"So where do you call 'home'?"
He shrugged. "You know what they say... 'wherever I lay my hat'..."
"So you don't really have a home? What about your family - your parents?"
He shook his head, and flicked a leaf into the fire. "Died a long time ago. Every now and then I'll come across my brothers and sisters, but..."
"Do you like living like that?" I didn't mean the question to come out so bluntly. I hoped it didn't seem rude. After my unsettled childhood, home and family were a big deal.
He shifted in the dirt, and sat up. "Hey, that's heaps of questions you've asked me. Now it's my turn. 'Truth' right?"
I swallowed hard and pulled my knees up, clasping my hands together in front of them. "Okay, ask me then."
He looked straight at me. I could feel the force of his gaze like a warm beam of sunlight.
"So what happened to your family, and why are you living with your uncle?"
I smiled at him. "That's two questions."
He grinned back, and waggled a finger at me. "No, it's two parts to the one question."
I took a deep breath, and looked back at the fire. The image of my mother's face appeared in the coals, she was screaming, as they dragged her away from me. I didn't want to go there, but if we were sharing the truth...
"My dad died when I was six. I think it affected my mother pretty badly. She became... delusional I guess." I stopped to see his initial reaction, but his face was unreadable.
He nodded encouragingly. "Go on..."
"She dragged me along to all sorts of doctors, telling them I had something inside of me that needed to be taken out. She wanted them to do surgery. She said I wasn't safe while I had it... whatever it was. I had x-rays, and they found nothing. None of the doctors would agree to operate on me, so she tried to do it herself. She cut me, here, near my bottom rib. It hurt like hell - I remember screaming and my mother holding me down and digging about with a pair of tweezers. There was so much blood... just... blood everywhere."
I sat, silent for a moment. The coals glowed red, echoing the memory of crimson gore, glinting off of the kitchen knife, dripping from the kitchen table to form puddles on the old worn linoleum floor.
Aric moved closer and took my hand. I was talking as if in a trance now - it didn't matter if anyone was listening - the story was finally coming out.
"I was screaming, crying, and the neighbors heard. They came and dragged her off me. She kept screaming that they'll come for me too if she didn't 'get it out'. Just... crazy stuff. I lost a lot of blood - I needed a transfusion... probably would have died if someone hadn't stopped her." Aric's arm slipped around my shoulders, and I appreciated it. It was comforting and solid, and stopped me from shaking.
"Eventually, she was committed to a psych hospital" I continued, "and I spent the next seven years being passed from relative to relative, until I got to Uncle Tom's place."
I couldn't look at him, he knew my worst secret. So now you know - I have a crazy mother who tried to kill me. The thought was unspoken.
He squeezed my shoulder and pressed his lips to the top of my head. "Maybe not crazy... by the sounds of it, she was trying to save you, in her own, mixed up way."
I eyed him sharply. I was pretty sure I hadn't spoken out loud, and yet he had responded to the thought in my head. He looked away from me, back to the fire.
"Okay, so that's me done then," I said, "your turn again." I was determined to find out what the deal was - could he really read my mind? It had happened so many times over the past week I was beginning to doubt it was just a coincidence.
"Truth - right?"
He got to his feet and nudged a wayward piece of charcoal back into the flames with the toe of his boot.
"I already know what you're going to ask me."
I raised my eyebrow. "Okay, what am I going to ask you?"
"You want to know if I can read your mind."
I was speechless for a moment.
I finally found my tongue. "Well, can you?"
He tossed some twigs on the fire and moved back to sit by my side.
"Do you believe minds can be read?"
I shook my head, confused. "I... err... don't know. But it seems like you've been doing it."
He must think I'm an idiot, I thought to myself.
"No, I don't think you're an idiot at all."
My eyes widened. "You can! You can read my mind!"
I was stunned; I stood up quickly, reeling with the revelation. "How the heck can you do that?!"
Fear and fascination vied for dominance in my head. What kind of person could read someone's mind?
Aric reached out to me. "Calm down Lucy, and let me explain."
"How do you do it?" My voice was high pitched and barely recognizable.
"Sit down, and we can talk about it."
I didn't know if I could sit, I felt as if I needed to be standing, it was easier to run. This was freaky... he was, well, this just couldn't be true.
"Sit, please..."
Taking a few deep breaths, I sank to the ground again. Aric busied himself with the thermos, and poured coffee into a plastic mug. It was such a mundane, everyday thing to do, it seemed surreal after his revelation.
"Two sugars right?"
"Aric, can you really read minds?"
He stirred the coffee carefully, his eyes avoiding mine.
"Yes."
I can talk to you in your mind too.
This last sentence appeared in my head, as if he had spoken the words, but his lips hadn't moved.
I yelped and moved back. "What the hell! This is too much!"
"You could do it too, with a bit of training. Anyone can do it." He offered the coffee to me. I took it with shaking hands.
"No way, this is nuts! I... err..." I was at a loss for words, and then a horrifying thought hit me. If he could read my mind, he would know I had been thinking he was utterly gorgeous, and I'd been lusting over him all week, and checking out his cute behind...
"Well, I'm flattered you think my ass is cute," he said with a wink.
