“Soph told me about your conversation,” Carla said as we ate lunch by the pool.

“Did she tell you the sex bit as well?”

“She did. All of it,” she winked at me, “and I must say I can’t think of a better person.”

“Fucking hell. My life is officially fucked.”

She laughed at me.

“Are you finished having fun at my expense?” I grumbled.

“Not by a long shot,” Carla said. “However, we need to talk about Soph’s bonds.”

I looked at Soph, who was only wearing the bottom half of a string bikini- Carla’s string bikini. She is taking this ogling thing to the extreme, isn’t she?

“Describe your current bonds to us,” I said to her.

“I really don’t know how. They are just there.”

“Where?”

“In my mind.”

“And are they the same?”

“No, they are unique. I know which is Buck and which is Rich.”

“Tell us about the bond with Rich. What do you sense from him? Are there things that strengthen the bond?”

“I can sense his emotion. He is very happy/satisfied right now, chewing on the bone. ”

“What about at the fish market? How was he communicating that things were not good?” I asked.

“I can sense when he is using his essence to reach out to sense others. And sort of what he senses.”

“OK, this is important. You can sense when he is using his essence. Putting aside the fact it is an active sense, not a passive one, sensing it through the bond is important.”

“Why”

“It means that although it is a mental bond, it is Essence created or, in other words, a mutation. It is essence-based and resonates with Rich’s essence use. But not his essence pool? Can you sense how much essence he has?”

“No, but I can feel when he is getting low. He got low at the fish market.”

“You can sense when he uses it. Can you ask him to use it?”

“Sort of. I send by sending my concerns or worries about what is around, and he is very protective of me and checks.”

“What about now? You are not worried about Carla like you were when she changed. How would you ask him to sense her or had him sense me earlier in the pool?”

“You are easy. I am always worried about you. Carla? Perhaps by sending my excitement at what she is feeling.”

“Go on,” I said, “ and describe what you are sensing.”

Rich raised his head, “He is a bit annoyed at being disturbed. Carla is feeling a lot of interest and excitement about this discussion.”

“What about her essence? Can he sense that?”

“No, she is not using it.”

I nodded to Carla and felt, through our link, her essence move.

“He can’t feel her emotions so much now but can sense her essence waves.”

“Interesting. Essence use blunts the emotional sense. I wouldn’t have picked that. What about now?” I was sending essence waves through to Carla via the link.

“It has changed, got stronger. No rhythm.”

“OK. Let’s try something different. You can sense how Rich is using his essence. Can you use your essence that way?”

“You want me to sense others directly? Isn’t that Rich’s mutation?”

“Yes, but is it a physical mutation or a way he can use his essence? Maybe it is a mental mutation, and your bond is mental in nature. Why can’t you do the same if it is the latter? Just try to copy Rich.”

She was silent for a while. I helped myself to another cup of green tea. This was a nice brand of tea.

Eventually, she said, “I don’t seem to be able to.”

“That is OK. It may not be possible, or it may come over time as you work with Rich. What about Buck, how is he different from Rich?”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Buck’s bond is more active and more aggressive than Rich's. You are not going to try to get me to bark at you to use his skill, are you? Because you will be out of luck.”

“The thought never crossed my mind. You can sense when he uses his Skill as well?”

Soph nodded.

“What about from a distance, like when we were at Anawhata?”

Soph nodded again, “The distance didn’t seem to make any difference.”

“Interesting because distance makes a difference to our link,” I said, indicating Carla. “Let's find something Buck can use his Skill on,” I said, getting up.

Suddenly, I heard Buck Power Bark, and it was like all my muscles spasmed at once, and I stumbled and fell to my knees. The feeling passed after a few seconds. Carla was there holding my semi-upright.

I heard Soph giggle, “So that’s what it does.”

“Shit, woman. You’ve been hanging around Carla too long. This is her sort of crazy,” I said.

Carla suddenly let go of my arm, and I had to catch myself. Carla stood over me with her hands on her hips, looking cross.

“Don’t look at me like that. It is definitely your sort of crazy.”

She grinned and high-fived Soph, “Well done, my young padawan.”

“Bloody hell, I am fucked.”

“Well and truly, in every sense of the word,” Carla said.

“Buck is a fun and mischievous dog,” Soph said.

