“Kat, what’s the word from Estelle? I know Julius has a way of tuning in to a person’s energy, can Estelle do anything like that?” Amethyst asked.
Taking a moment to confer with the spirit resting inside her, Kat replied, “She says that if we get close enough, she can sense Gustavia but right now, there’s nothing she can do. I can see her memory of the fight—and he drove off in that direction.” She pointed toward the right hand parking lot exit.
Amethyst in the lead, the group walked in the direction Kat had pointed. Nothing—no sign at all. Her heart sank leaving her feeling powerless to help. Tears welled up and threatened to spill down her face. What good did it do to have an enhanced ability if she couldn’t control it well enough to access it when she needed to—when it was of vital importance?
Reid couldn’t bear for her to be in so much pain, he had only just met Gustavia, but he could see the deep bonds between all four women.
There had to be something he could do to show his support and soothe her nerves. Reid stepped forward and placed a hand on Amethyst’s shoulder, gently rubbing at the tension he felt; kneading muscles that were taut, rigid with strain.
At his touch, Amethyst felt his intention to help and somehow the intensity of his empathy got past the block Galmadriel had placed on her ability. On the pavement, like magic, a tire-wide track of energy appeared. It was faint. It would be hard to follow.
With a deep intake of breath, Amethyst whispered, “I see something. Oh my God. I see something. Kat, I need help. Please, come here. Take my hand.
Confused but willing to do anything to help, Kat did as she was asked and the trail brightened, becoming much easier to see.
“Finn.” Reaching out the other hand and gesturing for him to hurry, Amethyst hoped his energy, built on his love for Gustavia, would strengthen her vision.
His hand trembling, Finn did as he was bid but nothing happened. Maybe his energy and hers were incompatible or his fear kept him emotionally blocked. Julie, not waiting to be asked and pulling Tyler along behind her, took two steps forward and clasped Kat’s other hand, feeding their energy through her, into the bond.
Now the trail stretched into the distance, bright as a beacon.
The ding of a bell sounded in Amethyst’s head, vibrating through her body with a deep, resonant pitch. She heard Galmadriel say, “To understand true need, one must first be able to ask for help. This was the first test.”
Amethyst actually felt some of the control shift from the angel to her in a rush of energy and strength. There was no time to test whether or not she still needed the influx of energy from the others in order to see Gustavia’s aura trail. That was something she could explore once her friend was safe.
“Finn, you drive, I’ll give you directions, and the rest of you, keep your hands on me. We’ll have her back in no time.”
“First, we need to tell Zack we’ve got something.”
But, Zack was having none of it. Too concerned to listen, he dismissed their news without a second thought. “Go, follow the crazy. You find her, you call me, but I won’t be holding my breath.” He turned away to bark out a series of orders.
Returning to the group, Tyler said, “We’re on our own.”
They all piled into Tyler’s SUV, Finn driving, Reid, and Amethyst in the front seat while Julie, Kat, and Tyler sat on the edge of the back seat and kept a hand each on Amethyst’s shoulder. If Reid’s touch was more of a caress, she was too preoccupied to notice. Much.
Finn kept a steady hand on the wheel despite the way his nerves were tuned nearly to the breaking point as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed west. A mile slid by, then two more. Amethyst called for a left turn.
Past the lower end of the lake now, they drove out of Oakville and the light trail stayed steady. “Finn, turn here.” Amethyst pointed to a narrow side road on their left. They followed this for another mile or so before she told him to turn left again.
“Here? This is barely a road.” Grass grew long in the center of a dirt track that disappeared into the trees.
“Yes, this is it.”
They had only driven a few car lengths before Kat yelled, “Stop. Right now, stop.”
Startled by the command, Finn jammed a foot on the brake bringing the vehicle to an abrupt halt.
“You mind not scaring the life out of me?”
“She’s close.” It was Estelle’s voice coming from Kat’s lips. “I can feel her. Wait here.”
With no warning, Estelle separated herself from Kat and arrowed off into the night.
