Psychic Series Boxset: Books 1-3

by Lisa Freed

  “Ahh…a secret spirit spy, that could definitely come in handy.”

  A rude snort escaped my nose which I rubbed quickly to make certain nothing had come out. “I wish! Normally spirits want something, a final farewell, to impart a bit of wisdom or criticism to a relative. Having one approach me never means something good is coming my way.”

  “Yet you are friends with this spirit Victor?” he pressed.

  “That’s different,” I said, not wanting to get into this again with him.

  Whatever Mateo had been about to say was halted by the pilot coming aboard the plane capturing his attention. He was a small man with wide shoulders, iron-gray hair worn in a crew cut, and a lollipop stick hanging out of his mouth.

  “Good morning, I am your captain, Esteban. The weather looks wonderful, should be a very peaceful trip of forty-fifty minutes. Please refrain from getting out of your seats during the flight. Also due to weight distribution, I’m going to need two passengers on each side of the plane please.”

  Both ladies up front looked back at us, and I stared right back at them. Neither of them looked like they were planning to move. Mateo gave a small shake of his head, unclicked his safety belt, and moved over to the aisle seat across the way. The two ladies turned back around. Captain Esteban nodded his head twice at Mateo before turning and taking his seat.

  The plane revved to life, a lot louder than the larger airplanes I was used to.

  “Teresa,” Mateo’s voice brought my head swinging around to him. “Trust me, we’ll be just fine.” He gave me a thumbs up then resumed his reading.

  The engine noise became louder and louder, slowly the plane began to move and we were on the taxiway awaiting our turn to take off. I saw a few larger planes taking off and actually wished I was on one of them instead. Yes, the last thing I really wanted was to be on yet another airplane so soon but the larger one felt so much safer than this tiny one with its smelly old seats, no copilot, no stewards- male or female, and no happy beverage service. Plus, with Mateo on the other side of the aisle, I had nobody to talk to and take my mind off takeoff.

  Which it seemed we were about to do! Captain Esteban swore a few times in Greek, at least the hostile tone and the way the ladies up front looked sharply at him made me believe they were naughty words. It must have been our turn on the runway because then we were zooming, the plane’s small tires making a rhythmic thud-thud as they bounced against the tarmac. The tire thuds ceased and we were airborne.

  The air I had been holding in my lungs came out in a slow whoosh feeling cool on my lips. My fingers hurt. Looking down, I saw they were digging into the thinly padded armrests so tightly my knuckles stood out white against my tan. I needed a major chill pill or some chocolate. Why didn’t I buy some at the hotel? Or at least smuggled some of those delicious chocolate croissants out of the breakfast room back to my room? They would still be in my purse now if I had. There had been basically no security check getting into the airport today, just going through the x-ray. My purse in a little bin and me walking through, no beeps, no shouts of alarm, nada. Guess it was a good thing I still hadn’t put my mace back in my purse.

  Other than the initial roughness of takeoff, the flight went pretty smoothly. Having nothing to do, I alternated between gazing out at the wispy swirls of clouds and closing my eyes trying to creep into Mateo’s mind. He never glanced my way when I snuck peeks at him so my attempts were useless. Then my mind tumbled over to Lance and Victor.

  I felt a little guilty to be heading to a beach but Mateo was right, didn’t I deserve to enjoy this trip? Then again, what had I been thinking of rushing out to Greece after them in the first place? My chances of finding them were pretty slim unless I could get ahold of something that Victor had touched as Lance. My hand went to the beautiful sea glass pendant around my neck but it produced nothing.

  That was rather disappointing. Not that I expected Lance’s undying love to come throbbing through but some sign of the care and sweetness that went into having this made for me would have been nice.

  Did I want validation of some sort for why I dropped everything to come save him? Darn right I did! Would I have done this for Joe Shmoe? Honestly, no, I wouldn’t have. Why did I have to be Victor’s keeper? And why did I feel he was my responsibility? I wasn’t Teresa, Defender of Schmucks Sneaky Spirits Took Over. Though that was rather catchy.

