by Dale Mayer
He was just working on the premise that they needed a large private space and something Stefan had said – that whole bunker concept. At least steel construction. Were they trying to keep people like Stefan out, or did they have people like Stefan they were trying to keep in?
The police had narrowed the search to two old bunkers in the south part of town. Two teams had been dispatched. He’d been forced to stay here and wait. And keep searching. It occurred to him that some steel fabricating businesses might be made of steel too. There was no way to tell from here. But he might know someone who would know.
He called up an old friend. A soccer buddy who worked for the city. “Hey, Bunsen, odd question but do you know of any buildings in the city made of iron or steel?”
His buddy snorted. “What, from the early 1920s or something? There could be some shacks around but not likely much in the way of a sizeable building. Why?”
“Just looking for a building with those criteria.”
“There was an old cannery made of steel but not sure if it’s still standing. Along the river. It was part of the old heritage site that everyone was arguing about. Talked about turning it into a restaurant but that fell through. It was partly cohabbed as a bed and breakfast or student dorms or something, but the city shut it down as they didn’t put in all the windows required and until that happened it was a no go. That wasn’t the only issue.”
“Any idea what the address is?” Dean was already doing a search and at the same time Bunsen brought up the name of the road, he had it on his screen. “Got it. Thanks. If you think of any others, give me a call, please.”
“Hey, is this an official call? Like should I be sitting here and trying to come up with more places because someone is in trouble or do you have a happy financier looking for places to make a buck and he has a fetish for steel.”
Dean laughed. The first real one in hours. “It’s official. And several people could be in deep trouble.”
“Damn. I hate it when you say stuff like that. Okay, I’ll grab a beer and see if more come to mind.”
“Thanks. I’ll let you know how this turns out.”
“You’d better.”
Dean closed down his phone to see several other officers waiting for him expectantly. “The old cannery,” he said. “It was partly outfitted with dorm rooms and restaurant.”
The place erupted in a flurry of activity.
He desperately wanted to be a part of this but knew the captain wouldn’t let him anywhere near it. He hadn’t been cleared for duty and it didn’t matter what he said. It wasn’t going to happen.
Needing a breath of air, he stood up and a scream ripped through his mind. His knees buckled and he hit the floor.
Tia. Screaming. For him.
The scream built inside his head. He couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t stand it. She was crying for help and he couldn’t help her.
Stefan, help!
And he fell the rest of the way to the floor.
Men raced to his side and checked him over. He knew his gaze was glassy and wild, knew he couldn’t respond to their slaps on his shoulders or smacks to his cheeks. This was something else entirely.
But Tia…
Stefan’s voice slammed into him.
Dean, hold strong. Grab a hold of her voice and keep it close to your heart. She needs you. She’s reached out for you. You can do this.
Do what? He asked in a faint whisper, not sure Stefan could hear him. What can I do, I can’t move.
You don’t need to. You need to hold onto her. She’s failing. She’s losing energy and as soon as she does, she’ll become unconscious. She’ll also be visible to those she’s hiding from.
Can’t you help her?
I can’t because I’m not able to track her past the barrier. But you can. She can. Now there is a connection. Feed it. See yourself sending her energy. Charging her so she stays invisible. Stays hidden. Maybe then I can get to her.
Dean groaned.
Do. Not. Let. Go.
Dean shuddered. The guys are going to call an ambulance. Have me taken away. You have to stop them.
I will. You hang onto her.
And Stefan left his mind, leaving him all alone in the weird space. He knew he was still in his body, in his conference room, in the damn station, but here there were no walls, floor, chairs or even ceilings. God, he’d love his laptop – if for no other reason than to record this. No one would believe him.
Not true.
Tia would.
He closed his eyes and followed Stefan’s instructions. Tia. I’m here. Hold strong. You can do this. It’s all right. People are coming. We are on the way. Stay strong. If you need energy, take mine. Do what you need to do to stay hidden. Don’t let them get you.
He kept the mantra going over and over again. He lost count of the number of times he repeated a variation of those words. And each time it was more personal. Sweetheart. I want to hold you again. Have you in my arms, be in my life. Come back to me. Please. I don’t want to lose you. Stay strong. Keep using my energy.
You can do this.
Suddenly, in the faint tiny back end of his heart, he heard her call out, Dean, is that you?
*
Stefan followed Dean’s energy signature to Tia’s. Thinning out his own energy he raced down inside of her signature to the source. Very quickly he found her inside a closet curled up in a tight ball; her energy was low and flaring in small doses. She was already showing some camouflage loss. He poured energy into her system, shoring up her defenses.
He needed her out of there. And fast. His movement was limited to her energy signature, and luckily she appeared to have been travelling through the building for a while. But the doors were locked down and if there were any windows they’d been sealed up. He raced back through her path checking for new information that could help them. There was nothing he could see.
