by Beth Sadler
Chapter 3
Jenna Bradley sat without moving for several shocked, frozen seconds, then, slowly brought the half raised cup to her mouth to take a sip of the hot, strong tea. A few more moments passed as, she concentrated solely on the reviving nature of the brew. How in hell's name had she heard and understood that conversation?
Jenna had noticed the two tall, handsome men earlier in the day. In fact, several women had given them more than a casual glance. Two men, who looked as handsome as they, would never pass unnoticed as long as women had eyes in their heads.
Both men had black, curly hair, cut into an almost military style. Both over six and a half feet, they dwarfed all the other men around them. Hard muscled, long limbed bodies made for an impressive sight. They looked so much alike that they were probably closely related. Wow! What a genetically blessed family that must be, she had thought on first spotting them.
Neither wore wedding rings nor were not accompanied by doting women, so, a few hopefuls had tried to catch their eye. Watching the antics from a short distance away, Jenna had smiled in sympathy when she realised that the men didn't speak English, and the hopeful women were doomed to failure.
Now, not only had she heard them from three hundred metres away but, had understood every word they'd said. Damn! As if she wasn't weird enough, now here was one more twist.
Jenna had been brought up in the foster care system after being left at birth in a Brisbane hospital. All attempts to find her natural parents had failed and after a few months she was placed with a foster family.
That was the start of her life in an endless list of foster homes. None of the homes had been bad but, there had been an ever growing list of them as, for one reason or another, no one was able to keep her. Until finally, at eighteen, she had been able to set out on her own, at last she had been able to close a bedroom door and have complete privacy. Now at twenty eight she still clung to her privacy. There were strong reasons why she desperately needed to live alone, not just want it.
Shortly before leaving the foster system, Jenna had had what could only be called, a paranormal experience. She had heard the thoughts of the councillors who interviewed her, prior to her exiting the system.
Jenna had been excited, wary and a little afraid of what was to become of her. Her heightened senses had suddenly picked up the thoughts going through Mrs. Jones' mind. At first she thought she was imagining the words forming in her head but, just as the word Damn, entered her thoughts, she looked over and saw Mrs Jones drop her pen on the floor.
Fear flooded every cell in her body, all her systems went on high alert, unfortunately that seemed to make the voice even clearer. Biting down on her cheek she managed to keep her face calm and appear untroubled. Mrs Jones, if Jenna was to believe what she was hearing, didn't believe the platitudes she was preaching aloud. She didn't think Jenna stood much chance of supporting herself as an illustrator and would end up serving behind a bar or working in a factory.
Jenna was delighted to know she had proven that sour, old woman wrong.
Now, here was more trouble. Now she was picking up voices in a foreign language from metres away. And, if what she had heard could be relied upon, then, the speakers weren't even from Earth. Gorgeous, she thought wryly, but, alien.
What the hell was happening to her?
Jenna had tried so hard to suppress the voices. After all, who in their right mind, wanted to hear what the scum bag male from across the street thought about her figure and availability. Or the details of a night of raw sex enjoyed by an adulterous wife in the next booth at the hairdressers. Even worse were the sad musings of men and women who felt they had never achieved their potential. Jenna had coped and thrived for ten years--now this.
Over the years Jenna had learned how to shut down her mind to outside thoughts. Now, only when she totally relaxed could the voices invade her mind. Before today, the person had to be at least in close proximity to her.
Jenna raised the cup to her lips again and drained the strong brew; time to map out a new strategy. She had planned on going into the bush on her own at first light. Her plan had involved sticking to the marked trails that she knew so well, from many previous hikes. Jenna had planned on getting well away from all the other people so that she could open her senses to the max and try to contact the lost boy. Jason should be frantically sending out thoughts by now, she thought. I should be able to pick-up a direction at the very least, if I just get far enough into the bush to hear him.
Now a new, better plan, was taking place in her mind. Time to pick-up her backpack and collect some emergency rations from the restaurant. She beckoned over the waitress with a wide smile.
"Hi, would you get together some food and water for me please? I want to beat the rush for supplies that you're going to get soon." Widening her smile she continued, "I'll run down to the car park and collect my backpack from my car." Opening her purse Jenna produced fifty dollars and gave it to the waitress.
The woman smiled gently as she tried to return the money.
"Please keep your money, I can't join in the search as I'm not fit enough but, I'm happy to help with your search."
Jenna was touched by her generosity, however, insisted on paying. She knew that as she was going to break all the rules she would rather pay for her own mistakes.
"Please use it all up, I'm going to think positively and want enough food for a hungry boy when I find him."
Jenna took off at a run for the car park. Phase one of the new plan was now taken care of. Phase two would be trickier and possibly dangerous. Somehow though, Jenna didn't feel in any danger. Weird, she thought.