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Molly closed her eyes and imagined a wall a hundred feet high inside her mind.
“Good,” she heard Commander Sylvan say. “Now picture a small gate in the wall. Only the thoughts and emotions you want to send to your partner will get through this gate.”
Molly did her best. She imagined opening the small gate and sending a little thought message.
“Hello—can you hear me?” she sent to Torus.
“Yes, I can hear you, sweetheart.” His mental voice was as low and rumbly as his physical voice she thought. It made her feel calm and happy just to hear it in her head.
“I like your mental voice too,” he sent to her.
Molly opened her eyes.
“Crap! I did it again, didn’t I?”
“I think you may be some kind of natural projector,” Torus told her. “But don’t worry—we’ll have plenty of time to practice our mental technique.”
Molly bit her lip.
“But…what if I think something really embarrassing?” she asked in a small voice.
“I won’t hold it against you,” Torus promised, a slight smile playing around the corner of his mouth. “Now come on—let’s practice some more and then I think you have to go try on your wedding dress, right?”
So they had practiced some more—and Molly had honestly thought she was getting the hang of it…
Until now, she thought, staring at herself in the 3-D viewer again as Kat fixed her veil. When he heard what I was thinking even though we’re not even in the same room together!
Commander Sylvan had told them that the TETs had a limited range—much shorter than a real Soul Bond would be—but so far Molly felt like she was unintentionally shouting all her thoughts and emotions at the big Kindred.
“You look absolutely gorgeous,” Kat told her again, bringing her back to the present. “And I think your friend’s dress should be finished. I’ll go get it and send her in if that’s okay?”
“Oh yes—please send her in!” Molly was eager to see Lana and take her mind off the whirlwind events of the past twenty-four hours.
Kat left the fitting room—which was in a small structure located just outside of the Sacred Grove where the ceremony was taking place—and Lana came in.
“Oh…my…God!” Lana exclaimed, her eyes widening dramatically. “Molly, why didn’t you tell me you were a model?”
Molly couldn’t help laughing at her friend’s over-the-top reaction.
“Maybe because I’m not?” she suggested.
“But you totally look like one! That dress is amazing on you!”
“Thank you.” Molly smiled shyly. “Do you think Commander Torus—I mean Torus—will like it?” she asked.
“If he doesn’t he’s got rocks in his head,” Lana said firmly. “You’re the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.” She sighed, suddenly looking melancholy. “I just wish your wedding was going to be for real.”
“Well, it’s not,” Molly pointed out. “But even though it’s a fake wedding, it’s still way nicer than my first one,” she added.
“Why? What was your first wedding to Zachary Asshole Wyndham like?” Lana put a hand on her hip and arched one eyebrow sarcastically.
“Well, it was nothing special, that’s for sure,” Molly said. “It was before Zach made his money and he didn’t want to spend anything on a ‘big, dumb ceremony.’ So we got married at City Hall with two of his gamer friends as witnesses. None of my family wanted to come because they didn’t approve of Zach,” she added. “Afterwards, we all went and ate at Chipotle and Zach spilled salsa all over my dress. Not that it was anywhere near as nice as this one,” she added, looking down at the gorgeous white gown Kat had made for her.
What she didn’t tell her friend was how the wedding night had gone. How Zach—who had never been a very considerate lover—had suddenly turned cruel. How he?—
She cut the thought off abruptly, hoping that she had kept it behind the wall. Since Torus didn’t send her any kind of thought message saying he had heard her, she hoped that he hadn’t. It was a good thing she’d gotten so good at catching negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones, she told herself. Otherwise wearing the TET device would be a complete disaster!
“That sounds like a lousy wedding for sure,” Lana said, bringing her back to the present. “Not like this one. I’ve already been to the Sacred Grove to take a look—the decorations are just gorgeous! I don’t know how Kat pulled everything together in such a short amount of time!”
