String of Tears, page 4
“Are you against having support?”
“No, it feels good but off in a way.”
“Off?” He looked down at their hands. “Can you see the energy?”
She glanced down, frowned, and then shrugged. “I see something, but I don’t know what it is.”
“Interesting.”
“Why? What am I looking at?” Even as they talked, she kept plowing up the stairs, as if using the conversation to keep her from thinking about what was ahead. When she got to the top of the stairs, she sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m not being very easy to get along with.”
“But you’re not being difficult,” he murmured, looking at her intently. “Obviously something about this is very hard for you.”
“But I don’t know why. I don’t know whether what I’ll find is good, bad, or indifferent,” she shared, “and, for all I know, this is just a space that I rented for work.”
“If it is, then it should be interesting,” he replied. “Come on. Let’s go see.”
Then he pulled open the main door and held it for her to walk through.
Even in this public hallway, the space felt momentous, there was just something about it. She took a deep breath and strode through, trying for that same confidence she had had when she had walked out of the hospital earlier today. Almost immediately, she got hit with a blast of cold air. She shivered.
He looked at her in concern.
She shook her head. “I’m not sure where the cold is coming from.”
“No, but I can feel it too,” he agreed. “So it could be anything, from air-conditioning left on to something much more, maybe energy-oriented.”
Casting him a startled glance, she raised her eyebrows. “I’ll ignore that last part for the moment.”
“Good, but you’ve already acknowledged being an energy worker. We’re all energy wielders, and we know when not to ignore the signs. You would do well to remember that.”
“Sure, but I’m not sure that I know exactly what that means, what all that entails.”
“We can sit down and work on a definition of it later,” he suggested. “First, let’s deal with this.”
She kept walking down the hallway; clearly her feet knew where to go, even if her mind wasn’t sure. They came to sudden halt in front of a door. It looked like a steel door. She motioned at it. “Whatever it is, it’s here.”
He reached out a hand, but the door was locked. He looked around and saw no cameras or anything like that to be accessed. “It’s an interesting space, so far,” he stated.
“Maybe, but I don’t really know what it is. It just feels like maybe a shop or something.”
“I’d really like it to be your workshop.” He hesitated, looked at her, and asked, “Security?”
“I don’t think so, but I don’t know for sure.”
He nodded. “So, if I go in, and the alarm goes off?”
“First you’d have to get in,” she pointed out, with a note of laughter. “And that looks like something we’ll have to call security or something for.”
“Not necessarily. Turn your back.”
“Why?”
“I want you to keep an eye out, in case anybody happens upon us and sees what we’re doing.”
She slowly turned, not at all sure that was the wise thing to do. Almost immediately she heard a click behind her. She spun and looked at him, only to find the door wide open.
“What is the point of security,” she stated bluntly, “if guys like you are out there?”
He gave her a ghost of a smile. “It’s because of those bad guys out there that I do this.”
A twisted way of saying he was needed to help people like her, but she wasn’t even sure what that meant right now. She stepped through the door and gasped.
He came in behind her, nudging her a little bit forward, and closed the door behind them. “Oh, this is interesting,” he murmured.
It looked like an apartment and art studio combined. At least that’s what it used to be. Currently the whole of it was in ruins.
“I would say that this is where you spend your time.”
“It’s where I used to spend my time,” she stated and shuddered.
He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against him. “Just stand here and get a feel for what it is that happened here,” he said.
“Whatever it is, my space has been destroyed.” She stared in horror at the ripped bedding that had been tossed to the floor, the chairs that were dumped, the cushions that had been cut, her tools that were flung far and wide. Canvas pieces and brackets were scattered everywhere. “What did anybody want from here?” she cried out. It was all she could do to keep the tears out of her voice, forcing them back, before they were running down her cheeks.
“The question is, did they find it?” he murmured.
She shuddered at the thought. “I hope not,” she wailed, pain in her voice. “Anybody who could do this doesn’t deserve to have found it.” Even as she spoke, she registered the odd phrasing and knew that he would pick up on it as well.
“It?”
She nodded slowly. “But I don’t know what it is.”
“The necklace,” he declared, with that note of surety in his voice.
“Is it though?” she asked, twisting to look up at him. “How do we know that?”
“We don’t. So we keep all thoughts open and check this out.”
She took a step forward and whispered, “It feels very …” And then she fell silent.
He reached out a hand, gently squeezed her shoulder, and replied, “I know. It’s like a violation that you could never have imagined would hurt so much. It is a violation, as a space that was precious to you has been invaded and destroyed in many ways. But it’s not all in vain, and we won’t let them destroy everything that you worked so hard for.”
She gave a broken laugh. “I’m not sure that I have a choice. I don’t even know what work I was in the midst of here.” Then she paused, gasped, and whispered, “Oh my God, the safe.” She raced to a landing, halfway up the internal stairs. He followed, and she pointed to a small area of paneling. “It’s behind there.”
