Deep Beneath: A Psychic Vision Novel

by Dale Mayer

  No, he said. But she’s trying to hurt me.

  In what way is she hurting you?

  She won’t let me into her head, he cried out. And it hurts.

  Samson frowned. I don’t understand. He got up and started down the hall after Whimsy. What do you mean, she won’t let you inside her head?

  Just that. She’s telling me how it’s her head, not mine, and that I’m only allowed in when she gives me permission.

  That was almost an echo of everything Stefan had ever told Samson. What he should be doing. Samson was amazed to hear that was what she was doing, without any training. He reached his brother’s door and pushed it open. And, sure enough, she stood in the middle of the room, glaring at Jamie, who was lying on the bed. Her hands were fisted on her hips.

  “Did you hear me? We’re coming to an understanding, and this will stop right now.”

  Jamie just glared back at her.

  She shook her head. “No, you don’t get to have control of my brain.”

  Samson leaned against the wall, watching the two of them war for supremacy. And yet, it wasn’t even that. It was about boundaries.

  Jamie turned and a blow of energy came out from nowhere and slapped Samson hard in the face—the blow going through his brain like it hadn’t in a long time. Samson shoved the energy from his head and, without realizing it, slammed it right back into Jamie’s.

  Jamie’s head snapped back against the pillow, and he started to cry. Samson looked at Whimsy in surprise.

  Whimsy stared at him. “I don’t know exactly how this works, but one of the things I had to learn with my sister was that boundaries had to be set, and they had to be maintained. Without respect, we are nothing. Now you and your brother need to do some work together. I’m going back to eat.” She walked out of the room, leaving him standing over his crying brother.

  Samson sat down on Jamie’s bed. “Why are you doing this? We took you away from the center. Do you want to go back?”

  “No,” Jamie said, “but you care about her. You care about her more than you care about me.”

  Samson bowed his head. “I don’t even know how to begin with this, but that’s very unfair. You’ve done some very strange things to any number of my girlfriends over the last ten years. I really don’t want you messing up this one. She matters to me.”

  Jamie stopped crying and looked at him. “I know she does. And it makes me feel afraid.”

  “Why is that? Why her? Why now?” Samson asked. “Why is it you can’t be happy for me?”

  “Because she’s involved,” Jamie gasped out. “You have no idea, but she’s really powerful, and is essential to the success of the island. She’d incredibly powerful—and she has no idea.”

  Chapter 16

  With the food gone and the dishes cleaned up, Whimsy found herself struggling against fatigue again. She looked around and walked over to Heather. “Is there another bedroom I can stay in?”

  Heather hopped to her feet. “Oh, my dear, of course. Come on. Let’s get you settled.” She led her into a guest bedroom. It was small but very cozy. The bathroom was down the hall. “No clothing is here, but a couple of bathrobes are in the bathroom if you need one.”

  “I should have brought a carry-on with me,” Whimsy said. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before leaving my apartment.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Tomorrow we can go back and get your clothes.”

  Whimsy nodded appreciatively. With the bag she had with her, holding her laptop, phone and a few other items, she settled into her bedroom.

  Tucked into bed not very long afterward, she was propped up on the headboard with her laptop. When her door was opened unceremoniously, she was startled. Looking up, she found Samson in the doorway, staring at her. “What’s the matter with you?”

  He hesitated, but he was clearly upset.

  She frowned at him. “What did Jamie say?”

  “I don’t like it when you keep secrets from me.”

  “I’m the one with memory loss issues.” She raised both hands, palms up, getting as frustrated as Samson seemed to be. “What are you talking about?”

  “How did you know how to communicate with Jamie?”

  “It’s the same procedure I used with my sister,” she said in exasperation. “I told you about her.”

  “Yes,” he said slowly. “But how did you learn to communicate this way? Did you have a Stefan? Did your sister have these kinds of abilities too?”

