Page 100 of The Unraveling of Julia

“Aw, and you were doing so well.”

“One step forward, two steps back?” Julia closed her eyes and tried to pray for Mike, but couldn’t concentrate. “Okay, let’s go.”

“This is such a beautiful church. Michelangelo and Galileo are buried here, how cool is that?”

“Cool. Now let’s go.” Julia turned away, and they threaded their way back through the crowd, passing a sculpted marble figure of a woman sitting atop a marble casket, holding a portrait of Machiavelli.

Courtney pointed. “That’s Machiavelli’s tomb.”

“Oh no.” Julia recoiled, remembering Machiavelli had been Caterina’s mortal enemy. Was shefeelingCaterina right now? Could shechannelCaterina? “Can we go faster?”

“Why?” Courtney frowned, worried. “What did that mediumdoto you?”

“It’s not her, it’s me,” Julia answered, heading for the exit.

Julia told Courtney everything that happened with Helen, while Courtney drove, listening. The singular cityscape of Florence surrounded them, but neither of them noticed. When Julia finished, she looked over. “Well? Do you believe it? That I have… abilities?”

“Yes, I believe it.”

“Why?”

“I’ve known you a long time.” Courtney glanced over, grave. “Remember that night junior year, you had a dream about my father?You told me the next morning, so I called home. He’d had a heart attack that night. My mom was just about to call me. He almostdied.”

Julia remembered, in a flash. The dream came back to her as if she’d had it last night. Courtney’s father used to visit campus and take them to lunch. One night, she dreamed he appeared in a suit and a Princeton tie he always wore, and he was trying to tell her something. She hadn’t been able to figure out what he was saying and she’d awakened in a cold sweat.

“You remember?” Courtney shook her head, her eyes on the road. “You didn’t think it meant anything, but I thought it was weird. So did my mom.”

“So you think your dad’s soul was communicating with me?”

“It’s possible, isn’t it?”

“But he was alive. He lived.”

“Yes, but he was near death, he almost died, and Helen’s telling you that death is an artificial line. She’s saying you can communicate with the soul of the person whether they’re alive or dead, even for hundreds of years, like Caterina.”

“This can’t be true.” Julia glanced out the window. Florence whizzed by at a dizzying rate, but it could’ve been her mood.

“Why not? There are mediums in the world. They’re just people, and I guess at some point they figure out they have these abilities, like you have. They have to start somewhere.” Courtney nodded, steering to the right. “If you watch true crime, you know they use psychics. It’s legit.”

“She says it might or might not be the drug. Like it might wear off, but it might have opened a pathway in my brain.”

“A pathway? Wow! Like a portal.”

“Do you think I should let her teach me?”

“Yes, I do,” Courtney answered matter-of-factly. “You don’t know where it might lead.”

“That’s what worries me.”

“It’s good. It might lead to your bio family. That’s why you went to her in the first place, you wanted to find them.”

“No, I went because I wantedherto find them.”

“So, even better, you can do it yourself.”

“Is it? Do I want to be a medium?” Julia shot back, then it struck her. If she became a medium, she could communicate with Mike. She’d be able to talk to him any time and hear him talk to her. They could be together again, in a way. It would be like he was alive.

“Jules, do you realize what this means? You havesuperpowers!” Courtney’s eyes lit up. “You’re like Spider-Man when he first gets his superpowers. He has to figure out how to use them. Remember?”