Empath (Book 1 of The Empath Trilogy)

by HK Savage

  Ch. 4

  Tuesday morning broke too early for my taste. I’d been tossing and turning all night trying to wrap my head around my conversation with the confusing boy I’d met yesterday.

  The sky was overcast with the first hint that fall was on its way out. I took a long look as I opened my curtains seeing the first of the crimson leaves blow past on their way to carpet the ground below. Minnesota weather is its own entity. In some places people talk about the weather as a time filler, but not so in Minnesota. Here we talked about the weather because it’s like an unpredictable member of the family. It was always affecting everything you did but impossible to plan for or around. Everything you tried to do in the outdoors had to have a contingency plan, should the weather decide to be uncooperative.

  I decided on jeans and a thermal top under a button up short-sleeved camp shirt. I was beginning my on-campus job today at the library and wanted to make a good impression but stay warm in a big space like that. Up until my coffee date yesterday when Stephen rattled me, I was really looking forward to working at the library for the serenity it would surely offer.

  Libraries were like a second home to me, not really a shocker given my lack of much of a social life, and I’d noticed Augsburg’s library was fantastic, falling in love with it on my campus tour last summer. Big, new and full of books I had never read before, it was tantalizing. City libraries are dicey unless you get into a bigger city, but college libraries are great. They’re full of so much research material, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on all of it. I’d actually been looking forward to searching for more information on my condition now that I had access to a new wealth of information. It had occurred to me sometime in the night that this boy had given me a direction as to where to start.

  Grabbing a jacket in case the weather turned and locking my door behind me, I headed out to check in for my first day on the job. It was a short walk across the campus to get to the library. It was a large, angular, modern building with lots of glass in the entrance and shiny metal framing the exterior of the dome before it angled back into the more traditional red brick. It looked like a cheerful place; not like some of those old dingy libraries where everything smells like mold and you have to take an allergy pill just to read a magazine. I was definitely going to like it here, thoughts of the quirky Stephen temporarily set aside.

  Upon entering the bright and airy entryway, I walked up to the smiling brunette with short, orange tipped hair working at the counter.

  “Hi, I’m Claire Martin. I’m supposed to start work here today.” I threw in a big smile for good measure. You can never be too cheerful when meeting your new coworkers. “I think I’m supposed to talk to a Mr. Campbell?”

  She smiled back brightly and I saw a small diamond glint from her nostril, “You mean Henry. I can take you to him.” She got up and called back into the stacks behind the desk, “Ben, can you watch the front?” I heard a muffled “sure” from one of the aisles behind her and she came out from behind the desk motioning for me to follow.

  We walked straight to the back of the building and down the staircase that split giving us the option of going up to the top floor as well. “I think he was back in religious texts last I heard. The Seminary students have some big project already and are messing everything up.” She rolled her eyes looking back at me as we walked. I smiled politely not wanting to jump the gun making comments on people I had no idea about. She seemed very friendly and I instantly liked her feeling that sense of loss when I met someone I know I should have been able to be friends with if I were normal.

  “I almost forgot I’m Heidi Johnson, Junior year, still no idea on my major. But don’t tell my parents, they think I’m a business major.” She winked, “You’re going to like it here. This new library is great. They just finished it in the middle of last year. There’s so much more space; we’re still getting new books in all the time, so feel free to put in an order for anything special you might want.” She added a conspiratorial wink. “Us book slaves get preferential treatment on orders so make sure you give us a heads up on what you order so we hold it for you.” We continued on to the end of the lower shelves and then came to some bigger racks where Heidi slowed and started peeking around them as we walked past; we had to be in the right area.

  “There you are.” Her head disappeared down the aisle and I arrived at her side only seconds later. “Henry, we have a new book slave.” She smiled as she spoke to someone I still couldn’t see. Something rustled from behind a rolling book cart stuffed full of texts in all shapes and sizes midway down the aisle.

  “Hi, I’m Claire. Financial Aid arranged for me to work here first semester,” I said brightly to the rolling rack wondering about the bookworm who was to be my boss for the next nine months.

 

  A warm voice, silky smooth and promising something dark and pleasant in ways I didn’t fully understand that tugged at my insides chuckled from behind the rack where a moment later, a thick brown head of short, combed back hair rose smoothly from where he’d been crouching behind the rack. Below the mane was the pale, handsome face of a man in his early thirties; much younger than I would have expected for a head librarian. His brown eyes were dark enough to look black in the fluorescent lights. He was Hollywood’s version of what a librarian should look like, Indiana Jones doubling as a college professor. Similarly, I could easily picture Henry adventuring in the Amazon for ancient artifacts on his weekends away from campus, his lean, hard build certainly hinted at a physical hobby in his off-time.

  “Hello Claire,” his serene voice flowed over me and acted as a tranquilizer, calming me while at the same time holding me transfixed. “I’m Henry Campbell, Head Librarian.” He extended his hand over the top of the cart.

  Shaken from my stupor, I politely stepped forward to shake his hand in my typically brisk manner, expecting the tingle and bracing myself accordingly. Only when my hand slid into his, I had an undeniable sense of déjà vu. Henry’s palm was cold and exceptionally firm but also “quiet,” like Stephen’s. It was different in some way just beyond my grasp, but it blocked out Heidi’s mumbling emotions that were beginning to do more than hum on my periphery and all of the other vague “chatter” of the other students interspersed throughout the nearby tables.

  I couldn’t tell if he’d sensed something from me. Having been distracted and eyeing our interlocked hands, I couldn’t tell if he’d sensed something from me. Stunned, he was eyeing me curiously. Both of us lingered a few seconds longer than was customary. His mouth curved up kindly while his eyes remained cool and I realized I was staring, still holding on to him; I released my grip, feeling the heat creep up my neck.

  “Why don’t you follow Heidi and she will get you set up and show you around. I’ll check in with you after I finish up here.” He nodded to me and kept his steady dark eyes on me as I said something I don’t quite recall and followed Heidi back out of the racks and down to the front counter.

  What was going on here? I’ve never had a moment’s peace in anyone’s presence. Ever. Touching people has always brought on an intense swell of emotions that I’ve sought to avoid my whole life. Now, here I had met not one but two people in 24 hours who had the opposite effect and I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing. I wasn’t sure exactly what happened the rest of my shift as my thoughts whirled around me, but I didn’t speak to Henry again for the remainder of my shift. He was in the library and I saw him several times, however, he didn’t come check on me and I didn’t seek him out. The way that he moved about so smoothly was surreal. Here I was thinking that word again. This was an odd place.

  It wasn’t until I was nodding off to sleep that night that I realized I hadn’t done any of my personal research. Nor had I looked for the author Stephen had mentioned. I was supposed to work again on Thursday, it would have to wait until then.