Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

burst into laughter—even Judith. The thought of Rikki telling Levi no, when he was so protective and male , had them all howling.
    Judith wiped the last of her tears away. “How did he take that?”
    “Not very well actually,” Rikki admitted. “He’s prowling around your house like a wounded hound dog, but this is women power. He can be all macho and sulk outside.”
    Another round of laugher restored Judith’s natural balance. She sent her sisters a loving smile. “Thanks. I’m better now. At least I can think. I panicked when I heard his name. I barely heard anything Jonas said after he told me where the pictures were going.”
    “I was afraid, when I first got the message, that maybe this man had installed a camera in your bedroom and you were the latest sensation on the Internet,” Airiana said. “It’s crazy that anyone can do that kind of thing now.”
    “No, not the Internet, but I’m the poster girl for the prisoners in France,” Judith said, with a small, broken smile.
    “Just for the one man, I hope,” Blythe said. “I doubt if he’s sharing your picture.”
    Judith swept a hand through her hair, shoving it from her face in a quick, restless gesture. “I don’t understand why he’s keeping track of me. Five years, Jonas said. I’ve never heard of Mike Shariton. He evidently lives in Point Arena, and he’s made quite a good living sending photographs of me—and my work—to Jean-Claude.”
    Airiana turned from where she was pouring tea, leaning one hip against the kitchen sink. “Shariton? That’s an unusual name. I remember it. He came in and bought one of your scopes. I think it was a sea-scope, the one with the waves and shells and interchangeable cells. He was in about a month ago.”
    “Great, he can play with it in jail,” Judith said.
    “At least you made money off of him,” Lexi pointed out with a quick grin, settling onto the floor across from Judith’s chair. “That’s something.”
    “I suppose I should be happy about it,” Judith said. “Seriously, maybe it will help him figure out what he was doing was wrong.”
    “Airiana, I take milk in my tea,” Lexi said.
    “I don’t,” Rikki said hastily.
    Airiana rolled her eyes. “You two always say the exact same thing. You’ve been saying it for five years. I think I’ve got it by now.”
    Teacups floated from the sink to the living room, one after the other, a parade of them, making their way into the hands of each of the women.
    “Talk about showing off,” Lissa said.
    “I’m practicing,” Airiana defended. “Did you notice I was a little weak holding back the wind in the redwoods while I was attempting to keep a lighter touch over the vegetable garden. I still haven’t gotten divisions down very well. I felt so much power tonight when Judith wove us all together and the wind was a little harder to control.”
    Rikki nodded. “I’m getting used to it. But your strength really increased tonight, Judith, which is a good thing, but when I pulled water from the clouds, the water in the ground wanted to respond as well. I had to work a little harder on control.”
    “I didn’t realize I was boosting everyone so much,” Judith said, a touch of alarm in her voice. “I guess I let myself go a little more tonight than usual without realizing it.”
    “A little more?” Lissa asked. “You’re always so contained and under control, but tonight you felt different. Although, yes, it was harder to control the power at first, it was awesome. Does that mean you can amplify our abilities even more?”
    Judith felt the weight of all of her sister’s stares. The rule was they didn’t lie to one another. Sins of omission might be okay, but outright lies were not okay ever between them. She hesitated. Inhaled. Exhaled. “Yes.”
    “Wow,” Airiana said, slipping onto the floor beside Lexi. “Just wow , Judith.”
    “I imagine it must be very difficult for you to control all that power at times, Judith,” Blythe said, getting straight to the heart of the matter.
    Judith nodded. “Until Levi pointed out that each of us was bound to an element, I didn’t even realize there was something useful and good I could use all that power for. I’ve suppressed it the best I could. By weaving it with yours, I feel good about it for the first time. I’ve been doing it all along, since we moved here, but not consciously, not using spirit to bind all the elements into one tapestry to work for us improving the farm.