Daughter of Destiny Read Free Page B

wait." The vivid memory of meeting Katarina at
middle school orientation swam to the forefront of her mind. The
preppy girl begged her not to fetch a grown up, even as she puked
into a toilet. Two very different souls, they bonded over their
mutual desire to avoid unwanted adult attention. For years after
that as Katarina battled to learn control over the empathic
abilities which caused the migraines, Naia helped her hide the
effects and present the image of a normal teen.
    Naia feared seeing Katarina
reduced to that kind of pain again.
    Katarina took a deep breath
and leaned back. "No, it's better to do this before I talk myself
out of it. I've never actually dropped any of my walls before. If
anything, I've added more and more layers." She glanced at Naia and
curved her lips in a tiny smile. "Don't worry, I have way better
control than I used to."
    Naia reached out and took
Katarina's hand in hers. "Are you a hundred percent
sure?"
    "I'm sure. To be safe, I
want you to monitor my pulse, and if it changes or I start looking
very pale, give me a shake to bring me back."
    Naia squeezed Katarina's
hand and offered a smile. "Will do."
     
    ***
     
    Katarina settled back into
the enveloping comfort of the cushions. Thoughts and emotions
whirled in her head. Anxiety and nerves lengthened the familiar
process of quieting her mind by several minutes beyond the handful
of heartbeats it normally required. She focused on the flame of the
candle on the coffee table. She slowed her breathing and let
awareness of her physical surroundings drop away. Distant sounds of
the city faded first, followed by the closer sounds of her
neighbor’s washing machine thumping from an unbalanced load, and
finally even the soft steady sound of Naia's breathing faded into
the silence of her mind.
    The flame lit the darkness
of her mental fortress. A beacon shining with warmth and comfort,
she turned from it and created a door in the imaginary walls which
protected her mind. Katarina envisioned walking through a maze of
connected hallways. She knew better than to just fling open a door
to the outside. She spent years building each layer through iron
determination, finally learning to keep out the mind crushing pain
caused by other people's thoughts and emotions. Katarina left each
door open and although the light grew dimmer as she walked, it
continued to light her path. As she neared her outer walls, voices
and images bombarded her. She shrank back and slammed a door shut
and the din muffled, but remained. She took a deep breath and
reopened the door a tiny crack. Naia's presence blazed strong and
Katarina turned away from Naia's private daydream. Katarina
possessed no desire to intrude on her thoughts.
    Katarina mustered courage,
flung the door wide and stepped into the onslaught of minds. She
pressed forward, but a tide of thoughts swept her this way and
that. As she floundered, she tried focusing on individual
thoughts.
    Four apartments to the
south, a mother worried over her sick child. A floor below and two
apartments east, two lovers quarreled. Three floors above a bored
husband attempted to tune out his wife’s nagging. A junky in the
alley behind the building obsessed over how he was going to score
his next hit. Down the street a cab driver cursed at losing a fair
and counted the hours until he could crawl into bed with his wife.
At the convenience store around the corner a young woman made plans
to run off to California with her boyfriend and become an
actress.
    One person's thoughts
became crystal clear as Katarina focused on it and then faded again
into the background as another person swept into focus. Katarina
struggled for some sense of direction, but the volume of
individuals swamped her as they swept over her like high tide. Her
heart sped up as she thrashed and fought to stay above the tide,
but to no avail. Desperate, she summoned from her memory the
impression of Mr. Meditation's psychic energy. She imagined tuning
her mind to his and