The Enlightened (Mind Dimensions #3)(18)

“The best way, as with anything, is practice. Tons and tons of practice. I can help you with that, if you’re interested, for a small price.”

“Depends on what the price is,” I say, remembering our Joining with Haim, the Israeli fighter. That’s how I got my fighting skills, but it was a scary experience that I don’t care to repeat.

“It’s nothing, really. I just want to know what the f*ck is going on here. Why did they have me bring you here? I thought it had something to do with Jacob, but now I suspect something else is going on.”

“You mean they didn’t even tell you? I thought you guys were working together.”

“Certain things are on a need-to-know basis,” he says. “But if you tell me, I’ll spar with you for a while. I can use the practice anyway.”

“Throw in some shooting lessons, and you’ve got a deal.”

“Fine. I’ve got some guns up in my room, and lots of bullets.”

“Okay then.” I look in the direction of the guesthouse. “You know Julia is here, right?”

“I do.” He narrows his eyes at me.

“Well, she isn’t here because she or her mom is about to take Jacob’s place. Or at least, not only because of that.” I shift my weight from one foot to the other. “There’s another reason.”

His eyes widen, and then he starts laughing. His laugh is odd-sounding, like Santa getting tickled.

I wait, arms crossed over my chest.

“This is rich,” he says between bouts of laughter. “You’re in deep shit, kid.”

“It’s not that funny.” Though truth be told, if I were in his place, I’d probably find this fairly amusing.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he says, catching his breath. “It’s funny if you know Julia.”

“What do you mean?” Maybe I’ve been looking at this from a very self-centered perspective.

“Let’s just say I’d rather be celibate, like these monks, than marry that one.” He points to the guesthouse. “Very high maintenance and way too much attitude.”

“They didn’t exactly ask me to marry Julia.” I look over my shoulder, as though paranoid about Julia overhearing me.

“Oh.” And the laughter is back. “They just want the stud service then?”

“Yes,” I say, realizing I’ll have to tread more carefully here, for the sake of my contingency plan. “They want us to have a kid.”

“That’s it? That doesn’t sound like a big dilemma to me.”

I resist the urge to say, “Then you go f*ck her, or better yet, yourself,” and instead ask, “What do you mean?”

“They’d raise the kid here, so you wouldn’t have to worry about diapers and sleepless nights. All you’ll have to do is f*ck Julia, who, all her bitchiness aside, is, let’s face it, a looker,” he says.

“I didn’t think of it like that,” I lie. My own grandma laid it out to me in almost the exact same way. “Maybe it’s not so bad.”

“You don’t have to tell Mira, you know.” This is more than just Caleb being friendly. He’s being loyal to my grandparents by pushing their agenda, even though they didn’t bother to tell him what it was—which is fine with me. Let him think I’m getting convinced.

“I’ll make my own decision,” I say. “Is that all you wanted to know?”

“One more quick question. What was Joining with them like?” Caleb cracks his knuckles.

“You mean you’ve never done it? You work for them.”

“No, they never deemed me worthy, with my measly Depth and lack of memories they would find useful.” Caleb looks toward the Temple. “Why would they resort to Joining when I tell them anything they need to know anyway?”

Maybe that’s why he was in Florida when I called to get his help to deal with the guy who I thought was a Pusher but turned out to be Jacob. Caleb could’ve been giving my grandparents a report on me about the things he’d learned during our Joining. Does that mean I’m still in Florida? That would be good to know.

“You’re not missing much,” I lie in response to Caleb’s statement. Then I tell him a variation of what happened during the Joining. Nothing about Mimir’s message, but I highlight my inability to glean information from the Enlightened minds.

“They’re tough bastards.” He smirks.

“So what do you get out of working for them?”

“Time,” he says. “They let me spend crazy amounts of time in their Mind Dimensions. That, and well, they’re the highest authority Readers have.”

I suspect it’s more the former than the latter, but I hold my tongue. “Speaking of payment,” I say instead. “Now that you know what’s going on and about the Joining, why don’t you teach me what you promised? A deal’s a deal.”

“I will, but first tell me why you had those thoughts. Why did you think you were a Pusher?” He gives me a hard look. “I mean, if you’re their son’s kid.”

“You said you only wanted to know what happened here,” I say. “And I got a very strong impression this was something the grandparents didn’t want you to know.”