No, I don't understand. And you will. She encompassed the life energy and squeezed, a form of torture that she had discovered in her time here. It wasn't painful, exactly, but it caused enormous mental anguish to have your entire essence compressed. You will answer me right now, or so help me, I will extinguish your life force entirely. Do you want to be crushed to death?
Meredith, be reasonable here. They'll kill me if I talk.
Or I will kill you now. I am not joking. But if you help me, I will protect you. At least then your chances of survival will be higher since no one is here to protect you now. She increased the pressure until the voice was wailing in agony.
All right, all right, just stop.
Meredith loosened her hold, but kept the voice encompassed. I'm listening.
They abandoned Cole's mind for another.
I know that! Who did they go into?
His friend. The girl, Amy.
I suspected as much. How do we get them back?
You can't. They're fully embedded. There's nothing Cole or anyone else can do to get them out.
I see. That is bad. That is very bad. Meredith sighed. Only one more question. Why did they abandon Cole?
When the voice had finished explaining, Meredith released her hold on it, and it fled into the depths, leaving her alone to think. She would have to plan out her next moves carefully. She briefly wondered how she would act if she were alive, if she were still the real Meredith. In her present state, she had the desire to provide Cole with motherly protection, since that was what Meredith would have wanted, but she was no longer hindered by the emotional weights that had held her back. The real Meredith would never have been able to coerce the truth out of another, but the cold, calculating imprint of Meredith was capable of far more.
She decided that until she came to a conclusion on the best course of action, she would not tell Cole what she had learned. If there were something that he could do about it, then she would reveal it to him, but as it stood, it was for the best if he didn't know. All he would do was worry, and then likely commit some rash action to make it worse. No, for now he should not be in the loop.
She rose to the surface to think while awaiting morning.
9
Cole awoke bleary-eyed to his alarm. As the events of the coming day came back to him, his energy levels shot up to full. Part of him wanted to skip his plans with Michelle and her friends so he could test his plan sooner, but he felt too bad canceling.
Over the course of that day at school, he concentrated solely on practicing his aura detecting. If he wanted to go ahead with his plan for that night, then it was necessary to figure out how to do it before then. Despite the occasional distractions from seeing Amy and Michelle, he did manage to devote most of his time to his task.
As he studied his classmates' and teachers' auras, he began to distinguish the unique characteristics of each one. Some were fainter than others, some gave an impression of bustling activity, many were dull and lethargic, but none of these traits seemed related to the individual person. For all the differences he found among people, nothing helped him identify who it was.
Instead, he began to categorize people, testing out various theories. Perhaps a person's height related to the strength of the aura. When that didn't pan out, he tried comparing gender, followed by ethnicity. There were some slight differences with those, but nothing concrete that he could put his finger on.
This continued until halfway through the day when he had a breakthrough. He realized that the aura had the most direct and clear association with the person's personality. Though it was difficult to describe with words, he gradually began to identify what an aura would be like based on the person. He could close his eyes and find the most outgoing person in class, the shiest, the most uptight. It was subtle, but it was like reading a map of their internal thought processes.
This worked well for his classmates whom he knew, but he did not know how to apply it to strangers. He would have to do some research on the person he was searching for, and hope that he became more skilled at reading people. He remained optimistic that there was more to interpreting auras than he had discovered so far. There was definitely a connection to a person's physical characteristics, though it was not as pronounced as the personality. Deciphering that connection was where he needed the most practice. That night he would have to put his knowledge to the test.
After his last class with Michelle, she filled him in on the plans for that night. She animatedly explained that they would meet at the movie theater after dinner, and once the movie was over, they would go to the pool hall next door.
“Oh,” Cole said, thrown off by the plans after the movie. If he went to the pool hall, he would be even more delayed with his experiment, and perhaps it would be too late for Beth to be willing to take him at all. “I don't think I can make the pool hall. But the movie will be fun!” he added with half-hearted enthusiasm.
“Sure, okay, no problem. See you there.”
“Yep, see ya.” Cole was too wrapped up in his own world to notice Michelle's reduced excitement.
When he got home, he went straight to work so he would not have any homework hanging over his head during the weekend. After all his new homework was complete, he had a half hour before dinner, which he decided to use as a practice run. He walked up and down his block, on both sides of the street, reaching out and finding various people inside their houses. For each person he would stop and focus, trying to get a clear image of what that person might look like. Everything was so vague that it did not boost his confidence, but he was not discouraged either. He was seeing something, and he hoped that having more information would make the difference.
Over dinner, between bites, Cole said, “You remember we’re going to look for that person, what’s-her-name.”
“Yes, calm yourself, I remember about what’s-her-name.”
“Can you describe her personality? As much detail as you can?” When Beth raised her eyebrows in confusion, he added, “It's how I find people. I can read their personalities.”
“Well, let's see. She's snobby, a picky eater, likes rock climbing and karaoke. Pretty extroverted in general. Only cares about herself and her children. Always has to put on a show to impress people. Very obsessively neat and clean. Has few friends.” She thought for a second. “And she hates flowers, for some bizarre reason. That's about all I can remember and I doubt she's changed. Guess you can tell how much I like her. You know, I feel like I'm creating a dating profile. For someone who would never get a date.”
