Lunatics {Book 1 ??}

Chapter 14

"Mom, I have a question-"

She raised one hand to interrupt me.

"If it's about sex, sunshine, I don't want to know. Ask the internet or MTV."

I laughed and shook my head.

"Mom, no. It's about...a friend of mine."

My mom waited patiently for me to explain the rest of the situation. I contemplated the best way to describe my hypothetical situation. All I could think about was Owein's black eyes.

"She has this boyfriend and he seems like a really great guy. He's never done anything wrong," I began. "But I get this feeling about him- a bad feeling, and I don't know what to do."

My mom raised an eyebrow but didn't seem suspicious of my intentions. She was more curious about my instincts.

"A bad feeling? Or a bad feeling?"

She whispered the second option as if the subject were taboo. Which, in this house, I suppose it was.

"Both."

She contemplated my response for a moment. I wasn't sure why her advice seemed to matter to me now. We'd spent the last few years of my life in content harmony with each other. I didn't ask her for things, and she didn't ask me for things.

We existed side by side but never...involved.

But now this- werewolves, ley lines, daemons, and alphas- it was all too much. I needed someone- anyone.

"I thought you weren't having those," she looked over her shoulder and whispered, "feelings anymore?"

My disappointment was hard to keep off of my face. All I had wanted was advice from my mother, but she could only think about one thing. My abilities scared her, especially in West Acres. She wanted to fit in with all the high-class socialites around us; but a psychic, death-predicting daughter really put a damper on her plans.

It took ten minutes of assurance to convince my mother that I wasn't having visions anymore and that the 'feeling' was just a one-time thing. She chose to believe me, whether she truly did or didn't, it was easier on her that way. My need for advice was gone and forgotten in her own panic.

Leaving her in the kitchen, I ascended the large staircase to get dressed. I felt slightly rejected but decided to put all of my focus now into training.

***

"It's like a map," Lucas explained as we sat in the Joy boys' backyard.

"A map," I repeated.

"Think of it as a blueprint or a layout of a person's life," he began and I closed my eyes trying to visualize what he said. "When you touch someone, you choose whether to unroll the map and look at the blueprint and see their thoughts."

"That's it?" I asked, opening my eyes. "All I have to do in order to not have a vision is choose not to unravel the map?"

"And vice versa! Try it," Lucas encouraged. He held a hand out for me to try the tactic on him. I took a deep breath and visualized a long map rolled up. As I took Lucas's hand, I imagined the map slowly unraveling.

After a moment, I opened my eyes.

"Nothing happened."

Lucas frowned and went back to his father's journal. As he perused his father's musings, Tucker and Ben threw a football back and forth under the sun. Both boys seemed impervious to the chill in the air. Their t-shirts and shorts would have been more disconcerting had they not been throwing the football at speeds that no human eye could make out. I wondered, briefly, what the two boys would look like in their other form. I'd yet to see it in person and not just in Tucker's mind. The thought thrilled and terrified me at the same time.