Chase raised a curious brow at me.
Finding humor in our behavior, Ives lips turned up at the corners. He folded his hands together on top of the desk. “Well, I can draw my own conclusions. Getting back to the connection…There is a contingent to the bond. The more time you spend together, the stronger your bond will become.”
Oh crap on a stick.
I chewed on my bottom lip. “What do you mean by time?” I asked.
His clear green eyes met mine. “From what I’ve learned, each moment you are together tightens the link between you. Even just being in the same house, the same school can strengthen the connection.”
“Errr, what about being neighbors? Is there a radius on this together aspect? Are we talking few feet, a few miles?” I asked.
“Hmm, good question. I take it you live next to each other?”
We nodded in unison.
“I can’t pinpoint an exact distance. It doesn’t work that way, but it is something that I would tell you to experiment with. A few miles would be my guess,” Ives informed.
“So by us being neighbors…” I began, trying to put together the pieces and wrap my head around this. “We are potentially forging our connection to each other without trying?” Dear God.
“Potentially – yes. From what I can sense…most definitely,” Ives confirmed with a serious expression.
Chase groaned and I squeaked.
After a few moments of sinking silence I heard Chase ask, “What happens if we are separated?”
The computer screen on his desk flickered black from inactivity. “Well, for short periods of time – nothing. It’s the long timeframes that you need to worry about. The tighter your link to each other is, the harder a separation can be, even crucially painful. It starts out with just a tightness in the chest and then progresses to difficulty breathing, only to get worse and worse the more drawn out the length is.”
Pure panic filled me. Chase reached over and twined our fingers together, offering me comfort. There he went again, trying to be sweet. But this time, it was appreciated and effective. The alarm I felt moments ago dissipated.
“Enough to kill us?” Chase asked what was in both our thoughts. Had he saved me, only to possibly send us both to the grave?
Ives tapped the end of a pencil on the desk. “Not that I have ever seen, but it can weaken you to the point of death.”
“Well that sounds fun…maybe if you were sadistic,” I mumbled.
Ives mouth twitched. I could tell he was amused by me. Who could really blame him? I was just a ball of sunshine.
Ives pushed up the sleeves of his black cardigan. “Let’s do a little test, shall we?” he sprung on us sounding like a scientist.
“I’m a sucky lab rat,” I assured Ives. A test? I didn’t like the sound of that and by the stiffening of hothead beside me, neither did he. We were both afraid of what the conclusions might be.
“I couldn’t help but notice how upset you got Angel when I mentioned the pain you could encounter if kept apart. Then Chase, you reached for her hand. Why?”
Chase angled his head and looked at him calculatedly, like he was trying to figure out his angle. “I was trying to offer her comfort,” he replied, shrugging like it was no big deal.
“And Angel, did it work? Was he able to take away the fear you were feeling?”
I looked from Ives to Chase feeling exposed. “Maybe.”
Ives grinned. “I’ll take that as a yes. What I think neither of you realized is the depth of the connection that is already in motion.” His eyes sought Chase’s. “Chase you can feel Angel’s emotions, what she is feeling and in return act on what her emotions are telling you. When you touch her, you take away her pain, her fear, and give her comfort, solace. She can also offer the same to you. Together, the two of you are indirectly responsible for the other’s well-being, for their happiness.”
Neither of us looked convinced – or thrilled by this revelation.
I scowled, not liking the path this conversation was taking. I seemed to find myself more and more attached to Chase – without even trying.
“What are you feeling now Angel?” Ives asked quietly.
“Like I want to stab him,” I answered, attempting boredom.
“And Chase…”
A hint of smirk crossed Chase’s lips. He reclined in his seat like he didn’t have a care in the world, except of course for the little tick in his neck. It was little things like that I noticed and maybe more... He wasn’t any happier about our little experiment than I was. At least we were in agreement on something. “Like she is stabbing me,” he replied.
I rolled my eyes.
“Good. This is good.”
Oookay. How he thought this was good was mind boggling.
“Now I want you to take her hands,” Ives instructed.