It was from Logan.
Violet held up her palm, staring at the undulating strands pulsing with power as they strung through her kitchen and out the window. They stretched away in the direction of Logan’s house.
Graham sat amongst the towering burnt-orange and dusty-red tinged rocks as the sun ducked behind the distant mountains. Jade was cradled in his arms, the knees of her jeans dusted with red dirt, and her cheeks still pink from crying. He inhaled slowly, and his body relaxed, now free from Jade’s feelings.
It was a weird sensation, receiving emotions that weren’t his—especially that mind-numbing anger. The rage had overtaken Graham, blinding his intentions and urging him to mindless destruction.
The rage and then the despair had eventually faded as he sat with Jade tight in his embrace. It was odd how comfortable it felt to hold her—like he was with an old friend, or maybe a sister. He released her, and she wiped her face with the back of her hand.
She cocked her head as if examining him. “Why aren’t you freaking out more?”
“About the emotion thing?”
“Yeah. I have this glitch that takes over people’s emotions. I totally hijacked you a few minutes ago. So why isn’t it creeping you out?”
Graham shrugged. “I mean, it’s weird. I’ve heard of empaths before in sci-fi novels. Never thought one could do that. What causes it?”
Jade shrugged. “No idea. I’ve always been different.”
“Okay. So you can do this weird thing. But you aren’t weird.”
She gave him a sideways smile. “So that’s it, huh?”
“I trust you. Anyone else might use a skill like that to get what they wanted. I know manipulative when I see it—and you’re not like that at all.”
“Well, I couldn’t manipulate you if I wanted. When it happens, I feel like I’m just around for the ride.” She shook her head. “Still, I just had you weeping, and you’re cool as a cucumber now.”
“Well, your ability aside, emotions don’t really freak me out.”
She had a thoughtful look on her face. “You aren’t like most guys, huh?”
Graham thought of growing up with just his mother, being in tune to her mood swings. And then there were Violet’s constant ups and downs. Growing up so close to these two women, they’d become as predictable as the change in seasons or the rise and fall of the tides. He’d learned when to be a comfort and when to step aside and give them space. “I guess not. Is that a bad thing?”
“Not at all.”
Graham considered for a moment. “So…can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer.”
“Okay.”
“What triggered all that? I know your mom’s in the hospital—did she get worse or….” He couldn’t finish the sentence.
Jade exhaled in a long, shaky breath. “No. Well, yes. I mean, she’s not doing well, and I went to see her today—which was a disaster. My glitch totally screwed with her and basically proved I can’t be around her. I’m physically dangerous to her health.”
“Oh, no. That’s horrible.” Graham imagined not being able to see his mom—especially if she were ill. The thought squeezed his insides.
“But that wasn’t even what set me off. I…” She sighed again. “I sorta just went through a breakup, and I had to deal with a post-breakup phone conversation.”
“Oh, geez,” Graham said. “That sucks, too. I know how that feels.” He gave a soft chuckle. “Literally, I guess, ha.”
She rolled her eyes playfully at his lame joke.
“Well, I just went through a breakup last month, too.” He ran his hand over his curly hair.
“Oh.”
“I didn’t see it coming.”
“I didn’t either.” Jade leaned back against a tall stone. “It feels…so strange. So empty without him in my life. Gosh, that sounds pathetic.”
“It doesn’t,” he said. “I know what you mean. It’s the little stuff I miss most—having someone to text with an inside joke, calling her at the end of the day, weekends that used to be filled with plans and are now oddly quiet.”
She nodded. “It’s still recent for me, but the first two I can relate to. Just having someone to vent my feelings to. I miss that.”
“Well, you can call me if you need a venting session. Can I see your phone?”
She pulled it out and handed it to him. He typed his number into the contacts, saving his name with a happy face next to it. She glanced at it, then smiled at him. “Nice emoji use.”
He grinned. “That’s to remind you I’ll always be happy to hear from you—consider me available for listening.”