He wandered back into the room where she was hiding. It was an office of some sort. And where there was an office, there was paperwork. Maybe something helpful. Keeping energy funneling toward Tia and knowing time was of an essence, he strode through the building, looking for something, anything, that would give them a location. It could be the cannery, but there was no time to be wrong.
There were papers on the front desk. He couldn’t move them but there was something there. Colleton Labs. Immediately he connected to the office and Dean’s group. He didn’t know if the name meant anything or if they could track the place, but that’s what he could see. Then he searched for more. There had to be an address here. Surely. The lab’s name was on the header. Then something more was written below, but it was covered up. He couldn’t move the papers. Hating the limitation of the experience and wishing he could move what he needed he stood at the back of the room as a woman walked in. He waited. She sat down at a desk and picked up the phone, at the same time she clicked on the keyboard that brought the monitors back to life. He slipped over to stand behind her. He wanted to hear the phone call and see what she was looking up.
She checked her email before bringing up a webpage. She surfed, looking for orange and chicken dishes. Really? Stefan wanted to pound the desk in frustration. She needed to show him something useful.
She spun around and looked directly at him. He froze then she turned back to the monitor and checked the emails again. He leaned closer. There were several business ones and a few private. She clicked on a couple of them. He caught something about paperwork needing to be filed. Then she closed it down with a murmured “shit.”
The next one, she groaned and closed it too.
Is this how all offices functioned? He needed answers. Not this.
He turned back to the closet and deliberately built a wall to keep the closet from being something in her view. Tia needed time. Dean needed time. And the rest of the team needed time.
He’d do his best to give it to them.
He turned back to the nurse and waited while she stood up and walked over to the counter.
Move the paper he whispered. Move the papers. Spread them out.
She slowly lifted a hand and moved the papers, spread them out on the counter. Yes. He walked closer. Holton Street. It was on the same street as the cannery. Good. Now to make sure this was the correct building. He heard a sound from the closet.
The nurse spun around. She tilted her head and stared at the closet. She took one step closer. Then another.
Shit.
She’d heard Tia.
Chapter 40
Tia was awash in sensations. Overwhelmed in emotions. Hers. Dean’s. And even Stefan’s. Their thoughts. Their feelings. Their fear. Their panic. Her terror. She was dying. She knew it. She didn’t know why. Or how but she was.
Or something inside of her was dying.
She didn’t know how to explain, but she wasn’t the same inside anymore. She was larger. Bigger. Open. She had no boundaries. She was everywhere. Belonged to everyone. Was everyone.
Lost in the experience, she lay in wonder as energy flowed through her. Around her. Inside her. What the hell was this?
And then she didn’t care.
Because it was her. She was the one. She existed. As everyone. All at once. She just…was.
Tia, I’m here.
Dean was here. Nice.
Then Stefan’s voice rolled through her. Stay quiet. There are people looking for you.
They won’t find me, she whispered. I’m here. I’m everywhere but they can’t see me. They can’t hear me. They aren’t me.
Tia, you don’t sound…normal, Dean said, his voice high pitched with worry.
I was never normal. I never will be normal. Normal is not who or what I am.
You are normal, Stefan said with a quiet humor. You just haven’t met the others that are the same normal.
Others are normal like me, she said, her tone full of wonder. Full of joy. Here they are all so sad. They are all so mad. There is no joy in their hearts.
Her voice deepened. They are full of hate. Why? Why for me? I did nothing to them. Or for them. Now her voice dropped. I should. I should do for them. I was remiss.
She moved and both Dean and Stefan shouted at her to lie still. She lay back down. I am quiet. But I’ve been too quiet. That needs to change. I’ve been a mouse in a huge forest, afraid the owls were going to hunt me down. I should have been the owl as he floated freely through the sky. I am he. He is me.
Dean’s voice echoed in the background. Stefan, is she okay?
She’s fine, Stefan said with a sigh. She’s high. Likely for the first time in her life.
What? Dean roared.
Tia gasped. Use your inside voice. We can’t let the owls know we are here.
I thought you wanted to be an owl, Dean said in confusion. If that’s the case we are the owls and we already know we’re here. Stefan…an explanation please.
The first time and possibly a few other times yet to come when she opens the blockages and the energy lines in the system start to flow it can be like she’s high on drugs. But really she’s high on life – on her first real experience of her connection to all things. To her, right now, she’s connected to everything in the world. She is the world. She’s lost in the past and the present and sometimes for some people they can catch glimpses of the future. She is at this moment in time connected to everything.
Including us?
Especially us. We are feeding her energy, keeping her defenses up while he hunts for her. As such she is running your energy and mine through her chakras and she sees more of you and me than she’s ever seen before. She will know things after this. She will understand things. You won’t know how but she’ll feel like you feel. Depending on the relationship, if you can make a go of it, you will be closer than any couple you’ve ever seen before.
Shouldn’t she have a partner who is psychic?
There was a thread of self doubt in his voice that had Tia crying out, No, you are perfect for me. You are psychic to me. You just are.
And you are high on life, he said in gentle amusement. So who is going to listen to you?
