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  Soon, the others started filing into the kitchen area and plopped down at the old, scratched-up table. Obviously, interior decorating was not a priority. I wandered over and found an available chair that no one had nabbed up yet. It was quite amazing to think we were hidden underground, in our own little world. I suppose since my life had become so dull, devoid of any excitement at all over the last several months, that this did appear like an adventure to me. Still, I couldn't shrug off how my parents were going to react to my disappearing off the face of the earth.

  I glanced over at Tessa and inquired, "You're not going to make it look like I died, are you? I just don't want my parents to be so heartbroken and devastated thinking I'm dead and yet they can't find my body…"

  "Oh, Kara, no I won't do that! I'm scheming on you being a runaway. That you got into your car this morning and literally took off for points unknown. Probably in a day or so we'll have you call your parents to touch base and lead them into believing you are heading out west somewhere and just need time alone. After all, you haven't exactly been Miss Sunshine lately, from what I've been told. Hopefully this little story we're telling them won't shock them. It shouldn't seem completely out of character for you considering how you've been behaving lately."

  "Wow. You guys have everything figured out. Weren't any of you worried about how I would react to being kidnapped? That maybe I'd go off the deep end and freak out?" I sighed heavily, shaking my head and looking down at the plate of food Dominic sat in front of me. I wasn't hungry at all but didn't want to disappoint him so I took a nice size bite out of the sandwich. Eating was a bit of a distraction at least for my boggled brain.

  I rambled on, "I still can't believe I'm here and agreeing to go along with this craziness. I must be losing my mind. I even feel as if I've been here for days not just hours."

  Eli piped in, "Kara, I believe you were looking for a change in your life. Dominic has mentioned that at the times he's touched your mind over the last month, you seemed greatly distressed and upset. I realize you've also been having those unusual dreams of Daniel, which didn't help matters, but even before and beyond that your life was unsettled. Even though you were unaware of your psychic abilities, you still performed simple persuasion techniques on a few people. This was probably done subconsciously and had you disturbed, too."

  "There were times when I wished a person would just do something a certain way," I reflected over the last year or so, "and all of a sudden they were actually doing it. I had weird feelings during those times and I suppose I did wonder what a major coincidence it was for them to go through the motions of what I was thinking."

  Dominic spoke, "You now have awareness of your gift. Knowing that you have abilities makes all the difference in how you'll think and look at things now. And from what I can perceive, your psychic powers are pretty strong."

  "Interesting." That was all I could say as I kept munching on my sandwich. I felt like I had a million questions still needing to be answered and yet my mind was drawing a big fat blank.

  Everyone finished eating lunch and Tessa volunteered to clean up the mess. I believe she wanted to allow Dominic as much time to work with me as possible.

  "Well, Kara, let's head over to the research room and see what we can discover about you!" Dominic was about to bounce off the walls with anticipation.

  "Oh, gee, I guess I'm the guinea pig to experiment on." I could completely sense his excitement and devotion to working with me. I, on the other hand, felt an ache in my lower back from all the tension and anxiety.

  I followed him like a lost puppy as we headed back down that dreary hall. Even though I was putting up a pretty good front, I was undeniably feeling very alone and scared. The extreme vulnerability in this situation of just handing myself over to complete strangers was blowing my mind.

  "We're here." Dominic announced as I slammed into the back of him. This whole place was so small that within mere seconds you were already in another room. There was nothing special about this room either. As usual, everything looked very old and dingy except for the fancy equipment and a few computers set up on desks.

  I was definitely feeling jittery and my back was totally killing me. As I went to sit down on one of the few chairs in the room, my balance was off and I could feel myself tripping over my own two feet. For a moment I knew I was going to end up on my rear end looking like a clown. Suddenly that particular chair I had been heading for was shoved under me before I could hit the ground. Dominic was standing a few feet away and smiled suspiciously at me.

  "Remember when we told you I have the ability to move objects with my mind? You just witnessed it. So, you're welcome for me saving your rear end or face from smashing into the concrete floor." He was still beaming at me and trying to keep from laughing.

  "Impressive!" I was pretty amazed since I'd only seen acts like that on television specials.

  "Yeah, I've been working on moving larger objects than chairs and from a greater distance. It's been going fairly smoothly. My concentration has to be unbelievably focused, but it also works well when I'm all wound up about something. It ties in with my emotions. Fear and anger seem to fuel the telekinesis.

  "Your back is bothering you, isn't it?" Dominic obviously sensed this or read my mind. "Eli stocked some meds in the closet. Let me get you something."

  He handed me the medication with a glass of water which I downed in a split second. With sarcasm I commented, "So, you didn't just try to poison me with those pills, did you? Or give me some drug so you can commit terrible crimes to my mind or body?"

  "No!" Dom's eyes about popped out of his head. His face was suddenly burning red. I reached into his thoughts a bit, testing my newly discovered abilities. I realized I made a mistake with my accusation. He was seething with anger that I could possibly think him capable of hurting me. At the same time, he felt embarrassment about the "crimes to my body" comment I made. I could read in his mind that he never would do anything like that and instead felt the need to protect me. I actually had tears in my eyes. I was half joking with my statement and yet Dominic took it seriously.

