New Revelations: Second Sight Book Two (5 page)

Later that week, Kate sat in her
R
hetoric
cour
se
unable
to
keep her eyes open.
Every couple of minutes she had
to give herself a hard pinch to wake up. One time, the pinch was hard enough for her to yelp out a startled “Ow!” It wasn’t a surprise that from that point on, her classmates kept sending her looks that translated into how much t
hey deemed her a mental case
.

The week had
worn on wit
hout another vision of Max. Instead, Kate’s
brain
had
been overcrowded with
memories from Jared
’s past
. She would never tell him this, but one of the challenges lately was
not
having visions of him
. She guessed it was from the excitement and infatuation that came with starting a new relationship.

In other circumstances
when she wasn’t trying to find an abducted child
, Jared’s memories would be fascinating to her.
Not many girls were basically able to view a biography of t
he guy they were dating. It allowed Kate to learn
much about him without having to grill him about his past
.

She enjoyed watch
ing him grow up and it
was sort of shocking to see Jared
as a sullen loner in high school. Kat
e had early on categorized
Jared as a super stud and
she had
never
bought his tales of being an outcast growing up.
Although it s
ucked he had a rough childhood
, it definitely reduced his god-like status in her mind.
Feeling like an outsider was something she could easily relate to and if anything
,
his past made her feel
more drawn to him.

It was a relief when the professor finally dismissed the class.
Once Kate arrived at the campus café, s
he planned to order an extra large coffee with boatloads of sugar to help wake her up.
Tonight, she had plans with Jared to go out to a hibachi restaurant with Julie and Gage. Normally,
Kate would be
nervous about going on a double date with Julie and her Neanderthal boyfriend, but Max had consumed her
every waking thought
. Although she handed o
ver the information to the
Blaine
police department
,
Max was still missing
. Max’s
mother
had provided her number in the letter she had sent Kate. She had phoned Farrah to pass on the vision of Max. After her initial excitement over the possibility that Max was most likely unharmed, the conversation had become strained.

Her online searches yielded no more information and Max’s mother did not seem to know the woman based off of Kate’s description. It had been diffi
cult to explain to Farrah
that she couldn’t just hone in on his location.
Since Max didn’t know where he was, Kate couldn’t find him without seeing a clue from subsequent visions.

After ordering her coffee, she took a long sip an
d sighed at her inner musings. Getting stressed about a lost boy thousands of miles away wouldn’t get him home any sooner. There was no guarantee she would have another vision of him, so her best hope would
be to
center her attention on him each night. Meanwhile, it was comforting
to know the
investigation was still ongoing and there was the potential
police could find Max
.

As she made her way ac
ross campus towards her car, Kate paused
to
grab
her keys from her purse. As her body was
turn
ing
, her heart momentarily stopped. Less than twenty feet behind her w
as the scruffy looking guy
she h
ad spotted earlier in the week. He was walking slowly while looking down at his smartphone.
However, Kate had a feeling the sudden fascination with his phone was all for show
. As she was grabbing her keys, she noted he kept glancing up to watch her
movements. Holy crap
, she thought, and
tried to avoid hyperventilation
. Calling out for help seemed a little premature
—
it was easy
to
imagine her humiliation over falsely accusing someone of following her
.
Her best bet
at the moment would be to
continue to her car without causing a scene. However, her sense of self-preservation motivated her to slip the pepper spray Jared had given her two nights ago in
to
her palm.

The campus crowds thinned out as
she moved
closer to the parking lot
. Her dawdling had left plenty of
time for students to get to their next class or head to their cars.
The closest
figure appeared
too far
away
to hear her
in case she needed to
cry out for help.
With a q
uick look over her shoulder, Kate
almost cursed aloud when she saw the guy was still tailing her.
His phone was still in his hands and he would look down at it each time she glanced behind her.

The thought of being a
victim
again
forced
her
to quicken her pace. Turning the corner as she passed
the last academic building, Kate
sprinted towar
ds the tree
-
lined area
next to the parking lot.
She pressed her body against one of the larger
elm trees
and tried to stay as still as possible
. This was easier said than done given that
her body quaked with fear.
Gripping the pep
per spray in her hand, Kate
didn’t have to wait long until she heard quick and urgent steps close by. Without a second’s hesitation, she jumped out from behind the tr
ee and held
out
the can
in front of
her body. Her face contorted into a menacing mask as a way to disguise her trepidation.