Chapter Eight
Casting out her awareness, Estelle searched for Logan and the blackness that filled him. She found it and him speeding away from her. Hoping it wasn’t a mistake, she zipped toward Gustavia’s energy.
The tumbledown house sat at the end of a barely-there, old, dirt driveway. With a speed enhanced by fear, Estelle searched every room. No Gustavia. Still, she could feel the younger woman nearby. Rounding the old building, she found a small shed, almost a shack. Anyone looking for a kidnap victim might have passed it by; he had taken great care to leave everything looking untouched; except for the shiny new lock which gave him away.
Estelle passed through the wall to see a bruised and battered Gustavia lying on a musty old camp cot. One eye a swollen slit, the other looked at Estelle first with disbelief, then with welcome.
“Oh, Gustavia, your poor face.”
Her voice husky with tears, Gustavia still managed a watery smile as she said, “Broke his nose—the dirty, rotten son of a…”
“They’re nearby—Julie, Finn and the rest. I’ll bring them to get you out of here,” Estelle interrupted.
“Hurry, before he comes back. Tell them to call Zack; Logan is headed for Julie’s house. He’s using me as a distraction. He knows everyone would search for me and I had the dogs in the car.”
“I’m going to get them, it won’t be five minutes. You just hold on.” Estelle faded. In her excitement, she forgot to ask Kat permission before rejoining her spirit with that of the medium. Under the circumstances, Kat’s forgiveness was instantaneous.
_,.-'~'-.,_
“Just ahead, there’s an opening in the trees, turn there.” Kat directed Finn, then said, “Julie, call Zack. Let him know where we are; tell him Logan is headed for Hayward House. He’s planning to break in while everyone is out looking for Gustavia. If he hurries, Zack might be able to catch him.”
To Gustavia, it seemed as if time dragged unbearably. Not quite five minutes felt like not quite forever before she heard the crunch of tires. For one wild moment, she thought it might be Logan coming back.
Shaking and breathing shallowly, she tried to quiet her mind enough to listen. When she heard four doors opening and the excited voices of her friends, she called out to them.
“In here. I’m in here.” Her voice lacked its usual power but it didn’t matter. She could have whispered or even remained silent and with his senses running high, his radar finely tuned, Finn would have known where she was.
The thin crescent of a waxing moon peeking out from behind wispy, fast-moving clouds only provided a weak light. Finn, the first one to reach the locked door called back impatiently, “Shine the headlights over here.”
Tyler wasted no time doing just that.
“Do we have anything we can use the cut that lock?”
Amethyst could hear Gustavia sobbing inside and called out, “We’re coming. Hang on.”
“I’ve got a tire iron we can use to pry the latch.” Tyler popped the rear gate and rooted around to find something—anything—they could use to get the door open.
“Ah, screw that.” Too frantic to wait, Finn reared back and kicked the door as hard as he could. The area around the latch gave off a cracking sound but held firm.
“Let me help,” Reid put a hand on Finn’s shoulder, “together, now. Ready, go.” The added force of two men kicking the door was enough. The dry wood around the latch gave with a crunching s
ound and the door flew open.
Finn rushed to Gustavia’s side. “Oh, baby, your poor face. How badly did he hurt you?” Without waiting for an answer, he turned to Tyler, “Call an ambulance. We need to cut her hands free. Do you have a knife?”
“Hang on, I’ve got one,” Amethyst pulled a very small multi tool out of her coat pocket. The knife blade was very small but sharp.
In the dim light, she very carefully sawed through the bonds.
Gustavia cried out with relief as her arms settled into a more comfortable position.
“You came, I knew you’d find me,” adding, “I’m okay, just a bit banged up, jerk knocked me out for a few minutes.”
Finn sat beside her, carefully gathering Gustavia into his arms while Amethyst and Julie ran gentle hands over her to soothe but also to check for other injuries.
“Fritizie and Lola? He didn’t hurt them did he?” Typical Gustavia, worried about everyone but herself.
“Safe and sound.”
Julie made the call to Zack. Then, for the second time in as many months, she called the paramedics. Fury rose up inside her as she cursed Logan and paced back and forth in the small space waiting for help to arrive.
