The Fire and the Veil (Veronica Barry Book 2)

by Sophia Martin

  “Is that the nightmare you mentioned before, on the phone?”

  “Yeah, but it got worse. At the end, it’s like the ghosts of her parents interrupted. All of a sudden I was in that burning room again, and they were holding me down. I’m afraid to shut my eyes, Mel.”

  Melanie let out a breath. “That’s… wow. That sucks.”

  “I think they’re so angry—they’ve realized they can communicate with me—that they can show me these things—I don’t want to see them anymore, though. I’ve got the point, you know? I don’t need to have nightmares about their deaths over and over.”

  “Man, V. I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m sorry I made you come over,” Veronica said. “I just didn’t want to be alone. They may figure out that they can mess with me when I’m awake next.”

  “What are you going to do? How can you make them leave you alone?”

  “I don’t know. This—it’s never happened to me before. I mean, I’ve had recurring nightmares before. You know, the kind that mean something.”

  “But eventually they stopped?”

  “It was different—those nightmares were about the future. When the event they predicted actually happened, they stopped.”

  Melanie sipped her tea. Veronica tugged at the bag in her own cup, watching the color from it stain the water. What was she going to do, quit sleeping?

  “Have you told Daniel about this?” Melanie asked.

  “Sort of. He offered for me to spend the night, but I turned him down.”

  “Why, sweetie?”

  “I’m not sure it’s going to work out with him, Mel.”

  Melanie cocked her head to the side. “Why not?”

  “He’s too overprotective. I don’t want to be in a relationship where I feel like he’s got to give me permission before I do things.”

  Melanie frowned. “Is that how it is?”

  “Sort of… he was really upset when I was pursuing the whole Amani thing because he thought I was going to take on her kidnappers single-handed.”

  “And… you weren’t?” Melanie peered at her, her eyes narrowed.

  “I’m not stupid, Mel. I’m not going to barge into some kidnapper’s lair and start wrestling his gun out of his hand or something. Khalilah and I would have found a way to help her if she’d needed it after all.”

  “It doesn’t surprise me that he’s worried about you—if anything, it shows he cares.”

  “Yeah, but it also shows he doesn’t trust me to take care of myself! I’ve lived for thirty-three years without his help. I don’t need him to open doors for me, I don’t need him to pull out my chair, and I don’t need him to protect me from myself!”

  Melanie raised her eyebrows, pursed her lips, and looked down at her tea.

  “I thought he’d sorted it out but then he just went back to it again. Sure, this time it turned out Amani was okay so I didn’t walk into any danger, but what about next time?” Veronica crossed her arms over her chest and slumped back against the couch. “What about next time? Am I supposed to just pretend like nothing’s happening when I get a message? I’ve been doing that since I was five. I’m just now coming to terms with it. And I have to wonder what would have happened if I had paid more attention to the Lola dreams. Maybe I couldn’t have saved anyone, but who knows? I can’t live with letting bad things happen and not doing anything about them.”

  Melanie opened her mouth as if to speak, and then shut it again.

  “And don’t tell me I can just turn to him with this stuff, either,” Veronica said. “I can’t, because his hands are tied. He needs evidence and he has to go through the system, and that’s fine most of the time. But not when it comes to the stuff I see. The spirits give me messages when the usual channels won’t work. That’s just how it is.”

  “Okay,” Melanie said. She caught Veronica’s eyes and held them. “Okay, V. I understand. It must be frustrating. But all of this stuff—it can’t just be on you to fix it all. You’re just one person. Maybe there’s a middle ground, you know? Maybe Daniel’s just afraid you’ll go off without telling him one day and get stuck with no way for him to help. Maybe if you keep him in the loop…”

  “I can’t do that if he’s going to lecture me or try to stop me, though,” Veronica said. To her own ears, she sounded whiny. She sighed. “I wish there was a way to just turn the visions off without feeling like I’m shutting myself down.” She ran the tips of her fingers back and forth over her forehead. “I don’t want to do dangerous things. I don’t like going to crime scenes and seeing the way people died. Now I have two angry ghosts haunting me. I don’t want that either!”

