I considered telling Blair about precognitive blind spots but decided against it. She looked too happy about being on the team and maybe she was right. I had to stay positive. “Who else was listed as part of my team?”
Blair nodded. “The usual suspects—Reid, Patrick, and myself. Helga and Mr. Parks were also there. There were subcategories underneath your top tier. That reminds me. Do you know anyone named Tiembo?”
“No. And did you say we were leaving Columbus Day weekend? That’s next week! Do you know where we are going or what we need to pick up?”
“Nope. I don’t know anything but to be ready to go. And it makes it hard for me to figure out what to wear so let me know once you find out,” Blair said with a scowl. I knew she wanted to look good if Patrick was going with us.
“Blair, believe me when I tell you not to worry about it. Helga is the wardrobe engineer. She probably has it figured out.”
“Wardrobe engineer? Is that a job title? That would be PERFECT for me…” Blair started to explain to me what colors looked best with her eyes and asked me to put in some requests—such as nothing too boxy and that she wasn’t a big fan of camo fabric unless it was absolutely necessary.
I reminded Blair that we were not starring in a James Bond film even though she could recite all the lines but agreed I would talk to Helga the next time I saw her.
Dr. West’s timing for this upcoming trip nagged at me. If he had planned on the four of us to go on this mission before he faked his death, perhaps he was not as shocked as he tried to make me believe when Reid had returned with me from the reactor. He had expected it; otherwise, he would not have listed him on the org chart or planned this upcoming trip. The only option for his startled response when we returned to the safe house was that I had returned blind and that he didn’t expect me to go into the reactor after Reid. Dr. West had not foreseen the full impact of the pure energy release and I had to acknowledge that I managed to be in his blind spot again. The reason he was so angry with Reid was that Reid was part of his safety net and it did not hold the way he expected. It stung me to know I had wrongly accused him. I needed to keep in mind that Dr. West may not be able to see me in the future as clearly as he or I would like.
I snapped out of my flashback as we approached the front door to the Zeta party. There was so much mental static in the air it made it hard for me to isolate the twinge of danger I had earlier, and Karen was lost in the crowd inside. Bracing myself, I walked over the threshold.
“Why are you wearing your game face? You do know Karen is not your competition. The saying stupid destroys itself couldn’t be more applicable here,” Blair said in her Jams and flip-flops. I stuffed my hands back into the front pocket of Reid’s hooded sweatshirt.
“I can handle Karen. I’m preparing to answer questions about my allergic reaction. Do you know how many people have asked me if it was true that I ended up in the hospital from eating a cookie? As if I would make it up,” I said, exasperated. I said it loudly enough to hush the girl who was pointing at me and saying she heard it only took one bite before I hit the floor.
“Yeah, well. It’s not a bad thing for people to know. I’m glad Reid was with you. He told me at the hospital that it scared him so badly he didn’t even remember getting the EpiPen out of your backpack.”
“Lucky for me, I told him where I kept it. I wasn’t sure where he got the EpiPen from since I had blacked out. Well, needless to say we haven’t exactly recapped it. I know it upset him and trust me, it was no picnic for me either.”
We arrived at the front door and two Zetas in Hawaiian shirts greeted us with alohas and put plastic leis over our heads. The print on the shirts was loud and vibrant and seemed almost psychedelic. Everything had more intensity and a deeper saturation of color after I had absorbed Marlin’s enhanced eyesight from the pure energy release in Chernobyl. We each got a red plastic cup with their black sorority letters and a dancing hula girl on it.
Kevin Flaherty was standing with the Zetas and giving a running commentary about everyone coming into the party. I had not seen much of him since the day we went water-skiing on his boat over the summer and the image of Karen bungling her ski in Reid’s arms resurfaced in my mind. Irritated, I pushed it away.
“Hey, girls. Green light on this crew. I can vouch for them,” Kevin said with a satisfied grin to the Zetas.
“Duh. We know them, Kevin,” Cheryl said, and she rolled her eyes at him.
