by Anise Eden
“Very good,” Kai said. “Now come help Vani and me work on this ritual. I’ll bring Asa out of the trance. He can sit with Cate for a while. I’ll give him something to block out her thoughts.”
“I’ll miss you,” I thought helplessly. Asa’s voice sounded as pathetic as I felt.
“I’ll be back soon.” Ben’s lips grazed my forehead. “Then we’ll fix this. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Now that we’re all okay, can I please release Asa?” Kai asked. “Much more exposure to Cate’s unfiltered thoughts, and I’m afraid we’re going to fry his brain permanently.”
“Thanks a lot, Kai,” I said. “Bye, guys.”
“Bye,” they said in unison. And I was once again rendered mute.
• • •
Once Asa had been un-tranced and filled in on what was happening, he sat quietly in the chair next to my bed and read a book. He opened my eyelid to show me the hemp bracelet Kai had given him. There was piece of black obsidian covered with white veins woven into the hemp—to protect Asa from me, of all people. I pushed down a wave of remorse, closed my eyes, and tried to focus on my heart, the center of my unmovable chest. I felt around until I found the portal that led me to Sid.
There he was, awake and blessedly full of life. He didn’t feel hurt or scared, as I had feared—more like angry and loaded for bear. I had never seen Sid lose his temper, but as big as he was, I imagined he could be quite intimidating. I also sensed his caring for me, along with his love and concern for his family. That was understandable; if the FBI was holding him on suspicion of terrorism, it was reasonable to think that his family might fall under the same cloud. But his worry was measured, not intense. It seemed he had figured out that more was going on than met the eye, and he was waiting with stoic patience to find out what it was.
Thank God he’s got a healthy attitude about all of this, I thought. I felt terrible. It was all my fault; there was absolutely no reason for Sid to be involved. I felt a flash of vitriol towards the rogue CIA agents, and hoped that before it was all over, Captain Abbott would make them wish they were never born—and maybe let Sid watch.
Except for Jennifer, of course. As much as I hated her for what she had done to Braz, she seemed to have finally joined the good guys, just as he’d predicted she would. I still couldn’t bring myself to sympathize with her, but if Braz was the one she had wronged the most and he could forgive her, the least I could do was give her a chance.
Not that any of it was in my hands. I didn’t even know if I would ever meet her. I certainly had no desire to. All I wanted was to get un-paralyzed, free Sid, and go home with Ben. Was that so much to ask?
While I was checking on people I cared about, I longed to be able to connect to my psychotherapy clients through the portals I had opened to them. But as part of my training the week before, Vani had closed off all of those portals—temporarily, she’d said. She and Ben had told me that I had far too many portals open to other people, and that those openings were allowing in too much negative emotion, overwhelming me and draining me of energy.
In the couple of months between my mother’s funeral and starting the training program, I’d become a virtual recluse, unable to work or leave the house. I hadn’t realized how dependent I’d become on those psychic connections to my clients to soften the pain of my isolation. But when Vani closed the portals, I was devastated. It forced me to face the fact that, though I may have been helping my clients, I’d also been using my empath gifts in a manner that was hurting me.
So I couldn’t check on my clients anymore—but Vani hadn’t closed my portals to Simone and my mother’s cousin, Ardis. I connected to both of them; they felt peaceful, content. As I sent good thoughts their way, the Benadryl portion of my IV drug cocktail finally hit my bloodstream, pulling me under.
Chapter Seventeen
Mom, Braz, Pedra, and I were sitting at the four corners of a quilting frame, stitching away. It wasn’t clear where we were; everything outside of our quilting circle was a white fog. Even the quilt was all white.
“This is the one,” Braz said, pointing at me. It was a thrill to finally hear his voice. It was rich and melodic, just as I’d imagined. “She’s the one who helped me.”
“Very pleased to meet you,” Pedra said, her eyes full of gratitude.
Then, Braz and Pedra exchanged a look of love so intense that it embarrassed me. I turned to my mother. “Do you have a thimble? I keep getting my fingers pricked.”
She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “And they’re going to keep pricking your fingers until you get out of this ridiculous fix you’ve gotten yourself into.”
“Who is? And what fix?”
