Part 6 (1/2)

Certifiable stray.

I sense your grief, you know.

I ceased my pacing on the ledge feeling the wind whip around me, trying to knock me over. You shouldn't be able to sense my emotions, not my thoughts. How is this happening?

I don' t know. This is something new for me.

Watching the c.u.mulous clouds skulk across the sky I wondered was she my angel or my embodiment of h.e.l.l? Though I'd killed Hermes, Terra isn't through with me yet, of that I am certain. It would be a smart move for her. Why did the idea leave me more hopeless than ever?

Does she know my weakness?

At least you loved your daughter. Some parents can't do that.

You speak from experience?

My mother left me when I was eight years old to pursue all things non-familial.

My father killed my stepfather in front of me. I didn't expect to feel her shock. It was so long ago and violence is so much a part of my life that I should have held back. She should break contact with me right now for I am unable not to want to hear her voice.

I'm sorry you experienced so much violence.

I felt her compa.s.sion and for a complete nameless stranger, no less. Compa.s.sion is a dead end. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you.

I'm honored you told me.

Why did your mother leave you? Why would anyone leave her?

She's a singer-wants her name in lights deal. What is your name?

Let's not do names, yet. I winced at the harshness of my thoughts. She felt slighted. I'm not ready for the all important name exchange yet.

Fine with me. You want to keep talking?

I jumped off the ledge and landed on the patio floor. Freezing rain saturated the patio floor. Sure.

Ilida checked the poster paint jars. Dried, crusty paint cracked on the bottom of one jar. The contact with him strained her abilities and her body began to rebel. The headache, her actor, pushed his way through the crowd toward the stage again.

Are you still there?

I wouldn't leave for anything in the world.

Careful, I might hold you to that. She smiled liking him despite his standoffish behavior. She had so many questions to ask him but they would wait. Maybe she'd never hear from him again.

What are you doing?

Cleaning up.

Your home?

She wetted four paper towels, squeezed the excess water out, and then wiped off the long tables. Red and purple paint streaked the paper towels. I'm cleaning up after kids where I work.

You work with children.

Yep! How are you doing?

How am I? I feel your headache coming on.

I should go. I don't want to hurt you. The last time she had a headache it hurt him. He was none too pleased about her painful intrusion. He had enough pain to deal with. She stopped wiping, gathered her hair in her hand, and tied it with a covered elastic band. She resumed cleaning up.

Don't go! Close your eyes.

I'm supposed to be helping you, remember.

You like to argue apparently.

She felt his smile in her heart. That shouldn't happen. Should it? The more she talked with him the more she felt drawn to him and he was the last person she wanted to be drawn to. She liked power- free people. You are doing well for someone who went through something traumatic.

I'm pragmatic. Our loved ones never truly leave us, or so they say. Close your eyes.

She pushed the chairs under the tables. You're being pushy.

I missed Manners one-o-one. For the third time...?

Ilida closed her eyes and felt his psychic touch on her temples.

Breathe in, breathe out deep, and think of the place you thought of before.

She did and that mysterious place in the Mediterranean surrounded her. Her pain eased out of her temples like someone squeezing toothpaste slowly from the tube. Thank you. Do you know that place?

No!

He was lying, but she wasn't going to call him on it. She grabbed a chair and pushed it in front of the sink. She stepped up, and then pulled the cabinet open. I saw you fight that man.

Then you saw too much.

She wasn't trying to but she'd backed him into a corner. He wasn't feeling her choice of topic. She checked the inventory of art supplies in the overhead cabinets above the sink. Is he dead?

Do you really want me to answer that?

She'd never felt chills so profound before. He was dangerous but for enemies or in general? You were out there in the open.

No one saw us.