Garden of Sorrow (Book 4 of Psychic Visions, a paranormal romantic suspense) (20 page)

The little girl. He has her.
Daisy zapped out of the room. Her companions disappeared with her, leaving a very scared and confused Alexis.

Instinctively, she picked up the phone and called Kevin. It was busy. After several failed attempts, she called the police station, but couldn't get through there, either. What was going on? She turned on the television to catch the evening news.

And heard that a child had gone missing.

Terror swept through her. The madman had a new victim.

Alexis huddled in the corner of the couch, her knees tucked to her chin and tried to bury her head. There was so much evil in the world. She didn't think she could stand it.

Like you've got a choice. Damn it, Alexis, get yourself under control. You're transmitting in Technicolor, and we're trying to work!
Stefan's voice slashed through her pity party.

Alexis's tears vanished. She wasn't alone in this – even if it took an occasional boot from Stefan to remind her.

She leaned forward, realizing what they must be doing. She snatched up the phone and dialed Stefan. When he picked up she didn't even give him a chance to speak. The question rushed out of her mouth. "Stefan, can I help? Tell me what to do."

Just moments ago, she didn't think she could handle even living in this world; now she understood it was the inability – the helplessness – to do anything that had bothered her. But if she could help stop this asshole, well, that was a completely different story.

"Kevin?" Stefan asked. He'd put the phone on speaker, lending a tinny hollowness to his voice.

"She's not ready for this." Kevin's voice pissed her off, and instantly made them combatants again.

"Shut up, Kevin. You don't know what the hell I might be ready for."

"Neither do you."

"Really. Well, Daisy just told me that the same asshole that is holding her has this little girl, and that I need to help her."

There was a fraction of a second of silence before both men exploded. "What? When? What did she say?"

"Damn it, Alexis. You should have contacted us immediately."

"I tried," she mumbled. "Your phone was busy. It was only a few minutes ago, and she didn't say anything else."

"But she did confirm that it was the same asshole?" That was the detective in him speaking again, needing to nail down the facts.

"Yes."

"Shit."

There was a soul-weariness to Stefan's voice that worried Alexis. "Can you find her Stefan?"

"I've been looking, but so far…nothing."

"Is he blocking you?"

"Yes, I'd say so – or if not blocking, at least putting up a different energy to hide behind."

"Same thing," cut in Kevin.

"Maybe and maybe not. Can Daisy help with that?"

"She might be able to," Stefan said. "Can you connect to her again?"

Alexis didn't know half the time if she was speaking aloud or thinking in her mind, the conversations had become so complex, so strange, yet so intimate on these different levels. Their thoughts and hers blended to become one. Weird. And she held the phone in her hand to complicate matters even further.

"I can try."

Kevin broke in hurriedly.
Not alone. Go to Stefan's house and let him help. I have to continue with the search. Let me know if you learn anything
.

Alexis's mind instantly lightened, becoming empty and feeling lonely in a way. To know that someone was with you so intimately was something she was starting to enjoy. It gave her a sense of belonging that she had never experienced before.

Do you want to come here, or shall I come to you
? Stefan's words were neutral, but Alexis could sense the fatigue flowing off him in waves.

"No, don't come here. I'll be at your place in a few minutes. Put on the coffee."

With that, she grabbed her keys and headed back to her car.

***

Stefan's door was wide open when Alexis arrived. There was nothing to suggest foul play but she found herself approaching cautiously. She couldn't resist a sigh of relief that Kevin was at work. She couldn't deal with her own confusion over him at the moment, much less explain it to him. And he'd want an explanation sooner or later.

"Hello? Stefan?" She took a couple steps inside, even though there was no answer. The room looked, as always, sparse and clean, everything in its place. Where could he be?

"Stefan!" she called out louder. "Are you home?"

"Back here," his voice called from the back of his house.

She walked through to find him comfortably seated on the bench in the center of his back garden. "Stefan? Are you okay?"

