Derek had really thought he’d live the rest of his life without ever hearing Kate scream again. Truth was, he’d only gone about seven hours.
Hearing her shriek, he ran toward the living room, holding his pants at the waist since he hadn’t even had a chance to button them all the way up.
“Kate, what is it, baby? What’s wrong?”
She stood in the living room, shaking from her head to her feet. Taylor and Vonnie stood with her, both of them with arms around her waist.
“Isaac’s alive?” she whispered.
Derek was so shocked he let go of his pants. Only Taylor’s gasp prompted him to grab them before they fell all the way off his ass. Yanking them up, he buttoned as quickly as he could and went to Kate. She looked like a person caught between hope and desperation.
“Why would you say that?” Kate demanded, gripping Taylor’s arms. “How could you know?”
“Maybe we should sit down and let her talk,” Derek said. He took Kate’s hand and squeezed. He had no idea what craziness had just re-blasted their lives open, but whatever it was, he knew they could handle it.
They sat down. Taylor and Vonnie both began to speak.
When she heard Taylor claim she had left her body to gain her sister’s help in finding Isaac, Kate sagged against his side. Derek kept his arm around her, whispering, “Hold on, let’s hear her out. You believe in what Julia and Liv can see. What’s a ghost if not a soul outside of its body?”
“Yes!” Taylor squealed. “That’s absolutely, 100% what it’s like! I left my body, Jenny put it on for a while…”
“What?” Kate gasped.
Vonnie glared at her roommate and took over. “I know it sounds crazy, and I’m the last person to believe in this stuff. But I know Taylor, and I knew her sister. I have absolutely no doubt that I spent an hour with Jenny Kirby in my dorm yesterday.”
“And I spent an hour with Isaac Lincoln. Well, with his spirit, anyway.”
Kate leaned forward, dropping her elbows onto her knees. “You’re serious?”
“I’m totally serious.”
“But…you said he was alive.”
Taylor smiled, looking completely pleased with herself. “He is. His body is lying in a hospital somewhere in Florida. He couldn’t tell me where, because he doesn’t know for sure.
Kate stood, brushing her hair off her face, grumbling, “This is ridiculous.”
“I swear, Kate,” said Taylor, leaping up to go to her. “I swear to you on the soul of my sister…who I loved with all my heart. I am telling you the truth.”
Kate studied her face, found something she believed, and returned to the couch. Derek felt her trembling, though she maintained a calm expression. Inside, he knew, she was a jumbled, confused blend of hope and mistrust. He pulled her closer, waiting to hear the rest.
“What else did Isaac…say?” Kate whispered.
“He said his old high school principal tried to kill him.” Taylor scowled. “He told Isaac he had to come to his office for special discipline in the middle of the night without telling anybody.”
Just as Derek had suspected. The boys were so conditioned to expect unusual, outrageous punishments, they probably had never imagined how deadly the request could be.
“Once he got him alone, he hurt him really bad. But the school custodian who was supposed to bury him realized he was still alive. He liked Isaac, so he drove him into Florida and dumped him on a beach. He was found and taken to a hospital. They treated him, but his body never woke back up. He thinks he’s in a coma. He’s been that way ever since. They have no idea who he is.”
Derek had a sudden flashback to those moments with Slate and muttered, “He’s a nice boy. He’s sleeping.”
Kate flinched and looked at him. “You don’t really think…”
“I don’t know what I think. I do know I want to hear more.”
They both turned back to Taylor.
“He’s not dead,” Taylor reiterated. “It’s like, I don’t know, like he’s wandering around this strange, misty place where people go after they die…but before they go to whatever final afterlife is waiting for them. Isaac was really confused for a long time. Jenny knew I was looking for him—she watches over me, but she can’t appear to me. She found him and helped him figure things out. He knows he’s not really dead, and isn’t supposed to go away yet.”
“He didn’t get on the train,” Derek murmured.
Taylor and Vonnie both gasped and exclaimed, “Yes! That’s exactly what Jenny said.”
He shrugged. “Julia and Liv have both talked about it. Their ghost friends have told them about the train whistling, and their refusal to climb aboard. Which, from the sound of it, is what Jenny did, too.”
Taylor nodded, not exactly looking displeased that she had gotten to see her twin again, even if not physically. He supposed that having the chance to reunite with a loved one was a lure few spirits could resist. Especially ones like Jenny, who had died so violently and unexpectedly.
He couldn’t help wondering about his parents. He only hoped that if they’d hung around for a while, they had, by now, followed the whistle and hitched their ride to somewhere better than here.
“You believe me, right?” Taylor said. “You have to believe me.”
Kate the healer, Kate the doctor, Kate the rational one was slowly shaking her head back and forth. Despite what they’d just lived through, and the paranormal things she’d come to believe in, this one was really tripping her up.
Finally, she sunk back and dropped her head onto the back of the couch. She closed her eyes. She started counting.
Ten. Nine. On down from there.
He heard the whispers, and the deep even breaths she took between each number.
He knew this routine. She was trying to center herself. Trying to regain her calm and figure out how to proceed.
If it’d been him, and he’d found out his comatose sibling’s spirit was trying to get back into his body, he’d probably have started at five hundred.
When she was finished, she opened her eyes. She sat up. She looked at all three of them.
And then she said, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go find my brother.”
* * *
EPILOGUE
Coma Patient Awakens
Orlando Observer Reporter J. Smith
June 2 | Reporting from Orlando
A spokesperson for the Orlando Metro Hospital System announced today that the mysterious patient known only as John Doe has awakened after more than six months in a comatose state.
The young man was found on Daytona Beach in November, badly injured and clinging to life. After being transferred to the Orlando Critical Care Unit, his wounds were treated through multiple surgeries, but he never regained consciousness. Doctors were repeatedly quoted saying he never would.
Last night, however, the patient whose story captured the interest of all of central Florida, reportedly opened his eyes and smiled at an as-yet unidentified woman. We have no information on that person’s identity, but a source from the hospital claims his first words to her were, “I’m eighteen now. Can I come live with you?”
Whether he was incoherent and confused, or remembering some past moment in his life, the source couldn’t say. They only confirmed that he is now fully awake and communicating with those around him.
Doctors call his recovery remarkable and expect he will eventually be back to perfect health.
Did you enjoy COLD IMAGE? If so, don’t miss the previous three books in the Extrasensory Agents series. COLD SIGHT, COLD TOUCH, and COLD MEMORY are available at all your favorite electronic book retailers.
Keep up with the latest on Leslie’s career by visiting her website, www.leslieAkelly.com or on Twitter, www.twitter.com/lesliekelly or via Facebook. www.facebook.com/authorlesliekelly
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Leslie A. Kelly, Cold Image (Extrasensory Agents Book 4)
Cold Image (Extrasensory Agents Book 4) Page 33
