Psychic Series Boxset: Books 1-3

by Lisa Freed

  “Pool privileges?”

  All the houses in my gated community had access to the pool house and clubhouse restaurant, with a hefty membership fee, of course, but we could bring our family and friends there. “Absolutely.”

  “Why didn’t you mention this trip at dinner the other night?” he asked, his deep voice full of suspicion.

  Noticing the handful of underwear still clutched tightly in my left hand, I tossed them toward my open suitcase before sitting down on the bed. “This all came up suddenly,” I said calmly. Which was true. How was I to know Victor would go and do something crazy like this? Ok, no, scratch that. If I hadn’t been preoccupied with my romance with Lance, I could have quite clearly seen this coming. It didn’t take a psychic to know he was unhappy in his current spirit state and having just discovered he could take over bodies, why wouldn’t he plan to get himself a new, permanent one?

  And hadn’t Aunt Prudy warned me to watch him? Furthermore, hadn’t I also known for years he wanted revenge against his brother and ex-girlfriend? As a ghost, he had been strong but virtually powerless to do anything more than slam a door in his brother Andre’s face, maybe give him a hard shove down the stairs. Yet once he was human again, he could do some real damage. A very scary thought.

  “T, you’re not being straight with me,” John said his voice quiet and serious. “This doesn’t have anything to do with drugs does it?”

  My mind went blank. Drugs? What in the world was John smoking to make him leap to that idea?!

  Then my own brain fog dissipated. Oh, right, last time we spoke John had misunderstood the intervention the Whisker Kisses crew had staged for me as being drug-related. At the time, it had just been easier to ignore it. Now it came back to bite me in the butt and I was very much wishing I had set him straight then. Oh well, another thing that would have to go on the back burner of things to be handled. Thanks a lot, Victor!

  “John, will you house and cat sit or not?” I asked bluntly.

  “You know I will, it’s just…” he paused, clearing his throat several times before continuing. “I worry about you, T. Ever since you started dating that lawyer you’ve been different, distant. And I’m concerned.”

  A rush of warmth nearly overwhelmed me as I felt John’s fear for me come shooting through the phone. Such a good friend, always wanting the best for me. “John, you are such a dear friend. I’m sorry. You’re one hundred percent right. Life’s been a mess lately, but I promise you I’m getting it back on track. I’m not going back with Lance but I do need to help him. Please understand.”

  “Just be safe, okay? I don’t have a passport to come and rescue you if something happens.” He had tried to make it sound light-hearted but his concern wrapped around me like a hug.

  “I’ll be fine.” I sniffed back a few emotional tears. What an amazing friend I was blessed with! Standing up, I picked up the undies that had missed the suitcase that Daisy now lounged on. I had only a few hours until I had to be at the airport and I had so much yet to do. “John, you remember the gate code, right? And you have the extra key I gave you?”

  “Yup, I got it. Other than the kitties, any plants I got to water?”

  “No, Helen will take care of them. I’ve got to call her too. John, thanks a bunch, I need to go!”

  “Okay, have fun and punch your ex for me?” His voice held a teasing note to it but I knew he was serious.

  “Bye, John.” I clicked off before he could reply.

  Less than five minutes after getting off the phone with Steph, not fully comprehending all that lay ahead of me, I had booked the flight. Now, after the call with John, I stared at my bedroom with the open suitcase half filled with odds and ends, discarded clothes scattered around the floor, and Daisy once again in my suitcase. I felt the urge to call John back and cancel the whole thing. Victor could handle himself and sorry about Lance’s luck, he would probably eventually get his body back. Ahhhhh...how simple my life would be if I could ignore all ghostly happenings around me.

  But I couldn’t do that. So, I made the call to Whisker Kisses. What a disaster that ended up being! Sandy answered, then without me being aware of it she had put me on speakerphone.

  Suddenly, I had been bombarded with upset and concerned voices all lobbying me to change my mind.

  “You said you were over him!”

  “Greece? Don’t forget the sunscreen or else you’ll fry!”

  “T’s going to Greece?! Can I come with you?”

  “Why are you chasing that man across the ocean?”

