I started training with Quinn the next day. I felt so powerless and afraid after the Fairy War that he offered to teach me to defend myself. He said I'd be jumping at shadows for the rest of my life unless I made some meaning from what happened, and he was right: I had to do something to make me feel safe again, and being able to fight off an attacker would be a good start.

Amelia was still teaching me fairy magic, too, and with the books and enchanted objects Niall left to guide her as well as her own knowledge, she had plenty to show me. She offered to spend her mornings with me so she could go back to work in the afternoons, and that worked out well. After mornings with Amelia, Quinn would train me after lunch until dinner time.

The three of us were in my backyard just before 10am that day, ready to begin.

"So... where do we start?" I asked nervously.

"We can work on teleporting all day today if you like," Quinn answered. "I emailed Pam last night and said I thought 'get the hell out of there' should be your first line of defense, so I wanted to teach you that first. Eric approved it personally. He really likes the idea of you popping home when there's trouble and letting someone else deal with it, out of character as that would be."

"Thank you," I breathed, genuinely touched that he had organized it.

The night before, I asked Amelia if we could concentrate on teleporting for a few days. I wanted to learn to pop over to Remy's place so I could get there fast if Hunter needed me. I hadn't even asked Quinn because I knew he had other things planned, and Eric or Pam had to approve any changes to my training schedule. I was grateful he had rearranged things so I could work on teleporting with him, too.

"I sat up late reading everything about teleporting in Niall's books," Amelia told me, "and I've got a whole bunch of exercises planned for you. We need to get you comfortable with jumping longer distances, but I can also teach you to see where you're going a split-second before you get there, so you don't materialize in the middle of a table or in front of someone who shouldn't see you appear. Eventually you'll be able to start the jump and pull back at the last second if you spot something that makes it unsafe, or shift your destination in the middle of a jump so you can appear somewhere else instead."

"Sounds great," I smiled.

"While you're doing that, I'll be over here," Quinn gestured to the lounger I used for sun-bathing. "I've got to finish the training plans for this afternoon and catch up on some work email, but I'll be watching what you learn from Amelia, too. I need to see exactly what you can do so I can figure out how to use it in a fight."

"Don't you need to be on the internet to answer email?" I asked as he sat down with his laptop.

"Nope, I downloaded all my email so I can sit out here and draft replies. I'll send them all at once when I'm back inside."

"Oh, that's handy," I marveled.

I realized once again that I knew almost nothing about technology, and silently vowed that I would learn. Hadley's laptop was in my bedroom and I rarely used it, but I knew I should figure out email, word processing and spreadsheets at least. I heard they were basic skills for anyone doing business these days, and if I was going to be a consultant telepath, I'd need those skills.

"Shall we?" Amelia asked, eager to get started.

"Sure," I answered nervously.

"OK, the first thing you're going to do is teleport to some places you know well that are close by; I was thinking the cemetery, the fairy meadow and Bill's place. Just jump there and back, OK?"

"Sure."

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I decided to teleport to my Gran's grave first – it was the closest of the three places Amelia picked – and pop!, I was there. I touched Gran's headstone and told her how much I missed her, then flashed back to Amelia.

"OK, been to the cemetery," I announced proudly. "Now off to the fairy meadow."

I closed my eyes and concentrated again, then pop!, I was there. The meadow was gorgeous with all the spring wildflowers in bloom, so I picked a small posy to take back to Amelia. After gathering a handful of the prettiest flowers, I popped back and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she grinned. "I was wondering what took you so long."

"I wish I could teleport you over there, it's so beautiful this time of year."

"It's OK, I can walk there on the weekend. Teleporting someone else with you is pretty advanced, it'll be a while before you can do it. I've planned some lessons where you take different objects with you first, and the small ones should be easy because you've already mastered taking your clothes with you. Once you can teleport big objects like a car, we can move on to people. I'm not looking forward to your first few attempts, but the amulet will put me back together OK."

"I'll be able to teleport cars?" I asked incredulously.

"You'll be able to teleport small buildings. In theory, you already can, you just need to practice to get control of it."

"How small?" I sounded as stunned as I felt.

"This house would be fine. You could easily manage the Bellefleur's mansion or the apartments," she explained. I knew exactly which ones she meant; there was only apartment block in Bon Temps. "Don't go trying to move any high rises though, not for a long time anyway. Even Niall couldn't move a really big sky scraper like the ones in Chicago."

