by T. G. Ayer
“Pepper?” asked Xenia, looking away to inspect the ocean before Allegra could answer.
“He was alive,” Allegra spoke softly, “but barely. Starved, alone. The whole waterfront looked abandoned.”
Xenia stared at her, forlorn, her expression dark and scared. “He would not be all alone if you still survived. I know that much. You haven’t seen yourself . . .?”
Allegra rubbed her middle finger over her left wrist, where the blue veins shone through her pale skin.
Nothing.
“It doesn’t seem to work like that. But being able to see it coming does not make me immune.” She swallowed. “Pepper looked so forlorn. But whatever happened, it didn’t kill him.”
Xenia’s hand moved over the dog’s head in a protective gesture. “Small comfort when he’s left hungry and alone.”
Allegra reached for her friend’s other hand, this time uncaring if she received another vision. “It won’t come to that. It’ll be okay.”
Xenia nodded and sniffed, giving Pepper a quick glance as he whined and looked up at her. He knew his mom’s moods, and crying wasn’t something Xenia did often.
Cause for concern.
“I know it will. You’ve always been able to take the correct precautions, and those who did listen to your warnings . . . they were safe. You just have to see what you can do to stop this from happening.” Xenia watched her face, waiting for Allegra to respond. “Right?” she urged.
Allegra nodded, her neck muscles tight. “Exactly. And usually my feelings are about stuff that happens soon. Like today and tomorrow.” Xenia was nodding, making Allegra feel a little more confident. “That gives me more time to find a solution. And these visions? They didn’t seem like an immediate threat. And the future . . . it isn’t written in stone . . . so there is hope we can do something to avoid it.”
Both girls fell silent, pondering the potential for failure.
Allegra’s stomach twinged. She didn’t like the idea that people’s lives rested on the decisions she was about to make. If only the gods had not abandoned humanity. Had they still cared Allegra would have been able to pray for help with some chance of success.
Of course, a growing minority of people argued the gods had never existed in the first place. Whatever the case, humanity was on its own. There was nobody for Allegra to turn to.
Yet, surely the fate of the world couldn’t rest on her shoulders alone?
Chapter 4
The house felt claustrophobic.
Allegra was so on edge after the visions that she’d canceled all her standing appointments and sent a message to the service to refrain from sending her any new clients.
Call it cowardice, but Allegra couldn’t stomach seeing anyone else die a miserable, bloody death. Not until she figured out what she was going to do about it.
Now, she sipped nervously at a cup of coffee as she sat on her deck. Dark angry waves battled it out on the distant horizon, the shadowy black smudges marring the pure beauty of the cobalt sky. The ocean heaved and plunged, navy blue clouds skidding overhead.
The view only amplified her grim mood.
At last, she threw the dregs of her coffee over the railing and watched the liquid splash onto the rocks below, creamy brown hitting black jagged edges and splintering into hundreds of tiny droplets. The sight made her shiver.
She felt like those droplets, torn asunder by visions that she couldn’t understand, visions that made so little sense to her.
Allegra spun on her heel and headed inside, depositing the cup in the sink without bothering to rinse it out.
She went down the hall to her study, and took a seat at her desk. Sometimes she worked there, in the airy room that used to belong to her father Aleks. She filled in forms and submitted paperwork on Nike Rehab’s fancy new system.
Flipping the switch on the heavy base of her personal computer, Allegra waited as the machine whirred and clunked. Finally, a few minutes and a whole lot of beeps later, the square monitor revealed a dark screen and blinking white words requesting her password.
Punching it in on the rectangular keyboard, she used the mouse to click the browser sign on the main screen and waited for the program to load.
Allegra tapped her fingers and stared out of the window. Beyond the glass panes, the apple and orange trees in the orchard called to her. She loved walking through the trees in the mornings, sipping her coffee and checking for ripe fruit.
Not today.
Today, when she looked at the trees, all she could see were rotten dying branches. Her imagination of course. Her visions had seemed to point to human deaths only, as Pepper and all flora and fauna seemed to survive whatever scourge was eradicating the humans.
The computer bleeped and she typed in words related to her visions; thirst, blood, starvation, death. The search engine brought up a range of results and Allegra spent the next few hours skimming through them and taking notes, devoting all her free time to research.
Fortunately, her modest trust fund and what little savings she’d accumulated, allowed her to take some weeks off until she got to the bottom of her deadly visions.
Not permanently, of course.
But then, what did permanent mean at this point? What was money anyway if everyone was about to die?
Allegra shook her head, wondering where that morbid thought had come from. She’d seen the deaths of a few people. That did not mean everyone was going to die.
She had to know more about what was going on.
But the more she researched, the less she understood. The symptoms pointed to a flu- or a pox-like disease. The festering sores and boils had suggested a pox or leprosy, but none of those diseases had existed for centuries. Not since the Black Plague which had decimated the population all across the world about five hundred years earlier.
People had learned their lesson then, and steps had been taken to keep cities and homes cleaner, to install water-filtration systems and implement sewerage control. Hygiene had long since become a top priority for most governments.
