New Revelations: Second Sight Book Two

by Heather Topham Wood

  “He asked me to work with him,” Kate admitted. “He thinks we’ll be able to handle more cases and have better luck finding people. Is it a horrible idea? Am I exploiting these families by using my gift to make money?”

  Julie smoothed back her hair behind her ears and peered at her. “Jesus Kate, I’m the wrong person to go to about a moral dilemma. Have you talked to your mother about it?”

  She shook her head. “No. I haven’t told Jared about it either. I just explained he wanted to work on Melanie’s case together. I didn’t tell them it was because her family is offering up $25,000 for information leading to her return.”

  “In my opinion, you shouldn’t feel bad,” Julie stated decidedly. “The police officers searching for her are getting paid, aren’t they? And you’re probably spending as many hours working the case. Besides, put yourself in the shoes of Melanie’s family. They would probably be willing to give any amount of money to someone who could bring her home.”

  “This is going to sound crazy…” Kate started uncertainly.

  “News flash Kate, the majority of the things that come out of your mouth sound crazy,” Julie quipped.

  “Well, my mother told me once she believed my second sight came from God. And I’m afraid that if I don’t use it in the right way, something bad will happen,” she confessed.

  “I’m a little skeptical on that one Kate. Would God give Declan a psychic gift? He may have a heavenly body, but that’s about as close to holiness that boy will ever be,” Julie cracked.

  “I guess,” she said noncommittally.

  Leaning back in her chair, she smiled at her friend. A surge of gratitude encompassed her. Julie was the only friend who had stuck around after Kate developed her psychic powers. Many people mistakenly labeled Julie as shallow and conceited. It couldn’t be farther from the truth. Julie was fiercely loyal to the people she cared about, including Kate.

  “Thanks for letting me vent about this stuff. If you ever want to talk about how Gage is a Neanderthal who should be worshipping the ground you walk on, I’m here for you,” Kate kidded.

  “You better stop it or you won’t get invited to our future wedding. I won’t have you yelling ‘I object’ and ruining it,” she laughed.

  “Alright.” Kate put her hands up in surrender. “This has been fun, but I should be getting home. I wanted to spend some time connecting with Melanie.”

  Julie gave her a quizzical look. “You make it sound like she’s a friend.”

  “To be honest, I feel like we’re friends. Her memories are like a breath of fresh air after experiencing the horrors Max went through. One memory, she was teaching a kickboxing class. I woke up feeling like I actually worked out for the day,” Kate explained.

  “I hope you or Declan find her soon.”

  “Me too,” Kate readily agreed. “More than anything I want Melanie to have a happy ending.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The following day Kate headed home after attending her morning classes on campus. The night before, she made arrangements to meet Declan there to discuss Melanie’s case. He had put together a compilation of all of their visions of Melanie and wanted to see if they could reveal any clues. Declan wondered if they could find a pattern that could lead them to Melanie. Situated on the couch, Kate sat for a long time staring off into space as Declan looked over his notes. Every minute or so, he would make a frustrated sound as he continuously hit a brick wall. Nothing consistent was sticking out to them. They had both gone quiet as their disappointment mounted.

  Breaking the silence of the room, Kate spoke softly. “I saw her reflection in the bathroom mirror the other night. Is she haunting me now?”

  Declan looked up from his notebook. “Doubtful. I don’t believe that’s how our powers work. You probably just have her on your mind a lot.”

  “She’s consuming my every thought,” Kate acknowledged. “A couple of times I woke up and it took me a minute to realize I wasn’t Melanie. The visions have been that intense.”

  He made a thoughtful sound and turned away from her. After the moment of silence stretched out, he gave a tight smile. “I’ll tell you something, but I don’t want you to freak out.” Her mouth opened to reply, but he held up his hand to stop her. “The only reason I’m saying anything to you is I want you to consider this a warning. I want you to remember to keep some emotional distance when you get involved in these cases.”

