by Olivia Myers
Guy’s going down.
I peer around the corner and see him finally enter the store. I wait a minute before following. When I step inside, I find myself inside of a musty two-story filled from floor to ceiling with shelves of books, haphazardly set up like a giant maze. One winding stairway juts through the center, but the top floor is hidden behind a veil of black beads, over which hangs a sign with a chalk eye that reads: OCCULT.
The beads are still swinging lightly.
It has to be Ombre. So I head toward the stairs, keeping my eyes set on the part that rises above the maze of shelves. I figure that’s the easiest way to find the right path. But when I take a sharp left to avoid a dead-end, I nearly smack right into an old man who reminds me of Morgan Freeman, freckles and all.
“Hello there.” He greets me with a huge grin like he’s been expecting me to smack into him or something. “May I help you?”
“Phil?” I guess.
He tilts his tiny nametag to read it like he’s checking to be sure. “Well, now, it does seem to be my name. And you are?”
“Cassie,” I say distractedly. I peer over his shoulder at the steps and see the creeper at the bottom, staring upward.
“He won’t do anything in the shop, don’t worry.” Phil’s grin gets even bigger and he gestures behind him at the stairs.
I crinkle my brow at him. “Wait. What?”
I almost forgot why I’d been interested in the store in the first place.
Phil laughs suddenly as though someone just told him a joke.
“Um, so you’re psychic?” I ask, still watching as the guy slowly stalks up the steps.
“She is clever! Don’t you worry, you have a great mom.” Phil succeeds in gaining my attention back. “I thought I should speak out loud. Seemed rude to converse with your child without your approval.”
My mouth hangs open. There are so many things I have to ask! But…
“I promise he won’t hurt her. Evan is up there. Even if he did try something, which he won’t, he’d be stopped.” Phil’s grin drops away and he turns serious.
“How did you read my intentions if psychics can’t hear each other?” Of all the questions to start with, this seems both relevant and reasonable. “Wait. Did you say Evan’s up there?” My heart races a little as I once again look up to find swaying beads.
“Indeed I did. And I didn’t hear you, I read you. Body language can be just as telling as thoughts after a while. We have much to discuss, Cassie. We’ve been waiting for you for some time now.”
“Who is ‘we’? Do you mean you and Evan? What do you want with me?”
“Well, sure, Evan and I are part of The Inner Eye, but thankfully we have many more members than the two of us. Let me get you some hot cocoa. It’ll taste a whole lot better than that awful coffee you’ve been avoiding.”
I gape at Phil. He really is good at reading me. But should I trust him? And how can I just let that man go when I saw the awful things he wanted to do to that girl?
“Vicki should be down in a sec. Follow me.”
I don’t ask who Vicki is. I have a feeling I know. I just follow Phil dumbly to a worn armchair near the entrance. He rounds a chipped glass counter, tinkers for a minute, then reappears with a mug of steaming liquid, which he sets on a stack of books just the right height for a coffee table. “Marshmallows. Hope that’s okay. Can’t tell if you’d prefer whipped cream, but my fridge is out at the moment anyhow.”
“Thank you,” I say, accepting the mug. It’s tough not to love his smile.
Above us the beads tremble and Ombre – Vicki – bounces down the stairs, waving at Phil with one hand and clutching a stack of books in the other.
“Thank you, dear. Go on ahead with those. Perfect trade.”
“I must owe you something,” Vicki says, cocking her head. He’s so sweet.
“Nonsense,” Phil insists, returning her smile as the guy stalks down the steps from behind and disappears into the labyrinth of shelving. He’s slippery. I don’t even think Phil’s seen him.
“Well, thanks. I’ll let you know if I find anything else.” Vicki glances over at me. “He’s got the best collection of psychic phenomena I’ve ever seen! I love that stuff. Well, see ya!”
Vicki darts out the door and out from the shelves comes the guy in the jean jacket. He moves like a serpent, slick, low, and shadowlike toward the door. The picture in his head comes through so vividly I almost choke again.