"Wow. I feel like Superman," I breathed in disbelief.

Amelia laughed. "Sook, for a fairy, you're a total weakling. Teleportation is the most basic power, every single one of you can do it. A full-blood fairy can teleport anywhere in the world, even as a small child. You only have telepathy, teleportation and telekinesis at your disposal... it's not bad for a halfling, but a real fairy can do a lot more. The thing with changing clothes is more promising, you're showing some ability to conjure up objects, but even that's pretty basic by fairy standards."

"What can a real fairy do?"

"Well, you know how all fairies are tied to an element? You're Sky blood, but there's also Water and Fire blood. Fire blood's really rare, most fairies are Sky or Water. Anyway, whatever element you are, you should be able to control. A fairy with Sky blood can change the weather: make it cloudy or sunny, create or stop thunderstorms, make it snow in summer, cause lightning to strike wherever they want... a powerful fairy like Niall can even control hurricanes and tornados. He can create them, divert them or make them dissipate entirely, although that last one would be hard work even for him."

"Wow," I marveled. "What about fairies with Water and Fire blood?"

"A fairy with Water blood can make streams or small rivers do whatever they want: flow faster or slower, rise or lower the water level, break their banks, divert them to pick things up, even make still lakes have waves. They can also do a lot with the ocean, like alter the size of waves and the direction of currents. The really powerful ones have control over the tides, too. They can literally reverse them if they want, although it takes as much energy as dissipating a hurricane."

I realized I should've known some of that; it was how Lochlan and Neave killed my parents. They made a flash flood sweep their car from the road, then pulled them out of it and drowned them. I shuddered, but Amelia didn't notice and just kept talking.

"And fairies with Fire blood can control wildfires: start them, put them out, control the direction, speed and temperature, that kind of thing. Their equivalent of dissipating a hurricane or reversing the tides would be to put out a huge wildfire. They can do it, but it takes a lot out of them. They're rare and really secretive though, even for fae, so they keep the specifics really vague. They don't like anyone to even know how fire works, not even other fairies."

"That's incredible."

"Not really," Amelia insisted. "Fairies are much more in tune with nature than humans. Your energy is so closely tied to your element that it's not a big deal to change it. Humans are so disconnected from the Earth now, when Eric was human most villages had a witch who was powerful enough to influence the weather. Witches have to use their power much more selectively than fairies, though, because we have to balance the elements carefully so we don't stuff things up."

"What do you mean?" I learned so much about magic from Amelia's conversational tangents that I encouraged them now.

"Well, to do any magic, you have to pull down energy. For fairies, it's easy; you just pull what you need from the Earth and your element. Like when you teleport or change your outfit, you're pulling energy from the Earth and the Sky. Fairies have enough power of their own that they can use the power they pull down really efficiently, but humans have to pull down a lot more because we waste a lot of it shaping the intention and binding our will to action.

"On top of that, Fairies are so closely tied to the Earth that it's rare for them to upset the balance. You naturally sense where you can pull energy from and how much you can take without changing the overall state of the system. For witches, it's a lot harder. We don't have that natural sense of an element, we spend years developing it but we never get anywhere near as sensitive as a Fairy is on the day they're born. We have to be so careful. It's easy for us to pull a little too much energy from the Sky and cause a cascade that results in a hurricane or a tornado somewhere else, or covers a tropical beach in snow, or something like that. A lot of freak weather incidents are really witches' stuff-ups."

"Wow, I didn't know that."

"You wanna try teleporting to Bill's place now?" she asked, getting back to my training.

"Sure," I said, and popped straight there, appearing on his porch, then popped straight back again.

"OK, so where did you go that time?" Amelia asked as I reappeared.

"Bill's place."

"Yes, but where in Bill's place?"

"His front porch."

"OK, why not try going inside? Say, to his kitchen or parlor? It's good practice for not appearing in the middle of a table."

"Isn't that kinda rude, going into his house when he's asleep?"

"I'm sure he won't mind, you're only doing it to get better control of your fairy powers so you can defend yourself."

"I guess so," I conceded, then popped into his parlor.

I was about to pop back when I heard someone moving around upstairs. I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to invade Bill's privacy, but what if it was someone who meant him harm? I was sure he was well-hidden for the day, but if they found him while he was asleep... I decided I couldn't risk it when he was already so weak. I lowered my shields and reached out with my mind. If Bill's visitor was up to no good, I could be back with Quinn in a couple of minutes, ready to deal with them.

