Page 81 of I Accidentally Summoned a Demon Boyfriend

“Try anyway,” he said sternly.

“Okay, I guess.” I closed my eyes and imagined the vast expanse of nothing. When the bridge appeared, it had holes in it, but that was as good as it was going to get. I held my hand out to him, and as soon as I started my skate across, the bridge fell apart.

The connection failed but, lucky for me, we weren’t hanging in a freefall. We landed right back at the campsite, just a few feet to the right.

“See? No signature to follow.” I threw my hands up. “I didn’t know I was supposed to be collecting it while we were there.”

“Here’s another lesson for you: everywhere you go, you must take in the energy, catalog it. You never know when you’ll need to go back.” He smacked my ass. “Don’t worry. It will get easier, like second nature.”

“Okay.” If he wanted me to focus, he was going to have to stop doing that, because I wanted to teleport his ass right to bed again.

Metice took the reins. He transported me to the desolate world, and I popped us back to our campsite. Then, I took us back to the desolate world. From there, he would take me to new worlds, some boring, others outrageous. Once we landed in a new place, he would call out a previous location, and I had minutes to collect what I needed and leave.

He was right. It got easier each time.

“Last test.” Metice grinned after I emptied another bottle of water. “You ready?”

“What do I have to do?”

“Take us to a world you’ve never been.”

I laughed, expecting him to join in, but he stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

“Wait, you’re serious? What happened to collecting new signatures? How am I supposed to do that?”

“Do you think I’ve had the signature of every place I’ve ever been?” he said with a straight face. “One thing you will learn with this power is that there are places and people whose energy will call out to you. You’ll feel them like soft whispers in your mind. Cling to them, and they get stronger. That is how I’ve been able to see and experience so many places.”

I thought about what he said, and it reminded me of my art. There were things I painted I had no explanations for, faces of people who felt foreign and yet so familiar at the same time. I thought of my art and the image of my recent work came to mind.

There it was the whisper of energy, and I focused on it, held it as tightly as I could until it felt like I’d already been there.

“Okay.” I held my hand out to him. “Let’s hope this works.”

Metice grabbed my hand, and I did it. I felt that thread grow stronger. It stretched into a path, and then I ran across it.

“How did you do this?” Metice asked before I could open my eyes to the scene from my painting. It was exactly how I imagined: rolling hills of ice and hazy skies, specks of grass peeking through the frozen land.

“It’s real?” I sighed, and my breath turned into a chilly cloud in front of my face. “I never imagined this could be real.”

“This is Floushal’s world.” Metice said. “This is where I learned about you. How did you tap into this place?”

“It is?” It looked nothing like the world he told me about. “I thought you said that place was dried up without water.”

“It was when I was there, but it has seasons just like any other world.”

“This is the world I’ve been painting. I didn’t know if it was real or not, but it’s been so vivid in my mind. I figured I could try it out, and if it didn’t work, the worst that would happen is I would end up in my home in front of my easel.”

“This is amazing.” Metice pulled me into him and kissed me. “You are truly amazing, Rayna.”

“It’s really beautiful.” My voice trembled from the cold. “This is unbelievable. I dreamed of this place for weeks before I started painting. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t get it out of my head. And now, I’m here. How many of my other works are real?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of them are.” Metice wrapped his arms around me and warmed my body.

“To think, I could visit those places and experience those dreams.” The excitement was enough to make me forget about the icy wind that slammed against my body. “This is wild.”

“Let’s get back. We can visit this place again when you’re dressed for it. This dress isn’t enough to protect you from this weather.” He kissed my cheek and moved to my lips.

In a flash, we were back in our tent, and our clothes fell to the floor as we moved to the bed.

---