Avery had spread her towel out in the middle of the garden, and she sat there calmly, eyes closed. She had originally gone outside to sunbake, but had soon started practicing her telepathy, wanting to get stronger, the way Tanya had told her she had been.
Swirling her presence out, she focused, allowing the voices back in, pushing her hearing range as far as she could in the present time, and then...
She turned to the side and smiled at Matt, shielding her eyes from the bright glare of the sun with her hand.
"I can see why we used to lose you to this place," he laughed, leaning back on his forearms. "It's magic."
"It goes alright," she replied, leaning over to kiss him. "Want an apple?"
"Sho thang, Flava-Flav."
Avery rolled her eyes good naturedly at the nickname, and reached into their picnic hamper for an apple and the paring knife.
"Oh!" she gasped, pulling her hand out in shock.
Blood flowed from the open gash in the palm of her hand, and Matt sat up quickly. He put his hands around hers, and a second later, all that was left of the injury was the drying blood.
"You're handy."
"I know."
Avery's eyes flew open and she gasped, still feeling warm and relaxed from the memory.
Another piece of the puzzle that was her former life.