The Enlightened (Mind Dimensions #3)(9)

“Good?” I blink at her. “What kind of good?”

“Well, for starters, during the Cold War, we know a powerful Pusher prevented nuclear war,” Rose says.

“Possibly more than once, hon,” Edward corrects.

“Wow.” I’m surprised Hillary and the others never told me about such a feat.

“Yes. We have been fascinated by our Pusher cousins for some time now, and any enmity between us is a direct result of the Orthodoxy’s efforts,” Rose says with a touch of regret. “They want things to be like they were in antiquity, and their strategies are succeeding so far. In Russia, our people are still at each other’s throats.”

I nod, thinking about some of the stuff I heard from Eugene. “But something about the Orthodoxy doesn’t make sense to me,” I say after a moment. “If they don’t want Readers and Pushers to be friendly, they’re sure not acting like it. After all, they’re cooperating with each other, like Jacob and that Pusher Caleb killed.”

“Yes, it’s a hypocrisy of the tallest order,” Edward says, looking disgusted. “But cooperation is their only chance of taking us on. They know if we allied ourselves with the Pushers, everything would change, and change in the world is what they fear most.”

“Bear in mind that we have no idea how the Orthodoxy is structured,” Marsha says. “There is a chance that the alliance is tenuous. We certainly hope so. There is also a chance that they plan to eliminate each other as soon as they’ve achieved their goals.”

“And truthfully,” Rose says, “though we’re not out to kill Pushers, this age-old hatred is very hard to overcome, despite everything we’ve learned. It happens to be the focus of my ‘loving kindness’ meditation.”

“So, with those things out of the way, you should proceed to Joining with us,” Paul says, giving Rose a strange look.

“Why?” I ask. “I didn’t like it when I Joined with Caleb, so I’m not all that eager to do it again.”

“You will do it so we can trust you,” Paul says, furrowing his white eyebrows.

“Right, but don’t we have a Catch-22 here? I don’t want to do it because I’m not sure I trust you,” I say, trying not to sound petulant.

“Your view on the matter is irrelevant.” Paul’s face reddens. “You’re going to do as you’re told.”

He sounds like my uncle Kyle, and that pushes all sorts of buttons for me, so I tell him, “Listen, Grandpa, go f*ck yourself.”

“You little—”

“If I may,” Rose says, interrupting whatever insults Paul was about to throw at me. “Darren, let me show you around the Temple some more. I think we should have a nice chat.”

“Please bring me into your Mind Dimension when he’s ready,” Marsha says and walks over to her body. She says it as though it’s a forgone conclusion, and that pisses me off too. Marsha touches her own neck and is gone before I can say anything about it.

As a side note, what Marsha just did is a very cool way to pass the time in this sort of situation. When she’s pulled back in, she won’t have experienced the time during which I was hypothetically being convinced to do the Joining, so to her, even if it takes a year, it will feel instantaneous. In that way, it’s almost like time travelling. Of course, she won’t be pulled in, period, because I have no intentions of letting them convince me.

“I’ll do the same,” Edward says and walks over to his own body.

“I’ll be here,” Paul says through clenched teeth and walks over to what I assume is his place in the circle. “Ask Caleb to keep guard when you see him.”

Without saying anything else, he takes his position in front of an empty spot. It must be where his frozen body would be were it not near the car by the road. He’s now an arm’s length away from the bearded monk at the center of the circles. He settles into the lotus pose, closes his eyes, and, I guess, starts meditating.

Rose takes me by my elbow, and we leave the amphitheater in silence. I see Caleb on the right side of the corridor that runs around the big room we just exited. We turn left and start walking. From the corner of my eye, I take in the stunning view of the intricate stairway that leads to the amphitheater.

“We are very patient people, Darren,” Rose says softly. “So we will get what we want.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s simple. What choice do you have but to cooperate?”

“Plenty. I can get the hell out of this weird place and go back to Miami to enjoy the rest of my vacation.”

“All right, walk me through that,” she says, her eyes gleaming mischievously. “Step by step, how are you going to get to Miami?”

“Well,” I start, thinking it through for the first time, “I need to phase out—”

“Is that what you call Splitting? I like it,” she says. “To phase out, what do you need to do?”

“I need to touch myself,” I say, my heart skipping a beat. I’m beginning to understand my predicament.

“Please don’t do that here,” she says, the gleam in her eyes turning into full-fledged amusement. “That’s one part of your growing up I don’t mind having missed.”