...such a fucking asshole, I heard, I'm here for hot vampire sex, not to dress the bastard's wounds. No way I'm gonna drive all this way again when I don't even get laid. And it would be about that big-breasted blond bimbo, of course he gets smashed up for HER. Dunno why, she sure isn't anything special. Maybe she gives him head for hours like a prostitute. Maybe she lets him...

Selah.

I'd heard more than enough. I didn't like her, but I was sure she wouldn't hurt Bill, so I popped back home.

"What happened?" Amelia asked when I reappeared. "You look like you want to kill someone."

"Selah Pumphrey."

"Oh. She's at Bill's place? But he was here for hours last night."

It was true, we had to kick Bill out when we wanted to go to sleep the night before. He stayed talking to Amelia, Quinn and I while James looked over the whole house and made a long list of repairs. Then he insisted on going through the whole list with me, making sure every repair was necessary and that Eric would pay for anything remotely related to light-proofing the place, even things like fixing a small gap in the wall next to a window frame in Amelia's sitting room. Was Selah sitting at his place the whole time, waiting for him? The thought amused me, and I realized once again that I wasn't a very good Christian any more.

"She's there and as awful as ever," I confirmed.

"Why do you hate her so much? You don't want Bill back, so why do you mind him having a new girlfriend?"

I sighed loudly. "I'd be real happy for him if I didn't have to listen to her thoughts. She's so horrible!"

"Really?" Amelia asked gleefully, sensing juicy gossip. "What sort of things does she think?"

"You know I don't share people's thoughts," I protested. "I'd be invading their privacy."

"Oh, come on, you look like you want to kill the bitch. At least tell me why?"

"Fine," I sighed. "I only listened to her thoughts because I heard someone in Bill's place and I didn't know who it was. I just wanted to be sure they didn't mean him any harm. If they did, I would've come back and got Quinn to go sort them out."

Quinn's head snapped up at the mention of his name.

"Sure sure, it wasn't random snooping. Get to the juicy part," Amelia insisted. She really didn't give up; I knew that all too well.

"I only listened for ten seconds or so, just long enough to work out who it was and whether they meant Bill any harm. She called me a 'big-breasted blond bimbo' and not 'anything special', likened me to a prostitute and thought some awful stuff about what I must have let Bill do to me in bed for him to like me so much. Plus she called Bill an 'effing asshole' and a bastard."

"What a cow. Although she's right about Bill," Amelia concluded. "You might've forgiven him, but as your best friend, I'm honor bound to hate him forever for the things he did to you."

I wasn't really listening; Quinn had a murderous look on his face and I was watching him carefully, in case he decided to do something stupid. I walked over and sat down on the edge of his chair, as he scooted over to give me room.

"It's not really about me," I told him. "Selah has a really high opinion of herself, so she had to find a reason why Bill loves me and not her. The first time he brought her to Merlotte's on a date, I heard her think that she was thinner, prettier, more educated, had a better job and made more money than me. But she thinks lower-class women are better in bed and that's why he loves me.

"She doesn't understand that her personality could be the problem, she doesn't even think of it. But she doesn't see him as a person, just a source of, quote, 'hot vampire sex'. She was furious that she had to dress his wounds last night instead of getting laid. I don't think she likes him at all, she just likes that vampires are better in bed than humans."

Quinn shook his head. "She sounds like a real piece of work. The kind of woman he deserves, actually. Did he really take her on a date to Merlotte's? What an asshole."

I laughed. "He took her to Merlotte's for every date. He took Portia Bellefleur to Merlotte's for every date, too. Selah was so mad about it, you should've heard the things she was thinking about him for taking her there so many times."

Quinn laughed too, then. "Sounds like she's getting what she deserves, then. Still, if she ever says those things to your face..."

"She won't," I insisted. "She's convinced that she's better than me, remember? She won't be that rude."

Quinn nodded, so I got up and went back over to Amelia to resume my teleportation lesson.

By lunchtime, I had mastered looking where I was going a split-second before I appeared there. I was also able to stop or change my destination about half the time, and I was still improving. I had teleported to places all over Bon Temps, although only spots I was sure would be deserted, like the woods behind Sam's trailer at Merlotte's and the spot where the Rattrays used to live.

My training was going well, and I was happy.