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“Small houses…An old church. A…small flying machine?”
Jessica wriggles slightly at the discomfiting sense of a stranger rifling through her private memories.
“Please…try to recenter your thoughts to the eyes of the cat.”
Jessica does as she is told.
“And now I see a house on a piece of land shaped like a—”
“Trapezoid.”
“Yes. And I see dogs. Many dogs. A girl, with empty eyes. And a woman.” Webb closes her eyes tight, throws her head back slightly, and exhales. “This woman. She is timeless, infinite.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I don’t know.” Jessica keeps her eyes closed, flinches slightly at the sensation of the woman’s bony fingers touching her temple. “The age of her soul…as if she has lived for many centuries. She has learned many things. She has powers.”
“Super-powers?”
“Maybe. Maybe not…skills learned over centuries. The ability to manipulate and control. To control people, to control animals, to control the weather even. And she has controlled the girl, I see it. And you were controlled too. You were with the girl and your mind was entered and a voice said…” Webb draws in her breath and looks hard into Jessica’s eyes. “It said, ‘Do you want to be perfect?’”
“She said what?”
“‘Do you want to be perfect?’ And you became immediately enchanted, brought under. You said, ‘Yes, I do want to be perfect….’ And you let go of the girl.”
The image plows head-on into Jessica’s consciousness. Yes. There it is. The fingers tight around her thoughts, her arms loosening around the girl, her mind softening, the girl going to Debra, Debra holding the girl in her arms.
The old woman continues. “The woman led you both back into the house, meek as pet lambs. Then—oh!—there is black light from a black screen. And this black light…It is like blood, being pumped through veins, Jessica, veins that run beneath the house, rivers of it. The light is black and it’s in the earth, it’s in the woman’s hands…. But the hands. They are young. The hands of a young woman. Not the old woman. There is another woman. She is a crook, this woman, please believe me. A grifter…And this light, in her hands…It’s hot—Jessica, it burns. And now it’s in your eyes, Jessica. It’s shining in your eyes—it looks like blood—your eyes are black—and you are…” She gasps. “You are perfect.”
Jessica feels it then, hot and dark, the shock of the flash from the screen of a phone. A pair of eyes on hers. Staring, with glee. Debra’s eyes? But no, not Debra’s. Somebody else’s. Who was it? And then a second later a sense of everything lifting away from her: her self-doubt, her trauma, her sharp edges, her fear of the future.
“I see the black light enter you….”
Jessica sees it too, a pulse, from a phone, the shock of hot blackness in her eyes.
“And now you think you are perfect.”
“I think I’m perfect?”
“Yes.”
“But I’m not?”
Webb tilts her head as if considering this and says, “Nobody is perfect, Jessica,” but quickly looks up at the ceiling in concentration. “And I see another picture in your head. A child…up from the earth…arms outstretched toward the light. An etching, yes? This image. It is in your past, but I see it also in the future. This…it’s coming soon. The child. The rays of light. It will be with you so soon.”
“I don’t understand.” Jessica feels a rush of cold dread pass through her and sits up.
“No reason to understand.” Webb closes her eyes. “Just remember that I told you this. This image. It’s in the future, and you must beware. Because it is dangerous. Children could get hurt, Jessica. Children could get hurt.”
THIRTY
JESSICA GULPS IN the cold October air when she emerges from the building a few moments later. It’s entirely dark now, and a light drizzle has formed and is dropping softly from low clouds. The pictures thrown at her by the old psychic make a sort of dizzying collage in her head. She needs to get to Amber’s apartment and talk to the twins.
She calls Amber as she walks.
“I need to talk to the twins right now. Can I come over?”
“Oh God, Jessica. I’m so sorry, I don’t know what to say to you. But they’re not here. I mean, I specifically told them they were grounded until further notice. I specifically told them to stay in their rooms until you got here. I told them and they promised. And somehow, I mean I really don’t know how, they snuck out, and it’s Sunday so the doorman isn’t here, and I don’t know what to tell you, Jessica, I don’t know what to say.”
