Page 23

Story: Love at Second Sight

23

T HE SHADY HALLOW brANCH OF the Psychic Guild held meetings in the community building on Main Street in the center of town. Which was a far cry from the coven house, the faery grove, or the Lopez home. And granted, I wasn’t expecting much when Kaci dragged me into the meeting room, but I’d thought there might be a little more grandeur than folding chairs, a few plastic tables, and two grandmas playing checkers.

Thankfully, one of the tables had snacks. I was starving. I hadn’t eaten much—not since the day before, when I’d met with my missing brother in a faery grove and found out that my crush had lied about a few details regarding his cousin. It was all a confusing mess.

At least Gemma was on top of things, if a little annoyed that she hadn’t been able to join me in the faery grove and had a conflict that didn’t allow her to be present for this meeting.

Anyway, this was step one, part A, of the things I had to accomplish. We’d already determined that my glimpses couldn’t be avoided even with prior knowledge of the event. The second aspect of step one was figuring out why I saw what I did when people touched me. And that might lead us to the killer.

“Is this everyone?” I whispered to Kaci.

“Yes.” She looked around, then pointed to the corner. “Can you see the person over there?”

“No.”

“Then you are the single new member.” She smiled brightly.

The meeting was only a handful of people: the two older ladies, a man with a handlebar mustache, a young couple who had been holding hands since they’d entered, and the middle-aged supposed leader lady. She held a clipboard and stood by the snack table.

“If everyone could take their seats,” she said, tapping her pen against the papers in her hand, “we’ll get started.”

Kaci led me to a pair of folding chairs, and we sat together.

“Thank you.” The leader looked at the grandmas. “Alma and Edith, are you going to join us?”

One of the ladies considered the board in front of her, narrowed her deep brown eyes, and drummed her fingers on the table. She didn’t pick up a piece or move at all, other than the rhythmic tapping of her fingertips, but then she suddenly straightened. “I win.”

The other member, a white woman with light blue eyes, huffed. “You read my mind,” she grumbled.

The rest of the members chuckled.

“Game over, Edith,” the winner, presumably Alma, said, holding out her palm. “Pay up.”

Edith cursed under her breath and handed over a single coin.

“Yes,” Alma said, swiveling her chair. “We are now paying attention, dear.”

The leader smiled. “Welcome, fellow spirited. Thank you all for attending this month’s meeting. We are very excited to have a potential new member with us today.”

I cringed internally but raised my hand in an awkward wave.

“Cam is a sophomore at Central Shady Hallow High. He is a verified clairvoyant, and we hope that he chooses to join the Guild. Please, everyone offer him a warm welcome.”

A smattering of applause followed. “Thanks for the bike,” I said. “I really appreciate it.”

“Oh, we’re so glad,” the leader lady said, one hand pressed to her chest in faux humility. “Thank you. And now, on to other important matters.” She droned about “old business” and “new business,” and within twenty minutes, the meeting was adjourned.

Most everyone descended on the snacks at the side of the room, including Kaci, but I stayed rooted to my seat. I didn’t quite know what to do. And I certainly didn’t want to engage in small talk with the couple or the handlebar-mustache guy, who were all three standing around the punch bowl like it was a watering hole in the desert.

“Psst—Cam.”

I perked up at the sound of my name. Alma and Edith beckoned me over to their little table. Edith used her foot and pushed out a chair.

“Come join us,” Alma said, patting the seat.

I glanced at Kaci for help, but she was busy munching on a mini donut while glaring at the empty corner.

Edith waved her hand. “We don’t bite, darling.”

I stood, walked the few steps over to their table, and sank into the seat.

Alma sat in a wheelchair. Her dark brown eyes glinted with mischief and warmth. She was hunched over the table, but her movements were sharp as she rearranged the checkers back into formation. Edith sat a little taller, and had curly white hair and an air of no nonsense. She peered at me over the rim of her glasses.

Alma reached over and smacked Edith’s hand. “Now, don’t do that,” she grumbled. “Let him be.”

Edith sniffed primly. “I was merely reading his aura.”

“Yeah, and I read your thoughts. He’s a good boy and certainly not faking.”

I bristled at the insinuation but kept my mouth shut.

Alma smirked at me, and then I had the realization that she could hear my thoughts.

“Not all of them,” she said softly. “Now, tell us about your power.”

My mouth went suddenly dry. My stomach rumbled.

Edith snapped her fingers. “Jason,” she called to the man with the handlebar mustache, “bring Cam some snacks and a cup of punch, if you please.”

Alma chuckled at my expression, then poked me in the bicep. “Tell us, young man.”

“I touch people, and I see a glimpse of their future.”

“Touch telepathy,” Edith said as Jason set down a cup of punch and a plate of crackers, cheese, and cookies. “Not uncommon with clairvoyants.”

“I didn’t know it had a name.”

“Of course it does. Do you only see the future, or do you see the past and the present as well?”

“Uh… just the future so far.”

Edith stole a cookie from the plate. “What about emotions? Thoughts? Auras? Do you see any of those when you touch someone?”

“Um… I don’t know. I just mostly feel scared.” Strangely, I didn’t mind admitting that to Edith and Alma. And honestly, since I’d sat down with them, I had been calm. Calmer than I’d been in ages. All the worries I’d had were softened somehow, as if I were in one of those soap commercials where the person eases into a bathtub and all their stress melts away, and… wait a minute.

Alma snickered. “He figured it out, Edith.”

Edith ate another cookie. “Smart one, then.”

