"That sounds lovely," Gran said. "There's a pie keeping warm for you to take home to them."
"That means a lot." Logan looked at her in admiration. "Thank you."
Three kids. He brought three children here around fifty years ago, and he looked to be around fifty now. Holding my questions was difficult, but I didn't know if it was polite to ask his age. It would have to wait until Gran and I were alone.
Besides, I had more important things to discuss with Logan.
"Now then, Cassie, why don't you tell Logan what you see," Gran suggested.
"Nothing," I said without thinking.
Gran looked taken aback. "If you don't want-"
"Sorry," I said, interrupting Gran. "I didn't mean nothing, but he doesn't have a Path. Well, there has to be one, but I can't see it."
Gran frowned. "Nothin'?"
"The Path sees him and flows like it should, but any Path he's creating, I can't see," I said.
"Well, shoot," Gran said. "That doesn't make it easy to explain." Turning to Logan, she added, "It's so much easier if she can tell you somethin’ she shouldn't know."
I wanted this show over so I could ask Logan why men were sent to my apartment, so I thought of another plan. "Something else might work."
Closing my eyes, I brought up a memory. It had been a while since I had done this, so I chose a vivid one of Gran teaching me to bake when I was little. The feeling of family, closeness, and happiness gathered inside. Once it filled me to the point there was room for nothing else, I let the emotion spill out and urged it to flow around our small table.
Logan let out a soft whistle and I could feel my face turn red. I opened my eyes and looked around, but I felt wobbly. When I moved my head too fast, the room spun a bit.
"I think he gets the point, darlin’," Gran said. She must have noticed that I was unsteady, because I could hear the hint of worry in her voice. "Why don't you go ahead and drop what you're doin’ and eat your pie."
Nodding, I closed my eyes. I'd never met another Reader, but we found stories about them when I was younger. Getting too absorbed into the Path was easy for a Reader and it could drain them. Stay too long in the Path and it would consume all your energy, and you would follow that Path straight into death.
As though I were wiping away dust, I slid away from the gauzy Path. When I opened my eyes, the room was dulled in color. The shimmering vividness of the Path always made the real world take on a tired look, as though it had been put through the wash one too many times.
It also left me worn. After being so far out of practice, I had done too much, too fast.
"That was...interesting," Logan said carefully. "I'm not sure what she did exactly."
"That's not too surprisin'," Gran said. The trace of worry was still there, but there was a hint of pride showing through as well. "My granddaughter is a Reader."
"A Reader?" Logan sat up straight in his chair and leaned forward. "That is a rare talent."
"Are you familiar with Readers?" I asked. It would be fantastic to find someone else who could do what I do and see what I can see. Not to look too eager and to ease Gran's worry, I ate my dessert.
"I've heard of them, but never met one. You say that I don't have a Path?" Logan asked.
"It's there," I said. "At least I think it is, but for some reason, I can't see it."
"I'm not exactly from around here," Logan said. "Maybe you can't see the Path of someone like me." He sounded almost disappointed in the idea.
"I've never met another elf, at least that I know of, but..." I glanced at Gran, "I've met someone who's not from this area, and I could read his Path."
Logan beamed. "Maybe it's something about me. Or elves. I'll have to bring one of the kids over some time. Jonathan might be interested in learning about this."
The thought threw me off guard. Not only had we known each other for all of one day, but he was also investigating Gran and me. At the same time, he was offering to bring his kids over to meet me. I glanced at Gran for help, but Logan wasn't finished.
"From what I know about Readers, you can track where a person has been or follow them. Is that right?" Logan asked.
"Sure," I said.
"But what you showed me is completely different," Logan said.
"But it's similar." It had been so long since using my powers that I felt awkward talking about them with a stranger. At the same time, it was a relief that someone believed me straight away. "Your Path is there, even if I can't see it. A person’s Path radiates with their emotion. By drawing up one of my own emotions and spreading it around, I can affect other Paths near me."
"I've never heard of that. Being a Reader sounds even more useful than I thought," Logan said. "We have a guy at work that's clairvoyant. He touches stuff and can tell the emotional state of the last person that touched it. He's good enough that he can sometimes even see the person who held it. Although, see is probably the wrong word."
"I've never met anyone outside the family that...well, that could do anything out of the ordinary," I said.
"Humans with that little something extra are rare, but in some fields, you're more apt to run into them. What type of work do you do?" Logan asked.
I could feel my face heat up. "I'm an accountant."
"I'm not sure how handy a Reader is there, but in my line of work being a Reader would be damned useful," Logan said.
"And your job is?" I asked.
Logan grinned and shook his head. "Let's say I help people. And right now, I think you all know someone that needs help."
He wasn’t wrong, but there was no way I was going to trust him after whoever he worked for invaded my apartment. Glancing at Gran, I could see that she was uncertain about what to do.
Well, at least I could get my questions in.
"If you found someone, what would you do?" Gran asked the moment I opened my mouth.
Apparently, it wasn't my turn to ask questions.
Logan concentrated on his pie and didn't say anything right away. "I'm going to be honest with you. It's all depends on who it is I found."
