by Jim Johnson
I wasn’t interested, though. I absorbed all that information and then shook my head. “Okay, fine, whatever. So you didn’t know about them and they don’t know about you. Get back to grandpa. Is what you did reversible? Can I give him back his memories or did you, like, delete them completely?”
Miss Chin sighed. “They’re not deleted. The human mind doesn’t work like that. I merely set some very strong blocks in place, designed to hide some memories and blur others. He shouldn’t be negatively impacted.”
That got my heart going all over again. “Negatively impacted? You blocked his memories! He’s been acting like he has Alzheimer’s advancing, and that’s impacting his quality of life!”
I balled up my fists again and shrugged off Malcolm’s latest attempt to hold me back. “It’s cruel what you did to him and I want you to fix it.”
Miss Chin spread out her hands again. “I suspect you’d rather me not be around your grandfather again. Either way, it’s something you can fix on your own.”
“How?”
“Sit with him and meditate, and use your Sight, Rachel. Focus on him, go deep. You’ll see the blocks in his mind if you look hard enough. Trust me. It won’t hurt him to have the blocks removed, but it will hurt to have memories suddenly restored. Be with him, and help him back.” She sighed. “You’ll know what to look for once you see it.”
I stared at her, surprised at the tears welling up in my eyes. “Thank you. And…and I guess thank you for the training.” God, my heart was heavy in my chest.
I shifted some ley threads and pushed the bed aside. I knelt down and popped the floorboards off the little safe under the bed. I spun the combination into the dial and then opened it up.
All the paper money I’d kept in there, a modest stack of bills, and the box of Charity’s coins were all still in there. I breathed a sigh of relief. I glanced around the ruined room and found a discarded pillow. I stripped off the case and used that as a bag for the coins and cash.
Christ, I felt like I was robbing myself. Once done, I stood up with the bundle and then waved my hand and split the Veil with another rift.
I glared at Miss Chin, who hadn’t moved in the time it had taken me to empty the safe and open the rift. “I’m leaving now and I don’t expect I’ll see you again. Thank you for being my teacher.”
Miss Chin nodded low to me, and I turned away from her before she could say anything. I focused on Malcolm. “I’m going to Branchwood. Do you want to come with me?”
He looked sad, or sheepish, or some combination of the two. “I want to go to Branchwood, but I gotta get home first and get some things. I’ll meet you there?”
I stared into his eyes, which were open and trusting. Finally, I nodded. “All right.” I reached into the pillow case and pulled out a handful of twenties and handed them to him. “Here, for cab fare or whatever else you need. I’ll see you soon.”
He took the money and shoved it into his pocket. “Thanks, Rachel. I’ll pay you back.”
I patted his arm and then bundled the pillow case under my arm. I spared Miss Chin one last look, and then, feeling really alone for the first time in a long time, stepped through the glittering rift in the Veil.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I STEPPED OUT OF THE HOLDING and the Veil through a rift I created in my grandpa’s small bathroom, attached to his suite at Branchwood. I was grateful he had a large private suite and didn’t have to share his room with anyone.
I closed down the rift silently, and then slipped over to the closed wood panel door and listened. I estimated it had to be around nine at night, and I didn’t have a good sense of what his evening schedule was like.
I knew that sometimes the home ran events or activities for the residents in the evening. I focused a sensor thread and sent it into the adjacent room, and scanned around for him.
Unfortunately, the room was empty. Crap.
I bit my lip and thought about what to do. I didn’t have anywhere else to go, except maybe Bonita’s basement, and asking her to put me up was out of the question. I wasn’t about to get her or her boyfriend involved in this whole mess.
And I sure wasn’t going to go back to the suite Bello had offered me. Screw that. If I wasn’t going to let Miss Chin push me around, I sure wasn’t going to let some government agent do it either, even if he could work the ley threads better than most.
No, I think I was on my own for now, and stuck here.
I washed my face in grandpa’s sink and then stared at myself in the mirror, remembering the last time I’d done that. Seemed like an eternity ago.
I turned and walked into the main part of his suite, and set the pillow case bundle on his little round kitchenette table.
I kicked my sneakers under the table and then crawled into his large bed. The bed was flanked by medical equipment that looked like it wasn’t getting much use. Other than the memory problems and a weak heart, my grandpa was in generally good health.
I pulled up the old afghan he had folded at the foot of the bed. My grandma had knitted it ages ago. I inhaled the ancient textile smell of it and remembered the old days when my family wasn’t so screwed up and before I found out I could manipulate ley threads and etheric energies.
I curled up on the bed and clutched the afghan close to me. I missed Abbie horribly, and badly wanted a cell phone so that I could call her. Grandpa didn’t have a phone in his room. I wanted to talk to Charity, or to grandpa, or to just about anyone except myself.
Tears rolled down my face as I let in all the recent pressures, from the deaths of my friends, to the losses I’d been dealt. God, I was tired.
I must have drifted off, because the next thought I had was that I could hear my voice being called out, over and over, and there was a gentle presence with me in the room.
