by Dale Mayer
I’ll go and lock down a few more bits of paperwork and see if there has been an ID on the body.
Good. Stefan paused. How is she?
Better. She’s learning more. Coping better. He explained about the attack over lunch.
She keeps her energy in to avoid detection. So her mother must have thought the enemy was an aura reader. Or someone who could track by signature.
Essentially she’s been in hiding all her life, Stefan said. That’s so sad yet proves the strength and ability of the human spirit to survive.
Chapter 25
Trevor made it to the car and placed the two bags of Chinese food in the back seat then walked around and unlocked the passenger side for her. She was looking at the flower shop with a sadness on her face that if nothing else, made him feel better for seeing the grief. Whatever the hell was going on, he had to trust she’d been doing this for a damn good reason.
Considering her father’s domineering presence and that someone was hunting her…survival was the best reason of all. Even if only to do something on her own for once.
Back at the house, they ate quickly and moved to the living room. There she went into her business records to see what she had to do for income tax and to shut down the business due to fire.
Trevor kept his face down as he looked for the information he needed. An email from Drew came in. No positive ID on the victim in the fire yet. Except there was one major point. The victim had been male.
The business was registered to Hannah M. Goodman. It was seeing the M that made him realize he likely had the clue he needed and that was huge to unravel this. Seeing she was buried in the town research, he asked in a calm casual way, “What’s your middle name, Hannah?”
“Miasha,” she said distractedly.
Bingo.
He settled back and studied her. She was lively as she did her research. She had her fingers on the screen and her face twisted and fell as she looked for and found the information. “This is so confusing. I have to contact someone to make the last business day the day of the fire.” She groaned and settled back on the couch. She turned to look at him, a frown on her face. “You know how frustrating this is?”
“It’s going to get even more frustrating,” he said and turned to look at her directly. “The owners of the Chinese food restaurant didn’t know you by the name Hannah.”
She scrunched up her face. “They didn’t?”
“No. They knew you as Miasha.”
She stared but confusion ruled. And he could understand that. He didn’t get where or why she’d pretend to be someone else but apparently she chose her alter ego when she wasn’t Hannah. The clinician in him was fascinated. The man in him was worried and as a new husband quickly becoming more interested in her than he likely should be at this point, he was suddenly wary as hell.
What the hell was going on? “Why would I use my middle name?” she asked in bewilderment.
“No idea but I presume so people didn’t know who you really were.” He paused then added, “There has been another development.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“The body found in your shop was a man.”
*
Her eyes lit up. “Really?”
He nodded. “So Tasha is presumably alive and well, and if we can track her down you should be able to get more answers.”
“Thank heavens for that,” she whispered. “I’m so glad she wasn’t killed because of me. I couldn’t have lived with that,” she said. “Not again. I think she’s likely gone back East to her family. The question is did I know about it?” she asked wryly. Trevor stretched out a hand and grasped hers in his much larger, more capable one. How did one scale this information and get a handle on it? Then she gasped. “If that’s not Tasha, who burned in that fire?”
“We need to figure that out,” he said quietly. “And I’m wondering if the Miasha issue might have to do with your splintering.”
“What’s splintering?” She watched as he stared around the room. At anything but at her.
“Am I blacking out and becoming Miasha during those times?” Her voice rose in horror. “Do I have a split personality or multiple personality disorder?”
“I doubt it. But there are blocks. The splintering issue appears to be the trigger for the blackouts, and the blackouts appear to be the trigger for so much going wrong.”
It made no sense. Then it didn’t matter as pain slammed into her brain. “It feels like my head is about to explode.” She clasped her hands over her ears and bent over, gasping for breath. “Oh dear God, he’s here.”
The pain intensified. She fell to her knees on the floor, groaning loudly. “It’s Will. He’s here. He’s found me again,” she cried out in panic overridden with pain. “Oh God, I have to leave. I have to run.”
“Run where?” Trevor reached out and grabbed her hand. “You aren’t alone anymore, remember that.”
“No, I have to leave.” Her voice was young, terrified.
“You can’t,” he said. “There’s nowhere to go.”
*
Trevor stood up and saw a vehicle similar to the one who’d followed them yesterday parked outside. She appeared to be correct. Only there was no sign of anyone approaching. The bastard, was he going to try and break in? He could feel the same frisson of energy stirring on the ethers he’d felt in a much milder way, like a snake tasting the air while it poised to strike.
“Let me check the doors. We don’t want him sneaking in the back.”
He turned to grab Hannah, to keep her close to his side when she said, “He won’t. Have to stay safe. Have to stop him.”
“We will. Don’t panic. It will be fine,” he said in a low voice. He couldn’t sense Will around the house but surely he wouldn’t march up to the front door, would he?
A hard knock pounded on the door.
He would.
In surprise he stepped toward the door but Hannah cried out, “No. Don’t.”
