Jewel woke suddenly, half out of bed, her eyes flashing open to stare up into the darkness of the room around her, then directly into Hurricane’s blinding light-blue eyes, staring at him in shock.
He smiled down at her. “Hey, it’s all right. Calm down.”
She relaxed slightly. “Is there a problem?”
“No, I was just checking that you were okay.”
She stared up at him, the conversation before she’d gone to sleep barely in her brain. “Looks like I got to wake up another day,” she noted lightly.
He nodded, but his gaze was watchful. Something was almost reassuring about the intensity of it too. She sighed. “It’ll take a bit to get used to.”
He laughed. “I would think so. Not everybody has a chance to be dead for as long as you were and come back.”
“And yet why?” she murmured. “I was afraid I wouldn’t fall asleep at all, and yet I went out without any trouble. How does that even happen?”
“You were exhausted. Remember? A lot of things transpired in the time you were awake and while you were in the hospital. Yet even you didn’t have any trouble sleeping.”
“Right, and how does all that work?”
He smiled. “Maybe just accept that some things we won’t know the full answers to.”
But inside something twinged at her heart, almost as if she had expected to wake up. And, of course, she had because, in her mind, she always had. She didn’t know whether the morgue was completely incompetent or if something else was at play. “Could somebody have faked my death? Or maybe they thought I would just die slowly in the body bag?” she murmured.
“It’s not a small town,” Hurricane noted. “The coroner has degrees, credentials. Could somebody have mistaken you for being dead? Yes, I’ve heard of that happening,” he noted. “But, in this case, for as long as you were supposedly dead, I don’t know how that would work with competent medical personnel. And deliberately? Well, we have a word for that.”
“Yeah, it’s called murder,” she declared, her tone turning harsh. “But, in that case, why wouldn’t they have done something to have completed the job?”
He gave a clipped nod. “Exactly.”
She pushed back the light blanket she’d tugged over her shoulders and sat up. Almost instantly a yawn split her face wide. She groaned when her jaw came back together again. “Wow, even that yawn hurt.”
“It looked like it was coming from a long way away,” he murmured lightly. Holding out his hand, he added, “Come on. Get up, and let’s see if you can walk.”
Without question she put her hand in his and slowly stood. “Was there any reason to suspect I couldn’t walk?” she asked curiously.
“Not really, but nothing about this makes any sense, so I just want to ensure that you’re alive and well and fully functioning.”
She cracked a smile at that. “The fully functioning part was in doubt from the beginning,” she murmured.
He gave her another ghost of a smile. “If you’re feeling better, maybe you should go to the bathroom and then come on downstairs.”
“What will downstairs do for me?”
“Food,” he stated. She frowned at that. “No, I don’t want to hear it,” he ordered, his gaze ever watchful. “I need to know that you’re eating.”
“Why?” she groused. “Especially if I’m not even hungry.”
He didn’t say anything, but something stirred deep beneath the surface.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“I’m not sure yet,” he admitted, “but I want you to come downstairs, and I want to see you eat.”
She frowned at that, not liking anything about his tone of voice, but more so about the oddness in the tone than the words setting her off. She shrugged. “Fine, I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
She walked into the bathroom, washed her face, and used the facilities, then slowly made her way downstairs. She was feeling better, but nothing about this entire scenario was geared to make her feel good, and good versus better were two very different things. As she walked into the little kitchen area, she saw him sitting there, with a big mug of something. “What, more coffee?”
He shook his head. “No, it’s tea. You had some herbal teas, so I’m trying them.”
“Herb tea?” she repeated. “You really don’t look like the herb tea type.”
He didn’t respond but lifted it and took a sip from his mug. He pointed to the pizza in front of them. “I also had pizza delivered.”
“Here?” she asked, startled, as she looked around.
“Yes, here. Although I met him outside at another door.”
“Why would you do that?” she asked, twirling to face him.
“To keep our location secret.”
“But how secret is it if we’re sitting here the whole time?”
“That’s what I don’t know,” he replied. “It’s just one more of those questions that I don’t have answers for.”
She nodded, put on the teakettle, and added, “I’ll have a cup of tea too.”
“Good,” he said, and he waited.
She glanced down at the pizza and winced. “Can’t say I like pizza much.”
“Maybe not, but have you looked at yourself in the mirror?”
“No, not really,” she stated. “Why? What’s the problem?”
“Do you see how skinny you are?”