“What is?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know,” she cried out. “Just open it and see.”
“Do you know how it opens?”
She frowned. “Can’t you see the door?”
He studied the wall and looked at her, then shook his head. “No door is there.”
She glared at him. “Of course there’s a door.”
“No, there’s no door,” he repeated. “It’s just wall paneling.” He ran his hands up and down the wall to show her.
“No, no, no,” she cried out in frustration. “A door is here.” She bent down in front of it, her hands pushing against the wall, trying to open up what, as far as she was concerned, was a door.
When she started to pound on the wall, he bent down beside her and whispered, “Easy, take it easy.”
She stared at him. “I am not crazy.”
“I know you’re not crazy, and we will get to the bottom of this.”
She took a slow deep breath. “Yeah, and when will that be? This is not normal and is not my life. Why is this happening to me?” At that, she stared up at him, her eyes going wide. “Oh, good God.”
“Oh, good God what?” he asked, but his gaze revealed that he knew.
Something in that look of his confirmed that he already knew. “You knew, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t know anything,” he argued, frowning. “You need to be a little clearer than that.”
“Yeah, you did know,” she whispered.
“I don’t know anything,” he cried out. “Please, talk to me, tell me what’s going on.”
She shook her head, slowly straightening. “It can’t be.”
“What can’t be?” he asked, throwing up his hands in frustration. “You need to give me a little bit more to go on.”
She reached out, gripped his hand, looked at him carefully, and stated, “That’s exactly what’s wrong.”
“Good, I’m glad you figured it out,” he noted. “Now enlighten me.”
“I just said it,” she snapped. “It’s not my life. It’s literally not my life.”
He looked at her in shock and then slowly nodded. “But, if it isn’t your life, whose life is it?”
*
After making that statement, Jewel fell silent and headed to the workshop area, as if everything was so normal, and started picking up pieces. He waited, quietly watching her for any sign of possession or something else that he couldn’t quite understand. He texted Stefan with a couple warnings that this would not go anywhere and was not getting any better, or so it appeared. He got back a question mark from Stefan, but Hurricane couldn’t explain, at least not yet.
He knew that pushing Jewel wouldn’t help and that whatever revelations she was getting were coming in bits and pieces and straining her own belief system as well. Something was obviously wrong, and it wouldn’t be easy to get to the bottom of it. He walked over to the little kitchenette area and saw that nothing here had been touched. He opened the cupboard and found dozens of cups, glasses, and, yes, packets of coffee.
He watched as she slowly, methodically, picked up various bits and pieces. Then he turned to put on some coffee but heard an odd sound, so focused on her again. Jewel was standing in the middle of the place. He walked over and asked, “Are you all right?” She looked up at him, and he saw the tears in her eyes. He winced. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I know this is a really difficult time.”
She stared. “Difficult time,” she repeated, but her tone was flat, almost disassociated. “Is that what people say during times like this?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’ve never really been involved in anything like this.”
“Neither have I,” she replied, staring, as she looked around. “How could I have said it wasn’t my place? I know where everything is. I recognize everything here.”
“I know. The only thing I wonder is …” And then he hesitated.
She gave him that look. “You wonder if I’m crazy, wonder if I’m being possessed by somebody, wonder if I’m absolutely losing it.”
“No, no, and no,” he stated immediately. “I mean, possession is always something that we must consider, particularly when you seem adamant that it’s not your place.”
“Yet I know where everything is. I know where everything belongs.”
He nodded. “So we’ll just go with the assumption that it’s yours anyway.”
“I feel disassociated from it.”
“I’m not sure that isn’t somehow related to whoever attacked you,” he explained.
“But how could they have done that?” she asked, looking at him. “It didn’t even occur to me that somebody else might have engineered these feelings.”
“I don’t know, and that is just more of what we have to get to the bottom of.”
“But you’re not staying, are you?” she asked, looking at him, one raised eyebrow. “I don’t know where the necklace is. I can’t give you any details about it right now. I’m not even sure that what I told Stefan applies because I don’t have any memory of it.”
He nodded and didn’t say anything more.
“I’ll just keep cleaning up. For some reason it seems to make me feel at peace.”
“Then you go ahead and do that,” he agreed immediately. “Anything that helps you right now is golden. You want me to put on some more coffee?”
She gave a strangled laugh. “I suppose coffee is here, isn’t there?”
“Coffee and cups,” he replied. “Have you checked your personal belongings? Is this where your clothes are?”
She looked at him, startled, and then turned and headed up the stairs to the small loft, where they had stopped partway before. She got up there, and he raced up behind her.
“Yes,” she answered, her voice faint. “It looks like these are my clothes.”
“Good. That helps.”
She nodded. “It helps, but it’s certainly not the answer.”
“Maybe not, but we’ll take whatever answers are coming right now.”
She nodded, then turned and headed back downstairs. He stayed on the stairs and watched her cleaning up.
