Psyched (7 page)

Vance looked up, annoyed with Zinnia’s question. “No, I’m the poor relative. No steam rooms or D.A.R. meetings for me, thankfully.” He looked back down, but then a quizzical expression crossed his face and he looked back up. He flicked his eyes toward Aisi to ask, “And your shoes. Isn’t it against some kind of law to wear flip flops while you work in a restaurant?”

“Pretty much.” Aisi shrugged. She looked with mild interest at all the stuff covering the table. The one in his hand whistled loudly as she spoke. “And for the record, I don’t really care. I do think it’s kind of odd that you would ignore me until you noticed I knowingly violate health codes. How random are you?”

Vance looked up at her with a sideways grin, eyes glimmering appreciatively before he turned his attention back to the thing being ten kinds of noisy in his hand.

Aisi felt her stomach flop, but she shook her head and looked away. She decided to change to subject to something that didn’t make her feel like something was trying to beat its way out of her stomach. “Zinnia, you always go and complain about how those lame D.A.R. meetings are, but you never tell me what it stands for.”

Vance’s equipment suddenly beeped loud and long, indicating it finally worked.

“Daughters of the American Revolution,” Colby and Zinnia said together.

“I should make my own D.A.R.,” Aisi mused as her dad appeared and looked out at them. Vance’s toys beeped again, and he shook his head in confusion. Big Billy walked out of the kitchen at that moment, and she looked at her father proudly. “Daughters of African Rebels. I can have my own meetings at the library!”

Her voice rose with every word, because the equipment on the table started to malfunction loudly as her father approached. Vance and Colby looked up in awe as the tallest, widest man either of them had probably ever seen in their lives approached their table and frowned.

“What is this?” he asked gently, his deep voice perfectly heard over the screeching machines on the table. “I can’t have my customers walk in here to all this noise.” He looked at Vance with particular interest, a look that bordered on anxiety and fear. She’d never seen her dad look like that before. Aisi sat back and watched them.

Vance looked completely perplexed. “I don’t know, sir. I’m trying to fix it right now.”

“Please do,” he said firmly, and as he walked away the equipment once again grew silent. Aisi and Vance both stared after him as he vanished around the corner, seemingly lost in thought.

“I don’t think that stuff works, dude,” Colby said, shoving some of it aside to get it out of the way. “Hey, Aisi, do you guys have cheeseburgers here?”

“Yes, we do,” she replied.
Beep
. She rolled her eyes at all the stuff on the table, but Vance looked at her suspiciously.

“Can I have a couple, and a chocolate shake?”

“Sure,” she answered as she rose.
Beep
. “Do you want anything, Vance?”

Beeeeep
.

“I’ll take a grilled cheese and some fries,” he said, dropping the equipment in his hands and looking at her through narrowed eyes. He folded his arms and studied her. Her stomach flipped again as she walked away. Why was a cute boy spending so much time looking at her?

As Aisi stepped behind the counter, she heard Zinnia talking. “So what are you studying, Vance? What’s all this stuff for?”

“He’s a ghost hunter,” Colby said, and from the tone of his voice it seemed clear he thought the whole thing was hilarious. “He’s just doing it to tick off his dad, who wanted him to go to med school.”

Aisi heard Vance sigh. “My major is parapsychology. I study paranormal phenomenon. I wanted to come here because I’m doing a final project for my demonology class, and one of the world’s most respected and experienced demonologists lives around here.”

Just then, the sound on the television rose to almost intolerable volumes. Aisi ripped the order paper from her pad and handed it to her father, who accepted it quietly while never taking his eyes from the guys and Zinnia. Aisi couldn’t read his expression. The television kept getting louder. She hurried to the corner and reached up to turn it off, but the knob on the ancient set snapped off in her hand. She turned to her father. “Should I just unplug it?”

Beeeeep!

“Wait!” Vance said excitedly, rising from his seat to get closer to the TV despite the volume that continued to turn itself higher. “That’s the guy I came looking for! That’s Father J!”

