Empath (Book 1 of the Empath Trilogy) (3 page)

With a hint of a smile, Stephen looked at me and ran his finger around the lip of his steaming coffee mug.  “Are you sure you wouldn’t be interested to find out how to shield yourself a little better?  I mean, doesn’t all the noise get to you?” 

It was all I could manage to keep my jaw from falling into my teacup.  “How…?”

“Well, for one, you just about blasted me when you touched me.”  He was watching my face, only the unblinking intensity of his hazel eyes belied his otherwise casual demeanor.

“Blasted?” I had no idea what he was talking about, my astonishment plain on my face.  My curse was receiving.  It had never occurred to me that I too might be projecting something.

“Yeah, energy is just flying off of you.  You’re like one of those static orbs in a science lab.”  For such a crazy conversation, Stephen was maintaining an enviable mien of near boredom.  I was tempted to look around for a camera crew; was I being punked?  Or any minute were the orderlies, who were certainly not far behind, coming to pick me up and throw me in the looney bin.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about with all of this hocus pocus stuff but I’m not interested.  I should probably get back to my dorm anyway.  I promised my Dad I’d call after class.  Checking in and all, I have to do it a lot.  My parents are very overprotective and keep a close watch on me.  They’ll worry if they don’t hear from me soon.”  Let this guy think I have people who would miss me right away if he kidnapped me and put me in his trunk.  He just seemed so creepily calm and it spooked me that I couldn’t feel him in the slightest, I couldn’t gauge his sincerity and it had me panicked.

“You’d better get going then.”  Stephen looked down at his cup and back out the window.  “Check the book out though.  It’s the real deal, not hokey like a lot of those books can be.”

I got up to leave before this could get any more surreal.   

“Nice meeting you Claire,” he said quietly, watching me stand and turn away. 

“Umm, yeah, you too,” I mumbled as I grabbed my bag off the back of my chair and walked out the door too quickly.  It was a strange walk back and I looked over my shoulder several times as I hurried back to my dorm, arguing with the voice in my head telling me to run.  I was shaken to my core by Stephen’s words.  He’d seemed so unassuming discussing the curse I’d disguised with relative success the majority of my life.  Yet, he had me pegged within five minutes of meeting me.  And he was so cool about it, like he knew something the rest of the world didn’t.  Plus, factor in the slight detail that was throwing me for a loop.  I couldn’t feel him even when I
tried
.  I resolved to go the other way if I saw him again.

Ch. 4

Tuesday morning broke too early for my taste.  I’d been tossing and turning all night trying to wrap my head around my conversation with the confusing boy I’d met yesterday. 

The sky was overcast with the first hint that fall was on its way out.  I took a long look as I opened my curtains seeing the first of the crimson leaves blow past on their way to carpet the ground below.  Minnesota weather is its own entity.  In some places people talk about the weather as a time filler, but not so in Minnesota.  Here we talked about the weather because it’s like an unpredictable member of the family.  It was always affecting everything you did but impossible to plan for or around.  Everything you tried to do in the outdoors had to have a contingency plan, should the weather decide to be uncooperative.

I decided on jeans and a thermal top under a button up short-sleeved camp shirt.  I was beginning my on-campus job today at the library and wanted to make a good impression but stay warm in a big space like that.  Up until my coffee date yesterday when Stephen rattled me, I was really looking forward to working at the library for the serenity it would surely offer. 

Libraries were like a second home to me, not really a shocker given my lack of much of a social life, and I’d noticed Augsburg’s library was fantastic, falling in love with it on my campus tour last summer.  Big, new and full of books I had never read before, it was tantalizing.  City libraries are dicey unless you get into a bigger city, but college libraries are great.  They’re full of so much research material, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on all of it.  I’d actually been looking forward to searching for more information on my condition now that I had access to a new wealth of information.  It had occurred to me sometime in the night that this boy had given me a direction as to where to start. 

Grabbing a jacket in case the weather turned and locking my door behind me, I headed out to check in for my first day on the job.  It was a short walk across the campus to get to the library.  It was a large, angular, modern building with lots of glass in the entrance and shiny metal framing the exterior of the dome before it angled back into the more traditional red brick.  It looked like a cheerful place; not like some of those old dingy libraries where everything smells like mold and you have to take an allergy pill just to read a magazine.  I was definitely going to like it here, thoughts of the quirky Stephen temporarily set aside.

Upon entering the bright and airy entryway, I walked up to the smiling brunette with short, orange tipped hair working at the counter. 

“Hi, I’m Claire Martin.  I’m supposed to start work here today.”  I threw in a big smile for good measure.  You can never be too cheerful when meeting your new coworkers.  “I think I’m supposed to talk to a Mr. Campbell?”

She smiled back brightly and I saw a small diamond glint from her nostril, “You mean Henry.  I can take you to him.”  She got up and called back into the stacks behind the desk, “Ben, can you watch the front?”  I heard a muffled “sure” from one of the aisles behind her and she came out from behind the desk motioning for me to follow. 

We walked straight to the back of the building and down the staircase that split giving us the option of going up to the top floor as well.  “I think he was back in religious texts last I heard.  The Seminary students have some big project already and are messing everything up.”  She rolled her eyes looking back at me as we walked.  I smiled politely not wanting to jump the gun making comments on people I had no idea about.  She seemed very friendly and I instantly liked her feeling that sense of loss when I met someone I know I
should
have been able to be friends with if I were normal.

