Chapter 456
456
Sephle
Adrik decided to go to Viktor’s apartment and talk to him while we all waited upstairs. Next to Ivan,
Viktor was the closest to Adrik. We all knew Viktor did better with difficult situations away from
everyone, so Adrik thought it might go better if it was just him. None of us could argue with that line of
thinking, so we waited.
“If nothing else, maybe he’ll give him a few more days off. I think forcing him to slow down will help him
deal. Apparently, I’m not the only thing he’s been avoiding.” I said as Adrik left the apartment.
“None of us understand why he’s been avoiding you, spider monkey,” Andrei said. “We’ve all noticed it
for months now, but none of us understand it. Even knowing that you’re the one that’s helped us all
figure everything out. It still doesn’t make sense.”
1 caught myself thinking back to my earlier worry about keeping them from living their own lives.
“You’re worried about something else beside Viktor, aren’t you, princess?” Ivan asked me. He could tell
by my expression that the answer was yes. “Wanna talk about it now orter?”
“Later.”
He simply nodded his head and let the subject drop, helping to steer the conversation to other subjects.
He looked at Andrei, asking, “have you triedmunicating with Boss the same way you do Sephie?”
Andrei looked shocked at the implication, which made everyoneugh. “I think Ivan means that since
he and I canmunicate so easily, it should also be fairly easy for you to do so as well,” I said.
“Oh. No, I haven’t tried. I haven’t even thought about it, if I’m being honest. But now that you say that
out loud, I would think there should be a way. right? I’m still trying to figure out how to make it work with
Stephen. It seems like there still has to be contact with him to get anything through,” Andrei said.
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“How do you make it work with Misha?” I asked him.
“It’s kind of changed now. When we first started doing it, I could like project images into his head. He
can ask me whatever or tell me whatever and I’ll get it easily, but I had to respond to him in images at
first. Now it’s getting easier the more we do it. I can respond to him with words now and he gets it,”
Andrei said.
As Andrei was exining how hemunicated with Misha, I tried to push a memory of us running at
the house, just to see if he could see it. Misha’s grin stretched across his face as he’d seen it. Once I
knew he’d seen it, I could hear him tell me “I miss it too” as a response. He quickly followed it with, “try
words, too. I think Andrei unlocked it for me, so you should have an easier time.”
“I’ve been thinking that you should order Adrik to the house again. I think we all need it again already,” I
said to Misha.
“I fully support this n,” he said, grinning at me. The other three had figured out that he and I just
discovered we couldmunicate.
I looked at Andrei, then to Ivan. “It should work on you two, too. I mean, I would think so, since Ivan can
talk to both me and Adrik. If Andrei’s like me, then it should work, right?” I asked.
I could see Andrei trying to push his thoughts to Ivan. Ivan’s sly grin spread slowly across his face as
he heard Andrei in his head. Once they had a conversation, we all looked at Stephen. “Now we just
have to figure out how to start with you and then you’ll be able to do it too.”
We were still experimenting with Stephen when Adrik came back to the penthouse. So far, we still
needed to be able to touch Stephen for him to get the message, but he was able to do it with everyone
and do so quickly. One touch and whatever information he needed was downloaded to him instantly.
We wereughing because I’de up with a really long exnation for some incredibly ridiculous
thing, just to have as much material as possible. He touched my hand and got it all instantly like I’d said
it to him out loud.
“Do I even want to know what you guys are doing?” Adrik asked as he walked back into the kitchen. He
looked highly amused to see us allughing.
“We’re trying to figure out how tomunicate with Stephen. So far, we have to be touching him to get
the information to him, but I just went on this really long rant over nothing and he got it instantly when
he touched my hand,” I said, stillughing. “And we also figured out how to talk to
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Misha and Andrei. Ivan can do it now too, which means so can you.”
Adrik looked surprised, but impressed. We quickly exined how to do it with both Andrei and then
Misha. It worked right away for both of them. Even they were surprised it worked so quickly with Adrik.
He tried our system with Stephen as well, getting immediate results.
“I think the more we practice at this, the easier it will be all around,” Ivan said. His mood turned
somewhat serious as he asked what the rest of us didn’t want to ask, “How did it go?”
Adrik sighed. “I think Sephie is right. I think he’s done everything backward from us, which is why we’re
having a harder time with it. He knows he’s been an a*shole. He just doesn’t know how to stop it yet.
The time in Syria did a number on him. We all know that, but we all thought he was handling it. In
reality, he just shoved it to the back of his mind and never thought about it again. When we first met
Sephie, she was a wee distraction from it. But then she started helping everyone else deal with
their own trauma, plus revealing everything she’s been through. It was so fresh for him that he didn’t
want to go through it all again. So he started avoiding. Everything.”
“What about Stephen helping him tonight, though? Did that do anything for him?” I asked.
“I think so. He’s finally feeling everything that’s he’s been locking away. I suspect he’s feeling like you
did when Stephen helped you. It was like wa crashing into all of us as everything opened back up for
you. But once we felt the emotion, it was gone right away. I don’t think it’s leaving as quickly with Viktor
as it did with you, but at least it’s moving now,” he said.
“Does that mean Stephen needs to do it again?” Misha asked.
We all turned to Stephen, not sure of the answer. He looked somewhat surprised. “Bold of you all to
assume I’d have that answer,” he said. “But I can give my best guess. It was much easier with Seph,
Andrei, and Misha today because the blocks were fresh. Meaning they were weak. The longer you try
and bottle up something, the stronger the block gets. Viktor’s been holding all of that in for quite a
while, so the block is strong. I might’ve only cracked it, so to speak. Things are moving, but he might
also be able to repair the dam, if you will. We should be able to tell in the next few days if it stuck or
not. I’m not above sneaking it in on him again if that’s what it takes.”
“You don’t need him mad at you like that again, though. That’s not fair to you,” I said.
“Eh, he never stays mad for very long. I don’t think he was even mad at me. He was just mad at
knowing now he’s gotta feel it,” Stephen said.
“That’s exactly why he’s mad. He told me so,” Adrik said.
“So what did you tell him?” Ivan asked.
“I gave him a couple more days to get a handle on everything. I don’t like being without him, but we can
manage. He wants to deal with everything on his own, so he’s got the chance to do so. I told him not to
waste the opportunity,” Adrik said.
I found myself feeling slightly relieved that I’d get another break from him, but I was also upset that I
would feel that way about Viktor.
“Don’t worry, spider monkey. We’ll get this figured out and things will go back to normal,” Andrei said, in
an effort tofort me.
I looked at him, loving him for being so thoughtful. “Normal is rtive anyway, Bubba.”
King of the Underworld