"Worst-case scenario?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Worst-case scenario doesn't come into play here. Thankfully, it rarely does, and it's nothing that could stay hidden."
"Fine," I said. "What is the worst-case scenario that you think might be in front of you?"
"Let's go with what's most common," Logan said.
I shrugged. "It's a start.”
"Most commonly, we know a little something about what we're working with," Logan said. "Usually, though, we try to help the person find their way home if that's what they need. If they're here to stay, that's more complicated. There are numerous protocols that we work through."
"What if you don't know what you're workin' with?" Gran asked. "And what happens to the person while you work through your protocols?"
"If we don't know what we're working with, which is rare, then there's quarantine. If that's not necessary, then we keep the person safe while we move forward."
"Safe?" I asked.
"Locked up," Gran said.
The elf looked uncomfortable. "Not locked up in the way you're thinking, unless they're dangerous or they've hurt someone."
The thought of Dwayne being locked up didn't sit well with me. "I'm not sure we can help you."
"I'm curious about somethin'," Gran said. "You're here without your partner because you suspect we know more than we say. Why aren't you comin’ in here with your partner and badge to dig around?"
"I have a unique perspective from most of my coworkers," Logan said. "Sometimes, it’s not wise to write things down. Things people don't need to know have a way of spreading when they're written down."
"So what you're sayin' is that you want to take care of this outside of work?" Gran asked.
That gave me some hope.
"Again, it depends on what we're really looking at here," Logan said.
There were too many unknowns. All Dwayne wanted was t
o get a message to his friend. Why was this so complicated?
No one said anything for a while. Being stuck at an impasse is never easy, but when the person you don’t agree with can arrest you if he so chooses, it makes things trickier.
"What happens tomorrow if you don't learn anything outside of work?" The thought made me uneasy, but it was a question that we needed to consider.
"I wasn't here," Logan said. "But at this moment, you two are our only leads. I guarantee that my partner and I will be darkening your doorstep again."
The words themselves sounded like they could be vaguely threatening, but not when they came from Logan. He appeared to be content with what he knew at this point and was letting us know what the future held. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe he figured he'd get what he wanted, no matter which decisions we made.
Or maybe he was bored. While my mind was frantically trying to think of a way out of this situation, he was sitting in his chair humming what sounded like a show tune.
"Your partner is about a stone's throw from losin' his marbles," Gran said conversationally.
"Again, my apologies," Logan said. "He's usually not like this, but over the past few months, his temper's been quick to rise."
Gran grinned, and once again, I felt like I was missing an inside joke. One that only she knew.
"What about the men that searched my apartment earlier today. Will they be sent around again?" I asked. "They don't seem the type to help people."
The elf's smile was gone in a flash. "What men?"
"The two large piles of muscle that were shoved into suits and left on my doorstep. I read their Paths and I know for a fact that helping is not on their minds." The memory of them came back and an involuntary shudder went through me.
"I can't think of anyone that fits that description," Logan said. "They introduced themselves as agents?"
"Well, they..." I thought back to what they had said and how they had entered my house. "I'm not sure." Had they mentioned that they were agents? "But they seemed to be looking for the same thing you were. How many men in stuffy black suits are around looking for the same thing?"
"I need to make a call," Logan said. Before I could say anything, he stood up and moved towards the other room, but changed his mind and began pacing the kitchen floor with his phone in hand.
"Hank," Logan said. "Did we send someone over to Miss Heidrich's apartment today?"
Gooseflesh broke out on my arms and I rubbed them while watching Logan pace.
"We need to see who else is in town," Logan said. "There may be someone trying to find our Lost."
There was a long pause. "Yeah, I'm off duty, but maybe you should log me anyway. I'm...Hank?" Logan looked at his cell phone screen. The thing looked bulky and ancient, and he frowned at it. "The call dropped. I don't have a signal."
I shrugged. "It's a phone, it happens."
"This isn't your regular cell phone," Logan said. "Even in the middle of nowhere, I should get a signal, unless I'm underground."
That was an unsettling thought that made me shift uncomfortably. "My cell phone wouldn't work when those men were at my apartment."
Chapter 9
"It could be a coincidence," I said, even though it felt like it wasn't. "Right?"
"Oh my," Gran said.
Glancing over, I saw her staring at nothing. "What is it, Gran?"
There was a knock at the door.
"It's not good," Gran said.
Logan was standing on the balls of his feet. "I think you ladies should stay here while I answer the door."
"No," Gran said. "That doesn't work. We should go into the backyard. All of us."
Gran stood and I was quick to follow.
"Your backyard is fenced, right?" Logan asked.
"A tall one," Gran said.
Logan opened the door to the living room and peeked in as though expecting to see someone. "Coming!" he yelled towards the front door. To us, he said, "It's not a bad idea for you two to go out back. Better yet, go to a neighbor’s house if you can."
"You need to come with us," Gran insisted.
"I'm sorry, Margaret," Logan said. "I'll be okay. You two go. Now." He went into the living room.
