tapped my hand. “I think someone is looking for you.”
For a moment, the change in subject threw me off. “What?”
She indicated the other side of the room with a nod.
Bran was here at last, was my first thought. I turned toward the door with a huge smile. The smile died on my lips. It wasn’t Bran, just his sister Celeste. The terrified look on her ashen face sent panic through me.
3. The Vision
Celeste’s pale skin contrasted with her long, raven hair. Her eyes, green like Bran’s, glistened with unshed tears. The floor shifted under me. Bran had better be okay. A psi scan showed he stil wasn’t in the val ey.
What’s wrong? I asked Celeste before we met in the middle of the lunch room.
I want to show you something.
Not here. I led her out of the cafeteria and into the first empty classroom we found. With a wave of my hand, the door closed. “Show me what?”
“You know how unpredictable and blurry my visions usual y are?”
I nodded. “Yeah?”
“I just had another one, and I’m not sure what to think. Two guys who looked like Gavyn and Bran were being attacked by a bunch of Mom’s friends. It didn’t make sense at first, but now I’m real y worried.” She swal owed and continued, speaking faster. “Bran said he’d be here with you, but he’s not.
Gavyn was supposed to be at his club, but his manager told me he went to Seattle. He didn’t say anything to me about going to Seattle.” She grabbed my hand and pressed it against her temple. “See for yourself.”
Please, let this be another false alarm.
Celeste was so scared of losing her brothers she often had visions of them being attacked by a horde of Lazari, a sub-group of the shape-shifting race of demons known as Werenephils. The first time she told us about a vision of an attack on her brothers, we found Gavyn at a business lunch and Bran hunting. This was the third vision this month, and the tenth since we rescued her from Coronis Isle. Her clairvoyance abilities weren’t strong, but the possibility that they could be true this time gave me chil s. A Lazari attack wasn’t something to take lightly.
“Do you see them?” she asked.
I gave her a weak smile and fought the hol ow feeling intensifying in my stomach. What if I messed up? “You know I’ve never retrieved an image from anyone’s memory except Bran’s. Maybe we should have a CP do it. They’re trained to handle that stuff.”
“Not a Civilian Psi. If it turns out I’m wrong again, they’l never take my clairvoyance seriously.” Her voice rose in pitch.
“Okay, okay.” A flick of my finger and the door locked behind us. I placed both hands on either side of Celeste’s head and stared into her eyes.
Focusing wasn’t easy. Students’ voices and footsteps filtered through the closed door. Pressure increased in my head as my psi energy approached hers.
Celeste squinted.
“You’re fighting me. I know it’s uncomfortable, but try to relax,” I told her.
She blinked, nodding.
“Don’t blink either. It breaks the link.” Dang, I was tense, too. Deep breath. Exhale. “There’s a saying people use that I thought was weird, but now I realize it is very true. Eyes are windows to the soul.”
“Why are you tel ing me this?” Celeste asked bel igerently.
“To keep your mind off what I’m doing.”
“It’s not working,” she said through her teeth.
I retreated and the pressure in my head eased. When Bran and I merged, it never hurt or felt weird. That was the beauty of having matched energies. On the other hand, Grampa retrieved energies. On the other hand, Grampa retrieved images from my head easily and quickly yet we weren’t a match.
“Maybe I’m doing it wrong,” I said and sighed.
“No, you’re doing fine,” Celeste insisted. “It’s me. I’m tense and worried and can’t seem to relax.
Please, try it again.”
Cupping her head, I started al over again.
Grampa’s instructions rang in my head. Find the sequence of events