You will, she whispered in a broken tone. You loved your wife. You gave her everything. Your heart, your soul and everything in between. In return she gave you your son. And she left. You had nothing else. She didn’t give your heart back. You didn’t reclaim your soul. They are still out there wandering around lost.
Jesus, Stefan, will she remember any of this later.
She might remember all of it. She might remember none of it.
Tia gave a happy sigh. And I do remember it. I also remember other things. You said you loved me as I slept. You said you wanted me in your life. Because I was already in your heart. I hear you. I hear things. Lovely things. Thank you for those lovely things.
Dean’s silence was breathtaking. Tia laughed in delight. I do love you. You are so very special. It’s all right you know. To know you as I do.
Is it? He said dryly.
Her voice pealed with joy. Yes! Right now I can do anything. Would you like to know me the same way?
What I’d love most is to have you live a long life at my side. Take yourself out of this closet and come back to my house with me. Just survive, baby, please. Survive for me. I need you.
You need me? She smiled, the sweetest joy in her heart climbing into her voice. She laughed and laughed. She’d do both. He just wouldn’t know it yet.
Please, baby, things are getting ugly outside. You need to leave.
Okay, I can do that.
She stood up and walked through the door. She walked through the office and past where the woman was sitting, now surfing the web, multiple screens in front of her. She should be doing her job but not even this woman could ruin the sheer love running through her heart. Tia walked past, laughing as the computer died instantly. The woman cried in distress as the printer went off line and the lights flickered and died.
Tia didn’t stop. She wasn’t going to die. She was finally going to live.
She walked through the doorway, down the hall and right up to the front door.
Then she walked right through to the sunshine outside.
Damn, she’s good, Dean said, following her energy trail.
She threw her arms out wide. I am good. She could feel him continue to feed her energy even as she watched several cop cars screaming into the large gravel lot outside the front door. So are you, Dean, so are you.
The cops raced out of their vehicles and ran for the building. They ran past her, but they never saw her. Even the captain had come. She could see him opening his car door.
She approached him. Loving life.
She was in them. In fact, she was everywhere. She was moving outward into the world. Outward into the universe. She was everywhere.
And just like that, as if a plug was disconnected, she collapsed.
At the captain’s feet.
*
Dean snapped back from his chair, his head bursting in agony.
Stefan? What happened?
There was no answer.
Dean struggled to move.
Only the room was tilting as if in slow motion and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He couldn’t wrap his mind around the spinning – until the floor jumped up to meet him. He lay on the linoleum staring at the ceiling. What the hell had happened?
Tia?
He tried to scramble to his feet only to find his body was moving in slow motion and a pain like he’d never experienced before radiated from his chest.
“Shit,” he cried, but somehow instead of the roar he was feeling, it came out more as a whimper. His body burned and pulsed in an erratic fashion. This must be a reaction from his connection to Tia. Something had happened to Tia.
Stefan, he cried out in his mind, Help Tia.
I am. We’re on it.
She’s fallen right at the captain’s feet. He’s racing her to the hospital.
Thank God. Dean groaned. I think someone shot her. How do I disconnect. I swear I can feel everything
she’s feeling.
You are. Welcome to the world of energy. Particularly with those you love.
I don’t like it, Dean whispered. It sucks. Big time.
Stefan’s laughter rolled through his head.
Why aren’t you affected?
I’m not sure, Stefan said. But as I’m free to move, I can help Tia. We’re still struggling to figure out what happened.
They should be at the hospital now.
No, they aren’t. They are on the way, but it will be ten minutes at least. The captain has a jacket pressed against her wound. The bleeding doesn’t appear to be stopping. Stefan’s voice deepened. I’m going to see if I can grab her some more help.
Dr. Maddy, Dean whispered. Call Dr. Maddy.
I’m trying. She’s already at the hospital working on a child.
Grab her. Tia needs her. She’s been through too much. She needs to have some time without pain. Without fear.
We’re working on it. Don’t disconnect from her in case she still needs you.
Dean laughed but it came out more as a groan. You don’t understand, I couldn’t disconnect if I tried.
You might have to, Stefan warned. Connected like this, if she dies, so do you.
It’s all right, Dean said softly. If she dies I will die inside anyway. I’d rather go with her than live life without her.
Don’t talk like that, Stefan snapped. I know how you feel but this is dangerous. And a dangerous time for her. If she gets wind there might be something wrong then she might not fight herself.
She must live, Dean cried.
Exactly. Stefan’s voice thinned. They are coming into the ER now.
Oh thank God, Dean whispered. I’m struggling to stay conscious here. Not sure how this works. I really want to just close my eyes and sleep, but I need to know she’s going to be okay.
He could feel himself sliding down the long tunnel to oblivion. Tia was there. He could sense her. Feel her. It was…magnificent. She was he. And he was she. He couldn’t imagine living without that pulse inside of himself that was her heart beating. It was too important. To special. She had to survive.