He reached out for her…and watched her – shatter…
As in completely come apart.
He caught his breath as the energy burst outward. Like an explosion, the force went well beyond the small room. Energy blasted out from where she stood – huge colorful waves.
Stefan?
I’m here, he said in Trevor’s mind. Jesus. Look what’s happening to her energy.
The explosive waves rolled ever outward, out of the room, out of the house and out to the vehicle parked outside. Trevor shifted to the window so he could see what was happening.
And to see Will at the door.
He was in time to observe the waves crash over him, not just once but in continuous rolls as Hannah’s splintering set up a mini shock wave. Will bent over, his hands clutching his head, and he staggered back down to the stairs.
As Trevor watched, Will slowly straightened and looked around confused as if not having any idea why he was there or even where there was. Moving carefully as if woozy or drunk, he got into his car and slowly drove away.
Trevor returned to the room to see Hannah desperately pulling herself back together. He caught his breath as the woman he’d seen do something amazing struggled to regain herself.
“Can I help?” he asked quietly.
There was no response. Not that he’d expected there to be one. How could there be? He could see her face, but she was so damn fractured… If anyone else came in right now, they’d think he’d shot her with a shotgun. Only there was no blood. Just broken pieces. Moving on their own.
He took a deep breath and watched.
It’s fascinating, Maddy murmured. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Is there anything we can do to help?
I can’t see how, she said. We’re likely to mess her up more if we step in. We don’t know how she’s doing this.
As the three watched the process near completion, he caught sight of something dark, ominous. See that?
Yeah, it’s a block.
But it’s in the wa
y. Causing her problems. She is struggling to fit it in the right place and can’t get it.
Of course there’s no right place because the block doesn’t belong.
He took a deep breath and asked, Can we remove it? His fingers itched to reach out and just pluck the damn thing out of Hannah’s head.
I don’t think you’d get anywhere close. The weapon she has is unbelievable.
Stefan said, It’s damn near impossible to fight it too.
Chapter 26
Hannah did a full body wiggle and slowly straightened, stretching her arms above her head. At the same time she opened her eyes.
Trevor studied her intently.
“What’s the matter? Do I have my shirt on backwards or something?”
He snorted. “Or something.”
She slowly lowered her arms. She hadn’t ever seen him in this mood. Then they’d only been married for a few days. “So tell me what’s wrong.”
“What do you remember about the last few minutes?”
She cast her mind back. “Not much. Headache that seemed to build and build then maybe a knock on the door?” Puzzled, she turned to look at the door. “I’m not sure about that. Was there someone there?”
He sat down on the couch, his gaze more detached as if she’d done something that twigged his shrink side.
“Damn it. What did I do? And do you hate me for it?”
Her lip trembled at the thought of losing him. She hadn’t planned to do whatever she’d done. Her laptop was open and there’d been some talk about her middle name. Eagerly she said, “We were discussing my middle name, right?”
His gaze narrowed and he nodded slowly. “What about your middle name?”
She sat down beside him. It was obviously important whatever it was. “It’s the same name as my mother’s. I was named after her. She loved flowers. Buying the shop made me feel closer to her. As if she’d approve.”
She felt his start of surprise and then his frustration as he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Anything else?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No, the headache then the door.” Her voice softened. “I’m sorry that’s all I remember.”
He opened his arms and with a cry she fell into them. “I don’t know what happened. Obviously I had a blackout or something.”
“Or something.” He held her close. “Give me a minute. Then I’ll explain. Or at least I’ll tell you what happened. The explaining part – I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to do that.”
He started off in a slow calm and controlled voice. She let him talk without interruption as he explained the last few minutes of her life. She had a lot of questions until he got to the part… “…and then your head blew into a zillion different directions.”
He had to be joking. She slowly pulled out of his embrace and stared at him. He nodded. She shook her head.
He nodded again.
With effort she reached up and touched her head.
“In grayscale. Your head blew to pieces in grayscale.” He shook his head and snatched her back into his arms as if that was the only way he could reassure himself she was okay and added, “It’s not the first time we saw this happen.”
“But only in grayscale?” she asked cautiously. This was too far-fetched for anyone to believe.
“I couldn’t tell you,” he said honestly. “I was so shocked. I’d presume so. There was no blood anywhere, and it happened so fast…”
She didn’t know what to say. “I feel okay right now.”
“You do.” He half laughed, a broken sound that rumbled out of his chest, his hands rubbing up and down her back. “We watched you pull yourself together.” He took a deep breath, making her realize how hard this was on him. “One piece at a time…”
“It’s just too bizarre… I’m not saying I don’t believe you…”
“Hell, I don’t believe me. But I wasn’t alone. Both Stefan and Maddy could see it happen after the explosion.”
“But why would I do such a thing,” she cried out in disbelief. “That’s an insane concept.”
