“Baby Aurora,” Carson laughed. “It’s been a long time since anyone’s called her that.”
“I didn’t want to confuse anyone or make Madam Aurora think there were snacks in her future.” Ten snorted.
“There are definitely snacks in my future, Ten.” Aurora laughed along with him. “Are you going to ask Everly to summon the light when she gets here?”
“That’s the other reason why I wanted to speak with all of you. What do you think? Should I ask her to try it and risk her being upset if she can’t do it? Or, should I leave this alone and hope she comes to me the next time she’s able to do it?” Ten hadn’t been this confused about his daughter in some time. He’d gotten used to the fact that Everly’s gifts at six years old far surpassed his of today, but he never imagined anything like this was possible.
“Part of me wants to see her do it,” Carson said. “A big part of me.”
“Same,” Cole agreed, “but I see where Ten’s coming from in not wanting Everly to perform in front of us like a trained circus seal.”
“Aurora, what do you think?” Ten asked, knowing he would get the best advice from her. Not because she was a woman, but because Aurora always had a greater world view than Ten.
“Like I said, I’ve never heard of anyone being able to do this. If Everly can do it, I suspect there are others that can as well. If I had this ability, I would keep it to myself. I can’t imagine the number of clients who’d come my way if it got out I had that skill. There are a lot of people who’d want me to use that gift for good, but far too many others who would want to exploit me and get whatever they could out of me. If I were you and Ronan, I wouldn’t let word of this go beyond this room. Everly’s abilities at this age have always scared me because she doesn’t have the life experience or even the knowledge about what people could possibly want from her. I know she’s got good instincts, but there are a lot manipulative people out there.”
Ten nodded. “I agree one hundred percent.”
“On the other hand,” Aurora continued with a smile, “I would very much like to see Everly try to do it, if she’s comfortable showing us.”
“I’m with Aurora,” Cope said. “It’s also possible Everly could show us how to do it too.”
“Would you want that gift?” Ten asked, not having considered the possibility of being able to learn how to summon the light himself.
“Yes, it would be just one more tool to use to help people. What I want to hear is how this even came about,” Cope said, looking as if he had more to say on the subject, when a knock at the door stopped him.
“Come in, Ronan,” Ten called out.
“Daddy!” Everly shrieked and ran across the room to her father. “Am I interrupting a meeting?”
“Actually,” Ten said. “This meeting is about you.”
“Oh,” Everly looked around the table, obviously reading all of the psychics in the room. “Are you and Daddy mad at me?” Her bottom lip wobbled.
“Let’s have a seat.” Ronan pulled out a chair for Everly and took the seat beside her. “You’re not in trouble, we just wanted to talk to you about being able to summon the light, okay?”
“I’m the one who’s in trouble,” Bertha Craig said, materializing in the chair on the other side of Carson.
“You’re not in trouble, Bertha,” Ten began. “I’m just concerned that both of you kept this ability from me.” He turned to his daughter. “I had never heard of anyone being able to do this before, so I wanted to get together with everyone and get their opinions too.”
“None of us have heard of this gift,” Cope said. “We’re all kind of hoping you can tell us more about it.”
Everly looked up to Ten, who nodded his assent. “Well, it all started when I met the spirit of a little boy on the school bus last year.”
“Last year?” Ronan asked, trying and failing to sound calm.
“Back in April,” Everly said. “Last school year. His name was Henry. I think he was about my age and had been dead for a long time. I could tell because he had funny clothes and spoke with a weird accent like Peppa the Pig.”
Ten hadn’t been told anything about this boy or his clothes. As upset as the story was making him, he knew he needed to stay quiet and let Everly speak, or risk her not wanting to open up to him again.
“Henry said that he died in a factory. I could see his arm caught in a machine and there was a lot of blood.” Thankfully, Everlydidn’t seem distressed by seeing blood, but the same couldn’t be said for Tennyson. “He told me that he missed his parents and wanted to know if I could help him see them again. I told him I didn’t know if it was possible, but I could try.”
“According to Google, The Fair Labor Standards Act was enacted in 1938. It prohibited kids from working jobs that were detrimental to their health. I would imagine Henry died before then.”
“Christ that is a long time to be separated from your family,” Cope said.
“Right,” Everly agreed. “That’s why I knew I had to try to help him.”
“What did you do exactly?” Ten asked, finding now that he’d heard more of the story that he was more curious than angry.