  I had an idea. And I don't know where all these brave and daring ideas were coming from lately, but since I'd been abducted, my brain was on super overdrive. I decided to put up a mental block, or at least what I assumed was a block to keep Dominic out of my head for a moment. I wanted to catch him off guard. According to this group, I had the ability to use mental manipulation, implanting thoughts into others. I was going to attempt to calm Dominic down. Not that this was a huge blow-up he was having. It was actually pretty minor and he'd probably shrug it off in another few minutes, but here was my chance.

  He was walking away from me shaking his head, heading for the computer. He was totally unaware of what I was about to do. I mentally crept into the edges of his mind. Immediately I replaced his agitation with happy, calm thoughts. I felt like one of those commercials that tries using subliminal messages to encourage a potential customer to buy their products. I was actually thinking the words - relax, calm, happy, positive, cheery, blissful. Then I pictured in my head a waterfall, a beach, snowy mountains. Anything beautiful. Only about one minute had passed.

  I was staring at him when he looked up from the computer and his face suddenly glowed with contentment. He gave me a big, toothy grin and it seemed as if my accusation towards him drugging me never took place. It was like I disrupted the previous unpleasant thoughts he was having so much so that I gave him new material to deal with. A different emotion - happiness. It reminded me of changing a television channel to something else.

  I couldn't help myself but I had to reveal to Dominic what clever little experiment I just tried on him. And succeeded. "Aren't you just the happy camper now? How's that waterfall playing out in your head?"

  The look of utter shock on his face was priceless. "You did that to me? I had no clue."

  "Well, I felt guilty about the "drugging me" comment and I sensed you were pretty ticked off. What better
time to catch you with your guard down and see if I could give you an attitude adjustment. It worked, didn't it?!" I was tickled with my achievement on Dominic, especially since he had told me earlier he tended to keep his guard up most of the time.

  "I suppose you passed that test, too. I didn't sense you reading my mind or even trying to communicate through our minds at all. I should have recognized something. I'll admit I'm a tad disappointed in myself that you caught me off guard. But I'm mega proud of what you accomplished here today," Dominic was overjoyed. I preferred him that way. He was interesting to be around.

  I clapped my hands together, applauding myself and then patted myself on the back. The moment I went through those motions though revealed my medication hadn't kicked in yet for the back pain. Dominic was on his feet heading over to me as if he thought he could make the pain go away.

  "You know, there is that mind over matter thing to consider here. If I can ease your mind then maybe some of the back pain will go away and before long the meds should start to take effect. Can I try?" Dominic looked like he was pleading with me to say yes. And his eyes were so darn intoxicating to look at.

  "Go for it. What do you want me to do?"

  Dominic calmly explained, "Turn around in the chair so you're facing it and can lean forward. Let your mind be open to mine. And don't talk out loud."

  He tenderly placed his hands on my back starting a light massage.

  Lower back, I mentally pushed at him. He kept his hands on the lower part of my back. I had to trust him and so far I had no reason not to trust him. Considering what I'd been through this day, common sense should have slammed me upside the head to scream at him to keep his distance. But I'd been in his mind and he had been in mine. I did trust him and it felt nice - his touch - both mental and physical.

  For the next fifteen minutes he massaged my back as I leaned forward hugging the chair. At the same time, I let my mind be completely open and blank as he filled it with soothing words. Healing words. Thoughts and feelings that the pain in my back was going away, being drawn out, gone. Then he stopped.

  "Are you better now?" Dom asked.

  I slowly turned around in the chair, careful not to move too quickly which could trigger the pain again. I did feel a lot better. The pain was almost non-existent. I really appreciated what he did for me. "Yes, you made a huge difference in how I feel." After making that statement, I realized it could be taken in two ways. I didn't have a problem with how Dominic might comprehend my meaning.

  There was a long pause as we looked at each other. I don't know how to explain it. It didn't feel wrong to me, it felt right, even though I just met him. I was told he had been monitoring my activities and feelings over the past six months and perhaps that was why I felt as if I'd known him for longer that just this one day. He had been in my mind often and in an odd way, he really wasn't a stranger to me. Being able to relate to another person on the level we just experienced was electrifying.

  "Alrighty then…" Dominic broke the silence, swallowing hard, swiping at the tiny beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead. "Kara, I don't think I'll push you anymore for now. You really have been through a lot since you got here and ought to at least lie down for a while to get your thoughts together."

  At that moment, Tessa knocked on the door and entered. "I just talked to Eli and he thinks you should go ahead and call your parents now. Otherwise, when you don't come back home tonight, they are going to worry and start making phone calls, probably involving the police. We'd like to keep this on the quiet side and try to not have a full blown police investigation and search on our hands. So, like we discussed earlier, the story to your parents will be that you made an impulsive decision to take off to…where would you like that to be?"

  I thought about two seconds and spit out, "California. Yep, I definitely like California."

  Tessa nodded in agreement, "Fabulous. But NO specific towns because they could again try to track you down. Are you going to be able to handle this, Kara?"