  “Who’s going to take care of Agnes, Daisy, and Maverick?”

  “I think we’re out of dewormer, can you order some before your flight?”

  Alarmed by the loud voices, Daisy had taken off at a mad run, flipping my suitcase off the bed before she zoomed around the corner, her long black tail puffed up like a dust brush.

  “I am over him. I’ll get sunscreen, I promise. Nope, sorry you can’t come with me, Sandy. I’m not chasing him, I’m helping him. John’s going to be pet sitting for me, the cats love him so they’re in good hands, don’t worry. I thought we just got a big shipment of wormer? Check if it’s still in the box,” I said in a rush, the phone digging into my cheek as I tried to balance it between my face and shoulder, struggling to stuff my clothes back into the suitcase laying on the floor.

  Parker’s normally shy, hesitant voice broke through loud and strong, “Why don’t you get back with Lance? All you do is mope around since you two ended things.”

  The phone fell with a loud whack on the hardwood floor, the noise causing me to jump almost as much as Parker’s words. Was it true? Had I been moping? Sure, I might miss Lance sometimes, but I had been so busy with the rescue I thought I was doing really well not to dwell on things. Apparently not if Parker, mild, sweet Parker was noticing it enough to speak up. Yikes.

  Picking up the phone, I noticed my hand was trembling slightly. “Okay gang, I have a plane to catch so I really need to go. I promise I’ll be good and everything is fine, honest!” Then in a clearly cowardly move, I had disconnected the call, took a few seconds to sniff and collect myself and then had finished packing. I spent far longer than I should have to hug my three furry roommates and then had sped to the airport as fast as traffic allowed, which hadn’t been quick at all. The drive to BWI, which should have taken two maybe three hours max, took over four.

  Parking was outrageous, the shuttle from the parking lot to the airport also took forever, and a few times I was tempted to walk but didn’t. Looking back, all those signs should have told me that I was making a huge mistake and to slow my butt down, yet I foolishly pushed on.

  At least until I made it to the ticket counter and found out that my flight had already boarded and I was out of luck. The process of exchanging my ticket for the next day went smoothly as did checking into a hotel for the night. The next morning, I arrived at the airport a full three hours before my flight and was one of the first to board.

  Which brought me right to where I currently was, ensconced in a large, plush first-class seat next to Jim.

  CHAPTER TWO

  After our brief conversation, Jim left me alone the rest of the flight and other than an occasional snore alerting me that I wasn’t alone, I almost completely forgot about him. My hands kept getting damp with cold sweat, which I repeatedly wiped on my sweatpants, probably the only sweat that had ever gotten on this pair, I mused.

  With a sigh, I turned off my tunes, placing my phone screen down in my lap. My eyes scanned the darkened cabin, taking note of the faint glowing lights on the floor showing the way to the restroom. I had flown before but never on an international flight. Overall it was fairly peaceful, though I was already getting sick of sitting and wished I could get off and do something. Instead, I had to contend with shifting my body around in the seat, swinging my legs slightly, crossing the left over the right, then back again. Finally, I hit the button that adjusted my seat into a full lounger and selected one of the movie
s that were on the guide.

  Snuggling into the warm blue fleece blanket that the stewardess had provided, I napped until something dug into my arm, hard.

  Opening my mouth in a huge yawn that I didn’t even try to stifle, my eyes attempted to focus. The cabin was now fully lit with the sun streaming in through several windows with the shades lifted. The sounds of the other passengers moving around and talking jarred my consciousness more than anything else. I sat up, the blanket falling away from my face to puddle in a soft heap in my lap, a slight damp spot where I must have drooled slightly in my sleep.

  I had just raised my arms over my head to stretch when Jim’s elbow shot into my side driving the underwire of my bra sharply into my boob. For such a plump guy he had amazingly pointy elbows. “Ouch!” I shrieked, my hand rubbing at the offended area while I gave Jim what I hoped was a killer glare.

  “Oh, sorry bout that,” he said not even looking my way as he stuffed magazines, his eye mask, and going by the cover, what looked like a pretty steamy romance novel into his black canvas carry-on bag. “We’re about to land and I thought you would want to wake up.”

