by Dale Mayer
"So she did this as a child?"
"My father told me about them. He laughed. Said he'd seen it before. Said his brother used to get them too. Said I should ignore them." Dennis shrugged. "I was so out of my element at the time, I did try to ignore them. He said she was getting better years ago." His face hardened. "But that was obviously just another lie."
And there was that bitterness again.
Genetics. What were the chances that Tabitha's great-uncle or grandfather had been psychic and hadn't shared that information with her? Or had one of them? He glanced back at the bed. They hadn't discussed her grandfather much. It seemed as if the old man had held a lot back from his son, and vise versa. That had to have been tough. Dennis would have grown up feeling as if he was always on the outside.
Which would have made for a difficult life.
And would have created an angry man.
As he stared at the clouds blistering Dennis's face, he had to wonder what extent an angry man would go to, to get his revenge on his father.
That made him ask, "How did your father die?"
Dennis's eyebrows shot up. "Damned if I know. Poisoned by his own personality for all I care. I assumed it was old age. I got a report from the medical examiner, but I can't say I read it."
He didn't say it, but Ronin got the impression that Dennis might have danced for joy on the old man's grave.
Definitely no love lost there.
But as Ronin watched the worry shadow Dennis's face as he studied his daughter, he realized the man loved her. He might have done something to hurt his old man, but he'd never have done anything to hurt Tabitha.
"Let's go take a look at that box."
***
Tabitha returned from this trip shaky and feeling, shocky. Trinity was fading. Her unborn cub was suffering, Fez was panicking and this situation was sliding into the sewer fast.
She slammed back into her body so quickly, it hurt, damn it. But there'd been no time to slow down. Or inclination. She needed to contact Ronin immediately.
The hard landing forced a groan from her lips. She wanted to hop up and run from her bed, but her body moved similar to molasses on a frosty day. Getting this flesh-and-blood cage to do anything was almost impossible. Shit. She should have slowed down for the re-entry. Damn. She knew better.
"Rnnn?" The garbled message slipped from her numb lips. She tried again. "Ronin." Better, much better. Only it was barely a whisper.
"Tabitha? Are you okay?"
She couldn't open her eyes yet, but her mouth worked, trying to answer him.
Her father asked, "What's wrong with her?"
She groaned, a sound this time that would have been better kept silent. But her father? Really? She so didn't have time for this. He knew nothing of her abilities and this night's weirdness went way beyond that level of basic comprehension.
Finally, she could open her eyes. She was lying in bed with both men looking at her.
First things first.
"Trinity is in the Olde Riverside Shipyard area of Portland. Fez is alive, but he has a bad head injury. The floater Stefan found might be his old partner...or predecessor. I can't be sure."
"Finally!" Ronin narrowed his eyes as he grabbed for his phone. He opened his mouth to say something else. She didn't give him a chance to speak. "And his boss is a cop. You're dealing with a bad cop, Ronin."
"And how do you know that?" he demanded. "Did you see him?"
"Fez told me."
She struggled to sit upright. Her bones were rubber and her muscles had a mind of their own with no interest in obeying her commands. "I mean Fez saw me. As in he saw me."
She shot a warning glance her father's way.
And realized he'd caught it. Not understood it, but...
"What the hell is going on here?"
She'd have laughed then, only her nerves decided to come back to life right that moment and sent liquid fire up her veins. She cried out as all her biological systems came alive. Finally.
Or you could do things the right way and not cause all of us to panic. Stefan's voice rippled through her mind.
She'd have laughed if she could, but everything hurt too much. "Right. I could do that too."
Ronin stared down at her and she realized she'd spoken out loud instead of inside her head where Stefan was. "Sorry," she said apologetically, "I was thinking of a conversation with Stefan from before."
From the sudden widening of Ronin's eyes, she knew he'd understood.
Her father was also here and getting more upset and impatient. Not good.
"Dad, there's lots to explain, I just don't know how to explain all this, or even if this is a good time."
"You explain. I have phone calls to make and a search of the Olde Riverside Shipyard area to organize." Ronin stepped outside the bedroom.
"Are you having more blackouts?" her father asked. "Talking to imaginary friends again? Seeing things that aren't there?"
She swung her legs to the floor and stared up at him. "Did I have problems like that as a kid?"
He glared at her. "All the time!"
She shrugged. "Then chances are I am having lots more of them. Because they aren't bad things, Dad. I'm psychic. That means I see things you don't. Talk to people you can't. Among other things." She waved a lofty hand in his direction. "And it's way too late for you to try to do anything about it."