“Thanks, Graham. I really appreciate it. Just…well, I don’t want my emotions to take advantage of you.”
“Do they transfer over the phone?”
“No. Only when I’m near someone.”
“Fascinating. How far does your influence reach?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Maybe you should test it out sometime.”
“It hasn’t exactly been a priority.”
“You’ve had other things on your plate, I’m sure.”
“You have no idea.”
Graham wondered what that meant, but he didn’t push her. “Have you dealt with this all your life?”
“Not the transferring problem.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’ve had this glitch since I was five, but it only recently started affecting other people.”
“What did it do before that?”
“It put other people’s feelings in my head—not just in my head, but basically hijacked me with their emotions.”
“So the reverse.”
“Yeah. And it still happens sometimes, too.”
He arched a brow. “So you can feel me right now?”
Her eyes scanned the park as if avoiding his. “Yeah.”
“Yeah? What am I feeling?”
“Compassion. Relief.” There was a momentary pause before she continued. “And attraction—it’s subtle, but there.”
Graham cleared his throat and pushed back his glasses with one of his knuckles. “I, uh…I’m not…I mean, it’s not why I’m here.”
“I know.”
“It doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “I mean, geez, that sounded wrong. I just mean I’m not trying to hit on you or anything. That’s not why I gave you my number.” He snuck a peek at her.
She was watching him, a faint trace of a smile on her lips. “I know.”
“Right.” He cleared his throat. “But I don’t understand. How can your empathic sense go both ways?”
“It can’t at the same time. It seems to flip from one way to the other.”
“Oh. That’s confusing.”
“It can be, yeah. But I’ve started seeing a pattern. My default is internalizing others’ feelings, but when I’m in an intense situation it flips the other way, and I emit my own instead. Problem is, I don’t know where the threshold is. I can’t predict when it’s going to flip. The other problem is, I apparently have some form of PTSD, so my emotions are all haywire.” She dropped her head into her hands. “I’m a mess.”
Graham frowned. “Post-traumatic stress disorder? What happened? I mean…if you want to tell me.”
She pushed her hair out of her face. “I was abducted last year…twice.”
This time, his jaw dropped. “Seriously?”
She nodded.
“Wow—thank God you’re okay. The same guy both times?”
“Sort of. One man was involved in both incidents. The second time he had help, and they took several others too.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“A woman was killed. We didn’t know her. The rest of us made it out mostly unharmed.”
“Man. I can’t imagine. I don’t know what to say—I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
“Yeah.”
“You are incredibly strong to deal with all this so well.”
Jade let out a wr
y chuckle. “‘Well’ is relative.”
“No way. You’d have to be tough to handle all that and keep going. You’re still going to school, still working, I mean come on. That’s impressive. Most people would fall apart after something like that.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“And then you have this empathy crap on top of everything…” Graham shook his head. “Seriously, girl. Need someone to talk to, I’m here. Anytime.”
She smiled. “I might take you up on that. Now that you know all my baggage…well, I guess it’ll make things easier.”
“And I’m supposed to read your story sometime, right?”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I could really use your take on it, but I’m not quite finished yet. Maybe next week?”
“Just say the word.”
“I will.”
Graham pulled out his phone to check the time. “Well, I better get back to the store to clean up the mess I made. I wonder if March has noticed it yet.”
Jade’s brows sagged. “Oh, no! She’ll be so mad.” She pushed up to stand. “I’ll go. It was my fault anyway. I’ll just tell her—”
“You don’t need to tell her anything. Let me handle this one. I got it.”
“But you just got hired! I can’t let her think bad of you, especially not on your first week. You don’t know how protective she is of those displays. I’m at least coming with you.”
Graham stood too. “Okay. We’ll go together. But what are we going to tell her?”