  “Stop being so mysterious and spit it out already,” she said growing annoyed. Declan’s secretive side grated on her. Kate wished he would stop handing out these nuggets of wisdom whenever he deemed her worthy. She tossed back her brown hair and stared him down.

  He relented. “Well, you’re not exactly the first psychic I’ve checked out.”

  “And here I was thinking I was special,” she said pressing her hands against her chest.

  “Anyway,” he remarked pointedly, “a couple of the psychics I tried to track down were in hospitals.”

  “What did they catch? Psychic pneumonia?” she joked. The smile slipped from her face when Kate saw the tortured look in his dark eyes.

  Declan gave her a solemn look. “They both were diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalized.”

  “You can’t be serious? Oh god, this is my destiny. I’m going to end up locked up in the padded cell with no freaking idea of who I am.” Throwing her arms up, she began to pace the floor in front of him. A headache formed behind her eyes as she imagined being put away from the rest of her life.

  “Woman, will you calm down? I feel like I should have smelling salts handy,” he quipped. Declan reached out and gripped her by the shoulders. Kate stopped pacing and focused her hazel eyes on the floor.

  After a minute, she was able to regain her poise. Kate gave him a wane smile. “I always had a fear of going crazy—like I wouldn’t know the difference between my thoughts and others.”

  “I reached out to the families of the psychics,” Declan elaborated, “and I let them know I had the same abilities. In both cases, the psychics became more and more obsessed with their visions. They lost interest in their regular lives and their reality became the people they interacted in the visions.

  “Melanie and Max can’t consume you to the point where nothing else matters. You have to think of their families as clients and nothing more,” he advised.

  “It’s not that easy. Melanie has been missing for eight days. Eight days!” Kate exclaimed and wrung her hands in front of her. “It’s like I hear this internal stopwatch counting down and I know the longer she remains missing, the less of a chance we have of finding her alive.”

  Declan moved close to her and cupped her cheek. In a gentle voice, he spoke. “We’ll find her, Kate.”

  She tensed at his touch. There were moments where Declan was able to show this softer side—it almost made the psychic amiable. Their similarities were becoming more apparent as well. They both put up this wall made out of sarcasm and distrust to protect themselves from people who could hurt them. It wasn’t easy having visions of friends and acquaintances and learning what they really said about you behind closed doors.

  For instance, Kate still didn’t talk to her cousin Jessica. In a vision, she had seen her in the middle of a gossiping session telling a group of her cronies that Kate had pretended to be psychic so she could try and seduce Jared while they worked together on the Cori Preston case.

  The tension crackled in the air. She was grateful to hear the garage door open as her mother pulled in her car. Declan drifted away from her and sat down on the couch. No witty retort passed from his lips and he gazed at her thoughtfully. Nervously, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and smiled brightly at her mom as she entered the house.

  “Hi Mom,” she called.

  From her mother’s piercing look, she hadn’t missed the artificiality in Kate’s voice. She addressed Declan. “Nice to see you again, Declan. Were you staying for dinner?”

  “No. I have plans with Trish
, but thanks for the offer Ms. E,” he said with a charming smile.

  “Ms. E?” Her mother mouthed to her as Declan turned to gather up his notebook and bottled water.

  Kate rolled her eyes and shrugged in her mother’s direction. He had tried out the nickname Kit Kat on Kate, but when she promised to do harm to his genitalia if she heard that name pass his lips once more, he backed off.

  Her mother’s watchful stare never left them as Kate walked Declan out. Kate closed the door and turned to face him. Declan gave her a crooked grin. “Now, don’t go crazy on me. I’ll work on Melanie for awhile and let you take a breather.”

  “Thanks. Maybe this working together thing is going to work out,” she said thoughtfully. “We’re even on our way to being fast friends.”

  “We could be if you stopped pining for me,” he joked.

  “Will you get out of here? Trish is eagerly awaiting someone to leave her emotionally damaged and physically dissatisfied,” she retorted and playfully pushed him off the porch.

  “See you in your dreams, Kate.”

