Psychic Eclipse (of the Heart)

by Amie Gibbons

  I resisted the urge to snort.

  It was like a big sibling saying, “The only one who picks on my little sister is me.”

  Except, with killing.

  Seemed pretty cavalier about it too.

  Like Fae lives were cheap.

  Maybe just the commoners’ lives?

  “I thought I’d ask,” I said, “since you said we were being held for invading, not for murder.”

  She creased her forehead.

  What had I said?

  “Murder,” she said slowly, like she was tasting the word. “I don’t know that word.”

  “Ah,” I said, “unlawful killing of, well, not a human here, but of a… sentient being.”

  They didn’t have a concept of what murder was?

  Curiouser and curiouser.

  “Yes,” she said primly, “that too.”

  It was so casual. Like she was adding something to a grocery list.

  But we’d killed the three royals who were set to perform the… er, punishments, hadn’t we?

  Maybe she didn’t know that was us?

  Come to think of it.

  We’d killed about twenty of them while we were on the run.

  Adding the ones in the square made it closer to thirty.

  So maybe they didn’t know we were the ones who killed the royals.

  Nobody was left alive to say the fugitive ran off with the people who attacked the square.

  And if there was enough chaos, their little spider net might not have caught exactly what’d happened.

  Especially from the ground.

  But, what about the one that’d crawled in my ear?

  I shuddered.

  I was assuming it’d gone in to read my mind.

  And that it was gone.

  Though, if it was still there, wouldn’t I feel it?

  It took everything in me to keep from wrapping my arms around myself.

  I couldn’t think about that.

  I’d lose it.

  “What are you doing with the,” and she said a word my mind couldn’t grasp.

  I squinted at her.

  “She means me,” Ed said. “It’s kind of like deserter.”

  “Ah,” I said. “We ran into him on the streets. He said he was from Earth, so we were going to take him back with us.”

  Something told me she already knew that much.

  She nodded, still so evenly pleasant and professional. “What are you?”

  “I’m a psychic,” I said, smile straining.

  “I see.” She leaned in until her forehead tapped the bar.

  And went through them.

  She didn’t walk in, but we could attack her if we wanted to.

  But something told me she wouldn’t be putting even that much of herself in if she wasn’t sure we couldn’t hurt her.

  “And what else are you?” she asked.

  I stiffened. “Um. I have some magical powers, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Oh, I can tell.” Now she just sounded condescending. “But that doesn’t answer my question. From where does your magic hail?”

  I shook my head. “No clue. Sorry. Wish I knew.”

  She sniffed the air. “Hmmm, telling the truth. Interesting.”

  I focused on her.

  I couldn’t get a vision, or read her emotions, like with most people.

  But I caught one word.

  A concept really.

  Test.

  They were gonna test me to figure out what I was.

  She smiled and it was as cold, nasty and unexpected as snow in the South.

  And then she turned on a heel and marched away.

  AB let out a shuddering sigh.

  I wanted to talk to her, to say what I’d felt from the woman, but they were still listening.

  And I couldn’t let them know I had powers in here.

  Not if we wanted to get out.

  And we needed to.

  Like now.

  I drew a deep breath.

  “Ari,” AB said in a small voice.

  “Give me a minute,” I said, closing my eyes.

  I’d done this before.

  How?

  I’d been in a trap in the astral plane, just my spirit, but apparently that didn’t make much of a difference.

  I’d been running, singing, trying to find my way out of an endless tunnel, and ran through a vision.

  So maybe I needed to engage my psychic powers.

  I found myself sitting cross-legged, putting my hands on my knees, and drawing deep breaths.

  If this wasn’t so dire, I’d be saying oooooom.

  They were keeping me alive cuz they could sense my power and wanted to know what I was.

  Maybe even wanted to see if they could use me.

  So why keep my friends alive?

  And where was Grant?

  The word ‘leverage’ drifted to me on a noxious red cloud.

  They were keeping AB and Ed alive in case they needed to use them against me.

  And they weren’t hurting them cuz they wanted to save that for when it’d do the most good.

  When it’d get me to do what they wanted.

  Couldn’t dwell on that.

  I had to focus.

  “I can’t get it open,” I finally said, opening my eyes.

  “Maybe you don’t need to open a door,” AB said. “Maybe you just need to get you out.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “I mean, get out by yourself,” AB said. “You go through naturally, just focus on getting yourself out. It’ll be easier than opening a hole for us all to get through. I’d explain the metaphysics, but it’s the difference between jumping up and jumping up holding someone.”

  “What!” I squinted at her. “No!”

  “Out of all of us, who’s the most useful to them?”

  “Forget it!”

  “I still have the bomb,” AB said, clenching her fist. “It’s a tiny spell planted in my glasses. Get out now, before they come, since they can probably hear us, and get outta here.”

  “Whoa!” Ed said. “Not okay with that. So not okay with that.”

  “Fine, get him out too,” she said. “Two is easier than three. Just go.”

  And leave me behind, was the obvious message.

  “No,” I said.

