“Relax your body; do not be so tense.”
Easier said than done when it felt like death was always hovering over me.
“Rayna.” Neyil had to have sensed my negative thoughts, or maybe it was because I moved like a stiff board.
“Relax. Right.”
“If it helps, think about your mates and how they make you feel.”
I hated that he brought that idea up, but it did work as I thought about Philit, Zilon, and Landers. It almost felt like I could summon them. With my eyes closed, it was easy to think about the taste of their lips on mine. How their touch was able to undo me so easily. They were so in tune with what did it for me, what made me want to scream my head off or kiss them silly. They knew all the spots to drive me wild.
“I am not going to ask what you thought about,” Neyil said with humor. “Now, I want you to think about your body, where it exists, and what surrounds it. Take control of that space, make it our own, make it an extension of your body.”
Since I had already figured out telekinesis for the most part, this ended up being easy.
“Now hold that feeling, keep it with you, but expand your senses, find me, feel where I am in regard to your existence,” he said.
“Okay,” I said, realizing he had moved so he was behind me even though his voice sounded like he was in front of me.
Then, there was something coming at me, making a low whistling sound until it hit me in the back with a small sting.
“That is what you need to lock onto and block,” Neyil said. His voice still seemed like it was in front of me, but he moved again so he was to my right. “Once you find it, use your barrier to stop it from hitting you.”
He shot another small rock. It whistled, and I tried to do what he said, but once again, it hit me, stinging my arm.
“Ow,” I said. “Did you have to throw it so hard?”
“This is nothing compared to what you need to learn to stop. Halting this pebble is only a small step.”
He repeated the exercise over and over again. And over and over again, I was failing, getting pebbled by tiny rocks.
While I was the one losing my patience, he seemed to have an abundance of it as the sun started setting. He moved again and did the same again. I imagined catching that pebble and throwing it back at him, making sure he felt the same sting of pain I felt every time I was hit.
The pebble hit me, and I was prepared for the pain, but it didn’t quite hit me. Instead, it stopped just as it barely brushed against my skin. Then, my senses picked up on how it flew away from me. I was able to sense Neyil moving to dodge the attack as he chuckled.
Damn. I would have loved seeing him getting pelted by his own attack.
“You can open your eyes now,” he said. When I turned to him, he was grinning broadly, looking all too proud.
“I did it?” I asked, a bit confused.
I knew what happened because of my senses, but at the same time, it didn’t feel real. How could I know so much with my eyes closed like that, while only relying on my other senses?
“You did more than that. Normally, when we use the barrier, we simply neutralize the object so to speak, causing it to stop its motion. But you went above and beyond.”
The excitement in him made my skin prickle in warning. That eagerness remained as he spoke.
“What do you mean?”
“You, my dear child,repelled it. Not only did you block it, but you reflected the attack, sending it back to the attacker. No others are able to do that. I cannot even do it with my own Fae barrier.” He motioned to a rock. “Go ahead and throw it at me. Use as much force as you wish.”
The smirk he held said he knew how I really felt about him, and this was my moment to let some of that aggression out.
“You won’t hurt me.”
“That’s a shame,” I said.
He only grinned as he waited for me to pick up a rock that fit comfortably in the palm of my hand. I threw it at him as hard as I could, using every ounce of the strength I had. I may also have infused it with some magic, hoping it’d do more damage. It practically torpedoed at him, but Neyil didn’t seem unfazed as the air around him glimmered and the rock came to a complete standstill only inches away from his face.