Cracks in Reality (Seams in Reality Book 2) by Alex Siegel Read Free Book Online

wasn't looking forward to a long road trip with them. Neither BPI agent was very friendly.
    "I've won battles on every continent," Tungsten said. "I'm prepared for anything."
    Tonya raised her eyebrows. "No, you're not. Seams aren't instabilities in space. They are instabilities in truth . They are places where imagination, belief, and reality blur together. A seam is a crack in the wall separating our minds from each other and the world at large. A sorcerer can attack your mind directly."
    "My mind is as hard as my body. I survived a Syrian prison. I'll be fine."
    She snorted. "I think a demonstration is in order. Follow me, all of you."
    She left the room. Everybody else was still wearing their martial arts gear, but they followed regardless.
    Tonya turned a corner and headed towards the seam chamber. Andrew was astonished. Normally, BPI agents only went inside that room when the sorcerers were away. Tonya clearly intended to violate that rule.
    Dan balked. "Hold on. What exactly are you planning?"
    She stopped walking and turned to him. "Andrew and Charley are very dear to me, and they have an exceptionally dangerous assignment ahead of them. I will do anything to make them safer, even if that means giving a couple of thick-skulled federal agents a lesson in psychic defense."
    Dan gulped. "I don't think regulations allow that."
    "Circumstances justify bending the rules a little."
    Tungsten still had an expression of arrogant confidence. Fool, Andrew thought.
    "And the BPI already gave us some training in how to resist sorcery," Dan said.
    "Was an actual sorcerer involved?" Tonya said.
    "Uh, no. It was just a classroom lecture."
    Tonya rolled her eyes. "In other words, a waste of time."
    She opened the steel door of the chamber using a long key code. She pulled open the door with both hands, and everybody went inside.
    "I've never been in here," Tungsten said. "I always wondered what was inside."
    Shelves along all the walls held a tremendous variety of supplies. Raw materials such as flasks of water, wooden blocks, iron ingots, and copper plates were intended for practicing transmutation. A variety of three-dimensional puzzles could hone visualization skills. Toys, coins, crystals, and other odd items were for inspiring illusions. The chamber even included a few electronic games for testing mental focus. Yesterday, Tonya had made Andrew play a game while standing in an illusion of boiling hot oil.
    "This isn't what I expected." Tungsten walked over to the marble machine and stared at it with a curious expression. "Where is the seam?"
    "It's invisible to normal people," Tonya said. "What did you expect to see?"
    "Magic wands and pointy hats, I suppose. Wizard stuff."
    "Like this?"
    She had transformed into the classic portrayal of a wizard. She was wearing a robe covered in stars and moons. A long white beard went down to her belly. An oak staff in her hand had a glowing white crystal on the end. Andrew knew it was just an illusion, but he was still impressed. The complexity and the attention to detail were amazing. He could also make illusions, but his were simpler.
    Tungsten stared at her. He obviously couldn't believe what he was seeing.
    "Sorry," Tonya said. "Just having a little fun." She snapped her fingers and returned to normal.
    "How the hell did you do that?" he said in a tone of dismay.
    "That was nothing."
    "I've seen enough," Dan said in an unsteady voice. "Thanks for the demonstration. I'll be going now."
    Tonya waved her hand and the door vanished. A blank concrete wall appeared to take its place.
    "You can go when I tell you to go," she said.
    Dan stepped back with a shocked expression.
    It was another illusion. Andrew decided to test himself and try to see through it. He concentrated intently on the make-believe wall. He knew Tonya was just making him think it existed, and the trick was entirely in his head. To perceive the truth, he would have to banish her irrational influence. He performed mental counting