I’m about to leap up. I don’t have any idea what I might do, but I have to do something. But then Phil steps smoothly in front of him, startling him out of his sick fantasy. I wrinkle my nose when I see the lump pressed inside the guy’s tight jeans.
“Can I help you, son?” Phil asks.
“Just looking. Gotta go. Excuse me.” The guy tries to step around Phil, but Phil grabs his arm and closes his eyes.
I’m about to jump up again, for fear the guy’s going to beat up the helpless old man. But in moments I realize he’s frozen, staring at the door.
“Watch his mind, Cassie. You can do this too with proper training.” Phil winks at me and I wonder how I can help but see the horrible image frozen in the guy’s mind. Pressed behind Vicki’s warm, naked body. Blood running between her legs as she screams in ecstasy. Ugh.
But as I ready myself to try to break away, the image slowly shifts. The blood runs back inside of Vicki. The scene rewinds until she’s back in her clothes. Then the whole thing starts over again. I watch as he grabs her arm, spinning her around. Surprised. I’m ready to watch him punch her again, but instead she blocks him, drops the books, and pulls a series of badass ninja moves, knocking him back into the brick wall, where she’d been in his first vision. Blood runs out of his nose this time as he staggers to his feet while she stands, taller than I remembered, with hands on hips, glaring.
He runs at her again, but she sidesteps, grabs his shoulder, and spins him around to knee him in the nuts.
In real life, the man sinks to his knees, clutching himself. That’s when I see the blood spurting from his nose. I gasp.
The vision is gone and he scrambles to his feet, eyes darting around the store like he’s not sure how he got here. He runs out the door.
“What did you do to him? What if he’s still trying to catch her?” I ask, excited, scared, and a little dizzy from the whole experience.
Phil smiles easily again. “Drink your cocoa before it gets cold. I’ll explain everything in due time. But I assure you he won’t be attacking Vicki or any other innocent girls any time soon. He’ll be bested by them in his head from now on.”
He waits patiently as it sinks in. Then I take a sip of the warm, chocolaty liquid. It’s amazing. The marshmallows are melty and sweet.
“So you said Evan is upstairs?” I ask, cradling the cup.
He nods. “The man you seek is upstairs. Take a look around while you’re there. I do have quite a non-fiction collection on psychic phenomena, as the lady said.”
I make my way back through the shelves to the staircase and take one step at a time, staring at the beads as my pulse speeds up. What do I say when I find him? I should just go down and ask Phil about the baby. He spoke to him.
But something pushes me forward and I slip through the veil to the other side. I’m greeted by the scent of incense. The lighting has a red hue and there are black leather sofas in the center of the area, surrounded by a backwards U of shelves. There’s a giant pentagram on one side of the U, with a chalk eye like the one downstairs on the other.
In one of the plush leather seats is a familiar figure, handsome and focused just like I remember. He’s thumbing through a book and I can hear his thoughts loud and clear.
This report is ridiculous. There’s no such thing as this crap, but I need an A and I thought it’d be an easy elective.
He glances up before I can make myself scarce and there’s nowhere to hide so I wave. “Hi, Tristan. Remember me?”
His face blanks for a moment, then h
e jumps to his feet, startled. He drops the book on the couch. Immediately pictures flash through his mind. Pictures of me, naked, on top of him in the car. Pure pleasure, and then devastating disappointment when I left him on the sidewalk.
I’m filled with shame. I had no idea I could have hurt his feelings. Now what do I say?
“Um, listen, I’m sorry I left like that. I just thought you wouldn’t… I mean that you didn’t…” I snap my mouth closed, afraid I’ll work my foot inside deeper.
My own memories of our time flood through me. Mine are fuzzier than his but I still feel the tingle below my belt and I shift uneasily on my feet.
“It’s okay, Cassandra. You didn’t owe me anything. Hey – it was definitely an unforgettable evening.”
