See How She Runs (The Chronicles of Izzy #1)(43)

“I like you, Little Bit," Ian said before squeezing me into his side.

“I like you too, even if your sense of style would insight a riot at Fashion Week," I said, pulling myself out from under his shoulder fearing retribution.

“They would drop their jaws in amazement at my bold choices," Ian said haughtily.

“You two are ridiculous. Get over here and let me show you how to put a proper ward in place. And please let me take the one off of Izzy. I am afraid you might permanently scramble her brain and she is already unbalanced enough," Kennan said with a smirk in my direction.

“Hey, don’t the two of you start ganging up on me. It isn’t fair!" I said as I moved with Ian toward Kennan.

“It is all part of the training. Now come here so I can open your brain back up," Kennan said.

I moved toward him, stopping about three feet away. I was afraid of getting too close. After last night, I was not sure how to be close to him without jumping on him. He looked down into my eyes with a heated stare. It was a look that I was becoming well acquainted with. He grabbed my hands and pulled me so that my body was practically flush with his own. He looked down at me and raised his hands to my face, gently brushing his thumbs over my cheeks.

We stayed that way, entranced with one another until we heard Ian clear his throat. Kennan shook his head slightly, as if to pull himself back to the objective. He closed his eyes and bent his head forward whispering, “srianta a tharscaoileadh.”

As soon as the final word was out of his mouth, I felt the world rush in around me. I didn’t think I would ever become accustomed to the feeling of my brain being reconnected to the fog or whatever it was.

“Can I do that to myself? And just what did you say?" I asked, wondering if I would be able to protect myself if I ever needed to cut the mental ties.

“You can. It takes a lot of practice, but mostly it is all about intention. The wards are a fickle thing. The slightest fluctuation and they won’t work. Hence, there are now a lack of wards on the cabin," he said with a sharp look in Ian’s direction.

Ian was performing a thorough examination of floor.

“So how do you put the wards up again? What language are you using?" I asked, suddenly curious.

“It is Gaelic. It is not so much the words or phrases either. The most important thing is focus and intent. When I lifted the protection from your mind what I said literally translates to lift restrictions. The ward is put up with the words ‘in safe keeping.’ You have to mentally bend the words to your will."

“So kind of like faith then. If you believe you can heal someone, then they are healed. That sort of thing? If I believe these words will protect me, then they will?" I was getting excited at the prospect of learning a new trick.

“Something exactly like that. I want you to mentally reach out as I put up the next ward and see how it feels. See if you can find the intent and then see if you can find where the intent and the words coalesce. This is for you as well Ian, so get over here. One day you will need all of this stuff, so the more you practice the better equipped you will be," Kennan said, with an air of haughtiness about him.

“Hey, be nice to Ian. He protected my brain today," I said with a look toward Ian, affirming my solidarity.

“Fine, my apologies, I did not know you had Red here to defend your precious honor," Kennan said.

“And don’t you forget it, bro. She is totally on team Ian," Ian said with a smirk before I smacked him. The two of them were worse than being housed with a set of actual brothers.

“Alright, are you paying attention?" Kennan asked us as though we were petulant children acting out in class.

“Yes, sir," we said simultaneously with mock salutes.

Kennan just shook his head with a smile, and turned his concentration back to the task at hand. I focused as the Gaelic words poured from him, rolling out a pleasant cadence. I saw something shift in my mind’s eye. It was as though a blue wall shimmered into place all around the cabin. It was only visible in the periphery of my mind.

“That was so cool!" I said as I tried to see the ward again. But once it had snapped into place, it disappeared from my vision. “How does this work though? I mean, I can still have visions while I am in the cabin. So this isn’t like the shield you put on my mind."

“This is to keep you safe. It is used to keep the Corporation from being able to track you when you aren’t aware. It keeps out anything wishing to harm you. Your visions are not actively trying to hurt you, so you are still able to have them. You can still walk through the dreaming as well," Kennan said as he moved toward the kitchen. Ian was fast on his heels.

“FOOOOOOOOD," Ian drawled out like he had not eaten just a few hours before.

The rest of the evening was spent with me asking a zillion questions about wards and protections. Kennan launched into an extensive history lesson on wards and protective spells, to which Ian fell asleep. Apparently, he did not find it nearly as interesting as I did. Around eleven, I started to yawn and realized that I was exhausted.

I looked at Kennan as he wrapped up the lesson, and was struck by how grateful I was to have a neutral topic to discuss. As long as I focused on training, I would not have time to worry about the hot and cold relationship Kennan and I seemed to be having. I got up and started moving toward my room hoping to escape into its safety.