New Revelations: Second Sight Book Two

by Heather Topham Wood

  Although she was pretty open with Jared, it was different talking to someone who had the same experiences as she did. Their personalities may not exactly mesh, but the potential of a friendship with another psychic was growing more appealing by the second.

  Declan spoke, “I’m not sure what you read about me, but I’m guessing you found out my visions started four years ago after my accident?” He posed it as a question and waited for a sign of agreement. After she nodded, Declan stated, “So, I’ve had more time to notice things about the visions. I’ve come to realize the type of vision I have depends on the person.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Adults have these mental defenses in place that children don’t. So, I usually will see into the head of a child where I may just witness a memory that an adult has.”

  Doing a quick inventory in her head, she determined for the most part it was true for her too. When she had visions of Jared, her parents and Julie, they played more like a movie. She was able to see what happened to them at the moment in her vision, but never experienced their thoughts and feelings at the time. However, during a couple of cases in the past she had been in the head of the adult involved.

  “I do see that now, but I remember a few cases where I saw into the mind of someone who wasn’t a kid,” Kate responded.

  “Besides kids, it’s easier to see the thoughts of someone who’s not mentally all there. That’s why I’m telling you to try to get into the abductor’s head. She sounds like a nutter which means you may be able to find out where she lives.”

  Looking at her watch, she swore under her breath. “I have a shift today at the doctor’s office,” she explained and then continued, “Well, you probably already knew that, stalker.”

  He laughed. “It’s fine. Take your sandwich with you and text me when you’re free again. We have a lot more to talk about.”

  “Don’t you have a job or go to school? Why do you have the time to come and hang out in Franklin every day?” Her suspicions took over again as she fired question after question at him.

  “Being psychic is my job,” he deadpanned. As she opened her mouth to speak, he put up his hand to stop her. “Get to work—I’ll explain more when I see you again.”

  “Fine,” she said not able to keep the huffiness out of her voice. “Before then, please let me know if you see anything that could help Max.”

  “Cross my heart,” Declan replied and she snorted. “If you have a tough time connecting with the woman, give me a call. I know a few tips on how to block out everyone else and get into a target’s head.”

  Kate leaned forward and knew her hazel eyes were eager as she questioned, “Do you mean you can control your visions?” Before he had a chance to reply, she implored, “Please tell me that’s a possibility.”

  “It’s not a perfect science, but yes, I’ve found ways to usually see what I want to. That’s why I told you I could help you when we first met.” She waited in anticipation as he took a long sip from his soda. “I read in an interview you gave after Cori’s disappearance that you have no control over your visions and that’s the reason you weren’t able to give her exact location.”

  It was hard to digest how much Declan knew about her. It made it difficult to trust him and she recognized that was the reason she was coming off as standoffish. There had to be other psychics around, probably even more experienced ones, so what was the reason he had such an intense interest in her? A natural curiosity was one thing, but going to the trouble to follow her and read past news stories about other cases she has been involved in was another. Despite her reservations, she was eager to learn as much as possible about what it meant to be psychic.

  “Can you show me how you control the visions?”

  “Sure, why don’t we meet the day after tomorrow? Do you want to come by my place?” It was awkward to say, but she wasn’t sure how keen she was going alone to his house. She was positive Jared probably wouldn’t care, but Kate was always wary of permitting anyone new into her life. He sensed her hesitation and continued, “Would you feel more comfortable at your house?”

  “If you don’t mind,” she said uncertainly. Her mother was usually home and Kate could give a heads up to her mom to act as chaperone. He hadn’t sent out any major signals that he was romantically interested in her, but a nagging feeling led her to believe Declan had an underlying motive for seeking her out. After she thanked him for the sandwich, she left the sub shop to head to her part-time medical receptionist job. As Declan’s words tumbled around in her head, she wished her instincts were wrong and Declan’s helpfulness was completely altruistic.

  Chapter Seven

  “Honey, I’m home!” Kate called as she entered Jared’s apartment. He had texted her ten minutes earlier to explain that he would be taking a shower and he’d leave the door unlocked for her. After first reading the text, she went into a panic thinking it was a possible invitation to join him. However, considering she hadn’t shaved her legs that day, she wasn’t prepared to head down that road with him just yet.

  As she went to throw her purse on the white leather couch, she felt alarmed when she noticed it wasn’t there. Confused, she spun around in a half circle and saw that the majority of the furniture was gone. This included his couch, love seat, end tables and kitchen table. All that remained was the large screen TV and a few folding chairs that she had never seen before scattered around the living room. Hearing Jared in his bedroom, she yelled out to him. “Jar, I think you better come out here! I think you’ve been robbed!”

  Jared strolled out of his bedroom wearing only a pair of jeans and a tight smile. She felt slightly annoyed at the pang of lust that surfaced. He should be dressed in a snowsuit twenty-four hours a day if he was planning to make her wait to be intimate. Water glistening off his skin highlighting his perfect body was not helping with libido control.

  “I meant to warn you, but Nikki kind of blindsided me today. She called this morning to say she found an apartment and was picking up her furniture. I was working non-stop and I didn’t get a chance to let you know,” Jared explained and stretched lazily.