He blushes in the red light, and it’s adorable. I picture the baby boy inside of me blushing like that and nearly pass out with the realization that his father is standing in front of me.
Shit. What if he wants to be part of the kid’s life? No way. I mean I don’t even know him!
“Seriously, you look like you swallowed a wasp or something. Was it that horrible?” He clears his throat and crosses his legs.
“No! It was amazing. I…ugh, this is awkward.” I flop down onto the other end of the couch and take a deep breath.
I’ve never been used by a girl before. What does that make me? he wonders.
I bury my face in my hands, listening to his thoughts race. He really does think I’m attractive, but he reminds himself that I’m a slut and not the person his friend Rick described to him.
I can’t deal with this right now.
“Listen,” I say, just to interrupt his derailing thought train. “I wasn’t really myself that night. I was trying to kind of drown out some stuff in my life. I’m sorry. You really are a great guy. I mean you seem like a great guy and I shouldn’t have done what I did to you.”
This is only getting harder. I wish someone would rescue me.
From behind one of the dark shelves in the corner steps Evan. Sandy hair mussed up just like I remember it. He’s got on tight jeans and a green t-shirt that reads: Mind Your Own Business.
I stand up so suddenly I feel dizzy. All those weeks of searching and there he is. But why now?
He winks and strides right past me toward Tristan. “Hey, man. I couldn’t find anything else on mind reading that you can use for your report. At least not anything that your professor would take as a reliable source.”
Tristan stands and glances at me before thanking Evan.
“And you were looking for something on Knights in Shining Armor, right?” Evan points at me.
I’d wished to be rescued right before he popped out. But he’s not supposed to be able to read me! That’s not fair. Wait. Does that also mean he read all that about my one night stand with Tristan? I feel the heat build in my neck and face.
“I guess I should let you go,” Tristan says, interrupting by stepping close to me. I inhale the scent of his musk and feel lightheaded. “I don’t suppose you’d consider giving me your phone number. So we can maybe get to know each other and at least talk about—” He glances at Evan, whose eyes are trained on him, unblinking. “Things.”
“Okay,” I say, taking his phone from him so I can tap in my information. At least I’ll have time to figure out what to say, if anything, about the baby.
He smiles, taking it back, and our fingers brush against each other, bringing a tingle back to my body along with flashes of memory of his skin against mine.
Evan clears his throat and Tristan takes off down the winding stairs.
***
We sit around a small table in a dark room in the back of the occult section. Phil closed up the store early so we could meet in private. I wonder if I’m out of my mind, agreeing to be in this room with these men who I can’t even hear. But if they seriously understand more about what I am and can teach me to do stuff like what Phil did to that rapist…well, it’ll be worth the risk.
“I was wondering when you’d get around to coming in,” Evan says, tipping his chair back on its rear legs.
“Get around to it? I’ve been searching for you for like six weeks.”
“I told you right where to find us.”
“Yeah, right after you broke the news that I’m pregnant. So sue me for not paying attention.”
“Now, kids.” Phil stands and spreads his arms in a diplomatic gesture. I resent being called a child, but I guess at his age we would seem that way. “The important thing is that Cassie’s come to find out more about who we are and why we’re here. So let’s focus on that, shall we?”
“What you did downstairs,” I say, lowering my voice. “You said you could teach me.”
“In due time.” He smiles and settles down at the table between us. “First, with your permission, I think I should tell you what the Eye is about.”
He waits until I nod. Evan continues to sit, tipped backward, arms crossed, intense eyes staring at me.
“We are an organization made up of psychics for psychics. We track any psychic we encounter and determine whether to bring them in with the offer of a position in the organization, or whether to keep them on watch. When Evan encountered you at the University, he determined that you were in the former category. Unfortunately, he miscalculated and—”
“You freaked out,” Evan fills in.
I fight back another blush. “Only because you screwed up. Excuse me, Phil, miscalculated. I would’ve been thrilled to meet another psychic under any other circumstances.”