  “We are?” I mused out loud, my hurt boob forgotten. I looked out the window next to him and sure enough, saw green trees and a turquoise ocean beneath us by.

  Twenty minutes later, the plane touched down and disembarkment started. Standing to stretch out my cramped legs I grabbed my bag from the overhead compartment. Jim gave me a hurried, “Have a nice time,” whacking me in the back with his large carry-on that he slung over his shoulder as he edged by me.

  “You too, Jim! Good luck scoring with those desperate, divorced babes! Maybe we’ll have the same return flight and can compare notes on our trips,” I called after him waving gaily. He rewarded me with a startled, deer in the headlights look of panic before he redoubled his efforts to get off the plane. Squeezing and pushing past other passengers, a few beat him around the head and shoulders with their bags but somehow Jim made it to the front of the line and dashed out. Seconds later, a few people leaving the plane screamed and then a round of laughter and applause rocked the cabin. Apparently, poor Jim’s rapid escape had drawn the attention of security who tackled him when he failed to stop.

  As I leisurely made my way off the plane and over to the luggage claim area, I saw Jim being dragged away by three airport security guards. I gave him another quick wave but I couldn’t be sure that he noticed as he loudly screamed for a lawyer. Gee, I hope he still made it to his friend’s wedding.

  Immigration was a breeze, so straightforward I blinked and it was over. Not at all what I had expected. Why was I here? Did I know anyone? How long did I expect to stay? Good, great, okay, on your way, have a nice visit. Bang, my passport got stamped and I was free to move on to the next step.

  At the baggage area, a large crowd gathered around the luggage carousel. I vaguely recognized a few of my fellow passengers so I felt confident this was the right spot. A flash of violet caught my eye. There went my suitcase. Yup, I was where I needed to be.

  “Excuse me, pardon me,” I repeated trying in vain to inch closer to the whirling luggage. Nope, the others around me seemed more determined to reach theirs and I found my feet trod upon, my ribs and arms struck with elbows, and even a metal luggage trolley banged into me. There went my suitcase again. I found myself actually pushed slightly back instead of advancing. Whatever.

  As I stood back waiting for the crowd to thin out some, I put my carry-on down at my feet then alternated stretching my still cramped calves. With my right foot in hand, I pulled it toward my butt and felt a tingle. Not in my leg but over my whole body. An electric tingle of psychic awareness. Still on one foot, I swiveled my head around trying to track the sensation.

  This was nothing new. Things often pinged my other sense, the sixth sense as it was called, though that wasn’t entirely true either. There were tons of other senses. Guess it was just easier to teach kids five versus ten or eleven. Plus, proprioception was a real tongue twister so why burden a small child with having to learn and recite that? Either way, my sixth sense had been turned on as long as I could recall, it was as natural to me as my sense of taste and smell.

  Speaking of smells, a light delicious one trailed up my nostrils then drifted down to rest on my tongue, producing instant saliva and some tummy rumbles. The tingle, still there, but not as close, didn’t seem nearly as important as saving my stomach from eating itself. A row of shops beckoned, all on the other side of security and customs.

  With a weary sigh, I released my foot, picked up my bag and fought my way back into the slightly diminished throng of people waiting for their baggage. The tingle buzzed around the back of my head from my right ear to my left, almost as if tracking whatever caused the awareness. With a lunge, I pushed between two men snagging my loudly colored suitcase. I accidentally banged one of them with it as I attempted to back out between them. A few dark sounding words were tossed my way, but ignorance is bliss and since I couldn’t understand them, I chose to ignore what were probably curse words or threats.

  Still backing out of the mass of waiting tired, rumpled, and somewhat smelly passengers I had almost made it home free when my backside thumped against a hard-sided suitcase.

  “Watch it!” the owner of the suitcase snapped, heaving it away from me with a frown on her grumpy face.

  “Sorry,” I yelled after her.

  My attention still on the angry woman walking toward customs, the large suitcase swinging back and forth in her hand just waiting for its next victim, it took me a moment to sense the presence of the man across the way.

