Despite her fear, Marina smiled and nodded. “Dad was very religious. I loved him. Still do, but the preaching got my goat.” She’d become sick of being told how to live her own life. Had even thought about moving away until she’d become engaged.
“I can understand that.” Evelyn flicked her fingers in the air as if shooing someone away. “Back off a bit. I’ll get on with it.” She turned to Marina. “This man’s worse than my kids. He’s so pushy. He said it’s good that you’re wearing your Talisman that Lizzie made you. It took him a long time to get through to her.” Evelyn frowned. “What do you expect, old man? Lizzie can’t hear or see spirits. Gosh he’s very pompous your old man. Opinionated. Looks down on people and he’s worse now he’s up there. Like my mother-in-law.”
“Dad always meant well. He just always thought he knew better than everyone else. I guess he thought he was saving souls for Jesus when he preached.” It was absurd that she was sticking up for her dead father, but then, this whole situation was absurd.
“No wonder you moved away. I can’t stand it when people tell me how to live my life.”
“But I didn’t move away because of Dad.” But she’d thought about it sometimes, even though moving away had conflicted with the safe plans she’d made for herself in Blackheath. Her plans seemed so limited now.
“Honey, you weren’t meant to stay in a small town. It’s not your destiny. Why do you think your guides sent you that cross-dresser? They put a bomb under you to make you move.”
“Huh? You mean things are planned?”
“Of course they are. It was a life lesson. You have amazing powers, but you could never have developed them there. You couldn’t grow in that small town. Not with your old man standing over you preaching all day. You would have broken out from that staid old life sometime.”
“I loved my dad.” But boy he could go on about right and wrong. Although she was protective of her father, she knew Evelyn was right. She’d learned heaps since coming to live in the city. She enjoyed the freedom and the diversity of people. She liked doing Brazilians, a job she was sure her father would have disapproved of. She could never settle for country life now. Maybe she wasn’t as conventional as she thought.
Marina watched the expression on Evelyn’s face darken. “I’m getting to it, old man.”
The shadows around Evelyn intensified. Her thick black eyebrows raised in surprise. They made Marina itch to get out her tweezers.
“This woman in the photo is the reason you’re having this trouble. The deaths are linked to her. There’s a young blond woman in terrible danger. She’s next.” Evelyn dropped her head in her hands and groaned. “I don’t want to deal with this. Now I know why you wouldn’t give me any details before she came. You knew I wouldn’t want to do this. This is horrid. Horrid!”
“Please, Evelyn,” Marina urged.
Evelyn raised her head and stared hard at Marina. She let out a dramatic sigh. “Murder. You have murder all around you.”
Marina’s heart palpitated with fear. Her hands became fists. She leaned forward determined to face this though her stomach was churning. “What’s going to happen? Who’s going to be murdered? I have to help them.”
Evelyn looked away as if she couldn’t meet Marina’s gaze. “No!” She crossed her arms in front of herself. “I don’t want to do this. It’s not ethical to terrify clients. No, I’m not preparing her. You do some work for a change. Appear in her dreams and tell her yourself. It’s easy for you, fluffing around in the after-life with your pot belly. It is a pot belly.”
“Evelyn. I have to know this.” Marina interrupted what seemed to be a fight. She didn’t want to go there either. She wanted to run. But buried underneath her fear she found something that surprised her. Strength. She would not let this man beat her.
Evelyn fixed her dark gaze on Marina. “You know what’s going to happen. You’ve seen it with your own eyes. You’re psychic yourself. You always have been but you ignore it. You shimmer with psychic energy.”
“I didn’t know I was psychic.”
Evelyn narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. “That’s because you tend to ignore things you don’t want to know. You can’t now, though. Not now your own life is in danger. Your inner power is bursting to save you. You can’t shut the things you don’t like in a box. Mind you, I stuck my mother-in-law in a box. Pity she didn’t stay there.” Evelyn raised her eyes heavenward.
