Seven

Cole

I listened as he described what he'd seen but then I felt a pull as he spoke, and it wasn't me leaning out to touch him. It was the strange power that had somehow found its way under my skin. A crackle of blue reached out to his arm and played along his skin, and I could feel it as though I were touching him myself.

His gasp caught my attention as he pulled over to the side of the road. "Are you hurt?" I asked, because I wasn't sure what the hell was happening.

"I can feel you," he all but shouted. His eyes were wide with equal parts of shock and wonder. "How can this be?" His voice was filled with excitement and wonder.

"I can feel you too," I admitted. "I can feel your skin as though I'm touching you."

"How can this be?" he repeated.

I extended my finger to the spark of electricity that played along my hand. It wasn't painful and strangely enough it felt like it was just a part of me. With a flash of blue.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"Nothing, what did you hear?" I'd been hearing those words on repeat since we'd left the hospital. Ignoring it didn't make it go away, but it helped me to not focus on it so much.

"With a flash of blue. That's what I heard."

"That's impossible." I wasn't going to go down that path. None of this made sense and all of it was fucking weird. But I wasn't willing to even imagine that he could read my thoughts. Or maybe I was showing him my thoughts? I didn't know how that worked, or if it was even possible.

"You know what that means?" he asked and turned to face me.

I hadn't wanted to tell him. Hell, I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I remembered every word of the strange poem I'd heard while I was levitating above the bed. "No, but I remember it."

"You said that when you were levitating above the bed. But your voice wasn't your own. It was infused with so much power, and you clenched my hand the whole time with a strength that didn't seem possible. Whose voice was that?" he asked and reached across the console for my hand.

"I've never heard those words until today, and I don't know how I knew it. Those words were not my own, I don't understand it, but somehow, I know someone else was speaking through me." That was it, that was what a part of me screamed. Someone else could read my thoughts and was able to speak through me without me being able to stop them.

"Is that possible?" he asked and furrowed his brow.

The laugh that came out of me sounded like a crazed person, but right now I was on the edge of either losing my mind or gaining some clarity about shit I had no clue even existed. "You saw me get hit by lightning and levitate off a bed. You think psychic abilities are over the top after all that?" I smiled, and it felt so fucking good but slightly foreign to feel that sense of relief.

He squeezed my hand, and I was struck by how normal it felt for this stranger to hold my hand. "You're right, at this point nothing should shock me. There's a strange feeling I get when we're close. It's like nothing I've ever experienced. It's not just attraction, it's—well I don't know what it is," he said and met my eyes.

"It's like lightning running through your veins, and there's nothing you can do to try to ignore it," I murmured.

"Blue lightning," he said and leaned in close enough to rest his head on my shoulder. "What do we do now?"

"You take me home so I can get some clothes on. Then we see what we can find out. There has to be something online or someone has to know something. We can't be the only two people to experience what we have. The voice has to belong to whoever else is involved. I think we should try to figure out who that person is and what they want."

He pulled back enough to look at me and shook his head. "I can't believe I once again got sidetracked about getting you some clothes. Let's go then. Once you're feeling better, I'm more than willing to see what we can find out. But I do think it's important you rest. I have a feeling there is way more to this than we know."

"I'll make an appointment with my doctor as soon as possible. I want to know everything is okay too. And I'm sorry I put you in the position I did at the hospital, but I had to get out of there." The lightning had hit me once, what if I was hit again? What if I was inside? What would happen to everyone who was near me? I couldn't take that chance. Not until I knew exactly what was happening.

After releasing my hand, he patted my arm. "Let's get you home."

I settled back in the seat and neither of us spoke until we passed the city limits sign to Hickory Crossing. "Go through the four-way stop and turn at the first left." He followed my directions, and, in a few minutes, we pulled up in front of my house. It looked exactly the same as it had when I'd left this morning even if I wasn't the same. "Thanks again," I said, and wasn't sure if he'd be following me in or not. But he rushed around to my side to help me out.

"Let me at least make sure you make it through the door," he said.

I nodded, not able to think of a single reason why I wouldn't want him to help me. I stepped out of the van and without looking I knew the burns on my feet were also healed but I didn't want to throw more at Bobby than I already had, so I kept my mouth shut and let him guide me to the house. Opening the door, I stepped inside, and Clawd, my black cat, gave me a glance before going right back to sleep with a stretch of his front foot.

"Right then, I'll be going," Bobby said as he turned to walk away.

"No wait." I held myself back from rushing over to where he stood on the front walk.

"Are you okay?" he asked and took a step toward me.

"I'm not ready to be alone," I admitted.

He paused a moment before nodding and walking back to where I stood just inside the door. "Then I'll stay," he said, and closed the door behind him.