Woman King by Evette Davis Page A

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, oh my God!” I exclaimed, reaching
out to touch the light. “You’re so beautiful.”
    “What do you see?” she asked.
    “I see colors,” I said. “I hear voices and I
see colors.”
    “Good,” Elsa said. “Don’t worry, you’re not
crazy. The peyote is working. Let’s see what happens next.”
    I looked up to see billowing strands of moss
hanging from a Monterey pine. A cold wind