“We were practicing that night too,” I told Bish.
He had the good graces to look a little embarrassed.
“Yeah…Jenna told me told more about what goes on after you…imprint. I still don’t understand but, I know that things are really different. And…I’m sorry. I overreacted. I always overreact, but Maggie you don’t know what it was like for me. My parents…as a kid-”
“Actually, I do.”
“What?”
“One of my abilities is to see the past, remember? I saw more than I wanted to see of yours,” I told him quietly.
He blanched and shoved his hands in his pockets. He rocked on his heels and his shame blazed like a fire through me. It was almost as if I could feel the heat from it. I was confused as to why he felt so responsible for everything that happened.
“It wasn’t your fault. I saw everything.”
“I’m not going to talk about that right now. Now,” he said back to business and crossed his arms over his big chest. “What exactly do you think you are you going to do to Jenna?”
I caught her small smile at his protectiveness beside me. I glanced at her and she glanced at me. Her smile melted and she begged me with her eyes.
“Please don’t read my mind right now, Maggie,” she whispered.
I nodded.
“I’m not trying to,” I told her gently. “Let’s just do this, I guess.”
“Hello, Mags!” Bish said exasperated.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do, Bish. Try to focus and see what I get from them. We had an issue at the club tonight.”
“Issue?”
“Yeah,” Ecstasy chimed in too happily, “she saw me die.”
She smiled cruelly but I saw what was in her mind. She was scared.
“Ok,” he dragged out. “Well, you’re still kicking so I assume that’s why she brought you here?” She tipped her head to him in answer. “So you’re just going to look into her mind, that’s it. You’re not going to use any magic on Jenna?”
It didn’t escape my notice how he kept saying her name and talking about her instead of to her.
“Oh, don’t worry about little old me over here,” Ecstasy said sarcastically and put her green polished nail hands on her hips.
It was scary how much she reminded me of Kyle and his snarkyness.
“No, I’m not gonna use magic on her,” I said and rolled my eyes. “I don’t possess any magic that I know of.”
“You know what I mean. Ok. I mean, if she’s ok with it,” he conceded.
“I am,” Jen or should I say Jenna confirmed.
“Me first,” Ecstasy said.
I swallowed. I had no idea what to do or how to start. Caleb pulled two chairs into the middle of our circle and sat me down in one. Ecstasy sat in the other.
“Every other person I’ve had visions for, I touched.”
She held out her hand eagerly. I noticed her eyes were also eager and bright, lit with the hopes that I would tell her something awesome and life changing. I hoped I didn’t disappoint.
I touched her hand and it was surprisingly soft as I tried to focus. I felt Caleb’s hands on my shoulders as he tried not to worry behind me.
“I’ve already seen your future for tonight and the next few days. I’m going to try to see your future after that.”
She just stared at me expectantly. And I stared back. I focused on her face, her pulse beating under my fingers in her wrist, her eyes barely blinking.
Nothing happened.
I cleared my throat in annoyance and focused again. Her mind was so focused on me and waiting that I saw nothing else in her mind. I breathed slowly and deeply, nothing, dang it. I huffed and slammed back in my chair and the lights flickered. The light bulb above us glowed brighter then dimmer. Ecstasy eyed it speculatively and then looked back to me.
“I don’t think I can just will it like the other things-” I explained but Ecstasy cut me off.
“What other things? What do you mean ‘will it’?”
I decided to show her. I sent my thought to turn the light out above us. I also thought about how it felt when Bish pushed Caleb. The light went out with a low keening hum and we were submerged in darkness. All I could hear was her breathing.
“Um…ok, I get it,” she said and I heard her annoyance.
“You asked.”
“I hate the dark, please turn it back on,” she said evenly but she was serious. The dark scared her.
So I repeated my process and turned it back on. Bish was looking at me a little wild eyed. I sighed and gave him a look.“Are you really surprised?” I asked.
“Yes. You just keep coming up with all these things you can do.”
“I don’t come up with them,” I muttered but he was still going.
