by John O'Riley
Rose’s face snapped into place and a sense of impending doom struck Emily hard. Rose had a cold, deadly look on her face as she stalked forward into the Center of Phoenix Enterprises. The receptionist was tossed backwards by an unseen force and smashed violently into the wall. Someone else whose features were blurred burst into flames. He screamed shrilly and then the details were lost as too many changes occurred. The scene was now dominated by blurred, grayed, indistinct shapes that shifted quickly from second to second as Rose continued to stalk deeper into the building. Emily lost the vision completely and had to focus on getting something tangible. Bile rose in the back of her throat at the horror she’d witnessed even as she struggled to bring in something useful.
Emily tried to get a sense of timing for the attack and determined it would occur sometime within the next week. She couldn’t come up with a more precise time so she tried focusing on Rose and important events revolving around her. Unfortunately, this proved to be just as difficult as before. After awhile, she sensed a more clear moment in time and locked in on it. A scene abruptly snapped into focus of Rose sitting behind a wall with a window in prison garb. She wore a drab, prisoner uniform and had a haunted look in her eyes. Emily could sense that Rose was very elderly even though she only looked to be middle-aged. Jeremy sat on the other side of the window and frowned at her with suspicion as he reached over to pick up the phone so he could speak with her. Emily instinctively sensed that this point in time was over one hundred years in the future.
“How did you call me? I thought your abilities were neutralized,” Jeremy said in a cold, flat tone.
“The drugs don’t completely negate my psychic abilities. They only suppress them. Can’t you sense me in the psychic network? I’m still there.” Rose said sadly.
“Yes, I sense you there. You’re an abomination and a cold-blooded killer.”
“I was,” Rose said.
“I don’t believe your mind was cured.”
“I have a conscience now. I would never hurt anyone like I did before. You have to believe me,” she said passionately.
“You’re certainly different but I have a hard time believing you will ever truly be a changed person. Your powers are too great to ever risk releasing you,” Jeremy said emphatically.
“I can save your sister,” Rose said.
“You’re the one who murdered her, you hateful bitch!” Jeremy snapped.
Rose squeezed her eyes shut then opened them to reveal impossibly large pupils that had completely swallowed all color. “I could have broken out of here a couple of weeks ago. I need to change who I was in the past so I can prevent all those deaths I caused.”
“I don’t believe you,” Jeremy said as he eyed her warily.
“You can feel my power. You know I could have escaped this place but I chose to remain here. Help me.” Rose’s imploring gaze bore into his.
Jeremy unexpectedly slumped forward then fell to the floor as he passed out. Blood dribbled from his nose and ears. Blood-curdling screams and shouts of panic erupted as everyone in the facility suffered from the worst pain imaginable before losing consciousness and dying. Rose slowly stood up from her chair and she gazed up in the air as if searching for someone.
“Emily, I suspect you will see this event at some point or I at least hope you will. I’m too strong now and the only way I can end this is to end my own life. I don’t know if I can do it but if I don’t, I’ll kill everyone around me. The only way I can be stopped is in the past. You need to find Elizabeth Westgard. She has a rare ability – empathic healing. She can give me a conscience before I become too powerful but you probably don’t have much time left. You need to find her before it’s too late,” Rose said desperately.
Her body trembled and blood trickled from her left nostril. She shook more violently and collapsed to the floor as she directed dissonant healing energy at herself. A moment later, she stilled as death claimed her. Emily abruptly lost the vision and her body jerked as she became aware of her surroundings. Jeremy knelt in front of her and was holding her upright so she didn’t fall forward. Emily straightened and smiled shakily at him.
“I’m all right now,” she said weakly.
“The hell you are!” Jeremy exclaimed with outrage. “You pushed yourself too far. You’re going to get hurt!”
“I’m fine,” Emily said and shivered at the cold temperature of the room. “Rose’s going to attack us soon. It looks like I’m going to be killed.”
“When?” Jeremy asked sharply.
“Anytime within a week,” Emily said grimly. “I wish I could narrow it down but I can’t. I’ve tried as hard as I could to pinpoint a more precise time.”
“You tried too hard,” Jeremy scolded her. “You’re a multipath now so you’re going to have to be more careful.”
“There’s someone who can stop Rose somehow. She’s an empathic healer. Her name is Elizabeth Westgard.”
“That name sounds familiar,” Jeremy said musingly. He walked over to his desk and typed rapidly at his computer. “Here it is.”
“You found something?” Emily asked hopefully.
“Yes, Elizabeth is a high level telepath who came here several days ago to become part of the psychic network. Her ability was giving her crippling migraines but the only ability she registered with us was telepathy. According to you, she also has another ability or perhaps it is one that will develop in the future.”
“We have to find her.”
“I can give you her address,” Jeremy said. “But I’m going with you.”
“Okay,” Emily agreed.
“I’m going to talk to Julie then we can drive down to Vancouver which is where Elizabeth lives,” Jeremy said.
