It only took half a brick for Abi to sense the stress in their makeshift apparatus. She’d been practicing diligently, and not just with the boards and bricks, every single day for some time now. “Good,” said Sanje, thoughtfully. “I think it is time.”

Abi did her best to contain her excitement. Sanje had explained several times already that what she was going to attempt might not work the first time. In fact, it might not work at all. In the worst case scenario, Sanje might make a mistake and change how Abi sensed strain into some other sense—scent, which would be useless, or sound, which would be horrid. But Abi had confidence in the Healer, and Sanje herself did not seem too worried.

“Well, I’m more than ready,” Abi told her, steeling herself. “What do I do?”

Sanje smiled. “You do nothing except close your eyes for a moment.”

Abi obeyed her and heard Sanje getting to her feet, then felt the faint touch of fingers on either temple. After that, nothing, for a very long time.

Then she thought she saw a red glow, although that was likely nothing more than the sun through her closed eyelids. Was it? Wasn’t it?

The glow got stronger . . . and more defined. It wasn’t a vague glow anymore, but more akin to . . . to a spot that had been infected. In the center, it was brightest, then the glow dimmed along a clearly defined area on either side of the central spot. Clearly defined—like the board!

Her eyes flew open and in the direction her head had been pointing was the board with the half-brick still on it. Sanje tsked.

“So impatient,” she chided. “Now, do you still feel the strain as well as seeing it?”

That ever-present sense of more-or-less unease was gone! “No!” she exclaimed, “But—now with my eyes open, I don’t see it either—”

“Close your eyes again. You must walk before you can run,” Sanje corrected. Abi closed her eyes. Once again, she “saw” the red “light,” fading out to either side. She groped around until her hands fell on another brick, and placed it beside the first. The area lit up, roughly three times the original size and brighter.

“Healers must often close their eyes to ‘see’ illness and disease when they are first learning to use their powers,” Sanje said. “And I think we will leave yours at this stage. You would not want to see the stresses in buildings all around you all the time. It would be most annoying.”

“But could I learn how to . . . make it come and go when I wanted?” she asked. “I mean, Healers don’t go around looking at peoples’ insides all the time.”