  Melanie reached over and put a comforting hand on Veronica’s arm.

  “I’m no good at this stuff, Mellie. I don’t know what I’m doing. I have very little control. Maybe if I could somehow will myself to see the future, I would know when a situation is too dangerous for me to pursue. But I don’t know how to do that. The most I’ve been able to choose to do is to pick some object up to get a vision about a person or an event. Beyond that, it’s whatever the spirits feel like sending my way.”

  “Maybe they won’t send anything that will get you hurt,” Melanie said.

  “I thought of that too, but I broke my arm at the river.”

  “Maybe that wasn’t their fault. They didn’t tell you to climb down that ravine, did they?”

  “They told me to get you to stop because Grant’s car had gone over the edge.”

  “I’m just saying, maybe you still have to be cautious, but they’ll hold up their end as long as you are.”

  Veronica took a deep breath and exhaled. “Yeah. Maybe you’re right.”

  “In any case, like you said, you don’t want to live with not helping people. So you don’t really have a choice. You have to go where they point you.”

  “Yes,” Veronica said, and took a drink of tea.

  “So the question is, will Daniel figure out how to support you without making you feel like he’s overprotective?”

  Veronica nodded.

  “Well, time will tell, I guess,” Melanie said.

  Veronica felt better. Melanie was right. She wouldn’t ignore the messages, so that wasn’t something she needed to spend any time worrying about. She’d do what she had to, and try to be cautious doing it. Now it was up to Daniel to show whether he could adapt to her decision or not. It was out of Veronica’s hands.

  ~~~

  Veronica eventually dragged her bedclothes into the living room and slept on the floor. Melanie took the couch but gave her the cushions. The ghosts left them both alone, and Veronica fell asleep despite her anxiety. The next morning she woke up before Melanie and tiptoed to the bathroom to brush her teeth and comb her hair. She decided to wait to take a shower. The walls were thin enough that it might wake Melanie up.

  As she rinsed her toothbrush, she felt a strange tingling on the back of her neck and a wave of heat. Her face looked flushed in the mirror. Please tell me it’s a fever, she thought. But she knew it wasn’t.

  The bathroom tiles in the reflection of the mirror turned from white to orange, and then flames burst from them, until she could no longer see anything behind her but fire.

  “I get it!” she cried out, although the sound of the howling blaze drowned her out. “I understand! I’m trying to help you!”

  But the flames did not abate—instead they encircled her. All she could see was the burning inferno. It closed in and though she knew it was a vision, she could feel searing heat all over her body. She wondered if ghosts could harm her in a vision if they chose.

  “Come on!” she shouted. “I didn’t do this to you! Why are you punishing me?”

  Paul.

  “Yeah! I know!” Veronica yelled. “I’m not going to let him get away with it! I swear!”

  The conflagration dimmed, and then a moment later, it disappeared completely. She leaned on the bathroom sink as the sound of someone pounding on the door hard enough to make it shudder
against its hinges replaced the roar of the flames.

  “Veronica!” Melanie called.

  “I’m okay!” Veronica answered, and as the thudding stopped, she unlocked the door and opened it. Melanie stood in her tee-shirt staring at her, her curls in a lopsided afro, her eyes wide. “I take it you heard my end of the conversation,” Veronica said.

  “Were those ghosts in there with you?” Melanie asked, her eyebrows raised.

  “The Carvers paid me a little visit again,” Veronica said, and took a shaky step out of the bathroom. “But I actually think they may have finally got the message. They stopped with the fire after I said I wouldn’t let Paul get away with killing them. You couldn’t hear the fire, could you?”

  “No. Paul? Lola’s brother?”

  “Yeah—step-brother. Her step-father’s son,” Veronica said with a sigh. At least the Carvers let her get some uninterrupted sleep before scaring the crap out of her again. Her heart rate was slowing at last.

  “What happened in there?” Melanie asked, wrapping her arms around herself.

  “It’s like I wasn’t in the room anymore, and all there was anymore was fire all around me.”

