Monday, August 25th – 5:34 pm
When sirens had distracted Luys, Avery had found the perfect time to slip away back to her condo. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to talk to the police with them already occupied with an urgent call and Luys nearby, she thought of calling them once she stepped inside her home and locked the door behind her. But she’d stopped herself from grabbing her phone and punching in their number. They would think she was nuts. Stories of rituals, immortality, preternatural hearing wouldn’t convince the police of anything but her insanity.
No matter how much she told herself that Luys was crazy and his killer sister was even nuttier, there was still the matter of her hearing. And…the possibility of being cured… The thought of living without a ticking clock counting down her mortality kept her silent. But at the same time, for the first time in six months, hope flickered to life.
She hated to acknowledge that keeping silent was wrong and the last thing she should be doing. By withholding information from the police, she was subsequently condoning Mayor and Luys. For now, she would have to live with that and pray to God that she wouldn’t regret it.
After escaping into her condo, she’d been emotionally drained, and the idea of Luys or Mayor couldn’t stop her from falling into bed. She slept deeply, the alarm dragging her from the depths of sleep in the morning. God, it felt like she had a hangover, the way her head throbbed. In the shower, her mind shifted quickly to Luys and Mayor, and she quickly shut thoughts of them off in her head. She wasn’t going to get herself into a panic attack. She needed to focus on one thing at a time and work needed to be her priority for several hours. People relied on her.
But after work and once pulling off the street and into the condo complex, her mind started racing again. She hadn’t found Luys’ car in the parking lot and suspected he was still working. She hadn’t asked him much about his job.
He’d mentioned being a doctor, not the medical type but something else. Research? She wasn’t sure and hadn’t paid attention because she’d been so overwhelmed with everything else. But could that research be somehow tied to Mayor?
Avery stepped from the alcove of the complex’s mail station, looked through several pieces of junk mail, then glanced over to the parking lot for a sign of Luys pulling into the complex. Hot air followed her from the mailboxes and down the sidewalk as she veered toward her building. Heat rose from the ground and wrapped around her legs. She hoped she’d be around when fall finally hit. Too many times, she’d been told a dry heat was much better. Hah. Tell that to her skin on a leather car seat in the middle of summer. If she could get inside before she started dripping sweat, that would be an accomplishment.
Movement at the corner of her eye caught her attention. Cristina had turned down the sidewalk to her place and toward the next building and her condo. She hadn’t heard from or seen her friend since their last meeting at The Thing.
“Hey, Cristina!”
With her back to Avery, she kept walking, seeming to move faster than before.
“Cristina!” After stuffing her mail into her purse and hugging the bag against her side, she jogged down the sidewalk and caught up to her. “I haven’t heard from you in a while.”
Cristina glanced over her shoulder at her but quickly turned back the other way, not slowing her pace.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Something’s wrong.”
Cristina laughed. “In a hurry is all. I’m late. Stephen and I have a hot date, and I don’t want to keep my big man waiting!”
Avery’s gaze narrowed. Her laugh and voice sounded off, and her behavior was even worse. She grabbed the other woman’s arm and tugged. “Cristina. Look at me.”
Finally, Cristina stopped and turned toward her, the movement causing her hair to fall forward to obscure her face.
While still holding her arm, Avery lifted the strands from her friend’s face with her other hand and brushed them over Cristina’s shoulder. Avery sucked in her breath. “Your face.”
Cristina’s chin lifted into a defiant angle.
“What happened?”
“I dropped my phone, didn’t realize the car door was open and whacked my face.”
“Come on, do you think I’m going to believe that?”
A deep blue and purple bruise with shades of green at the outer edges cut a swath below Cristina’s eye, into her temple, and disappeared into her hairline. Blood vessels had ruptured, staining the white of her left eye and circling around her iris in vivid red. She looked awful.
“Oh, stop staring at me like that,” Cristina quickly urged in a harsh voice. “I knew you’d react that way. That’s why I didn’t want to stop and talk to you.”