“Whitney, where’s Reid? Jeez. You would think he would be more supportive. You’ve only been home from the hospital a couple of days,” Kevin oddly pointed out. He looked over my shoulder to make sure his assertion was correct and that Reid was not there.
“Thanks for your concern, Kevin, but I don’t need a crutch. I am capable of walking into a party on my own,” I answered as Blair laughed.
Kevin kept walking into the house with us. “Ouch. I guess you weren’t lying on the boat when you said you were not very nice,” Kevin teased, and he rubbed his cheek as if he had been slapped. “It was an innocent question.”
“It was an innocent answer. You’re the one who took it as a blow. I might point out that being ‘nice’ is not a personality trait but a social act that usually serves to make me suspicious,” I said with an arched eyebrow.
The foyer had been transformed into a beach with sand and plastic palm trees. I could see a tiki bar under a thatched roof outside on the deck. Barbara was ladling cups full of punch. Her hands were stained with red liquid as it sloshed back to its owner.
“Hi guys! Want some Extra-Punchy Hawaiian Punch?” Barbara called over the crowd. She was wearing a floral sundress that matched her plastic leis.
“No thanks,” I answered. I had learned my lesson about accepting food or drink from unknown origins and I did not need to be taught again. I should have been more careful, I admonished myself, setting my cup on the bar. A cold sensation passed through me as I thought about my mother and the tea I was certain had poisoned her in a London hotel. I could not be so careless.
The Zeta pledges were assembling for a limbo contest. Knowing Karen would be there, Blair and I went in the opposite direction toward the contemporary kitchen. The cabinets were white and the modern blue countertops looked like abstract Matisse cutouts.
Sean was standing at the island in the center of the room wearing a big straw hat, shredded-up lei, and faded Jams. He was cracking raw eggs into glasses and chugging them as everyone around him cheered him on. My stomach churned as I looked at the slimy liquid.
“Gramercy’s own version of Rocky,” Blair commented as he heroically slammed down his glass and flexed his muscles. He asked the girls buzzing around him if they thought his biceps, which he affectionately called his “guns,” should be illegal. It was time for me to leave before he spotted me, I thought to myself.
“WHITNEY!” he boomed as I turned to exit the kitchen. I froze, realizing it was too late, and looked back to see Sean careening toward us. I found myself in a bear hug of Polo cologne and managed to give him a limp pat on the back.
“OK, let her go. We don’t need her back in the hospital, Sean,” Blair commanded with authority.
“Good call, Blair. Whitney, I need to talk to you when you get a free moment…’free’ being the significant word in that sentence,” Reid’s voice rumbled from behind my back.
Chapter Three: History Repeats Itself
When Sean did not release me immediately, Reid clamped a hand down on his bare shoulder. His thick arms loosened and I stepped backward. Reid looked only at me and said, “I have a bit of a family emergency. Can we talk privately?”
“Of course,” I said, and I grabbed onto his extended hand. Reid hardly talked about his family except Helga and I had to remind myself she was not even related to him. I looked at him quizzically to ask for more information and he shook his head. He did not want to answer me aloud.
I crossed into his mind to see if he would give me a hint. He was remembering a petite woman with l
ong blonde hair. At first I thought it was Bonnie Wallace but the clothes were wrong. This woman had on hiking boots, turquoise jewelry, and faded jeans. Reid’s memory faded.
As we were walking out, Blair stopped near the Zeta pledges to tell Eileen we were leaving with Reid. Before Blair said his name aloud, I prepared myself for Karen to swing her attention to Reid.
“Reid, you are leaving? But you just got here,” Karen whined. She ignored me as per usual and I found it difficult to pull my eyes away from her white tank top. I felt the added weight of Reid in my mind and so I imagined a cartoon of a wailing baby. His grip tightened on my hand and I had to admit I wasn’t being very nice, but as I told Kevin, “being nice” was never on my agenda. The cartoon baby cried louder and Reid let go of my hand in frustration. I wanted him to realize that he might not always like it when he invaded my privacy.
“Don’t worry, Karen. You’ll survive,” Reid said with a distracted smile. He pulled his keys out of the front pocket of his jeans.