Although she sat several feet away, it sounded as though my mother were speaking directly into my ear. “Catie,” she said gently, “when are you going to learn?”
“Learn wha—ow! Dammit!” I looked down and saw a drop of blood on my fingertip.
“We can’t let her stay like this for much longer.” My mother’s lips formed the words, but she sounded like Vani, complete with English accent. “According to our colleagues in London, the longer she’s in this state, the less chance there is….”
“We know,” Braz said, sounding like a very grim Ben.
Pedra’s lips moved, her voice replaced by Kai’s. “The less chance there is she’ll come out of it. Well, that’s just unacceptable.”
Mom, Braz, and Pedra waved to me as they were swept upwards into the sky. Once they were gone, my vision went black. I felt myself lying down, perfectly still and unable to move.
Oh hell. I was awake.
“So we can’t wait until we get Sid back,” Ben said gruffly, “and I don’t know any other catalysts we can trust.”
“What about Eli?” Kai asked.
“He’s canoeing through Canada at the moment. No cell phone.”
“Then we have to do this, and do it now,” Vani said matter-of-factly. “There’s no point in waiting. We do have a double kheir, so there’s every reason to be hopeful.”
“Every reason? One member of your kheir is paralyzed, and the other will be in a trance,” Ben muttered.
“Must you be so negative?” Kai snapped. “Cate may be paralyzed, but she’s fully alert. More than that, in fact, if she’s broadcasting her thoughts to Asa when he’s not even in a trance.”
“I’d love to know how she’s doing that,” Vani mused.
“My best guess is that the first time we shoved Asa into her brain, Cate automatically opened a portal to him,” Kai said. “Maybe because Asa’s a telepath, the portal came out all screwy, and she can push thoughts into his brain now. At any rate, Ben, Asa will be in a trance, but it’s his energy that’s important. Besides, if plan A doesn’t work, plan B is bound to.”
I heard the door open. “Hey!” Eve called, apparently able to remain upbeat under any circumstance. “We brought the herb paste.”
“And the rat!” Asa said with some glee.
The rat?
“Oh, no,” Asa moaned, “she’s awake—and she doesn’t like rats!”
“Leave the room, Asa, leave the room,” Kai said. “We can’t have you getting a migraine. We’ll talk to her.”
I smelled Kai’s perfume as he approached the bed and sat down next to me. “Now look here, you have got to stop shouting at that boy’s brain. Try to control yourself.”
I hadn’t been shouting at him, just thinking at normal volume! But there was no one to hear my defense.
“None of us like rats,” Kai continued, “but we have a two-part ritual planned. Hopefully we won’t need part two, but if we do, it requires an animal sacrifice. Fortunately, NIH is rotten with rats—clean white lab rats. It’s not like we picked one out of the gutter. This one is really cute, actually. If we don’t have to kill him, I already decided I’m keeping him as a pet and naming him Little Braz. So relax.”
An animal sacrifice? A rat? What part of that was supposed to make me relax? And what the h
ell was a double kheir?
Ben took Kai’s place on the bed next to me. “This is it. We’re going to fix everything. All we need is for you to do your best to follow Kai and Vani’s instructions.”
“That’s right, honey,” Kai said. “And don’t worry. Ben’s so sure this is going to work that he even had the nurse remove your IV and catheter while you were knocked out.”
“I didn’t want you to feel… encumbered when you woke up,” Ben murmured. “We’ll bring Asa back here in a minute so that you can talk to us. Eve’s here, too, and she’s going to be doing acupuncture on you throughout the ritual to keep your chi flowing optimally. But you know how light a touch she has; you won’t feel a thing. Right, Eve?”
“I promise,” Eve said.
So this was it. And everyone was there to help—except for Pete, who I guessed was probably off doing something more Marine Corps-y. The need to cure me must have been urgent if they couldn’t wait until the FBI released Sid. A fearful tear crept out of the corner of my eye.
“Cate, please don’t,” Ben said, drying my temple. “We can’t give you any Ativan because it might interfere with the ritual, so you’re really going to have to concentrate on not letting your anxiety run away with you, okay?” He ran his fingers down my arm and squeezed my hand. “Everything’s going to be fine. And when we’re done, I can kiss you without Asa in the room.”