I blushed and groaned out loud. "Oh my god! You heard all I've been thinking..."
"Not all, I try to stay out of your mind most of the time."
"Well, that's small consolation. You heard, know... embarrassing stuff... Oh, god..." I slumped back against the log as I remembered the times I'd spent with him during the week, what I'd been thinking about...
Aric poured himself a coffee and sat down beside me. I couldn't look at him but I knew he was smiling.
"Don't sweat it Luce, nothing I know about you should embarrass you."
I peered out through my fingers covering my flaming face.
"I don't know what to do around you anymore. I don't think I like anyone getting into my mind."
"You can learn to shield yourself," he said, taking a sip of his coffee. "If you put up a shield in your mind, nothing can get in to read it - you did that subconsciously about your mother. I couldn't read you. I had to ask you what happened."
"Can you teach me to do it - to shield my thoughts? On demand I mean."
He bobbed his head. "I was hoping you'd say that."
I frowned at him. "What do you mean by that?" He shook his head and looked away.
"Oh, nothing... it's just good to be in control of the space in your head.
"I thought I already was." Despite my rough start in my childhood, and the fact that my mother was deranged, I thought I'd turned out fairly level-headed.
"You have no idea how much of your mind you aren't using, and controlling."
"I've read somewhere that we only use ten per cent of our brains at any one time."
He shrugged, "Something like that. But the ten per cent you are using, there is so much more you can do with even that small portion."
I paused with my coffee cup at my mouth. "You said 'you'. Do you mean you've learned to use more than ten per cent? Are you like, a savant or something?" I'd seen a television documentary
about the amazing abilities of savants - a small portion of humans who were born with incredible encyclopedic memories and other talents. Scientists theorized they were among the few human beings who have some kind of genetic mutation which allowed them to use more of their brain than usual.
"No, I'm not a savant. I'm... different though. I can teach you if you like."
I shook my head dubiously and peered down at the dregs of my coffee. "Oh, I don't know - I'm no genius. I'm just... me."
Aric moved closer and took my chin in his hand, moving my face to face his.
"You are special Lucy. I know it. There's more to you than meets the eye. And you can do this."
I looked back into his eyes and wondered how the blue could still seem so bright even in the dim light of the flickering fire.
His smile reached his eyes. "Who knows?"
I groaned, he'd read my mind again.
"Please teach me this shielding thing - I can't stand having to watch what I think because you're digging about in my brain all the time!"
"All right. It'll involve a lot of concentration - and you've got to follow my instructions, okay? And there'll be lots of practice."
I tossed the remains of my coffee on to the grass behind me, and sat up, cross-legged on the ground.
"Okay, I'm all for it - teach me!"
* * * * *
I'm in.
Well get out! I imagined my mind as a black circle and envisioned a bright white line which cordoned off the space from Aric's intruding mental probes. His encouragement grew quieter until I couldn't hear his voice in my mind any more.
I swung round in my saddle and beamed at him triumphantly.
"I did it... right? You are still trying to get in to my mind?"
Yes, well done, but you've got to concentrate and keep it up. His voice emerged in my brain again. My heart sank. It was impossible to shield his thoughts and think or do other things at the same time.
You're doing great Luce - you've come a long way in just a short time. It takes practice to be able to shield and do something else as well.
I grunted and pushed my hair back from my face and urged my horse down the trail. This mind shielding thing was exhausting. We'd been practicing all day, while searching for the cattle, and I'd managed to kick Aric out of my head just three times since I'd begun to follow his instructions. I was beginning to get a headache with all the concentrating, and we still had to get the cattle up as far as the cabin by nightfall.
Give your head a rest - we can try again later.
I turned and scowled at him. Exhaustion was making me crabby. "Can we please just talk out loud like normal people?"
Aric flicked his reins and his horse moved up beside mine.
"Sure. But don't be disheartened - you did good today."
"I only managed it three times, and I'm tired enough to fall asleep on this horse. Doesn't this mind probing thing wear you out?"
His hand kneaded his forehead and I realized for the first time he looked rather tired himself.
"Don't worry about me - I'm fine."
I scowled at him crossly. "Did you just read my mind?"
He nodded sheepishly.
"Well, my mind is out of bounds right now, okay? I'm too tired to watch what I think and I don't want to embarrass myself."
Aric laughed and pushed his horse towards a heifer that was looking wistfully at a patch of grass through the trees.
"No problem," he called back over his shoulder. "I'll read this girl's mind instead!"
I wondered whether he would find any more scintillating thoughts in the cow's head than he would in my own. I felt brain dead. I was still somewhat shocked at finding out there really was such a thing as mind reading. It was the stuff of science fiction. Aric had been schooling me for hours about energy and mind waves, blocking, projecting and shielding. It was a lot to grasp in a lifetime, never mind in just one day. I couldn't wait to get back to the cabin, climb into my sleeping bag, and switch off my aching brain for a while.
