“I wanted to help, but now I’m seeing how this could be a problem.” He ran a hand through his hair, curls bouncing in agitation.
“I’ll only stick around until their investigation is finished. I’ll make sure I find something quickly…that is, if after all of this is over, you still want to go on with our agreement?”
Professor Young stared at me a moment before heaving a sigh. “We’ll talk about it once this is all over,” he offered. My shoulders sagged. This wasn’t going to end well. I was going to have to start figuring out what to do once I left North Carolina. Maybe move to Florida? Nah, too many tourists.
“I guess that’s all I can ask for,” I answered after my half-minute of self-pity was over.
“Follow me and we’ll get you settled in at my place for the duration of the investigation. Hopefully it will be over soon.” Geez, that was pointed.
“They will find her body. She is dead.” I felt the need to point that out to him as silly as it may have sounded. He believed me enough to stick his neck out and go with me to the police department, but I wasn’t so sure he actually realized what a dead body showing up on campus meant…for him and for me. Like the detective said—we were going to be prime suspects in a murder investigation. He descended the steps of the police station quickly and turned to talk to me as I followed.
“I understand more than you know,” he muttered.
I was left wondering what he meant as I drove behind him to his place.
Professor Young’s place wasn’t far from the college. It was in a very nice part of the city where the apartment buildings had great security and, in most cases, a doorman. Once we were inside we stepped onto an elevator. I grasped the handrail along the wall of the elevator.
“Are you sure that’s all you have?” he asked when the door closed. I closed my eyes when the elevator lurched and began climbing.
“Yup. This is all I have.” I patted the medium-sized duffle bag and smiled. The elevator heaved again as it stopped. I groaned. When the doors finally opened, I made a hasty exit. Professor Young chuckled and withdrew his keys from his pants pocket.
“This is me,” he said as he opened the door to his apartment. I stepped inside behind him, taking in the huge space. The room was enormous, with windows on the far wall that stretched from floor to ceiling. The floors were a gorgeous, deep honey-colored wood and the furniture was a modern style dark brown leather. I walked further into the room, feeling more and more out of my comfort zone. There was a staircase that led up to a loft area which overlooked the living area. I could see the edge of a desk and several overflowing bookshelves up there. The professor had an amazing office space.
“My room is back there.” He pointed down a short hall. “It’s the last one at the end of the hallway. The first door on the right is a small guest room with a bathroom directly across the hall. You’re welcome to use that room.” I nodded. Everything was crazy. How did I get to where I was? Oh, yeah, I decided to be a Good Samaritan and help the annoying wraith that decided to make my life a living nightmare. I sat my bag on the couch and then sat next to it with an umph.
“Professor Young, I really am sorry about this,” I began. I glanced over at him and offered up a weary smile. “I didn’t mean for this to happen and I’ll get out of your place as soon as this blows over.” I let my head fall back and rest on the couch cushion behind me.
“Don’t worry about it, Anna. We’ll figure this out and if you’re still up to it in a few days, I’d love to go ahead with our plans to do some research and such.” My eyes widened and my mouth flopped open. He still wanted to exchange information? I nodded in agreement. “A couple things though. You should drop out of my class first thing in the morning.” I smiled up at him. That I could do. He smiled back at me and ran a hand through his hair nervously. “Yeah, I figured that wouldn’t be a loss to you,” he said wryly.
“And what is the other thing?” I asked.
“Ah, well, since you’re not going to be my student anymore and we are kind of living together temporarily, I think you should call me Christopher.” He grinned broadly and I found myself smiling back like a goofy teenager bathing in his magnanimousness. Dude had game.
“I’ll try to remember that, but I gotta say, professor suits you.” His smile dimmed a bit and I laughed. Let him figure out if that was a compliment or not.
“Would you like a soda or something to drink?” he asked as he disappeared behind the kitchen counter.
“Have any bottled water?” I asked.