The volume reached unbearable heights, and Aisi covered her ears. A picture of the little church in the trailer, the one she ran past every day, flickered onto the screen right before the camera panned over to the creepy old house right across from it.
“…demonologist who prefers to be known simply as Father J has an impressive career exorcising some of the fiercest demons ever to possess a human soul
,” the narrator said as the camera zoomed in on the image of a man.

“
Perhaps he seems young,”
the voice continued as the picture changed from a still picture to an action shot of the priest on the screen. Aisi recognized him as the one who peeked from behind his curtains as she ran past earlier.
“…but he has seen a lifetime of horrors in his impressive career. Where other demonologists and exorcists have failed, he steps in to send any evil presence back where it belongs
.”

“That’s the guy I came looking for!” Vance repeated with excitement. He turned to Zinnia. “He’s supposed to live around here. Do you know where that church is?”

Zinnia shook her head, and Aisi sat back down in the booth as she handed a shake to Colby and a glass of ice water to Vance. “Never seen him,” Zinnia replied. “Pretty sure I know everyone in town, too, thanks to all those stupid meetings and hoity-toity parties my mom drags me to. Have you seen it, Aisi?”

Aisi opened her mouth to tell them she knew that place better than she wanted to, but she felt Vance watching her closely, so she shrugged and got up. Spying the table she should have bussed when the Cutlers left, she walked over and started clearing dishes. A moment later, she felt Vance behind her and turned to face him. He was inches away.

Startled by his closeness, Aisi let out a little squeal of surprise. She sighed and rolled her eyes when more beeps rose from his table. Colby reached over to turn everything off.

“You know where that house is, don’t you?” he asked. He stood so near her, she almost couldn’t breathe. Aisi had experienced many things in her life, but she’d never been so close to a guy who was, it turned out, really nice to look at. She looked up into his probing gray eyes and then glanced away quickly. His deeply tanned hands took the coffee mugs she held and he walked them into the kitchen for her. Leo shouted, “Hey, thanks! Fist bump it!” Vance walked back out and helped her carry the rest of the dishes into the kitchen.

“Why are you helping me?” Aisi whispered, looking over at the table where all his ghost hunter toys had now been switched off. Zinnia sat chatting and snuggling with Colby.

Vance took the bleach-scented cloth from her hands and wiped the table. “Because I work as a dishwasher to pay my way through school, so I know what I’m doing. And because I think you can help me.”

Aisi inched away from him, but he caught her by the hand and held on tight, not letting her go.

“Do you know what all that stuff is on the table?”

She shook her head.

“I don’t need to tell you all the names or explain everything,” he continued, “but they only respond to psychic events. Every time you opened your mouth, my EMF detector went off. And your dad?” Vance looked into the open window which separated the large electric grill from the dining room. “The man set off every piece of equipment I own.”

Aisi put on her best poker face and shrugged. As she tried again to pull away, she became very aware of his warm hand holding hers firmly. She wouldn’t meet his eyes but the image of his tan face, smoky eyes, whisker-stubbled chin, and strong, wide frame was already burned into her mind.

“You know what I think, Aisi Turay?” Vance finished wiping the counter with a flourish before tossing the rag with perfect basketball player form through the window separating the kitchen and dining areas. It flew right to the sink against the back wall and wrapped itself around the base of the faucet. He turned back to her, gray eyes boring into hers.

“No clue,” she lied. She knew exactly what he thought.

“I think if you’re not psychic, your father must be.”

Chapter 7: Infrared

Aisi finally looked up into Vance’s eyes. She wasn’t sure why, but she believed she could trust him. Her brow furrowed as she wondered why this guy, of all people, would show up at the tail end of the single most awful day she’d ever had. A guy who would believe in what she was. A guy who studied it. Why would he come right then? She didn’t believe in random chance. Something must have brought him here, something bigger than just a school project. She might not believe in coincidences, but did she believe in fate?

She finally glanced away, heart pounding as she realized some part of her knew she could tell him. Out of the corner of her eye, something caught her attention and looked toward the kitchen door. She saw her father’s silver eyes watching them closely. She realized that Vance still held her hand, and at that moment the door jingled open and her mother swept in. Aisi jumped back with a squeal of surprise, blushing furiously.
Great timing, Mom!

