Intuition Is Seeing With The Soul
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“So you’re telling me that there’s a whole other dimension of existence right beneath our feet and that we can go anywhere in it?” I asked. “Like the Matrix, but with real people? How does this even work?”
The old man nodded. “Yes. You could call it the spirit world if you prefer.” He looked at me expectantly.
“And the fact that you can do all this is because you have the ability to control your dreams, like an empath?” I asked.
He gave another nod. “You’ve done well,” he told me, and his eyes seemed to shine in the moonlight.
I was starting to feel very weird about being naked around him.
“Well, you’re not going to get anything out of me tonight. It seems to be my night for getting chased by werewolves.” I shook my head. “But, thanks anyway.”
“That would depend on whether or not I wanted to know what you did last night.” His voice was low and soft again, and it made me shiver. I suddenly felt very vulnerable standing before him in the cold wind of the night. But the feeling passed as quickly as it came when I remembered the way his skin had heated up under my fingertips.
I didn’t want to think about the unbelievable of any of this. It only left me feeling overwhelmed. So instead I decided to focus on one thing at a time.
“Why is it so important that you find someone? Do they need rescuing from something? Or are you the victim, maybe?” I asked quietly. I wasn’t sure how much of the conversation I should share with him. There might come a point where I would have to trust him, but there were also times when we’d probably just butt heads.
His eyes narrowed slightly at the question.
“There’s always two sides to everything, and everyone has their own agenda. What do you really want to know, Miss Walker?”
“It’s Emma. And why should you be so protective of her? She’s an adult now; she doesn’t need a guardian angel.”
The old man laughed softly. “Perhaps you are right. Still, I worry about her, and I have for quite some time.”
My stomach tightened at the thought of Emma being hurt or worse. My hand twitched towards my sword-but I knew if I drew it here, it would just be turned against me. I forced myself to calm down as I spoke.
“How long ago did you start worrying about her?”
“Oh, she’s been causing me grief ever since she learned to use magic. When you first started calling to her, I assumed it was because you were a friend, like you said.” He paused for a moment. “But now that you’re involved too…” He shrugged lightly.
“When did you realize something else was going on with her?” I asked carefully, watching his eyes.
“A little over four years ago. It happened during spring break of freshman year.”
I nodded. “What did you see then?”
“That was the day she discovered her gift,” he said simply, and it sent goosebumps down my spine.
“Was she using her power?”
He shook his head slowly. “No. But I could sense the danger coming.”
“She was attacked?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t a regular attack. She called upon the powers of her ancestors to fight them off. That was the first time I realized that she was different from others of her kind.”
I tried not to let my jaw drop open in disbelief as the implications of that sank into my mind. She hadn’t even bothered to mention it to me… She’d gone after something without thinking about how to deal with it properly.
“Who were they? Was it just one or two of them?”
“It was only five at most. I saw them in her head. Four men, all with black hair, and one woman who seemed to be a part of them. One of the men had silver eyes, and all were wearing cloaks with hoods pulled over their faces.”
He paused and sighed deeply. “They were trying to kill her and destroy her gifts.”
My hands curled into fists. If only I’d known. Maybe things would have ended differently if I knew then.
“Why weren’t you able to stop them?” I asked angrily.
He shook his head sadly and reached for me. Then he stopped abruptly, looking confused for a moment. His eyes met mine and held for a second before turning away again. “You’re freezing,” he muttered. “Come with me. I’ll show you where the others are sleeping.”
Then he turned and walked back towards the barn, leaving me alone to consider his words.
***
He led me inside to the large hayloft and pointed to a wooden cot.
“Lie down here. It will make it easier to talk.”
I climbed carefully onto the bed, making sure not to put my sword in the way of anything. The straw beneath me felt soft and springy. I lay flat on my back and closed my eyes as he knelt next to me. It took a few minutes for the world around me to stop spinning, but once it slowed, I was able to listen to him.
“We don’t have a lot of privacy here.” He glanced nervously at me over his shoulder, and my breath caught.
“Do you mind if we leave your cloak outside the door? It’s a little drafty up here.”
“As long as you stay quiet…”
I sat up slowly, still holding the weapon in my left hand as I moved, and then I slipped out of it with my free hand, tossing it over the edge of the loft. Once I was certain it wouldn’t fall anywhere it shouldn’t be, I lay back down again, letting out a relieved sigh.
“Sorry. We didn’t mean to surprise you.”
He gave me an uncertain smile and nodded. “Don’t worry. I can hear you fine.”
His voice was surprisingly deep for such an old man. There were no age lines on his face, and his hair had faded to a soft gray rather than brown, but despite his lack of wrinkles, there was a maturity that came with age that he carried with ease. It made sense when I considered the years he’d spent fighting demons and other creatures.
