Читать книгу Natalia’s Game - - Страница 7

My consciousness hurtles toward a forest glen in the Hoia-Baciu. The objective is to land softly just above the ground and reconstitute the atoms of my body just like they were before I left. I can’t carry much metal because metal atoms can’t be put back together for some reason. The exception is my ring, my portal for projecting into the future. More about that later. Hugging a soft bag of clothes is okay, and that’s what I brought with me. When the plan works, it’s a beautiful thing.

I land on my butt. “Ouch.” Embarrassing! Glad nobody saw that. The forest holds the same stillness I’ve expected; sunlight peaks through rare breaks in the trees, streaming to connect with the soft, mossy ground. The stems of the trees curve in numerous directions, unable to contain their powerful energy.

I slowly stand up. My knees aren’t what they used to be. It’s 0500 hours in Eastern Romania. I want to arrive at the “school” at 0800 hours. After I recharge in the Hoia-Baciu, I will teleport again to a spot closer to the school. I need to work on my landings.

But first, I relax, connect with nature, and absorb energy. My eyes remain closed as my body becomes translucent, and a few seconds later my atoms reconstitute on a grassy knoll a few miles from my final destination.

Now I must hurry. There are no clear paths, and getting through brush isn’t easy. On the positive side, the view is nice. Scots Pine trees draped in green lichen grow near the top of the hills, with majestic, light-colored European Beech sprinkling the ground with golden leaves below. Gorgeous. I cover several miles as quickly as I can.

Most visitors to the school arrive by air via Bucharest, which is 207 kilometers to the west. The school is remote – nearly unreachable except by helicopter – near the coast of the Black Sea. I arrive at the guard gate at precisely eight hundred hours. Above the tall fence looms a metal tower housing guards eating breakfast. The guards are not watching their screens and do not notice me approaching. No one ever just shows up at the school.

Back to my girl. Na. Ta. Lia. Net… I need to find her. That won’t be easy because we have no photos of her; remarkably, there is no record of her growing up. So I must figure out how to find her and then win her. What does that mean? That’s the tricky part. Natalia doesn’t know it yet, but once we get past the basics, she must sleep with me so I can access the future through a portal in her dreams.

As I said, this is going to take a lot of work.