"Stubborn elf," Gran muttered. "Oh well, you're a grown man." She spoke to him as though he were standing next to her. Then she turned to me. "You and I still need to go."
Feeling uncertain, I followed Gran into the backyard.
"Gran," I whispered, too afraid to raise my voice. "If those people don't work with Logan, we can't leave him alone with them. These are exceedingly large men. Logan's tall, but not a big guy."
"Logan can take care of himself," Gran said. "Let's move over next to our friend."
A loud crash came from the house.
"Quickly," Gran added, moving to where Dwayne hid, seemingly dormant.
Another crash and glass breaking had me running to Dwayne. I didn't stop to look back until I was standing behind Dwayne with Gran.
Wringing my hands, I was ready to drop to the ground to hide if anyone came out that door. "We need to call someone, Gran." Every muscle in my body was tense. Even when they had come to my house earlier in the day, I had not felt this helpless. There had been only me to worry about.
"Logan already contacted someone." Like me, Gran was keeping her voice low.
"We need to do something." My brain was torn between running inside to help and getting Gran to a neighbor like Logan suggested. "Leaving Logan alone inside feels wrong."
Going inside would be stupid, right? It was ridiculous that I had to remind myself of that.
Gran took my arm and gripped it. She stiffened and turned around.
The noise coming from the house had consumed my attention. I turned and saw that we weren't alone.
It was the man that had spoken to me at the apartment, still wearing his suit.
"Sounds like Carl's having fun inside," the suit said. "I'm Sid, by the way, and I couldn't be happier to see you again."
Gran used her grip to try to steer me behind her. I was holding her hand, trying to move her behind me, so we stood there, locking each other on the spot.
"I'm afraid I can't say the same," I said.
"You broke my fence, young man," Gran said. "Fences don't grow on trees, you know."
Sid ignored her and focused on me. Unfortunately, he was also meandering towards us as though he didn't have a care in the world.
"You're cute, you know," Sid said. "And funny. More importantly, you have what I want."
Gran and I stepped back as far as we could, our feet bumping into Dwayne.
"I don't have anything." I hated that my voice squeaked.
Sid stopped and grinned.
Without thinking, I reached for the Path.
"You really should have called," Sid continued. "Things would have been so much simpler if you had called."
"If you don't leave now, you're gonna regret it," Gran said.
How was she so calm? These men were wrecking her house and threatening us. Here I stood, trembling from head to toe.
Sid's creepy smile widened. "The old lady's spunky, too. I like it."
Fear is what I had, but I couldn't do anything with fear, could I?
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Gran's Path. It was dark and shrunken in. She might have looked and sounded calm, but she was filled with terror.
And this man had caused it.
"There's nothing here for you." My voice turned acidic as my fear was trampled down by the fury that was building. I took Gran's hand off my arm and stepped in front of her.
Affect the Path. Affect the Path. There had to be a way. His Path was the same motley slew of disturbing emotions that it had been earlier.
Happiness wasn't going to help. Anger would make things worse. Maybe I could do something with fear after all. The emotion was close and burned into my memory, so I took hold of it and pressed it into the man.
"S
ounds like Carl's finishing up inside." Sid rolled his shoulders. "I'm a good man, ladies. You have one chance. One precious opportunity to step away from that rock."
Dwayne? I mean, I knew he was here for the same reason Logan was, to find Dwayne. But even Logan didn't seem to know what it was he was looking for. This guy knew and he wanted to take him.
Or maybe he was guessing.
"The rock?" I asked. "Are you some kind of idiot?"
Sid bolted forward and gripped my arm, dragging me right up into his face. Desperately, I tried to push away and shove more fear at the man. At the moment, I had plenty at my disposal, even if it was growing fainter.
"Tsk, tsk," Sid said, shaking his head. "You threw away that opportunity pretty quickly."
Behind Sid's words, I heard a grating sound. Sid must have heard it too, because he looked towards the house to find the source of the noise. When he didn’t see anything, he turned back to me and squeezed my arm harder. It pinched painfully, but it was fast becoming dull and distant. Bright lights were popping throughout the Path.
"I can't say I'm disappointed that you decided not to give up the rock. This is going-"
A loud grating squeal, like fingernails dragging across a chalkboard, interrupted Sid. That's when the emotion I had been pushing at him sank in its claws.
A stony hand came from above me and gripped Sid's neck. Like battling waves, Sid's Path crashed into what I had created.
It seemed like my work couldn't affect Sid without an opening, which Dwayne had provided.
For a moment, it felt like I was flying. Then I realized he had dropped me. I hadn't even known that his hold was the only thing keeping me on my feet. Using my power for this long drained everything I had.
Gran knelt down beside me and yanked on my arm. "Let go of the Path, Cassie."
Gran's commanding tone had me following her instructions and leaving the Path without even thinking about it. It only took a stern word from my grandmother to turn me into a kid again.
"We need to move out of the way," Gran said.
The words didn't want to sink in, but when she tugged in earnest, they finally took root. My muscles were like jelly and didn't want to cooperate. When I tried to push myself up, my arm burned like fire and I dropped back down.
AIR Series Box Set Page 7