He grimaced. The early evening light cast long shadows in his face. It was hard to see details, but his face glowed in the weird light, solemn and intense. "I will be."

"That doesn't make it any easier though, does it?" Alexis sat down beside him concerned at the melancholy look to him. "You think she's dead, don't you?"

He looked at her in surprise. "Not at all. It's just that I've seen this so many times before, and they usually end badly."

"It's not like you to be so negative."

"I call it realistic." Stefan suddenly stood and motioned her back to the house. "Let's go see if we can make a difference."

They settled into the living room. Stefan immediately started to follow what Alexis now recognized as his work ritual. Once tea was poured, they each relaxed for a few minutes.

"Where do we start?"

Stefan looked at her, his head tilted in consideration. "Why don't you tell me?"

She looked at him questioningly. Where should they start? With Daisy? Or with this asshole to see if they could find out something on their own? She closed her eyes to turn inward.

And found Lissa standing inside her mind.

"Aacck!" Startled, she opened her eyes. Lissa sat cross-legged beside Stefan. How did one get used to that?

"Maybe we should ask my sister?" Alexis suggested dryly. "She might know what we can do."

Stefan grinned at Lissa. "Her? Now what could she know that we don't?"

Ghostly laughter lit up the room. Alexis's heart lightened proportionally. It was so good to see her sister again.

Lissa looked over at her knowingly. Alexis grinned. She couldn't help being delighted at these meetings. Lissa had stayed for her. It couldn't last forever, but for now…their time together was a joy. And of course, being on the other side of the veil meant Alexis could go visit Lissa. "Let's get down to business?"

She's alive. But that's all I know.
Lissa's voice was faint and reedy.

"Is it the same man?" Stefan asked.

Lissa's faint form nodded weakly.
Yes
.

"Why this child?" Alexis asked.

There is a connection. I just can't tell what kind.

That made sense, but it wasn't enough to go on.

"Anything more specific?" Stefan asked, "Can you see her? Can you see where she's being held?"

Only that he's stashed her in a dark place and she's scared. I can't see her. I get the odd spike as her overwhelming fear bleeds onto my plane.

Stefan nodded. "Good enough to start. Do you want to begin, Alex? I'll watch your back."

Alexis agreed. Getting comfortable, she followed the rituals Stefan had drilled into her. Within moments, she'd escaped the physical world to walk through her favorite meadows. Lissa, now walked beside her.

The meadow slowly changed, moving into a stark, desolate landscape. Alexis consciously worked on her thoughts to manipulate the scenery back to something more pleasant, but nothing would shift.

It took a moment to understand. This wasn't her world. It was his. Had he noticed her presence already? How could he not?

I don't think he has seen you. I think you've picked up on him intuitively.
Lissa looked around as if it all made sense now.
That's why we're here. This is his place.

Alexis froze as the first tendrils of remembered fear snaked up her spine. From a long distance away, Alexis could hear Stefan's calm, steady voice talking to her.
Focus, Alexis. This is a good sign.

Says you,
she muttered. The air around them deepened, thickened, and filled with a rank odor. Her nose wrinkled against the smell. He must know they were there.

No, I don't think so
. Just as affected, Lissa had lowered her voice to a whisper.

Then what's with the scenery?
Alexis asked. They continued to move cautiously forward. It was hard to breathe and even harder to see.

Did you hear what you just thought? You aren't breathing or seeing in any physical sense to begin with. In this dimension, you can clear your surroundings with your mind. That's his projection, but that doesn't have to be your perception
. Stefan's voice rang clear and succinct in her head.

Oh, hell, you're right.
Instantly, the air cleared, and began to smell bright and fresh again.

With her new understanding of her personal control, she formulated a beautiful rock to sit on. Sitting comfortably, Alexis brought up the image of the missing girl she'd seen on television. With Lissa at her side, she focused at a deeper level than she'd ever tried before. Deeper and deeper she went, searching for a connection that would take her to the child.

She whistled through long tunnels and around corners. She floated, flew and raced through different scenes in a mad search that took on a life of its own. Without warning, she found herself falling into a black hole. The only viable sense left to her was sound.