Jade thought for a moment. “We’ll tell her we got into a big argument, and that it’s both our fault.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
~
March was in fits when Graham and Jade got back to the bookshop, but Jade was able to calm her down with a soft-spoken apology and a promise that the two of them would make it right. Now that he knew more about Jade, Graham couldn’t help wondering if she’d used her ability to help the store owner cool off. Jade had said she couldn’t control it, but maybe she’d subconsciously caused the woman’s anger to fizzle. She had more powers than she knew what to do with, it seemed.
With a promise to clean up the mess, they got March to leave and let them lock up. She’d already closed the registers.
“Maybe I should put on a pot of coffee,” Graham said, eyeing the massive pile of bookmarks that had slipped off their hangers and had to be reorganized.
Sitting cross-legged, Jade had fanned out a handful of them and was grouping them by design. “Sounds good to me. Looks like we’ll be here for a while.”
“You know, I used to hate this stuff,” Graham said, scooping coffee grounds into the filter. “Now I can barely survive without it.”
Jade smiled. “I used to hate it, too. College changed that for me—all those late nights studying.”
“Right?” Graham pressed the button on the coffee maker and turned up his favorite upbeat indie music playlist. He was just passing the sales desk when the store phone rang. Out of habit, he answered it.
“Mountains of Books. How can I help you?”
“Oh. You’re still there. I thought you’d closed already.” The female voice on the line had a familiar lilt, but he couldn’t quite place it.
“We are closed, actually. We just haven’t left yet.”
“Is Jade still around?”
“Can I ask who this is?”
“It’s her friend, Chloe.”
“Oh, Chloe! Right. I remember you.”
“I’m sorry—who’s this?”
“It’s Graham. We met last week.” He paused, but she didn’t seem to remember. He cleared his throat. “I volunteered to be your model for the fashion show….”
“Oh! Right. Graham—you work at the bookstore now?”
“Couldn’t stay away.”
“Wow, you really are as addicted to books as Jade is.”
“Guilty as charged.”
“You say that a lot. I might just have to lock you up.”
“I’ll be your prisoner ’slong as you provide plenty of books.”
“Can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that one. So many guys begging to be my prisoners. Only way I can fight them off is to take away their reading material.”
Graham chuckled.
“So you two are just closing up?” she asked.
“Sorta. We have some stuff to clean up before we leave.”
“How long do you think it will take?”
“A couple of hours, maybe?”
“So…you should be done by…maybe seven-thirty?”
“Uh, probably, yeah.”
“Okay, perfect. Thanks!”
Before Graham could ask why, she hung up. He shrugged, replaced the phone, and went to pour coffee.
After two hours, the two of them had most of the store back in order, and Jade was restacking the books in the table top display. Graham went to empty the coffee and take out the trash. He was just returning inside when Chloe met him at the door.
“Oh, hey, Chloe.”
“Hi. You crazy bookaholics almost done?”
“Just wrapping it up. What’s up?”
She entered the shop, and he followed. “Jade and I had plans to work on the dress designs tonight.”
Jade looked up from the table as she taped a rip in the cardboard poster. “Oh. I forgot about that.” Her shoulders sank with an invisible weight, and Graham narrowed his eyes, picking up on the vibe.
“You’re about done, right?” Chloe’s eyes flitted between Jade and Graham.
“Yeah….” Jade said.
After even the little Graham knew about her, he got the impression she had a hard time saying no to people she cared about.
“Great,” Chloe said. “I’m starving. I was hoping we could pick up some sushi on the way to your place.”
“Um….” Jade hesitated.
Graham stepped forward, his presence drawing Chloe’s eyes. “It's been kind of a rough day here,” he said. “Jade, you still got that headache from earlier?”
Relief flooded Jade’s face. Graham even thought he felt a trace of it. She gave a small nod.
He met Chloe’s eyes again. “Maybe Jade could go home and rest, and I could help you instead. Would that work?”
Chloe glanced between them, checking Jade for assurance.
