by Lisa Lace
When we got back to the hotel, we took off all our outdoor clothes and hung them around the room. There was a drying rack in our room for our mitts. After we had changed into our pajamas, I went into the kitchen.
"Do you want some tea, Quinn?" I called out.
"Sure."
When I turned around, she was behind me. She smiled and wrapped her arms around my waist.
"Thank you for a wonderful day. Rainbow snow is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it. I haven't been up to see rainbow snow in years. I had a good time, too."
I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead on the spot between her eyebrows directly on her third eye. I didn't mean to kiss her there. It just happened to be within easy reach as I bent down.
As I touched her third eye, the cortex of all intuition and precognition, images rushed through my mind. I used my training to slow them down.
Quinn as a little girl, happy and carefree, with a man who must be her father, pushing her on a swing. Quinn riding a bike. Quinn wearing a fancy dress and dancing at a party. A teenage Quinn, unhappy now, crying on her father's shoulder. Quinn sitting on the same couch with her face beaten up. Quinn hiding in an apartment.
As my lips came away, the flow of images stopped, and Quinn looked up at me with shock in her eyes.
"What is it?" I whispered. I wanted to understand.
I was a top recruiter for the Precog Division before I was a director. One of the ways to identify a Precog was by touching their third eye using skin-to-skin contact. It allowed a trained Precog to sense their abilities. I had been one of the best.
Quinn must be a Precog. There was no other explanation.
She stepped away from me and she started babbling.
"It was nothing, Airik. Nothing at all."
"That wasn't nothing."
"It was. I swear. Please. Just ignore it." She looked around the room like she wanted to escape.
"Quinn," I said, using my most authoritative voice. "There's something you're not telling me. I have to know what it is."
Chapter Eight
QUINN
My heart pounded, my stomach churned, and I couldn't seem to get enough air. I was panicking. The scar on my neck always bothered me in stressful situations. It was aching right now. I rubbed it, trying to ease the pain. I couldn't meet Airik's eyes. He spoke in a commanding voice.
"Quinn. There's something you're not telling me. I want to know what it is."
I had to get out of here. I know I wasn't thinking clearly, but I wanted to get away from him. I couldn't tell him my secret. Bad things always happened when people found out I'm psychic. Someone was about to make fun of me, bully me, bother me, or beat me up.
He was waiting.
The last things I saw before I bolted and ran for the door were his beautiful brown eyes.
"Quinn!" he shouted.
I had left already. I've always been a good runner. I was on the track team every year in high school. And I won. When I was scared, I ran even faster.
I raced down the hall and jumped onto the stairs, skittering and sliding down the steps. I only saved myself from tumbling head over heels because I was holding on to the railing.
I heard Airik enter the stairwell. He was shouting my name and saying things in a language I didn't understand, but I guess cursing sounds the same on all planets.
When I reached the ground floor, I ran straight into the lobby and out the door, forgetting about the weather conditions. Fortunately, there was a car waiting outside the door for a passenger. I jumped in and requested a random destination. I could change it later. I didn't think about where I was going or what I was doing.
I needed to get away.
The car pulled away from the curb and took off down the street. I turned around to look back when it was making a turn and saw Airik standing outside the hotel, looking back and forth down the street.
Maybe I was wrong. I had been so panicked that I ran without thinking about what I was doing. But now that I was away from the situation and calming down, I realized that I had severely overreacted. Maybe he meant something else. Even if he didn't, he was my husband, and Airik had a right to know what sort of woman he had married.
I let the vehicle wander the streets for over two hours before I told it to return to the hotel. I felt like an idiot. I didn't want to go back and apologize, but what was I going to do? We were married, like it or not, for the next year. I had no money to return to Earth. It would be foolish and dangerous, even if I could.
I swiped my ID over the payment machine and hopped out, sprinting back inside. I shivered; I should have grabbed a jacket, at least.
It occurred to me that he must need to be married for his reasons, too. He probably wouldn't want to escape our marriage.
Maybe he would when he found out about me.
For once, as I climbed the stairs back up to our floor, I wanted to tell someone about my visions. I wanted to get everything off my chest. I was tired of hiding part of myself. I could only hope he understood and didn't send me packing the moment I told him. If everything went well, he wouldn't hate me too much.
I walked up to our door and hesitated. My hand was poised to knock. I tried to work up my courage when the door flew open, and I saw Airik. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the room.
"Quinn! Thank goodness you're all right," he said, enfolding me in his arms. I blinked, completely taken by surprise. He had been anxious about me. "I was worried you got lost, or that your terrible friend would be bothering you. You didn't even take your cold weather clothes, so I thought you might freeze to death. You know that you can die from the cold, right?"
"Airik," I said, trying to slow him down. "I'm okay. I rode around in a car the whole time. It might be pretty expensive."
He shrugged.
"I don't care. But why did you run out? What were you so scared of?"
"What?" I said, wondering what he thought it was.
"Was it me?" He looked agonized at the thought that I might fear him.
