Page 23 of Never Say Die
“Ah, yes. Camila,” Kelly said, and shifted her eyes briefly toAiden. “She’s a lovely girl. To be frank, I go where Spirit directs me.” She placed her purse-dog on the wood floor. Shay’s eyes flicked sideways. Aiden mouthedSpirit. “We’ll be seated at the table and I’ll begin by reading your energy. If Spirit arrives with guidance, I’ll relay. Otherwise, we’ll call to your ancestors. Is there anything specific you’re looking for?”
“Answers, I guess. I need to know what I am, if that makes sense,” Shay said.
“It does. You’re nervous, aren’t you?” She grinned and took his hand, extending the other. Aiden muffled another chuckle and gingerly clasped her palm. She continued, sighing gently. “We’re in this together, Shay. We’re here for you.”
“Yeah, man, we’re here for you,” Aiden cooed.
Shay sucked his bottom lip between his teeth and nodded tightly. “Mmhm, okay. Is there anything I should do…?”
“Just relax, sweetie. Let Spirit do the work,” Kelly said, and released their hands, gesturing to a square table in front of the sliding glass door. She closed the curtains and struck a match, holding the flame to six clean candlewicks.
Aiden sat closest to the door. Kelly and Shay faced each other, Shay with his hands wringing in his lap, and the pretty, lily white psychic murmuring words in a language Aiden didn’t know. Hindi, he thought. The candles flickered calmly.
“Yes, yes, I hear you,” she said, eyes closed, fists hovering above the table. “Spirit is here, Shay. I’m looking into the light, into your future, and I see. . .” Her brows knitted. “Blood,” she said, suddenly. Her head twitched, lips slackening. “I see blood. I feel. . . Transcendent, almost. As if I’ve… I’ve lost consciousness. Do you. . .” Her voice gave out. She opened her eyes like a startled deer. “Thomas Manko,” she whispered.
Brittle ice spread through Aiden’s body. He shifted his wide eyes to Shay. Everything slowed. Aiden watched Shay’s knuckles clench. Noticed his throat flex, working around a swallow. WhenKelly scooted her chair backward, Shay said, dangerously quiet, “Don’t.”
Terror crossed Kelly’s pretty face. Her shoulders lifted toward her ears, hands trembling. Pale, gray eyes welled. “I need you to leave.”
“You know we can’t do that,” Shay said.
Aiden blinked, confused. Suddenly terrified, too. The last thing they needed was another body in a sleeping bad. “Shay, we?—”
“I can see it in your eyes,” Shay said. He placed his palms on the table and stood, leaning toward the unfortunately genuine psychic. “You’re afraid. You should be. Now, askSpirit—or whatever the hell you’re communing with—what, exactly, I am.”
“I c-can’t see anything, I swear. I caught glimpses of your past. Nothing solid, nothing. . . Nothing concrete. I know you died, but I can’t feel anything else—I don’t know anything else, I won’t say anything, I?—”
Shay sighed. “You’re lying, Kelly.”
Aiden reached for Shay, and said, “Let’s just go.”
Black leaked from Shay’s eyelashes, webbing along his skin like collapsed veins. His voice deepened, rough and unknown. “We can’t.”
“Shay,” Aiden warned.
“There’s something festering inside you,” Kelly said, gasping. A tear curved along her cheek. “I have never seen my own future until today. We can change it, though. Together. Me and you.” She locked eyes with Shay, inching away from the table, hand creeping toward the kitchen island. “Whatever you are, we’ll figure it out. I can make a call. I can?—”
“Shay,” Aiden said again, desperately.
Kelly startled. Lunged. Screamed as her fingertips clipped the edge of the iPhone seated on expensive marble. The same moment Shay’s hand met her throat. Things unraveled afterthat. Shay held her the same way he’d hold a rag. Carelessly. He lifted her toward the ceiling with his fangs bared, and ignored her frantic, animal movements, swatting and flailing and sucking in air.
“You’re unmade,” she choked out, digging her acrylics into his knuckles. “Dead energy forced to occupy a living vessel, forced to consume vitality. I don’t know a-anything else. I can’t see anything else. It’s all feelings—just feelings. Please, you can’t?—”
“What feelings?” Shay snarled.
“Anguish, loneliness, hatred, love. Someone loved you, someonelovesyou enough to. . .” Her voice broke over a cough. She kicked her feet, bulged eyes searching the room, landing on Aiden. “You didn’t want this—youdon’twant this!”
“No one will believe her, Shay. She’ll sound fucking insane. Let her go,” Aiden hollered. “We need to get out of here.Now!”
“Tell me how to undo this,” Shay snapped, black eyes scaling her face.
“I don’t know. Please, just. . . I don’t—I don’t know, I don’t know,” she sputtered, pushing at the floor with her tip-toes. “I’m a lightworker! I can’t fix you. I don’t know how to fix you. I re-align chakras for fuck’s sake!”
Shay gripped until her breath halted. “If you make a sound about this toanyone, I’ll find you and I’ll tear your throat out. Do you understand?”
Kelly nodded. Her cheeks were damp, face reddened, body wracked with tremors. When Shay let her go, she crumbled to the floor and shuffled away, gathering her yapping dog into her arms. Her back banged the cabinets and she knocked over a silver water dish with her foot, but her eyes never left him. She stared, coughing and heaving.
“I won’t tell anyone. I’ll—I’ll refund you,” she rasped.