  “I’m not exceptional, Ariana,” AB said. “Not in any way since I went to med school. I was before then. I was exceptional in school. I was the best. And then I went to med school, and suddenly I wasn’t. And since then, I’ve been average in school, and now in my career too. I will never be anything more.

  “But beyond that, I have never been anyone’s exception. Every time I thought I was the exception to the rule in romance, I was wrong.

  “I have been ordinary since birth. I've never been somebody’s special. I’ve never been their dream. Guys didn’t chase me or flirt with me growing up. And every guy I have dated seriously has broken up with me because they just lost interest. If that doesn’t prove there’s nothing to fight for for me, I don’t know what does.

  “I don’t have anybody waiting for me. I’m an average human being. I’m expendable. My parents have two other kids, both of whom are doing better in their careers and lives than me.

  “I have been broken and depressed for eight years, and I will never be better. I will never be okay anyway. And I’m not going anywhere on a broken leg. I’m worse than worthless. I’m a liability.

  “So you’re going to leave. You’re going to stop being a fucking hero and thinking I’m worth you risking your life to save, and you’re going to leave. Because you are special. You are exceptional. And you have to get out of here now. Because you aren’t going to be able to save me, so you’ll die too.

  “I’ve never been exceptional in my entire life. I just thought I was before med school. But here’s my chance, Ariana. I can be exceptional for you. I can stay here and set off this bomb, take them with me, and save you. Let me do this. Let me be an exceptional fr
iend. And run!”

  What the?

  Where was this coming from?

  No, no, I knew exactly where this was coming from.

  She was upset over Thomas, and that part of her had decided now was a great time to rear up.

  “You’re wrong,” I said. “You are brilliant, and you are already an exceptional friend. And I don’t leave my friends behind. So stop feeling sorry for yourself, put that big brain to good use, and figure out a way to get all of us outta here.”

  “I second that,” Ed said, jerking a thumb at her. “What’s with her? And what bomb?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “She doesn’t actually have a bomb. She was just trying to get me to leave without her.”

  I met AB’s eyes and she looked away.

  Was the bomb really still on her? How did they not find it?

  “Okay,” AB said, taking a deep breath. “You want to open a door, you got to focus. What did you do before?”

  Had to go deeper.

  “The only way out is through,” echoed through my brain in a strange voice that sounded almost like Grant’s.

  “Focus on saving us,” AB said softly. “On how much you don’t want to leave anyone behind. Breathe, and feel it.”

  I felt it.

  Something deep inside.

  Emily, I said in my head. Focus on Emily. On her in the real world.

  She seemed like a good choice, being from here but over there and all.

  Flash.

  The world flashed in a brilliant burst of black sparkles.

  And AB gasped.

  I opened my eyes.

  An almost circular hole sparkled in the stone wall across from the bars, right in front of the hole and bucket I could only guess were a makeshift toilet.

  A clean one.

  Thank God.

  Not that that really mattered.

  I shook my head.

  Because my powers were working!

  And I’d ripped through the dimensions!

  And we were gettin’ outta here!

  “Oh my god,” AB whispered so quietly I almost didn’t hear her.

  I grinned, forced myself up off the cot, and walked two slow steps into the middle of the cell so I could stare straight into the little miracle I’d just created.

  Took me a moment to figure out AB’s words weren’t in awe at my powers.

  But in dismay.

  Because we were staring into a hotel room with the quilt hanging halfway off the bed and the sheets messed up and all twisty.

  And Emily and Thomas on the bed.

  Thomas lay on his back, grinning up at Emily, who was propped up on her side on an elbow and smiling as big as him before she looked up and her eyes lit.

  “Oh my god!” Thomas practically yelped when he looked over and saw us, pulling the top of the sheet over his lap in a bunch, eyes comically wide as he stared through the hole at us.

  Emily sat up behind him, pink and white teddy doing nothing for her chub, but something told me a guy wouldn’t care.

  “No!” I half shouted, holding a hand up.

  I didn’t even have to look over to know AB was about to say something.

  “We do not have time for that. We’ll deal with it later,” I said. “Come on. We’re getting outta here.”

  I hobbled to the hole, soaring hope the only thing keeping me going through the crippling nausea.

  I grabbed the side of the hole to pull myself through.

  And my hand hit a wall so solid it may as well have been two feet of bulletproof glass.

  “No,” I said again, voice weak as I pressed my hand against the invisible wall and sunk to my knees.

  “Can’t get through?” Emily asked, raising her eyebrows again.

  My head jerked up and I stared over Thomas at her.

  Stomach sinking.

  Because she didn’t sound surprised, or upset.

  She sounded… smug?

  “Holy crap on a cracker,” I whispered.

  Cuz it hit me.

  With the stomach sinking brick you got inside when the person you were seeing said, “We need to talk.”

  Where you knew something had gone horribly wrong.

  The world wasn’t what you thought.

  And the rug was about to be pulled out from under you.

  Leaving you abandoned, betrayed, and broken.

  “You really should keep better watch on your possessions,” Emily said.

  “What?” AB and Thomas asked as one.

