She raised the rock and feather five more times. Each time it became easier and faster. Mira looked at Jack with triumph on her face when he told her to stop.

"Okay, now do it with your eyes closed.”

"Jack!”

"Mira, do it.”

She sighed and settled in for a long afternoon, but she finally managed to master the task. When Jack told her to stop, she felt exhausted from having her concentration so centered on her lesson.

"Have you done anything to tap into your ability of hearing conversations from far away?" he asked.

"My super-duper eavesdropping ability? It's been happening spontaneously." She drew a breath and told him about the whispering she'd heard early that morning. "That's why I'd been going to the kitchen when I saw you. I couldn't fall back to sleep after that. I wanted to think it was just a nightmare." She shuddered. "But I know it wasn't.”

"It was a nightmare, all right, but one of the waking variety.”

Mira dropped her gaze, feeling a mixture of dread and panic wash over her. She didn't like being a target, a potential victim. It made her all the more motivated to gain control of her power. She raised her gaze and met her own eyes in the mirror. "Okay, give me another lesson, teach.”

"Find me a conversation somewhere in the building." He hesitated, thinking. "No, find me either Thomas, Ingrid, or Serena and tell me if they're having a conversation. If so, eavesdrop on it. You know them, so it should be a little easier to locate them in the Coven. Plus, we can verify it afterward.”

"Uh, aren't they going to mind if I drop in on their private discussions?”

"They know there's an air witch in the building who's training. That's warning enough.”

"If you say so, Jack." She closed her eyes and let her consciousness drift into deeper places. Mira had been meditating every day, training to let her awareness steal a bit of magick and go exploring.

Soon she lost most of her physical connection with the room and unfurled the thread of power she'd taken along for the ride. It reached into the house, sorting through the vocal vibrations it found disturbing the air currents. Mira discarded the ones that didn't seem familiar and stopped to investigate ones that did.

Finally, she found a pattern that seemed very familiar and honed in on it. Using her magick, she adjusted the frequency so that it became less a humming buzz and more and more like a conversation. It was Ingrid.

Mira heard only her half of the discussion. Either Ingrid was talking on the phone, or Mira didn't have a good grasp on the person Ingrid was speaking with. Reaching out a tendril of magick, she sought the answer and discovered the second person. Again "tuning the frequency," she forced the other person's voice to come in clearly.