“I’ve been in the hospital,” she noted in exasperation. “Of course I lost a pound or two.” He nodded and once again left it very open-ended. She added, “Okay, so obviously food and eating appears to be something that’s really bothering you.”
“What’s bothering me is whether you can eat or not.”
Exasperated, but not sure where the odd tone to his voice was coming from, she picked up a piece of pizza and chomped down on the end of it. Almost immediately she winced. “God, why did you have to put anchovies on it?”
He looked at her. “Why not? It makes for a great pizza.”
“No, it does not,” she argued, with an eye roll. “I suppose you love pineapple on your pizza too.”
He shook his head. “Can’t say I’ve ever tried it.”
“I picked it up in Canada, when I was up there before, but it’s not exactly my style.”
“I don’t think anybody I know puts pineapple on pizza.” Then he frowned and noted, “Yet it doesn’t sound that bad.”
“There, now that I’ve had a bite, will you lay off?”
“Nope, not yet,” he stated.
She slowly turned and asked, “Okay, so what am I missing?”
“Not yet.” He looked at his watch. “Have another bite, make it two more, then we’ll wait thirty minutes, and I’ll explain.”
Not sure why she was even following his instructions, but knowing it was important, at least to him, she had two more bites, choking down the anchovies that she really hated. Then she walked over to the sink, grabbed some water, took a drink, and never said another word. She made tea, sat down across from him, then used her phone to check up on a few things going on in the world.
And finally he said, “Look at me.”
She glanced over at him, and finally he nodded, with a satisfied air. “Do you want to explain that to me?” she asked.
He gave her that ghost of a smile again, which seemed to be the only one he used lately. “There’s actually a type of energy worker who doesn’t need to eat and can fool almost everybody into thinking they’re human.”
“And they aren’t?” she asked in amazement.
“They were, but they aren’t any longer,” he murmured.
“You thought I might be one?”
“I don’t know. But it was one possible explanation.”
Goose bumps rose on the back of her neck. She showed him her arms. “Just you saying that has got my whole body in chills.” He nodded, his gaze still watchful. “And that was supposed to be a test?”
“Generally they can’t keep food down, so, if you race for the bathroom and start upchucking those few bites, believe me. I’ll be a little more suspicious.”
“If I am somebody like that,” she asked, staring at him, “then what?”
He gave her a glance that revealed nothing and yet so much. “Let’s just hope you’re not.” And, with that, he got up and said, “I’ll go lie down for a moment.”
“Where will you do that?”
He pointed to a couple blankets stretched out on the floor.
“Does this have something to do with that little test you gave me? You’ll go check in on my energy or something?” She was trying hard to keep the bitterness from her tone, then gave it up and let it show. “Because I really don’t know what’s going on.”
“Right now, that’s a good thing because I believe that you don’t know what’s going on,” he agreed. “Still that doesn’t mean something isn’t happening with you.”
She gave him a few minutes to relax, and then, with her tea at her side, she sat down on one of the dining table benches, more comfortable for her and at least close to her work, and started researching what he was talking about. However, nothing showed up. She frowned at that, wondering whether it was something super secret or if it was something very few people ever came across—which would be why the internet didn’t have anything other than ghost stories about it. Either way, she didn’t like the sound of it. As she sat here, pondering what had happened, her phone rang.
When she answered, a woman’s voice on the other end introduced herself. “Hello, I’m Dr. Maddy. I’m a friend of Stefan’s.”
“Hello, Dr. Maddy,” Jewel replied. “I’ve heard of you, but I certainly didn’t expect to ever hear from you.”
“Apparently some strange things are going on in your system.”
“You could say that,” she agreed cautiously. “Did Stefan contact you?”
“Stefan and Hurricane,” she replied. “So I took the initiative of calling you myself. I gather you don’t ask for help easily.”
Startled, she stated, “I’ve never really been in a position where I needed to.”
“We all do sometimes,” Dr. Maddy noted. “I can already confirm some very strange things are going on in your energy, and I would like to run a scan.”
“I don’t think I’m in any shape to travel right now,” Jewel told her apologetically. “As interesting as that might sound, it will have to wait.”
“I don’t need you to travel. I can do it right where you are.”
“So you want to come over?” she asked, puzzled. “Are you in town?”
At that, Dr. Maddy laughed. “I don’t need to come over, and I’m not in town,” she replied. “I try not to travel as much anymore, if I don’t have to. I can do the scan over the internet or over distance.”