“Emma told me what happened when you rescued her from the hospital,” I said quietly. “I’m sorry it turned out that way.”
I wanted so badly to take it back, but I couldn’t do that to her either. I understood why she’d done it. She’d wanted desperately to protect me. But maybe if I’d seen her struggle with what she was doing instead of just jumping right in…
There was no point in regretting it now. I needed to concentrate on the future and not get hung up on the past. And there might not be much of a future for us. Not without a change of plans that neither she nor I could handle on our own.
So I pushed everything aside except what was important—the decision I was going to have to make soon.
“The reason I asked if you minded is that we don’t have a lot of food in this place,” he continued, glancing around the barn, “and it’s probably better not to waste anything.”
“You need to eat too, sir,” I reminded him gently. “We should share whatever there is.”
He nodded thoughtfully, chewing on his lower lip briefly as he mulled over what I’d said, and then he leaned closer.
“Can you see my memories?” he whispered anxiously.
“No, sir. Sorry. Only Emma could do that.”
He looked disappointed. “She told me you could read her mind, but I know it wasn’t easy. You had to fight against her defenses. It wasn’t something you could easily do.”
A shiver went through my body at the memory. She’d been scared, frightened beyond belief. My heart ached at the sight of her tears and her fear of losing control again, knowing what would happen if she did. But I’d found my way through her defenses, and I’d managed to help her. To let her know I’d be there for her forever. And now… Now, I had to find some way to help her.
“How about we start with your story,” I suggested gently. “I don’t think I’ve heard all of it yet.”
He stared blankly into the distance for a moment and then slowly shook his head. “It’s hard for me to remember most of it,” he admitted in a tired voice, and he rubbed his temples with two fingers as he exhaled deeply, his eyes closing momentarily as the action seemed to help clear his mind. “My name is Jack.”
***
“Jack?” My brows furrowed as I tried to remember where I’d heard the name before. Then a sudden flash of recognition washed away the fog and I remembered the conversation that Emma had shared with me while I’d been watching her in her dreams. “Oh, yes! Your real name was Jack. That’s how we knew each other in London.”
“Yes. That’s right. The night I first met Emma, she asked me to come back home to check up on someone she’d helped. A young girl named Grace. Her parents had died in a fire and no one else had taken care of her properly or protected her from the dangers surrounding her, so Emma took pity on her and brought her back here.”
“But then she disappeared, and you never saw her again,” I reminded him. “Right?”
He sighed heavily and nodded. “That’s right. She must have been killed by the same monster that killed her parents.”
“And then you decided to move here to take care of these monsters for good,” I guessed. “But after ten years passed…”
“…we ran out of food,” he finished softly. “There aren’t many creatures living nearby that are edible.”
“Do you know how long they can go without food? For that matter, what kind of creatures live around here?”
He hesitated briefly before answering. “Well…not exactly. Some things look like small wolves, maybe dogs, but they’re not very smart or friendly. They don’t seem to have much use for people, and there haven’t been any sightings of them since the year Grace vanished.
The only other large animal I’ve encountered was a mountain lion who was trying to hunt down a deer that wandered into the pasture, and I killed it quickly enough that none of the others got near it.
“But we have plenty of birds, mostly gulls, and ducks,” he added hastily. “We used to have more, but most of our livestock has been killed off by predators. There aren’t as many rabbits or mice either. We’ve had several cougars and bobcats visit, but we haven’t found their dens. Maybe they’ve moved on.”
His words made sense, especially when I thought about what we’d found last night. But something nagged at me, and then suddenly it hit me.
“Wait…so you’ve seen cougars and bobcats, but you haven’t actually seen lions or tigers yourself?”
He shook his head. “No. Those were just animals we read about.”
“So how do you know which predators are the most dangerous?” I demanded.
He frowned thoughtfully. “They say the biggest ones will get the biggest meals, and they’ll kill the largest prey first. So if we find a big predator, that means we should be able to survive whatever else might come looking for us.”
“Sounds logical to me,” I agreed. “Now, what about these mountains? Do you have maps or anything for finding the best hunting grounds?”
“Yeah, but…most of my books are in my study upstairs. Can I show them to you?” He turned to point in the direction of the house, and I followed him inside as he walked toward the stairs.
As I climbed the steps behind him, I noticed his hand resting atop the banister, and a sudden wave of dizziness washed over me. It wasn’t painful, exactly, just strange. A little disconcerting in fact. And then I realized why: The stairs weren’t moving beneath his fingertips.
Instead, they were perfectly still, hovering a few inches above the floor, while he carefully navigated each step. His eyes scanned constantly for danger, his gaze darting between the top of the staircase and the ground below him as he walked.
