Eyes to the Soul (25 page)

“I thought that was just fantasy.”

“No. Dr. Maddy and I speak that way a lot. I work with many people capable of doing that.”

“Ah, so you speak telepathically with others that have that same skill.” She tilted her head toward the ceiling. “That almost makes sense with Dr. Maddy. While I was there with both of you there was a low-key hum sometimes, but not all the time. But it was always when no one was speaking. I thought because of the silence I could hear it more clearly.” She paused, her head tilting. “That’s what was actually happening, wasn’t it?”

He nodded in surprise. “Yes. I had no idea there was an audible noise when I do that. Interesting.”

“I think only a person with highly developed hearing would be able to tell the difference,” she said. “It must be an interesting way to talk.”

“It is, and it’s definitely something you could learn.”

“Me?” She gave a startled laugh and quick shake of her head. “No way.”

He smiled at the universal answer he received from every other person he’d said that to. “Actually, you more than most. You already have an intuitive sense, psychic abilities, and are open to the concept.”

“Yeah, but there is already someone in my head, remember? It’s too crowded for more.”

As a conversation killer, that was a good one and also brought up a valid point. “I wonder if he’s telepathic and communicating that way with you but is not actually located in your head.”

“I’d prefer if he was telepathic,” she said, her voice thoughtful. “And yes, if he is, then I’m already communicating with him but I really don’t like the concept of him being located in my head.”

“If he was telepathic he wouldn’t need to be. He could be anywhere depending on his abilities. Why
you
is the big question, and why the blockage would be the next big one.”

“Yeah. See, now that’s heading into the sci-fi arena again,” she muttered.

“Much of life is science fiction until you understand how it works.” He continued to run the brush in long slow strokes through her rich, black hair. He’d met a lot of women, blondes and brunettes with every shade imaginable, but he’d not met many with jet-black hair.

Still damp, the strands were silky beneath his fingers. A wave of possessiveness surged through him. He wanted to do so much more than this but knew she wasn’t ready. As she sat so perfectly comfortable nude and barely concealed by the bedding, he knew he’d have to stop soon or he wouldn’t be able to control himself.

She sighed, stretching her back as the bedding dropped away, giving him a perfect view of the top of her rounded cheeks and the dimple where they joined. Slim, with her ribs and spine easily visible under her soft skin. She had an odd pattern of freckles on her left side. He smiled as his gaze caught the slightest happy face pattern amongst them. With one hand he gently traced the smile part of the face. “Did you know you have a happy face of freckles here?”

She laughed lightly. “I don’t think anyone has ever said that to me.”

Unable to stop himself, he leaned over and dropped a light kiss on the nose of the happy face. Then as if nothing had happened he resumed brushing her hair. She hadn’t moved, relaxed, or frozen. He’d take that as a good sign.

*

Jacob wandered the
room. At first he’d been able to travel throughout the hospital, but he had never met another soul like himself. If he’d had lonely times in his life before, now it was almost impossible. He’d tried to call Lissa several times, in fact. But she hadn’t returned.

He wanted to see Celina. Tell her whatever it was that was so important. But he couldn’t figure out how. He thought he’d seen her before, at her apartment, sleeping, playing, but didn’t know how he’d done that. If he’d done that. Maybe he’d only dreamed it. He’d tried so hard to repeat it and hadn’t been able to. The longer he stayed here the harder any movement became. Depressed, he sat on the window ledge and waited.

Even a return visit from Lissa would help. Maybe then she’d give him a few more tips on how to survive this existence.

Or find a way to end it.

C
elina felt the
tingles move all over her body. From his kiss on her shoulder? Or had it been from something else? She could track the movement of the tingling as it moved up and down her back. Odd, and yet soothing in a way. She closed her eyes, following the sensation, then realized it was from his hands as he brushed her hair. “Wow. There is an actual energy pathway as you brush my hair. I can feel it run down my back and then back up again.”

The brushing stopped for a moment then continued. “Like I said, you have a natural instinct for this.”

“Ha,” she snorted. “Feeling a bit of tingling is a lot different than speaking with someone through my mind.”

“Which is something you already do.”

Her light mood deflated. “Yes, but only with him.”

“Do you want to try it with me?”

She tilted her head and considered it. “I don’t think it will work.”