She looked over at her father, wondering how to get rid of him so she could talk to Ronin openly.
"Oh, I know that expression," he said. "Forget it. I've been cut out of your life way too long. I'm in now and I'm staying."
She raised an eyebrow and wondered if he'd still want in once he understood. She decided to give him a chance. He hadn't been there for her until now, but perhaps, as he claimed, that hadn't been entirely his fault. This was way out of normal, but she'd really love to be honest, to have no secrets from him. He'd shared his history and orientation and now she wanted to share hers.
Or rather, she wanted a relationship with her father, one where she didn't need to keep a part of herself separate from him. The actual sharing part wasn't something she was too keen to do at the moment.
She pushed herself upright, happy to see her legs were working again. She walked the short distance to stand in front of her father. "There are lots of things you don't know about me. About what I can do. I'm happy to include you, but..." She narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't want to hear any talk about getting help of any kind. No doctors, no shrinks, no carny witch doctors."
He gasped at the last one. "Did he used to threaten you with those, too?"
She smiled. "He might have tried when I was younger, but not once I was old enough to understand."
"Understand what? I really don't know what you're talking about. When you say you're psychic, surely you're not talking about carny palm readers or crystal ball readers?"
She sighed. His history could really impinge on his ability to understand. "No, Dad. I'm not." She watched some of lines on his face smooth out, then added, "What I do is much more than that."
He paled. "What do you mean?"
Well, it was now or never. With a long look at him, she said, "I'll give you the short and fast version. You can ask questions later."
In as clear and concise an accounting as she could – considering that time had become a huge element – she explained her abilities and what was currently going on in her world.
Her father kept looking toward the hallway as if searching for Ronin to get confirmation, then back to Tabitha. He had to have felt as if he'd fallen down a rabbit hole, lost forever in someone's horrific fantasy.
She fell silent, studying him to see how he was taking it.
He stared at her but never made a sound. She gave him a moment to process, as he didn't appear ready to ask questions.
She twisted as Ronin returned, saying, "I tried to get Fez to help get me and Trinity out. He's terrified of getting killed though. He's got some weird sense of honor that getting killed on the job
is okay but being a snitch isn't. Even if it saves his life."
Ronin nodded. "Not the first time I've heard of that." His phone rang again and he left to answer it.
***
Dennis stared at the daughter he'd never gotten to know, and wondered how she could be so different from him. Not for the first time, he wondered if she really was his daughter.
Now if only he could find something solid in her story to latch on to. Psychic. Yanked by a tiger out of her body? Floating in the energy highway?
He shook his head. Did he even want to know more?
And how much of this could be laid at his father's feet and all that carny bullshit?
"Wondering if you can walk out of my life as fast as you walked back in?" she asked him. No – she challenged him. As if to say, Hey old man. If this is too much for you...
But he'd faced tougher foes than her across many a boardroom. "Is that what you're wondering?"
"What? Wondering if you're ready to disappear or are you wondering if I am?"
The words she flung at him reminded him of how gracefully she'd taken his news. Was it because the younger generation had been raised in a more open era? Or was it just her? His daughter.
"Look, Dad," she said defensively, "I know this isn't your thing. Feel free to leave."
He laughed. "That is not going to happen. Do you really think I'm going to walk out after it took so much to walk in?" But now she looked as insecure as he'd felt when he'd arrived.
"Oh, Father, the problems you created." He didn't realize he'd said it out loud until Tabitha's gaze narrowed. He smiled. "I did love him. But I buried it under all the hate."
She tilted her head and studied him. Then with gentle sarcasm, came back with, "I really do love you too. I just forgot under all that hate."
He blanched and took a shaky breath. "Jesus. You don't pull your punches, do you?"
She looked away as if in shame, bright flags of color on her cheeks.
"That was a little harsh," she admitted. "Grandpa loved me. But he wasn't you. I never had a father to show up during parent-teacher meetings, or to see me in a concert, to watch as I graduated." She shrugged. "Those things didn't mean anything to Grandpa."
"I know. I never had them either."
Her gaze flew up to meet his, seeing the truth in them.
"Sorry," she said.
"Sorry," he responded gently.
She gave him a sad smile. "He missed out on so much."
"So did we."
"And yet here we are."
Standing across from each other. Both closer than they'd ever been before, but not to where either would like them to be just yet. Too much had happened. Or rather not happened.
Now it was just awkward.
