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I’ve turned every piece of furniture, every decoration and knickknack, in the guest bedroom totally invisible. But I can still stub my toe on the base of the dresser, like I did just a second ago.
I fumble my way over to the invisible bed and sink my also-invisible body down onto the covers. After a brief rub, the sting radiating through my big toe fades.
There’s no particular reason that the contents of my room need to be hidden from the eye right now. I’m just doing my best to recreate the conditions I might face when we go into battle—when I might have to hide a bunch of the people around me, like I did when we invaded Balthazar’s mountain base.
Inanimate objects don’t take quite the same surge of energy that living beings do. To get the same effect, I don’t have to wear myself out as much. So I poured way more of my power into each of the room’s furnishings than I did into my friends yesterday.
It was either that or try to vanish the entire mansion, and I don’t think anyone else living here would appreciate the latter.
I need to push myself farther than I did yesterday. Farther than I’ve dared with my fellow shadowbloods in all the time since I discovered I could use my talent for invisibility beyond my own body.
Maybe if I’d given my efforts yesterday my all instead of holding back just a little, Balthazar’s gambit with his ear-splitting device wouldn’t have shaken us out of concealment. Maybe we’d have stayed invisible to chase after him in the tunnels, and the younger shadowbloods wouldn’t have been able to confront us.
I swallow thickly and flex my fingers against the rumples of the blanket beneath me, checking for any unusual sensations.
Unfortunately, the other maybes involved could have dire consequences in the opposite direction. Which is why I’m conducting this experiment only on myself, not on any of the people who matter so much to me.
Our former captor seems determined to wreak havoc through the entire world. The next time we go up against him, we might not all survive.
But I’ll be damned if I lose anyone becauseIfucked up.
The experiment is awfully boring, though. I should have set my phone to a playlist of podcasts before I concealed it along with everything else.
I can’t see the screen now to select anything on it. Can’t see the TV mounted on the wall. The view beyond the window remains, since I didn’t mess with the walls themselves, but all I’ve got there is the incredibly dull “Palm trees casting shadows on the lawn” show.
I don’t even know exactly how long I’ve been running the experiment for, although I did have the foresight to set my phone to sound an alert every hour. The first one went off what might have been twenty minutes or forty ago, for all I can tell.
So far, I feel fine. That’s a good sign. I’ve never held myself invisible for this long before.
Of course, we already knew that the procedures Balthazar had Matteo carry out on us expanded our abilities. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a limit, only that it’s farther out than I’m used to.
I catch myself starting to worry at my lip and push to my feet. I’ve got to do something to distract myself.
Why not practice my stealth skills while I’m in see-through mode? I don’t really like the idea of spying on anyone in Rollick’s home, but it’d be good practice to simply move through the house quickly and quietly, making sure I don’t disturb anyone I pass.
I go through the motions of pretending I’m on an actual mission with enemies around every corner. My hand stays braced on the doorknob until I’m sure there’s no sound in the hall outside. Then I slip out as deftly and swiftly as possible.
Riva’s outside, somewhere not far to the north of the house. I can sense her presence distinctly, like I have ever since we first slept together and our matching marks bound our essence together.
My friends, I only have a vaguer impression of—a faint tickle of energy that comes from their powers. If I concentrate, I can tell who’s who based on what those powers are and what direction they’re in, but not how far away.
And I’m pretty sure that awareness only works when they’re not far at all. I’d know how to find Riva no matter where in the world she went, but my awareness of the guys dwindles with distance.
The other beings hanging out around this place, I have no sense of at all. I slink past the dining room, where a couple of the shadowkind Rollick is particularly friendly with are having a conversation about the steaks one of them apparently fried, and pass Billy plinking away at a piano in the mansion’s music room, but that’s it.
From what I’ve seen, most of the shadowkind prefer sticking to their shadows unless there’s a specific reason they need to take physical form. I kind of wish that wasn’t the case, because if I wanted to spy on anyone, it’d be the less friendly allies whose allegiances to us are shakier.
But if they’re having conversations about how far to follow us into this war, it’s someplace as invisible to me as I am to them—and inaudible as well.
I’m just coming up on the front foyer with its massive looming skylight when the first creeping of discomfort ripples over my skin.
The unnerving sensation squirms through my nerves from my fingertips to my elbows. I jerk to a halt with a hitch of breath.
When I splay and clench my hands, the feeling eases. My heart keeps thumping on at its sped-up pace.
Should I pull myself out now? If that sign is anything like before, it’s only the start.
I don’t know if it’ll be like before, though. Maybe there won’t be any progression, only that mild irritation.