  I caught myself cracking up and angled my face to the window so Mateo wouldn’t notice.

  The ride got a little bumpy causing me to grab at the trusty armrests again. Like my sheer force of will could pull the plane up again if it decided to crash. Looking out the clouds were thinning and I spotted various shades of blue. Teal eased into turquoise, with tiny dots of white that had to be boats. Huge stretches of brown and tan marked land and beaches. Stark white buildings seemed to rise up at the plane as we dipped lower, I pressed my head against the window. Surely, we couldn’t be that close to the buildings!

  But we were. I saw the sharp pointing weathervanes and the dozens of plain white crosses that topped the buildings. If the window could have opened, I felt like I could reach out and touch them.

  Then we dropped lower still, and I saw the runway rise up to greet us. The plane seemed to be diving directly down and I made the mistake of looking out the front window. We were aiming for it! The nose of the plane was going to smash into the asphalt and we would be crumbled and crushed in this small tin-can.

  Biting my lower lip in fear, my eyes scrunched closed, my body rocking back and forth, I bravely tried to make peace with the world I was about to leave.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The plane touched down smoothly, the wheels kissing the runway as the engine noises changed and we taxied slowly to a stop. I ceased rocking, cracking open one eye in disbelief then opened both to stare around at the other calm passengers.

  Mateo, his arms stretched overhead, caught sight of me. “See? Nothing to worry about,” he said, then undid his safety belt.

  The ladies up front were standing and chatting with the captain who gave me a wave when he caught me looking.

  Had I imagined our almost deaths? Surely, we had been about to crash, how had Captain Esteban pulled us out of that?

  Mateo stood up, coming over to me. “Teresa, let’s get going so we can grab some lunch before we catch a taxi to the beach.”

  “Are we dead? We were about to crash!”

  Leaning over, he peered intently into my face. “You’ve never been on one of these puddle jumpers, have you? Never look out the front windshield. Should be a printed warning somewhere. The pilots of these babies know what they’re doing, best to read or take a nap and let them do their job.”

  “So, I didn’t imagine how close we were to the buildings?” I muttered, struggling to unclip my belt with stiff, chilled fingers.

  “No, you didn’t. But we’re here, safe and sound. Come on,” he gave me a friendly smack with the rolled-up magazine that he then slipped back into seat’s pocket. Without another word, he began walking toward the front of the plane.

  I noticed the door had opened and the ladies were disembarking so trotted after Mateo on somewhat wobbly legs. Exiting the plane, the humid air smacked me in the face but I took in a huge lungful grateful to be alive and arrived in paradise. If I thought mainland Greece was gorgeous, it had nothing on Milos. Almost blindingly white buildings stood starkly against the lush green mountains, dots of blue and orange pulled at my eyes, yet they refused to fix on one thing and bounced around trying to take everything in at once. Charming. That word almost did the place justice.

  “Teresa!” Mateo’s voice jarred me out of an almost hypnotic state. Blinking I dug in my purse and found my sunglasses which I promptly slid on. Feeling stylish and imagining myself to be a movie star I walked down the metal stairs from the plane, my eyes still looking all around.

  Mateo, looking darkly handsome with his shades on, had a bemused expression on his face as he waited several paces away for me. The
pilot and the other two passengers were gone. How long had I been staring around in wonder?

  “Let’s get some lunch in town then we can head to the beach?” he said once I was at his side.

  “Couldn’t we get something after the beach?” I asked. Now that we had made it, I was ready to start our sea glass adventure.

  “I don’t think I could make it until after,” Mateo stated, a smile quirking at his lips. “Though if you are really that eager, we could get some sandwiches and eat on the way there if the driver doesn’t toss us out of his taxi.”

  “How long do we have until our flight back?”

  Mateo stopped, pulling a money clip out of his front pocket. He extracted two tickets from the middle of it, consulting them first then his phone before putting the tickets and money clip back. “Five hours, give or take.”

  “The beach isn’t that far is it?”

  “Look, I’m starving, let’s get lunch.” His tone held a trace of impatience which caused me to immediately feel bad.

