“Is this the first time you’ve spoken in front of Ilya?” he asked Stephen..
“I think so, yes,” Stephen said, looking very confused.
Andrei looked back to me and Adrik, then to Ivan. “Boss, I think Stephen just literally made whatever it was leave. Ivan,” he said, indicating for Ivan to lower his bubble. “You both are really quick at catching it, so she’ll be fine if it comes back, but I want to see if she can feel the difference now.”
I felt Ivan’s bubble slowly retracting. Adrik kept a firm hold on my waist. I could feel both of them smoldering, just in case. I looked at Andrei, nodding once to let him know Ivan had removed his bubble. He then looked at Ilya and said, “Ilya, tell us again how you are since the last time Boss has seen you.”
This time, it was still evident that he was carrying things he was going to have to continue to work on, but the darkness was gone. Ilya hadn’t evenspoken yet, but I could tell he felt it too. “You can tell too, can’t you? That heavy darkness that has been following you is gone now?” I asked him.
His eyes were as wide as they could possibly be as he looked at all of us. He stood up a little straighter, like he felt lighter. “I feel…better,” he said, like he still wasn’t quite sure. We watched as he took internal inventory of his body, then a wide smile stretched across his face. “Yeah. Definitely better.”
*Your mind didn’t immediately jump to your breakup this time. You thought about you for the first time since anyone has asked you that question,”
Andrei said.
*Keep it that way, man. Whatever it was that was on you can still come back, but you have to let it. You’re in charge again. Which means you’re in charge of your own thoughts, too. Thinking about what just happened to you in any other context than trying to learn from it and heal from it will roll out the red carpet for it to come back,” Misha said.
Ilya’s wide smile spread across his face as he thanked all of us. We all watched as his light grew even brighter in front of us.
Adrik
As we walked back into the penthouse, Vitaliy and Aleksei greeted us. With ich day that passed, I grew more surprised that my father was still in the city. He’d never stayed more than three days since handing everything over to me. It was close to two months that he’d been here this time.
“You all look like something just happened,” Vitaliy said as we walked in.
Sephie glanced at him, then at me. “I see where your observation skills come from,” she said, her sweet smile across her face. “We just went to check on Viktor again. As it turns out, Stephen’s mere presence was enough to make whatever has been on him leave.”
“Not his presence, spider monkey. He was here the other night. It was when he spoke,” Andrei corrected her.
“I know. But it sounds way more dramatic my way, so I’m sticking with that, she said, grinning at him.
“You had the same thing happen again that happened the other night, sladkay?” Vitaliy asked.
She shook her head no. “Nope, Ivan puts up a bubble around me. It couldn’t in again. Both he and Adrik also feel it faster than I do now, so they burn it off right away.” “But Stephen made it leave?” he asked.
“Yeah, apparently I’m not warm and fuzzy enough for whatever was on him.was just trying to be helpful, but it was not appreciated,” Stephen said, trying to come across as offended. We could all see his sly smile turning up one corner of his mouth though.
Vitaliy chuckled. I said, “we have been told that now that Stephen has his gift, the fear is going to increase from any demons we encounter. I’m still not convinced it was actually a demon that was on him, because Ivan couldn’t see anything, but whatever it clearly knew who Stephen was. As soon as he spoke to Ilya, it left.”
“How do you know?” Vitaliy asked.
“I could feel it,” Andrei said. “I can’t feel it the same way Sephie does, but I Enew it was there. As soon as Stephen started talking, it changed. It was like it got scared and then it was suddenly not there anymore.”
I caught Sephie smiling at Andrei as he talked. It was obvious that she was proud of him and was enjoying watching him evolve and get better with his gift. He was quickly becoming much more confident. He stepped in right away the first night Ilya was here to help diffuse what could’ve been a very volatile situation. He also stood up to Viktor when his anger got the best of him. I’d never seen Andrei stand up to any of the other guys that way before. It was nice to see. He was stepping into his own.
“What about when Ivan put his bubble up this time? Did he cut her off from you two this time too?” I asked.
“It wasn’t the same as last time,” Misha said. “Last time, he cut her completely off. Like I couldn’t feel anything. This time, I could feel her, it just wasn’t as strong as it usually is.” “Same for me,” Andrei said.
“Since I didn’t experience the complete cutoff, I’m just going to agree here. Honestly, I didn’t notice either way. I’m still trying to figure out the pancake paradox,” Stephen said. “What did you do differently, Squish?” Sephie asked, grinning at Stephen.
“Mostly just tried to include them in the bubble this time. I don’t think they were all the way in, since they could hear everything going on like normal. Or else it doesn’t affect their hearing the way it does yours,” Ivan said.
“Does it affect your hearing as well?” Vitaliy asked me.I nodded. “It’s harder to hear anything outside the bubble. I can still hear Ivan I can still hear Sephie. Everything else is very m uff led. We can both hear through Ivan now though, so it doesn’t matter,” I said. Stephen suddenly inhaled. “Because that’s how Sephie prefers to read people. She has other ways, but her preferred method is to hear them speak. Ivan hides that, making her look like a normal human once again. Did your eyes change the first time you went to see Ilya?” Stephen asked Sephie.
“I don’t think so. He didn’t react to them that time, if they did,” Sephie said.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.