We reached the cabin just as the sun was going down. We searched around in the woods in the dark for some suitable branches to make a makeshift pen for the animals. By the time we'd settled them, it was all I could do to hobble to the cabin and fall down on my bed on the wooden floor. After a few aggravating tries, I finally got my cell phone to work and made a quick phone call to Uncle Tom to let him know we'd found the cattle but wouldn't be back until mid-morning the next day. Aric arrived with the lantern and the last of the sandwiches. I waved them away - I was too tired to eat.
"I am so out of shape," I said, closing my eyes. My head was pounding and I wished I'd brought some aspirin with me.
Aric lay down beside me, on top of his sleeping bag, not bothering to remove his boots. He didn't seem to feel the cold at all.
"Your head hurts?"
I nodded. "It's okay, if I go to sleep it should go away. Can you turn the lantern off?"
He turned towards me and shifted up to lean on his elbow.
"I can help you with your headache if you want."
I groaned and pulled the sleeping bag up closer to my chin. "I just want to sleep.
I felt his hand gently graze my temple, and I grasped his wrist, ready to pull it away. "Aric..."
"Shhh... watch."
My eyes opened in surprise. His hand was emitting the most incredibly warm, buzzing 'energy' which pulsed into my temple. It was hard to describe - the area under his hand felt...euphoric, blissful. The headache vanished.
I sat up in surprise.
"How did you do that?"
"Is the headache gone?"
I rubbed my temple, the last remnants of euphoria faded away. "Yes, totally gone. That was amazing."
I lay back down. "So you can heal people too?"
His eyes looked back steadily at me in the dim light. "Yes."
We continued to look at each other silently for a while, my mind was whirling. I reached out and tentatively touched his cheek. "Who are you?" I said.
He pulled the sleeping bag back up to my shoulder, and pushed a stray lock of hair back from my face.
"I'm just me. But you can trust me Lucy, you know that, don't you?"
His voice was soft and smooth and took on a strange, mesmerizing quality. I couldn't look away from those entrancing pools of blue. I nodded slowly. I trusted him completely - this mysterious man with no apparent past, who displayed weird and wonderful powers, had completely won me over. Anyone else might have thought it was bizarrely foolish, but I knew, somehow, we had been destined to meet, and there was a connection of some sort, which I had yet to understand.
"Are you reading my mind now?"
"No. You asked me not to."
"Well, you can now if you like."
He smiled at me in the lantern light.
Kiss me, I said in my head. He leaned forward, and his lips touched mine.
Euphoria again... I cannot describe it any other way. His lips were soft and gentle and there was only the slightest of pressure at first, which made the sensation all the more exquisite. He deepened the kiss and it felt so amazing I made a small gasp of surprise. He pulled away.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his eyes narrowing in concern.
I nodded, bemused and slightly bereft that he'd stopped. I'd had boyfriends before, and had had quite a few kisses, but none had ever felt like Aric's. There was a connection there that transcended the physical. I wanted more.
Leaning towards him, I kissed him again, then paused for a moment and my eyes met his. "I'm fine - very fine!" I assured him.
He chuckled and kissed me back. He moved to lean over me, and his arms pulled me closer. He was very warm, but that was the least of the sensations that assailed me. My body was filled with joy and excitement, which turned to a sense of urgency as our kisses and caresses grew bolder. I felt as if I wanted to melt into him and I knew he felt the same. My lips followed his as he lifted his weight to unzip my sleeping bag. My shaking hands guided his face back to mi
ne and he kissed me again.
And then he froze.
He closed his eyes and groaned, and then quickly moved away from me. I was beside myself with disappointment.
"Oh god," he said, "we've got to get out of here."
I laid back down on my sleeping bag, confused, trying to catch my breath. "What is it?"
"Quickly! We haven't got much time! Get your shoes on." He grabbed my hand and hauled me to a sitting position.
"Aric! What's wrong?" I was mortified. Had he changed his mind about me? What had I done?
"Lucy, trust me, we have to leave here. We've got minutes at the most." He shoved my foot into my boot. "You do the other one, hurry."
"Aric, this is ridiculous, why do we have to get out of here?"
He looked up at me for a moment, and his face was a mask of tension.
"You're in danger. I let the shield down - they'll know you're here."
He tied the lace on my boot, and I shakily pulled the laces tight on the other one.
"Who's 'they'?"
He ignored the question and turned off the lantern. The room was thrown into darkness.
A flash of pure white light lit up the window outside and illuminated the small space in the cabin for a split second. Aric put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me towards the door.
"We've got to go."
"Aric..." the word was little more than a whimper. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would burst out of my chest. He was scaring me.
"What was that light?"
He put his hands on my shoulders and turned me to face him. I could just make out the silhouette of his head, but I could sense his tension.
"Listen Lucy, whatever happens, I will look after you. If they take you, I'll come find you and get you, okay? I won't leave you there."
He pulled me close for a quick, desperate hug, muffling my questions. Kissing me quickly on my forehead, he turned to open the door very slowly. Another brilliant flash lit up the ground outside, and I could hear the animals going crazy in their makeshift pen.
"What the hell?!"
He put his finger to his lips. "Shh... we can try to slip past them."
I had no idea what 'them' was, but I was so terrified I was prepared to follow his every instruction. He grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door.
Starcrossed: Perigee - A paranormal romance trilogy Page 7