  Kate rested her hands on her hips. “So, she was here?”

  “Yeah, she just left about half an hour ago.”

  She took a deep breath for dramatic effect before speaking. “Please tell me, Jared, that there’s an innocent reason you were taking a shower right after your ex left her former apartment.”

  Jared laughed as if her suspicions were the craziest thing he ever heard. Coming up to her, he pressed a gentle kiss against her lips. “You have nothing to worry about. I didn’t want to be a sweaty mess for you after helping move all of the furniture.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Your niceness is completely ridiculous sometimes. I would’ve totally let her move her own damn furniture.”

  “Yes I know—there’s no love loss between the two of you. But I can’t be a dick to her simply because things didn’t work out.”

  His words made total sense, but she continued to seethe. Jared and Nikki had been together for three years while they’d only dated a little more than a month. She couldn’t help but feel threatened over their history. Nikki’s true colors seemed to come out towards the end of their relationship, but Kate fretted over the possibility that Jared may still think often about the gorgeous blonde.

  “Did she mention me?” Kate asked evenly.

  “Mention you?” he parroted her question back with a quizzical expression.

  “Yes, you know…ask if we were together, curse our firstborn, that sort of thing?”

  “No. To be honest, we didn’t talk that much. I asked about her family and she said everyone is doing well…”

  She cut him off. “Did she say if Cori liked the fruit basket I sent?”

  “No, she didn’t say.”

  Another reason Kate disliked Nikki. Sending fruits and chocolates to Cori was the least Kate felt she could do after everything that happened. She hadn’t received a thank you card or
any acknowledgement of the gift from the Prestons. When she complained to Jared, he guessed that maybe they were trying to put the whole ordeal behind them and she was too much of a reminder of the horrors Cori had gone through. It had hurt Kate to hear that. Because despite her horned sister, she would’ve liked to keep in contact with Cori.

  “Well, what are we going to do about this?” Kate asked and gestured to the empty spaces around his apartment.

  He exhaled noisily. “Luckily, the bedroom set was mine, so I still have something to sleep on…”

  “Well, thank goodness for that.” She knew she answered too heartily by the amused expression on his face. How did he keep his cool when she felt her emotions were all over the place every time she was in his presence?

  Jared smiled and continued, “But I’m not sure when I’m going to find time to furniture shop. My caseload has seemed to triple this week.”

  “I’ll help you! I’m Darlene Edwards’ daughter, so you know I would find furniture shopping to be fun!” she enthused.

  “Do you know anything about furniture?” he asked skeptically.

  “What’s there to know? You sit on it,” she retorted.

  “Well, that’s enough expertise for me. Why don’t we plan to go the next Saturday or Sunday when we’re both off?” Jared suggested.

  Kate agreed, but couldn’t help and think of what a guy move it was for him to put it off. If it was her apartment, she’d be on the phone that night and ordering furnishings for next day delivery. Since sitting in front of the TV on a pair of folding chairs didn’t appeal to either of them, they decided to go for a walk to the nearby coffee shop. Excusing himself, he went back into his bedroom to finish getting dressed. Jared reappeared after putting on a t-shirt and a pair of sneakers.

  As they made their way down the street outside of his apartment, Jared held tightly onto her hand. At least with all of the craziness going on around her, Jared felt like something solid to keep her grounded. Kate leaned into him as they walked and marveled in the happiness of the moment. Knowing it couldn’t last forever, Kate decided to tell him about Declan and their meeting together. Jared was silent as she summarized everything the psychic had revealed to her.

  He seemed intrigued over the idea that the type of visions depended on the person. “I know it’s awkward for you to talk about, so I never brought it up. But I’ve had a lot of questions about your visions.”

  Kate felt her body tense as she wondered where Jared’s line of questioning was heading. Although most of her visions about him were fantastic, there were a few that would be uncomfortable to share. Afterwards, she’d wake up and feel guilty when she saw a deeply personal moment from his past. It felt as though she was unintentionally violating his privacy. “Go ahead, shoot.”

  “You’re brave saying that to a cop,” he joked trying to lighten the mood. Jared had the uncanny ability to always pick up on how she was feeling. Her posture relaxed as he asked, “Do you see inside my head? Or are you just witnessing my memories?”

  “I’ve never known your thoughts during a vision. I’ve always been an outside observer,” she confessed.

  His question was a relief. Kate wouldn’t lie to him if Jared asked her to describe all of the visions she had about him. Still, it would be an embarrassment if she had to divulge the frequency with which she had them.

  Typically, at least two or three of her visions each week would be about her new boyfriend. Only a few short days ago, Kate had a vision of the first time they met. It had been such a strange feeling to see herself in his memories. It felt like watching an old home movie and cringing over every little thing said and done. Kate understood her good fortune that Jared decided to give her a chance after their less than pleasant first meeting.

  “Why do you ask if I see inside your head?” Kate inquired after collecting her thoughts.

  “I get the sense that you’re unsure about my feelings towards you.” He stopped walking and turned to face her. Taking both of her hands in his, he gave them a gentle squeeze. “And I think if you knew my thoughts you wouldn’t feel that way.”