The sight made me pause for a moment and stare at him curiously. This man was an oddity even among people from my own world, and now that he had revealed himself, I had to wonder how different he would be compared to me. Would I see some sort of difference once we started to share blood, or did his species simply evolve differently than mine? Or, perhaps…
I swallowed hard and looked away from the stairs. I didn’t need any more of these weird thoughts distracting me right now.
Ahead of us loomed his study door. I stopped short and waited for Jack to catch up. As soon as he came through the doorway, his face lit with surprise as he glanced back and forth from me to the bookshelves lining the walls.
“You have books,” he commented.
“Not just books,” I corrected him. “These are scrolls. Ancient manuscripts that date back hundreds or thousands of years. Some even predate this country.”
He raised an eyebrow. “This is a library?”
“More of a research facility, really. My family owns several plantations, and we’ve collected information about them, as well as about the people who work on those plantations, to better understand how to treat our employees fairly and ensure their prosperity.” I took a step forward and reached for one of the books, hoping he wouldn’t mind.
Jack stepped aside and let me pull out a scroll, careful not to disturb any other books, although he kept watching me as I unfurled it in front of him. I smiled at him apologetically. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’m used to reading.”
The scroll unfolded itself, revealing a page covered with old handwriting. Even from the distance, I stood from it, I could tell the ink had faded over time, but it was legible enough that I recognized the words.
They were all about the history of the town: Who had lived here before and why they left; how much land the original owners had owned and how it had changed over generations; and the people who had died fighting against the English army during the Revolutionary War.
“This is amazing,” Jack whispered, glancing over the edge of the page at me. “What are you going to do with this information?”
“That depends,” I answered honestly. “Mostly I want to learn more about our neighbors. We don’t know much about the people living near us, but if we’re ever going to establish a peaceful relationship with them—as I think we should”—a thought occurred to me—”we’ll need to be able to trust them.”
“Makes sense.” He nodded thoughtfully. “And you want to write down your findings too? Share what you’ve learned?”
I laughed softly. “My family has always been very private. We like things to remain secret, so I imagine the documents will only be available in this place. Not that I care too much about anyone else knowing, but it does mean we can keep them safe from outsiders. If we leave something in the library, it will stay protected.”
“Good thinking.”
I turned the pages again, examining more writing. There were also some photographs of buildings. I wondered whose home these must have belonged to originally.
Suddenly, the book fell off of my hands and tumbled into a nearby pile. I jumped back in surprise as I heard it clatter loudly against the wooden floor. I hadn’t even noticed it falling, and I felt myself start to panic. Had there been a draft inside?
But when I peered closely at where the book had fallen, I realized nothing unusual had happened. It wasn’t even lying flat against the floor anymore, since my fingers had been pressing it down as I read it.
The sudden realization that it was actually my touch that had caused it to fall stunned me. And then my stomach dropped as I remembered what I’d already seen: People from my own world using telekinesis, moving objects around without touching them. Could I possibly have such an ability?
“Are you okay?” Jack asked, looking over at me.
I blinked, shaking my head rapidly. “No, no, sorry. Nothing’s wrong.” I cleared my throat, realizing suddenly I hadn’t spoken aloud to anybody except my family in ages. “We should take a look at the garden now.”
“Yes.” The corners of his lips curved upward as he nodded. “Let’s get to work.”
As we walked past the staircase, Jack paused, glancing back at me. I saw the same question in his eyes, and I couldn’t help it, even though I tried to stop myself. I held up one finger to remind him about the door upstairs, which was still open behind me.
When he understood the hint, he nodded and headed toward the stairs with me. He seemed to notice the odd expression on my face after our exchange. “Something wrong?”
“Nope,” I answered quickly and waved him on.
Our footsteps echoed up the wide wooden steps as we walked back toward his office, and when we finally arrived outside of it, the heavy wood doors swung shut silently and locked themselves behind us.
“Welcome,” a voice said, and a large hand appeared from inside the room, reaching out toward Jack, its fingertips glowing red. It was almost like Jack had conjured the magic himself. Or had he just been paying attention?
The door opened inward to reveal another hallway, this one empty, but lit by rows of flickering candles that hung down from the ceiling above. We followed the wall until we came to a set of double glass doors, each one depicting an old-fashioned scene on the other side:
A man walking through snow-covered woods on Christmas morning; a couple sharing an intimate dinner with family members; a young child playing happily in a forest, while her mom stands nearby, smiling approvingly.
Jack pulled open one of the two doors to allow me to walk ahead of him. As soon as it had closed behind us, I found myself in an enclosed courtyard surrounded by trees. There were paths leading through the grassy lawn, lined with shrubs and flowers.
In front of us stretched a brick patio, decorated with tables and chairs and a huge, colorful fountain at one end. Beyond it, I could see more gardens, a small lake, and even a few buildings. It looked like all of the land surrounding the manor house had once been used for agriculture, before the area was converted to housing, but now only the grounds remained untouched.
The End