  “Of course I didn’t have a Stefan. How many of him could there be?” She shook her head. “I’m not sure what these kinds of abilities are,” she said, “but what I do know is that Marion could communicate in my head, like Jamie did tonight. Marion used to yell and scream at me all the time when she was upset with me. But, if her physical words couldn’t come out, she’d scream them in her mind. I thought it was something common for people with her mental issues, so, when Jamie did it, it didn’t surprise me.”

  Samson collapsed on the bed beside her. “You realize nobody else can do this, right?”

  “No, I don’t know that,” she said. “How would I know that? All I’ve had is exposure to my sister. And she could certainly do it, so whatever.” She glared at him. “And you’re obviously different now, so I don’t know what Jamie said to you. You have to watch that too.”

  “Watch what?”

  She groaned. “I don’t want to start trouble, but my sister used to behave like that whenever she didn’t get her own way. It was like talking to a twelve-year-old half the time. She made up stories to get me in trouble with my mother. When we finally got Marion to stop doing that and to use her words to explain what was going on, it was much better. But I do worry about that with Jamie too. I think he is older mentally than she was, but I don’t know that he’s any more mature.”

  Samson continued to stare at her.

  She shrugged. “I gather that means I’m not allowed to come to the island anymore because he doesn’t want me there.”

  “Why do you think he wouldn’t want you there?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, “but I definitely have that feeling. Most likely because I pushed back. I’m changing the status quo, and he doesn’t like it. My sister didn’t like change either. I don’t know if Jamie’s afraid of me, the new addition to the island. Marion was the same. If I brought a friend home, Marion would act out. If I brought home Chinese food from a place other than the regular place, she’d act out. If she wanted to wear a certain piece of clothing, but it was in the washing machine, she’d act out. I don’t know how to explain it, but she had very little tolerance to change.”

  Samson hesitated.

  “What is it that bothers you?” she asked. “That I might know something more about the situation? Or the fact I’m comfortable with it?”

  “Both,” he said. “Both are very strange. The fact that whatever it is we’re connecting to in Puget Sound is also connecting to you—and yet, you can connect to Jamie very easily, and obviously you did so with your sister—means you definitely have a part to play in all this. I just don’t understand what. Then there’s your ex and the men who tried to kill you.”

  “I’m just another link in the chain. You have whatever project you’re working on. I’m the one who’s drifting and lost right now. I’m not sure what to do. I don’t know if I should go to the island or if I should just find a new apartment, find some furniture and find a job.”

  “I know one thing,” Samson said, “it’s definitely not something you need to worry about right now. What you need to do is get some sleep.” He reached down and took the laptop off her lap. “Come on. Scooch down into the bed, and I’ll cover you up.”

  Considering she was already tucked under the blankets up to her waist, it really didn’t make much difference, but she let him fuss, understanding his need to do something.

  He reached out and turned off the light. “And, by the way, I want to say thank you for what you did today.”

  “What
did I do?” she asked in confusion.

  “You helped free my brother from that horrible place,” he said simply. “Without you, I wouldn’t have gotten him away from that institute.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said, her voice fading. “Not sure I should have though. Seems like everything is different now.”

  “It is,” he said. “But eventually it will get better.”

  She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

  *

  Samson went to his room and was just getting into bed when Ned knocked on the door and stepped inside.

  His voice was low, urgent. “Sounds like the cops are on their way. They want to talk to you about breaking Jamie free.”

  He nodded. “So the injunction hasn’t been served yet?”

  “Not yet. The cops will notify me once that’s done. Meanwhile, your lawyers are working on filing a class action lawsuit,” he said. “Hopefully that will be done soon enough to keep the cops from following you to the island, but you need to move Jamie and now.”

  Samson jumped out of bed, redressed, grabbed his suitcase and started packing. “It’ll be hours before I can get us there.”

  “I’ve booked a helicopter,” Ned said. “It’ll land on the roof in the next forty minutes. That’s all the time you’ve got.” He stepped out of the room, closing the door.