“Okay,” Jewel said, completely confused. “What do you need me to do?”
“I’d like you to go back upstairs to your bedroom, lie down on the bed, and try to be as calm as you can. Keep an open mind, while I run some tests. You might hear a voice in your head, and, if you do, please respond, as if we were talking normally, as we are now.”
“In my head?” she asked, startled.
“In your head,” Dr. Maddy murmured. “Maybe not. Maybe it’ll be easier without that.”
“I think I can do that,” she began, “but …”
“It will be noninvasive. I won’t hurt you, and, no, I won’t tell anybody of the results, if you don’t want me to.”
“I don’t even know what you’re looking for,” Jewel cried out.
After a moment of hesitation, Maddy shared, “I’m looking for evidence of another person lurking around with you.”
At that, Jewel’s throat tightened down hard. “You mean, like a possession?” she asked in a strangled voice.
“That’s one word for it, but it’s not the only word that applies in this case. We’re barely keeping up with people who have extraordinary skills in terms of just cataloging what they can do. So that would be one word for it, but there could be a lot of other explanations.”
“Such as?”
“Split personality for one. Also somebody from the other side who’s got hooks into you who won’t let go, and they’re influencing who you are and what you’re doing. And those are just a couple things,” she noted, giving Jewel a few other options.
However, she was sure Maddy probably had kept others to herself.
“So, is that a yes or a no?” Dr. Maddy asked.
Jewel found it hard to formulate an answer, but she definitely understood that Dr. Maddy’s impatience was coming through the phone. “If I say no, that’s the end of it, and you’re gone, right?”
Dr. Maddy hesitated. “Look. I’m sorry. I understand that probably nothing about this makes any sense to you,” she noted. “I guess I was hoping that you would take it on trust, as I’m really busy, but, if this isn’t something you want to do, you certainly don’t have to do it,” she stated firmly.
“But then I won’t get answers, will I?”
“I’m not guaranteeing you answers regardless. I’m just hoping that maybe I can help.”
“Fine.” She got up, and, carrying her cell phone, made her way upstairs. “I’m heading to my bed right now.”
“I know,” Maddy stated. “I can see you.”
“Oh God,” she murmured.
At that, Dr. Maddy laughed. “It’s not nearly as scary as it sounds.”
“That’s because you’re used to it.”
“Yes, that’s true,” she agreed. “Very good point, and I tend to forget that. I am so accustomed to what I do that I tend to struggle with the fact that, for some people, it’s all very new.”
“Maybe you could remember that, in my case, this is all very new.”
“Yet you are an energy worker.”
“My impression of being an energy worker and the conversation I had with Stefan in the past did not include anything quite like this.”
“Nope, and I guess I needed to realize that you may not be consciously aware of anything going on.”
“Not only may not be but most likely am not. Did Stefan fill you in?”
“He did, which is one of the reasons I’m contacting you. Obviously something is going on, and the sooner we can sort it out, the better.”
No way to argue with that, and Jewel really did want to figure out what was going on, so the best answer was for her to do this. “If this is like hypnosis, I don’t think I hypnotize well.”
“That’s good,” Dr. Maddy replied, “because I don’t do hypnosis. Now”—her tone turned more businesslike—“lie down on the bed and just rest.”
“Will I feel anything?”
“I don’t know. I guess it depends on how much of an energy worker you are.” And with that cryptic comment, Dr. Maddy hung up the phone.
Jewel slowly lay down on the bed, trying hard to figure out just who and what this was, dredging up the bits and pieces she had read about Dr. Maddy on the internet. When Jewel had been studying, researching who best to contact about the necklace, Stefan’s name had come up time and time again. Jewel remembered sending out a mental message, wondering if she should contact Stefan, and got a response, incredibly harsh and forceful with a yes, so she’d picked up the phone immediately and had called Stefan.
He’d been the right person to call about the necklace, but, after that, everything seemed to spiral out of control. She didn’t even know how and in what way. She didn’t know what had even happened, yet everybody wanted to know the details. As she lay here, she wondered if she should send Stefan a text, asking about this.
A voice in her head replied, Feel free to do it afterward.
Jewel froze.
Relax, Jewel! You freezing up on me won’t help, Dr. Maddy explained. I need you to relax.
Jewel took a deep breath. “Easy for you to say.”
