The Psychic Within

Chapter 21: Encounter

The ring of the door's bell startled me out of my trance. I wasn't exactly sure how I had arrived back at Luc's shop, but here I was. I could remember walking, hidden under the heavy black sweatshirt, but everything else—crosswalks, street signs—was a blur.

"Rachel? Is that you?" Luc asked, his back to me as he loaded things into a duffel bag spread open on the desk. He was busy winding some fine chain around his fingers.

"Yeah," I said, the single word coming out hollow and distant, like I was hearing my own voice through a long tunnel.

Luc must've heard the strangeness in my voice too, because when he finally turned, one brow was arched. It took only a second for him to look me over and another for his eyes to widen. He tossed whatever was in his hands on the desk and rushed to my side.

"Shit, Rachel, what happened to you?" he said, his hands working gently over my body, checking for the source of the blood that was splotched over my clothes. "Are you okay?"

"There was an accident at work..." I replied, my voice still flat and emotionless.

"An accident? Are you hurt?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine. It was Anne..."

"Anne?" His green eyes fluctuated. "Is she okay?"

"I-I don't know. She cut her hand and... and it was bleeding so much. They took her to the hospital and..." I gave a limp wave of my hand. "I don't know."

Luc seemed to realize that there was something off about the whole situation. He led me to one of the armchairs and sat me down. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I nodded. Some distant, logical part of myself knew that it was silly to be so worked up over something that didn't even happen to me. But for some reason I couldn't shake the chill that had burrowed under my skin. It was like I was seeing everything through layer of ice.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?" Luc said, taking hold of my hand. "Take your time. There's no rush."

"O-Okay," I mumbled, taking a deep breath to brace myself for describing the gruesome scene. "Well, I was about to leave, when Anne called me over. She wanted to talk. She said she had something to tell me, so—" 

I froze, my voice falling to nothing.

Something to tell me... 

Suddenly, I was pulled out of my fog. In the frenzy of the bloody accident, I had forgotten exactly what Anne had said to me.

It all came rushing back now.

"Rachel?" Luc asked, leaning in close.

"Anne said something strange," I breathed, my gaze focusing on him.

Luc's brow folded in, like he didn't understand what that had to do with the blood I was covered in, but he humoured me. "What did she say?"

"She said there was something wrong with my arm." I gripped my wrist, pulling my scarred arm to my chest. "She said she could see it in... in my aura."

"Your aura?" Luc echoed.

"Yeah. A-Are auras actually, like, a thing?" I asked. I half hoped they weren't, so I could forget about everything she had said. But after all that I seen in this world, that didn't seem likely...

Luc glanced away for a moment before finding my eyes again. "Yes."

Damn. "Okay, then. So, Anne could've actually seen my... my aura?" No matter how many times I said it, it still sounded crazy.