Free The Unseen Trilogy by Stephanie Erickson

for individual training.”
    “Individual training, like what?” I peeked through the tall, skinny window in one of the doors. The room was small, with two chairs, a white board, and a television. It reminded me of a practice room at FSU, without the piano.
    “Oh, like learning to guard your mind.”
    I had never dreamed of doing something like that; until now, there had been no need. “Is that something I could learn to do?”
    “Absolutely. You’ll learn that and more if you join us.” He smiled slyly at me. “That way, we can all get a little peace.”
    I shoved him, and he laughed that beautiful laugh of his. When he stopped, I wanted to say something funny just to hear it again.
    He cleared his throat, and I realized he’d probably picked up on my thoughts. If he did, he was kind enough not to draw too much attention to it. “And here we are at the end of our tour.” We stood in front of the last door in the back corner of the gym. It looked just like the other doors, so I assumed it led to another training room.
    “This is the boss’ office. Normally, he doesn’t see people on their first day, since not everyone decides to stay. But he asked to see you.”
    “What? Why?”
    “Who knows? Maybe he could hear your incessant and scattered questions and wanted to silence them.”
    “Silence them like how? Kill me and stuff me in some creepy drawer four floors underground?”
    He laughed. “I think you watch too many serial killer movies. You don’t have anything to worry about. You’re safe here.”
    I spied some of the heavy equipment on the other side of the room and raised my eyebrow skeptically.
    “You are. Anyway, he knows you’re here and he’s waiting to see you.”
    I hesitated, knowing Maddie would not approve of any of this. In fact, she was probably going nuts since I’d ignored her texts for the last hour or two. I glanced at my watch. It was already 2:30, so she was probably most of the way home by now.
    “He will only take as much time as you want to give him.”
    “You make it sound like it’s his privilege to see me, not the other way around.”
    He shrugged. “I’ll be waiting out here to take you topside when you’re done.”
    Something puzzled me. “Why are you the one guiding me through this?”
    “You better go in,” he said, ignoring the question.
    “There may come a time when you won’t have an unfair advantage over me. Then what will you do?”
    His eyes danced with merriment. “Enjoy the challenge.”
    “We’ll see,” I said, and turned to go into the boss’ office.
    I raised my hand to knock on the door, but he called out, “Come in,” before I could make contact.
    “Hello Mackenzie. I’ve been waiting a long time for you.” He sat behind a cherry wood executive-style desk with bookshelves behind him filled with books on every possible subject, everything from All the King’s Men to something called The 33 Strategies of War .
    He let me linger a bit, allowing me to take in the room and my surroundings before gesturing to the chair across from his desk. “Please, have a seat.”
    After easing myself into the surprisingly comfortable chair, I looked him over. He looked middle aged, and was by far the oldest person I’d seen in the place, with salt-and-pepper hair, glasses, and a huge mustache that hung down over his top lip. I wondered how he kept it clean, but of course, I didn’t ask. Instead, I said, “So, how come you’ve been waiting so long for me?” After what Owen had told me, I had the impression I was special in some way, but I couldn’t put my finger on how.
    He chuckled. “I try not to eat anything terribly messy, but it generally cleans up pretty well. Don’t hesitate to tell me if something is caught in it though. Wouldn’t want to look foolish.” I laughed, and he continued before I could comment. “You are special, but you need to discover the reason for yourself.”
    “Is that the name of the game here? Aloof answers to direct