Page 43 of Shifter for Brains

"What feels more natural to you?" Chase asked.

I bit my lip, not answering directly. I glanced at Temple. Apparently, that decided that.

Yet I wasn’t sure how I ended uphere…

"Uh, are we sure about this?" I reached out, hands finding nothing but air.

"We cleared everything out of the garage.” Temple’s practical answer translated to ‘yes, you’re doing this.’ “You won’t run into anything."

"Except the walls." My hands met air again, though the garage wasn’t very large. “What about the walls?”

"Okay, you might run into four things."

"Temple."

“Whether you run into themtwice,that’s up to you.”

Chase grumbled, though it sounded reasonable enough to me. Once I mapped the space without sight, visualizing the picture in my head would be easy. Still…

"We really think this will help?" I had to question again.

“Yes.” They both gave the answer swiftly, even if Chase sounded less enthused.

One cautious step. Then another. I slowly scoped out the perimeter of the small garage, hampered by my inability to see. They had tied a piece of heavy black fabric over my eyes, effectively blocking out all light.

I almost regretted becoming acclimated to moving around comfortably since then the real challenge began.

"Ah!"

“Hey, you almost dodged that.”

“Great, just grea—ow! I wasn’t ready!”

Throwing things. They were throwing things at me. And I was blind this time!

"Shit!" The next ball hit heavily against my stomach. Not enough to cause any real hurt, except to my pride.

“Okay, you were way off there.”

“Chase!”

"Sorry dude."

"You don’t sound sorry."

"You make funny faces when you jump." Bastard.

"Aren’t you supposed to be helping?" I reminded. Since I’d drifted towards the direction of his voice, I struck out and—hit nothing. Dammit.

"Hey, I’m just doing my job." He enjoyed this far too much.

“Focus,” Temple instructed. “Be aware of your surroundings and trust your body.”

My body wasn’t as much help as he thought. It also felt drawn to Chase. He’d occasionally reach out to ruffle my hair or swat my ass when I inadvertently strayed too close. He made no sound at all. How was there no sign of a mouthy, projectile wielding lunatic in a small garage?

How did I plan and prepare for a danger impossible to see or hear? I was literally flying blind here.

Then again, the rules were clear. I understood my goal and how to achieve it: find Chase and kill him. Or dodge the objects. Now I only needed to figure out how to succeed. The purpose of this exercise involved helping me progress, not taunting me, so there had to be a solution—