I cracked open my eyes against fluorescent light. I was seeing double for a moment, both regular vision and my Sight. My grandpa was standing over me, gently shaking me awake. Standing behind him, or maybe floating behind him was Charity, or at least a washed out, faded afterimage of her.
Confused, about all I could manage was a soft “Huh?”
Grandpa smiled and helped me into a sitting position. “There ya go, Rachel. Looks like you’ve been out for a while.”
He shuffled over to a chair on coasters and wheeled it over, then sat down on it near me. He folded his hands into his lap and grinned. “What are you doing here so late at night? Visiting hours ended at eight.”
I nodded, pulling some etheric energy together to burn off the sleep-fog in my brain. “Yeah, I uh…I needed to talk to you and just sort of let myself in.”
He raised a shaggy gray eyebrow. “Let yourself in? Huh.” He winked. “Gotta tell me how you managed that. If I can do it in reverse, I’d love to get out and stretch my legs.”
I managed a grin. “It’s a long story.”
He lifted his hands in an expansive gesture. “I’ve got plenty of time.”
I nodded and then frowned. “What time is it, anyway? Where were you?”
“It’s just after midnight.” He poked a thumb toward his closed door. “Got back a little while go from popcorn and movie night.”
“What were they showing?”
He shrugged. “Double feature. Steel Magnolias and Thelma and Louise.”
I stared at him. “Uh, wow. That’s quite the one-two punch. Did you like them?”
He shrugged and scratched his chin. “Popcorn was good, even if it’s not great for my digestion.”
“What did you think of the movies?”
He smirked and actually flushed a bit. I braced myself for the inevitable.
“I didn’t really watch them. I was busy making out with Kathleen in the back row.”
I so wanted to make a double face-palm, but just stared at him. But, you know, to heck with it.
I grinned and reached out and patted him on the shoulder. “Did you have a good time?” Why bother judging him? Life was too damned short.
&
nbsp; His grin broadened and his blush extended out to his ears and up his receding hairline. “You bet I did! I invited her over for lunch tomorrow.” He gestured toward his plate-glass window that overlooked the courtyard. “We’ll do some bird watching.”
I grinned, genuinely happy for him, though I grimaced inwardly about what I was about to ask him. “Grandpa, I didn’t come here just to say hi.” He knew me pretty well and knew that I wasn’t much for pretense.
He smiled. “I kinda figured you wouldn’t sneak in here in the middle of the night just to say hi.” He sat back in his chair. “And judging from that sack on the table, you’re not here to loan some money either.”
Oh, crap. I’d forgotten about the money. “Uh, right, about that…”
He shrugged off my comment. “It’s all right, Rachel. You’re not just family, you’re about the only member of our family I can stand. You’re not a pain in the ass and you don’t act like a financial vacuum cleaner. I wasn’t going to charge you interest for the money you borrowed from me.”
He gave me a little wink. “I told you I knew you’d be good for it eventually.” He rested a finger against his nose and then gestured toward the bag. “But, I gotta know. You didn’t knock over a pawn shop or something, did you?”
I shook my head emphatically, even though I suspected he was joking. “No, nothing like that. Most of what’s in that bag I earned honestly, even if I haven’t actually held down what you’d call a real job.”
He raised both scraggly eyebrows. “What have you been doing?”
I shrugged. “You know I work part time at Bonita’s maternity clothes and new age store in Del Rey. That brings in a little every week. And my friend Malcolm, you remember Malcolm?”
He nodded. “Yep. I have lunch with his grandmother almost every day. Nice lady.”
I didn’t want to pursue the train of thought that comment generated, so I let that one go off the rails and into the ditch. “Uh, yeah, so it turns out Malcolm runs a moving business, like with trucks and day workers and all, and he asked me if I wanted to join in from time to time. He pays well and he pays promptly, and so I’ve been helping with a few jobs every week.”
He gave me an expectant look. “And?”
I glanced at the pillow case and then back to him. “And…Abbie makes good money at her job, so the excess I’m making I’ve just sort of socked away.”
He pursed his lips, then said, “And…you’ve developed a coin collecting hobby?”
I stared at him blankly. “A what?”
“Coin collecting. Those are some impressive pieces you have in that box.”
I must have looked alarmed because he raised a hand. “No, don’t worry. They’re all still there. I just had a peek in the case when I walked in and saw you were sound asleep.”
“Okay. Yeah, no. The coins are…a gift from a friend. Who I think died recently.”
“You think she died?”
I nodded, feeling fresh tears welling up. “Her name was Charity, and she was really nice to me. She was…she was a collector, and thought I’d get more out of them than anyone else. She, uh, she didn’t have any family left.”
Grandpa nodded, guessing he understood. “Ah, an older lady then.”
“Something like that.” Heh, old was an understatement.
He nodded again, then focused on me with clear eyes. “So if you didn’t come to say hello, and you didn’t come to pay me back, why are you here? Given that, I’m very happy to see you.”
I sighed. Well, there it was. I scooted forward so that I was perched on the edge of the bed, and then reached out and took his hands in mine. I stared into his eyes, which were full of curiosity and expectation.
“Grandpa, try and think back. Do you remember that night in Branchwood, where me and Bonita and my friend Malcolm were here, and the fire alarms were going off?”