But they'd come so far already. It didn't have to stop at this point.
"I'd like you to meet Eric, my live-in partner."
Her eyebrows flew up at the mention of his assistant whom she'd spoken to many times but had never met. Dennis hadn't been able to take that step - until now.
"Okay," she said. "Better make it quick in case I'm not here next weekend."
Shock slammed into him, making his heart pound deep inside. "What? You were really serious about this tiger stuff?"
"Very," she said, her voice thinning. "If Tabitha dies, there's a good chance I will too. For all I'm standing and looking normal to you, my heart chakra, my cord, is connected to her."
"And if you survive this time? We all die eventually. What happens when her time comes? You said she wasn't in good health to begin with. So what happens then?"
Soberly, she stared at him. "I don't know."
Chapter 22
Tuesday at dawn
Tabitha left her father to stew on her words and headed out to find Ronin. It was still the middle of the night for many people. There was so little he could do right now.
Only she couldn't find him. In the kitchen, she turned around slowly, wondering if he'd really left. Wouldn't he have said something first? Wouldn't she have heard him close the door or something? Hear his truck start up at least?
Her father came in behind her. For the first time, she realized he was fully dressed. "Did you not go to bed?"
He waved in the direction of the living room. "I was working."
She glanced at the clock. "So late?"
He hesitated. "I couldn't sleep."
Him too. She certainly had enough nights like that herself. Especially lately.
"Did Ronin drive away?"
"No. I didn't hear any vehicles."
"Neither did I." She frowned and walked out the back door. The stars were bright in the sky, adding to the glow of a waxing moon. Another couple of nights and the moon would be full.
She studied the long pathway into the trees. Tripod barked at her. He stood at the end of the glow of light from her backdoor and stared at her. "Did he go down there, honey?"
Tripod barked again. She glanced down at her slippers and robe, wondering when she'd put that much on. Tripod barked again.
She started down the path toward him.
"Tabitha? Where are you going?" her father called from inside the house.
"Tripod is upset. I'm going to check it out."
"Wait a sec!" her father said. "Let me grab my shoes. I'm going with you."
She could hear a mad scramble behind her.
"You shouldn't be walking around out here on your own."
"Really? And who else is going to check out the place? It's mine, remember?"
His exasperation wove through his voice. "Yeah, I do know. I hate that you live out here all alone."
"That's not going to change."
"It was one thing when your grandfather lived here, but now that you're alone..."
"What, you think I can't handle it?" she asked incredulously. "Dad, I've run this reserve on my own for well over a decade. Grandpa couldn't get around much anymore. Not for a long time. Living here alone is no hardship."
Tripod barked louder from somewhere in the trees. Tabitha raced after him. Then she heard sounds of someone running off. She raced off after them. If there'd been someone on the grounds...
***
Ronin swore as his fourth attempt to raise anyone on the phone failed. It was five in the morning. This night was done for him.
He heard barking then a shout. He spun around. Damn. He'd automatically come out the front door of Tabitha's house instead of out back door where that damn cat was.
He wasn't ready to face that yet. And neither had he shared Stefan's insights with Tabitha.
He heard Dennis shout. Ronin raced back inside and out through the back door. "Tabitha?" he roared, "Damn it. Where are you?"
"Back here!"
Her shout came from the path heading toward the office of Exotic Landscape.
He reached her side in seconds, almost knocking Dennis over in the process. "What the hell is going on?"
"Someone was here." She held her hand to her chest and gasped for breath. "Jesus, I almost caught him."
"Are you crazy?" He caught her by her shoulders. "You actually went after the intruder?"
"Of course I did. This is my home. My place. My animals. I will do everything I can to keep them safe," she snapped.
He gave her a good shake. "Oh, of all the dumb-ass stunts."
She gasped and opened her mouth to blast him when he tugged her forward and kissed her. Hard.
She was still spluttering when he set her back. A snicker had him turning to see Dennis trying to hold back his laughter.
"Love is a many splendored thing," Dennis murmured.
"Ha. Tell your daughter that."
This time Dennis guffawed. "As if that will help."
"Hey, guys. I'm right here." She stuck her face in Ronin's face. "And what was that comment all about?"
He sighed, tugged her forward and led her back to her house. "Stay here with your father while I go and check out the place."
Once back in the circle of the outside pa
tio lights, he gave her a gentle push and sent her back toward the house. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
"I'll come with you," Dennis offered.
Ronin nodded toward Tabitha. "I'd rather you stayed with her. She's might bolt."