Torn

by Ashley Stambaugh

  He looked over at Phinneas and then spoke in a low, rough voice. "Well… It has been a while since I've seen you."

  Phinneas gave him a slight nod. "Can you help us?"

  "Maybe," said the demon as he shrank farther back into the darkness.

  Phinneas looked at Walter and nodded in the direction of the demon. "Let me do the talking," he whispered. "He's probably going to be a bit skittish."

  Walter nodded and then, with a bit of hesitation, they both made their way into the concealment of the shadows.

  The demon's eyes darted back and forth between them, and then finally came to rest on Phinneas. "This Melina… she's the first human to survive guiding angel powers? Does that mean she just got lucky or are you not working with others of my kind anymore?"

  Phinneas stared over at the demon as he thought back to his days of helping Adelia. She had brainwashed him into thinking that humans like Melina were abominations and needed to be destroyed. At first, he had eagerly helped her. But as time went on, he had started to realize what they were doing was wrong. The pivotal moment for him didn’t come, though, until he had seen how upset Walter had been over Melina’s condition and how much he cared for her.

  Adelia had called him weak for turning on her to help Melina, but he didn’t see it that way. His only weakness had been when he’d allowed her to manipulate him.

  Phinneas swallowed and shook his head. "I'm not working with Noxin demons anymore. I realized what I was doing was wrong, and I helped save Melina from the demons who were trying to take her soul. And Adelia's gone now."

  The demon's eyebrows raised, but he didn't say anything.

  Phinneas continued. "Melina had a Noxin demon try to take her soul twice. Would that have anything to do with these evil feelings she's been having?"

  "No," said the demon as he shook his head. He then gave a quick glance around before focusing his eyes on Phinneas again. "I can't stay much longer. I've already been talking to you for too long now."

  "But…" said Phinneas before the demon cut him off.

  "Listen," the demon said in a firm voice. "I'm only going off of rumors I heard before I was banned, which was ages ago, but you need to ask Melina a couple of questions. You may already have the answers, and if you do, you could be closer to solving this than you think."

  Walter and Phinneas both looked at each other curiously, and then Phinneas addressed the demon. "What is it that we need to figure out?"

  "Find out if Melina's ever made physical contact with a Noxin demon while he was in his human form. If she has, then ask her when it happened. If it was shortly after she first absorbed the angel powers, then you may have your answer." He gave another nervous glance around and then said, "You know where to find me. I have to go now."

  "Wait!" Walter yelled as he reached out with his hand.

  But it was too late. The demon had teleported away, leaving a cloud of black smoke in his place.

  "No!" he screamed, stomping his foot. "Why did he just leave like that?"

  Phinneas let out a heavy breath. "I told you he'd be skittish. But why are you so angry? Do you know the answers already?"

  “Well, at least to the first question. It's yes. I can't remember exactly when it happened, though. Do you have any idea what the demon was hinting at?"

  "Yes, I have an idea," said Phinneas, a solemn look on his face now. "Come on. I'll fill you in, but then we need to go talk to Melina. If I'm right, then she's in more trouble than we thought."

  Chapter Sixteen

  The next few days passed slowly for Melina. Even though she loved to read and enjoyed watching TV, she could only handle a few hours of each activity per day. She quickly became bored. Tessa popped in here and there when she could, but she didn't have a lot of extra time since she was also doing Melina's job.

  She knew this would happen, though, which was why she had asked Lee to stop by when he could to keep her company.

  As she lay in bed on that Friday morning, the thought of what he had said made her frown. Actually, thinking about his entire visit made her frown. He had acted peculiar more than once during his short stay, but she didn't know why. In the past, she had been able to use what he was thinking to figure out his moods, but the other day was different. The only thought she had heard from him, he had deliberately cut short, and then she hadn't heard anything else for the rest of the time, which was odd. Even though he hadn't stayed for long, she still should've heard at least one or two more of his thoughts. But she hadn't.

  She pondered the matter for a little while then suddenly shot upright as a realization dawned on her. When Dean had been there before Lee, she hadn't heard any of his thoughts either, except for the barely audible one when he had first arrived at her door. What if her power to read people's minds was actually fading away?

  Her brow creased as she pushed her sheets back and swung her feet over the edge. Had she heard Tessa's thoughts during any of her brief visits? No, she thought to herself. I don't think I did.

  She started to bite her lip as she pushed herself up from the bed and made her way into the bathroom. Once she flipped on the light, her gaze went straight to the mirror. Her skin was pale, and her eyes were surrounded by a faint purplish black hue. She didn't remember looking like that yesterday. What was happening to her? After several seconds of staring at her reflection, she turned around and started to undress. Maybe a hot shower would help to revive her and ease her mind.

  A good twenty minutes later, she finally turned the shower off and stepped out. Physically, she felt more relaxed, but her mind was still racing. She needed to know for sure if her ability to hear other people's thoughts wasn't working anymore. But before she could do anything about that, she needed to get herself ready.

  After doing her hair and make-up as fast as she could, she quickly dressed in a black sweater, jeans and then threw on her pair of knee-high black boots. Her stomach growled as she grabbed her dark green peacoat and headed out the door, but she only had one thing on her mind right now. Breakfast would have to wait.