He stared into my eyes but I could tell he was starting to look inward, trying to sift through his memory for those moments, for any recollection of that night.
As he worked on that, I started pulling ley energies into myself and charged up my internal battery, preparing to try and start scanning him for the blocks Miss Chin claimed were in there somewhere.
He said, “I don’t remember a lot about that night, just vague shadows of people moving here and there, and then feeling very tired and going to bed. I think there was a new nurse on duty that night, and the bakery provided cupcakes for all of us, and…and I think that’s it. There was a gas leak at some point during the night, because I remember some of my friends here had died.”
I nodded. “That’s the right night, but the wrong memories.”
He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
I held his hands tight, and started extending ley threads toward him, seeking to delve into his body and mind and try and touch his soul, to look around for the blocks Miss Chin had claimed were in there somewhere.
“Trust me. That new nurse you thought came to visit wasn’t a new nurse. It was my teacher, Miss Chin.”
He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
I nodded as I slipped more ley threads into his body and mind. I stared into his eyes. “I’m trying to help you remember, but it’s going to take some time. Would you be willing to close your eyes and just breathe slow with me?”
“You mean, like some sort of meditation?”
I nodded. “Yes, exactly.”
He shrugged. “Sure, why not.” He closed his eyes, gave my hands a squeeze, and then started to breathe slow and regular.
I watched as he got steadier, and then I closed my eyes and focused my Sight on his mind and soul. I took hold of some of the threads much as a surgeon might hold a pair of tweezers, and worked my way into the etheric map of his mind, trying to touch nothing and seeking out the blocks Miss Chin had laid in his memory.
I had a hard time figuring out what I was looking at, and no matter how much I shifted my Sight to different perspectives, I couldn’t quite figure out how the mind was constructed.
I decided to switch to a more general view. Rather than stumble around looking for something I didn’t know the shape of, I scanned for an etheric signature within his mind that wasn’t his. I figured if Miss Chin had placed the blocks in his mind, then the blocks would have a ‘feel’ like her aura and abilities and should stand out against his Unawakened mind.
Sure enough, after a few minutes of deep breathing and scanning with the etherics, a trio of large memory blocks and about a dozen smaller ones appeared within my Sight, located at various points within my grandpa’s mind.
I maneuvered some of my ley threads over to them and wove them together into simple tools I could use to pull the blocks.
I opened my eyes. Grandpa still had his closed, and was breathing slow and easy. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have thought he fell asleep in the chair.
“Grandpa? It’s Rachel. I’ve found the blocks and I’m going to remove them now. Miss Chin warned me to tell you that there may be some discomfort when I do remove the blocks, from the sudden in-rush of restored memories.”
I paused, focused on him. “Are you up for that? If not, it’s okay, but I need to know now. I’m ready to make this happen.”
He kept his eyes closed even as he nodded. “Do what you need to do, Rachel. I’m ready.”
I took one last deep breath. “All right, here we go.” I focused the tweezer-shaped threads and reached out gingerly toward one of the smaller blocks. I grabbed it and pulled. It slowly dissipated into the ether after it was unplugged.
Grandpa jerked back his hands and made a little gasp. Alarmed, I asked, “Are you all right?”
He opened his eyes long enough to meet my gaze and nodded quickly. “I’m fine. Keep going. Don’t hesitate. Just grab them and go.”
I bit my lip. “Like an adhesive bandage? Just pull it and get it over with?”
“Something like that.”
“All right.” I closed my eyes again and re-focused
inward, and the with an etheric set of tweezers in each hand, I dove back into grandpa’s mind and started pulling blocks left and right.
I felt him jerk in his seat every time I pulled a block, and he let out a small moan of pain every time as well.
I worked fast, determined to not inflict any more harm on Grandpa if I could help it. With one final hard push, I removed all but one of the remaining blocks. With the last one on my target list, I glanced at him once more. “Last one grandpa. It’s a big one. Ready for the release?”
He licked his lips but offered no other answer than an emphatic nod. “I want to remember it all. Do it, Rachel.”
That was an order I was only too happy to oblige. I shifted my ley threads and took hold of that block, and then yanked as hard and as quickly as I could.
With a little popping sound in my mind, the last of the blocks was free, dissipating into the ether like sugar in a hot mug of tea.
I held Grandpa’s hands tight as I watched his facial muscles twitch and fro, and as a deeper understanding burned away the fog in his eyes and his mind.
He stared at me with wide eyes. “I can remember! I remember it all! That was the night I nearly died, and you and Malcolm saved me and some of the others, and…and we helped you fight a very evil man.”
I nodded, excited for him and his restored memories. “What else do you remember?”
He frowned. “I remember getting escorted back to my room after answering some questions the police had, and then I was settling into my room and a new nurse came to my room, a nice Asian-American lady, real short, and she had a box of cupcakes with her.”
I sighed and then tamped down a fresh rush of anger toward Miss Chin. “And what happened?”
He frowned. “I invited her in, and we chatted a bit, and I laid down to get comfortable, and she offered me a cupcake. I ate it while we talked, and then as we were talking about you, I think, I dozed off and fell asleep.”