The Psychic Legacy

Chapter 9: Reunion

I dropped my duffel bag. It was really him... The last few days had seemed like a strange, foggy dream but seeing him there, standing in front of me, made it feel like I had finally woken up.

He was looking rough. His long dark hair was stringy and unkempt and his usually prominent cheekbones had sharpened, making him gaunt rather than chiselled. Even so, my heart ached just looking at him.

There were deep shadows under each of his emerald eyes, which were gazing at me with deep focus. The spirit inside me seemed to uncoil, stretching out inside me. It seemed... curious about the man standing in front of me.

I didn't blame them. Even I couldn't take my eyes off him.

"You... Here... How...?" I sputtered, unable to string a sentence together. My brain was in pieces. He was here.

"I'm glad to see you're okay," he said finally. His voice sounded as tired as he looked.

My heart throbbed. "How did you know we'd...?" I said, finally managing to get a coherent thought out of my mouth.

"After I hung up on Tory," Luc said, taking a half second to aim a hard glare over his shoulder at his assistant. Tory shrank under his forceful gaze. "The first thing I did was read your cards. But the results were confusing, like two threads twisted up together..."

The spirit gave a thrash inside.

"...so I had someone else check my blindspots," he finished.

With a wave of his hand, his circular spirit board materialized out of thin air and landed beside him with a thump. It stood upright, on its edge without any assistance. Its carved winking eyes seemed to stare out at me.

"I was not pleased to find out, from that someone, that you were all conspiring to ambush me," he said, turning to level another glare at the rest of the group.

Polly's eyes flashed. She stepped forward. "What the hell were we supposed to do, you asshole?!" she shouted, jabbing her finger at him. "You fucked off when Rachel needed you most. Did you know that Rachel's been possessed? Did your fucking spirits tell you that?"

For a moment, Luc just looked at Polly. "I know," he responded, before turning back to me. "But that's recent development. You weren't possessed when we last saw each other."

I shook my head. "I don't t-think so."

"You weren't," Luc said, narrowing his eyes at me... not with malice, but inspection, like his green eyes could pierce right through me. "I would've known. The real question is... Who could get past my barrier?"

Speaking with him like this, so matter-of-fact—like he hadn't up and left and broke my heart only days ago—was strange. My own voice in my head was shouting a thousand different things—ranging wildly from kiss him to kill him—but the only thing that was clear was that I was happy he was here, as pathetic as I knew it was.

"Matilda said that it was because of my arm," I said, running my fingers over the raised flesh. "She said that the Beast had ripped a hole through me, a hole that that can let things through... and that no barrier can protect me."

Luc's green eyes widened. "Matilda?" he turned back to Polly. "You brought Rachel to Matilda?"

"I didn't have much of a choice," Polly said, still glaring at him. "Matilda dragged her out of here as soon as she realized what was going on. Not that she helped, much." Polly scowled, remembering what Matilda had done to us. "But what else were we supposed to do? You. Left. Her."

Luc's face remained flat, not rising to Polly's jab. He seemed to be busy thinking something over. "And how did Matilda try to help Rachel?"

"She tried to give her an exorcism," Polly said, crossing her arms.