Page 77 of The Shop on Hidden Lane

“Nope. No need to worry about that. You might have scared the hell out of some of the others but that’s about it.”

She froze. “You’re not taking this seriously, are you?”

Luke was out of the chair and standing directly in front of her, watching her with heated eyes before she realized what was happening. He clamped his hands around her shoulders.

“I’m taking the business of finding Deke and Bea and stopping Hatch and his pals very seriously,” he said. “That’s why we’re here, remember? But, no, I am not worried that you are a monster or that you are in any way responsible for what’s happening to Grant.”

She was torn between wanting to believe him and what logic was telling her. “But how can you be sure of that?”

“There are two very good reasons. First, psychic energy has to be focused in order to be used as a weapon. It might—and I emphasize themight—be possible for you to do some damage to another individual’s aura if you got seriously intentional about it. You’d have towantto mess with someone’s energy field and you would probably need physical contact to do it. You can’t accidentally use your talent to drive someone insane or to commit murder. Paranormal biophysics doesn’t work that way.”

“You’re certain?”

“Trust me, the Foundation has a library that contains decades of research on the subject. All of it backs up what I’m telling you.”

“That is reassuring,” she allowed.

“Good. Because it’s the truth.”

A new thought hit her. “But what if the FoundationthinksI’m a violent, unstable talent? They’ll make sure I disappear into that private psychiatric hospital they operate. Halcyon Manor. Everyone knows it’s really a prison for deranged psychics.”

Luke tightened his grip on her shoulders. His eyes burned a little hotter. “Anyone who tries to take you away to Halcyon Manor or anywhere else will have to go through me.”

Bruce rumbled and pressed against her leg. His amber eyes were molten hot.

“And Bruce,” Luke added.

She managed a shaky smile. “I believe you guys. Thanks.”

Luke took his hands off her shoulders. “That said, in the course of my work I’ve had a few opportunities to investigate some cases of sudden-onset deterioration of the psychic senses. Most of the victims went insane and died soon afterward. Most had one thing in common.”

She tensed. “What was that?”

“The damage usually occurred when an individual was exposed to repeated doses of a dangerous form of paranormal radiation.” Luke began to pace the room, very intent. Very focused. “The aura was gradually warped and destabilized. The subject might have survived the first or second or even a third dose, but repeated exposure over time proved lethal. Given the data we have, we can assume that Grant has been firing the old Kaleidoscope weapons that were stolen from my family’s vault.”

“He is involved in whatever is going on here,” Sophy said. “That means he didn’t come looking for me because a police detective happened to mention that I was good at reading crime scenes.”

“We knew it was not a coincidence that the succubus sculpture showed up in the Maze Gallery. Grant targeted you.”

“But it was Aunt Bea who went missing a few days ago. If I hadn’t terrified him maybe he would have grabbed me instead. I’m the reason he took Bea.”

Luke came to a halt, turned, and walked deliberately toward her.

“Listen up,” he said. “You will stop blaming yourself for this situation. Tobias Harper and Xavier Wells are the people responsible for this mess. We’re stuck dealing with the fallout, but we did not cause the problem in the first place.”

She blinked a couple of times, thinking. “You know what? You’re right.”

“That’s because I applied a little logic to the problem.”

“Your ability to focus and connect dots can be a little irritating, but I’ve got to admit it comes in handy at times.”

“I can’t tell you how much that means to me. I’m grateful to know that I am occasionally useful.”

She widened her eyes. “You’re angry, aren’t you?”

“What gave me away?”

“Well—”