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how it’s done. I love to talk to people who do it, but I don’t want the experience of it, the reality of it. My imagination provides a wonderful adventure without the risk or the discomfort.”
    “Katie,” Abbey protested.
    “It’s the truth. I’ve always been attracted to Matthew Granite, but I’m far too practical to make the mistake of believing anything could ever work between us. He runs wild. I remember him being right in the middle of every rough play in football both in high school and in college. He’s done so many crazy things, from serving as a Ranger to skydiving for the fun of it.” She shuddered. “I don’t even scuba dive. He goes white-water rafting and rock climbing for relaxation. I read a good book. We aren’t in the least compatible, but I can still think he’s hot.”
    “Are you certain you want to spend time with him?” Abbey asked.
    Kate shrugged. “What I want to do is to take a look at the mosaic and see if I can make out the shadows in the earth the way Hannah did.”
    “Maybe all three of us can figure out what is going on,” Hannah agreed. She followed Kate to the entryway, glancing over her shoulder at Abigail. “Doesn’t Joley sound beautiful? She sent us her Christmas CD. She said she might be able to make it home for Christmas.”
    “I hope so,” Abbey said. “Did Elle or Libby call?”
    “Libby is in South America,” Hannah said.
    “I thought you said she was in the Congo,” Kate interrupted.
    Hannah laughed. “She was in the Congo, but they called her to South America. She phoned right after the quake. Some small tribe in the rain forest has some puzzling disease and they asked Libby to fly there immediately to help and of course she did. She said it will be difficult, but no matter what, she’s coming home for Christmas. I think she needs to be with us. She sounded tired. Really tired. I told her we would get together and see if we could send her some energy, but she said no. She told me to conserve our strength and be very careful,” Hannah reported.
    Abbey and Kate stopped walking abruptly. “Are you certain Libby doesn’t need us, Hannah?” Kate asked. “You know what can happen to her. She heals people in the worst of circumstances, and it thoroughly depletes her energy. Traveling those distances on top of it with little sleep won’t help.”
    “She said no,” Hannah reiterated. “I heard the weariness in her voice. She obviously needs to come home and regroup and rest, but I didn’t feel as if she was in a dangerous state.” She knelt on the floor at the foot of the mosaic her grandmother and her grandmother’s sisters had worked so hard to make.
    Relief swept through Kate. Libby always drove herself too hard, and her health suffered dramatically for it. Libby was too small, too slender, a fragile woman who pushed herself for others. Libby worked for the Center for Disease Control and traveled all over the globe. “We’ll have to watch her,” Kate said softly, musing aloud.
    It was one of the best-loved talents of the sisters, to be able to stay in communication with one another no matter how far apart they were physically. They could ‘see’ one another and send energy back and forth when it was needed. Kate knelt beside Hannah in the entryway.
    Kate always felt a sense of awe when she looked at the artwork on the floor. The mosaic always seemed to her to be alive with energy. Anyone looking into the mosaic felt as if they were falling into another world. The deep blue of the sea was really the ocean in the sky. Stars burst and flared into life. The moon was a shining ball of silver. Kate bent close to the mosaic to examine the greens, browns, and grays that made up mother earth.
    Only Joley’s voice poured into the room, then melted away on the last notes to leave the room entirely silent. The three sisters linked hands. Small bursts of electricity arced from one to the other. In the dimly lit room the energy appeared as a jagged whip