“What is happening?”

“Edith can project emotions as well as read auras. She thought you looked like a skittish woodland creature about to dart away. And I agreed.”

I swallowed. “That’s a great skill.”

“So is seeing the future,” Edith countered. “But I sense you don’t see it that way.”

“I don’t know. It’s only brought stress thus far.”

Alma nodded. “You have a strong mind and a strong psyche,” she said, tapping a checker against the table. “You’ll settle into yourself. But it will take time. Just like with all of us spirited.”

Spirited. Kaci had called me that. “What does that mean? ‘Spirited’?”

Edith hummed. “It’s an old term, one not used much now, except among our own circles.” She took another cookie. “Many psychics believe our powers originate from the strength and vigor of our souls. You, darling, have a strong spirit. You would have to, to have accurate glimpses.”

I gulped. “But how?” I asked. “What happened to me to make me this way?” The question came out so soft, so meek, that I was surprised at the vehemence of Edith’s and Alma’s responses. Edith’s gaze cut sharply from the pile of cookies, and Alma’s sweet expression went suddenly stern.

“It didn’t happen to you,” Alma said, smacking her checker down on the table. “It’s what you are .” She wagged her finger at me. “Do not diminish yourself for others. You are a psychic, a seer, spirited, whatever you want to call it.”

“I prefer ‘clairvoyant.’?”

“Whatever,” Alma said. “And you are wonderful.”

“Now, sit up straight,” Edith added. “Head up. Make eye contact. Be confident.”

I immediately sat up like my spine was a solid rod and nodded quickly. “Yes. Okay.”

“Good,” Alma said. “As to your next question”—at my surprised face, she chuckled—“how to control it. That was your question, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Take off your gloves,” Edith said.

I didn’t hesitate and yanked my gloves off by the fingers.

Alma took my hands in her own, her touch warm against mine. I inwardly braced for the glimpse that was sure to come, but nothing happened. “I have my psychic blocks in place,” she said nonchalantly, turning my palm over and running her wrinkled brown fingers over my skin.

“You can do that?” I breathed. It was the first time in almost a month that someone had touched me and I hadn’t fallen into the future. Tears sprang into my eyes. I relaxed in Alma’s comforting hold.

“Yes.” She nodded to Kaci. “It’s a skill you will need to learn in order not to experience a glimpse anytime someone touches you. And it’s one that Kaci still struggles with. Since her powers manifested a few years ago, she hasn’t been able to go a day without seeing into the beyond, and one day I’m afraid it will overwhelm her. Managing how and when to use your power is the first skill any spirited person should learn.”

I took a gulp of my punch. “How do I create a block?”

“Imagine it,” Edith said, touching her fingertip to her temple. “Use your mind to visualize a barrier, and implement it.”

“It takes focus,” Alma said. “And training. But you’ll master it.”

“And how…?” I trailed off.

Alma nodded encouragingly.

I took a breath. “How do I influence what I see?”

“We’re not clairvoyants,” Edith said, munching on the last cookie. “I sense auras. Alma reads thoughts.”

Alma grinned. “I use blocks to only read the thoughts I want to, so don’t worry.”

“But I imagine,” Edith continued, “that it is also a matter of focus. And sometimes you must open the portal first in order to close it.”

That didn’t make any sense to me. The proverbial portal was already opened. Way opened.

Alma hummed. “There was a girl who read tea leaves, who was a member about twenty years ago. She was good at it. Not as accurate as yourself, but passable. And she said it always helped during the reading if the person concentrated on what they wanted to know. Asked a question or thought about a specific scenario.”

That made sense. That had worked for me so far with Dennis, Reese, and Kaci. “My first glimpse was random. I saw something… horrible.”

Edith frowned. “That happens sometimes.”

“An unfortunate side effect,” Alma said. She squeezed my hand.

“What should I do? I can’t stop it. Kaci and I tried to stop a different glimpse, and it didn’t work, and—”

“You can’t stop the future,” Alma said gently. “No one can. But you can be prepared for it.”

Edith narrowed her eyes. “And it might not always be what it seems. You see a piece of what’s to come, not the whole pie.”

Alma released my hand. “I believe that’s called ‘missing the forest for the trees.’?”

Huh.

Kaci wandered away from the corner and flopped in the empty chair at the table, across from me. Alma smiled, and Edith tilted her head as she regarded Kaci.

“No luck?” Edith asked.

Kaci sighed, tendrils of her hair fluttering with her breath. “No. I tried to block him out, but I still see him. Well, until he drifted away.”

Alma patted Kaci’s hand. “It’s okay, dear. You’ll get it. Don’t give up.”

“Just continue to develop your barriers. It will click for you. Do we need to remind you how long it took Alma to be able to filter the thoughts she heard and not just be overwhelmed?”

Alma kicked Edith under the table. “And may I remind you,” Alma said, voice sharp, “how long it took Edith to realize that she was actually seeing auras, and it wasn’t just her astigmatism?”

Kaci giggled behind her hand. I swallowed a laugh that turned into a cough.

Edith pointed at the plate of snacks that was only now crackers and cubes of cheese. “Eat, Cam. Before Jason asks you to perform a party trick.”

I shoved a cracker in my mouth.

After observing a game of checkers between Edith and Alma, where Alma won again and Edith grumbled while handing over another coin, Jason did indeed approach me to use my power and see if he would adopt a puppy or a kitten from the local shelter. It was the easiest glimpse I’d done, and when I came to, sprawled on the floor as usual, I could confidently say, “Both.”