Jade gave a one-shouldered shrug. “That would be really nice. But Chloe and I did have plans….”
“Well, we could work on Graham’s outfit, I suppose,” Chloe said. “I don't want to push you if you’ve had a crappy day.”
“Are you sure?” Jade glanced between the two of them. Graham nodded and sent her a reassuring smile. What better way to show her he meant what he’d said about being there for her?
“Okay,” she said.
Chloe gave a quick nod. “Then it’s settled. We can go to Cam’s place instead.” Her perky blonde bob shook as she glanced over at Graham. “You like sushi?”
~
When Jade got home from work it was nearly eight o’clock, and she had neither the energy nor the inclination to make dinner. Her stomach didn’t seem willing to let her skip eating, though, so after pulling on her comfiest yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt, she poured herself a bowl of cereal. She munched on the granola while perched on the edge of her bed, staring at her cluttered desk.
She noticed her school binder on top, and she flipped through it to see if she could muster any desire to work on her story. Underneath it, something fluttered to the ground. She scooped up the small papers and realized they were the tickets to Les Miserables Logan had given her. The show was in five days, and they were supposed to go together.
Jade’s throat went dry, and her hand trembled. That time he’d surprised her with this had been such a happy moment, and now the promised trip to New York wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t, because she couldn’t be with him ever again.
She let out a controlled exhale, thinking of her neighbors in the next apartment who would hear if she freaked out
right now.
First speaking to Logan on the phone, then her loss of control in the bookstore, and now this. Everywhere she turned, her feelings about Logan were getting dredged back up into her life. She felt so powerless. She had broken up with him, but how could she stop thinking about him?
Clutching the tickets in her hand, she pulled open one of her desk drawers—the one where she kept odds and ends. She shoved them inside, but her hand touched something metal. Jade stared into the drawer, seeing her old bike lock that no longer had a key. She plucked it up, examining the single loop of chain that remained after Logan had bent it open for her.
But Jade’s wistfulness quickly turned to frustration. Why had she even kept the stupid thing? The key was forever lost down some storm drain. She tossed the lock onto her bed, then after a thought, rescued the tickets from her junk drawer and dropped them next to the lock. What she needed was to get rid of all these trinkets that kept reminding her of Logan. Maybe then her mind could be free.
She launched herself at the framed picture of the two of them on her nightstand and plunked the thing face-down on her comforter so it couldn’t stare at her any longer. Then she scanned the room for other jeering reminders. There—the framed photo of her, silhouetted against the vast canyon, the one Logan had taken before he’d even known her name. She pulled it off her wall and added it to the pile. Rifling in another of her desk drawers produced a stack of snapshots she’d taken since they’d been together. She tossed the whole stack onto her bed along with everything else. A quick inventory of the rest of her apartment produced her journal that Logan had recovered in the woods along with one of his flannel shirts that still emitted his pine-and-wood-fire scent, an American Literature textbook she’d borrowed from him, the little silver necklace with the book charm he’d given her for Christmas, and an expensive chef knife. He’d purchased the last item for her apartment after complaining that her kitchen lacked decent cooking tools. Each item joined what she now thought of as the “Logan Slush Pile.”
She’d expected her mind to get lighter with the removal of these pieces of memorabilia, but instead, the memories weighed her down. Scanning for a place to stash the items, she saw a box sitting on her desk. Jade opened it and pulled out the knee-high boots Chloe had brought her to try on for the fashion show. They were shiny metallic with four-inch heels, and Jade couldn’t imagine ever having an opportunity to wear them outside of the show. She pulled out the boots and crossed to her bed with the box. Scooping up handfuls of the Logan Slush Pile, she shoved it all inside except the photo which she laid on top, face-down. The only thing left was the gleaming knife, which she hesitated to give back. She’d grown to appreciate the feel of it in her hand as she prepped meals. After placing it carefully on her dresser, she grabbed the box lid.
Enchanter: The Flawed Series Book Four Page 12