  "I still feel like this is all a dream. This day tops the list for being the most scary, confusing, stressful time in my life and in the same breath it's also the most thrilling day I've ever had. I feel that I'm a part of something very important," I was on the brink of tears again. "Tessa, I'll be able to do my part. Don't worry, I can handle my parents, even though I'm positive they'll be freaking out about me."

  Dominic had a thought, "You know, Kara, you could try to work your magic on your parents to soothe their worries. Obviously, they will still be concerned and mad, but if you're able to tone that mood down some, it's worth a try. One other thing, if they choose to put out a search for you with your car and license plate info, nothing should turn up. After sabotaging your car to lose control and dive into the lake, that car is history. No one was around to see it crash and sink. Over the next few days, Zac will further dispose of it or whatever it is he chooses to do to make it disappear and not connect it to you if it is ever found."

  The realization of my car being rigged to crash didn't sit well with me along with the fact I could have been killed. "So, did you ever consider just asking for my help instead of almost killing me and in the process ruining my car, even if it was a clunker to begin with?"

  "Well…after all, we didn't think you'd believe us about werewolves and would consider us crazy people. And we figured you wouldn't just come along nicely. The last dilemma we hadn't figured out was how we wanted to make you disappear. The choices were either to make it appear that you died in the car accident in the lake or have you get amnesia from the accident and take off with some stranger or have you impulsively take off like a runaway to try out a new life. Seems like the last choice is what we're going with, so I do apologize on the team's behalf for destroying your lovely little car." Dominic explained with a snicker. "And Eli has so much money he can easily buy you a new one."

  "Really? Eli would actually get me a new car? If that's so, then by all means, have Zac take the old one and torch it, mash it, dissect it into tiny pieces for all I care!" Oddly, I was now distracted, thinking about zipping around in a nice, new, black sports car.

  Tessa burst out laughing and exclaimed, "Zac is already working on that project and having a blast with it. He likes destroying stuff. It must be a guy thing. Oh, another thing I should mention in case you had suspicions or sensed something going on with Zac and me - we are married." She chuckled again. "Blows your mind, huh? I'm the brain and some brawn, he's totally the brawn AND brain, too. I wasn't originally invited on this mission. Zac was called into play, but since we're married, it would have been impossible to try to go about having a married life and still have him live this lifestyle without me. It just wouldn't have worked. So, since I had my own set of skills I could offer to this venture, Eli said to come aboard and help out. You would have figured it out soon enough that we're married by how we talk and act with each other, but I thought I'd be up front and tell you. Okay, let's make that phone call to your parents."

  Tessa reached around her side and unhooked a cell phone from her belt. This wasn't just any old cell phone. It made me think of something James Bond would use. It had to be very expensive and sophisticated. The phone needed to be powerful in order to get reception where we were down in the bowels of the earth. Dom and Tessa stepped back deeper into the room to give me some space to talk.

  My dad answered the phone and of course the first thing he was wondering was why I didn't come home to help with raking the leaves. Of course. That breakfast conversation between my father and I seemed an eternity ago and in reality it occurred just that morning. I told Dad to get Mom on the other phone extension so I could explain to both of them about the bizarre, spur-of-the-moment adventure I had decided to embark on. I completely stuck with the same brief, bogus story that had been discussed with my new acquaintances. During the conversation with my parents, I was constantly trying to instill a degree of calmness in my voice and thoughts. I envisioned them accepting what I was telling them a
s the truth. I promised I would keep in contact so they would know I was getting along just fine. Once again, before saying goodbye, I mentally pushed feelings of comfort, peace and love at them.

  Chapter 4

  Alone

  The time spent in the research room during the afternoon had passed so quickly that I never did get the little nap Dominic had suggested I take. I had already decided after supper I would go collapse on my bed at that time. Dom and I zipped back over to the kitchen so he could whip up supper for the group. He was definitely multi-talented with his skills. I know I was impressed as I'm sure everyone else had to be, too. I wanted to be useful and not be watching his every movement, so I offered to set the table and pour the drinks. Before long, the gang all arrived waiting to be fed. I could tell by the looks on their faces, Tessa had probably given them an update regarding my status in my new surroundings.

  Eli prompted, "Kara, according to Tessa, I hear you're fitting in rather smoothly here, is that right? And you've talked to your parents?"

  "Yes, that phone call was really rough but I got through it. Dominic recommended I use some of my psychic powers on them to keep them as calm as possible. It seemed to help. And I kept the story short and sweet like we had talked about."

  Dominic piped in, "Let's not forget to mention how superb you have been with those powers. Eli, she pulled a fast one on me. I was not prepared for it and had my guard down. I was just not expecting her to fast forward through some of the experiments like she did, totally taking the initiative into her own hands. Okay, I know, get to the point. First, we are able to read each other's minds and have a regular conversation going on in our heads with no problems at all. But the biggest accomplishment was after I got ticked off when she oh so wrongly accused me of trying to drug her with ibuprofen to help her back pain. Can you imagine me doing something like that?! Anyway, she sensed or read my mind that I was very upset and without my awareness at all she implanted opposite thoughts of being calm and happy. Almost instantly it worked. She actually had to prompt me to even recognize what she had done to me. I didn't even know! This is awesome!"