accept it.
What I want from life is something more rational. If I’m going to pay attention and care, then I want to know how the mysteries work. If I can understand the mechanics, then I can manage my fear. After years of living in a very logical fashion, now I’m expected to be Alice in the looking glass, throw caution to the wind and drink my potion so all can be revealed.
“You know I didn’t fly on an airplane,” Elsa said. “I used a portal. It’s a door between places. They are scattered across the city.”
“Where do you go when you use them?”
“With a little practice and focus, you can go anywhere,” Elsa said.
“Am I going to use one tonight?”
“No. Tonight you’re going to work on finding those instincts of yours so we can see what kind of empath you really are. I sense you have great abilities, Olivia, but you have stuffed them so far beneath your skin that only the most drastic efforts will draw them out.” She removed the pot from the stove and strained the contents into a ceramic pitcher, which she placed in the refrigerator.
“It will be better chilled.”
“I’m scared,” I said, admitting the obvious. “What’s going to happen to me tonight?”
“Lily and I will be with you,” Elsa said. “Whatever happens, and maybe nothing will, you will be with us and we will take care of you.”
“This is not a reassuring speech,” I said.
“I’m not here to reassure you.” Her voice was stern. “I’m here to protect you and to get you to stop living a half-life.”
“A half-life,” I repeated. “How is running a business and owning a home a half-life?”
“Olivia, you were born with a sixth sense—a set of instincts that allows you to read people before they even know something themselves,” she continued. “Instead of using those skills, you have buried them and left yourself vulnerable to all kinds of danger and mischief. At minimum, you might have been able to stop Stoner Halbert’s demon from stealing your clients. Do you think a man with eyesight would knowingly blind himself? That’s what you’ve done.”
“I haven’t blinded myself,” I responded, my pride wounded once again. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I see more clearly than you do?”
Elsa snorted. “After tonight we will see if that’s really true. You should go upstairs and rest. You won’t get much sleep tonight.”
****
CHAPTER 9
Not long after drinking the tea I began to feel ill. Elsa must have known what was coming because she was at my side, quickly guiding me toward the sink where I began to wretch. Lily was also there, running her hand up and down my back in a soothing motion. They were both murmuring words in my ear to calm me, but I was in no shape to understand. Large sounds filled my head—vibrations, really—that resonated off my sternum as I grasped the edge of the sink. A great freight train was barreling through me, and I could feel it coming down the tracks through every bone in my body.
“What is happening to me?” I asked, my heart racing inside my chest.
Elsa grasped my shoulder and whispered in my ear, “Don’t be afraid. Whatever happens Lily and I will not leave your side. Just remember: Not everything you see tonight will be real.”
We must have left the house after Elsa’s remarks, but the particulars of our exit are a bit fuzzy. Next, we were walking through a pair of ornate green iron gates that featured delicate-looking vines and leaves. We strode onto a red brick path sheltered by a canopy of trees. Moonlight illuminated the path and suddenly I felt as if I were a bride in a wedding, although what I was about to be joined with remained a mystery. In the middle of the path sat a well-worn sundial perched on a stone pedestal. The metal glowed with a golden light. Fascinated, I reached out to touch the illuminated dial. The moment my skin made contact with the triangle of the dial, I felt a jolt of energy run through my body as a panoply of voices began to pierce my skull. I laughed aloud as if I understood the joke, and tried to listen to the conversation.
Before I could lock onto a single word, Elsa removed my hand from the dial. I turned to face her and exhaled suddenly. She was awash in color, shimmering waves of yellow, orange and green pouring from her body.
“Oh my God,