  Possibly around six feet tall, the distance made it difficult to guesstimate, he had a shock of inky black hair that rose up from his head a few inches before being swooped backward. My fingers itched to go over and mess up that mass of controlled hair. I could see how dark his brown eyes were from here, they flickered past me for a moment but I knew he had been staring. That hot tingle of electric awareness, it was him. Something about him.

  Inhaling a deep breath of slightly stale air, I looked away. I had way too many other more pressing issues than an interesting man that caused my psychic antennae to ping. It wasn’t a sinister sensation so he was harmless.

  Still, I couldn’t help sneaking one more peek at him as I hurried over to customs with my suitcases. Apparently, I look pretty innocent myself because I was waved through. Then again, so were most people. I guess by this point they figured anything we might be trying to smuggle had already been caught. At least I hoped so, casting a look about me.

  Finally, a line of shops stretched out in front of me, and not being very choosy I went into the first I came to. After buying a bag of BBQ chips and a Dr. Pepper I plopped down in one of the hard, molded plastic chairs available near a bank of car rental kiosks and began to munch. My phone was set to WIFI which thankfully the airport had so between bites of tangy chips and gulps of my soda, I located the hotel that I had already booked. It didn’t look that terribly far away on the map and part of me actually thought of walking there. I could see the sights on my way….

  Yeah, right, the much more rational part of me sneered. My carry-on bag wasn’t very heavy, but my suitcase would get annoying fast. It rolled great on the nice smooth floor of the airport, but on a sidewalk bustling with people? Or a slightly uneven surface, nope, not worth the headache. That decided, I checked out local taxi companies but ended up going with a nice driver that approached me.

  “You need a ride to your hotel?” At my nod, the stocky smiling man grabbed my suitcase and plucked the carry-on right off my shoulder before I could protest. “I’m Lukas,” he tossed over his shoulder as he moved fluidly through the crowd leading me out of the airport to a waiting sedan with a snazzy magnetic taxi sign on the door.

  The bright sunlight hurt my eyes after endless hours of artificial light but the sun felt amazing on my skin. For a blissful moment, I closed my eyes and just let the warmth wash over me. I had expected Greece to be mu
ch hotter but it was actually very pleasant. Low eighties would be my guess, absolute perfection. Then my arm got bumped, and unwittingly my eyes flew open. My moment of peace was over.

  Lukas stood holding the rear passenger door open for me and once my feet had cleared the door, he gently closed it. I was digging in my purse for sunglasses when two loud thumps signaled that my luggage had made it into the trunk which he then closed with a bang.

  “Where are you staying?” Lukas asked as he slid behind the wheel and pulled his safety belt into place. His head turned and he gave me another warm, friendly smile.

  “Hotel Atplanos, it’s near the…”

  Lukas cut me off, “Oh yes, very popular, hope you booked ahead.” The car lurched into traffic cutting off another of the airport taxis but Lukas ignored the blaring horn.

  “I did,” I replied confidently, though something tugged at the edge of my mind. Something I was forgetting.

  “It’s in the heart of the city, you’ll be able to walk to everywhere. This your first time in Athens?”

  Too busy clutching the door’s oh shit bar to keep from being flung across the bench seat as the car made a fast left turn to comment, Lukas continued on as if I had responded. “I grew up outside of the city, couldn’t ask for a nicer place to live. When it’s time to fly home, you call me and I’ll come and get you.”

  We rode in silence for several minutes, the landscape whirling by so fast I couldn’t make much out, everything was a blur of various shades of green, bright red, and beige. So much for seeing the sights.

  Boom! The car stopped suddenly, rocking me forward in the seat, my purse flew out of my lap to land in a heap on the floor. Motor still running, Lukas was out the door and running around to open mine. He pressed a small business card into my shaky hand even as I was crouched over trying to make sure I had located all the items from my purse. “My numbers are on there, if you want a tour of the city, call me too, I do it all.” He retrieved my bags from the car’s trunk, insisting on carrying them right into the lobby for me, then placed them at my feet while standing there with an expectant look on his pleasant face.