"No," I said, shaking my head. "No. It's not that at all."
"But you don't want to tell me about it?" He seemed to be hurt. I regretted not telling him before now.
"It's not that I don't want to tell you," I said, gazing up at him. He was very handsome, but I needed to focus. "I'm worried about how you'll take what I have to say."
"It can't be that bad, can it?" Now he looked apprehensive.
"I don't know," I said, dropping my eyes. "When people find out, they usually do bad things to me."
"Like teasing you and beating you up?" he said, his eyes full of compassion.
"Yes," I said. "How did you know?"
"Just tell me, Quinn," he whispered. He put his hands on my cheeks and kissed me on the forehead in the same spot as before. Visions flashed through my head.
I could understand the visions now, not like the first two times he kissed my forehead. They had gone by too quickly for me to see them before.
The visions were of Airik. Airik as a baby, riding on his father's shoulders. Airik being rocked in his mother's arms. Airik sliding. Airik swimming with his brothers and sisters. Then teenage Airik sitting still in a room all by himself with his eyes closed. Airik receiving a diploma. Airik reading a letter that said he had his dream job. Airik saving a young man's life.
As he pulled away from me, he said it again.
"Tell me what you saw, Quinn."
"How do you know I saw anything?"
He waited patiently.
I swallowed and sat down on the couch. He came and sat beside me, taking my hand.
Every instinct in my body told me to hide it from him just like I had hidden it from everyone else, all my life. I didn't listen.
"I have visions," I said.
And he smiled. He looked relieved. Vindicated, even. He nodded. "Go on."
His reaction was peculiar, but I didn't let it stop me from telling my story. "They start
ed when I was fourteen. I've had them off and on ever since. My father and I tried everything we could to get rid of them, but nothing worked. I try to ignore them now. They won't stop coming."
I glanced over at him. He wasn't getting out any matches yet.
"After we made love, when I told you I was having a seizure?" He nodded. "I had a vision."
"And then you couldn't sleep," he said. It seemed like everything was making sense to him.
"It's hard to relax when I see someone die, and I know I can't do anything about it." I said. My voice grew softer and softer. "Especially when it's a child."
I felt grief overwhelm me again. Tears begin spilling out of my eyes. It wasn't just because I felt the emotion of losing the child. I also felt the relief of finally telling someone what was happening to me without judgment. When I dared to look at him again, he was staring at me with such compassion and kindness that I actually started to cry.
He didn't tell me not to cry. He just held me. It was the most comforting thing anyone had ever done for me. When I finally stopped crying, after I had blown my nose and wiped my eyes, I looked up at him.
"Do you want to send me back now?" I said in a small voice.
He laughed then. I didn't know how he could be so jolly when I had just told him a deep, dark secret.
"I don't think sending you back is an option. I wouldn't want to, even if I could."
"Why not? Don't you hate me or think I'm a witch? Maybe you're thinking about burning me at the stake."
The smile left his face. "You're serious."
I nodded, avoiding his eyes. That's why he wasn't upset. He thought I was joking.
"People treated you that way, Quinn? Because of your gift?"
I made a face. "Sometimes it feels more like a curse."
"It's a gift." He put his hand under my chin, forcing me to look at him.
"Not where I come from," I said, tears in my eyes again.
"Well," he said, smiling broadly. "I guess you're lucky you're here."
"What are you talking about, Airik?" I stared at him in bewilderment.
"It's too bad you didn't read the folder on Koccoran, Quinn. You could have saved yourself a lot of worry."
"Why?" I frowned.
"Because," he said, smiling broadly at me. "You happen to have landed yourself on a planet full of psychics."
I felt my mouth drop open. I knew I was staring, but I couldn't help it.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"It's no lie, Quinn. You'll fit right in around here."
I wrapped my arms around him, and he hugged me tightly. I couldn't keep tears from leaking out. I pulled away from him quickly, hungry for more information.
"Tell me everything."
He grinned and pulled out a computer. He quickly retrieved official-looking documents with the Koccoran government logo.
"This describes the Precog Division of the government," he said, glancing sideways at me. "It's my division. I'm the Director."
"Of the whole division?"
"Yep. I'm the youngest ever to hold the post. It was a great honor to get it. I've been working my whole life towards this position. That's why I needed to marry you, in fact. To keep my job."
"I wondered what it was."
"My career is everything to me, Quinn. I would do anything to keep it, even marry a stranger."
"Why would you have to get married to keep your job?"
"We have a requirement called The Akuna. You have to be married by a certain age, or else there are consequences. If you ask me, it's an old law and should be abolished."
"Wow," I said, stunned by his revelation. Something else dawned on me.
"Precog? As in precognition? Like Precogs who have visions?"
He nodded.
"So I'm a Precog?" I asked, trying to wrap my head around the sudden shift in perspective. On Earth, I had to conceal my abilities. On this planet, they were desired.
"I believe you are."
"If that's your division, does that make you a Precog too? You're like me?"