The horror of what Emily had just seen stuck with her as she leaned fully against the back of her chair for support and squeezed her eyes shut to try to remember just the important events. Rose had somehow known that Emily would foresee that event in the future and she had changed. She seemed to regret all of the deaths she’d caused. Even though Emily was certain that she’d glimpsed a scene from over one hundred years into the future, Jeremy had looked to be in his early forties. Maybe Emily’s precognitive ability hadn’t been accurate. It had been extremely difficult to receive any solid impressions or scenes so maybe this vision had been faulty. Suddenly, the sense of terror and pain from those in her psychic network reached the edges of her mind. It was unexpected and not personal as she could only feel the shadow effects. Emily focused her attention on those individuals and the image of Psi-Tech rose up in her mind.
Disjointed images of the outside and inside of the building from many people’s perspective jarred her senses. Emily realized that she was seeing from many individual’s minds who worked in that building that had managed to join the network. The terror became more palpable and threatened to overwhelm her so she blocked out the telepathic impressions.
“Jeremy, I think Rose is attacking Psi-Tech right now,” Emily said.
“She is. I saw her,” Jeremy confirmed. “I’m discussing the situation with Julie and Ryan.”
Emily hadn’t realized he was participating in a virtual conference; it was a valuable tool that came with being a telepath. She waited patiently until suddenly Julie’s voice interceded her thoughts:
“This is Julie Saunders. Anyone who is working for me at the Center must leave immediately. I know I promised you a safe place and that I had been working on a way to protect ourselves on a psychic level from attack but there are two extremely dangerous psychics who I have reason to believe will be here soon and they are unstoppable as of right now – even if we attacked them together. Anyone who stays at the Center won’t be safe. This isn’t a drill. Everyone must leave now. I will hold a telepathic conference as soon as I have more information to give you,” Julie broadcasted.
Adrenaline pumped through Emily’s body as she shot to her feet. She hadn’t expected Julie to make such a definitive and timely response to the new information. Rose wasn
’t interested in the individuals working here and probably wouldn’t track them down with the exception of Emily, Jeremy, Julie, and Ryan. Skylar burst into the room just as Jeremy and Emily were heading for the office door.
“I’m going with you,” Skylar said.
“Of course,” Jeremy said. “We need to find Mom as well. She’s probably working in her office and will be here shortly.”
Kate appeared behind Skylar at the doorway.
“I’m here,” she said breathlessly.
“Let’s go,” Emily said urgently.
They crowded inside Jeremy’s SUV and headed south for Vancouver. Emily explained to Skylar and Kate what she had recently seen and learned about Rose and a possible way of stopping her.
“How exactly does this empathic healing work?” Kate asked.
“I’m not sure,” Emily said reluctantly.
“Maybe we should just hideout somewhere,” Skylar said.
“No, Rose will eventually track us down. We’re going to need to find a way to stop her before things get too bad,” Jeremy said.
“What can we possibly do against someone that powerful?” Skylar asked.
“I believe that an empathic healer can give Rose a conscience. In the distant future, she will be captured but if we can change her now then we might be able to stop all of this,” Emily said.
“What about Kevin? Are we going to give him a conscience too?” Kate asked doubtfully. “I’m afraid that this sounds like a very weak plan. It’s all well and good that in the distant future, Rose will come to regret her atrocities but I don’t think giving her an artificial conscience will stop her.”
“This all sounds very hokey to me. I agree with Kate. It isn’t a workable plan,” Skylar interjected.
Jeremy frowned as he continued to drive but refrained from arguing. He pulled onto the freeway and allowed the silence to drag on. Emily merely sat back with her eyes squeezed shut. Skylar and Kate exchanged frustrated looks. Emily was relieved when they finally reached Elizabeth’s house. She lived in a small, beige house with a tiny lawn and her neighbor’s homes crowded beside it to give an overall cramped impression. A small, green sedan inhabited the parking lot which hopefully indicated that Elizabeth was home. Jeremy took the lead as they stepped up to the front door and he rang the bell. Elizabeth answered almost right away. She blinked at them with surprise.
“We’ve got some important news,” Jeremy said gravely. “Could we talk to you inside?”
A warm, soothing sensation permeated him and the others as they stood facing her. Emily noticed the feeling immediately and realized that this was the psychic gift Elizabeth possessed.
“Something is wrong. We can talk right here.” Elizabeth had the door only partially open and made sure she planted herself firmly in front of it.
Jeremy briefly explained about Rose and her powerful abilities. When he paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, Elizabeth interjected:
“What does this have to do with me?” she asked.
“You have a rare talent called empathic healing. This ability will give Rose a conscience and she can be stopped before she does any of the horrible things she’s about to do,” Jeremy said.
“No, this won’t work,” Elizabeth said shakily. “I don’t have any control over this ability. There’s nothing I can do. She will view me as a threat and kill me.”
“If you’re a threat, she’s going to seek you out. You’re not safe here anymore,” Emily said. “You’re best bet is to come with us and we can help you develop your ability and keep you out of harm’s way.”
“No, I’m staying here. Leave me alone,” Elizabeth said firmly.
Jeremy and Emily exchanged worried looks and the door slammed in their faces.
“What do we do now?” Jeremy asked.