Marina thought about what Evelyn had told her. “I...I guess I always knew things about people. I would think things and they’d happen. I always knew what my flatmate Lizzie was thinking when we were at summer camp together. I didn’t think I was psychic though. I just thought it was coincidence. Intuition.”
“There you go, shutting stuff out again. It’s more than coincidence. Your strength lies through your sense of touch. Perhaps it has developed that way because of your job. You’re hands-on all day. Your power has developed over time.” She pointed her finger at Marina. “Now you need it.”
Marina shivered. Her throat was dry with fear. “I’m not prepared. I don’t know enough. I need you to help me. Please, Evelyn.”
Evelyn looked at her for a long while as if considering whether to tell her or not. She bit her fingernail and picked off a bit of loose nail, flicking it to the floor. “I don’t like to be the giver of bad news. I never tell people that they’ve got cancer or that they don’t have long to live. I just tell them to go to their doctor and check for the cancer. Do you see what I’m trying to tell you?”
“You’re not trying to tell me I’ve got cancer, are you?”
Evelyn shook her head. “You’re in excellent health.”
“You mean, the murderer plans to kill me too.” Marina spoke in a whisper.
Evelyn nodded. Her lips were pinched shut.
“Who is it?” Marina leaned so far forward she nearly fell off her chair.
“I can’t see.” Evelyn’s voice rose with frustration. “I told you before. His face is masked. There’s a swirling cloud where his face is. He has the ability to change his character because he is two people. One that is caring and kind. Gentle. Sweet.” Her voice dropped with disgust. “The other a monster.”
Evelyn rubbed the area between her eyebrows, massaging the crease formed by her frown. Her shoulders slumped. “It’s the murders and suicides. I hate getting them,” she said wearily. “I never know how to handle it.” There was a mixture of fear and sorrow in her eyes as she stared at Marina. “Your father is taking me into a future I don’t want to see. I don’t want to follow him there.” Evelyn gasped. “You poor thing.”
The breath froze in Marina’s throat. Instinctively, she knew if she absorbed Evelyn’s sorrow for her, it would make her weak. There would be nothing but fear and death waiting for her. She couldn’t afford to feel sorry for herself. She needed every ounce of strength she could summon.
“This is hard,” Marina said, “for both of us. But I need to know everything you can tell me. I have to arm myself with weapons I don’t know how to use. You’re my only hope.”
“I’ll teach you how to use your gift. Just a few things. You don’t have much time.” Evelyn held out her hand. “Come. Learn to use your gift.”
With determination, Marina walked over, sat on the chair next to Evelyn and took her hand. She could feel Evelyn’s exhaustion through her touch. A seeping, draining, bone-weary tiredness.
The clairvoyant squeezed her fingers. Keeping hold of Marina’s hand she closed her eyes. “You’re brave. Special.” Evelyn’s voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “When he takes you, you’ll fight. You won’t let the terror consume you like the others.”
Perspiration broke out on Marina’s brow. Terror! She had to fight the terror. Deep down inside her, she already knew what Evelyn was saying was true. At some point in her future she would meet the murderer face to face. It would be her turn to feel the rope tighten. She took a deep steadying breath but it didn’t work. Her heart was hammering with fear. Marina
placed her other hand over Evelyn’s. The clairvoyant’s fingers were thin and cold.
“Keep going, Evelyn. I have to hear this.”
Evelyn swayed from side to side. She gasped. Her whole body jolted but she didn’t look up. Instead her head slumped forward so that her black hair draped her face. Marina sensed this was taking more out of her than she could afford to give.
“You know this man, Poppet.” Evelyn’s voice had deepened so that it no longer sounded like her own.
“Huh?” Marina’s eyes widened in surprise at the use of the name Poppet. She leaned forward and nearly fell out of her chair. Only her tight grip on Evelyn’s hand stopped her. This was the pet name her father always used!
Evelyn’s hand started to tremble. “You’re trying to like him. Don’t be fooled. You’re too trusting. My fault, Poppet. I taught you only to look for the good in people. Use your sense of touch to find the truth.”