Avery had kept her opinion to herself when she’d seen the bruises on the other woman’s arm in the bathroom the other day, but she wasn’t going to keep quiet this time. Saying nothing would be as bad as condoning Stephen’s sick behavior. Her thoughts veered briefly to Luys and Mayor and the irony of keeping silent about them and almost winced.
She’d never said she was perfect or any role model. She’d considered her life and herself somewhat of a mess, but she didn’t want Cristina's situation escalating into a disaster she couldn’t dig herself out of.
Hurt at her friend’s cold voice, she let go of Cristina’s arm, frustrated that her friend continued to let Stephen treat her like garbage. “Stephen’s a complete bastard. He wasn’t happy enough with what he did to you before. He had to use you as a punching bag again. We need to report him and have him arrested. Now. This can’t go on.
“And what about his younger brother who’s visiting right now? Why doesn’t he stop Stephen? Or is it only when he’s not around that Stephen decides to hit you?”
Cristina looked away. “Don’t.”
“Cristina. This has to stop. One of these days, you won’t be able to walk away. He’s going to put you in the hospital if he hasn’t before.” Her voice softened into a plea. She needed somehow to get through to her. “You know you can get local support. I’ll help you. I can get you to a safe house. He won’t find you.”
“He didn’t hurt me.” Cristina stepped away and tossed her hair over a shoulder, the bruising to her face vibrant against the sun’s rays.
“That’s a lie, and you know it. You can’t let—”
“Drop it, Avery! If you value our friendship, leave it. Got it?”
Avery opened her mouth to argue, then shut it. She’d never seen Cristina this angry before. It took a tremendous effort to nod. “Okay.”
Cristina backed further away. Avery remained unmoving in the middle of the sidewalk. She didn’t get it. Her friend knew what options she had and could go to her for any help. Granted, she didn’t work with abusive relationships as a social worker, but she knew who to contact to get Cristina the needed help.
She knew herself well enough to realize she wouldn’t be able to let it go and have her friend get pummeled by some sick man with control issues, but right now, she’d back off. Alienating Cristina wasn’t going to help her friend’s situation.
Sighing in frustration and feeling futile, Avery eventually said, “Well, you know where I’m at.”
“Yep,” Cristina muttered before pivoting sharply and walking away.
She stood in the middle of the sidewalk, frowning at Cristina’s retreating back. When Cristina disappeared around the corner of the building, Avery retreated inside her home. She didn’t know how she would keep herself from calling the police the next time she saw Stephen. The creep deserved to be thrown into jail. The thought of punching him herself entered her mind but just as quickly left. Violence never got anyone anywhere but more trouble.
She took a couple of deep breaths to calm down as she closed and locked the front door behind her. She grabbed her mail and phone from her purse and then slipped her phone in the back pocket of her slacks to remind herself to pay the bills later tonight. Right now, she was too hyped up to do anything, never mind focusing on her finances or hospital bills. There were too many questions that ran inside her head, but the idea of confronting Luys kept her within the confines of her home.
She lifted her hands to her waist, palms toward the ceiling. Sighing, she looked down at them. Could her body have changed in more ways than her hearing, and she hadn’t known it? Luys had eluded that she might have heightened abilities.
Nibbling on her bottom lip, she looked around the living room, then focused on the wall and stared hard, willing herself to see into her bedroom. She slowed her breathing and wiped any thoughts from her mind but what was beyond the paint and drywall. After several minutes and with the beginnings of a headache, she gave up.
Nothing.
Well, obviously, her vision hadn’t changed. But other things might have. Taste—that didn’t seem too important. But what if she’d gained strength? Maybe that had altered. The idea kicked up her pulse. She’d be able to take on Mayor, defend herself if she had heightened physical power.
She could even protect Cristina from that slime ball of a husband.
With both hands, she grabbed a pillow from the sofa and pulled at both ends, thinking if she tugged hard enough, the material would rip. She yanked until the muscles in her shoulders and arms screamed back in protest. The pillow remained intact.
“This is ridiculous,” she muttered.
Maybe it was mind over matter. If she believed in the ability, considered it the truth, and was fervent enough, then maybe something would happen.
She hurried over to the front door, eyed it briefly, then took a breath, and before she changed her mind and backed down, she punched the door with her entire body behind it.
