by Kate Rudolph
So Sandra was left to look at civilian resources. The keywords for one site looked promising, but the spinning images and auto-play music discouraged her. She doubted anything would be of use. But she still read the small paragraph about psychics.
Unlike witches, those with psychic abilities (see link for detailed list) are not magical. They are human. Their abilities can manifest at any age, often the result of trauma. Certain powers may be weakened when faced with a supernatural foe such as a vampire or shapeshifter.
Sandra kept reading down the page, not for more information, but for entertainment. Vampires? Really? What was she supposed to believe in next, the Loch Ness Monster? She’d been willing to buy into stories like that when she was a kid and didn’t understand why she could hear other people’s thoughts. But the Sector had given her that information. She wasn’t magical, her genes had merely structured themselves a little differently. She was more like a mutant, though that made it sound like she had fins or an extra arm or something.
She knew that vampires and things like that didn’t exist. If they did, she would have run into them. Her job had taken her all over the world; she’d seen things that had defied explanation, but there hadn’t been any bloodsuckers. Well, she’d met a few human shaped leeches in her time, but who hadn’t?
Besides, if her ability was supposed to be interrupted by the supernatural, why hadn’t she ever had an issue reading anyone in the Sector? A few of the other mind-readers had gained the ability to shield their thoughts, but that wasn’t what Derek felt like. His shields were like brick walls. An abrupt silence that could be smashed through when enough force was applied.
She kept reading the site until she ran across an ad for a crystal that the site owner claimed would cure cancer. At that point, it was time to get serious.
She needed help from someone in the Sector. Not a minute later, her phone rang.
“I’m so glad they told you!” Canary’s bubbly voice leaped through the phone lines, effervescent and energetic.
“What?” Canary had a smidgen of precognition, the ability to tell the future. She couldn’t predict the stock markets or disasters, but she was great at knowing when someone planned to call her and at determining what gifts she’d be given for Christmas. Unfortunately, when she jumped the gun on the phone calls, she often forgot to explain the context that only she knew.
“They didn’t say anything yet?” She still hadn’t circled back to an explanation.
But Sandra knew to be patient. Canary was smart, but when she went too fast, it took her a bit to circle back and make sense. “Didn’t say anything about what?”
“You were planning to call me!” Now she was indignant.
Sandra laughed, “We can’t both want to talk? What gives? Your thing sounds more important.”
“Hell yes, it is.” Now she was back. Sandra could imagine Canary fidgeting in her chair, her hands flying up to accentuate her words. “Ruth’s gone off the reservation, no one has heard from her in a week.”
“Is that really so weird?” Ruth Gonzalez put the term bad-ass to shame. She could control lightening, but that was the least threatening part about her. She was a one-woman army, able to slice through a battalion by herself. Sandra hadn’t known her well, though the Sector was small enough that she’d interacted with almost everyone from time to time. Ruth generally aimed to be friendly with members of the Sector, but she was a loner by nature and exuded danger.
Sandra wished that she could say that Ruth’s mind had shown a different side of her. That the woman had been concerned with orphans or puppies or something equally non-threatening. But Ruth’s single-minded, dogged focus on the job had made it nearly impossible to learn anything personal from her thoughts.
“She hacked into the database before she left.” Ruth had disappeared before, but she’d never done anything to alienate herself from her people. If what Canary said was true, Ruth had stolen secrets and could very well have information that could hurt her sisters of the Sector. “Sonny’s head would explode if she knew I just told you.” Sonny Reyes was one of the long-standing members of the Sector. She’d become the de facto leader in the field, though Sandra didn’t know how long she’d actually been around. There were rumors that she’d been in for more than three decades, but she looked younger than forty.
“Do you know where Ruth is?” Sandra asked. She didn’t dwell on Sonny; Canary could take care of herself. “Is there a team out after her?”
Canary clammed up. “I can’t say. I really thought you knew.”
Sandra understood, but given the weirdness of recent days, she couldn’t quite let up. “Just answer me this—am I in danger?” She wasn’t a member of the Sector anymore, they had no obligation to protect her. But she hoped they would at least give her a warning. If those thoughts that she’d heard in the forest had been Ruth, and if Ruth had gone dark side, she was in a world of trouble.
“I think you’re safe for now,” Canary answered. “As far as I know, she’s not in the States.”
“Well, thank goodness for small favors.” That was one less thing for Sandra to worry about for now.
“So what was your thing?” Canary’s bubbly speech and hyper-active movement lead people to think she was flaky, but she didn’t forget where a conversation was going. She always looped back to make sure all points were covered.
“Has your power ever gone on the fritz?” It felt blasphemous even asking. Sandra had done her best to hide what had happened to her ability in Kiev. She didn’t want to be fired, though that hadn’t ended up as well as she had wanted. To be asking about it now felt akin to admitting something was wrong with her.
“Like how?”
So Sandra laid it out. She trusted Canary and she had nothing to lose. “I can’t read someone. My neighbor.”
Canary made a little noise, but said nothing for a few seconds. “You can still read other people?”
