MONACHOPSIS- V. Hargreeves ³

020. KEY IN A LOCK.

Within moments, though, everything faded. The glow dissipated back into Harlan's chest and his eyes returned to normal. "Can you hear it?" he asked.

"I hear the wind," said Viktor.

"No. Deeper than that. Beneath the wind. Every living thing has an energy wave. A sound of its own."

"It's true, apparently," said Nadine. "He was listening to mine earlier."

Harlan glanced at her as if he'd forgotten she was there. Nadine honestly didn't blame him. "Right," he said. "Look, you're close to her, aren't you?"

Viktor nodded. "She's my best friend."

"Then try to find her first. Close your eyes and look for her. Feel her vibration within you. It'll be a test on how you can do it with me."

"Would it help if I held his hand?" Nadine asked.

"It couldn't hurt," Harlan said. "But this goes deeper than just physical contact. It's like... you know those sounds that are too high in frequency for human ears to pick up? It's like that. Except we can hear them. We just need to dig deep."

"Okay," Viktor said. He took in a deep breath and grabbed Nadine's hand. "Okay."

He closed his eyes. Nadine held onto him, feeling his warm skin against hers, and waited, hardly daring to breathe.

At first, nothing happened. A line formed on Viktor's brow, and his face contorted in frustration. Nadine went to open her mouth, but Harlan held up a finger, shushing her. She pressed her lips together. It was obvious that he knew what he was doing.

Ten seconds went by without any sign of Viktor's success, then twenty. It was only at the forty-five mark (exactly; with nothing else to do, Nadine had been counting) that something happened. The same low, nearly imperceptible hum rushed through Nadine, as well as the feel of static. A ball of light—pale blue, of course—appeared in Viktor's chest, and his energy pressed down on Nadine's skin. From where their hands were intertwined, it rushed up like a current, racing through her veins until it surged through her entire body. It wasn't a pleasant sensation, but it wasn't painful, either. She let it happen.

Now it was Viktor's turn to open his eyes. When he did, they were the same blue as the glow at his heart. His skin seemed paler, bleached white. Even so, his lips curled into a smile. "I hear it," he said. "I... I feel it."

"Does it hurt?" Harlan asked. Viktor shook his head.

"No. No, it doesn't hurt. It's... there's so much here. It's... I can't describe it."

Nadine suddenly remembered Harlan's evaluation of her vibrations earlier—and the way he'd looked at her when he'd spoken about the overwhelming longing—and tensed. Suddenly, she was hoping Viktor wasn't reading into all of it. She didn't want him to know everything that made up her being.

Fortunately, Harlan seemed ready to put an end to this. "You can reign it back now," he said. "Now you have a clue on how to do it. Let's try it with me, next."

"Okay." Viktor closed his eyes, then opened them again. When he did, they were back to their normal brown. The light at his chest snuffed out, a candle flame blown to smoke, and the air calmed down. Nadine shivered as the energy in her body leeched away.

"My wave is going to be more difficult to hold onto than hers is," Harlan said. Nadine wasn't sure if she should be offended or not. "You've got to keep your concentration, though. Are you ready?"