What she heard was heart-wrenching sobbing.

Alexis reached deep for control, detaching as completely as she could in order to bring her other senses back into use, and found a frail child awkwardly crumpled in a corner. Her poor face, half covered in straggly blond hair, lay buried in a moldy blanket. Alexis searched the gloom for details, anything helpful to indicate her location.

An odd hum echoed from somewhere and the room oozed a stale mustiness. She couldn't tell if it were an actual room, or some other containment. She needed to find something soon. There was no telling when
he'd
show up.

Alexis gently brushed the child's forehead. She didn't want to scare her, but the child needed comforting. Outside of a simple flinch, the girl didn't recognize the motion for what it was. No surprise there. Taking an extra second, Alexis consciously pulled some of the fear from the little girl's energy. Her own heart rate picked up as she absorbed the pain and fear into her own space. Shuddering slightly at the ripples of nastiness, she dumped it from her system as quickly as possible. She ran a light sweep over her own aura and swept out the negative energy as Stefan had explained to her. A simple enough mental process now that she knew about it.

Pulling back slightly, Alexis shifted to the other side of whatever barrier was hiding the child. The interior space disappeared. She now floated above an unrecognizable highway, looking down on evening traffic. A van drove steadily below her, an ancient white van with smoked windows. Was that it?

Alexis could feel her draining energy fade. There wasn't much more she could draw on. Desperate to have something concrete to take back, she gathered the last of her energy, zooming in on the back of the speeding van. The distance widened rapidly. She strained to the limits of her abilities. It took every bit of effort, but with one final burst of speed, Alexis surged down, barely catching several letters in the license plate.

Got it!

She hit the end of her spiritual rope. A huge vacuum sucked her backward through an endless tunnel. This time her journey was much faster, spinning her helplessly in a rotating tunnel, accompanied by endless, blinding noise for several long, numbing moments.

Until she was slammed back, once again, into Stefan's living room.

***

"Alex?" Stefan's soft, caring voice called to her over and over. "Take a moment to bring yourself back. Slowly return to this plane." It took several long minutes for her to recognize he was stroking her shoulder gently.

"I'm back." Her voice cracked, grating against the serenity of the room. Nausea rose then calmed in a big ocean wave. Her vocal cords seemed awkward and rusty. "
That
was a rough trip."

"Is there any other kind?" He waited a minute before asking, his voice barely hiding the hint of anxiousness, "Did you learn anything?"

That brought her quickly around. Sitting up too quickly, she collapsed back down again. "Oh, my head," she groaned.

"I said take it easy for a bit. It's always worse after a bad trip."

"You need to contact Kevin." She took a deep breath against the pain battering away inside her head and then quickly related what had happened.

Even as she winced, she recognized Stefan's inner shift. He'd already opened communication with Kevin. Almost immediately, Kevin was in her head, confirming the parts of the license number that she saw and the type of van that was being driven.

You're sure you didn't get a description of the driver
? Kevin's impatient voice demanded.

"No, she whispered painfully. Her head was killing her, the tempo beating between the lobes of her brain. Kevin's questions weren't helping. God, she wished he'd disappear, at least until she felt better.

Stefan pivoted sharply to look at her.

"What?" she asked, confused by the strange look on his face.

"Did you do that on purpose?" At her look of incomprehension, he added, "You just shoved Kevin out of your mind and slammed the door." He grinned, winking at her. "You should hear him now."

Her head did feel better. How odd. She smiled wanly, hoping Kevin wouldn't hold it against her. "Maybe I did, but I didn't know that's what I was doing. My head's been killing me since I came back from that vision. His telepathy was making it worse." She shrugged in bewilderment, adding, "I couldn't stand it." She hadn't meant to shove him out, though. In fact, she didn't even know that was something she could do.

"So you gave him the boot. Congratulations, you just took your next step. From now on, we'll require your permission to enter. Keep that in mind any time you're in trouble."