“I think so, but I’m in the boonies out here. People are few and far between.” It was the gift and the curse of this land.
Canary took more time to think before answering. “Well, that sounds like he might have some sort of natural shield.” Sandra let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. Thank God that Canary agreed with her.
“So it’s him, not me?” It felt like an anvil had just been lifted from her shoulders. If Derek was the weird one, she’d feel so much better. And, well, he lived in a cave and was the acquaintance of a bear. Of course he was weird.
“I think so.” Canary let out a little yelp and Sandra could hear her fumbling around, “Shit, I’ve got to go. Duty calls.”
“Got it. Give me a call later, I miss our talks.”
“Of course.”
“And maybe let me know when this Ruth thing is over? I doubt I’ll sleep easy for a while.” Sandra knew she wasn’t entitled to information anymore, but this wasn’t an official request, just a question to a friend.
“You’ve got it.”
They disconnected, leaving Sandra alone with her thoughts. And in that moment, there were only her thoughts, no one was in the woods, and there was no pollution from neighbors or commuters. She kicked some of her spare clothes to the side and sat on the little bench next to the window. For a few minutes, she enjoyed the silence.
CHAPTER SEVEN
How had Sandra gotten here? Here being the only home supply shop within a hundred miles and it was a long way from Home Depot. The rows were tight. The products were haphazardly sorted, nails in old cardboard boxes sat right beside unwrapped light bulbs.
An old man had greeted Derek with a smile and offered her a cool nod when they walked in. Derek promised that Zeke would warm up to her eventually. When she asked what 'eventually' meant, Derek had implied that Zeke might be dead before the requisite time was passed.
It appeared that Zeke was the only one working.
Truth be told, Sandra didn’t need to be here. Derek was only here to pick up supplies that he’d use to begin clearing
out the mess that was her house. But when he’d called and invited her along, she’d jumped at the chance.
In the three days since she’d last seen him, she’d started to go a bit stir crazy. Who knew that silence could be so overwhelming? In its own way, it was loud. At one point, she was almost sure that she had begun hearing voices, but they were so distant and muffled that she wrote that off as cabin fever. It was lonely being the only one in her mind.
She’d been so desperate for human contact that she hadn’t objected when Derek offered to drive. Normally she would have wanted to follow in her own car, but she didn’t even consider it when they spoke on the phone.
Today he was looking the part of the rugged Montana outdoorsman. His beard had grown in a bit, giving him a nice shadow of stubble on his jaw, and his hair continued to be just neat enough to ward off the crazy mountain man vibe. He even wore a red and black flannel shirt.
Sandra felt overdressed in her thick wool cardigan, but it was cold outside and she wouldn’t suffer for fashion.
Once they were through the narrow aisles of random stuff, the store opened up to a small showroom full of appliances and everything that a person could need to outfit a house. Sandra’s fingers itched to paw over the hardwood display she saw under a spotlight. One piece of wood with purple undertones had caught her eye.
“I thought we’d take a walk through here,” Derek said, “So you can get an idea of what we have available. Zeke can get just about anything you could want, so if you have to order, don’t hesitate.”
“You know, I haven’t actually hired you yet.” She felt the need to remind him of the fact. Derek had comfortably slid into the role of contractor and she didn’t want to use him just because he kept showing up.
But he shrugged and smiled, “If you don’t, just consider this some neighborly help.” Derek sure excelled at being neighborly.
She hadn’t forgotten the bear, or that she’d woken up in his... cave? He mocked her tiny house while living in a literal man-cave! But he hadn’t acted like there was anything weird about her, and he hadn’t held the fact that she’d ruined one of his tables and thrown broken glass at him against her, either. He just took it in stride.
She needed a man like that.
Not that she was thinking about anything beyond contracting. She needed to settle in a little, get used to living on her own, before she even considered a relationship. And a relationship with her was almost doomed from the start. If she didn’t tell her lover about her powers, she’d invariably hear something she didn’t want to and hold it against them. If she did tell her lover, they always got cold feet and broke it off within two months.
But she couldn’t hear Derek’s thoughts. She’d almost forgotten it was strange until she realized that Zeke wasn’t broadcasting a talk-radio station throughout the store, she was hearing his running commentary on the story he was reading in his newspaper.
And yet, there had been nary a peep from Derek. Not since she’d accidentally touched him.
He was explaining the benefits of hard wood versus laminate when she wandered over to the display a few feet away from him. It was nearly eight feet tall with different examples of wood affixed to the display. Next to each sample was a holder full of cards explaining the benefits of each piece of wood.
And there was that purple wood once more, but it was the very top one, and even reaching on her tip toes, she couldn’t quite grasp the small slip of paper.
Derek’s voice got closer until he was suddenly behind her, the heat of his body a wall, trapping her between the display and him. He easily plucked the brochure from the holder, then he placed it in her hand and closed her fingers around it.
He didn’t step back.
When he touched her, she could hear his thoughts once more.
Play it cool, he was telling himself. Don’t scare her.
