***
Caleb looked in on Kevan. “Come up with anything yet?”
“No, nothing,” Kevan groused, as she scanned yet another pile of papers. Looking up, she felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume that still awaited her. “How the hell am I going to find anything in all this mess?” She looked as if hopelessness would was threatening to overwhelm her. “I design jewelry. I’m not a researcher. What made me think I could do this?”
“Kevan!” She just stared at the piles of boxes that were stacked all around the room. “Kevan!” She looked at Caleb, tears threatening. “No tears, you can do this,” he promised her.
“How? Look at all this stuff to get through. I know that we’ll get through it, but it’s going to take forever.”
“Then use your ability,” he told her.
“What?” she gave him a strange look? “What are you talking about?”
“Kevan, you’re a detector. That means that you find hidden things.” His hand swept around, encompassing the entire room. “I would certainly say that is the case here, wouldn’t you?”
“How? It’s like looking for a needle in a hay stack. There has to be ten thousand pieces of paper here, and we have no idea what we’re even looking for. What was it that he found that led him to the grimoire, if that is what he found?” Kevan whined. “How is my gift going to help us?”
“I don’t know, but why not give it a try, and see what happens? It’s certainly better then standing here complaining about it.”
“Oh, you’re a big help, telling me to use my gift. Thanks! I never thought of that,” Kevan laughed weakly. “I have no idea how to even go about doing that. If you have any suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated.”
“Kevan, it’s your gift; only you can work it. But I might be able to help you with how to use your ability. Come here.” He held out his hand, and pulled her out of the middle of the mess, then turned her so she was faced everything. He positioned her in front of him. “Close your eyes.” Kevan sighed in frustration, but did as he asked her. “Now think about what you want to find. Push everything else out of your mind except that one thing, and then concentrate on that one thing.” Kevan squeezed her eyes shut and tried, but nothing happened. She half turned to look at him. He gave her a look before he turned her back towards the boxes. “It’ll work Kevan, you just have to believe; now try again. Close your eyes, relax, let everything else go, think only about what you want to find. You can do this, Kevan; your power is exactly what this is meant for. All that time with Joseph must have taught you something about state of mind, so use your training.”
“We need to find the information about the grimoire; I’ll think about that, but don’t be mad if this doesn’t work,” she warned him. She closed her eyes again, her breath slowing, letting her body relax as her thoughts focused in on the one thing that she wanted to find.
His hands rested lightly on Kevan’s shoulders, and he could feel her body beginning to relax as she let things go.
Kevan let Caleb’s voice get filtered through a blanket, then she felt herself floating, her body free of the earth’s gravity. Her eyes opened to look at the room around her, finding what she was expecting to see layered with a new overlay. The papers had their own auras, as she had only seen around other living things. Her eyes lit on box after box, moving on, knowing that it didn’t hold what she was seeking. Slowly, she moved around the room, at first randomly, until her entire body tensed, and she moved with purpose to the boxes sitting in the far corner of the room. She tossed three boxes until she exposed a fourth. The lid dropped to the floor, and her fingers began seeking what she was looking for, knowing that she would feel the right thing the second she touched it. She was about half way through the box, when she touched an envelope that was in the middle of another stack of papers, along with a wooden box. It was like an elastic band stretched to its maximum tension, and then suddenly broke. Her body sagged, and she only avoided collapse when Caleb grabbed her.
His shouting out her name snapped her eyes open.
“Wow,” she gushed. “That was the best experience! I’m going to grill Joseph about out of body stuff. Wow!”
Caleb picked her up, carrying her to the couch that had been shoved into the center of the room.
“That was terrifying!” he told her, his body radiating his tension. “It was like you disappeared. I kept calling your name, but you couldn’t hear me.” He held her crushed to his chest, kissing her forehead. “I didn’t like it.”
Kevan squeezed him back, trying to let him know that she was fine. After a few minutes, she eased out of his arms, anxious to look at what she had found. Caleb reluctantly released her, watching her cautiously to ensure that she was fine. Kevan pulled the papers out of the envelope that she had focused on. A short time later, she looked up. Caleb saw her face fill with excitement and shock, as she handed them to Caleb. He took papers in hand, and did a quick scan over what she had just read. Looking up, his eyes danced with excitement equal to how Kevan was feeling.
“Damn woman, you’re good.” She launched herself into his arms.