I heard the sweetest sound as Harry did a full belly laugh. I looked down, and it melted my heart to see his beautiful face beaming angelically. This is how he should look—not the toddler huddled in fear or crying out in rage.
“I wonder when his parents last saw that,” Lincoln uttered quietly.
“Probably too long,” I remarked as we watched more firemen return with bolt cutters.
“We need to get out of here,” Lincoln insisted as he stood.
The smoke was thick, and I could feel it in my lungs. I nodded as I coughed, heading towards the door, but my legs felt heavy. My feet felt like they were set in concrete. Lincoln reached back with one hand to lead me towards the storm doors, as if he knew my energy was waning.
Once we reached outside, I took deep breaths, breathing in the clean air. “Now what?” I asked after a few moments. “Our work here is done.”
“Not yet,” Lincoln stated as we headed towards the front of the house. “I think it’s important that Harry sees this.”
When we entered the front yard, I noticed cop cars out front, and I could see a few of the men that had been in the house sitting in the back. A box truck was wide open with the rest of the men handcuffed beside it. It was clear that the men planned to take the people away in that.
Other cars and news vans were starting to pull up as we moved closer to the squad cars.
“Harry,” Lincoln gently bade. “Look buddy. Look. The evil men are going away. We can help you get the bad men, but you have to tell us to help you. You need to talk to us, buddy.”
“Bye, bye bad men,” Alex chirped, looking up at Harry safely ensconced in Lincoln’s arms.
“Bye, bye,” Harry echoed.
“Bye, bye bad men,” I echoed squeezing Alex’s hand and leaning my head against Lincoln’s arm.
When my eyes opened, Lincoln was lying on his side watching me. There was something in his eyes I couldn’t quite decipher before his expression shuddered down.
“Hey, there,” Jace commented from my couch where he was holding Harry in his arms and had Alex laying on his lap.