I couldn’t believe he was talking about kissing me. Then, helplessly, I began to think about kissing him back. As Ben stroked my arm, my anxiety ebbed.
Kai spoke next. “Okay, Cate, try to keep that noisy brain of yours quiet for a few minutes. I’m bringing Asa back in. Ben, keep touching her arm. That seems to help.”
Ben obeyed, and I tried to clear my mind. I heard Asa take his seat as Kai started up the singing bowls. Eve’s movements were as quiet as whispers, but I could hear her unzipping her kit and getting her needles ready.
Vani spoke soothingly. “Cate, I’m going to tell you what’s going on and what to do. All you need to do is follow instructions. We’re going to do a high-powered cleansing ritual to end the toxic surge. Once that’s done, you should be able to move again. Kai, how is Asa coming along?”
“Almost there,” Kai said as he added more tones to the singing bowls’ music.
“Cate, Eve is going to spread an herbal paste on the top of your head,” Vani said. “It’s to cleanse your crown chakra. It may feel cool and sticky, but don’t worry, it washes out.”
As promised, I felt Eve’s nimble fingers rubbing circles of something cold and thick into my scalp. It reeked of foul-smelling herbs. Ew, I thought as I sensed Asa’s consciousness sliding in next to mine.
“Ew,” Asa exclaimed on my behalf with distinct displeasure.
“Cate, I presume?” Kai asked.
“Yes. Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to come out loud.”
“It’s okay,” Eve chirped. “It does stink, but it kind of grows on you.”
“God, I hope not,” I couldn’t help thinking, which made Eve laugh.
“Cate, do you have any questions before we get started?” I felt Vani’s delicate hand on my shoulder.
I had nothing but questions, but time was apparently of the essence. “I’ll narrow it down to one. What’s a double kheir?”
“Ah, well,” Vani said, then whispered to someone, “May I tell her?”
“Yes, you may tell me!”
“You might as well,” Ben said, but he sounded less than pleased about the idea.
“Okay!” Vani injected cheer into her voice. “Cate, do you remember our class from last week, Parapsychology 101?”
The class where she and Kai had taught me about the Bronze Age connection to paranormal gifts and the scientific versus spiritual theories about their origins. “How could I forget?”
“Wonderful!” Vani sounded genuinely pleased. “Let’s do a quick review. Do you remember the five Bronze Age groups or tribes which originally received the paranormal gifts?”
“Um… is that relevant?” I hadn’t been expecting a test, especially while I was in a coma.
“Very,” Vani said.
Ben leaned close to me and murmured, “Remember, possibly hokum, but the jury’s still out and we’re keeping an open mind.”
I hoped Asa was smiling on my behalf. “Right. Well, my tribe is Caledonia, or modern-day Scotland.”
“Very good! Go on,” Vani encouraged.
I tried to think back. “Okay, Vani, your tribe is the Indus Valley. Asa’s is Egypt, Eve’s is China, and Kai’s is… don’t tell me….” I gave my short-term memory a hard squeeze. “Mesopotamia?”
“Very good!” Kai sounded proud. “How about the five types of gifts? Do you remember those?”
I winced. They’d taught me the five categories of paranormal abilities, but they were harder to remember. “Ah, I think it was telepathy, precognition, mediumship… I’m sorry, Vani, I can’t remember what you called empaths and aura readers.”
“No problem,” she reassured. “Empaths fall under psychokinesis, and aura readers under clairvoyance. Which brings us to the double kheir. As humanity progressed into the Iron Age and beyond, paranormally gifted individuals from all of the tribes began to mix and mingle, compare notes, and try new things together. One of the things they discovered was the phenomenon of the kheir. The word ‘kheir’ comes from an ancient Roman word for hand, the idea being that five fingers—or four fingers and a thumb, if you like—can accomplish great things. Picture the five Bronze Age tribes on one hand, and the five categories of abilities on the other. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Now that you’ve joined us,” she continued, “all five tribes and all five categories of gifts are now represented in our group, and therefore in this room. That means that in paranormal terms, we have two complete hands—a double kheir. The information we have is patchy, gathered piecemeal from archaeology sites and historical records around the world. But we do know that the double kheir is a rare configuration that could potentially make us much more adept at using our gifts than we would be otherwise, so our chances of making this ritual work are greater.”