“Let him go, Karen. I’ll cheer you on in the limbo line,” Kevin suggested as he walked up. It was one of the first pledge events of the night and a crowd-pleasing source of entertainment for the party. Reid’s shoulders tensed and I wondered if he was irked that Karen was getting attention from Kevin. He didn’t like something about the situation and Kevin seemed to enjoy the tension.
“Come on. Let’s go have some fun,” Kevin pressed. He leaned his head toward the bamboo pole hanging across a sand pit.
“You USED to be a lot more fun, Reid,” Karen huffed. She gave me a dismissive look as she followed Kevin. I hated her possessive tone and the way she regarded me.
Across the room, I turned and found a pair of ice-blue eyes locked on me. Jurgen. What was he doing here? Reid followed my gaze and grabbed onto my hand. He led us out the door, muttering, “This party is getting better by the second.”
I looked back to see Shannon standing behind Jurgen. She mouthed, “He’s so hot” as she pointed both her index fingers toward Jurgen’s back. I smiled at her predictable antics and she winked as Reid dragged me through the crowd.
“Yep. Better by the second,” I heard Reid say again as he moved to dodge someone from spilling a drink all over him. I was not sure if Reid had seen Jurgen in my mind or if he was talking about the bright red punch about to splatter his monogrammed white oxford shirt. I couldn’t mull it over—I looked up and saw Patrick crossing the front yard toward a new black Range Rover parked in front of the party house.
“This one?” Patrick asked with an unconcealed smile of delight on his face. Reid nodded. Before I could say anything about the car Reid spoke.
“There have been some security changes. You noticed one inside.” Reid unlocked the doors with the press of a button on his keychain. As he let go, I saw the button had taken a scan of his thumbprint. This was not a typical remote car opener. I knew SEALs had cutting-edge technology but this was impressive. It made me wonder about the features in the car itself.
I climbed into the front seat and inhaled the leather and new car fragrance. Leather or highly polished wood veneer trim was everywhere and Blair called from the back seat, “Reid, I have only one question. Do you have any Grey Poupon in the glove box?”
Flipping open the glove box, I pretended to check. “Nope, only a roll of Certs mints and four EpiPens.” The glove box had a fan in the back and was climate controlled like Reid’s BMW. A feature he told me he had customized. He had doubled the number of EpiPens he had in his BMW as well and I looked over at him for an explanation.
“Two for you and two for me. Let’s try not to need them,” Reid said with his eyes fixed on the road. I knew my allergic reaction had upset Reid and I reached out to lightly touch his hand so he could feel my deep gratitude for his help. In my mind, I was thinking about waking up on the plane and seeing him in the cabin coming toward me. Recognizing he was there had dulled the ache in my arm from the IV. My heart had skipped to a faster beat until I registered his look of pained worry and felt the soreness all over my body. I did not want to put either of us through that again.
Reid nodded in appreciation of me sharing the memory. There were a lot of complicated feelings that would have gotten lost in words.
It was quiet in the car. Too quiet, Patrick decided. “Reid, your super seriousness doesn’t pass the muster for a Friday night. Or should I say doesn’t pass the mustard for a Friday night? Can’t we keep the conversation light and about condiments? At least about sandwiches? I mean, is anyone else hungry?”
“Don’t worry. There’s always food on the boat,” Reid said as he turned into the deserted marina.
Once we were inside Sanctuary’s cabin I grabbed some waters and a box of Ritz crackers for a snack and set them on the galley table. Reid glanced at my unappetizing feast. “Nice. Where are we? San Quentin? We aren’t prisoners, Whit. Blair—can you and Patrick see if you can find some REAL food? I need to borrow the warden here for a moment.”
I gladly stalked after Reid to flee their laughter and grumbled behind him that I didn’t see anything wrong with crackers and water. It was only a snack, not dinner.
Reid closed the door to the master suite and did not turn on the light. Moonlight filled the room through the windows. “I know you probably didn’t appreciate the way I pulled you out of the luau so abruptly but my Aunt Diana and Dr. West are meeting us here in about thirty minutes. I wanted to explain some things about her first.”
