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someone—”
    “Get
on the Network?”
    “All
Guardian Circles keep a record of the Seers, Guardians, and Amethysts in their
area, so that if someone from another Circle needs immediate help for whatever
reason, they can search the database and know where to go. Anyways, Hannah
found someone in Alaska who also needed a linking partner, but before that
Guardian arrived in town, something terrible happened.”
    “What?”
I barely breathed.
    I felt
his arm muscles tense as he said, “Max and I took Shannon out to the Bellingham
airport to wait for the guy’s arrival. For some reason, Shannon had developed a
fever really early, so we wanted to get her linked as soon as the plane landed.
But by some freak chance of events, we ran into Ray-pacs out in the parking
lot. There were three of them.”
    It was
my turn to shudder. “What? You can’t be serious.”
    “Oh
yes. That was my first encounter with them. I was still a Seer myself and
didn’t have any abilities yet. All we had was Max, whose Flair at the time was
Self-Replicator.”
    “What’s
that?” I interrupted.
    “That’s
when you can create several images of yourself, but only the true self is capable
of attacking and fighting. Telepathically, Max let Maggie know we needed help,
but before she could arrive with reinforcements we had to fight. To make a long
story short, Max was unable to defend all three of us. As the Ray-pacs advanced
from different angles, he had to make a decision between Shannon and me.” There
was a long silence. “He chose me. While we fought back to back, a flying brick
smacked me across the forehead.” He reached up and ran a finger along his scar.
“I went down, and Max stayed with me. In turn, the Ray-pacs captured Shannon.”
The bald eagle flew overhead again, emitting a loud, squawking noise and
interrupting Jason’s story.
    “How
awful,” I said gently and pressed his arm a little harder.
    “Yes,
it was. But you know what was even worse?” He gazed at me with a haunted
expression, and I shook my head. “One of the Ray-pacs wasn’t linked, and this
big, greasy-looking dude linked with Shannon right there before us.” He cringed
and closed his eyes. “At that point she was lost to us. Once a Ray-pac links
with a Seer, their Essence mingles and the Seer becomes a Ray-pac – wild and
feral. There aren’t any second chances as far as we know.”
    “So,
there is no way to convert a Ray-pac back into a Guardian?” My voiced sounded
shaky.
    He
looked at me dejectedly, “No. Not that I’ve ever heard of.”
    “What
happened next?”
    “The
Ray-pacs had captured Shannon; she must have been what they needed – a person
to for that guy to link with. Then they bailed immediately before everyone from
our circle arrived.” He bit his lip. “Things were tense for a long time between
Max and my dad. On one side, my dad was furious Max had linked with Maggie when
he’d been told not to; on the other, he was grateful Max had protected me.
Personally, I think my dad harbored a lot of guilt for sending us out there
unprotected. But really, in his defense, how could he have guessed something
like that was going to happen? Ray-pac sightings in Bellingham were rare.” He
paused for a breath. “At least they have a good relationship today.”
    “And
you seem very close to Max, as well.”
    He
nodded and with his mouth set tight, he said grimly, “The choices we make
define us, but they also directly affect the people around us. That’s why logic
rather than emotion should be used when making a decision; the consequences
must be considered.”
    “Whether
you use emotion or logic, it doesn’t matter, the consequences can still hurt
the ones you love,” I said in disagreement. He started to open his mouth but I
changed the subject. “Do you ever wonder about Shannon?” I asked.
    “More
than you’d think,” he said softly. His brows furrowed and he rolled onto his
side and faced me. My hand dropped to the mat, and I left