“Bloody traitor,” I said to Buck. “That was an interesting experience,” I said after a minute. “Everybody should experience that.”

I received a bunch of scoffs dismissing that suggestion.

“I am going to ask you to get Buck to do that again,” I said, “This time, I am going to be sending waves of essence through my body and like Rich’s emotions were muted, this should be as well.”

“If it doesn’t,” Soph asked.

“Then I will spasm on the ground again.”

“Wait,” said Carla, getting her phone out, “I want to record this. For science, of course.”

“It had better not appear on the internet.”

“The thought never crossed my mind,” Carla replied.

“OK,” I nodded at Soph.

Buck Power Barked again, and this time, my muscles only twitched. I was pulsing waves as hard as I could.

“So active essence combats essence attacks. That is good knowledge to have. We will be coming against animals with these attacks, and possibly humans,” I said. “Let's take a break. I need to reset the brain with a swim.”

It was afternoon tea when we reconvened. My brain needed a long reset.

“What do you remember about when you formed the bonds?” I asked Soph. “Did they form before you lost consciousness?”

“No, definitely not, but they were there when I woke up,” she replied.

“So the mutation had to happen first, pretty much what I expected. When you think about Carla and your emotional connection to her, how is that different to the dogs?”

“I … I don’t really know. It is not clearly defined like the dogs. It is just a huge bunch of feelings… I don’t know.”

“Could you define it or a part of it? Take what you like best or a situation you felt love recently and try to make that section defined like the dogs?” I looked at Carla. “You will need to be part of this. I expect it will take time and effort. No guarantee it will work, but … maybe?”

Soph looked at Carla, “What do you think?”

“Worth a try.”

“I suggest you go and spend time alone talking about what you like and how you feel and all that shit, and see how you get on,” I said.

“You just want us to leave you alone,” Carla accused.

“Too right! Me and the dogs will hang out here.”

“Should we take Rich? It might help,” Soph said.

“I would try on your own first and see how you get on.” I said, “It is a bond between the two of you.”

Soph and Carla disappeared, and I didn’t see them at dinner. Sam and I ordered takeout, and she settled in to watch a movie. I wandered outside with my e-reader. All my books felt tame against the natural end of the world and the shit we were going through.

I hopped back in the pool and floated. Thinking. Buck and Rich both had random mutations from the anomaly. Both were active essence uses rather than physical mutations. A lot of the animals on the barge had physical mutations. As far as I knew, all the people who directed their mutations ended up with physical mutations.

What about those people in India? A lot of them would have random mutations, maybe some were direct essence uses. I wouldn’t know, and the information was hard to understand. The researchers didn’t know the questions to ask, and the poor, traumatised people didn’t know how to explain things.

I am of the opinion all essence can be used outside the body, but I don’t know how. I also have no proof for this, but if Buck can, so can I.

This bond thing with Soph and Carla is based on pretty flimsy reasoning. It is worth trying, but…

My part is transferring essence through the link in a way Carla can use it. The waves were only a partial success. The thing with waves is she is sending them to me so we can sync them, but she needs to be using her essence, not sending it to me. That might be useful when we are trying to use our essence jointly, but not for this.

Using our essence jointly- that is another whole new area to explore. I got out of the pool and went to make a cup of tea.

Focus. Why sync waves? We didn’t at the start; I just flooded her through the link. Straight delivery, like a river- smooth flowing, volume and speed regulated. That is the easiest delivery system.

The problem is how to use that essence. She has to combine it with hers. The waves meant the essence came through her link as hers, but a river was spitting out my essence. Yes, they are very close, but each person has their unique flavour or shade of colour, maybe. I should probably stick with the colour imagery.

I sat for a bit, sipping the tea. The night was cloudy.

How do you mix the essences together to make them hers? It has to be easy to do. Waves were hard. It has to be simple, so she doesn't need to concentrate on it. Just use it.

And the answer is… as simple as a cup of tea.

You stir it. Get a whirlpool going, and it will keep going even if you stop stirring. Well, water will, and maybe essence will as well. A whirlpool will mix the incoming essence, and she can just use it.

This needs testing. First, I need to test the viability of the whirlpool in my own essence pool. How will it work compared to waves?

I settle down for a session of navel-gazing. I meant Essence testing.