Page 73 of Smuggler's Beauty

“So this is all in my head? Very helpful.”

He grinned. “I mean, all psychic skills are in our heads.”

Evelyn laughed at that. She couldn’t help herself.

“When I started to see the future,” he said, wiggling his hands in an exaggerated jazzy motion, “I had to learn how to make sense of what I was seeing. I had always liked old media, so I learned to see the visions as TV broadcasts. I envision old screens showing the information in my head. Eventually, I learned how to sort through the information with the same tactic — how to ‘rewind’ a vision or ‘change the channel.’” Every metaphor was accompanied with air quotes.

Evelyn nodded at the explanation. Of course she needed a visualization to direct her talent.

“When I Amplify, I envision turning on a spigot. Then when the energy is flowing, I can direct it.” That was the first thing she had learned to do when she manifested the ability to Amplify.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The second thing she’d done was put the impulse to siphon energy into a mental vault, lock the door, and brick it over.The only exception to this was the small moments she allowed herself to peek at people’s energy fields.

Evelyn would have never been able to Amplify without her mental control room. The power that she directed to others as an Amplifier didn’t come from her own supply of psychic energy, it was the potential power that swirled unchecked throughout the universe. Her mind would probably melt without a visualization to mentally process the psychical sensation of being an energy conduit.

Mathias clapped his hands in excitement. “You’re probably a lot closer to unlocking this whole energy siphoning situation than you think you are. You just need to find a visualization that works for you to unlock the ability in your mind. Well, and learn to ignore decades of conditioned beliefs about the nature of your power.” His face lost some of its enthusiasm.

“Easy peasy,” Aiden said. “You’ll have this mastered by lunch.”

Evelyn snorted. She grabbed her hair and wound it into a loose braid as she thought about what Mathias had said. As her fingers worked the strands, she stared at a point on the shelving where the books were misaligned. Mathias must have nudged them out of place while he was looking them over. She didn’t care, but it seemed as good a place as any to focus on while she beat herself up for being so unforgivably stupid.

Her father had told her once that his visualization was an old-timey switchboard, hooking up cables connecting callers to the universe. ”Whatever works for you, Evie. It’s not important. Just figure out a way to mentally process what you’re psychically directing.”

She could drop into her visualization chamber in an instant, as easily as breathing.

A flicker of rage that she’d been directed to hobble herself flared in her belly. She’d been making a cynical jab at her parentsearlier with her PR crack, but the reality was that their fear of what their world would think of her had warped her abilities into a source of shame and guilt.

Shame and guilt that had dictated the entire direction of her life.

Evelyn swallowed hard. She realized she’d run out of hair to braid and was just holding the ends of her strands. The boys were sitting in polite silence, Mathias eyeing her bookshelf, Aiden with his gaze intensely focused on her. The weight of all that perception was always a thrilling thing. She flashed him a quick smile.

“I think... I think I have an idea of where to start. Do you mind waiting? It’s probably going to be boring.”

Mathias walked to the shelf and picked up a book. He brought it back to his seat and crossed his legs.

“It’s not super impressive when I use my talent, either. I just look like an idiot who’s wondering if he left the gas on.”

Aiden leaned back, balancing on the back legs of his chair. He laced his fingers behind his head and gave her that grin that never failed to make her insides go gooey.

“Do your thing, dollface. We’ll be here.”

Resolute, Evelyn reached across the table and grabbed a small timer, then settled on the floor. She crossed her legs, cradled the timer in her hands, and closed her eyes.

Evelyn dropped inside her visualization.

To Amplify, Evelyn always pictured a towering glass tank full of glowing golden liquid. The base of the tank was rimmed with cream-colored tile. In the center, the tiles were several layers taller than the rest of the base. The faucet and tap were mounted there, shining brass fixtures waiting for her to turn them and let the tank contents flow. She would turn the tap, and the golden liquid — energy from the universe — would flow out in a stream that Evelyn would then direct to the intended recipient.

This time, she turned away from the tank. The “room” she stored it in was really only developed in this area. She was going to need to remodel the mental space.

Dark hardwood slats appeared beneath her feet, running parallel to the tank. Satisfied, she lifted her eyes and was greeted with a shadowy expanse. The room would go on forever if she let it. A hardwood floored void.

That won’t do.

She started to walk away from the tank. After about twenty steps, she stopped, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.Walls. I need walls.Walls with shelves, stocked with bottles. Brick by brick, a wall formed in front of her. Dusky red blocks stuck themselves together with pasty gray mortar, climbing up and up until Evelyn couldn’t see them any longer. Shelving appeared before her eyes. Drilled securely into the walls, thick slabs of wood held a myriad of beautiful, empty bottles. Blown glass orbs with tight-fitting lids, mason jars with screw-on caps, what looked out of the corner of her eye like an empty pickle jar.

Evelyn smiled. She could do this.