Standing, Amethyst gestured for Kat/Estelle to follow her outside. “Estelle is still with you. I think we should ask her to go back to the house, check what’s going on and report back to us.”
Kat agreed and took a moment to confer silently with Estelle. She knew the spirit’s energy was waning.
“She’ll do it. Too bad Julius is off doing whatever it is he is doing; we could use his help right now.”
“It’s necessary. Inconvenient but necessary.” Estelle prepared to extract her presence from Kat. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Go quickly.” Kat mentally prepared herself for the darkness that was about to fall over her vision. A small sigh escaped her lips.
Hearing Kat’s sigh, Amethyst pulled the woman into a hug. The last several hours had run them all through a gamut of emotions and Amethyst realized they were both feeling shaky. That’s how Reid found them. Supporting and comforting each other.
In the distance, sirens wailed—their sounds becoming louder and louder. Zack must have sent reinforcements because it sounded as though more than just an ambulance was headed their way. Her arm still around Kat, Amethyst waited for help to arrive. As she did, she reached back, grabbed Reid's hand, and gave it a squeeze.
_,.-'~'-.,_
His every sense on high alert, Zack heard the soft brush of grass whooshing against the underside of his cruiser. Needing the quiet to think, he had clicked his siren off half a mile back. Maybe he should have left it on because now his mind was producing a series of worse case scenarios even though Julie had assured him Gustavia was safe.
Bumping down the old dirt track, he saw the glow of car lights ahead and his tension level ratcheted up another notch. None of this was Julie’s fault yet somehow she managed to remain unscathed while his sister took the brunt of each attack. And what had she been doing out alone anyway?
Sliding the cruiser to a stop behind the SUV, he braced himself for what was ahead, then slammed his way out of the car.
“Where is she?” Zack all but shouted it.
“In there.” Amethyst took his arm less to guide him than to lend a bit of comfort. Surreptitiously, she cleared his aura of some of the darker spots. This was a liberty she would normally never take with someone who had not granted permission but he needed a clear head right now. Whirling lights on the roof of his car clicked and flashed; the glare of red washing over siding weathered by time and neglect to a silvery gray. She pointed to the shed where Gustavia, surrounded by her friends, still lay on the old cot.
He turned in the direction she was pointing and then stopped, gripping her arm so tightly it was almost painful and in a choked voice asked, “How bad is it?”
“Bruises mostly. He hit her in the face, tied her up. Probably another concussion. She’s conscious, fully alert, and aware. She says it looks worse than it feels but I won’t lie, it looks bad enough.”
Zack nodded twice then squared his shoulders and strode away toward the shed calling back over his shoulder, “Let the dogs out of my back seat before they try to chew their way out, will you?”
Freed from confinement, Fritzie made a beeline for the shed. He knew his owner was in there and she was hurt. He considered it his duty to provide comfort. Dashing through the door, he skidded to a halt and dropped to sit on Julie’s feet. Gently rearing up on his hind legs, he placed his front paws on the edge of the cot and laid his nose on Gustavia’s shoulder.
Lola, on the other hand, leapt from the car, made three ponderous turns around the shed, head lowered to the ground, nosing the grass to catch a scent and then, on a dead run, took off through the trees.
For a few seconds, Amethyst could hear the big dog crashing through the underbrush, the sounds decreasing until Lola was well beyond hearing distance.
Wretched dog. This day had started out so well but was ending badly.
Chapter Nine
Something was wrong. Since she had begun actively channeling Estelle, Kat had gotten used to the feeling of, occasionally, not being alone in her body. Except for the first time, when the spirit had taken her over without warning, she had learned how to prepare herself, to reduce the shock when her vision suddenly became clear and then for the disappointment when it, again, faded to black.
If nothing else, Estelle had given her hope that she would eventually regain her sight. When, without warning, she had started seeing and hearing spirit, not even her grandmother, renowned psychic Madame Zephyr, could help Kat overcome her fear. Her refusal to accept seeing spirit eventually translated in an inability to see anything at all. Her doctors, unable to find a physical cause called it hysterical blindness.