  It was such an unexpected compliment that she felt speechless for a moment. Mistakenly, Kate had thought he was going to give her the third degree over what past memories of his she had witnessed. Kate prayed that one day his honesty and self-assuredness would rub off on her and help her insecurities fade away. After a soft kiss on her cheek, he resumed their walk. Deliriously happy, Kate beamed at his back. Maybe even a snarky psychic could get her happily ever after.

  ***

  “I feel like an idiot!”

  “Stop complaining and try to get into it. It works, but we could try my other method if you’re interested…” Declan’s voice trailed off. She smacked his leg hard in reply.

  He had told her about his other method of tapping into his psychic energy. Declan claimed taking certain drugs would help relax the mind enough to get into another person’s memories. Since Kate belonged firmly in the “Just say no” camp, that wasn’t an option. She just hoped her mother hadn’t overheard before she headed outside to work in the garden.

  As it was, her mom had seemed guarded when she had introduced Declan to her. Her mother was up in arms when people came over and didn’t use a coaster. A boy who followed her daughter around with no discernable reason wasn’t exactly a welcome presence in her home.

  Declan and Kate sat cross-legged in her living room with the lighting low and a candle between them. The goal was to get her into a meditative state and let any visions from Max or his abductor flow freely to her. Her new psychic friend claimed that often he would even have visions in this state without the need to be asleep. It sounded like a lot of hokey bullshit to her, but a captive boy was enough motivation to try anything. Yet, an hour of meditation had done nothing except make her crave a nap.

  “Do you know why we have most of our visions while we’re sleeping?” Declan asked her softly. The more on edge she got, the gentler tone he used.

  “Not a clue,” she responded honestly.

  Declan made her feel like a bad student for being ignorant over their gifts. She blamed it on keeping her powers a secret for so long, but in all honesty she should’ve tried to learn more since the two years she found Matt Spencer. Her focus had been more on repressing her gifts during that period. Her time would’ve been better spent trying to hone her powers.

  Declan launched into his explanation, “Although we’re sleeping, our brain is still very active, especially when we enter the REM phase. I’ve read studies and they say that this period is almost like a heightened level of consciousness and the time when you’re likely to have the most vivid dreams. This is the time when we’re most likely to have a vision—especially since our minds have shut out anything else that may be going on.

  “Basically what you’re doing now is trying to shut everything else out. Keep your mind and body relaxed and simply breathe in and out. Don’t focus fully on Max or his kidnapper. Instead, concentrate on becoming an empty vessel and getting into a higher state of consciousness.”

  Kate decided to give it her best. Declan was very patient with her, even as her cynical side threatened to tell him there was no way this would actually help her get more control over her visions. Declan obviously had a couple of extra years of experience over her, so why shouldn’t she trust he knew what he was talking about?

  Letting her mind go quiet took longer than she expected. She kept hearing the noises from outdoors, Declan’s steady breathing next to her and her own heartbeat as she thought about Max alone with that crazy woman. To get rid of her thoughts, she tried to imagine them as bubbles floating away from her. She closed her eyes and just focused on taking long and cleansing breaths. In and out, in and out…

  ***

  “No, you’re lying! He can’t be gone!”

  She beat her fist against the chest of her ex-husband. She hated him at that minute more than it was possible to despise anyone else in this entire universe. He was the o
ne to utter the words that would destroy her world and her already fragile hold on her sanity. They stood in the corridor of the hospital and she could care less about the uncomfortable stares being shot their way.

  “Ally, I’m so sorry. It was an accident, a horrible accident…” Lincoln moaned to her. He did not bother to conceal his pain. His blue eyes filled with unshed tears and his mouth twisted into an expression of extreme sorrow. Ally had no sympathy for him and only wished his suffering could be increased a thousand-fold. If a butcher knife had suddenly appeared in front of her, she would have no problem grabbing it and shoving it into his gut. The dream of watching him bleed out like a stuck pig would probably be the only thing that could ever bring her any sort of happiness for the rest of her lifetime.

  “This is your fault! He doesn’t know how to swim! Who brings a child to a party with a pool and doesn’t watch him? You’ll burn in hell for this, Lincoln,” she spat at him. Lincoln turned his back on her and started to march away from her. “Don’t you dare walk away from me, you son-of-a-bitch!”

  A nurse hurried over to her and attempted to diffuse the situation. The petite redhead rested her hand gently on Ally’s arm and spoke in a soothing voice. “Ms. Seldon, let me take you somewhere. We can go to a private room and have a doctor give you something to calm down.”

  Ally was having none of it. She welcomed the pain, relished it. A sedative would only make her numb to her hatred and need for retribution. The thought of Zachary lying dead in the hospital tore at her. She just saw her five-year-old boy alive and well this morning before his scheduled visit with Lincoln. With a quick kiss, he had bounded off to his father’s SUV with his favorite Thomas the Train firmly grasped in his hand. As they had driven off, Zachary waved from the window. She blew him a kiss which he caught in his hand. Ally had no idea that as they turned the corner, it would be the last moment she saw her son alive.