  She rushed down the stairs and then slid her coat on before leaving through the back door. Tessa and Gwen wouldn't be happy to see her out of her apartment, no matter what the reason was, so she would have to go somewhere other than her bookstore to test out her theory. She headed down the alley and then turned right when she reached the street. Her best option was probably the nearby coffee shop. It was only a couple of blocks away.

  It was already mid-morning, but she didn't come across any people on her way there. When she arrived at the coffee shop, she stopped right outside of the front window and gazed inside. There were several people sitting around at tables and standing at the front counter waiting to order. Normally, she'd be able to hear their thoughts from where she was standing, even if the voices were soft and undecipherable, but now she couldn't hear anything. She took in a deep breath and opened the front door.

  Once she stepped inside, she immediately heard… nothing. She glanced around at all the people. Most of them were looking at her. Maybe she had interrupted their thoughts when she walked through the door. Only one way to find out.

  She snatched up one of the morning's papers from the stack by the door and sat down at the first empty table she could find. Ordering a coffee or something to eat would've looked better, and definitely appealed more to her hungry stomach, but she had forgotten to grab her purse in her hasty departure from her apartment. Reading the paper would have to work while she waited to see if she could hear anyone's thoughts.

  After a couple of minutes had passed, and she had still heard nothing, she folded the paper down and peered over the top. As she surveyed the room, her eyes stopped on an older-looking man who was sitting by himself in a booth over to her left. He also had a copy of the newspaper and was about to pick it up. Right on the front page was a story about a local woman who had recently won the lottery. Melina was counting on the man to have a reactionary thought about the article.

  He picked u
p the paper, and she held her breath as he started to scan the front page. She saw his eyebrows raise and his eyes widen but didn't hear a thing from him. Her eyes narrowed as she continued to watch him. Maybe he was still reading and would have a late reaction. Several seconds later, though, he turned the page, and she still didn't hear any thoughts.

  She gazed around the room. Her power to read people's minds was gone. It had to be. Everyone's thoughts were silent to her. She dropped the paper on the table and darted out the front door. As she hurried back to her apartment, her breathing turned into short, shallow breaths and she could feel her body start to shake.

  "Calm down," she muttered to herself. "Just calm down."

  When she finally reached her building, she opened the back door and then paused at the bottom of the stairs that led up to her apartment. She glanced up the steps and then turned back around and went straight into the front room of the bookstore.

  Gwen was standing up by the register, and her eyes grew big when she saw her coming. "Melina, my dear, what are you doing down here?"

  She ignored her question. "Think of something. Please. Just… anything."

  Gwen gave her a strange look and then nodded her head. "Okay."

  She stared at her but heard nothing besides the chatter coming from various customers in the store. "Are you thinking about something?"

  Gwen nodded again.

  Melina swallowed hard. It was gone. Her power to read people's minds was gone.

  "Are you okay?" Gwen asked. "You don't look so good."

  "I can't hear them anymore," she said, her eyes wide.

  Gwen's eyes narrowed at her. "You can't hear what anymore?"

  Right at that moment, Tessa walked out of the break room. "Melina!" she said as she rushed over to her. "What are you doing down here?"

  "I can't hear them anymore," she repeated.

  Tessa's forehead creased as she looked at Gwen and then back to Melina. "What are you talking about?"

  Melina broke out of her trance-like state and glanced between Tessa and Gwen. "I can't hear people's thoughts anymore."

  "Are you sure?" asked Tessa.

  "Yeah," she said as she gazed around the store. "Yeah, I'm sure."

  Tessa and Gwen both looked at her as if they didn't know what to say.

  "I, um… I need to go back upstairs." She turned around and headed toward the back of the store, hoping Tessa wouldn't follow her.

  Once she was in her apartment again, she threw off her coat and boots, went straight to her room and crawled into bed. As she pulled the sheets up to her chin, her eyes filled with tears. She remembered how she'd felt when she'd first absorbed the powers. She'd been scared and confused, and she definitely hadn't wanted them. But after she'd gained control of them, she'd started to see them as a gift, just like Walter had said. Now it seemed as if that gift was slipping away.

  She buried her face into her pillow. Was this only the beginning? Would her other powers start to fade away, too? A soft sob escaped her. She didn't want to think about it anymore, and sleep was the only thing that could make that happen, so she covered her head with the sheets and closed her eyes.

  Chapter Seventeen

  When Melina woke several hours later, she looked at the clock on her nightstand and couldn't believe what time it was—almost five. She had never taken a nap that long before. Her body must've needed some rest after all.

  As she climbed out of bed and started for the bathroom, her stomach let out a loud grumble. She hadn't eaten anything all day. That would have to be taken care of first. Turning on her heel, she made her way into the kitchen. After a quick sandwich and a handful of chips, she returned to the bathroom to get herself ready for the poetry reading.

  She freshened up her hair and redid some of her make-up. Her attempt to hide the dark circles under her eyes failed, but she did look a little better than she had that morning. It took her a while to decide on an outfit, but she finally chose a light beige sweater dress along with a pair of dressy, high-heeled brown boots.