Stefan phoned Hurricane and announced, “We have to go into the ethers.” He hung up his phone and turned around to find Stefan standing here.
Hey, I don’t know what’s going on. Hurricane quickly relayed the little bit that had happened so far, and it was hard to even explain to him.
Stefan frowned at that. Did you check for a safe?
No, the space has been boarded over or walled over, he shared, so I’m not even sure how there could even be one. I swear, it’s just a wall.
That doesn’t mean that there isn’t one though, Stefan argued. Show it to me.
Although not a whole lot of space to turn and maneuver, he pointed out the spot on the wall where she had been so sure that a safe would be.
Why did she mention a safe? Stefan asked. What was she looking for?
I think the necklace, but I can’t be sure.
Ah. The note in Stefan’s voice made Hurricane stop and look at him.
What does that mean? Hurricane asked.
I don’t know about you, but I’m seeing energy where the safe is or was.
Hurricane turned, looked, and nodded. Not only that but, from this perspective, I can see other energy signatures around it.
Exactly, Stefan agreed. So I vote you take a closer look. And, with that, he was gone.
Hurricane turned to see her standing there, staring at him. “Hey.” He gave her a lopsided grin.
“What did you do, just zone out?”
He hesitated, not sure what to tell her, and then shrugged. “Maybe.” He walked to where the safe was, and she laughed. “What? You’ll return to see if I’m crazy?”
“I don’t think you’re crazy at all,” he stated. “Do you know how long you were in the hospital?”
“Just a couple days maybe. I’m not sure. Why? Again that’s something I should have asked about, wasn’t it?”
“Not necessarily, I think you were more concerned about getting out of the hospital than how long you’d been there.”
“That’s very true, but still it seems like something I should know.”
“Maybe it’s something we should all know,” Hurricane declared. “Depending on what’s going on here, that’s something we’ll need to find out.”
“Did Stefan ever come up with any answers from the police station?”
“Why don’t you ask him?” he suggested, turning to look at her. “Send him a text and see if he has any updates.”
She hesitated and then looked around at her place. “Maybe I’ll just fix this stuff first.”
He nodded and watched as she deliberately turned away. He wasn’t sure whether she feared what Stefan would say or feared not having any answers, but definitely fear was coming off her.
He asked, “Don’t suppose you’d mind if I ruin a wall, huh?”
She turned and shrugged and asked, “Can you do more damage than has already been done?”
He smiled at her. “I can at least fix the damage I do.”
“Good for you,” she quipped and pointed around the room. “Have at it. I don’t know what’s going on anymore, so, if you think you can find answers, go for it.”
And, with that, she deliberately turned away and went back to sorting through the mess. He walked into the kitchen and found a hammer in one of the drawers. With that in hand, he headed back up the stairs to where the safe supposedly was and gently pried apart the drywall. With a hard snap, it came away in his hand.
She came up and looked to see what he was doing. Her eyebrows shot up. “Good Lord, are you just checking to see if I’m crazy, or are you really crazy?”
“Neither, but an energy signature was around this that didn’t make any sense.”
“An energy signature?” she repeated, staring at him, not comprehending at all.
He hesitated and then nodded. “We really need to see how much energy work you are acquainted with.”
“Not enough apparently,” she murmured. She watched as he cut off a piece of drywall, exposing the wall behind it.
“Oh my God,” she gasped in shock, staring at it.
“Yep, your safe.”
She reached over and quickly turned the dials on the safe. Within seconds, the tumblers clicked into place, and she turned the handle but stopped there. She let out a slow sigh. “Good God. Why and how?”
“Why and how what?” he asked, waiting for her to open it.
“Why and how would somebody do this?”
He held his own counsel on that but looked at her curiously. “Why are you waiting to open it?”
She winced. “Because I don’t want to be wrong. I don’t want to find out that it’s gone.”
“Then open it and see,” he invited.
She took a deep breath, focused on him, and then pulled open the safe door. Inside were black velvet cases.
She reached for the foremost one, leaving the other cases behind it.
“It should be in here.”
“Let’s find out,” he murmured and waited.
Again she hesitated, and that same fear was evidenced in her aura.
“Go on,” he urged. “We can’t deal with the truth if we don’t know what it is.”
She gave him an odd look, then nodded and pulled the case toward her. When she opened it, an absolutely incredible pearl necklace was revealed.
Almost instantly the hairs on the back of his neck rose. He reached out and immediately snapped shut the hard case.
She looked at him, frowning.
“That energy. It’s a vortex, by the appearance of it.”
“A vortex? What does that mean?”
“It means that we aren’t opening that right now. So I presume that’s the necklace you were talking about?”
She nodded. “Does that mean this necklace is of interest to you?”
“Oh, you could say so,” he teased, his eyes gleaming in the light.
She stared at him. “It’s scary. Something’s very different about you right now.”
He took a slow deep breath and eased back some of his energy.
“It’s … It’s this thing, isn’t it?” she asked.