  Kate couldn’t help but giggle at Declan’s conceit. At the very least, he offered comic relief. It had been excruciatingly difficult the past few days for her to focus on anything besides the case. Each vision of Melanie entangled her more and more in the girl’s life. She was beginning to know the ins and outs of Melanie Pirola’s existence. Kate could name the girl’s past boyfriends and best friends. Being inside of Melanie’s head during the visions also made it obvious to Kate that she was a kind and loving person. This further affirmed Kate’s belief that Melanie wouldn’t simply vanish without letting someone know.

  Normally Kate would vent to Jared, but it seemed as though he was swallowed up by the Franklin police department and would never be returned to her. For some reason, he couldn’t give her specifics about the case he was working on, but did say it looked like it would be resolved soon. With only a few snatches of conversation here or there, she hadn’t wanted to hijack the conversation with her growing despondency about Melanie. Instead, she craved a distraction from her psychic life. She missed her boyfriend desperately and anticipated the day when both of their cases would be solved.

  Her mother had her arms folded across her chest as Kate reentered the home. The expression on her face was the same look she wore when Kate was fourteen and she took the family car for a joy ride. Kate only made it as far as the end of the block before she chickened out, but her mom had grounded her for a month.

  Kate figured a lecture was on the tip of her mom’s tongue and decided to distract her. She would rather avoid defending herself against spending time with Declan. He was a shameless flirt, but half the stuff he spewed Kate didn’t take very seriously. He made her laugh while also empathizing with the difficulties that came with being psychic. Not to mention, he did rank high on the hotness scale. However, obscure and ancient torture methods would need to be used against her before she ever admitted to him that she was flattered by his attention.

  Kate’s eyes widened as she looked over her mom’s outfit. “You look really pretty today Mom. Is that skirt new?”

  Her mother looked down at her casual attire before locking eyes with her daughter. “No, I’ve had this for years. Your avoidance techniques need work.”

  “Mom, I’m twenty-two years old. I thought I was allowed to have boys in the house without you here. You did let Jared in my bedroom last week,” Kate reminded her. She figured the best defense was a good offense.

  “I like Jared and trust him. If I let Declan unsupervised in our house, I would imagine he would initiate a panty raid,” her mother countered.

  Kate bowled over in laughter. “The scary thing is I could totally picture him doing that.”

  “I understand I have a tendency to be overprotective—but you’ll always be my little girl.” Her mother gave her a beseeching stare. “I don’t want to see you hurt by anyone. It’s great you found someone who is also psychic, but make sure you don’t let him convince you to do things you’re not comfortable with,” her mother advised.

  “I won’t, Mom,” Kate promised. “He’s made it clear that he has his own agenda for finding Melanie. As long as she gets home, it doesn’t matter to me the reasons he’s helping.”

  “Good. I’ll try not to lose sleep over the thought of Declan tempting my daughter down a dark path,” she said. Her mother bit her lip and cast an uncertain glance her way. “While you’re home, I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

  Flopping back onto the couch, Kate gave her mom an expectant look. “I’m all ears.”

  “I met someone.”

  Kate’s jaw dropped. This announcement was unexpected. Although her dad had moved on before the ink was dry on the divorce papers, her mom made it clear on several occasions she wasn’t ready to date. Kate had attempted to reassure her that it wouldn’t bother her in the least if she found someone else. Her mother had explained she had been with Robert Edwards for twenty years and couldn’t envision being with another man.

  “Kate, say something. You’re making me nervous.” Her mother stilled and awaited her reaction.

  “Mom, I think it’s great,” she stated enthusiastically.

  Her mother’s eyes filled with tears. Kate swallowed hard as her own emotions stirred. Her mom deserved the very best in life and she hoped this man turned out to be worthy of her affection. Kate persisted, “Well, don’t keep me in suspense. Give me the dirt on this guy.”

  Her mom let out a strangled laugh. “I was so nervous to tell you. It seems like we’ve been our own little team for two years and I wasn’t sure if you would think of Dan as an interloper.”