“I don’t know.” A wave of hopelessness and despair washed over Emily. “This can’t be happening. She was our only hope.”
“We need to convince her to leave this place,” Kate said.
Emily’s eyes cut to her mother’s. “You’ve changed your mind about her?”
“No but I just had a vision. Rose’s going to come here soon and kill her. She does see her as a threat.”
Jeremy rang the bell but Elizabeth didn’t answer. He rang the bell several more times then telepathically broadcasted a warning to Elizabeth. He repeated Kate’s warning several times then swept the group a resigned look.
“We’ve got to go. It’s no use,” he said.
“We did our best,” Kate said.
They piled into Jeremy’s SUV but he didn’t pull out right away. Instead, he mulled over the situation and Kate’s vision. Because Rose viewed Elizabeth as a threat, it made Jeremy even more convinced that they needed her help as an empathic healer.
“We need to think of a way of convincing Elizabeth to help us,” Jeremy said. “Or at least leaving this place so she’ll be safe.”
“She’s completely entrenched in her decision to stay here,” Skylar piped up from the back seat. “I was reading her thoughts.”
“That’s an invasion of privacy,” Kate scolded him.
Skylar shrugged at her. “It was necessary.”
“We need to know more about how Rose’s ability works so we can discover a way of stopping her,” Jeremy said.
“She hasn’t developed her abilities until now and it’s been very fast,” Emily said. “She hasn’t even been self-aware until the last couple of weeks.”
“But her ability has given her life-times of experience in a matter of days,” Jeremy said.
“Maybe we should focus on seeing the future and identifying the drug that was made.”
“I tried that. Unfortunately, I’m not the one that is directly involved in making it. I’m just the leader in the underground movement against Rose. I’m sure the exact nature of the drug is never revealed to me because it wouldn’t make sense as I’m not a doctor,” Jeremy said.
“What about the people in your underground movement? If you can track one of the doctors that helped, he may be a precognitive that knows the formula,” Emily suggested. “After all, precognition is one of the most common abilities.”
“I’m pretty sure that most of the people weren’t part of the psychic network. They were non-telepaths,” Jeremy said. “But that’s worth a shot.”
“Surely there’s some way we can convince Elizabeth to leave this place. We can’t just let Rose kill her,” Kate said.
“We can’t stay and confront Rose. We wouldn’t stand a chance,” Emily said.
Jeremy turned the key to start the engine but nothing happened. He tried again but the engine wouldn’t start. A sudden flare of panic erupted in him. He looked up and saw the same emotion reflected in the eyes of the others.
“Something’s wrong,” Emily said sharply.
“Rose is already here,” Kate whispered. “We barely missed her in the original timeline but when I saw Elizabeth was in danger, it caused us to delay just long enough for her to catch up.”
Rose and Kevin cut across the neighbor’s lawn toward them. Jeremy tried starting the car one more time before stepping outside to confront them. Rose’s crazed eyes bore into his as she stopped a short distance away from him. Emily, Skylar, and Kate took up positions on both sides of him in a protective stance.
“You’re a bunch of fools,” Rose said coldly. “You made this entirely too easy for me.”
Even though Jeremy knew the end of his life was imminent, a strange sense of calm settled over him. He regarded her with an appraising look, wondering if there was any weakness he could exploit. He tapped into his intuitive powers and pulled hard at the inner strength of his psychic talents. His pupils dilated until his eyes were completely black. Emily was doing the same thing. A sudden gust of wind whipped over them and Jeremy sensed a concentration of heat. Instinctively, he realized that Rose was using one of her abilities to try to burn him alive. He pushed back against this talent and managed to keep the attack from manifesting.
Kevin added his own efforts but Emily silently offered her protection as well. Rose quickly focused her attack and Jeremy had to push more forcefully to prevent it. He strained as the attack continued then abruptly stopped. Rose’s strength hadn’t waned but she was tired of spending too much time to kill him.
Jeremy used the opportunity to tap into his intuition again. He needed to think of a way of stopping her. This was his last chance. Abruptly, a painful pressure constricted his throat. He struggled to breath but found he couldn’t. Jeremy pushed back against Rose’s new attack and felt Emily’s assistance. Kate and Skylar telepathically joined with Jeremy which helped strengthened him just a little. Jeremy found he could draw breath now but the pressure against his throat and lungs still bore down threateningly. He wouldn’t be able to hold off the attack for much longer.
Images of Rose flashed in his mind. He could see her sitting down in plain clothes gazing sightlessly out of the window. Her body had been like an empty shell with no mind. Her thoughts had whipped in a mad, tangled, twisted whirlwind with no coherency. Jeremy suddenly couldn’t breathe again. He weakly struggled to defend himself against Rose’s and Kevin’s attack but it was hopeless now. Blackness crept along the edges of his vision and he felt Emily’s comforting presence retreating. A sense of betrayal slammed into him for just a split second before he realized it was the most logical act his sister could do. She would need the strength to fight Rose once Jeremy was dead. His knees hit the pavement and Skylar knelt down to hold him upright. Jeremy didn’t have much time left. Suddenly, the constriction against his throat and lungs left.