Mr. Bellview bowled me out of the way in his eagerness to get at his wife. He clutched her hands in his and asked, “Can you truly feel them? What about the rest?”

She took a moment to feel lower extremities and smiled. “I think so. I mean, I can’t be certain but it sure feels that way.”

I walked over to Kalli to give the couple some privacy. She beamed at me. I think I’m seeing the man in red in a whole new light. Did you see? He’s crying.

Looking back over my shoulder, I smiled when I saw the two pressing their foreheads together. Curious about the man’s reaction, I turned to Joe and asked, “Why didn’t he just take her to a magical hospital or something? There have to be mages who can do what I just did, right?”

Everyone stared at me in silence, including the man in red. Mr. Bellview turned to face me and replied. “It’s true. There are people out there who could heal my wife without wasting any effort like you just did. It’s a shame but the vast majority of our world believe that a hands-off approach is the best way to deal with the unawakened. That was how I became affiliated with the Shaws. I was to be granted a favor after…”

“After you kidnapped Kalli?”, I supplied darkly.

In all fairness, when I looked at the circumstances, it was very difficult to stay mad at the man, even though he did endanger Kalli. He turned his attention to me. “Look. I can never apologize enough for what happened back then. She promised me that she would give Aralisa back her legs. For that, I was willing to do almost anything. Please believe me when I say I would have drawn the line at harming any one of you.”

Mr. Bellview grabbed his face and turned it back to her. “Honey? Did you kidnap children?”

The man in red’s head drooped and his hat fell off. “I’m not proud of my actions. It was the only way…”

She took his hat off of his head. “Nothing is that important. Not even me. You need to promise me that you will never do anything like that again. How do you think I would feel if I discovered that you harmed someone else just to help me with something meaningless like walking?”

Mr. Bellview balked, “That isn’t meaningless.”

His wife gently cupped his cheeks in her hands. “It is if you go about it the wrong way. Always remember that honey.”

Kalli smiled at me. They are so sweet together. I think I kind of like her.

I returned the smile.

I suppose. I don’t know if I can ever fully excuse him for hurting you.

She smiled and wrapped her arms around my neck, kissing my cheek. It’s in the past. I’m here and I’m safe. He even fought to help keep you safe. We can forgive him.

After giving them a few minutes to celebrate we settled down to awaken the man in red. He knelt in front of me while I sat in my chair with my back to the wall. I inspected him to get a full grasp of what I was up against.

Name

Nestor Bellview

Class

Blood Sleuth

Level

51

Affection Level

Grateful

Noticing his level, I said, “Congrats on level 51. Did you level up recently?”

He blinked at me. “How did you know about that?”

I shrugged and replied, “I can see your class and level.”

Not wanting to give everything away, I limited my answer about the details that I could see.

Skills

Traits

Dual Thrust

Track Scent

Apply Bloody Poison

Affinity: Blood

Pinpoint Weakness

Ambidextrous

As I reached out to touch his hands, I wondered if I could select a skill or trait to absorb. For that matter, could I just edit the skills onto myself? I was going to have to experiment.

Mr. Bellview’s channels were about what I expected after having explored the headmaster’s. The only difference was that the blood sleuth hadn’t connected his mana channel to his core. His core startled me at first. A giant ball of blood bubbled inside of him like a red star.

Even though I was prepared for it, the deluge of blood that flooded his channel when I connected to his core slammed me into the wall, knocking the wind from my lungs.

NEW TRAIT ACQUIRED: [TRACK SCENT]

Mr. Bellview slowly rose to his feet, sniffing. He took a deep breath and let out a loud harumph before announcing, “This is incredible. You just tripled my radius.”

A single sniff assaulted my nose with thousands of individual scents that I hadn’t noticed before. It took me a few tries to be able to turn the ability off. Being able to smell that acutely all the time would have been torture to my nose.

After spending a little time growing accustomed to his newly acquired control over his mana, Mr. Bellview reached into his bag and pulled out a sack of gold.

I handed it over to Kalli and turned back to the man. “Now that we settled that, I need to ask you for a favor.”

He watched my transaction with Kalli before stealing a glance at his wife who gave me a knowing smile. With a smile still on his face, he said, “Anything I can do for you will be done. Just name it.”

Teleporting was an interesting process. While there was no spoken spell, the magic involved a lot of faith as well as picturing the destination in my mind.

Mr. Bellview said, “Instead of pushing your mana out to power a spell, you need to push yourself into the mana while thinking clearly about a destination that you’ve been to before.”

I knew the sensation he was describing because I felt it every time someone dragged me along when they did it. The man in red took me for a trip around Southern California to destinations that he was familiar with.

At the third destination, he bowled over resting his hands on his knees. “Teleporting takes a lot out of you. Not only does each trip require a large chunk of your mana pool but it also puts a strain on your body. Normally, I wouldn’t do so more than twice a day but it’s useful to build the stamina to be able to do it as often as is necessary. Now, I think it’s time for you to try.”

