Seventeen

Bobby

We sat at the table while we ate our food and sipped our drinks. It was strangely normal in a situation that was nowhere near normal. But for some fucking reason I couldn't explain, I was more than willing to give Cole the time to explain it all to me. All while watching him a little too closely to be considered normal.

Cole looked around again and leaned in close to me. "Let's go out to the cars and we can talk out there," Cole said, and walked over to throw away his napkin and cup.

I threw mine away and when I met his eyes, he held out his hand. I took it without a second thought, and searched for that electric buzz I would forever associate with Cole. And blue. A flash of blue. Glancing his way while we walked, he seemed so at ease and comfortable.

"I'm fine now," he said as we hurried past the entrance and to my car. I wasn't sure why we chose it other than it was away from the other cars.

"Where did you park?" We'd met up near the entrance, but I didn't know what he drove, and hadn't seen him park. He pointed to a black SUV parked next to mine. "How did that happen?"

"Just lucky, I guess," he said.

"Or great minds think alike. I didn't want to get caught in traffic when we left."

He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'm sorry it's been so long since we've seen each other. There's been so much going on, and I didn't want to bring you into it if you didn't need to be. It's really a very strange story."

"Stranger than you being struck by lightning?" His eyes met mine and even in the dark car I could see how serious he was.

"Yes."

I looked out at the parking lot and over at the carnival where everyone was going on with their lives not even knowing about the strange circumstance, we found ourselves in. So many thoughts ran through my mind, most of them to do with the fact Cole could now read minds. What if he used that against me in some way?

"I'd never do that. We'll find a way for you to close your thoughts to me. I don't know how I was able to mute everyone when we were in there, but if it hadn't happened, I think I would have lost my mind. There were a thousand voices all screaming different thoughts at me, but through all that I could focus on your mind, and it calmed me."

"What if we can't find a way? I don't like the idea that you can know everything I'm thinking." I tried to imagine a world where I would be okay with another person knowing my thoughts and I knew it wouldn't ever be okay. The lack of privacy, the lack of surprise. The fact he would know every memory I fought to forget and every bad experience I'd ever had that haunted me.

"Bobby, I promise you. I'm going to find a way to not invade your privacy. But I need to tell you what I've found out."

I took a deep breath and hoped to find an ounce of calm in this sea of confusion I was now plunged into. "Go ahead."

"My mom told me a story about when she was a teenager and had just graduated from high school. She and my dad had always known each other but they hadn't ever dated, and there was another guy who it seems was sort of an introvert. The other guy, Nox, was into some weird things that my parents didn't know anything about. But they were curious teenagers and went along with it until things got bad."

"I don't really understand what you're talking about."

He took another deep breath before continuing. "Nox was into witchcraft, or some sort of black magic. My parents helped him perform a few rituals, but they didn't know what they were doing, or what it really involved. They didn't take any of it seriously. Until he talked them into going to the carnival with him."

"What could have happened at the carnival?" I asked, but a part of me was afraid to know.

"They went to a fortune teller. Mom thought it was all a joke and didn't go in thinking it would change their lives. They walked into her tent and sat at her table. She asked them what they wanted to know. Nox said he wanted to know how to get more magic and more power. She shuffled her tarot cards, but before she could set them out her head was thrown back and she began to speak."

"What did she say?" I whispered, but I knew before he started.

"With a flash of blue there will be two. One of old and one of new. Wisdom and innocence must combine. If one of them is to remain alive," Cole said.

For a moment I didn't know how to react. "That's what you said at the hospital."

"That's what the fortune teller told them. My parents didn't know what it meant. But Nox did. Mom said he got more and more intense and started doing rituals that went from being fun and a little creepy, to deeply disturbing. She and Dad decided they didn't want anything else to do with Nox or whatever it was he was trying to do. They found out about a week later that he'd left town. His aunt didn't know where he'd gone and hadn't heard from him since then.

"Mom said they never tried to find him and were relieved when he left. She said in some ways she felt like he was controlling them somehow to get them to help with his rituals, but she didn't know that for sure."

"What does that have to do with what the fortune teller told them?" I asked.

"The ritual he was trying to do involved him being endowed with an ultimate power, a flash of blue," Cole said.

"Somehow you ended up with the power he was seeking."

"Yes, and I'm pretty sure he wants it."

"What do you mean?"

"The voice in my head is not my own, and I'm fairly sure it's his. Somehow, he's found a way to get in my head. I keep having horrible dreams so I'm not sleeping. I'm so on edge I feel like I could lose my mind."

"Can he hear your thoughts?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think he can. I don't feel him there all the time so maybe it takes him some effort to get into my head."

"Oh, Cole," I said, and pulled him into my arms. He looked tired, but I'd put that down to the fact he was working a lot. I had no way of knowing he was being haunted in his dreams. "Does his aunt still live there? Maybe she can help."

"She does, and she was there when I got struck by lightning."

"The lady with the goats?"

"Yes."

"Have you talked to her?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"No, I don't know how to handle any of this. I'm really scared, Bobby. What if he tries to take this from me and it kills me?" he whispered.

I took his face in my hands, right now I didn't give a shit if he could read my mind or not, I wanted him to know he could count on me. "That's not going to happen. We'll find him and we'll stop him, but first we need to meet with the goat lady."

"Miss Avery," he said. His fingers encircled my wrist holding my hand to his cheek.

"We're going to meet with Miss Avery." I nodded to give that thought some emphasis, and he smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. He was terrified, and for the first time through all this crazy shit. I completely understood why.