  Thomas sat up, scooting back so he rested against the headboard and we could see more of Emily.

  She reached behind her and held up what she’d grabbed from the side table.

  A gris-gris.

  My mouth fell open.

  “Takes a lot to make it work across dimensions. I honestly wasn’t sure it would. But I guess you pack such a punch, even a gris-gris made from pieces of you can rip across worlds,” Emily said, mouth practically dripping arrogance.

  This was not the broken flower we’d met.

  But Emily had fought with us.

  She’d killed Fae with us!

  Then again, Fae seemed to view lives as cheap.

  “Dimensions,” AB said in a near whisper. “Other worlds are alternate realities.”

  I risked a glance sideways at her, and AB shook her head.

  She’d taken off her glasses and was barely sliding them back on.

  She always took them off when she wanted to shield herself from reality.

  “Not really important right now,” AB said, voice mechanical.

  Thomas looked between her and Emily, and AB stared straight ahead, not looking at him.

  Not blinking.

  “Why?” AB asked.

  Thomas’s head jerked back and his lip curled up as he opened his mouth, and I shook my head.

  “She was asking Emily why she tricked us into comin’ here,” I said, the words hollow and echoing through the cell, mocking me with their notes. “Not asking you why you slept with her.”

  “Tricked?” Thomas looked between us and Emily again.

  I don’t know what he saw on her face, but he scrambled off the bed.

  Not concerned with his nakedness now.

  His eyes were huge and his mouth worked as he backed away.

  Face a mask of confusion.

  “Oh, honey,” Emily said, smirking. “Yum, yum, feel all that pain. My god, it’s delectable. You want so badly to be loved. To heal the gaping wound your wife made when she left you. To heal the damage your parents caused. And on top of that feast, I get to feed off of hers too.”

  She jerked her head toward the hole, obviously indicating AB.

  “You know how much she wanted to be the one to heal you, to save you?” Emily continued.

  How in the blazes did I close this thing!

  Maybe I could close it and open it somewhere else. Maybe if I wasn’t breaking into where the gris-gris was, we’d have a shot of getting out.

  “Do you have any idea how much she loves you?” Emily mocked. “And it is love, no matter what you both have told yourselves. She wouldn’t be in so much delicious pain if it wasn’t.

  “All she wanted was to fill that hole, love you into seeing yourself the way she sees you, because she knows you hate yourself. And she would have saved you, if you could only love her back. But you’re a user. So you got what you wanted and left. And you broke her in the process. Never have forgiven yourself for that one. Neither has she. So much pain between you two. I had no clue I’d have so much to eat on this assignment. Oh, the sex was good too.”

  Emily looked through at us.

  No, at AB.

  And winked.

  “Was he that forceful with you too?” Emily asked. “I love that passion in a man. And the way he screams and grabs you when he comes. Really does a lot for a girl’s ego. Oh, right, you wouldn’t know. So out of it, you don’t even remember. He raped you, and you still love him. You are so pathetic. Both of you. You really would h
ave been perfect for each other. If you hadn’t blown it, I mean.”

  Thomas lunged forward, running for the door so fast I saw a flash of white butt and had a second to think he was going to make it outta the room, and probably get arrested for being naked in public.

  But he went rigid, jerking straight and turning to face us.

  Clearly not in charge of his own body.

  I could practically hear him thinking, “Not again.”

  Cuz he’d been taken over last year by a tulpa and forced to commit suicide.

  We’d only been able to save him cuz the spell that created the tulpa also tied the men it killed to the ghostly plane, close to our world, so their souls weren’t so far gone that we couldn’t stuff them back in once we’d healed their bodies and broke the spell.

  “Like grandfather, like grandson,” Emily said, sliding behind him, running her hands over his stomach and hugging him from behind.

  His eyes jerked back and forth, panic clear even as the rest of his face was frozen.

  “You’ll have to die faster than he did, me being caught earlier than I planned, I can’t really take the time to torture you, but hey,” Emily said with a shrug as Thomas dropped to his knees.

  His eyes glazed over.

  Part of the spell, or the natural reaction of the body going into shock?

  “No,” AB said.

  Emily laughed.

  “And now she gets to watch you die,” Emily said, voice still so smug.

  “No!” AB said with more force.

  “It’ll hurt her so much to watch this. To feel this helplessness,” Emily stage whispered in Thomas’s ear, nibbling the top of it as she rested her hands on his shoulders.

  “It’ll be okay, Thomas,” AB said, voice cracking the barest bit. “She won’t kill you. I won’t let her. It’ll be okay.”

  Emily laughed. “Oh, it really won’t be.” She rubbed Thomas’s shoulders. “Should we go again before you die? Show poor, pathetic Annabeth how much you’d rather fuck anyone but her?”

  AB made a small noise in the back of her throat.

  Thomas didn’t say anything.

  I was willing to bet Emily had frozen his mouth.

  I could see his body was spent, his member flaccid.

  But who was to say she couldn’t force it back up?

  “You do anything to him against his will, I’ll kill you,” AB said, voice as cold as Grant’s when he was pissed.

  Emily snorted.