“Why do Peter and Rachel-“
“No, Bish, stop.” He looked at me funny. “Ecstasy doesn’t know everything.”
“What do you...oh. Well, you kinda just let the cat out of the bag, sister.”
“No I didn’t! She doesn’t know-”
“Ok, ok,” Caleb crooned and rubbed my neck. “She knows something is up but she doesn’t know what. Let’s keep it that way.”
“Yeah,” I reiterated. “That’s what I was getting at.”
Bish rolled his eyes at me but smiled in tolerance.
“Anyway,” I accentuated. “I’m different apparently.”
“She’s special,” Caleb said and ran his fingers down the mark on my neck that Bish couldn’t see. “She’s pretty much royalty for us.”
“Really,” Bish said in awe as I fought to not roll my eyes, “Hmm.”
“Ok. Let’s get back to this and get it over with. I’m ready for bed,” I insisted.
“Ok.”
We tried again and again for the next half hour and nothing happened still. I’d had it. I was tired and in a foul mood from too much channeling of bad thoughts and feelings, trying to force a reaction. I no longer wanted to try anymore.
“That’s it. I’m done. I’m going to bed.”
I started to get up and go, without waiting for anyone but Caleb grabbed my arm to halt me. I had a seconds thought, a moment of weakness, where I thought about zapping him in my annoyance but stopped it immediately and felt guilty. Caleb heard my thought and released my arm quickly.
“I’m sorry,” I told him. “It’s just thinking about all these bad things…”
“I know,” he said but didn’t make a move to touch me again. “Let’s go, Ecstasy, you can sleep on the couch. Come inside and I’ll get you set up in the living room.”
I turned back to leave but Jen was there. She grabbed my hand to say something about trying another day but that was it. That was all it took for some reason. I was smacked with another vision but this time in was Jen’s. It was her future not her past, and there was blood everywhere.
~ Twenty Two ~
I gasped and pulled my hand away in reflex but the vision kept coming. I vaguely felt Caleb’s arm around me from behind. He was shaking as he watched the vision with me. Jen and Bish were standing together later on in the future, not tonight. It was dark. I couldn’t see their surroundings but they were…touching, murmuring into each other’s ear and in their minds in an embrace. Jen laughed and as she leaned her head back in her glee, Bish took that opportunity to kiss her neck. Then there were gunshots, Bish and Jen both looked around and suddenly Jen bent over in with an agonizing scream. Bish followed her but when he took his hand away, it was red with her blood. Then he too, was hit in the shoulder with a bullet…then the stomach. They fell in a heap on the ground and writhed in pain together until they stopped writhing. They were both dead.
I screamed as I watched the so very life like scene play out. Their blood was so red, their eyes so wide and white against the dark, their hands entwined as they knew death was coming. I fell to the floor and Caleb caught me in his arms. We both sank down. When it was over, I turned and sobbed into his shoulder as he tried to keep his emotions in check.
“No, no, no, no,” I heard myself say.
Then I realized I wasn’t the only one chanting those words. I looked over to see Jen on the floor too. She had her arms wrapped around her stomach and she was rocking and chanting, tears running down her face. She had seen the vision too. Then Bish’s voice boomed above everything else going on and called all of our attention.
“What the hell was that?”
“What…you saw that?” I squeaked.
“Yes, I saw it.”
“Did you see it?” I asked Ecstasy and she just shook her head and looked at us.
“What was it?” he asked and balled up his fist to stop the shaking.
“A vision, I…Bish…”
“A vision. You’re saying that what we saw is going to happen... to us?”
“Yes, I guess. I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know!” he bellowed and Ecstasy flinched.
“I don’t know!” I yelled back. “I’m new at this, the visions just come and I can’t control them.”
Bish looked down at Jen and she looked up at him. For a split second I saw their look of longing. They were going to imprint. Bish’s breathing was ragged as he bent down and started to touch her hand. She jerked back and slid backwards on the floor in a hasty frightful attempt to escape him. He looked shocked.