Evan looks like he’s about to argue, but Phil shoots him a look. “Anyway, you’re here now and that’s all that matters.”
“What made you decide I’m the type you should invite in?” I ask.
“Superhero Watch?” Evan laughed. “You’re bound to get yourself in real trouble doing that on your own. There are rules we follow for a reason.”
“You mean the Eye is like a superhero organization?” I ask, excitement building. “That is so cool!”
“Yes, well, I suppose you could call it that,” Phil says. “Either way, it’s been around for many years and we’ve prevented many crimes and possible issues within the Normals Community.”
“So let me get this straight.” I stand and lean over the table. “You look for others with abilities and you teach us how to use our powers for good and we all kick ass? Figuratively.” I correct myself when I see the shock on Phil’s face. But Evan smiles.
“So you want in?” Evan asks.
“Wait a second,” I say, trying to contain my excitement and pay attention to all the warning signs in my head. “What about the ones you said you keep an eye on who don’t make it to the invitation stage?”
The men exchange a glance.
“They remain on watch.” Evan stretches like a panther and I admire his sinewy form.
“What are you watching for?” I press.
“Signs that they might use their powers, as you call them, for something more sinister.” Phil says it gently, like he’s expecting a strong reaction.
I’m almost there. “Then what happens?”
Phil’s eyes snap shut. “They have to be stopped.”
“You mean killed?” I ask, slamming my hands down on the tabletop. “You can’t do that.”
“It’s not something you have to be concerned about,” Evan says.
“Not concerned that a group which has me on watch, and expects me to join up, keeps tabs on people and eliminates them if they decide they’ve gone too far?” I let out a short laugh.
“What would you have done to that douche downstairs if he’d attacked Vicki?” Evan challenges me, standing to face me across the table.
“Anything,” I say.
“Exactly.” He sits back down and pulls out a cigarette that he dangles between his lips. I didn’t peg him for a smoker.
“You better not light that up around my baby,” I say, placing a protective hand over my stomach.
“I wasn’t planning
on it and quit changing the subject. You don’t want us to do the hard stuff, but you know you’d do it too if it meant protecting the innocent. That’s why you’re one of us. That’s why you’re here.”
I hear what he’s saying, but I don’t like it. I don’t want to consider how far I might have gone in order to save someone. Would I kill? Do people deserve to be killed for evil thoughts? What about intentions? I shiver.
“Why put the stupid thing in your mouth if you don’t mean to light it?” I ask, instead.
Evan shrugs. “I’m trying to quit and I thought it might take the edge off.” He sits back down, removing the cigarette and flicking it onto the table. “Not comforting enough.”
“So what do you think, Cassie?” Phil asks, gently. “I know it’s a lot to take in. I’m sure you have many more questions.”
“I do.” I rub my forehead, exhausted. “Can we pick this up another time though? I’m really tired.”
“Of course,” Phil says.
“I’ll walk you home,” Evan says, moving toward the door.
“Oh. That’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
“It’s non-negotiable.” Evan grabs a leather jacket from a hook near the door and shoves it on. “I need some air anyhow.”
Phil winks again and I resign myself to the company. I had searched for him for weeks after all. And so far I’ve avoided asking about the very thing I was desperate to ask. My hand automatically strokes my stomach as I follow Evan out and down the stairs.
It’s a chilly night and I wrap my arms around myself as we walk down Main. Most of the tiny stores and cafes are closed now, but a few bars dot the way, filled with laughing people. I wish I could have a drink right now. Hell, I’d settle for a game of pool.
“You wouldn’t want to shoot some pool?” I ask.
“Game of darts?” Evan asks at the same moment.
I smile and laugh, for what feels like the first time in forever, and Evan leads me inside one of the bars.
“Fine couple we are,” Evan says as we grab the table near the rear and I chalk my cue. “I can’t smoke and you can’t drink and here we are at a bar.”