Allegra studied the websites on public health and began to draw a clearer picture of what she’d seen. She compared the symptoms of the dead and dying to the symptoms she’d seen in her visions and came to only one conclusion.
A strong contagion, similar to the pox but much more virulent, causing complete incapacitation of affected patients.
She frowned, scanning the sites again, an idea brewing in her head as to her next step. Contacting the government’s Disease Control Department.
A sharp, almost angry knock sounded at her front door, and Allegra instinctively jerked her hands from the keyboard. Irrationally, she felt almost guilty about her browser's gloomy content.
She sat at her desk for a few moments, reluctant to open the door. Maybe whoever they were would just go away if she refused to answer?
A second knock echoed around the house, this one more peremptory, a little sharper.
Allegra sighed, got to her feet and switched off her computer, before heading to the front door. Who in Apollo’s name was so damned insistent?
Through the glass panel in the front door, she took in two men in pale suits, the gold olive-branch pins on their shoulders holding a swag of purple fabric in place.
Officers of the government.
FAPA.
Federal Agency for Paranormal Affairs
Allegra stiffened, but since she couldn’t hide now that they’d likely seen her through the glass as clearly as she had them, she was forced to open the door.
Pasting on a polite smile she greeted the men. The one closest to Allegra was as tall blond, his hair cut square on his forehead, giving his face a closed-in look. His eyes were beads of suspicion, scanning her from head to toe.
Allegra forced her face into a mask of calm, giving away nothing of her emotional turmoil. She’d heard that some of the FAPA agents had the power to read minds and to foretell the future. Probably not as strong as Allegra’s power, but sufficient to know when
they were apprehending a guilty party.
In this case, Allegra felt guilty despite not having done a damn thing to deserve feeling that way. She steeled herself as the blond-haired hulk spoke.
“Citizen Allegra Damascus?”
“Yes, that’s me,” she said, keeping her tone even. He was already putting her on edge, making her nervous.
“I’m Agent Kendall from the FAPA office in Las Suertes.”
Las Suertes was the nearest large city. A visit from the city office meant something big was happening. Serious enough to bring in the big guns.
“This is Agent Ravik. We have a few questions for you.”
Allegra hesitated, then gave a subdued nod before showing them inside. Something told her she was going to regret being so welcoming, but for now she wasn’t about to hinder an official investigation. Even if she were the subject of said investigation.
Agent Blond, Allegra had already forgotten his name, refused to take a seat on the sofa she’d indicated, instead inspecting the rows of framed black-and-white photographs that bedecked the shelves set against the stone fireplace wall.
Allegra sat, watching him complete a circumnavigation of the simple white and gray decor of the room, his eyes roving, observant, critical. As he moved, Allegra rubbed her finger over her left wrist absently.
He came to a stop beside his partner who’d been nice enough to sit with her, his small dark face the picture of respect. He hadn’t met her eyes, just gave her a fleeting glance or two.
An act maybe?
Now, Blond studied her from beneath his thick pale eyelashes, his nose slightly tilted upward, his demeanor a little too haughty, more suited to a senator than an agent. “We’ve received some disturbing reports.”
He let the comment hang in the air, as if Allegra would magically know what he was talking about. She didn’t.
She shook her head slowly, biting her lip, and sent him a questioning glance.
He shrugged one shoulder and his brows twisted in annoyance. He removed a small purple notebook from his pocket, producing the book with a flourish.
“People have been discussing your ‘prediction’.”
Allegra’s stomach tightened. “What prediction?”
Word must have gotten around fast for the feds to get here so quickly.
Allegra’s stomach tightened and she had to force herself to sit still.
“Your predictions of doom, Citizen Damascus.” The second agent had finally deigned to speak. He too had removed his notebook and was staring down at the pages, his expression disapproving now. No longer neutral. “We’ve been informed that you are spreading tales of impending death within the community. The citizenry are unhappy with such disturbing rumors.”
“Who’s saying these things?” asked Allegra, leaning forward toward the wide stone coffee table, though she could guess easily enough.
“Our source is irrelevant in this matter.”
“What? That’s ridiculous. Aren’t all citizens supposed to have the right to rebut against any accuser?” With effort, Allegra forced herself to retain control of her emotions, and her tongue. “The Breslins know full well what happened,” she said calmly.
“Why don’t you tell us what happened?” Blond took a step closer, his expression now hard, intense, as if his life depended on her answer.
Allegra lifted her chin, reluctant to go into detail about what she’d seen.
Blond took it as defiance.
He stormed forward, four long strides that brought him right to her feet. The threatening move forced Allegra to stand. She would not remain seated while the hulking man loomed over her, beating her into submission with his shadow and his height.
She looked at his face, refusing to lower her gaze as he studied her. She, in turn, studied him, assessing his strength, muscled shoulders, well-developed thighs. Large hands. There was a power to him that Allegra knew she’d be useless against if he threatened her bodily.