“Sure do.” He tossed a bottle at me as he came around to sit down on a recliner across from me. I took a swig from my bottle and then sat it down on a coaster on the coffee table. “So, why did you come to my class? Why did you decide to see if I’d be able to help you? You’ve had this since you were little. Why now?” he asked, his eyes searching mine. Ah, I was wondering when he was going to ask me that.
“Well, when I was small, after the accident, I didn’t realize what I was seeing. My mom knew something was different, but her grief over losing my father blinded her to what was really happening. She thought I was just going through some weird things because of the accident. You know, trying to deal with death as best as a three-year-old could.” I swallowed and continued on. “It wasn’t until I went to kindergarten, a little over two years later, that she realized just how different I was after my father’s death.”
Professor Young smiled at me, inviting me to continue on with my story. I relaxed back into the comfortable sofa. I never talked this much. I wondered if he had once been a shrink or something. He had the gift.
“At first my teacher blew off my weirdness. Even after I told her she ‘had something in her tummy’ before she told anyone she was pregnant. I’d seen a special little spark in her, the life of her child in her womb. I had no idea that no one else could see all the pretty colors that I could see. I couldn’t remember how I was before the accident, only after.” I sighed. It had been so long ago and yet I could remember everything like it had happened yesterday.
“Then one day, which must have been months later, the spark wasn’t a spark anymore. It was a gray smudge hovering over her stomach. I had no filter, as most kids don’t, so I told her the spark in her tummy went out and only grayness was left.” I glanced over at Christopher and shrugged. “You can imagine what happened. She was just freaked out enough to call her doctor and make an appointment. Her baby had died in utero. She thought the baby hadn’t been moving because she was almost due. She thought the baby was running out of space. But the baby had died. I didn’t take long after that or many more incidents for me to realize I wasn’t the same as everyone else. By second grade I had already figured out how to mostly ignore ghosts, auras, or anything else that would make my momma cry, people look at me strangely, and so on.”
“I’m sorry, Anna.” His face held sorrow for my younger self and his aura pulsed such a deep blue that I thought for a second he might even cry. He didn’t, but it made me realize the depth of his compassion for others.
“Anyway, it wasn’t until after my mom died that I decided to really open myself up to my gifts again. The cops say she killed herself, but I know that’s not true. I just need to figure out what happened to her, to know what else is out there in the world, so I can be prepared.” Christopher looked at me, his face a mask of thoughtfulness.
“What else?” he asked. “As in the paranormal? The unexplained?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is something truly evil was in my kitchen, something not quite human,” I whispered the last, but I know he heard me. I’d never said it out loud before. I felt a little silly saying it then. I was grateful that he didn’t laugh or have something snarky to say.
“Anyway,” I continued, “I was eighteen when my mom died. I sold our home and left about six months later to find anyone I could to teach me or to help me understand more about my abilities, so I could really find out what happened to her. I’ve been traveling around
the U.S. for three years now, picking up odd jobs to support myself—mostly waitressing and crap like that. I’ve slept my car more times than I care to admit, and I’ve run into dozens of dead ends and phonies. I was about to quit. You were my last lead. My last hope.” I took a drink of water and fiddled with the loose label.
Christopher looked taken aback. He was shaking his head. “I can’t promise you anything, Anna. But, I will help you as much as I can. I’ll do everything in my power to help you come to understand your gifts and I hope that will lead you to the answers you’re looking for.”
I smiled and nodded. That was all I was asking for. “So … what’s with you and Detective Williams?” I asked after a moment of awkward silence.
“Ah, that I’d rather not discuss,” he said as he plucked his glasses from his pocket, picked up his bag, and brought out what looked like a planner.
“You guys obviously have a history. And from the way he looks at you with thinly disguised hostility, I guess it isn’t a good kind of history.”
Christopher peered over the rim of his glasses at me and I choked back a laugh. Definitely the professor type. Nerdy. Sexy nerdy. “You always ask so many questions?”
I flinched. Actually, I didn’t usually pry at all. I kept to myself and never got too close. I guess I was nervous or something. Trying to fill up the silence. I took another drink of my water and looked away.