“Maybe, but it had a very interesting result.” He stared into her eyes and said, “And could be the reason behind it. It was Will who was knocking on the front door. You hit him with a shock wave that stunned him senseless. He didn’t know where he was or why he was here. He stood confused on the step and held his head as if it hurt. Then he walked to his car and left.” Trevor laughed. “It was almost divine justice.”
She reared back and stared at him. “A shock wave,” she said. She hopped to her feet and full of restless energy paced the room. “Did you talk to him?”
“No. Not sure anyone could at that point. He kept looking around, back at the house, but I swear he was as confused as all hell. He had no idea why he was there. I’ll make a further guess…”
She turned to look at him.
“I think he’ll never remember why he came to the house in the first place.”
She flumped back down on the big chair and shook her head. “It’s unbelievable.”
“It actually makes sense.”
“Why is that?” She reached up to rub her temple. She’d always been plagued by headaches, but since meeting Trevor, they had been continuous. Then look at the craziness in her life. She could hardly blame the headaches on his arrival.
“Because I think these shattering moments are where the blackouts originate from.”
Her jaw dropped.
He nodded. “We watched the pieces of your head, your memories, your energy, small blocks trying to fit back together like a 3D puzzle, and there were times when the pieces themselves looked confused. As if they didn’t know where they belonged. And in the middle of it all was one large black block. The pieces couldn’t get back together again properly but that and potentially other blocks, were taking up their places. It was a game of musical chairs. When the pieces struggled to realign, I believe is when you blacked out and woke up with pieces of your memory missing. They aren’t missing, they are – reassigned to a new position.”
She released her breath. Damn.
“That one was taking up space that the other pieces looked to belong to.” He laughed. “The block was so damn clear it was as if I could reach out and pluck it out of the center while all the rebuilding went on.”
“You know how crazy that sounds – right?”
His grin widened. “I do. You know how freaking fantastic it is that you can do that, right?”
“Not really. So I get scared, panic, blow off my own head and while trying to pull myself together, I end up blacking out and losing complete chunks of my memories.” She snorted. “That is not cool.”
“You have a built in defense system. One that has protected you for decades. And likely has continued to confound the people who have done this to you.” His voice slowed as he added, “You know it’s also possible that’s why the blocks haven’t been removed yet.”
“Why?”
“While we were watching you rebuild, I actually said to Dr. Maddy that I was tempted to reach out and grab the black chunk that was causing you so much stress. And she said that the chances were good I wouldn’t be able to. That you had more defenses than anyone she’d seen to date and likely I’d get seriously zapped if I tried. We also had no idea what would happen to you if you were interrupted in the rebuilding process.”
She didn’t have a clue what to say.
Maybe it was a good thing as Trevor continued to talk. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s a hell of a weapon.”
“How sad I needed it in the first place.” She didn’t know how she felt about any of this. “That a child had to do something like this to survive.”
“No, she shouldn’t, but she learned to do it, and quite possibly saved her own life in the process.”
“But she lost her sanity. Many times.” Hannah could feel the tension twisting inside of her mind. That never ending stream of questions and confusion. She didn’t know if it were the result of the in
cident, and that’s all she was going to call it at this point, or because of the discussion afterwards.
“It doesn’t matter because circumstances required you to cope. You survived. This is a huge win for you, sweetheart. I’m pretty sure you could use this method any time you thought you were under attack. It could be so much worse as well. With Will, you’ve likely done this several times. It might make him angrier or it might make him more peaceful toward you, but the bottom line is he’s not here now because you managed to send him away. In a non-threatening manner.”
At that she laughed. “Oh my God, how can you say that?”
“Well, it’s not like you picked up a gun and shot him. Neither did you attack him, although I think you probably could if need be,” he said. “You could have been so much more aggressive but you weren’t.” He smiled. “If Will had this ability, he’d wield it with more cruelty.”
“Am I wielding this? Or is this happening to me because of the circumstances? Maybe even the blocks are causing it.”
“Not from what I saw,” he said cheerfully. “How many blocks did you find?”
“Six left,” she said. “But let’s not lock on that number here. That’s just what showed up when I did that visualization. For all I know those blocks were in my imagination too.”
He grinned. “It’s hard to come to grips with, isn’t it?”
“I’ll say.” She waved her hand. “First off I’m full of these blocks and now you tell me I go to pieces – literally – to get away from someone.”
“Actually that’s a good way to describe it. You use this system to stop him from finding you,” he said in admiration.
“Outside of being hungry, I don’t feel too bad. Maybe give it a try to remove another one of those blocks?”
But he was staring at her quizzically. “Hungry?”
She shrugged.
“The energy work is what’s making you so hungry.” He smiled. “Makes sense. So what do you want to eat? Then we’ll try another session. I doubt Will will be back any time soon. Making a perfect opportunity.”
She preceded him into the kitchen and her gaze fell on the muffins they’d brought home from the coffee shop. “How about a snack now then an early dinner?”