Despite her martial arts training, or perhaps because of it, she wasn’t stupid enough to assume that she’d be able to take him, especially when he appeared to be almost twice her size.
Besides even if, by sheer luck, she managed to take him on, there were two of them. And they were federal agents.
Paranoid, aren’t you.
Agent Ravik took a breath. “What we have heard so far can be construed as an attempt to scam your clients. An attempt that backfired on you.”
“What?” Allegra wasn’t sure whether to be shocked or amused. “Look, I would not have said anything to Breslin, except that I was so startled by such a sudden and vivid vision, that I wasn’t able to hide my reaction. And, I have not the slightest idea whether what I saw was genuine or not – I hope it was just my vivid imagination.” If only. “The accusation that I wanted to scam them is totally baseless. You’d be hard pressed to find a witness who can testify that I ever asked for money.”
“That demand usually comes after the victims are properly frightened,” Blond observed, unimpressed by her denial. "You beat it when they refused to fall for your spiel.”
Allegra huffed in indignation. He was stretching the story so much that she didn’t think people would actually believe him, but from the looks of his partner who was staring at her so disapprovingly, his version might actually make sense to those who had never met her.
Blond glanced at his partner who gave him a short tight nod. He looked at Allegra again, his attention focused squarely on her face. “Your prediction of death is creating unrest and undue concern amongst the citizenry. We have tried to calm that down, but felt the need to speak to you face-to-face.” He paused as he watched her for a few, very long, moments. “We need to ascertain your legitimacy.”
Allegra folded her arms. “And have you done so as yet?” she asked, slowly.
She should be losing her patience with his smug superiority, but instead she was a bundle of nerves, her thoughts flicking back and forth from vision to vision, her mind counting down the days until this disease ran rampant and killed everyone.
And killed the people she loved.
Chapter 5
“Unfortunately, yes we have,” Blond said, pulling her from her self-pity.
Allegra took a few steps back, putting the single sofa between herself and his threatening bulk.
He smiled. “You are not a trained or licensed seer, just an opportunistic amateur. I’m more certain now that this whole vision thing is a scam. I’m going to have to write up in my report that this visit resulted in a first warning. Any further ‘prediction’ activity may still be considered a nuisance, but after the third warning you will lose your license to practice physiotherapy. I doubt the Nike Agency would want anything to do with someone who scams their clients, no matter how . . . talented . . . they are with their hands.”
Allegra was horrified. And outraged.
She swallowed hard against her fear. “How dare you come into my home and accuse me of such ridiculous things. Firstly, you’ve been decidedly incompetent, and had made up your mind before requesting my side of the story. And secondly, your accusations are all unjustified. To think you can summarily accuse me and write me up, when there isn’t even any proof other than what others have said or imagined-”
“We have sufficient proof in the testimonials of several trusted sources.” Blond’s voice was sharper, and now even Ravik seemed angry at Allegra for having the gall to come to her own defense.
“Well, you two can just go to hell. The nerve of you people, barging into my home and making accusations and threats.” Her voice wavered, and she knew it made it obvious that she was scared. She took a step around the sofa and walked toward the blond agent, putting bravado in her tone as she pointed at the door and said, “Leave right now.”
Blond stood his ground, though his partner rose to his feet, as if to leave. But when neither men budged any further, Allegra let out a deep sigh. Without thinking, she stalked to Blond and gave him a small shove. Nothing more than a touch of her
fingers to his arm to direct him to the door.
Allegra’s fury fell away as the room was replaced instantly by a small enclosed space. Allegra blinked, opening her eyes slowly, staring around her in shock. She sat in the passenger seat of an automobile, the vehicle dark and gloomy, lit only by a distant street lantern.
Beside her sat Blond, his head lolling to the side, his eye staring at something beyond her shoulder.
Allegra tried to look away, but the vision didn’t allow her freedom of movement.
Instead, she was forced to focus on Blond who no longer possessed the bulky shoulders and upper-body physique of a bodybuilder. Instead, his limbs and torso were emaciated, the flesh no longer filling the space between skin and bone.
He opened his mouth to speak and blood-flecked saliva dribbled down the side of his chin, dripping slowly onto his pink shirt. He seemed unable to voice his words, no sound coming from his lips.
Then Blond moved his head, turned enough to reveal the left side of his boil-infested face. The sores had eaten at his skin and here and there, flesh had rotted away leaving gaping holes through which Allegra could make out his bloodstained teeth.
She cried out, her hands shivering beyond her control. She let his arm go, taking a few steps away from him, and stared around the room, still not convinced she’d been released from the vision.
Blond frowned and dusted off his upper arm where she’d touched him, as if she was contaminated. “What in Hades name?” he said sharply.
Allegra backed away, shock filtering through her body, rendering her legs numb. Her breath left her lips in shallow puffs and the room began to tilt precariously. Convinced she was going to fall, she reached for the back of the nearest sofa.
“What happened?” Blond stepped closer, his brows furrowed. His expression was a strange mix of concerned and threatening.
Allegra shook her head, reluctant to say anything to him of what she’d seen. It would only cause further problems.
