how to protect myself, maybe I could get back to work and retrieve my clients from Stoner Halbert.
“What about the demon?” I asked. “Will it go away now?”
“Soon you will be able to keep him out of your head and then he will have to move on to someone more vulnerable.”
Thinking about being vulnerable reminded me of the horrible light and pain from the night before. “What was that light last night? Why did it hurt my head?”
Elsa paused a long while and then said, “It was someone trying to read your thoughts.” That didn’t sound good at all. “Read my thoughts. Why? Who was it?”
Elsa frowned. “He’s the head of an organization that’s very interested in humans who have extra skills like yours.”
“Really, how odd,” I said. “He sounds like a freak. How does he know about me?”
Again, Elsa didn’t answer immediately.
“I am a member of the Council, it was my responsibility to tell them that I was leaving my post temporarily to help a human,” she explained. “When I told the director about your gifts, he became very interested.”
“The Council,” I said aloud. “It sounds like a John Grisham novel.”
“I don’t know who John Grisham is,” Elsa said, her stern voice returning. “But I assure you, the Council is very real. Gabriel Laurent is the current director. He’s the one who tried to contact you last night.”
“Does he always try to blind people to say hello?”
“I told him it was too early to try such a thing,” she acknowledged. “I asked him to wait a few days and promised that I would bring you to meet him.”
“Is that where you went, when you left? To see him?” I asked. “You touched the fountain and disappeared.”
Elsa nodded. “I used the portal to jump to the top of the museum, where the Council keeps its headquarters.”
“How did you do that? I mean how do you make sure you get where you want to go?”
“I use my mind. It will guide me to where I want to go.”
“And what does Monsieur Laurent want with me?”
“It’s nothing, really; he wants to speak to you about a job.”
I knew right away that Elsa was lying.
****
CHAPTER 11
From the moment she began speaking, I knew that Elsa was holding something back. I could feel her hesitation. By now, I also knew her well enough to know I should back off and wait to ask her again later. So I let the matter pass, and dressed and readied myself for my first day of learning how to use my reclaimed skills.
We were headed to the Mission District. Elsa insisted we use the subway to travel downtown. Riding the public trains, she said, would be a good place to practice. As soon as we got on the N-Judah streetcar, Elsa leaned in and whispered my assignment.
“Focus on one person, and try to block out the rest. Find one person and tell me what you see and feel.”
I scanned the train looking for my target. A few seats away, I locked on to a well-dressed woman who looked to be about 25. She was tall with long blond hair, held in place by a tortoise shell headband. Her hair, which had been brushed until it shined, cascaded down her back. She looked successful and content—an easy first assignment, I told myself.
When I examined her more closely, though, I began to see a different story. She was encased in a solid red line of fear. She was worried. I could feel it. Her heart also held another emotion: longing. I sat down on a nearby train seat and watched her.
“She’s worried,” I said to Elsa under my breath. “She’s trying to reassure herself about something, maybe not reassure, but I think I can feel her trying to soothe herself.”
Elsa pulled me up and walked us to the second car of the train. “Try again.”
I was feeling more confident, so I decided to try something more challenging. This time I locked on to a slightly disheveled homeless man, his belongings piled high on the seat next to him. I focused in on his coloring and saw something odd. He gave off a grayish color that looked like smog hovering over the hills. As soon as I tried to read his emotions, he turned around to face me. He knew I was trying to read him. Although he smiled at me, his behavior was anything but friendly. He began to press back, sending some very dark emotions my way. I felt