My first try didn’t go so well. While I did manage to twist myself into the mana, I got stuck in the darkness. Mr. Bellview took charge while I stood mesmerized by the lines of light leading off to the various worlds in the vast expanse.

He sighed once we were safely standing in front of his house again. “That was a worst-case scenario, getting trapped in the void. It can happen if you don’t have a destination in mind. You can find your way out of it by regaining your focus but there have been stories of people who vanished, never to be seen again.”

The second try succeeded. I managed to teleport ten feet. Mr. Bellview laughed and pointed out, “It’s easier when you can see the destination with your own eyes, isn’t it. Now, close your eyes and try to imagine a place that you are very familiar with. Tell yourself that it is right in front of you.”

With his arm on my shoulder, as usual, I imagined the one place I knew better than any other, my home.The darkness flashed and I found myself walking the line between worlds.

I was getting in the habit of keeping my eyes open. Once I set myself on a path through the void, my body was committed to walking it no matter how distracted I became once I entered the space in between. I idly wondered if there was a way to teleport without a chosen destination.

The familiar smells of my apartment assaulted my senses the moment we got there. I had to forcibly shut off my nose, which seemed to have reactivated itself, to stop the smell from overwhelming me. There was no way I could ask Mr. Bellview for advice without admitting I had stolen the trait.

He looked around my home and asked, “Is this where you live?”

I nodded and sat on the couch. Of course, mom was at work. I sighed, “This is where I grew up.”

Mr. Bellview walked into the kitchen and then the hall, asking, “They make houses this small?”

Staring at him, I asked, “Have you been awakened all of your life?”

The man’s hearty laugh filled the tiny space as he replied, “Hah. That is unheard of. Being awakened at birth would be like winning the lottery. I’ve never even heard of anyone who was. I awakened at puberty as normal.”

Realizing my mistake, I tried, “Did you grow up in an awakened house?”

He nodded and said, “Yes. Both of my parents were bounty hunters. That’s how they met.”

Thinking about his wife, I asked, “Mrs. Bellview was unawakened. Have you never visited her family or does she also come from an awakened family?”

Mr. Bellview looked at me curiously. “What do you mean she was unawakened? Did you succeed at awakening her? I never asked what you saw when you worked your magic on her.”

I nodded and explained, “I saw words in her core and, yes, it responded to my mana. I think she is awakened.”

The man in red threw his arms around me and grunted when he tried to scoop me up off of the floor. I was heavier than I looked. “Thank you so much. This means she might be able to level up. You don’t know what it’s like to be married to such a person. This will make things so much easier.”

I frowned at how the man spoke about his wife but chose not to say anything. I was wondering where my mother was at so I asked, “Is it possible to teleport to a person instead of a place?”

Mr. Bellview rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “It is possible. Technically, anything is possible when it comes to walking through the darkness. It’s beyond my skill level though. I believe Lady Shaw was capable of that. You watched her materialize when she came for you. For it to be possible, you would have to be able to lock onto your target from a great distance and know exactly where they are. Otherwise, you run the risk of teleporting into a wall or something.”

He asked me a few more questions about my house before offering, “Would you like to do the honors and take us back to this makeout room? Is that truly what goes on in that dusty old room?”

The blood rushing to my face answered his question. I took a deep breath and reached out to take his hand, nodding and saying, “I’ll do it.”

Just like that, we were back in the void, walking hundreds of miles in just a few steps. Everyone gasped when we appeared back in the makeout room. Kalli hugged me. It looks like you can teleport now. Teach me?

Sure. When do you want to practice?

With our transaction complete, Mr. and Mrs. Bellview took their leave. When I started to walk toward the door, Wendy blocked my path with a huge smile on her face.

I matched her smile and asked, “What?”

She explained, “Now that you have a fancy new skill, we all want to try it. How about a quick teleport to Little Tokyo?”

We all linked hands and I pictured the fountain that Kalli had splashed down on with her Pheonix in the middle of the plaza. I hoped that it had enough room.

When we stepped into the void, I wasn’t surprised to see everyone had their eyes closed. Then we emerged, right in the middle of the fountain.

Everyone shrieked as we all got wet. Curious, I asked, “Did any of you feel anything when we went through the void?”

In answer, Joe and Raverly fell to their knees and started retching. Wendy told me what they all were feeling. “It made me feel sick like my stomach was turning inside out.”

Kalli nodded in agreement. “That’s what it felt like when you summoned me.”

Since we were there, Wendy booked us a room at the karaoke. It turned out that karaoke was a different kind of fun when the whole group was together. We took turns singing our favorite songs and trying different combinations to see whose voices sounded best together.

Every song was new for Kalli and we all laughed when a new song caught her eye. Afterward, we made our way to the noodle house for dinner. Kalli and I did our noodle trick while Wendy worked her magic with the tea.

While he watched us work, Joe asked, “Hey, how do you push your mana out like that and why does it change the flavor of the food?”

With a twinkle in her eyes, Wendy suggested, “Melvin, let’s unlock Joe.”

I knew what she meant and by the looks in the eyes of Rave, Run, and Stefanie, it was going to be a long night.