  “Sure, absolutely. Thank you again for doing this.”

  Mateo didn’t reply, he just began walking along at a brisk pace, not toward the small airplane hanger but around it. I gave it a glance over my shoulder but Mateo didn’t slow so I followed his lead. When we got to the other side it made sense. Bang. There were signs of life. A road, complete with small stores, even a tiny market, much different than the one I had been to yesterday. I even spotted one of the ladies from the plane at a fruit stand.

  Across the road we went, past the market, finally stopping at a little café, this one almost identical to the one from yesterday. If the food was half as good here as there, I was in luck. We ordered and when I tried to pay, Mateo gave a shake of his head and pushed his money at the cook, who gave us a wink along with Mateo’s change.

  Choosing a table, Mateo slumped down in his seat, rubbing at his neck with a grimace. “Sorry to be such a bore back there,” he said looking down at the table.

  “No, I’m sorry for annoying you. And I am really grateful for your help.”

  He gave a short snort, looking up at me, his grin back in place. “Some help, we haven’t found your friend yet.”

  “True, but I wouldn’t have on my own either. Besides, without you, I wouldn’t have come to this beautiful island. I don’t think I would have left my room much.”

  “You’d come all the way to Greece to sit in your room all day?” he asked.

  “Okay, maybe not that bad but I certainly wouldn’t have flown here or even known to do so. To be honest, I didn’t plan this trip that well. I’m kinda winging it.”

  That produced another snort from him. “We’re special, you and I, we’re supposed to go by our instincts and ‘wing it’ as you put it.”

  The waiter brought our steaming plates, utensils, and bottles of water which he pulled from his apron’s pockets. He set them down with a smile and left quickly.

  I had played it safe and gotten another gyro, this one didn’t have fries stuffed into it but smelled great. Eagerly, I reached for it then had second thoughts. Riffling through my purse, I came up with a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer which I offered to Mateo who accepted with an outstretched hand palm up. He had amazingly long fingers I noticed as I squirted a blob of hand sanitizer onto his palm.

  I gave myself a quick squirt, rubbed it briskly around my hands then tossed it back into my purse. Then I seized my gyro and took a huge bite. Hot tzatziki sauce shot into my mouth startling me. Dropping the gyro, I made a desperate grab at my water, unscrewing the cap and guzzling the cool water in an attempt to soothe my burning tongue.

  “Swish it around, don’t swallow the water, it works better that way,” Mateo commented around a bite of his salad.

  Taking his advice, I slowly swished the water, my eyes avoiding him for fear of laughing. That’s all I needed, to choke and die in Greece. Or anywhere for that matter. I just seemed to have a bad habit of choking around men.

  “Better?”

  “Actually, I think it is.” My tongue doubled over and rubbed on itself, slightly tender but not terribly so. “Thanks.”

  “Glad it helped. Back to the subject of you sitting around. Is that how things happen for you back home? You wait on things?”

  Having just taken a hesitant bite, I chewed quickly before answering. “Sometimes it really is. I really don’t try to seek things out. I live my life and the psychic thing just kinda comes along like a big bump or more aptly, a pothole in the road.”

  “Truly?” Mateo infused a lot into that word and I felt like I had somehow disappointed him.

  “Yes, truly. Why? Do you seek things out?” The moment it was out of my mouth I knew how foolish the question was. Didn’t he seek me out?

  “I like knowing what’s going on and don’t really care for surprises. Much easier to seek my own adventures out then sit waiting for some misfortune to befall me.”

  Sensing there was a lot more to it than he was sharing, I gave him a moment more to continue then pressed forward. “Has misfortune befallen you? Of what sort?”

  I couldn’t fully see his eyes behind the dark sunglasses but for a moment something glittered dangerously. A chill went up my spine and for the second time today I found myself wondering if I hadn’t been just a little too trusting going with Mateo simply because he was a fellow psychic.

  My lashes concealed him from my view for a moment while my eyes blinked and when the world had refocused, the only thing I saw was the sun reflecting back from Mateo’s sunglass lenses. I blinked a few more times and it was the same every single time. The sun, nothing more.