The label was disconcerting. All she could picture was one of those Victorian women who inevitably fell into a faint whenever surprised. Those reactions seemed frivolous and Kat preferred to think her situation was a bit more complex.
Still, now that Estelle had come into her life, literally, there was no denying the fact that her loss of vision had its roots in her psyche. The doctors had been right—there was no physical problem, it was all in her head.
This time, she had felt Estelle leave but somehow the spirit was still tethered to her energy. Kat’s vision dimmed but instead of fading fully to black, it doubled. She could still see vague shapes around her but, more clearly, she saw Hayward House. Estelle was pulling some part of Kat along for the ride. All she had intended to do was lend the ghost enough energy to complete the task and now she was having an out of body experience. Or half of one, anyway.
Nervous and disoriented, Kat stumbled against Amethyst. Taken by surprise, the smaller, more petite woman also stumbled. Reid reacting with unerring speed managed to catch them both before they went down in a heap.
“What’s wrong?” Amethyst glanced at Kat and what she saw made her take a closer look. “Your aura—wow—it’s…I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s half yours and half Estelle's, split right down the middle.”
“Is that unusual?” Reid asked.
“Usually when she channels I see two full auras, Kat’s and then Estelle’s in a sort of semi-transparent overlay. Never like this.”
“She’s not with me but I’m still with her. I can see Julie’s house. Logan’s there…” She trailed off.
In the dim, red-tinged glow from Tyler’s taillights, Amethyst and Reid exchanged a look.
“Kat, are you alright?”
No answer.
Kat stood, her body rigid and unresponsive.
_,.-'~'-.,_
“What do we do?” Reid asked, “Is this normal? This doesn’t seem normal.” He knew he was probably babbling like an idiot but he couldn’t help himself. It had been easy to accept that Amethyst could see auras, but kidnappings and ghosts? He was out of his element.
“Shhh. Let me think.”
>
“Think fast, the cavalry is here.” The sirens were nearly deafening as the ambulance, whirling lights casting more red shadows over everything, skidded to a halt.
“Stay with her,” Amethyst cautioned Reid then strode forward to lead the paramedics to the shed.
Leaving them to their work, Amethyst dragged Julie and Tyler outside. “Let Finn and Zack deal with that, we have another problem. Two other problems actually. Lola’s gone. She took off in that direction,” she pointed out where the dog had disappeared, “before I could stop her. And to top it off, Estelle went to check on Logan and Hayward House and it looks like she’s taken part of Kat with her somehow.” Amethyst led Julie over to where Kat still stood.
_,.-'~'-.,_
The nearly moonless night worked in his favor as Logan crept through the swath of trees between where he had parked the stolen car and Julie’s home. This time there would be no dog to stop him, no booby traps, and no ever-vigilant boyfriend to keep him from taking back what was rightfully his.
That thought stopped Logan in his tracks for a minute. Rightfully his? Nothing here was rightfully his and well he knew it. He was under no illusion that he had any right to this house or anything in it. He was a schemer and a grifter but he had always been honest with himself about his character. The sense of entitlement that had just flashed through him was so alien to his self-perception that it dragged him out from under the thing that rode inside his head—at least for a minute or two.
For a short time, he stood motionless, struggling to retain control and failing. That brief pause was enough to tip the balance.
Estelle arrived first but Lola, who, unconstrained by roads, had run straight through the woods to get here, was only two minutes or so behind. Taking a quick circuit around the place, Estelle knew that two deputies were now concealed on the property. One near the gazebo where he could see the back of the house and the other positioned to watch the front.
If she could keep that foolish dog from scaring him off, Logan was about to walk right into police custody. Quickly, she weighed her options. Showing herself to the police was not one of them. Going up against Logan hadn’t worked when she had tried to prevent him taking Gustavia, so trying that again wasn’t going to become part of her plan, either. Seeing him creeping toward the house and hearing the distant crash of the dog in the woods, Estelle realized her only chance was to distract Lola.
She Shall Have Music (Psychic Seasons Page 12