“Thanks, that should be helpful. Oh, and can you bring the picture of her?”
“I feel like I've become your slave lately. Yes, I can bring the picture. Anything else my young master?”
“I'm sorry, Aunt Beth. I really do appreciate everything you've done for me.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Later that evening, during the car ride to the movie theater, Cole could think of nothing but getting back and putting his abilities to the test. A couple of times he almost asked Beth to change direction and do the test first, but he refrained. Just a couple of hours. You can wait that long. There's no emergency.
His mind was at least partially distracted when he arrived at the theater and saw the group of people gathered. Social situations always made him uncomfortable, and this was one of the worst kinds: a large number of people of which he knew only one. He spotted Michelle in the midst of the twenty or so students and made a beeline straight for her.
She saw him approaching and waved, a smile spreading across her face. Cole was reassured by that smile until he noticed her boyfriend standing next to her.
“Hey, you know Arthur?” she said, indicating her boyfriend. “Arthur, this is Cole.”
“Hey.” Arthur gave a small nod. “Yeah, we're in a class together.”
“Hi,” Cole said, immediately hating his role as third wheel. In his month away he had forgotten she had a boyfriend, and with that realization slapping h
im in the face, he felt as if he may as well not know anyone there. The last thing he wanted to do was tag along like a lost puppy.
You're a wonderful person, Meredith thought-said. Who wouldn't want to be your friend?
Mom? Can you not listen to us tonight? It’s kind of embarrassing.
Oh, sorry, Honey. Sure thing.
“Did everyone buy their tickets yet?” Cole said in order to avoid an awkward silence.
“Nope, we were just waiting for the last people to show up, who I think are coming right now,” Michelle said, peering over the crowd to the parking lot where another couple were making their way over. “Sorry, this is way more people than I expected.” Cole thought he caught a hint of discomfort in her voice.
As the group sauntered indoors, Cole searched for someone else that he could talk to, desperate not to cling to Michelle and her boyfriend. Unfortunately, there was not a single person there with whom he had ever had a conversation. He decided to hang back from Michelle and keep to himself. Once the movie started, it wouldn't matter anyway. As he stood in line with no one to talk to, his leg shook with the anxiety to leave, and he wondered why he had bothered coming in the first place. Instead of blazing the path to becoming a hero, he was bored, stuck in a crowd of people who probably thought he was weird.
Once inside the theater, Michelle and Arthur took their seats, and then, seeing Cole, Michelle beckoned him over. “Hey, you can sit next to us,” she said.
Great, now she pities me, Cole thought, but unable to think of an excuse not to sit next to them he accepted the offer.
“Did you see the first one?” Michelle said.
“Uh, no,” Cole said.
“Oh, really? That's too bad, but I think you should still like this one.”
“Cool.”
The dimming lights saved him from having to make any more small talk. He settled back, thankful that the most uncomfortable parts of the night were behind him. Once the movie was over, Beth would be there and he would be off to the exciting part of the night.
Having seen a minimal number of films during his life, the special effects were dazzling. Throughout the movie, particularly during action scenes, he would steal glances at Michelle, curious to see her reactions. One time that he glanced over, he noticed her holding hands with Arthur, which triggered flashbacks of all the close times he had shared with Amy. He dearly missed having her near him, touching him, looking at him lovingly. He wondered if she would ever look at him that way again. He closed his eyes tight at the thought, and to save himself from self-pity, he forced his attention back to the big screen.
Before he could believe it, the two hours were over and the lights had returned. “Did you like it?” Michelle said, standing and stretching.
“Yeah, it was really cool,” Cole said.
“Glad you liked it. It was really awesome. Are you sure you can't stay for pool?”
Surprising himself, a part of him now wanted to stay. “Sorry, I really can't. My aunt needs me tonight. I promised.”
“Okay.” She gave a fake pout.
Their row cleared and they followed the rest of the audience out into the lobby.
“My aunt should be outside,” Cole said, shifting his weight.
“Well, I'm really happy you were able to come out tonight. I hope you had fun,” Michelle said.
“Yeah, I did. I wish I could stay. But I'll see you tomorrow?”
“Yep. Call me.” She started forward suddenly and embraced Cole in a quick hug. “Bye.”
“Bye,” Cole said, startled.
“See ya,” Arthur said flatly.
Cole looked up at him, feeling like a trespasser. “Yeah, it was good to see you,” he said and hurried out the doors.
At the sight of Beth's car, the entire night was instantly forgotten. “All right, let's do this,” Cole said, jumping into the passenger seat. “Please,” he added at the look that Beth gave him.
Beth nodded and drove off. After a few minutes, she said, “So you want me to stop a few blocks away and let you out?”
“Yes.” Cole's voice and face were animated.
“Okay, but I'm going to follow you so I don't lose you.”
“That's fine. How far is this?”
“It's not close. Maybe twenty, twenty-five minutes.”
