New Revelations: Second Sight Book Two (11 page)

“Why do you ask
if I see inside your head
?”
Kate inquired after collecting her thoughts.

“
I
get the sense that you’re unsure about my feelings towards you.” He stopped walking and turned to face her. Taking both of
her
hands in
his
, he gave them a gentle squeeze. “A
nd I think if you knew my thoughts you wouldn’t feel
that way.
”

It was such an unexpected compliment that she felt speechless for a moment. Mistakenly,
Kate
had thought he was going to give her the third degree over what past memo
ries of his she had witnessed. Kate prayed that one day h
is honesty and self-assuredness would rub off on her and help her insecurities fade away.
After a soft kiss on her cheek, he resumed their walk. Deliriously happy, Kate beamed at his back.
Maybe even a snarky
psychic could get her happily ever after.

***

“I feel like an idiot!”

“Stop complaining and try to get into it. It works, but we could try my other method if you’re interested…” Declan’s voice trailed off. She smacked his leg hard in reply.

He had told her about his other method of tapping into his psyc
hic energy. Declan claimed
takin
g certain drugs
would help
relax the
mind enough to get into anot
her person’s memories. Since Kate
belonged firmly in the “Just say no” camp
,
that wasn’t an option.
She just hoped her mother hadn’t overheard before she he
aded outside to work in the garden
.

As it was, her mom had seemed
guarded
when she had introduced Declan to her. Her mother was up in arms when people came over and didn’t use a coaster. A boy who followed her daughter arou
nd with no discernable reason wasn’t exactly a welcome presence in her home.

Declan and Kate
sat cross-legged in her living room with the lighting low and a candle between them. The goal was to get her into a meditative state
and
let any visions from Max or
his abductor flow freely to her. Her new psychic friend claimed that
often he would even have visions in this state without the need to be asleep.
It
sounded like a lot of hokey bullshit
to her, but
a captive boy was enough motivation to try anything.
Yet, an hour of meditation had done nothing except make her crave a nap.

“Do you know why we have most of our visions while we
’re
sleep
ing?” Declan
asked her
softly
.
The more on edge she got, the gentler tone he use
d
.

“Not a c
lue,” she responded honestly.

Declan
made her feel like a b
ad student for being
ignorant over their gifts. She blamed it on keeping her powers a secret for so long, but in all honesty she should’ve tried to learn more since the two years she found Matt Spencer.
Her focus had been more on repressi
ng her gifts during that period
. Her time would’ve been better spent
trying to hone her powers.

Declan launched into his explanation
,
“Although we’re sleeping, our brain is still
very active, especially when we enter the REM phase. I’ve read studies and they say that this period is almost like a heightened level of consciousness and
the time
when you’re likely to have the most
vivid dreams. This is the time when we’re most likely to have a vision
—especially since our minds have
shut out anything else that may be going on.

“
Basically what you’re doing now is trying to shut everything else out. Keep your mind and body relaxed and simply
breathe in and out. Don’t focus fully
on Max
or his kidnapper. Instead, concentrate
on becoming an empty vessel and getting into a higher state of consciousness.”

Kate decided to give it her best. Declan was
very patient with her, even as her cynical si
de threatened
to te
ll him there was no way
this would actually help her get m
ore control over her visions. Declan
obviously had a couple of extra years of experience
over
her, so why shouldn’t she trust he knew what he was talking about?

Letting her mind go quiet took longer than she expected.
She kept hearing the noises from outdoor
s
, Declan’s steady breathing next to her and her own heartbeat as she thought about Max alone with that crazy woman. To get rid of her thoughts, she tried to imagine them as bubbles floating away from her. She closed her ey
es and just focused on
taking long and cleansing
breaths. In and out, in and out…

***

“No, you’re lying! He can’t be gone!”

She beat her fist against the chest of her ex-husband. She hated him at that minute more than it was possible to d
espise anyone else in this entire universe
. He was the one to utter the words that would destroy her world and her already fragile hold on her sanity. They stood in the corridor of the hospital and she could care less about the uncomfortable stares being shot their way.

“Ally, I
’
m so sorry. It was an accident, a horrible accident…”
Lincoln
moaned to her.
He did not bother to conceal his pain. His blue eyes filled with unshed tears and his mouth twisted into an expression of extreme sorrow. Ally
had no sympathy for him and only wished his suffering could be increased a thousand-fold.
If a butcher knife had suddenly appeared in front of her, she would have no problem grabbing it and shoving it into his gut. The dream of watching him bleed out like a stuck pig would probably be the only thing that could ever bring her any sort of happiness for the rest of her lifetime.