“Dad! Help me. Who is it?” She could feel his strength and love flowing past Evelyn into her. Tears rolled down her cheeks for him.
Evelyn’s eyes flickered open. She pulled away from Marina.
“Jeez, I hate that,” she said, and trembled. “Your father jumped into my skin. He didn’t have the right to do that.” Indignation crossed her features.
“Don’t stop,” Marina begged.
“I never gave him permission to get inside my skin.” Evelyn glared at her. “They’re supposed to ask permission, not just jump right in there. The universe does have rules.” She rubbed her arms and legs. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to try and clean yourself from inside out?”
Evelyn looked more sallow than she had when she’d started. Marina made a promise to herself if she ever got through this she’d come over and give Evelyn a free beauty makeover.
“I’m sorry Dad did that. But this is important. Please, Evelyn. You told me to use my sense of touch. What exactly do you mean?”
Evelyn gave her a querying look. “But you already know that.”
“I feel things when I touch people. Like what’s going on in their head.”
“Stop being so timid with your gift. This could save your life. Look.” She took Marina’s hand. “What do you feel? Concentrate! It’s not going to jump out at you. You have to open your third eye to receive my messages.”
Marina closed her eyes. At first she couldn’t feel anything except Evelyn’s bony fingers. Her skin needed some hand cream too.
“Take off that Talisman you’re wearing for a moment. It’s filtering the messages I’m sending. I can’t get enough through to you.”
Marina untied the pink ribbon Lizzie had used for the Talisman and put it on the floor. She reached over and took Evelyn’s hand again.
“Come on, Marina, I’m letting it all hang out for you.”
“Impatience,” she said.
“You got it. Now what else?”
“You’re worried.”
“Well, duh. What mother isn’t?”
She ignored Evelyn’s caustic comments. As she held Evelyn’s hand she could feel her concerns flowing into her hand and up her arm. There was deep sorrow in Evelyn. Love too. A vision came to her. “I can see someone.” She glanced at Evelyn.
“Don’t break your concentration,” she ordered. “You want to get that man who’s terrorizing you, you have to learn how to do this.”
Marina closed her eyes again. “He’s lying on his hospital bed. He’s young. Not well. Argh! I feel pain throughout my body. Terrible pain.” The word came to her. Jarring her with its unwelcome content.
Her eyes flicked open and she stared at Evelyn.
Evelyn released her hand. “Now you see why I’m so drained,” she said. “Why everything is such a mess.”
Marina nodded. “Your husband’s in the hospital.”
Evelyn’s mouth became pinched again. “People think it’s great being a clairvoyant. Personally, I think it sucks. How do you feel?”
Marina shook herself, mentally assessed her body parts as if checking for a broken bone. “Wrung out. It’s quite strange. I feel like I’m carrying your burden. I didn’t like it.”
Evelyn gave a small hollow laugh. “It’s not yours to carry. Goodness knows you got loaded up with more than your own share.”
With a deeper understanding she nodded at Evelyn. “Now I know why you didn’t like doing my reading. Why you didn’t want to go where my father is taking you. When I sensed your troubles, it felt like it was happening to me.”
Evelyn only stared at her. “You can ask to release others’ pain. It’s not your pain. You don’t have to carry it. Remember that. You tend to take on others’ problems as if they’re your own. Concentrate on your own business. You need to.”
Marina looked at her watch. She saw she had been with Evelyn for an hour. James would be wondering what was happening.
She was about to get to her feet when Evelyn reached out and caught her arm. “There’s one other thing you should know. It isn’t always convenient to touch someone in order to read them.”
Marina nodded. “Fair enough. It’s not like I want to hold the murderer’s hand to read his vibrations.”
Evelyn nodded and pushed her dark hair behind her ear. “But if you have something special like a piece of their jewelry, you can get the vibrations off that. They need to have worn it for some time.”
“I’ve seen clairvoyants do that. I went to a psychic fair once.”
Evelyn leaned close, her voice a tense whisper. “Don’t try and get vibrations straight from the murderer. If he’s that close, you’ll be fighting for your life.”