"I have visions too. I'm in charge of all the Precogs. What is it, Quinn?" He was staring into my eyes with such compassion that I almost broke down.
"I've never met anyone who was like me," I said. I felt joyful as he looked solemn.
"I'm sorry for the way you've been treated in the past, Quinn. I hope you will come to see your power as a gift here on Koccoran." He smiled, looking deeply into my eyes that were bright with tears.
"Maybe," I said, shrugging.
"How about we order some food and talk about it more over dinner? We'll make it a date."
I smiled. "A date? With my husband? Who's a Precog?" I pulled him in for a kiss. "That sounds perfect."
AIRIK
I sat across the table from Quinn. It was hard for me to stop gazing into her fascinating blue eyes. I thought for a moment about what she had been through because of her gift, and it made me sad. It was such a waste of talent.
Quinn started eating her food. "Okay, spill," she said. "What does a division full of people who see visions of the future do? It's not like we can change things. Do you record everything for posterity? That way, the newspapers can have their stories and obituaries ready a few days ahead of time?"
She was joking. I smiled uncomfortably. She had many misconceptions that needed clarification. I didn't know where to start. Maybe I should knock out the biggest one first.
"Quinn, listen to me. I don't know what happened to you in the past. You need to clear your mind of everything you thought you knew about your gift."
She stared at me as she chewed.
"The future can be changed, Quinn. That's what my division does. We have visions. Many of them are about death. We are trained to open more to those insights to find out when a person is going to die. Then we can go in and save them."
"All of them?"
"Almost all of them, unless something goes wrong with the intervention. We have an underpopulation problem on Koccoran. We want as many people as possible to die a natural death. Most people do."
"Why is the birth rate so low?" she said curiously.
"I'm not sure. It's something about the environment, and it's been a problem for as long as I can remember. There have always been people who could have visions and who had other mental abilities. My ancestors soon figured out how to use their images to save people's lives. Since then, the problem with the low birth rate has been balanced out with the number of people we save from early death."
"You sound like a bunch of superheroes," she said admiringly. She took a bite, chewed, and swallowed.
"I don't know what that means, but I'll take it as a compliment."
"I meant it as one," she said. "How does your division operate?"
"Here's how it works." I started recited a workflow that was familiar to me, but foreign to her. It was fascinating to see things through her eyes.
"A Precog has a vision and alerts their Recorder. We have partners who help us write down visions as they're happening."
"You can do other things while you're having a vision?"
"We've had thousands of years to improve our mental abilities, Quinn. We have it down to a science. In fact, it is science. Did you wonder why you had flashes of images when I kissed you? I touched a particular part of your brain that controls intuition and precognition."
"I didn't know there was such a thing."
"I used to be a Recruiter before I became Director. Recruiters are always on the hunt for more Precogs. The easiest way to tell if someone's a Precog is to touch the spot on their intuition and precognition cortex."
"You kissed all your recruits?" she said. She had a funny look on her face.
"No," I said, laughing and taking a sip of my drink. "I would put my hand on their third eye. It has to be skin to skin contact. I touched your third eye by accident."
"What happens after the recording?"
"The visions are analyzed and cross-referenced. Often several
Precogs will have visions of the same event. Once we get a few different versions of the same story, we have a good idea of what's going to happen."
"Okay."
"Then we pass the information to the ground team. If there's a preventable death, they're responsible for going out and saving lives."
"That sounds incredible. I tried to prevent one death that I foresaw. It turned out badly for me."
"Well, we can't save everyone but we do manage to prevent many deaths."
"I can't believe it."
"It's my life."
She stared at me. "You're a lucky guy. I've never even had a job. I spent years hiding my gift."
"I think that should change, starting immediately."
"How?"
"We can always use more talented Precogs. I think you should apply for training."
"Are you saying I could work as a Precog in your division?" The idea hadn't occurred to her.
"What do you think?" I asked, smoothing her hair away from her forehead.
"It sounds like heaven."
"A job at the Division is work. But this?" I leaned down and kissed her deeply. When we came up for air a few minutes later, I grinned at her. "This is heaven."
Quinn was, quite frankly, an amazing woman. She was intelligent, beautiful, sexy, and a talented Precog from what I could see, especially since no one had ever trained her. I wasn't in love with her, but I was pretty impressed with my wife.
It broke my heart that she had been treated horribly for having a gift like precognition. That's how it was on some of the backwater planets. I was lucky to be born here on Koccoran. I wondered again what her planet of origin was. Kartar hadn't given me any details. But I reminded myself that I didn't really want to know.
To me, she was just Quinn. I would find out about her as we went along. Right now, she was folding her clothes and packing them in an overnight bag to move into my apartment.
"I was thinking," I said. "Maybe I shouldn't go to work today. We could go apartment hunting instead."
"I thought you had a place."
"I do," I said. Explaining myself was embarrassing. "Now that we're married, I feel like we should start fresh and have something new together." In a place where every room doesn't remind me of Sornalee.