Cole let out an exaggerated grumble. “The suspense is killing me.”
“Calm yourself. You're making me anxious.”
Cole sat back in his seat, and for the rest of the ride focused on reaching out to the random people that they passed and inspecting their auras. They were moving too fast to be able to concentrate on any one person for more than a minute, but it helped to pass the time.
Mom? he asked, but she did not respond.
At last, Beth pulled to the curb. “This should be good,” she said.
“I really hope she's home or I'm going to think I failed for the wrong reasons.”
“Yes, I hope so too. Well, good luck.” She handed him the photograph of her relative.
“Thanks.” Cole climbed out of the car, and stretched his legs in the cool evening air. He took a deep lungful of air. Now that the moment had arrived, he realized he did not have a definitive plan. The first step was to memorize the face in the photograph and, combined with the information Beth had told him about her, imagine what her aura would look and feel like. Then he checked his surroundings, took a guess based on the direction they were driving, and began to jog, Beth following in the car at a crawl. As he jogged, he kept in his mind the image of the aura he was searching for, and scanned each of the one's that he passed.
It was exhausting mental work since each house must have had an average of three people in it. Focusing on one meant filtering out the dozens of others in the vicinity, and then remembering which ones he had already checked. It was difficult, tedious work, and he slowed from a jog to a walk in order to keep pace with his mental actions.
He walked block after block, turned around, went down a different block, and then, growing more frustrated, turned around once more. In front of one house, he found an aura that seemed to match roughly what he was searching for. He shot a hopeful look at Beth, but she shook her head. He began to wonder whether he had passed this person already, in which case he would have to start over from the beginning, or if he had turned around too soon before reaching her.
Seeing his indecision, Beth pulled over to the curb and rolled down the window. “Want a hint?” she said.
Cole came over to the car. “No, can you just tell me if I passed right by the house or if I turned around too soon?”
“No, neither of the above.”
“Okay, thanks.” Relieved, Cole set off again. He began to realize that, in the future, if he wanted to find a missing person, he would have to get much better at locating him or her from a distance. It would be hopeless to search every block in the entire city, like finding a needle in a haystack.
With these thoughts, he retraced his steps back to an intersection in the middle of the area he was searching. He took the photograph out of his pocket to look at the face once more. “Come on,” he grumbled under his breath in frustration. “Show yourself to me.”
He sighed and kept walking, growing more hopeless and desperate with each step. This was a stupid idea. I have no idea what I'm looking for or how to find it. On the verge of giving up, he sat on the curb, dropping his head into his hands.
Beth pulled over and sat beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I'm sorry that you couldn't find her. Maybe it's for the best. Do you want to go home? It's getting late.”
“No.” Cole's head shot up and his voice took on a determination.” I have to figure this out.”
Beth took a deep breath. “So, what's the plan?”
Cole's head sank back down. “I don't know.”
I think I can help, Meredith said.
You're back! Cole's eyes shot open. “It's Mom and she says she can help.” He thought he caught a glimmer of disappointment on Bet
h's face. You can help? That would be awesome! What can you do?
You already know that the voices can enter others. Without a strong connection to the other person, we get sucked back inside of you, but in the short time I'm there I can tell who it is. I'll search for her now and let you know when I find her.
Do I need to walk around? Is there a maximum range?
There was no reply. Cole refocused his eyes on Beth. “Mom's going to find her for me.”
“She's going to help you?” She shook her head. “I really wish she could talk to me, too. What's going on in there with you two?”
“Not too much. She's been investigating a strange disappearance of voices but hasn't found anything yet.”
“And she's doing well?”
“I guess so.”
Beth nodded and they lapsed into silence.
A few minutes later, Meredith returned. I'm still new to this but I think I found her. Walk to the nearest corner and make a left. It's the yellow house with two pine trees in front.
Cole leapt off the curb. “Mom thinks she found her. Come on.”
Beth hurried back to the car and followed Cole around the corner. He stopped in front of a house about halfway down the block and stared up at it with wide eyes.
“Yes, that's the house,” Beth said. “You win. Now get back in the car. I don't want them to look outside and see us.”
This was it, the final piece of the puzzle. Cole broke into a wide grin and, exploding with energy, got back in the car. I can't believe this. It really works. Thank you, Mom! That was amazing! We can do so much good with this.
You are very welcome, Cole. We have to use this cautiously, though. I don't want to put you in unnecessary danger.
Don't worry about me. I'm a superhero now.
And so it goes to his head.
Cole smiled and looked over to Beth as she drove. “Can you believe this? Thank you for helping me.”
“Congratulations,” she said without a change in expression or taking her eyes off the road.
“I'm so excited. I can't wait to do this for real.” Neither his mother nor Beth said any more. When they arrived home, unable to wait another minute, he went straight to Beth's computer without asking permission. He googled 'missing person' in his area, which returned a number of results. He scanned through the pictures and descriptions, and chose one that was recent and nearby. He had set his mark. This would be his first real task.
Voices in the Night (The Dark Mind Trilogy Book 3) Page 9