“I almost forgot I’m Heidi Johnson, Junior year, still no idea on my major.  But don’t tell my parents, they think I’m a business major.”  She winked, “You’re going to like it here.  This new library is great.  They just finished it in the middle of last year.  There’s so much more space; we’re still getting new books in all the time, so feel free to put in an order for anything special you might want.”  She added a conspiratorial wink.  “Us book slaves get preferential treatment on orders so make sure you give us a heads up on what you order so we hold it for you.”  We continued on to the end of the lower shelves and then came to some bigger racks where Heidi slowed and started peeking around them as we walked past; we had to be in the right area. 

“There you are.”  Her head disappeared down the aisle and I arrived at her side only seconds later.  “Henry, we have a new book slave.”  She smiled as she spoke to someone I still couldn’t see.  Something rustled from behind a rolling book cart stuffed full of texts in all shapes and sizes midway down the aisle.

“Hi, I’m Claire.  Financial Aid arranged for me to work here first semester,” I said brightly to the rolling rack wondering about the bookworm who was to be my boss for the next nine months.   

A warm voice, silky smooth and promising something dark and pleasant in ways I didn’t fully understand that tugged at my insides chuckled from behind the rack where a moment later, a thick brown head of short, combed back hair rose smoothly from where he’d been crouching behind the rack.  Below the mane was the pale, handsome face of a man in his early thirties; much younger than I would have expected for a head librarian. His brown eyes were dark enough to look black in the fluorescent lights.  He was Hollywood’s version of what a librarian should look like, Indiana Jones doubling as a college professor.  Similarly, I could easily picture Henry adventuring in the Amazon for ancient artifacts on his weekends away from campus, his lean, hard build certainly hinted at a physical hobby in his off-time. 

“Hello Claire,” his serene voice flowed over me and acted as a tranquilizer, calming me while at the same time holding me transfixed.  “I’m Henry Campbell, Head Librarian.”  He extended his hand over the top of the cart.

Shaken from my stupor, I politely stepped forward to shake his hand in my typically brisk manner, expecting the tingle and bracing myself accordingly.  Only when my hand slid into his, I had an undeniable sense of déjà vu.  Henry’s palm was cold and exceptionally firm but also “quiet,” like Stephen’s.  It was different in some way just beyond my grasp, but it blocked out Heidi’s mumbling emotions that were beginning to do more than hum on my periphery and all of the other  vague “chatter” of the other students interspersed throughout the nearby tables. 

I couldn’t tell if he’d sensed something from me.  Having been distracted and eyeing our interlocked hands, I couldn’t tell if he’d sensed something from me.  Stunned, he was eyeing me curiously.  Both of us lingered a few seconds longer than was customary.  His mouth curved up kindly while his eyes remained cool and I realized I was staring, still holding on to him; I released my grip, feeling the heat creep up my neck. 

“Why don’t you follow Heidi and she will get you set up and show you around.  I’ll check in with you after I finish up here.”  He nodded to me and kept his steady dark eyes on me as I said something I don’t quite recall and followed Heidi back out of the racks and down to the front counter. 

What was going on here?  I’ve never had a moment’s peace in
anyone’s
presence. 
Ever
.  Touching people has always brought on an intense swell of emotions that I’ve sought to avoid my whole life.  Now, here I had met not one but
two
people in 24 hours who had the opposite effect and I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing.  I wasn’t sure exactly what happened the rest of my shift as my thoughts whirled around me, but I didn’t speak to Henry again for the remainder of my shift.  He was in the library and I saw him several times, however, he didn’t come check on me and I didn’t seek him out.  The way that he moved about so smoothly was surreal.  Here I was thinking that word again.  This was an odd place.

It wasn’t until I was nodding off to sleep that night that I realized I hadn’t done any of my personal research.  Nor had I looked for the author Stephen had mentioned.  I was supposed to work again on Thursday, it would have to wait until then. 

****

Wednesday was jam-packed.  I had Calculus in the morning, Early European History right after, broke for lunch and then it was an afternoon of French.  By the time I finished dinner- a bowl of cereal in my room- I had to sit down and begin outlining some ideas for a huge project my Biology professor had assigned.  We would need to memorize the classification systems for over 100 animals from North America for our final test at the end of the semester.  My time spent hiking and observing our birds at the feeder in the backyard didn’t seem like it was going to be enough preparation so I figured this was going to be a rather time consuming prospect which would take all of my fortitude and then some.

It was ten o’ clock before I finally slogged my exhausted self to the shower.  It was the best part of my day feeling the hot water run over the top of my head and steam clouding my vision beyond the length of my arm.  I couldn’t help the wistful memory that came with the steam of when I was a little girl and I used to pretend that I lived on a cloud I created during my long baths and that nothing could reach my cloud if I didn’t want it to.  I pretended that I would float on my cloud all over the world seeing all of the amazing places Dad used to talk about going before coming back stateside.  The water had long since turned my body from summer tan to pink and on to red before I finally shut it off and headed back to my room. 

Ch. 5

Ah, September in Minnesota.  It was seventy-five degrees, sticky and not even lunch time when I walked into the overly air-conditioned library the next day for my shift.  I wasn’t supposed to start until one, but I’d planned some time to wander around doing some digging.  The question was where to start.  Do I go to the occult and paranormal or try to find the book Stephen suggested? 

Heidi wasn’t working, so I slid past the front counters unnoticed.  I had met some other student workers the last time I was in, but no one who really wanted to chat like Heidi.  She was so cool.  Just as the tiny bubble of excitement began to fill my breast I felt it fizzle as I reminded myself of the painful reality of that scenario.  No, just like everywhere else I’d gone to school before, I would have to endure the reputation of being cold and stuck up or weird.  That was okay, I tried to reassure myself, I wanted a few hours to myself anyway.  Just the books and me.