She stared at him with raised eyebrows. He sighed. “Think there’s an old one in the lower cupboard, last one on the right. Will need to be washed out.”
Cara bent to rummage through the cupboard, finally emerging with the old teapot. She peered into it.
“Looks like the mice appreciate tea.”
“I think I need a cat.”
“I’m a member of a cat rescue in Winnipeg.”
Zach rubbed his temples as she prattled while scrubbing the pot. Her smooth, calm voice and the perpetual undercurrent of humming continued to work its magic, soothing his spirit. He raised his head from his hands when she placed the teapot on the table. He’d almost dozed off. Willow nosed her way through his stack of footwear by the door, her long, shaggy ears flicking back and forth. One of his boots hung from her teeth.
“Does she want out?” he asked hopefully.
“No, I don’t think so.”
Zach officially gave up. Crystals chiming as her hair swayed, Cara sat and handed him a cup. When he reached for the teapot, she slapped his hand away.
“Has to steep,” she scolded. “Were you raised in a barn?”
“Yeah, actually.”
Her arms moved in an intricate pattern that ended with them folded on the table. “Okay. Tell me about your day.”
“Why are you here?” It came out snarkier than he intended.
Her brows rose. “Do you want me to leave?”
“No. But it’s the middle of the night. Or morning. I’m glad you came, but why did you?”
She regarded him in silence for a moment. Then she sighed. “I sensed you coming apart.”
“Yousensedme?” A touch of the panic returned.
Cara danced a hand in the air. “I sense energy the way you sense emotion. I was uneasy all afternoon. And then this evening, things started to go haywire. By the time you headed home, I knew you needed my help.”
Zach stared at her in shock. “You know I can feel people’s emotions?”
“You’re an Empath, Zach.”
He pushed himself upright in his chair. His fingers curled against the tabletop. “What I am is a freak.”
Cara sighed and checked on the tea. “No, you’re not. And you are not alone. Although your kind is rare.”
Zach’s beleaguered brain struggled with it. “Are you an Empath too?”
She hesitated before pouring the tea. “It’s still a little weak.” Her lips compressed into a thin line. “I am something different.”
Something different? What did that mean? Zach found himself babbling. “I wasn’t born this way. I was in an accident and bashed my head. Ever since then, I’ve been like this. I’m damaged.”
She was unruffled by his outburst. “Believe it or not, youwereborn this way. Some people never develop their talent. Sometimes it takes a major trauma, mental or physical, to trigger it.” Cara poured her tea as well and dropped in two cubes of sugar. Willow came over for a cube of her own.
That donkey’s teeth were definitely going to rot. Zach struggled to focus. “There are other Empaths?” He wasn’t sure he believed what she was telling him.
“As I said, they are rare, but they do exist. Cryptids host many talents including precog, psychokinesis, telepathy, psychometry. And there are those that can also manipulate energies.” Cara swallowed a sip of her tea. “There is an entire underworld walking among humans that you know nothing about. We are known as Cryptids.”
Zach’s gut twisted as his skepticism rose. “Cryptids? Like Bigfoot? And the Loch Ness monster?”
Cara matched gazes with him, as though she knew he was pulling away. “To name a few. Some Cryptids are closer to animal form. Others pass as human.”