“Whoa
! Hold on there! I swear I’m not trying to hurt you!” the boy shouted with obvious alarm
as his eyes connected with the pepper spray
.
His phone dropped out of
his hands and smashed to the ground
.

“You have ten seconds to explain why the hell you’re following me before I scream rape and give you a mouthf
ul of mace,” Kate
threatened. Her breathing came out ragg
ed and she could not stop
trembling as she gripped the container
.

The boy
frowned and did not meet her eyes.
“I’m
so sorry I scared you. I guess I went about this whole thing the wrong way,” he mumbled.

Kate looked him over while still keeping her finger on the trigger. He was definitely rough around the edges and she felt she had just cause to be alarmed. A few scars were visible on his neck along with one at the edge of his
full
lips. Besides a tribal band on his left bicep, she noted a scorpion
tattoo
on his forearm.
He was super muscular and she guessed he could easily knock her out before she even had the chance to thin
k about making a run for it
.
She hated to judge a book by its cover, but this dude looked like he should be serving ten to twenty at the state pen.

“What the hell are you talking about?” she demanded
when he didn’t elaborate on his statement
.

“I’ve been following you.”

Kate fought down the urge to vomit when he uttered those wo
rds. What the hell
were the chances she’d end up being targeted by another nut job in a month’s time? Did
being psychic send out a mix
of pheromones that attracted all the crazies in the
Franklin
area?

Before she could demand more answers, he continued, “It’s not as bad as it sounds. I’m like you
.”
Relaxing his stance and placing his hands in his pockets, he shot her a sheepish smile. It was crooked and certainly had the effect of reducing his threat level in her mind.

Her hazel eyes locked with his
onyx eyes
.
“What do you mean you’re like me? You’re also obsessed with
The Bachelor
and
have a fear of public restrooms?”

He let out a low chuckle. “No Kate, I’m psychic.”

Her stomach starting doing flip flops and she wasn’t sure if it was from him knowing her name or his claim to be psychic. Unconsciously, she lowered the pepper spray and stared at him with shock. “How the hell…”

He cut her off. “I’ve been researc
hing you. I live almost an hour
from here
in
South River
and heard about Cori Preston. When I read about a psychic being involved
in the case
, I wanted to see if you were the real deal.”

He
broke out his crooked grin again. This time it was decidedly less charming. She felt rankled over this complete stranger
admitting he was basically stalking her.
“And you are?
”

“Yeah, right, sorry
;
guess
I should have introduced myself,” he said awkwardly before adding,
“
You know the whole threat of mace in my face must have thrown
me off. My name’s Declan Brayden
.
” He gave her an expectant look.

Kni
tting her eyebrows together, Kate
questioned,
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

Her response shook his confidence momentarily.
“Well, not to boast, but I am pretty well-known in psychic circles.”

“So, say you are a psychic…” she paused and gave him a pointed look. “T
hat still doesn’t explain why you’re following me.”

“I told yo
u I was trying to scope you out,” he responded quickly.
His tone of voice was deep with a raspy quality. As he spoke, he kept waving his hands for emphasis.
His over eagerness
cast doubts on his believability.
“
I had to s
ee if you were an actual psych
ic or just another scam artist. I’ve got in touch with others like us in the past.
You wouldn’t believe how many supposed ‘psychics
,
’
” he said using air quotes,
“
are actually full of horse shit.”

“And what did you gain by following me?”

“Well, first of al
l you live a pretty boring life,
”
he said deadpan. He
let out a nervous laugh, but stopped when he saw her scowl. “Anyway, you seem pretty normal. The only places you seem to go are school, work and home. Oh
,
and that detective’s apartment.
”

Declan
paused as a couple of students made their way down the pathway. Stepping out of their way, he
moved closer to her. “
I haven’t figured out what you could possibly
achieve
from claiming to be psychic. Most fake psychics run scams to extort money from people and that doesn’t seem to be your
M.O.
”

Kate shuddered
as she imagined him watching her undetected. The school had been the only place she noticed him. She had never seen him at
her job or around her house
.
The thought of him lurking outside of Jared’s apartment bu
ilding set her on edge again. Declan
didn’t exactly blend into the background which meant he must’ve put in a lot of effort into kee
ping his identity concealed. Kate
hid her discomfort with disdain.

“Ever hear of calling someone or e-mailing?
” she demanded.
“It would’ve been
a hell of a lot less creepy than stalking.”

“
Again I apologize
, but I wanted to k
now more about you before we me
t,” Declan
stated flatly and
shrugged indifferently. It was startling how unashamed he was
after admitting he
tracked
her
movements
around town.