Once again that lovely peal of Dr. Maddy’s laughter rolled through her mind. It’s not only not that easy, she shared, but it is something that’s very precious, and, if it works, … very valuable. Now I need to work. So just relax, lie there, think happy thoughts. I don’t care what that means to you, if it’s puppy dog tails and kitten pictures, then do it. I’m just here running scans of the energy in your system. And, with that, the voice was gone again.
Jewel lay here, completely befuddled as to what was going on, but it didn’t take long to note an odd hum, almost a buzz running through her body. She felt it in her toes, her hands, up and down her spinal cord. At that, her eyes widened because since when did anybody ever feel their spinal cord? But she could, and, in a weirdly odd way, she felt energy sliding up and down her body. Fascinated, she followed the energy as it moved from body part to body part. When it slowed, she asked in her mind, Did that tell you anything?
Maddy spoke up in her mind immediately. Some things, not everything.
Is it possession?
No, you are you, Maddy stated.
“Oh, thank heavens for that,” Jewel murmured.
Maddy laughed. I didn’t expect it to be because you sounded so much more like yourself.
“How would you know?” she asked bluntly.
I would have heard it in the energy within your voice, she murmured. However, right now something else is going on, and I’m not sure what it is.
“That just means we’re back to square one then.”
No, not quite, she countered cheerfully. I definitely found some blocks, definitely some energy that you’re not letting me see, and I won’t force it because everybody has reasons for that, she explained. We’re allowed to keep our private business private, but those blocks could be hurting you.
“Great, but is everything else okay? The detective implied that I might have some disease where I appear dead.”
That may or may not be, but you wouldn’t appear dead to an energy worker because we don’t look at physical signs. We look at energy.
“That’s what Hurricane said.”
Trust Hurricane, Maddy ordered. He’s a hell of an energy worker. If anybody can control foreign energies or strange out-of-control energies, it’s him.
“Strange out-of-control energy?” she repeated, trying the words on, but struggling with how Maddy meant them.
Maddy smiled in her head, a movement that seemed to make the space in her mind softer, gentler. He’s a good man. You can trust him.
“That solves one of the problems,” she murmured, “but that’s only if I trust you.”
I’m really happy to hear that you’re a little bit reticent on some of this, Dr. Maddy replied. Because blind belief isn’t helpful either.
“Maybe not, but right now it would be nice to trust something.”
You contacted Stefan. Do you trust him?
She hesitated and then said, “I contacted Stefan because I had a very strange scenario going on that I thought maybe somebody like him would help me out with.”
Did he?
“I don’t know. Whatever happened to me happened not long after that,” she replied.
Then Dr. Maddy murmured, It’s all those other energies.
“What are those other energies?”
I don’t know, Dr. Maddy admitted, but I need to step out now. I will take a look at this in a little bit and get back to you, if I can help with anything. And, with that, she was gone.
Almost immediately Jewel felt the energy from this weird scan withdrawing from her body. She wanted to reach out and tell her to leave it, that it felt good, that it was warm and cozy and felt secure. After a hesitation, Jewel wondered if Maddy took a layer out but left a layer in. Such a weird feeling and yet at the same time almost gratifying. She whispered, “Thank you.”
Instead of a voice, Jewel felt almost energy, like a warm hug, and then leaving that bit behind, she sensed that Dr. Maddy was gone.
*
Stefan? Maddy whispered gently in her mind.
A stirring on the ethers and then Stefan slowly appeared in energy form in front of her. What’s up?
That scan that I did on Jewel.
What about it? he asked, his voice coming fully awake. What did you find?
I’m not sure, but … definitely an anomaly.
What kind of an anomaly? he asked warily. Every time you say something like that it makes my back go up.
She chuckled. And with good reason, considering the crap we’ve seen over the years, it’s definitely something to be wary of.
Now, is this something to be wary of?
Yes, but I don’t know what it is.
He groaned. If you don’t know what it is, then how can you be sure it’s of any consequence?
I can’t, but I’m very concerned. All I can tell you is that something very strange is going on in her energy, and it appears that she’s completely unaware.
Possession? His tone was sharp, almost too sharp.
I won’t say yes to that, she replied slowly, because I don’t really understand what this is, but something is there.
Great, he replied snidely.
Because we don’t know what it is, we have to assume a certain amount of danger, but I think the danger is more to her than anyone else.
Which goes along with possession. What is it you’re seeing that doesn’t fit with everything else?
The entire matter of it, she stated immediately. A calmness to it, a surety to it.
It?
The energy.
Inside?
Yes, and hidden all too well.