She cried out as pain slammed into her knuckles, up her wrist, and into her arm.
“Son of a bitch!” She cradled her arm and closed her eyes, failing miserably at keeping the pain at bay. She stubbled back as a wave of dizziness assaulted her.
Oh, God. Maybe she broke something, shattered bones. The hospital. She squeezed her eyes shut. The pain. It was mind-numbing. She took in ragged breaths, floundering for some semblance of calm.
The ER. She needed to get there somehow.
The floor disappeared beneath her, and she was falling, falling into nothing but black space. Wind, icy and bitter, swirled around her, whipping the hair against her neck, face, and into her eyes. Her body slammed into an invisible force, sucking the air from her lungs.
Shivering, she opened her eyes while cradling her arm against her stomach. For a full minute and longer, she stood frozen, unable to understand. Her living room had disappeared. She glanced around, taking the sliding double doors from behind her, the blue chrome and cushioned chairs, the walls in blue and white. And finally, her gaze landed on the large red emergency sign above a reception area. Everything was vaguely familiar.
She finally recognized the place. She’d been at this hospital before when Luys had dropped her off here.
But how…?
She blinked as the pain in her hand receded. She had to be hallucinating. There was no other explanation. Cautiously, she moved deeper into the building. She blinked again. A mist-like film swirled around her legs and ankles. Gradually, the wisps slowed and dissolved.
Impossible. Crazy. She was losing it. She had to be. She’d just been in her living room. But the pain throbbing from her fingers and joints told her she was experiencing something tangible. She frowned down at her body. Her black work slacks and white shirt, her heels were what she’d worn the entire day.
The memory flooded her thoughts of how Luys’ living room window exploded outward, as if from an unseen power. Had Mayor escaped that day amidst the fog and mist?
Heart pounding, she walked forward, conscious of the floor beneath her feet. It seemed solid, not some figment of her imagination. She inhaled, feeling the oxygen flow into her lungs. The air felt real too. With her good hand, she reached over and ran her fingers across the wall. Cool and hard beneath her touch. The pain in her other hand eased further.
“Can I help you?”
She glanced over to a woman with black, short hair behind the receptionist counter, this person different from the employee from when she’d visited with Luys. At least she thought so. “I—maybe.”
From behind the plastic partition, the woman frowned. “What do you mean? Do you need help or not? Or are you here for someone else?”
Something moved in her peripheral vision. She turned and found a man sitting in a chair in the corner watching her. An odd look flashed across his face. Fear? Had he seen her suddenly appear? The receptionist didn’t seem to act as if she’d appeared out of nowhere.
Both of them were staring at her. They saw her; the woman had talked to her. That must mean they saw her as real. Yet… none of it made sense.
She couldn’t be dreaming. Or if she was, she’d never experienced something so vivid, so tactical.
Then she realized the woman was still looking at her. She glanced down at her hand and realized the pain had dramatically subsided. The abrasions across her knuckles had vanished, and her fingers no longer looked red or swollen. “I—” she started to answer. She flexed her hand, shocked at how she could move her joints easily and fluidly. “Actually…I think I’m fine.” She nodded to one of the chairs in the waiting room and lied, “I’m waiting for a friend.”
Avery sat down and glanced over at the man, the only other person in the room. Limp gray hair hung past his shoulders, and his jaw contained a good week’s growth of beard. When their gazes met, he quickly looked away and hunched his shoulders. But she’d seen his eyes widen. Alarm? Maybe she’d read him correctly…
She moved over a couple more chairs closer to him, needing some sort of validation. “You saw what happened, didn’t you? One minute I was suddenly there.”
“Leave me alone,” he muttered, eyeing her from head to toe as the scent of stale alcohol wafted toward her. “Nothing happened. I saw nothing.” He glared at her before making a point at staring at the wall.
Avery eyed his clenched fists and backed off. She had a good idea if she pressed him further, he’d use one of them in her face. In frustration, she sat down in the chair she’d vacated. Cold air blasted her from an air-conditioning vent, sending goosebumps across her exposed skin. Rubbing her arms, she slumped deeper into her seat as she contemplated leaving the hospital. She was over 5 miles away. Walking home wasn’t a good idea. She’d be risking dehydration with the temperature over a hundred and no water. She didn’t have a wallet, money or—
Her phone!