  “Jesus.”

  “Yeah, these two have a lot of unresolved anger.”

  “How can you be so calm about it?”

  “I’m not really, Mel. I think my pulse may be down to 100 now, but I’m not sure.”

  “God. I hope they did get the message, and they lay off,” she said, emphasizing the last words as she looked pointedly around the room.

  “I’d just better see what I can do to convince the cops to listen to Daniel and the arson guy he’s working with. At least there’s that. An expert who believes that Lola’s innocent, and Paul’s the likelier suspect. It’s better than me, by myself, running after cops that don’t know me and trying to convince them they’ve arrested the wrong person. If I never have to do that again as long as I live it’ll be too soon.”

  “Hey, but now you’re dating that cop you chased around,” Melanie said, then made a face. “That sort of didn’t come out right.”

  “I know what you meant.”

  “Anyway, you okay now?”

  “Yeah,” Veronica said.

  “Good, cause I wanted to thank you.”

  “Thank me? For making you sleep on a couch without cushions and waking you up screaming my head off in my bathroom? Think nothing of it.”

  “No,” Melanie said, swatting Veronica’s arm. “No, I meant because you made me realize something last night.”

  “What’s that?”

  Melanie ran her hands through her tangled hair, tugging when her fingers got stuck. “I’m going to let Ange go to the party tonight.”

  “You are?”

  “Yep. I’m going to be a complete basket case and I’ll need you to sit with me the whole time and be as psychic as you’ve ever been in your life—I figure maybe if you hold her old bunny—you know the one?”

  “Carrotonio? Used to be pink?”

  “Yes.”

  “How could I ever forget Carrotonio?”

  “Okay. But will you do that? Will you come over tonight?”

  “And protect you from something frightening? Like you did for me last night? I’m your gal.”

  “Good. Thank you.” Melanie exhaled and her body loosened. She went to the couch and sat.

  “Why the change of heart?” Veronica asked, joining her.

  “It’s what you said about Daniel. How you don’t need him to protect you from yourself. It just got me thinking—am I doing that to Angie? I don’t want her to feel like I don’t trust her, just because I want to protect her from the rest of the world. If I want her to get her confidence back, I have to let her know that I believe she can take care of herself. But V, I’m telling you. I’m going to need you to watch her every move.”

  Veronica chuckled. “I’ll do my very best, Mellie.”

  Chapter 15

  Veronica called Daniel later that morning but he didn’t pick up. She tried again in the afternoon, with no luck.

  The evening at Melanie’s went well. Veronica obliged Melanie by holding Carrotonio throughout their dinner of pizza, while they watched Notorious. Nothing came to her, which, she assured Melanie, meant that nothing bad was happening to Angie. She hoped that she was right. When Shona drove Angie home at about eleven thirty, she knew that she was. Angie grinned at them both and then ran up the stairs to her bedroom.

  “Not much into sharing,” Veronica observed.

  “Facebook and the blogosphere will know everything long before I do,” Melanie agreed. “But she’ll slip up and tell me some stuff tomorrow, I bet. Especially if I make pancakes.”

  “You’re a great mom,” Veronica said, her tone serious.

  “Thanks, V. I couldn’t do it without you.”

  “I’m happy to help.”

  That night, lying on the couch, Veronica gazed at the light cast on the ceiling by the streetlights and passing cars outside of Melanie’s living room window. She didn’t want to dream of the Carvers again, but she also didn’t want to shut herself off from her ability. She could do that—she had done it for years, before the whole Grant Slecterson thing. But it meant turning off a big part of who she was, and she had come to accept that she didn’t like it. At all.

  When she finally went to sleep, she did dream, but not of the Carvers.

  ~~~

  Inside a dim hallway, the yellowish light gave the tan walls a jaundiced quality that made her uneasy. In fact, her whole body felt tense. Where was she? Was this a Lola dream? This didn’t look like the inside of juvenile hall. Could this be Leinani’s dream, then? The angle seemed wrong, if she was seeing through Leinani’s eyes. She was too tall.

