"You aren't ready for anything yet," he retorted. "I'm sure your screams last night could have been heard all the way to Tucson."
His comment annoyed me. There was something about him I didn't like, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was. Perhaps it was because he looked so odd. He wasn't manly; he seemed to be the mere shadow of a man and yet he was deceptively strong. But what really bothered me was that he didn't let me push him around, and that irritated my
competitive side no end.
In a surge of anger I asked him belligerently, "How dare you run me down every time I say something you don't like!"
The moment I said that I regretted it and apologized profusely for my aggressiveness. "I don't know why I get so irritated with you," I ended up confessing.
"Don't feel bad," he said. "It's because you sense something about me that you can't explain. As you yourself put it, I'm not manly."
"I didn't say that," I protested.
From his look, he obviously didn't believe me. "Of course you did," he insisted. "You said it to my double just a moment ago. My double never ever makes mistakes or misinterprets things."
My nervousness and embarrassment reached their peak. I didn't know what to say. My face was red and my body trembled. I couldn't understand what had caused my exaggerated reaction. The caretaker's voice broke into my thoughts.
"You are reacting like that because your double is perceiving my double," he said. "Your physical body is frightened because its gates are opening and new perceptions are flowing in. If you think you feel bad now, imagine how much worse it'll be when all your gates are open."
Chapter 19
THE SORCERERS' CROSSING
Taisha Abelar
