Starcrossed: Perigee - A paranormal romance trilogy (15 page)

"Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome."

"I mean for everything - for coming to save me, for nearly killing yourself trying to protect me..."

"And for that dress," he added with a cheeky smile. "You look really beautiful, by the way."

"Oh, all right, yes, thank you for the clothes," I conceded. "And the compliment." I looked down at the dress and blushed.

"You know, I'd really like to know why you find it so hard to spend money. I'd have thought most girls would love to be spoiled."

I fiddled with the cutlery on the table. "When I was a kid, after my mother, well... my relatives would take me in, but sooner or later they'd pass me on to the next ones - they'd say they couldn't afford to keep me."

I paused and glanced at Aric. He was listening intently. "Oh, I was a right pain in the ass when I was a kid," I went on, "No doubt it was the real reason they passed me on. I came to think that if I didn't eat much, or ask for anything, they might decide to keep me. It never worked. By the time I got to Uncle Tom's, I was too scared to rely on anyone. I've been careful not to be a burden ever since. I hate having money spent on me."

I thought it ironic I'd had to rely on Aric almost from the moment I'd met him. The thought sat uncomfortably with me. A paddle wheeler festooned with fairy lights chugged past on the river. The scene was serenely idyllic, a far cry from the turmoil and loneliness of my childhood.

"Your uncle really loves you. You're lucky to have ended up with him."

"Yeah he does. Next best thing to my own family I guess." I watched the paddle wheeler make its slow way up the river. "You know, this implant thing - my mother was right - I did have one. I've been thinking, maybe she's not mad after all."

Aric looked away. He spun the stem of his glass between thumb and forefinger. "Maybe..."

"I asked Saul how my mother would have known about the implant. She seemed to have known about the Innaki. He thinks she may have been regressed and remembers her abductions."

He glanced at me from under thick eyelashes.

"I want to know what's been happening to me. Saul has agreed to regress me."

"No!" The force of his voice made me jump. The other diners looked our way, eventually returning to their own business.

He softened his tone. "No, that's not a good idea... I don't want anything more to upset you."

"But not knowing is worse... "

"Finding out what happened might be worse than not knowing."

I considered what he'd said for a moment, then went on. "For years I've had a feeling there's something I'd forgotten, or should know... like something is missing. I thought maybe it was because I didn't have a proper family, but I think it is this - I need to remember."

Our meals arrived, and we ate in silence for a while.

"I want to visit my mother."

Aric coughed on his food, and took a sip of his drink.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not? I've never visited her before. Maybe she's been stuck in there all this time, totally sane, her only crime is that she tried to save her daughter... Maybe, I could have had my mother, growing up, after all. "

"Sometimes it's best just to leave things be Lucy."

"I want to know if she really loved me." There, I'd said it. Growing up, my cousins had teased me - they'd said my mother hated me so much she had tried to kill me.

"She did love, does love you." He corrected himself.

"Then I want to see her."

He shook his head and touched my hand. "I think you should leave her be."

An awkward silence hung between us like a thick fog. It was broken by the arrival of a man trying to sell roses to the diners.

Aric reached for his wallet. The man handed him a single red rose. "That will be ten dollars please."

I choked on my ravioli. Aric handed him a ten dollar bill. The man threw the money in his basket with the rest of the roses, gave a little bow, and wished us a good night.

"Ten dollars for a single rose? Are you kidding me?"

Aric held the rose out to me. "It's supposed to be a romantic gesture Lucy."

I took the rose and held it to my nose. It smelled lovely - but not ten dollars' worth of lovely.

He chuckled. "You're still in stingy mode."

"I am not!"

He was laughing now. I pressed my lips together.

"I'm not being stingy," I insisted. He laughed harder.

"Right!" I gestured for the rose seller to come back to our table.

"Can we have eleven more please?" I might as well make up a proper dozen.

The man looked extremely pleased. He counted the roses out, but he only had nine left.

"That will do." I looked pointedly at Aric, and he pulled his wallet out and counted out ninety dollars.

The rose seller thanked him, and disappeared inside the restaurant.

Aric was still chuckling. He added the original rose to the bunch and handed me the bouquet.