  She walked with restrained steps down the hall and turned into a kitchen. Fragrant spices hit her as she looked around at the jars lined up on the counter. Where was she?

  Movement behind her caused her to turn, and a man with a thick beard and curling, dark hair marched right up to her, so close his face filled her field of vision. His eyebrows arched over a glittering scowl. At the sight of him her heart began to race and she felt cold all over.

  For a moment she thought he was stepping back, but then his face jerked forward and he spat in her face.

  ~~~

  Veronica lurched on the couch, pawing at her face. It took a moment to grasp that it was dry, and she was in Melanie’s living room.

  What the heck was that all about? she wondered, her heart still thumping. She felt soiled, despite the fact that it had just been a dream. Was it one of those dreams? Or just a random nightmare? She supposed she should feel grateful that it hadn’t ended with flames and the awful hamburger smell of burning flesh. But somehow that thought didn’t comfort her. Lying back down on her side, she pulled the blankets up over her shoulder and sighed. It had sort of felt like one of those dreams, but she had no context. Did it have to do with Lei? Lola? The Carvers? Probably not. But if it was a psychic dream and it didn’t have anything to do with them, that meant she was now getting messages about something else entirely.

  This is just getting out of hand, she thought. Better to just assume it wasn’t a significant dream. In any case, it’s not like she got anything from it she could do anything about. Somewhere, some guy spat in someone’s face. Great. Sucks to be that person, but what can I do?

  Melanie was whisking batter when Veronica woke up again, hours later. She hadn’t even noticed that she fell back asleep, and she was grateful. With all the craziness lately she wasn’t feeling very well-rested, so she valued a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.

  She went into the kitchen and said good morning, giving Melanie a one-armed hug so as not to disrupt her cooking. Veronica’s cell went off. It was Daniel.

  “Hey,” Veronica said, walking out of the kitchen into the living room.

  “Are we still on for tonight?” he asked.

  Veronica stared at the wall. “Tonight?”

  “Din
ner at Samchon Jung-Hwa’s?”

  Veronica slapped a hand over her mouth.

  “You forgot.”

  “Uh… okay. Yeah. It’s been busy this last week, you know. Tracking down a woman who didn’t actually get abducted. My student’s house burning down and the ghosts of her parents haunting me…”

  “How’s that going, by the way? Any more visions?”

  “Uh, yeah. But I think they’re backing off now,” Veronica said. “Have you gotten anywhere with the investigation?”

  “I talked to Jerry again yesterday. I told him I think he’s right about it all. He’s working on an analysis in the lab. He thinks he may be able to prove that the arsonist used a starter, and if he can prove it’s sophisticated enough, it may make Lola look like less of an attractive suspect.”

  “Any chance you can get her out of the hall?”

  Daniel sighed. “Not this weekend, anyway. I’ll see on Monday. I can talk to the judge assigned to her case then.”

  Veronica chewed on her lip. She didn’t want Lola to spend another night in jail. She hadn’t had any visions since the one the night before last. What if things were getting worse?

  “I’m working on locating Paul,” Daniel added. “I want to know exactly where he is when we get a warrant for his arrest.”

  “I think he has Lola’s little sister with him, Daniel. He’s dangerous. We have to get her away from him.”

  “We will.”

  Veronica held the phone with one hand and wrapped her other arm around herself. “She’s been with him for days. What if he’s hurting her like he hurt Lola?”

  “You don’t know that he hurt Lola,” Daniel said. “You never saw what he did, right?”

  “No but I had another vision of her. She’s so afraid of him. She’s so upset that he has her sister.”

  “I’ll find him, Ronnie.”

  “Yeah,” she said.

  “Okay, so what about tonight? Do you want me to cancel?”

  Veronica chewed on her lip again. If she said she still wanted to go, she’d meet his family, and she wasn’t sure she was going to even keep seeing him. But if she told him to cancel, he’d figure out she was thinking about breaking up, wouldn’t he? And she wanted to give him another chance. She wanted him to help her free Lola and find Leinani. Maybe if they did that, together, they would get past these roadblocks.