  “So, Dan, huh?” Kate questioned and wiggling her eyebrows up and down. “Where did you meet him? What does he look like?” Kate leaned forward with her hands on her chin.

  “He emailed me about buying a few products for his sister. I guess she’s a fan of the brand I sell. I went to drop off the delivery and we hit it off. We met for coffee today,” her mother gushed.

  “Aww, my mom is in love,” she squealed.

  Her mother threw a couch pillow at her. “Not yet, but maybe I’m meant to find love again. Maybe I was inspired by you and Jared,” she said with a wink.

  “Please stop, Mom! The l-word makes me break out in hives,” Kate moaned and scratched at her arm for emphasis.

  “I won’t push it. For the record though, I would love to have Jared as a son-in-law one day,” she said and continued dryly, “If you end up with Declan, I’m getting the locks changed.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Melanie collapsed on the far end of their L-shaped couch and glanced over at Delaney’s seated form. Her sister’s eyes were blurry and her expression slack. She had consumed way too much wine at the bar tonight.

  It had been their ritual to go out after one of them broke up with a guy. With Delaney’s latest track record, they would soon turn into raging alcoholics.

  Delaney gave Melanie a loopy grin. “Men totally suck.”

  Melanie’s boyfriends were far from princes, so she had to agree. “Yes, they do.”

  “I should’ve known from the beginning that Cam wasn’t the one. All of the warning signs were there…”

  Melanie didn’t let her finish. “Cam’s a creep. You’ll find the right guy.”

  Delaney’s blurry stare turned serious. “Mel, do you really believe in that soulmate stuff?”

  “Yes,” she replied without hesitation.

  “But do you think the soulmate has to be someone you’re romantically in love with?” Delaney looked thoughtful. “Because my definition of a soulmate would be the other half that makes you whole. And to me…that’s you.”

  Melanie’s vision clouded. “Delaney, you’re such a sentimental drunk,” she kidded.

  However, Melanie was touched by her sister’s proclamation. She felt the same way about Delaney. She was there for her through every happy moment as well as each heartbreak. Their connection extended beyo
nd sisterhood. It was as if one couldn’t exist without the other.

  “What I’m trying to say is…”

  “I love you too Delaney.”

  ***

  Lounging back into her beach chair, Kate cherished the feeling of the sunshine dancing over her skin. She was sitting in the comfort of her backyard and indulging in a couple of hours of downtime. Her brain was taking a reprieve from a full evening of Melanie’s visions the night before and a packed schedule of classes this morning. After seeing the memory of Melanie with her sister, she was touched by the sisters’ bond. It made her question what was going on with Melanie to make her revisit a memory that was close to her heart.

  Before her philosophy course, Kate had tried to get inside of Melanie’s head without any luck. She was thinking it probably had to do with Declan freaking her out about going nuts from her visions. A couple of hours of relaxation could be just the thing to clear her mind and try again.

  The pale comment her father had made the other night still gnawed at her. A few hours of vitamin D were exactly what Kate needed. Since the unseasonably warm weather was bound to end soon, this would probably be one of the last times she wore her bikini this year. Kate adjusted the green straps to ward off unwanted tan lines on her shoulders.

  Kate picked up the novel she had purchased on her way home from campus. On the cover, a woman in a revealing gown with her breasts to her chin was pressed against a handsome sailor—pirate? Boat captain? Kate wasn’t sure if it really mattered—without his shirt on. Since Kate was too embarrassed to ask for sex advice from anyone, she figured she better do some research on her own. She picked the book up again and skimmed to the good parts.

  Bartholomew gazed at her with a tumultuous mixture of lust and pity in his eyes. “Lucinda, the things you ask…we mustn’t discuss this.”

  “Sir, these feelings you inspire in me will not be ignored. I can not pretend you have not consumed every fiber of my being since the day our eyes met on the pier.” Lucinda pouted her lips at him; an act she knew would sway him to agree with her.