"Consider that a hundred dollars' worth of therapy," he said, "You deserve to be spoiled."

I looked at the roses, ignoring a guilty pang, then placed them on the table. "Thank you." I said. I thought I'd won that round.

The topics of regression and my mother were put aside.

We spent the remainder of the evening laughing and talking, walking along the riverbank, occasionally stopping to hold each other and share a kiss. I didn't dare look up at the stars all evening - they only held scary thoughts for me now.

* * * * *

As luck would have it, The Durham-Burke Sanatorium - the psychiatric hospital my mother had resided in for the past ten years, was located in a suburb west of Newtown. I'd be able to travel there on the bus. I looked up the timetable online, and decided I would head there sometime in the next week or two on the 10:30 bus from the nearby transit center if Aric didn't want to take me. He was still being difficult about my visit.

I clicked the flickering browser window off, and crossed my fingers they'd let me in without an appointment. As I wasn't allowed to contact anyone I knew, I didn't want to inquire specifically about her in case it flagged up my whereabouts. Switching off the computer, I realized I was beginning to act like a paranoid conspiracy nut. According to Aric, Saul and Ellen, just about any form of modern communication could reveal my location to my enemies. Aric had compromised and I'd written a letter of the old fashioned pen-and-paper kind to Uncle Tom, telling him I was safe, which Aric was going to send to a friend in Varsley across the other side of the country. It could then be sent on with a postmark far away from Newtown. I'd wracked my brains for an explanation for my leaving; I don't think my uncle would have believed any of the ideas I'd come up with. In the end, I'd just said the last few months of high school were getting to me and I was taking off to see the world, and I'd return later. Far from convincing, I imagined Aunt Janet's voice smugly proclaiming 'I told you she was no good' as Uncle Tom read the letter. I really hoped it would put his mind at ease, if only a little.

Aric stuck his head through the open door. "I'm going now Luce, but before I go there's some people I'd like you to meet." Aric was off to buy another car to replace the one he'd left behind in Craigsville.

Two men sat on opposite ends of the sofa in the living room. They couldn't be more different. One man, tall and slim, perched elegantly at the edge of his seat, holding a teacup with his pinkie finger held daintily in the air. He was wearing an expensively tailored suit topped off with a blue silk bow-tie. His shoes were polished to a mirror-like shine. His companion was at the opposite end in the elegance scale. My main impression of him was that he was hairy - so hairy it was difficult to see his face. Dreadlocks sprouted from his head and tumbled down his shoulders like coils of rope. His untidy beard was so full I wondered how he ever found his mouth to eat or drink. He was dressed in jeans and an old T-shirt, and was holding a can of cola.

"This must be the beautiful Lucy! Exquisite!" The bow-tied man leaped to his feet and extended his hand. I took it, and he placed his other hand on top of mine and patted it. Without letting go, he took a step back to study me. "Aric, you have found a true diamond here." I looked awkwardly at the ground and then at Aric, in a silent plea to save me. I cursed my reddening face.

The man leaned forward conspiratorially. "You must let me paint you, my dear!"

Aric stepped towards me and dragged my hand away. "All right Phil, don't overdo it! Lucy, this is Phillip, Phil - Lucy. And the hairy thing on the sofa is Marcus."

Marcus moved less energetically off the sofa, and offered his hand. "How you doin' Luce? Great to meet you - we've heard a lot about you."

"All good stuff, I hope."

I saw a small glint of white through his beard, and I presumed it was a smile. "All great."

Aric turned to me, and rubbed my cheek affectionately. "Seeing as you don't want to go tire kicking, Marcus and Phil have come over to keep you company."
They're hybrids too, they can keep you safe,
he added, in my mind.

I was slightly irritated. It seemed more like they'd come to baby-sit me. Ellen had left for her florist shop, and Saul, a banker, had an appointment with some clients. Aric didn't want to leave me on my own.

He gave me a quick kiss, and headed for the door. "I'll be a few hours. Lucy - be careful of Phil - if he breaks out a pack of playing cards, then you're in trouble." His grin was mischievous and he gave a small salute of goodbye, and left the apartment.