“I’m sorry, Anna. I didn’t mean to snap.” He sighed loudly and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s just been a long day and even though you’re right—we do have a history—I don’t have it in me to talk about that. I’ve tried to forget the entire incident for a long time now.”
I nodded my understanding. It wasn’t right for me to pry. “It’s okay. I didn’t mean to pry or babble. I’m not used to being around someone this much. I’m usually on my own. I try not to get too close to anyone.” I smiled over at him and picked up my water bottle to peel off the stupid plastic label.
Christopher stood and took his stuff up to his office space.
“That’s a gorgeous space,” I offered. Christopher came over to the edge and looked down over the bannister to the living area where I sat. He was smiling broadly. “This office space was the clincher that sold me this condo. Once you get settled, you’ll have to come up and check out my bookshelves. I’ve got tons of reading material, if you’re into that sort of thing.”
I beamed up at him. He might as well said here’s the key to all the treasure in the world. Books had been a friend to me when no friend would do.
Christopher came back down stairs a few moments later. “Let me go check out the guest room and make sure it’s in decent shape,” he said as he looked around his place like he didn’t know what to do with himself. “I’m not used to visitors and I don’t think the guest room has even been used more than once or twice.” He marched down the hallway and disappeared into the spare bedroom.
There was a stack of various magazines on the coffee table. I snagged a few to look through until my room was ready. I should have told him not to even bother, I’m sure the room was a lot nicer than most of the places I’d stayed over the past few years. I’d been super frugal with the money my mom had left me, hoping to stretch it as far as possible since I traveled so much to find someone who could help me learn more about my gifts. I sat the two very boring magazines aside and unearthed a pile of fliers and junk mail. One flier was lime green and touted the most epic toga party of the ages. I rolled my eyes.
Several fliers later I came across a light yellow one that advertised a masked party that would be celebrating the newest members of all the school’s elite sororities. The party was going to be that evening. I held the flier in my hand and stared at the words for several moments. The wraith that had never left me—even if it had calmed since the classroom incident—began to swirl in agitation. I opened my senses up further and looked again at the flier in my hands. The tiniest of inky blackness still clung to the paper. I dropped the flier on the top of the table and stood quickly.
“Professor…Christopher?” I called out.
He stuck his head out of the door of my new bedroom. “Yeah?”
I stared down at the paper and then closed my eyes. This was going to be even worse than outing myself to the police.
“Anna? What is it?” He came out of the room and now stood directly in front of me. I glanced over at the paper on his coffee table.
“You got plans for tonight?” I asked grudgingly.
“Uh, not really. Why?” He glanced over to where I was staring and his eyes widened.
“Do you happen to have any masks?” I asked. “Looks like Julie wants us to go to a masked party,” I muttered.
“Bloody hell.”
I agreed completely.
I twiddled the hem of my blouse. I wasn’t used to wearing anything other than tee shirts and the occasional sweater. Black lace was a little intimidating. My sleeves were fitted all the way to my elbows and then the sleeves billowed out into a froth of black lace reaching my hands. I also wore tighter-than-I-was-used-to black slacks, but at least the material was soft and comfortable. I wore a half mask of black satin and sequins. The entire left side of my face was covered by the expensive party accessory. The only color I wore was the blood-red rose that climbed the side of my mask in delicate embroidery.
“I sure hope you appreciate this. I never do parties,” Christopher said as he joined me outside of the frat house we were standing in front of. I smiled and took a moment to take the sight of him in. Good Lord, how was I going to keep the horny mob off of him long enough for us to nose around the party? He also wore all black. His slacks were tailored to fit him perfectly and his black button up shirt had a bit of a shimmer to it. His sleeves were rolled up, exposing tan forearms. He also wore a mask, but his covered the upper half of his face and instead of a red rose on his mask, we attached a red rose bud to his shirt. Flying by the seat of our pants, we came up with a plan.