“A double kheir.” A rare configuration… much more adept…. My stomach dropped. In a small voice, I said, “So, Ben, you didn’t just recruit me so you could have a full set of gifts and tribes. There was more to it, a whole other level of significance that you didn’t tell me about.”
“What is she talking about?” I heard Kai whisper. “Are the drugs making her paranoid?”
I felt Ben’s hand softly stroking my cheek. “No, she’s not paranoid.” He leaned down, placed his mouth close to my ear, and spoke with soft intensity. “We were going to tell you, but we’ve had a lot of information to cover. Not to mention that you’ve kept us a little busy.”
“It’s true,” Kai added. “We had planned a lesson on this for you this week. I even had a PowerPoint presentation with images of parchment just recently rescued from the peat bogs of Ireland, and there was a terrific soundtrack….” He sighed in frustration. “Coming down here has thrown us completely off schedule.”
“Like I said,” Vani added, “we don’t even know much yet about what the double kheir means, or what it can do. We know more since terracotta tablets that reference the kheir were discovered in China a few years ago. They’re purported to have the most complete information found to date, but they’re being kept tightly under wraps and haven’t been fully examined yet. Only a few people have seen them. Fortunately for us, Dr. MacGregor is on the team from the Smithsonian that’s helping to translate and interpret them.”
Terracotta tablets. China. A memory rose to the surface of my mind. “Is this related to the discovery of the terracotta warrior army?”
“Yes,” Eve said excitedly. “The new kheir tablets were found in a recently excavated underground chamber of the tomb of the first Chinese Emperor.”
“Oh, wow.” My annoyance was replaced by feelings of awe at being connected even t
angentially to such an incredible piece of history. “Well, in that case, I certainly share Dr. MacGregor’s fascination.”
“You’re welcome to discuss it with her later,” Ben said gruffly, “but right now, let’s focus on getting you healthy.”
I flashed back to my conversation with Ben on our trip down to NIH. “Okay, but—Kai? I still don’t know if I believe in all of that Bronze Age stuff—no offense to anyone. Is that going to be a problem?”
“Don’t worry, baby.” I felt Kai briskly pat my hand. “You already have some knowledge of how to use your gifts. The double kheir should give you access to even more knowledge—and that should happen whether you believe in it or not. After all, you didn’t even know a double kheir existed last week, but we’re pretty sure it was the reason why your initiation ritual was so off the hook.”
My initiation ritual—the one in which my mother’s spirit had come through more clearly than anyone had expected. Also, the strong influx of energy from the Other Side—which apparently was always cold—had turned me into a human popsicle. My mouth went dry again. “Ben?” I asked, tentatively reaching out for reassurance from the only other skeptic in the room.
I felt his hand on my forehead. “Look at it this way. If the double kheir is a real thing, then the fact that we have one here might help. If it isn’t real, it’s not like we’ve lost anything. Either way, you have nothing to worry about.”
“That’s right, don’t worry about a thing,” Kai soothed. “Are we ready to roll?”
I hoped Asa’s body language wasn’t betraying how nervous I was. I felt a blush creeping up my neck. “Sure, why not?”
“It’ll be fine, Cate, trust me,” Vani said. “Kai, go ahead and call the spirits.”
“Will do,” Kai said. I pictured him resplendent and surging with energy, as he’d appeared onstage the day of my initiation ritual. I wondered if he was wearing the same ceremonial robes and headpiece. His resonant voice filled the small room. “I ask the gods and goddesses, spirit guides, and guardian angels, spirits from beyond the veil, and all those who wish to support Cate Duncan in this cleansing ritual to be in attendance with us—oh, they’re already here! Greetings, spirits, I feel your presence. If any of you wishes to speak, please go ahead. We’re doing this quick and dirty.” There was a pause. Then Kai said, “Cate, I hope you understand this, because I haven’t the vaguest idea what it means, but the spirits are telling me that your quilting circle is here.”