Of course it’s hidden. So, … what then? We have somebody here with the ability to take over or lockdown into her mental space somewhere, into her energy, so that he can rise again when he wants to?
That’s possibly what it is, she agreed cautiously. And I know you’re not enjoying this lack of answers when normally we have them, but definitely something is very strange about it.
Okay, is she doing it to herself?
It’s possible because I can’t tell anything about it.
Possible, but then, considering what she’s going through, it’s not all that likely.
No, but, over the years, we’ve also seen some pretty strange things, strange and wonderful things, she added with a sigh, so I can’t say no for sure, but it doesn’t make sense that it would be her.
Can you tell me something, anything?
Yes, I can tell you that it’s recent, some connection between it and her.
So, like family, friends?
Yes, but, according to her, she has no family that she knows of, and that may be something we want to track down.
Right. I don’t remember much about her history, so that’s something we’ll have to follow up on. Do you think it’s the killer?
I’m not getting a killer energy, but that’s like saying no serial killers are out there because I haven’t met them.
Which, in your case, you absolutely have. Stefan chuckled.
More than I would like to, yes, she murmured. However, that doesn’t necessarily make this any easier.
No, of course not. Fine, so I’ll talk to Hurricane and see if he can get some more information for you.
Okay. Maddy hesitated and then added, Stefan, I also can’t be sure that Hurricane’s not in danger.
A heavy pause ensued on the other end. Not what I want to hear. I sent him there, so I’m responsible for him too.
You also know that, if he knew what this was, he still would have gone anyway to protect Jewel.
Which still doesn’t matter, considering I’ll feel horrible if something happens to him. Stefan sighed. I presume we need to put a watch on her then.
Yeah, Maddy agreed. She hesitated and then added, If I had a little more confidence in that energy, I would have put a hook in there, she noted. But I definitely sensed resistance, as if any hooks I put in would have caused some reaction, and it wouldn’t be a reaction we would have liked.
We never like any of these reactions, he muttered. And now you’re just worrying me about what else is going on, whether Jewel herself has been targeted by a serial killer or if there’s something even more bizarre. Which, considering all we’ve gone through, it’s pretty hard to imagine anything more bizarre. And yet …
I know, she agreed immediately. Anyway, I’ll let you get back to sleep, she said, with a note of laughter, presuming that you can, of course, and I will follow up in a little bit.
Only with her permission though, right?
Yes, she confirmed immediately. For some reason that’s the only way this will work.
It’s for the best. We have to keep her under watch and more. So, having her permission to go into her space will go a long way toward building trust, but, at the same time, nothing is really easy about this, if we are thinking something is going on.
Definitely something is going on, but—
I know. I know. We don’t know what. We don’t know who. We don’t know why. We don’t know anything. The usual.
Maybe contact Grant, she suggested suddenly.
He froze. Why would your husband need to be brought into this? Stefan asked curiously.
I’ll fill him in on the case, but it feels as if he needs to be a part of this.
Oh, I won’t argue that. All hands are welcome.
He won’t be terribly happy, period, she said, with a chuckle.
That’s because his hands are always full, Stefan murmured. I’m not sure you’re ever doing him a favor by bringing him into these things.
No, no favors at all, she confirmed, but, at some point in time, we have a choice to make, and, in this case, I don’t feel that we have a choice at all.
Long after Stefan had disconnected, Maddy sat here in the quiet of her bedroom alcove, a little space she had created just for herself. It wasn’t much, just one of those comfy round chairs, a tiny little coffee table, and a warm glowing light above, but the massive window that looked to the sky made this space truly hers. Sensing a presence, she turned slowly to watch Grant approach.
“You okay?” he asked.
“As okay as I can be.”
“Another one?”
She chuckled. “Always another one.”
“Yes, but some of them really bother you and yet others? Not so much.”
“I know,” she murmured. “This one’ll bother me, mostly because I’ve never seen whatever this is that I am looking at. Now, as soon as I can figure that out, then I think we can relax.”
“But, if it’s something you have to figure out,” he noted, his voice rising in alarm, “then it’s not good news.”
“I did tell Stefan that he needed to contact you,” she admitted. “I’m sorry.”
He stared at her in the darkness. “That bad?”
“Yes,” she murmured. “And I don’t know if this woman even has a clue.”
“Well, if she has you by her side, chances are she will be all right. Is her life in danger?”
Maddy paused for a moment and then replied, “It’s worse than that. Her soul is in danger.”