She dug it from her back pocket. She’d gotten in the habit of sticking her phone in her pocket for easy access. She pulled it out and peered at a blank screen. She tried swiping the screen with a finger and hitting the power button several times. Nothing. Still a black screen. Somehow the battery had died. From traveling? The idea made her stomach crawl. If moving through space and time killed a battery, what did that mean when it came to her body?
She mentally shook the thought away as she put her phone back in her pocket. But she couldn’t shake off the dilemma of getting back home. She’d need a credit card if she called for an Uber for a ride home. There was a taxi, and…there was Luys.
Luys wasn’t a good idea.
There was another option. Crazy than all of them. She could try to will herself back to her place. She’d managed it once.
In case it worked, and the chair beneath her disappeared from under her, she stood up. She ignored the glare from the man in the corner. The woman behind the receptionist’s counter had disappeared somewhere.
From a spot against the wall, she closed her eyes and took in slow, measured breaths. Then she paused. This could be dangerous. She could get trapped between two physical locations, she could land somewhere far more dangerous than a hospital, like the middle of a busy intersection, in the ocean, or… Enough. She had to try.
She envisioned herself in her living room, the cream walls, the neutral colors of tan, baby blue, and cream furnishings, the television against the wall with the large potted palm beside it.
She opened her eyes.
Nothing.
Maybe she wasn’t willing herself enough. She curled her hands into fists at her side and imagined herself jumping into the room, leaping through time and space.
She reopened her eyes.
Still nothing.
Maybe this was a dream after all.
Maybe she had lost her sanity.
Her heart rate kicked up. Okay. She needed to calm down. She also needed answers. So many questions. If it happened once, could it happen at another time when she least expected it?
The only person who had answers was Luys. She needed to know what was going on inside of her and how dangerous it was to go from place to place with a random thought. There had to be a way to control it.
Inwardly groaning at the idea of contacting him, Avery knew she really didn’t have any other options. Unless she hunted down Mayor. She might find her at the coffee shop. Avery quickly nixed the idea. Luys was the far less deadly of the two.
She moved across the waiting room and eyed the receptionist's desk. The woman was back.
“Do you have a phone I could use?” Avery asked from in front of the plexiglass.
“You don’t have a cell phone?” The woman’s gaze narrowed. She probably had her share of strange people show up in the emergency room—some dangerous, some kind, but probably all in pain.
A sarcastic comment rose to her lips, but she stuffed it down. She needed the use of the phone. The woman could easily tell her to go to hell. “No, sorry.”
After a lengthy pause, the woman relented. “Fine, but be quick about it.”
After she called—thank God, her memory was great with numbers—she waited tensely. Maybe Luys wouldn’t answer. The phone number was probably unknown to him, and she personally never answered hers if she didn’t recognize the person’s number.
Before the line kicked into voicemail, he answered, the dark rich texture of his voice a welcome. Something she’d never thought she’d feel after the other day.
“Hey, this is Avery. I’m without a car and was hoping you could pick me up.”
His voice sharpened. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
She eyed the receptionist, who seemed interested in the screen on her computer, but she suspected the woman was listening with avid interest. “No, I’m fine.” She glanced down at her hand. The abrasions to her skin had healed, and the pain had completely subsided. She suspected the rapid healing was an effect of what Mayor had done to her. “I just need a ride. I don’t have my car.”
“Of course,” he quickly responded, thankfully not asking any more questions. “Where are you?”
She tensed, knowing he was going to think the worse. “I’m at the hospital, the one you dropped me off at the other day.”
He sucked in a breath. “I’m on my way.”
“Thank you,” she whispered with difficulty, embarrassed that she had to ask him for a favor when she’d wanted nothing to do with him.
She didn’t have to wait long for Luys to pull up at the entrance. Once she slipped inside the passenger seat, Luys didn’t drive off. Frowning, she turned and met his gaze across the short distance, sensing a growing tension filling the car’s interior...