Chapter 20
Lizzie sat in the living room, examining her book on magic. Her fingers twitched with each turn of the page. There had to be some way of turning off Fabio’s devotion to her. There just had to be. The telephone rang, closely followed by her mobile phone. Her head shot up as the combined noise stabbed at her nerves. She turned in frustration and glared at the telephone in the hallway. This was the fifteenth time Fabio had called. She glanced at her watch. It was late. James and Marina had been gone for hours.
When the phones stopped she continued to flick through the pages of her book. There were plenty of spells for falling in love, she thought, as she studied one she’d used. She’d secretly been trying them out on Fabio—grinding up rose petals, along with her and Fabio’s hair clippings. Fabio had been drinking them in his energy drinks for the past month. Once he’d even complained one of his drinks was gritty. They’d worked. Too well!
Lizzie sighed. She hadn’t found a spell to stop Fabio’s you-know-what addiction. It was worse than ever. Only this week she’d found a stack of porn and downloads of big-breasted women from online dating sites hidden under a corner of the carpet in his studio. Laid flat, she would barely have noticed the difference in the rise of the carpet, if it hadn’t been for the slight edge of a page sticking out. Worse still, she’d found more pornographic printouts of the model who looked like Marina from another time that he hadn’t even told her about.
Gnawing on her knuckle, she turned the pages of her book. She thought about the offensive words Fabio had used when they were shagging. What if she were responsible for what was happening to Marina and James? Fabio knew they were out tonight. He always knew what they were doing and it was all her fault. The phone started ringing again. Lizzie flinched and attacked the pages of her book searching for an answer. How could she make him go away? There had to be a love reversal spell.
Since James’s attack on him, Fabio wanted her to move out and go live with him. He had so many plans, all of them involving her. She swallowed and rubbed at her throat. Fabio was suffocating her. A chill worked its way up her spine. She twisted her nose ring back and forth, her mind darting like a small bird in a cage.
The phone rang and rang. Lizzie crept over and stared at it. “Why don’t you get lost?” she said, through gritted teeth. She pulled it out from the wall socket, then rushed into her bedroom and turned off her mobile.
Slapping the pink mobile phone down next to the telephone, she walked back to the living room and picked up her book. There. She’d silenced him. This time she really did want to break up with Fabio and no amount of him pestering her was going to change her mind.
She picked up her book again. There had to be something that would do the trick. She turned the pages finally stopping on a spell that seemed like it might work. “Vanquishing mortals,” she read. Sounded good to her though she wasn’t sure what vanquishing meant. Her nose wrinkled in disgust as she read the ingredients. The spell required human blood. “Yuck.” Still, it was only a drop. She could manage that. She kept reading, ticking off the ingredients in her mind. Luckily she had some of Fabio’s hair shavings left in a little heart-shaped envelope she kept under her pillow.
Walking into her bedroom, she located the sewing kit her mother had bought her when she was eight years old. At the time she had been thrilled with the pink padded basket and its contents. That was, until she’d overheard her father tell her mother it was a good thing she’d bought it, because Lizzie might as well learn to sew, since she was too stupid to do anything else.
She opened the basket and pulled out a needle. Grabbing the envelope with Fabio’s hair and a small bowl, she set up to do her spell on the kitchen table.
Closing her eyes she jabbed the needle into her finger. It embedded more deeply than she intended. “Shit! That hurt.” The iron-tasting blood made her grimace as she sucked on her finger. “Yuck.” Holding her finger over the bowl, she shook in a drop of blood. “Damn it. Stop bleeding,” she muttered. More blood welled like a pearl on her fingertip and dribbled down her finger.
Picking up the envelope, she ripped the seal and poured in the remaining hair, leaving a blob of blood on the paper. Blond and dark hairy bits floated into the bowl.
She hurried back to the sitting room to locate her book because she couldn’t remember the incantation. Several drops of blood dripped from her finger onto the cream carpet. “Shit,” she said, sucking her finger. “Stop bleeding, damn you.” She rubbed at them with her toe making a smear on the carpet.
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