Page 7

Zeke entered the conference room barely two minutes before the appointed time.

He’d gotten waylaid after lunch by his unit commander who wanted to have a word with him before the meeting.

Hal—Captain Haliwell—was the leader of the Green Beret unit and one of the best commanders Zeke had ever served under.

Hal cautioned Zeke to choose his words carefully during the briefing since they were still learning how shifters tended to react when hearing upsetting news.

And they were bound to be upset by what Zeke had to report.

After he’d talked with Celine that morning, he’d gone directly to Hal and explained the connection between the items he’d been asked to read during the morning experimental session.

Hal had listened carefully, and when the phone in his office rang a few minutes later, he’d adopted a resigned look.

Commander Lester Kinkaid, the base commander and their temporary C.O.

while they were on his base, was on the phone, demanding to know everything that Zeke had seen.

They’d set up a time to meet, and Hal had asked Zeke to give him the information first, as a sort of test run, so that Hal wouldn’t be taken by surprise by anything that might be revealed.

Zeke spent the next twenty minutes going over everything with Hal, and then again with Hal and Rick, once Rick had joined them in Hal’s office with his handwritten notes from that morning’s session.

They’d gone over it all again, and Hal had sent a few guys to the cafeteria to gather trays of lunch for them while they continued to prepare for the briefing in Hal’s office.

They ate while they worked and ironed out a reasonable presentation for the Navy guys, which all three would give at the briefing.

Zeke was glad of the preparation time. He’d never done anything quite like this before, and it was new territory for him, though it reminded him a lot of graduate school and his thesis defense, in some ways.

Of course, this subject matter was a little more occult than his thesis had been.

He’d never had to explain a weird psychometric gift to a group of shapeshifters.

When he thought of it like that, it still blew his mind that he was living side-by-side with people who could turn into ferocious beasts in the blink of an eye.

He’d never known such things existed before Babylon. He’d never even considered magic might be real. Sure, he’d seen some strange things in his time, but never anything that had categorically convinced him that magic was abundant in the world and making a home right next door.

He and his entire unit had their eyes wide open now that they were sharing this island with all sorts of military shapeshifters.

He hadn’t seen anybody shift in front of him just yet, but he kept hoping to catch somebody doing it.

He was fascinated by the concept. And, he realized, Celine was one of them.

She’d told him she was a selkie this morning.

He’d been taught it was rude to ask a shifter what their animal form was outright, so he hadn’t asked, but she’d volunteered the information, which had to mean she trusted him a bit, at least. She was so graceful, and she had those big eyes that made him think of a cute seal.

She must be hell-on-wheels in the water. Seals were great swimmers.

He thought he might like to swim with her someday. If fate allowed.

Almost shaking his head at the odd thought, Zeke took his seat next to Rick at the conference table, taking a moment to look around and nod polite greetings to everyone present.

He spared a soft smile for Celine, who sat next to Master Chief Santini, her grandfather, who looked grim.

An imposing man, Zeke tried not to let the master chief’s expression intimidate him.

That old man had resting war face , Zeke knew from seeing him running the kitchen for the past few months.

Commander Kinkaid arrived with his son, Liam, in tow, and once they sat down, the meeting got started.

Hal kicked it off, as they had planned, with some background, then passed the proverbial baton to Rick, to explain what they already knew about Zeke’s gift and what they’d been doing that morning to learn more.

Rick explained about finding the locket and how he’d thrown it in with the other items he’d collected to test Zeke, including the stone he’d been given by Lester Kinkaid for further study.

Then, all eyes turned to Zeke as Rick asked him to explain what he’d seen.

Zeke mentioned the locket and how he’d seen it was Celine’s. He didn’t go into detail about her feelings today. That was private. But he did need to mention knowing that her parents had died violently to connect to the later reading.

Zeke went through his reading of the stone step by step, as he’d practiced with Hal and Rick. He tried not to look at Celine. He didn’t want to alert the very observant chain of command, as well as her grandfather, to his very real and intense interest in her. That was private too.

Commander Kinkaid started asking questions once Zeke was finished with his planned remarks. Zeke answered each question to the best of his ability. Then, the master chief began to grill him, but Zeke had told them all he could about the killer.

“There is one other thing I’d like to try,” Zeke said when there was a pause.

“I didn’t realize the stone was connected to Celine’s parents when I first read it this morning.

I’d like to try again and do a deeper dive, if that’s possible.

I might be able to see something new if I hold it in my hand rather than just touching it with the tip of my finger,” he volunteered.

Rick frowned. Zeke knew the doctor had brought the stone along, just in case, but he’d counselled Zeke to go easy with the exploration of his talent after a few incidents early on.

Zeke had learned not to touch things fully unless he wanted to get blasted and overwhelmed with imagery that he hadn’t been equipped to interpret in the beginning.

But for Celine, Zeke would risk it. She needed answers, and he might be able to give her some.

It was his only gift, and not something that had been super useful to this point. He wanted to take a chance and lay it all on the line for Celine. He’d do anything for her.

Whoa . That was a sort of intense thought. He liked her. A lot. He was attracted to her. But willing to do anything for her? Anything? Really?

He considered that thought for a split second while Rick deliberated with the others about allowing Zeke a second shot at the stone.

Finally, Zeke shrugged inwardly and realized it was nothing less than the truth.

He was attached to her already. Something he never would have expected.

But especially after seeing and feeling Celine’s grief today, he wanted to bring her some closure and resolution. To bring that about, he’d do anything .

“All right,” Rick finally relented, pulling the plastic bag containing the stone out of a manilla envelope he’d brought with him into the conference room.

“But I want Zeke to back off the moment he starts to feel the slightest bit overwhelmed. We don’t want a repeat of his first attempt to read an object with a violent past.”

“Why?” Liam asked, speaking for the first time. “What happened?”

“He passed out and sank into a coma for almost twenty-four hours. Even my abilities couldn’t reach him,” Rick reported grimly. “What he can do is valuable, but not if he burns himself out doing it.”

Rick slid the stone out of a cotton drawstring bag without touching the object, and Zeke reached for it, but Rick stopped him with a gesture. He used the eraser end of his pencil to push the stone directly in front of Zeke as everybody watched.

“Start slow,” Rick advised, and Zeke made himself listen. He reached out with one finger, as he had that morning and closed his eyes.

“It’s the same as I saw this morning,” Zeke reported, sorting through the images he received, looking for something new or helpful, but there was nothing.

He placed a second finger on the stone and felt the increase in energy.

“She is from the Caribbean,” he said. “The magic user who wore the bracelet that held this stone. She was thinking about visiting home on her way back from this errand.”

“Errand?” Lester asked from across the table.

Zeke opened his eyes momentarily. “The murders were a task set her by her mentor. She flew here to kill all three of them.” His eyes met Celine’s. “She meant to kill you too.”

“Why? Can you see that?” Master Chief Santini asked, his frown deepening.

“It’s not clear,” Zeke said, closing his eyes again, concentrating on the images and feelings.

“Something about a vision. If they’d lived, Celine’s parents would have been in a position to stop some bigger plan, I think.

It’s not really clear. Just a vague feeling from the mage as she thought about what she had planned. ”

“They have access to a foreseer,” Hal mused, making a note.

“Yes,” Zeke confirmed, adding another finger to the stone’s curved surface.

It was a cabochon with an arcane design carved into it on both sides.

So far, he’d only touched the domed outer surface.

He cautioned himself to go slow, but he was intrigued by the idea of flipping the thing over and touching the bottom of it too.

Somehow, he thought there might be more information on the reverse.

Adding a fourth finger, new information flooded him.