  His beautiful smile appeared again taking with it my doubts. “Quite the opposite, in fact, I’ve been blessed with good fortune. That’s how I’ve been able to be here with you these past few days. I had a windfall of a job land in my lap with tons of free time, great pay, and amazing perks.”

  “Congrats! That sounds awesome.”

  “Thank you, it has been.” He looked away, a small smile still playing about his mouth and I studied his profile. Mateo didn’t have classically handsome features but something about him was just so sexy and appealing. Maybe it was his sweet nature and willingness to help me, a virtual stranger. Or maybe it was his dark good looks that reeled me in.

  I finished eating while he went over to talk with the waiter who was straightening up the chairs and tables. When he returned, he grabbed my trash before I could stop him and dumped it. Standing, I gathered my purse and waited. Instead of coming back to the table, he tossed me a look over his shoulder and moved his hand in an odd motion like he was scratching at the air in front of him.

  The cook was staring at the both of us with a huge grin on his round, pleasant face then he passed something to Mateo that I couldn’t see. I saw Mateo glance at it, move his head in a so-so motion at the cook, then he walked away from both him and me.

  “Hey!” I called out, breaking into a trot.

  Mateo slowed enough for me to catch up and then resumed his fast pace. “We’re going to catch a taxi to the beach, there’s one a few buildings up. If we hurry, we can get there before he leaves.”

  “We can’t walk to the beach?” I asked looking out at the inviting water that seemed just past the line of buildings.

  “You don’t want to walk on the road here, a crazy driver could come along and hit you. Best we take a car there.”

  I deferred to his judgment, this was his country, not mine.

  “Hey!” he suddenly yelled out, waving his arms rapidly overhead, while breaking into a full out run.

  Up ahead I saw a gray car moving away from the curb and could only speculate that it was the taxi and it was indeed going to leave without us. My sandals slapped painfully on my arches as I dashed behind Mateo, my purse beat against my side, and I felt the stirrings of acid indigestion from gulping my lunch and then running. Still, I pushed on.

  The driver must have seen us or had another stop to make because he paused just a few buildings
up from where he had been parked. Mateo got there first and pounded on the roof, saying something rapidly in Greek to the driver.

  Puffing, I staggered up behind him and into the car as Mateo held the door open for me.

  Blessedly cool air conditioning greeted me and I wiped at a few drops of sweat that beaded near my hairline. Mateo joined me in the car, settling against the window, his body pressed against the door as if loathe to touch me. The man preferred his space, that much was becoming obvious to me.

  I noticed his hair was wind-whipped going in several different directions and some sweat had popped out on his brow as well. He leaned over slightly, peering into the driver’s rearview mirror and attempted to smooth down his hair.

  The taxi driver, a large man with a droopy black mustache kept his mouth shut the entire three-minute drive. The stare he gave Mateo when he pulled the car to a stop was anything but friendly making me wonder just what Mateo had said to him.

  Mateo tossed a few bills at the driver as he exited the car but I looked out the window at where we were and didn’t like what I saw.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Despite it being the middle of the week, the beach was filled with sunbathers and brightly colored tents and umbrellas. The turquoise water beckoned invitingly but I wasn’t here for swimming. Wasn’t even wearing a swimsuit under my clothes. I was here to hunt for sea glass.

  My passion for sea glass went back a number of years to when I found my first piece. Rubbing that once sharp now satiny smooth piece of glass between my fingers, I became hooked. Since then I spent at least several days a month at a beach indulging my hobby. Though when I had been dating Lance that time dwindled alarmingly to only a single occasion.

  Reaching up, I rubbed at the spectacular red piece of sea glass that dangled from my neck. Lance had found it during our only sea glass walk together and at the time I had been enraged that he refused to give it to me and had kept it instead. Red, especially a piece this flawlessly smooth and large, was very rare. But I hadn’t known that he had kept it to have made into a necklace for me, having only found it while searching his bedroom for clues about his whereabouts when he had disappeared.