  Shocked, but not really surprised and even grateful for the solution presented, Samson finished packing and went out to the main part of the apartment. There he found Jamie sitting with a big hoodie on. “How are you feeling?” Samson asked.

  “It’s always hard to get off the drugs,” he said. “You know that.”

  Samson nodded. “In this case, you don’t have a whole lot more time to adjust. We have to get out of here. Apparently the cops are coming after us.”

  Jamie stood. “I don’t have much to pack. What about you?”

  “We’ll take as much as we can,” Samson said. “We have a helicopter in thirty minutes.”

  “What about her?” Jamie asked. “You can’t leave her behind.”

  Samson froze and swore softly. “The trouble is, I’m not sure we should take her back to the island,” he said reluctantly. But how could he leave her, knowing someone had tried to kill her?

  “We have to,” Jamie said, his voice adamant. “She belongs there.”

  “Nobody belongs there,” Samson said wearily. “Nobody lives there full-time. It wasn’t supposed to be a year-round residence.”

  “But it could be,” Jamie said. “You know perfectly well you’re supposed to look after it. That was the condition the old mariner put on you. And you know he meant looking after more than the pile of rocks.”

  “Maybe,” he said, “but I can’t just bring other people to live there with me. She has a life here.”

  “What kind of a life?” Jamie scoffed. “Her ex-fiancé tried to kill her, for heaven’s sake. Have you figured that out? I mean, if he knows you’re here, and he’s told those other guys, they are still after her.”

  “I don’t understand why they’re after Whimsy.” Samson swore. Making a sudden decision, he walked into Whimsy’s room.

  As soon as he opened the door and stepped inside, Whimsy’s eyes flew open. She bolted upright.

  He held up his hands. “Sorry to wake you like this, but apparently the cops are on the way.”

  She blinked owlishly at him several times. “To the island then?”

  He nodded.

  She jumped up. “I still don’t have any clothes.”

  He gave her a ghost of a smile. “You have more than you had the first time.”

  She snorted at that, and, even as he stood there, she started to dress.

  He left her in peace, walking out of the room to find Heather packing up food and various other sundries. “I need somebody to get her clothes from her apartment.”

  “Not a problem,” she said. “We’ll pack her up. I’ll get a company in to clean it up and to cancel the lease on it. I don’t know what her future is, but I highly doubt she wants to stay there anymore.”

  “True enough,” he said. “We’ll arrange for someone to bring the boat over later, with some fresh supplies and some more electronics.”

  “I’ll bring it over later,” Ned said. “Give me a day to gather what you’ll need. I might be able to do it tomorrow, depending on the weather. We’ll see how this plays out.”

  “Good thing we did as much paperwork as we did tonight,” Heather said. “Honestly, you’ll need to up the security on the island and to install a better internet system. I’m sure we can do almost everything from here, as long as we have secure communication with you there.”

  Proud of the fact that he had people he could trust and who cared about his well-being, Samson grabbed as many bags as he could and walked out the door, heading to the rooftop elevator. With Ned at his side, they made a stack close to where the helicopter would land so they could load up and get out as fast as possible.

  By the time he had everybody at the landing pad, with Heather by his side still taking notes of what needed to be done, the helicopter came into sight. He turned to Heather and gave her a quick hug. “See if you and Ned can get this straightened out and let me know.”

  “I will try. But you removed him illegally,” she said. “We’ll need some decent reasons.”

  “Talk to Dr. Maddy,” Jamie said, shivering in the night. “She felt certain I was being mistreated.”

  “And you were,” Ned said stoutly. “We’ll make sure a full investigation is done on that center, and I’ll help the legal team with the class action lawsuit against that place. They won’t want the negative publicity.”

  “That sounds good,” Whimsy said. “And someone needs to check whoever is in the room at the end of the hall.”