"'In trouble!?'" Phil said in a huff. "I don't know what he's talking about!"

Marcus crossed the room to the fridge and fished out another soda. "Phil is a professional poker player," Marcus explained, offering me a coke. I thanked him and sat myself down at the dining table.

"Really? Isn't that kind of... well... ?" I wondered how it could possibly be fair for a mind-reader to play poker, but I didn't want to insult Phil.

"Cheating?" Marcus supplied the word with a chuckle. "That's what we all keep telling him! He'll tell you his success is down to skill, tactics and intuition, but we all know what it really is."

Phil brought his teacup over to the table and settled himself carefully as though he were positioning himself for a portrait.

"Nonsense!" he said. "It is skill, tactics and intuition - you have no idea how difficult it is to take people's money without them suspecting. I need to know just when to let them win, the right time to beat their asses! Skill, I tell you, nothing less!"

I couldn't help but giggle. His reasoning was almost faultless.

His hand went to his pocket and produced a deck of cards. He placed them down on the table with a slap.

"So, how about a little game to keep us occupied?"

Marcus rolled his eyes in the direction of the ceiling. "Don't take the poor lass's money."

"Pfft," said Phil. "It'll be good practice for her. Aric told me he's been teaching you to shield. We can play for..." He spotted a jar filled with M&Ms on the kitchen bench. "M&Ms!"

I opened my mouth and tried to come up with a good excuse not to play. I didn't have one. It was fairly obvious I'd have my ass beaten by either Phil or Marcus, but seeing as it was only candy that was up for grabs, it didn't matter, and might even be fun.

"Okay," I agreed. Phil grabbed three bowls from the cupboard and filled each one with candy.

"Yours is slightly fuller," growled Marcus. Phil made a dramatic gesture of adding more candy to Marcus' bowl.

We agreed on how much each candy color would be worth, and Phil dealt the cards with lightning speed.

Ah, an eight and a three. Not a good start.
I jumped as Phil's voice appeared inside my head. I was, indeed, holding an eight and a three.

"Hang on a minute! I've got to get the shield thing going!" I protested. I folded and tossed the cards on the table. Marcus and Phil grinned at me.

I took a deep breath and imagined the black circle which represented my mind, and the white line which would shield it. The line was strong, and I frowned as I tried to keep it steady. I don't know how long I sat there imagining the circle. Suddenly, I noticed there was a hand being waved in front of my face. It was Phil's.

"Earth to Lucy! Are you in there?"

I looked at him in surprise. "I can't do the two things at once!" I complained. "How on earth do you guys do it?"

Marcus pulled his chair closer to the table.

"It might be better if you thought of it a certain way. Watch this." He held his palm out in front of him. A ball of pure white light, the size of a grapefruit, appeared, hovering silently over his hand.

I sat back with a start. "Woah! What is that?!"

"That is a ball of pure wyk," said Phil.

"Pure w... what?"

"Wyk, energy - what the Chinese call 'chi'. The stuff that moves the universe."

The glowing light disappeared suddenly - as though a switch had been flicked. I gaped at the empty space in the air.

"How did you do that?"

"It's all about wyk. I know how to control it. Watch."

He looked at Phil's bowl, and candy began flying across the table in an arc, landing with a clatter in Marcus' bowl.

"Now you're just showing off," said Phil.

I was amazed. "Is that like, a hybrid thing?"

"Anyone can do it if they know how to access their wyk."

"So, everyone has this wyk stuff?"

"Yes, and you, especially, my dear, are saturated in it. I could sense it oozing off you from the other side of the room. Any wonder the Innaki are interested in you," said Phil.

"They're interested in my... wyk?"

"Yes, they collect it. That's why they take humans - they milk them for their wyk. Humans only use a small portion of it - the rest lies dormant. They have enough to spare. But you, Lucy - you have more than anyone I've come across!"

Marcus coughed uncomfortably. "I don't think Aric wanted her to know that."

I looked at him in surprise. My mouth hung open, my thoughts were racing.

"Why doesn't he want me to know?"

He took a nervous swig of his drink. "He doesn't want you to be frightened."