“This is your fault! He doesn’t know how to swim! Who brings a child to a party with a pool and doesn’t watch him? You’ll burn in hell for this,
Lincoln
,” she spat at him.
Lincoln
turned his back on her and started to march away from her. “Don’t you dare walk away from me, you son-of-a-bitch!”

A nurse hurried over to her and attempted to diffuse the situation.
The petite redhead rested her hand gently on Ally’s
arm and spoke in a soothing voice. “M
s. Seldon, let me take you somewhere. We can go to a private room and have a doctor give you something to calm down.”

Ally was having none of it. She welcomed the pain
,
relished it. A sedative would only make her numb to her hatred and need for retribution.
The thought of
Zachary
lying dead in the hospital tore at her. She just saw her five-year-old boy alive and well this morning before his scheduled visit with
Lincoln
. With a quick kiss, he had bounded off to his father’s SUV with his favorite Thomas the Train firmly grasped in his
hand
. As they had driven off, Zachary
waved from the window. She blew him a kiss which he caught in his hand. Ally had no idea that as they turned the corner, it would be the last moment she saw her son alive.

Her beloved son
was taken away
from her too soon and she swore she would somehow find a way to be with
him again…
 

***

It was bewildering
to come out of a vision in this way. The brief time insi
d
e of Ally’s brain had Kate’s
heart racing and her head spinning.
Kate recognized Ally immediately as the abductor from Max’s memories.
It was disconcerting to expect to see the cold sterility of a hospital and instead be transported back to her living room with a candle burning and a boy she barely knew staring at her with concern. He went to reach for her, but seemed to think better of it and left his hand at his side.

“It worked,” Kate
whispered with reverence.

It seemed impossible
to believe that the
medit
ative exercise
actually offered her the opportunity to have a vision without being asleep.
Her mind had traveled to another place while her body remained in the sanctity of her own living room.
Although the vision didn’t let her know Max’s exact location, it
did give her the
name
of the kidnapper
.
Along with
information about her
losing a son in a drowning, Kate
was certain the police
would now be able to locate Ally Seldon
.

Blowing ou
t the candle, Kate
hopped to her feet and opened the blinds to let more lig
ht into the room. Turning to Declan
, she quickly relayed what she’d seen during the vision.
Declan was pleased with the results of his tutelage and encouraged her to keep practicing in order to have better control
over
when and where she had the visions
.

“What else can you do?”
Kate
asked
. The success of the session made Kate imagine Declan as her wise sensei and she the eager pupil.

Kate didn’t expect the psychic to look shifty after she posed
the question. His brown eyes wouldn’t meet h
ers and his body language became
closed off. His lack of reply made her nervous and she had a feeling the other shoe was about to drop.
After a lon
g moment, he opened his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it. As the silence echoed through the room, Kate noted the tightening in his jaw.

Edging closer to him, she asked,
“De
clan, what’s going on
?
What are you keeping from me?
”

“Kate, I think we covered a lot today. I don’t think you’re ready to know everything just yet,” Declan said guiltily
.

“That isn’t for you to decide. Just spit it out already,” she commanded crossing her arms in front of her.

“You probably won’t believe me, so it’s kind of
pointless for me to mention it,
”
he said and shrugged. He was chewing on his bottom lip which led Kate to believe he was conflicted. A little pushing and prodding
would urge him
to reveal whatever secret he was keeping.

If Declan
didn’t want
her to uncover the truth, he should’ve simply
lied and said there w
as nothing more to show her. Now, Kate
planned to relentlessly harass him until he finally confessed. She wasn’t
the seventh grade
champion debater for nothing.

“Declan, you better tell me or else whatever you want from me, you’re definitely not getting.”
She leaned against the chocolate armchair and tried to paint on a patient expression.

“Kate, I never said I wanted anything from you…”

Kate interrupted and
shook her head.
“Give me a break. You don’t go to all of the trouble to investigate someone if you simply want to show them some parlor tricks.”

His resigned sigh told her she had won and she waited as he seemed to gather his nerve to speak. When he met her eyes again, they seemed to burn through her. It was as if he was trying to will her to believe whatever he was about to tell her. “I’ve had visions of the future.”

“What are you talking about?”
she sputtered. Jumping off of her perch on the armchair, she banged her knee into the coffee table. After a mumbled curse, she sank back into the chair and rubbed at the delicate skin.

Declan waited for her to quiet.
“It hasn’t happened often. But ever since I worked on strengthening my gifts, I
’ve received these glimpses,” he revealed.
“
Kate,
each vision came true,” he added
solemnly.

As he spoke,
Kate
tried to figure out this boy who stood before her. He was as contradictory as she was and it made it difficult to understand his motives.
His muscular build and tattooed arms came across as a direct contrast to the Zen
Master
who sat on the floor across her
earlier
and lectured her on becoming an empty vessel. Why would he lie about seeing the future? What would he gain from it?