The Protector of Esparia (The Annals of Esparia Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

frowned.  “You be careful.  You know I don’t trust that hot box.  Someone’s going to get hurt in there.”
    Once downstairs, Jessica flipped on the heat to the dry sauna before slipping into the bathroom next to it.  Shower finished and towel in place, she filled a plastic pitcher with water.  Balancing the pitcher while clutching the towel, she glanced at the sauna thermometer before entering.  It read one hundred sixteen. 
    The initial blast of dry heat eradicated the lingering muscle tension that the shower failed to relieve.  She poured a little water from the pitcher onto the hot stones, then sat on the two-man bench opposite the heating unit to watch the water droplets dance and sizzle across the rocks before exploding in bursts of steam energy.  After sprinkling on more water, she stretched out and lazily gazed at the mist curling up to the ceiling.  The first few wisps vaporized into the warm air.  However, within a few moments the wisps condensed into puffs, then the puffs swelled, like marshmallows roasting over warm coals.  Amazed, she stood up and reached out to touch the small clouds.  A tiny spark flashed from her finger tip.  The clouds exploded.  Hundreds of pea sized balls shot around the room.  They doubled in size then doubled again and again.  A billowy fog quickly filled the closet sized room.  No longer moist, it swirled thicker and thicker around her.  Within moments it obscured the cedar walls. 
    In the thickening mist all external light faded, but her body glowed, emanating enough light to see a few feet in each direction.  “Unbelievable!” she muttered.  But last night was just a dream!  
    A low vibration, directly behind her, filtered through the haze.  Turning, she felt for the sauna bench and walls, but they were no longer there.  She took a few steps.  There was nothing to hinder her movement, so she hurried toward the sound.  Two men were speaking.  Like the night before, she felt an overwhelming urgency to listen to the conversation.  . 
    “Larone, I’ve got it!  It’s all so simple now.” A man boomed in a baritone that was obviously unaccustomed to whispering.
    “You have finished the calculations already?”  Jessica immediately recognized Larone’s deep and resonating voice.
    “Yep, I have,” came the thundering reply.  “Alderic’s manuscript had the missin’ part, the persite factor.  I’ve wasted fifty years goin’ over ‘n over Tiard’s incantations, not knowin’ that white persite was the other Transmirian key.  Alderic’s writings fit like a puzzle with Tiard’s.  I needed both together.  Blue sends ya off and white brings ya back.  Did ya know these guys were brothers?”
    “No.”  There was a gentle laugh.  “How appropriate, that two brothers unravel their work.  There is so much more here, now that we understand their dual writing…but that is for another day.  Tell me what you have learned.” 
    “Normally spirals are tiny; poppin’ up from time to time.  They’re pressure outlets for the Transmirian Sea.  For instance, when ya lay somethin’ down and it just disappears…No one took it, it isn’t misplaced, it’s just gone…into thin air.  Well, a right turning spiral opened up and sucked the thing in, transforming it into an energy signature floating on the astral plane.  That much we knew from Alderic’s manuscript.  The new information is from Tiard.  He writes about left turning spirals.  They open up, reanimating the energy, and spit things out, no harm done.  Green persite makes the spiral bigger, lots bigger. And a map, enchanted with the right coordinates, gives the spiral a course to follow to where ever we want it to go.  You figured that one out, but this confirms it.  So, blue persite forces a right handed spiral spin, and white persite forces it left.  The right transports one way and the left spin brings ya back.”  He chuckled, a low rumble that made Jessica smile.