We found the masks first and then coordinated our outfits to look like we were a couple. We planned to keep our masks on all night so that no one would figure out who we were, or at least who Christopher was. The only way anyone would be able to figure anything out was if someone recognized Professor Young’s hair. His red curls were not exactly subtle, but he assured me no one would put two and two together, since he never went to student parties. I had my doubts, but I didn’t think he’d appreciate it if I suggested that he dyed his hair or wore a fedora. Though a fedora would’ve been pretty hot on him.
“What?” he asked after a moment. I shook myself and refrained from wiping the corner of my mouth, just in case a little drool had escaped.
“Nothing,” I sputtered. “Are you ready to do this?” I asked with a raised brow. Christopher stood just in front of me now.
“Are you?” he asked without answering. I shrugged and glanced over my shoulder at the wraith that still hovered close by. I didn’t have a choice. I had to go in. I could feel the need to move, to find out what drew me to this place almost as strongly as I felt the need to run back in the other direction screaming in horror. The house was a beacon of bad juju. I could feel the menace flowing from the building like a blanket of mist moving off of a bog out in the middle of undisturbed swampland.
“I am,” I answered hesitantly.
“Remember, in order to keep a lower profile, we’re a couple. It would really suck to have to deal with drunken suitors while we’re doing whatever it is we’ll be doing.”
I grinned up at him and then wrapped my arm around his. We did make quite the pair. We walked up the steps of the frat house. Music was booming from inside and people were going in and out every thirty seconds.
“Suitors, huh?” I asked. He grimaced. “You don’t get out much do you?”
His eyes met mine as I tried not to laugh at him. “I get out enough to know how much being single at a party marks you as fair game,” he said with a frown. I patted his arm. Poor guy couldn’t help
that he was every woman’s object of explicit sexual fantasy in the over-populated college town. I snorted as we reached the door. A guy stumbled out, his white Jason mask slipping off his head where it had been flung back.
We entered the doors, and I was immediately overwhelmed by the intense pummeling my senses suffered from the energy inside of the building. So much darkness. I clung to Christopher’s arm to keep from stumbling.
“Christopher,” I gasped. He pulled me across the room and found a small space where bodies weren’t writhing in time to the deafening beat of the stereo system playing in the main area of the house. Christopher settled me with my back against the wall and then leaned in until his mouth was next to my ear.
“Anna? Are you okay? What is it? The wraith?” I took a moment to draw in his scent through my nose. His aura shrunk away from the darkness of the house, but it seemed just a bit brighter than the others in the house. As a matter of fact, I was able to sense only a handful of auras since I stepped into the building. I leaned up and spoke next to his ear.
“Something is really, really wrong here. There is so much darkness and I can’t see anyone’s aura but yours. And even it seems dimmer somehow.” I still felt dizzy from the negative energy swirling in the building. Christopher’s aura reached out to mine and I felt myself tug gently on it. The sensation was completely foreign to me.
I had an idea, but I wasn’t sure it would work. More importantly, I wasn’t sure I could ask him. After a moment, I swallowed my pride and embarrassment and just blurted it out. “Christopher, would you press your body against mine?” I asked as I leaned up to speak to him again. His eyes widened behind his mask. My lips formed a straight line and I felt heat rush to my cheeks. “I know, I’m sorry. I just have a theory and I think it might help me clear my mind,” I said apologetically. His jaw hardened, but he leaned down to answer me.
“Put your arms around me,” he said next to my ear, his lips accidently brushing my temple. I shivered slightly before awkwardly placing a hand on his hip. I squeezed his waist and then lifted my other hand to thread it into the hair on the back of his head. A breath of air hissed in through his teeth. He leaned in further until his body was flush against mine. It felt awkward and unnatural until he wrapped a hand around to the small of my back and pressed my body further into him. He buried his face into my neck and as his breath fanned across my flushed skin, his aura enveloped me. I contentedly melted into his embrace with a sigh.
Unnatural Occurrence (An Anna Morgan Novella (Part 1)) Page 3