  “Why is that?” Ned asked curiously.

  “Because I heard sounds, odd sounds coming from there, like whimpering, a woman crying to be let out.”

  A frown crossed his face. “That’s not unusual, you know. It is that kind of place.”

  She shrugged. “I have no way to know if that woman has troubles or not, or whether she’s being locked up by her family. But I do want her checked into, so it’s not a case of somebody next in line to inherit being locked up as an incompetent.”

  Jamie said, “I remember hearing about that. The guards and medical personnel think we’re idiots, but I think something like that is going on there. You know it’s one of those fancy places where people don’t cause any embarrassment.”

  “People like that also don’t inherit,” Whimsy said sadly. “As much as I would like to think higher of the human race, I honestly don’t.”

  “Pretty sad state of affairs,” Jamie said, his voice quiet.

  He appeared to be in one of his more lucid moments, for which Samson was grateful. He didn’t want to have to fight his brother in the helicopter. He glanced at Ned. “When will you come?”

  “I’ll be there tomorrow with the boat, if the weather allows. We’ll get stuff packed up from Whimsy’s apartment and bring in some fresh food.”

  “That would be wonderful,” Whimsy said. “To have some of my clothes, at least. I look pretty funny in Samson’s oversize sweatshirts.”

  “Heather packed up a few things she kept at the apartment,” Samson added. “They aren’t your size but might do until we can get your own clothing to you.”

  Whimsy looked at Heather, then gave her a hug. “Thank you,” she said. “I can’t say I’ve ever tried to run for it in the middle of the night before. It’s both exciting and terrifying.”

  The helicopter approached, its lights flashing in the night, and their voices were pulled away in many directions as the wind picked up the sounds and tossed them away.

  Samson pulled them back a bit, waiting until the helicopter landed. The pilot exited and spoke to Ned as the doors were opened for everybody to get on board with the gear. Within minutes they were up in the air.

  Samson took a last look at the a
partment building, wondering when he’d come back again. He wasn’t sure if what they’d done was criminal or not. He paid for his brother to stay at Woodrow House. He and Ned were equal but separate guardians over Jamie, but Samson had certainly released his brother without the doctor’s valid permission. But, as far as Samson was concerned, the doctor had been criminally negligent. Just one more of those lovely things called hiccups in life. And potentially the center itself needed shaking up. Like a full investigation into the other patients, such as the one Jamie and Whimsy had mentioned.

  Looked like fun times ahead.

  Chapter 17

  Such a strange experience to fly in the middle of the night over Puget Sound. The whitecaps rippling below Whimsy shone in the darkness. Their escape had been relatively simple, if such a thing was possible. From the moment she’d woken up though, she had been filled with crazy heart-pounding terror as she realized they had to run. She wasn’t sure whose terror she felt because she had no reason to be so upset. She had taken part in breaking Jamie out of that horrid institution, and that was definitely a problem, but just how much of their actions were criminal?

  In the meantime it was definitely unpleasant to consider the cops were intent on locking them up and treating them as criminals. Not her thing at all. As she glanced at Samson’s calm countenance, she noted he wasn’t bothered. She leaned forward and asked, “Doesn’t this worry you?”

  He raised an eyebrow, breaking his attention from his work on his laptop.

  “The fact there could be criminal charges against us for what we did?” she continued.

  “There could be,” he said, “but chances are, money will make it all go away.”

  She sat back, considering this angle.

  “You can bet the center won’t want any negative publicity,” Samson explained. “They make their living off of wealthy patrons. And, if there is anything other than positive media attention or, better yet, no attention regarding the center,” he said with a half smile, “they won’t be happy.”

  “That’s why I’m worried about that poor woman,” she said quietly. “I don’t have any proof she’s anything other than an unhappy soul, and maybe she moans and cries for help twenty-four hours a day, and her medication needs to be changed so she can find some peace within herself, but it didn’t sound like that.”