Instantly a voice inside her head said,
Are you sure? I’m talking to you now. You can hear me as I can hear your mind buzzing over the newness of this.

She gasped, spinning around to look at him. “Oh my God. That was you, wasn’t it?”

He smiled at her and answered in her head,
Yes.

Her gaze widened as she contemplated the significance of that. “So my stalker guy might
not
be in my head!”

“He might not be,” Stefan said out loud.

For some reason that made her feel so much better. She laughed. “That’s marvelous. A telepathic asshole is so much better than a guy living in there.” She shook her head, the strands of hair pulling out of his hands. “Doesn’t that sound bizarre? If anyone heard us…”

“They wouldn’t understand,” he finished for her. “And that is too bad, because everyone is capable of so much more than they are currently doing.”

She nodded. “That makes sense. How can I learn to do what you did?”

“You mean speak telepathically? That’s easy. Just do it.”

At her disgruntled expression he smiled. “I made it easier on you by speaking to you first. That gave you a pathway to follow back to me.”

She closed her eyes.
Stefan? Can you hear me?

Nothing.

She opened her eyes and said, “Nothing.”

“Try and try again. It might not happen on the first attempt but it will happen.” He smiled. “Just follow my voice home.”

She laughed. “You make it sound so easy.”

Then a chill settled on her skin. She gasped. “He’s here.”

“I’m going to try to find out what I can. Don’t mention my presence to him,” he warned before he went silent. She turned around on the bed, dragging the covers up and over her shoulders. She stared in Stefan’s direction. She reached out to find his arm, still holding her hairbrush, was halfway up in the air. He’d frozen in place. She didn’t understand what he was doing. Unable to help herself, she reached out and lowered his hand.

What are you doing?

She froze at the cruel voice in her head, then said cautiously, “I’m doing nothing.”

Someone else has been here. Someone I don’t think I like.

What do you mean there’s been someone here?
she asked, aiming for shocked puzzlement. Her mind spun with all the information that Stefan had told her. Was this man talking telepathically to her?

Someone has been here. Inside your head.

What?
she exclaimed.
What are you talking about? Why would anyone be in there?

Don’t be a fool
, he said, his tone turning ugly, snide.
I’m in here. And now someone else has been as well.

She shook her head, working hard on the helplessness.
I thought you were just talking to me in some kind of telepathic way
 –
not that you were in my head.
She took a deep breath.
How can that be?

And the pain started.
Do not take me for a fool.

I’m not,
she cried, her hands going to clasp either side of her head.
Stop. I haven’t done anything.

You let someone in here!
he roared.

How could I? If you are there then you would have seen them,
she said.
You’re making me crazy.

Maybe you are crazy
. He paused.
Maybe you’re not just stupid and weak but also crazy.

I’m not,
she snapped defiantly. She had no idea what was going on but she wouldn’t listen to this.
I didn’t let anyone else inside my head. And if there had been someone there then you would have seen them. I think you are the crazy one
, she scoffed. Instantly she knew that he’d punish her for that.

And punish her he did.

The heat inside her head had her crying out.
Stop it.

Why should I? I can do whatever I want.

Then leave
, she cried.
Leave me alone.

There was heavy silence, then he said in a thick voice,
And that’s the one thing I can’t do.

And just like that he disappeared.

*

Stefan watched as
this silvery-black energy popped out of the blockage and vibrated at a frequency he’d never seen before, bits and pieces of energy flaring the longer it was there, and just like that it winked out. Stefan checked her mind out to make sure there were no remnants of the foreign energy there, and deciding she was safe for the moment, he slid free and went into the base of her spine with his mind. He understood what Dr. Maddy had said she’d seen but he wanted to see it for himself.

Mentally he slipped upward into Celina’s neck and moved up her energetic system to her head. Inside her skull he observed the bone and brain matter. There didn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary. Then again, he wasn’t a doctor. He shifted to peer into the front of her facial construction, fascinated at the energy surrounding her eyes. There really was something odd there. Not organically. Energetically. Some energy from the surgeon. There was also energy from a stranger that had zoomed in on that location for some reason. He studied it closely to be sure, but knew there was no way that this was Celina’s energy.

But what he really couldn’t understand was that Celina’s energy held the other one almost in an embrace. She had allowed this energy to be here. Had wanted it even.

And he just didn’t see how that could be.

*