  It was nearly six o'clock now. She dressed quickly, put on some matching beige earrings, and headed downstairs. The bookstore was usually open until eight on Fridays, but with the poetry reading starting at seven, Melina had told Tessa to close the store to customers around six. When she walked into the front room, she saw Tessa getting ready to hang a sign on the front door that read, "Open for poetry reading only." She was about to say something to her friend, but the clacking of her heels must've announced her first.

  Tessa turned her head as she finished hanging up the sign. "Hey there," she said. "You look nice. Do you feel any better?"

  Melina crossed her arms in front of her. "I don't know. I'm not exactly sure how I feel right now."

  Tessa gave her a small smile as she faced her but didn't say anything.

  "You look really nice yourself," she said as she motioned over to Tessa.

  "Oh, thank you," said Tessa as she glanced down at her sparkly, light blue sweater and black dress pants. "Gwen let me go freshen up a bit and change my clothes about thirty minutes ago. Now she's gone to do the same."

  Melina nodded.

  "So… are you going to stay for the whole event now since everyone's thoughts won't be bothering you or…" Tessa's voice trailed off as she gave her an awkward glance.

  "Um, I don't know," she said. "Probably not. I, um… is there anything I can do to help?" She wandered away from Tessa and started to look around the room.

  "Actually, we're all set," Tessa replied. "Carl was working this morning, so Gwen and I decided to set everything up then. It made things a little easier having him here to help, especially with the heavy stuff." She paused for a moment and then walked over to Melina. "Hey," she said as she laid her hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

  After a few seconds Melina finally turned around, tears brimming in her emerald green eyes. "I don't want to lose my powers." Her lower lip began to quiver as she dropped her gaze to the floor. "I was just getting used to them, and now…" She closed her eyes, and the tears began to flow down her cheeks.

  Tessa pulled her into a hug. "We'll figure this out. Walter and Phinneas will be back soon with an answer for you. I know it."

  "I hope so," Melina replied in a shaky voice.

  Tessa took a step back and smiled at her. "You don't have to be here for this. I've got it covered. Why don't you have Lee come over and just relax with him and watch a movie or something."

  She wiped the tears away from under her eyes. "I told Lee what time everything started tonight, so he should be here soon. But I at least want to welcome everyone to the event. Then I'll just go from there on whether or not I'm going to stay."

  Tessa nodded. "All right. Well, Gwen and I have everything under control, and we've got Hallie manning the table by the front door for tickets, so why don't you go hang out in our office while you wait for Lee to arrive."

  "Okay," said Melina. "Thanks for handling all of this. Oh, and Dean said he was going to come tonight, but I forgot to give him a ticket. If I miss him coming in, will you make sure that Hallie lets him in?"

  "Of course."

  "Thanks." She gave Tessa a faint smile and then made her way into their office and took a seat at her desk. Her eyes immediately went to the picture of her parents. She wished they were there right now. They had always given her good advice, her mom with words of comfort, and her dad with his straightforward pep talks. What she would give to have either one of them right then.

  After dwelling on the picture for a little while longer, she finally turned away and tried to occupy her mind by flipping through some fashion magazines and surfing the Internet, but none of it helped. She looked up to the clock on the wall as her fingernails started to tap on the arm of her chair. It was half past six now. After a few more seconds of staring at the clock, she shot up from her chair and headed toward the door. She was too restless to sit by herself anymore.

  As she walked out from the office, she saw Tessa and Gwen
greeting a few people who had already started to trickle in. Hallie was there now, too, sitting at the front table. She took off toward the group of people when suddenly Lee walked through the front door. A smile appeared on her face as she made her way over to him.

  "I'm so glad you're here," she said as she approached. "I didn't expect you to come in through the front door, though."

  "I tried to call you," he said as he gave her a soft kiss on the cheek, "but I'm guessing you don't have your phone with you."

  "Oh," she said with a grimace. "Yeah, I forgot it upstairs."

  "I also thought you’d be upstairs, so I didn't think anyone would hear or see me if I came to the back door." His brow furrowed as he narrowed his eyes at her. "Why aren't you upstairs right now? Are you okay? You don't look so good."

  "That's something I actually need to talk to you about." She grabbed one of his hands in hers and started to lead him away from the growing crowd when Dean appeared in the doorway.

  He gave her a smile and short wave then suddenly his expression turned to one of confusion. He was probably wondering the same thing as Lee—why she wasn't upstairs. She motioned him over to her, which caused Lee to turn around to see who it was.

  "Ah, Dean," he said with a wry smile. "I suppose you need to tell us both something?"

  "Yes, you both need to know," she said as Dean approached them. "Let's go to the break room to talk."

  Still holding Lee's hand, she led both men into the break room and shut the door behind them.

  "Melina, you're shaking," said Lee. "What's going on?"

  Her eyes started to water as she took in a deep breath. "I can't hear people's thoughts anymore."

  Both men stared at her as their mouths dropped open. After a few seconds of silence, a lone tear slid down her cheek, breaking both men out of their state of shock. Lee pulled Melina into him and wrapped his arms around her as he kissed the top of her head.