“Your aunt? The blonde free spirit I saw earlier in your mind?” I tilted my head to make sure I heard him correctly. Dr. West acted as if he had never seen Reid before much less knew him when they met. Why were they together?
“Yes, my mother’s sister, Diana. She is an anthropologist and is a member of Sunrise. She is also an empath and an extremely skilled and powerful one.”
I wasn’t following Reid. I had met other empaths and it was not an issue. “So are you telling me all this so I don’t think how attractive you look in those jeans while she is shaking my hand?” I teased, not sure why he was so anxious. He cracked a small smile.
“No, although I guess I will wear these jeans more often. I’m telling you this because Diana is very clever at how she gets her information. She tries to trip people up in conversation and she can read your thoughts not just through direct contact but indirect contact as well. For instance, if you are both touching the same table she can often use it as a medium.”
“Oh. Is everyone in your mother’s family an empath?” I had never met Reid’s brothers Mac or Clancy. Mac was on the west coast working for his father’s LA office and Clancy was getting his MBA at Harvard.
“My mother can read people by direct touch but not objects. Her extended family, however, are all strong empaths. Most of them are considered to be not only empaths, but also geological empaths because they have a deep connection to the Earth. They know where things are that cannot be seen. Perhaps it is obvious why our family money comes from precious gems, gold, and oil but the Earth is something my family is deeply connected to as well. One of my many-removed great-grandmothers is Margaret of Scotland who is famous for, among other things, the cave she used to descend into to pray. Her cave is a well-documented part of history but only our family knows why it was her sanctuary. Ever since, my mother’s family has had several forms of sanctuary of safety and retreat. This boat is one and aptly named.”
I had a lot of questions and I needed to sort out what I wanted to ask Reid first. My intuition gave me the answer as an etching I had seen of Saint Margaret three years ago stubbornly appeared in my head. I decided to clarify that first. “Are you saying you are related to SAINT Margaret of Scotland? I have been to her cave in Dunfermline.”
Dunfermline was north of Scotland’s capital city and a famous burial site of its ancient kings. We had stopped at the unusual shrine because it was so curious. My dad had gone down into the strange cave alone because I was claustrophobic.
“Yes. The same. She was a Scottish
queen married to Malcolm III and known for her charity, piety, and work for religious reform. She is often called a bright light in a dark time.”
“Malcolm III defeated the devious Macbeth and I recall it was recorded she foresaw the death of her husband and son,” I mused aloud. It was interesting to me she had been able to see it. But she had been dying herself and I had wondered how that had impacted her. I had sensed she was a precognitive like me. I thought I remembered there was another Scottish king who was a renowned polyglot as well but I didn’t want to get off on a historical tangent. Saint Margaret of Scotland was a fascinating person but I still did not know what this had to do with his Aunt Diana.
“Anyway, in my mother’s family, it’s more unusual NOT to have a gift than to have one for generations. My mother’s weak empathic ability always made her feel like a misfit. At some point, she decided to make her own way and break away from her family and their expectations. It became ugly, really, when she was told whom she was supposed to marry. Suffice it to say it was not my father.”
I scoffed. I had not spent a ton of time with Bonnie Wallace but I could imagine how well she would respond to anyone telling her what to do. Her azure eyes did not invite negotiation and she seemed indifferent to everyone. Bonnie Wallace was an island unto herself.
“I know. Them telling her what to do probably only encouraged her to do the opposite. But there is a lot at stake and my extended family is keen on making alliances. Parts of the supposed ‘proof’ of her mistake being that my two brothers do not have the empath gift. They are pitied by my mother’s family for being too normal.”
“And you?” I was ready to hear the obvious: that he was favored. He was a strong empath with superior physical traits. Dr. West seemed to not know quite what to make of him.
“Our house was full of turbulent and furious emotion. All of which I was absorbing and didn’t know what to do with. It expressed itself as bad choices that got me into trouble at school.”
The Light Bringer's Way Page 3