“Aisi! Just look at you!” her mother said, jerking to a halt in the door way. She was backlit by Padelski’s still-flashing lights at the corner. She looked from Aisi to Vance and back again. Aisi flushed further, wondering why she felt guilty and embarrassed when she had no reason. Her mom just walked in at a bad time, right?

Jorja pursed her lips, her expression a mix of curiosity and surprise. “Is this a boyfriend I have yet to meet? Why does my own daughter never tell me anything? Come here, boy, let me look at you.”

Jorja flounced across the diner in the most dramatic way possible so her floor-length broom skirt swooshed around her. Her excessive bracelets jangled, and her purple shawl swept behind her. Long auburn curls spiraled down to frame her pale, freckled face. She quickly yanked his hand up from his side and gazed intently, squinting at it as if she were far-sighted, her face inches from his palm. With one long, slender finger, she gently traced the lines of Vance’s palm.

“Do you know what I am doing, boy?” Jorja whispered. “Chiromancy. The ancient and sacred art of divining the future by studying what the gods have written on your palms. I see something peculiar at the intersection of your head line and your heart line, and your life line has several curious branches at its end.” She looked up at him, still caressing his palm. Aisi rolled her eyes as her mother continued. “This means, of course, that you are intent in your purpose, and nothing will distract you from reaching it. Such intensity is to be feared. You have several alternate destinies, which you choose by your actions. If you choose to become less focused in your present quest, you may yet have a long and happy life, but if you choose to pursue the dangerous and the unknown...Well, just know that I’m not responsible for your painful and violent end.”

Jorja dropped his hand as abruptly as she took it, and Vance stepped back, startled, as she reached up to pat his cheek indulgently. “But don’t worry, boy. I did not foresee anything horribly sadistic happening to you tonight. If you would like to come visit me in my shop, we can work on altering your future so you may live longer.” She turned her back to him, her long curls whipping him in the face as she spun. “Billy? Where’s Leo?” she called shrilly.

“I’m here, Momma!” he called, running out from the back and sliding across the floor in his socks. He zoomed past her down the aisle between the rows of booths before he scrambled back to jump on her for a hug.

“Good gracious, Leo!” Jorja sighed as she heaved him up, his scrawny arms wrapping around her neck. “I’m not your personal playground!” She gave him a quick hug and dropped him back down.

Billy came from the kitchen, a dish towel draped over his shoulder. He looked tired. “How was your church meeting tonight?”

Jorja shook her head. “I don’t think I want to go anymore,” she scoffed. “I just haven’t found the spiritual fulfillment there I hoped to find, but I met a Buddhist at the library today who wants me to come to their meetings. We read something together about living the simple life to attain nirvana. It was just sublime! I heard there’s a Buddhist chapel next county over. I should look it up.”

Aisi tried to hide her face from her mother as she rolled her eyes. Her mom changed religions as often as most people change their bed sheets. Once she got done with Eastern religions, Aisi thought, she would have to start over with whatever religion she practiced first. Thankfully, her mother seemed to have forgotten for a moment that she had walked in on her daughter apparently holding hands with a cute college boy. Jorja swept into the back as Leo tugged at her skirt, probably to show off his latest and greatest kindergarten art project.

Aisi eyed Vance wryly, who seemed confused. “Sorry about that,” she apologized. “That’s her weird way of getting your attention. And it’s kind of funny that you’d accuse me of being psychic, when my mother pretends to be exactly that. She’s a genuine con artist, bilking cash out of the unsuspecting masses who look for answers to questions that should remain unanswered.” Jorja always made a big deal about predicting the impending doom of her new acquaintances in the hopes of getting new clients.

Vance frowned. “I didn’t
accuse
you of anything, Aisi. I just expressed my hypothesis. That’s what a scientist does: form a hypothesis and then work to prove it.”

“You know, some people would argue that parapsychology isn’t science at all,” Aisi said, a bemused expression on her face. “Some would say you’re full of it.”

Vance glanced over at the equipment on his table before looking carefully around the room. His eyes suddenly sparkled when he saw what he wanted to see. “Do me a favor and go sit down in the last booth in the corner, will you?”