as he smirked at her snarky
comment. “A lot less often when there aren’t so many people around.
When there are a lot of people it is much worse because I get
everything, not just what is happening, but what people are
thinking about happening, what people are remembering already
happened, what people are dreaming… it’s not usually all so graphic
or traumatic… but there is so much of it that… well, it gets… I
don’t know….”
“ Overwhelming?” Grant
suggested.
Clear sighed, “That doesn’t really
give it scope, but… I can’t really think of a better word to
describe it, so yeah.”
They had been sitting silently for
several minutes. Grant was still very shaken up. He was not good at
emotions, and in the course of an hour he had felt panic at finding
Clear missing, terror at how blue she had been in the shower,
frantic at trying to warm her, lustful as he touched her skin and
felt it warm under his hands, embarrassed when she obviously didn’t
want him to, angry when she would not talk to him, sad for her
obvious pain, awkward by her discomfort of sharing with him. How
could two people who had shared something so beautiful together
only months before, now not even be able to talk to one
another?
“ How bad does it get?”
Grant asked, forcing a casual tone.
Clear shrugged. “I don’t know now that
Anne and I have been working on blocking it, I might be ok. We
hadn’t really put it in practice in any real-world scenarios yet.”
She picked at a cuticle. Grant watched her for a moment thinking
how vulnerable and tense she looked. How could he put her through
this? He hadn’t really considered how bad this could be for
her.
Unbidden, their
experiences six months ago came to his mind. Her bathed in blood.
Her throwing herself from his truck into the road, bouncing and
rolling at 35 mph. The wildness in her eyes after “seeing”
Rebecca’s abduction. No, he did know how hard this was going to be. He was just
more worried about Kat. He had not considered the complications it
could present, though. Clear’s ability was hard enough to interpret
with only one psycho tormenting her. He used to work the crimes
unit in Chicago. He knew how many psychos there were in
Chicago.
His hopes of finding Kat with Clear’s
help began to dwindle.
Chapter Five
They pulled into Chicago in the mid
afternoon. Clear was curled up asleep and Grant didn’t bother
waking her. He pulled out his cell phone and called his
ex-wife.
“ Laura, its
Grant.”
“ Where are you?” she
snapped.
“ Just got in. I should be…
at your house in about 30 minutes.” Grant gritted his teeth. He had
almost said home. “Any word?” He knew the answer before she spoke.
She would have called if there were.
“ No. The police have
already gone through everything and I’m just trying to clean up
after them.” She sighed exasperatedly. “There is printing powder
everywhere.”
“ Anything
unusual?”
“ How should I know? They
didn’t say anything. What took you so long?”
“ I… I had to take care of
some things. I have a friend with me who is going to try to help.”
Grant gritted his teeth yet again. How would he ever explain a
psychic to Laura? He certainly didn’t want to do it over the
phone.
“ A cop from Montana?”
Laura sounded surprised.
“ Um, no. A consultant,
really.”
“ Oh.” He could hear the
questions in her voice.
“ Anyway, wanted to let you
know we are here. We’ll be there soon.”
“ Alright. See you soon.”
With that she hung up on him. He put the phone away and looked at
Clear sleeping soundly. He really did have a way with making women
hate him. If only he could figure out why. He suddenly felt very
lonely.
Clear awoke as the car came to a halt.
She looked out the window at a steel, cold, grey sky. Groaning, she
stretched and saw buildings all around. Some were so tall that she
could not see the roofs.
“ Hey sleepy head. Welcome
to Chicago.” Grant waved his hand
comment. “A lot less often when there aren’t so many people around.
When there are a lot of people it is much worse because I get
everything, not just what is happening, but what people are
thinking about happening, what people are remembering already
happened, what people are dreaming… it’s not usually all so graphic
or traumatic… but there is so much of it that… well, it gets… I
don’t know….”
“ Overwhelming?” Grant
suggested.
Clear sighed, “That doesn’t really
give it scope, but… I can’t really think of a better word to
describe it, so yeah.”
They had been sitting silently for
several minutes. Grant was still very shaken up. He was not good at
emotions, and in the course of an hour he had felt panic at finding
Clear missing, terror at how blue she had been in the shower,
frantic at trying to warm her, lustful as he touched her skin and
felt it warm under his hands, embarrassed when she obviously didn’t
want him to, angry when she would not talk to him, sad for her
obvious pain, awkward by her discomfort of sharing with him. How
could two people who had shared something so beautiful together
only months before, now not even be able to talk to one
another?
“ How bad does it get?”
Grant asked, forcing a casual tone.
Clear shrugged. “I don’t know now that
Anne and I have been working on blocking it, I might be ok. We
hadn’t really put it in practice in any real-world scenarios yet.”
She picked at a cuticle. Grant watched her for a moment thinking
how vulnerable and tense she looked. How could he put her through
this? He hadn’t really considered how bad this could be for
her.
Unbidden, their
experiences six months ago came to his mind. Her bathed in blood.
Her throwing herself from his truck into the road, bouncing and
rolling at 35 mph. The wildness in her eyes after “seeing”
Rebecca’s abduction. No, he did know how hard this was going to be. He was just
more worried about Kat. He had not considered the complications it
could present, though. Clear’s ability was hard enough to interpret
with only one psycho tormenting her. He used to work the crimes
unit in Chicago. He knew how many psychos there were in
Chicago.
His hopes of finding Kat with Clear’s
help began to dwindle.
Chapter Five
They pulled into Chicago in the mid
afternoon. Clear was curled up asleep and Grant didn’t bother
waking her. He pulled out his cell phone and called his
ex-wife.
“ Laura, its
Grant.”
“ Where are you?” she
snapped.
“ Just got in. I should be…
at your house in about 30 minutes.” Grant gritted his teeth. He had
almost said home. “Any word?” He knew the answer before she spoke.
She would have called if there were.
“ No. The police have
already gone through everything and I’m just trying to clean up
after them.” She sighed exasperatedly. “There is printing powder
everywhere.”
“ Anything
unusual?”
“ How should I know? They
didn’t say anything. What took you so long?”
“ I… I had to take care of
some things. I have a friend with me who is going to try to help.”
Grant gritted his teeth yet again. How would he ever explain a
psychic to Laura? He certainly didn’t want to do it over the
phone.
“ A cop from Montana?”
Laura sounded surprised.
“ Um, no. A consultant,
really.”
“ Oh.” He could hear the
questions in her voice.
“ Anyway, wanted to let you
know we are here. We’ll be there soon.”
“ Alright. See you soon.”
With that she hung up on him. He put the phone away and looked at
Clear sleeping soundly. He really did have a way with making women
hate him. If only he could figure out why. He suddenly felt very
lonely.
Clear awoke as the car came to a halt.
She looked out the window at a steel, cold, grey sky. Groaning, she
stretched and saw buildings all around. Some were so tall that she
could not see the roofs.
“ Hey sleepy head. Welcome
to Chicago.” Grant waved his hand
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