Isabel raised her eyebrows. “That’s quite a problem. Good thing you don’t drive. The way some people behave on the road… There was this one asshole this morning—”
“Right.” I hurriedly interrupted her. Isabel was the most relaxed and patient person I knew. But thirty seconds behind the wheel turned her into a frothing, screaming madwoman. I once saw her get out of her car, intent on smashing all the windows of a vehicle that had parked diagonally across two parking spaces. I really didn’t have time for one of her road-rage rants. “The thing is, I need a way to control my emotions. You have relaxation techniques, right? You said you have to be completely relaxed to glimpse the future.”
“Well… yes. I’ve studied and practiced them for years. Mediation, guided imagery, self-hypnosis, dream walking—”
“Awesome! I need something quick. A sort of crash course. Relaxation 101. How to relax for dummies.”
“Quick?” she frowned. “How long do we have? Months?”
“Well…” I thought about it. “Preferably… two, three days?”
“You want me to impart all I learned—”
“Not all you learned,” I interjected. “Just some quick breathing techniques. You know? To get me all nice and relaxed and not in a burning sort of mood.”
“So we have three days—”
“Not whole days, really. Something like an hour every day.”
“Three… hours. To teach you self-relaxation.”
“Let’s start now, shall we?” I said brightly.
She sighed. “Okay, fine. Maybe I should put on some soothing background music before we begin.”
“Well… it’s not like I’ll have soothing music in the dragon’s vault, right?” I pointed out. “If anything, there will be screaming alarms and police sirens. Better do it without the music.”
“Fine.” She sounded irritated and pretty far from relaxed. “I want you to close your eyes… not that hard. Just close them. Loosen your muscles a bit. Start taking deep steady breaths. You sound like you’re hyperventilating. Slow down… you don’t need to breathe so hard. You don’t get points for volume, Lou—”
“How long should the breaths be?”
“How long?” She sounded confused.
“Like… two seconds in, two seconds out? Three seconds? I’m good with recipes.”
“Relaxing is not a recipe. Just… breathe in, breathe out. Yes. Something like that. Good. Now I want you to focus on your toes.”
“My toes?”
“Stop talking. From now on you don’t talk. Focus on each toe. I want you to imagine feeling the muscles in your toes relax.”
The muscles in my toes. Up until now I’d never even known I had muscles in my toes. It sounded perverse. Could someone train their toe muscles? Could they work them out in the gym? I bet Jason Momoa had really muscled toes. I bet he could lift weights with them.
“Feel them grow lax, liquid, completely dormant.”
I had a million things to be doing right now. I needed to start scouting the dragon’s mansion. And we had to find a hacker who could crack the dragon’s security systems. There were some potions I had to make. Did I have the ingredients? I began to tally a shopping list of what I needed. I could probably get Breadknife to pay for the ingredients. Maybe I should buy some extra stuff while I had an expense budget.
“Lou, you have to concentrate.”
“I am concentrating!”
“Hon… open your eyes.”
I did, feeling sheepish. Isabel smiled at me, her face looking a bit sad. “I’ve known you for a long time, hon. You have a mind that races like a speeding train. It’s full of whirling ideas, and plans, and inspirations. I’ve seen you think on your feet so fast, it left me breathless.”
I blinked, surprised. I’d never thought of myself that way, and definitely hadn’t imagined Isabel did.
“But to truly relax you have to think much slower. I could almost see your mind racing right now. You have to focus on this one, tiny part of yourself, and push away all other thoughts. Do you think you can do that?”
“I… I can try.”
“Okay. So first, when you close your eyes, I want you to focus only on my voice.”
I shut my eyes, and began breathing deeply again.
“I want you to feel each breath as you inhale. Focus on your lungs, follow their rhythm.”
I focused on my lungs. Breathing in and out. In, and out.
“Good. Now, focus on your toes. Feel the muscles relaxing.”
She made me focus on each toe, then on my ankles, my knees, my thighs, feeling each muscle grow soft. Her voice—that deep soft voice—lulled me, made me feel mesmerized. Slowly, my breathing slowed, and I sank into a calm stupor.
“Now, focus on your stomach. Feel the muscles in it relax, the tension dissipating…”
A question crept into my mind. It had been there all along, waiting for me to pause for a moment, to really think.
Breadknife knew there were six dragon scales in the safe, but he hadn’t demanded even one. Only the box with the crystal. It seemed so unlike him. It was as if the scales were almost irrelevant compared to the crystal.
What if it was the Yliaster crystal in the dragon’s vault? Could I really discount that so quickly? What if the Yliaster crystal existed? If it did, it would definitely be more powerful than a dragon scale—a crystal that could hold souls.
But if that was true, it could mean something even more sinister. The Yliaster crystal could trap a soul. Could that be what Breadknife’s client was really after? Did they want me to steal a soul for them? If they did, whose could it be? What did they want with it? Could I really hand over someone else’s soul?
“Lou?”
I sighed, and opened my eyes. “Sorry,” I said, dejected. “The thoughts just popped up.”
Isabel patted my hand. “Don’t worry about it. You did much better than I thought you would. Want to try again?”
I shook my head. “Not tonight. Tomorrow.”
Perhaps by tomorrow, I would manage to push the troubling thought of the trapped soul out of my mind.
Chapter Eleven
The sun broke through the morning clouds, illuminating the sky in the sort of crisp magical light that was perfect for picnics, walks in the park, and surveillance.
Ddraig Goch’s mansion was located in the so-rich-you-could-never-afford-to-live-here town of Weston. Less than a mile away, on a green-grassed hill, stood another mansion, which belonged to a lawyer who knew Breadknife through ways best left unexplored. Since he was currently on vacation, he had agreed to let us use the place. It was anyone’s guess what dirt Breadknife had on him that made him so complaisant.