It was so normal, so reassuring, that when he tried to pull his hand away, Sandra caught him, letting the brochure flutter to the floor while she held him in place.
Derek froze. And this time his thoughts weren’t words. It was primal, the urge to hoist her up and take her, right there in the middle of the store.
God, Sandra wanted it. Wanted him. She turned around, still keeping a hand on him, keeping him with her.
He loomed over her, his green eyes dark, intense, and wild.
She reached up slowly until just the tips of her fingers rested against the stubbly plane of his cheek. He leaned towards her touch until she found herself cradling his face in her hand. It should have felt ridiculous, but Sandra couldn’t remember a more intimate moment.
Even his thoughts were still, as if he was so caught up in this frozen moment that he could not conjure words. His desire was still there, but it was almost formless. Sandra loved it. She felt only his emotions, the moment all the more intimate for the mystery.
She leaned forward and went on her toes, brushing her lips quickly against his. It was rash, irresponsible, but it was the one thing she wanted more than anything at that moment.
She pulled back and found Derek looking at her, his eyes emeralds.
Inside of him, a beast roared. She could hear it, but he was standing with such control that she marveled. This was a man who knew himself, and while he was pretending to be civilized, he didn’t hide. His eyes were green fire, and she only had a moment’s warning before he swept her up, literally picking her up an inch off her feet and kissing her.
This wasn’t like the kiss she’d given. No, this was passion, aching desire that had built up so quickly that it was almost unbelievable. But Sandra felt it all the same. The wildness in him called out to something feral inside her, and Sandra matched him.
She wrapped her arms around him, clinging to him while he propped her up, leaning her against the display.
She’d thought that Derek was wordless with pleasure, but one word did make it through.
Perfect.
Yeah, she agreed. But there was one word he was missing. This was trouble.
Derek tried to keep the giddy, school-boy smile off of his face during their ride back to Sandra’s house. He succeeded, mostly. But an impromptu kiss in the middle of a hardware store deserved some celebrating, as far as he was concerned. Especially since he now knew that Sandra wanted him.
They didn’t speak about the kiss. Derek didn’t see that it was necessary. Instead, they discussed what she wanted to do with her new house, how she wanted everything perfect and just to her specifications. Then she let slip that she’d never had a place to herself before.
“Really?” asked Derek. “How’s that?”
Sandra shrugged before pointing out her street before he could miss it. “After college I went right into my job. Housing was one of the benefits. Usually it was with other people in the—at work, but the hostel in Budapest was the worst. When you can...hear everything people are doing at all hours...” she shuddered.
What did those pauses mean? Derek wanted to ask, but he couldn’t figure out how to phrase the question.
Option one: What aren’t you saying?
That was a non-starter. Almost before the thought was over he knew it was far too confrontational. He wanted to flirt, not interrogate.
Option two: Did your work like putting you through hell?
But that wasn’t good, either. She hadn’t said that she’d hated her job, only that she’d left.
Option three: he couldn’t think of anything else.
And by the time he got to three, the silence had stretched too long and he was already pulling into her gravel driveway. It took nearly a minute to make it all the way beyond the main house to her tiny shed of a dwelling. He put the car in park, but Sandra hesitated before getting out.
“This was nice.” She sounded a little surprised
“Yeah, it was.” The sun was hitting her just right, glistening against her hair and haloing her. She looked almost like a painting. She was beautiful.
Derek leaned forward to kiss her again, bu
t she ducked away, turning her cheek at the last second.
“I don’t—I mean,” she stammered, fumbling for words.
Derek didn’t have anything prepared, but he tried. “No, it’s okay.” He just needed to say something to fill the space. “How about dinner? On Friday?”
She looked over, her brows drawn together in thought. Silence stretched uncomfortably long until she reached over and placed her hand on his. After a moment, she smiled and nodded. “Dinner’s good.”
Without a kiss, she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door. But she froze before she stepped out. “Um, Derek?”
“Yeah?” He almost didn’t catch the worry in her voice, but her deceptive calm put him on edge. It wasn’t how she spoke, it was how she held herself like a statue, half hanging out of his car.
“Would you mind walking me to the door?”
“Of course not, why?” He didn’t want to leave her just yet, and even a few more minutes would be nice.
“Because I didn’t leave the door to the house open when we left.” She still spoke with that calm tone, the cadence telling him that she had seen some shit and dealt with it before. This was not a woman prone to panic, but only a few days ago he’d had the bruises to show for that.
He got out of the car and walked around to escort her, but by the time he was halfway around the front, she was already gotten out and closed the door behind her. He didn’t lock the car. If they needed to make a quick getaway he wanted to be able to just jump in and drive without fumbling for his keys.
“Animals can get inside houses sometimes,” he tried to explain, but he was distracted, trying to catch any scent that was out of place. At his home, it would be simple. After all, he knew that location better than any in the world. But Sandra was still new to the area and to him. He didn’t know what was normal for her.
“You’re probably right,” but he noticed that she didn’t walk in the line of sight of the door, almost as if she expected someone to be lying in wait. “But both doors?” She nodded towards to main house and waited for him to catch up.