Free Air: Merlin's Chalice (The Children of Avalon Book 1) by Meredith Bond Page A

offered them a huge amount of money if they would come with him. Her husband couldn’t pass up the opportunity, but she desperately wished that he had.
    “He’s going to return to you,” Dylan told the woman.
    Her eyes grew wary. “How do you know this?”
    But Dylan just shrugged his shoulders. “I just know. Do you believe me?”
    The woman thought about it for a moment and then slowly nodded her head.
    “Good. Because it’s true. He’s going to come back to you. It may not be for some time, but eventually, he will be back. Until then, you and your children will be fine.” He spoke with absolute certainty, and something else. There was something else in his voice—a touch of magic, perhaps? I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was more. There had to be because the woman looked very calm now and almost happy.
    “That was a very good thing you did,” I said, after the woman had left to return to her home.
    Dylan stopped short at my words.
    I had waited for him just inside of the woods by the road. I didn’t know what to think of him anymore. Only that morning I had believed him capable of intentionally harming, perhaps even killing, myself and Sir Dagonet, and now he had been so kind to this stranger, using his magic and his words to make her feel better and allay her fears. So which was he, good or bad? I couldn’t figure it out. It was disturbing.
    “You heard me speaking to that woman?” he asked.
    I nodded.
    Dylan’s mouth formed a slash across his face. “How dare you eavesdrop on my conversation with her? You had no right to do that.”
    My mouth dropped open. “But I told you what was wrong, why she was there crying.”
    “Yes, but then you should have left. You seem to have no concept of privacy,” he said, before turning and walking away from me.
    “Why are you so angry?”
    Dylan spun back around. “Because you listened in on a conversation that you had no business hearing.”
    “But…I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want me to hear your conversation. It wasn’t private. And I do know when not to listen,” I retorted, stinging from his angry words. “But this didn’t seem to be a time when I shouldn’t.”
    “Well, it was,” he said. He turned away, but didn’t move. Instead, he muttered, “I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell anyone what I did.”
    “Why? And who would I tell?”
    Dylan turned back around. “I don’t know. Sir Dagonet, or anyone. I don’t like people to know…” he stopped.
    “To know what? That you help others?” I didn’t know what to think of this.
    “Yes.”
    “How did you help her, by the way?” I couldn’t help asking. The only thing that I could make out was that he had said a few very kind words, but the woman seemed extraordinarily relieved for just that.
    Dylan shrugged and looked off toward the stream. “If I touch someone, I can—I can project feelings into people. I can make them angry or calm. It’s a rather powerful ability.”
    “Yes, it certainly is,” I concurred, amazed that anyone could have a power like that. “So, you just made her feel calm and happier?”
    “Yes…” Dylan paused and looked me directly in the eye. “You won’t tell anyone that I did this,” he said firmly.
    I heard the words in my mind as well as normally—and then I felt the oddest sensation. It was as if I knew that even if I wanted to tell anyone of Dylan’s ability, I wouldn’t be able to. The information was locked in my mind.
    “What, what did you just…?” I asked, suddenly feeling panicked.
    “I’m sorry,” he shrugged, not looking at all repentant. “I put a suggestion into your mind.”
    “A suggestion? What does that mean?”
    “Well, although it’s called a suggestion, it’s really a command. Now, even if you try to tell someone about my ability, you won’t be able to.”
    I nodded. “Yes, I can feel that. Can you remove it?”
    “I can. But I don’t want to.”
    I opened my mouth, so angry I barely