Shadowed (Unbound, Book 2)

Chapter Sixteen

I should've known better. Ask a stupid question and you're bound to achieve unfavorable results. Calin was eager to do anything to help, though Dr. Stanzo hesitated. But only for a minute. Within fifteen minutes, we were all on our backs with our arms and legs sprawled at our sides. The crowns of our heads almost touched, our bodies forming a three-spoke star. The dewdrops on the grass smelled like rain, nearly overpowering my thoughts.

"Okay," Dr. Stanzo said, tilting her face up to the sky.

Rolling my head to look right, I could see her eyes were closed. The muscles in her face began to relax, the rise and fall of her chest slowing. A peek to my left proved Calin appeared to be doing the same. My attempt to copy their actions failed as my anxiety levels increased once silence settled.

"I can't do this," I said, groaning. My hands formed fists and hit the grass beside me. "Can't you tell me what it is I'm supposed to do first? I have no memory, remember?"

Calin laughed but kept his eyes closed. It was soft, amused, and more comforting than the attempt to slow my breathing. It still wasn't enough to soothe the thoughts from my mind. Worry over never recovering my memories dominated, but frustration—not having found the key to unlock who I was yet and the effect it had on me and Calin—came in as a close second. Not knowing what else to worry about made it a little easier. Knowing there was an unknown almost filled that void of what my imagination generated as possibilities.

Dr. Stanzo sat up but kept her legs flat on the ground. "Just relax. Breathe in, breathe out. Think of something happy and clear in your mind. Sense nature. Feel it enveloping you," she said. She pointed to the grass and added, "Lay down and close your eyes."

Think happy thoughts? I only had one. "Can't Calin just hold my hand? That's relaxing."

He laughed again, louder this time, and opened his eyes. He rolled his head to look at me with a lopsided grin and a wink. Dr. Stanzo looked at him in warning. He bit his lip, trying to appear more serious.

"True relaxation is a solo endeavor," she said, turning her focus back to me. "Someone can prompt you into obtaining peace, but any type of contact will dilute your experience. If Calin holds your hand so that you can find a way to relax, you will find his calm instead of realizing your own."

"So, what? I count sheep?"

"You aren't going to sleep, Nora," Calin said.

"Just lay back down," Dr. Stanzo said, "and concentrate on the sounds around us. Your mind will clear its thoughts." She nodded once I did what she said, and then she did the same. "Now close your eyes and do like I said."

She said it like it was easy, and I watched as she and Calin made it appear even more effortless than it sounded. Within two minutes their breathing slowed until their chests seemed to stop moving. I closed my eyes and tried to listen to the sounds instead of my mind. It was too much.

My heartbeat was too loud.

Dr. Stanzo was wrong. I tuned out the sounds around us and concentrated on the rhythm within my body. The chirping of birds ceased, the wind rustling leaves died down, and the crickets marched out of range. Drums, loud like an anthem pounding out of my head, built to a crescendo and then tapered off. My breathing slowed. Even the smell of grass, so overwhelming in the middle of nothing but trees and fields, diminished.

I began floating as though suspended in a sound-proof bubble.

Connecting to nature was like coming home at the end of a vacation. Gravity weighted me down, back to feeling solid ground. The floor of the clearing opened its arms to embrace me. It sprouted beneath me and began to crawl up the sides of my body like a creeping plant spreading vines across a wall. The comfort was incomparable. Relaxing. The voice of a woman—the same woman I had seen with the dogs—whispered through the air.