“Unfortunate,” the first woman says. “But please, come and sit down so we can begin.”
Again, I follow her instructions, stepping around her full skirts, and taking a seat at the table. There, at the center, is a goddamn Ouija board.
“Oh, hell no.” The words jump out of my mouth as fast as I get up from the table.
“Sit down,” they say in unison, and I do, as if my body’s being forced into position.
They both smile, and that’s when I get it. This is like when Smith killed Sue Myhre. Somebody’s memory. Shivers run along my spine and my jaw clenches so tight my teeth squeak. It’s a vision of some kind, and I do not want to play.
And I seriously don’t want to touch that board.
“We’re wasting time,” the light-eyed woman says. “Put your hands on the planchette.”
The other woman nods. “You’ve been keeping secrets, Daniel. We must ask the spirits the way forward.”
My hands move on their own. “For fuck’s sake.” The planchette is cold and smooth under my fingertips. Outside, waves crash on the beach, which both reassures me and highlights how uncanny the current situation is. Both women rest their fingers on the planchette, next to mine. I want to take my hands away, to get out of this chair and leave the room. Instead, I sit there like a dumb rabbit staring down a hawk.
“Ask the question, Daniel.”
I’m not sure which woman said it or if it came out of the air. I have no clue what they want me to ask, so I spit out the only one that comes to mind. “What in the fuck is going on?”
“Ezra Lane Huckaby, bless your heart, you are in some trouble, aren’t you?”
Bless my heart is right. The voice is both well-known and totally unfamiliar, a family member I don’t see very often. One of my grandmothers, but older, stronger, and more distant.
My palms are sweating. My fingers might as well be glued to the planchette. “I don’t know. I was getting drunk and planning my next move, and then this happened.”
“You’re sitting in a cage, son, and you don’t even see it. Your daddy mighta laid the foundation and your mama built the walls, but you installed the lock and threw away the key.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I rasp out, blinking fast to keep back the tears.
“Your life. I’m talking ’bout the way you go about living, how you shut out anybody who might want to get close to you and stifle that gift you’re too scared to use.”
“Gift I’m too scared to—what are you even talking about?”
“You’re clairvoyant, Ezra. Always have been.”
My protest is weak. “Mom said it was the devil talking to me.”
“Your mother is a witch-with-a-b and she deserves what’s coming to her.”
The voice’s clarity vibrates through me, making me swallow hard. “But I’ve only been psychic for a month or so.”
“Oh please, child. You’ve been psychic your whole damn life. You got the gift from both sides of the family, so your mother fed you a line of bull and your daddy taught you to eat sin. In truth, shutting your power off won’t keep you safe. It’ll drive you mad.”
Outrage goes off like a bomb under my sternum. Outrage, denial, and a healthy helping of fear. “This is fucking nuts.” Itear my fingers off the planchette, a pain so sharp I swear they’re bleeding. “I’m out. Take your fucking Victorian nightmare and shove it up your ass.”
It ends.
I sit down hard on the bed that wasn’t there a heartbeat ago. The women are gone, with their stupid board and their cutesy fireplace. Most likely, if I dig through hotel records, I’ll find a Daniel and a Patrick and their wives or sisters. This incident has the same feeling as the vision I had from James Smith; a memory rather than something conjured out of my twisted imagination.
Though this one got pirated by something more personal. I might have tripped into someone’s memory, but that voice was family. I know it in my bones.
I’m just as sure I’d never been clairvoyant a day in my life.
Until you caught psychic.
The ice bucket sits on the dresser, next to the half-empty bottle of whiskey. I wonder if I’ve got some kind of alcohol psychosis. Is that even a thing? The room has a small fridge and I liberate a bottle of water and swallow about half of it in one gulp. Splash my face with some for good measure.
