16 Tennyson

After Everly's bath, he tucked his daughter into bed. Usually, it was Ronan who read books to their daughter while he got Ezra into the tub, but tonight, Ten wanted to have a little chat about Spencer and Effy Lou.

"You're gonna ask me about my conversation with Aunt Effy Lou,"

Everly said, after her second drink of water.

"Uh, huh."

Ten grinned at his daughter, knowing she was using her gifts to read him. "She just popped in to see you last night?"

Everly grimaced. "Well, sort of."

"What do you mean, sort of?"

Ten felt a frisson of worry race up his spine.

"Promise not to get mad?"

Everly set a hand on Ten's shoulder.

"I promise nothing."

Ten crossed his arms over his chest and tried to keep his voice calm.

"Okay, so you were upset the other night about Miss Laura. I could feel your anger, but you didn't look like you wanted to talk about her, so I just dipped into your head to find out what was going on. You know, because I wanted to help you."

Everly offered a too-bright smile.

"Not because you wanted gossip?"

Ten raised a quizzical brow at his daughter. He'd noticed Everly listening more intently to adult conversations lately and had a feeling it was so she'd be in the know about things going on with in their family and friends.

"Look, Daddy, gossip is bad, I know that, but at the same time, it's kinda fun, right?"

Everly waggled her eyebrows the same way Ronan did. They were so much alike sometimes that it was scary.

Ten wasn't quite sure how to respond to his daughter, with the truth or the moral high ground. "Yeah, gossip is fun, but it's also hurtful and unfair. It's especially unfair when you use gifts no one else has to get the scoop. Does that make sense?"

Everly nodded.

"By reading people without their permission, you're invading their privacy. Everyone deserves their privacy, especially me and Dad."

Ten was guilty of reading his husband from time to time. He wasn't proud of it, but it saved a lot of time when Ronan was being stubborn.

"You read Dad all the time,"

Everly shot back with a grin.

"You're right and that's something I talk to Dad about when we're alone. We discuss what's permissible and what's over the line. You and I don't do that. In fact, you never even told me you'd spoken to Effy Lou, which is definitely over the line. Finish your story about how the two of you got to talking."

Everly teared up. She dashed her hands over her eyes and took a deep breath. "Daddy, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Effy Lou. I just wanted to help you find out who was in the box."

"You knew about the box?"

Ten asked, surprised. He shouldn't have been, but was, all the same.

"Yeah, but I didn't understand about ashes being in it. I reached out with my gift to try and find out who it belonged to, but I couldn't figure it out, so I went to bed. Last night, Effy Lou showed up and told me she was the one I was looking for. Mimi brought her to see me."

"Bertha's involved in this too?"

Yet another person who hadn't bothered to tell Tennyson what was going on with his daughter.

"Don't be mad at Mimi, Daddy. She was upset about Effy Lou too and thought that we could help her together."

"Help her with what?"

Ten asked.

"Finding Blue."

Tears slipped down Everly's cheeks. "She loves him like you and Dad love each other. She misses him so much that it hurts. I could feel her pain. It felt like that time me and Woofie were dancing and he accidently kicked me in the stomach. Miss Effy Lou just wanted to see her Blue again. She's mad that she can't find him and thinks he doesn't love her anymore and that he ran off with Spanish Joplin. Whatever that is."

Ten burst out laughing. " Janis Joplin. She was a singer who was famous and died before I was born."

Ten had sensed that Effy Lou was missing Blue, but not how desperate she was to reunite with him.

"I couldn't find Blue. I tried, Daddy. I really did. Effy Lou told me lots of stories about him. He always made her laugh, just like Dad does with you. She's so sad and I just wanted to help. Mimi hasn't been able to find Blue either. She's also upset that Miss Effy Lou hasn't seen the white light. I couldn't make it appear for her."

Ten gasped at Everly's words. "Wait, does that mean you've been able to summon the white light for others?"

If this was true it would be absolutely astounding.

Everly nodded. "Twice before. Once with a kid and the other time was with an army man I met at the grocery store with Uncle Fitz and Aurora."

"An army man?"

Ten asked, breathlessly.

"Yeah, he was sitting outside the store holding a sign that said ‘will work for food.' He was dressed in camo pants and a shirt and was very confused. He thought he was dead, but didn't know how or why. I saw that he…"

Everly paused. She set a hand on Ten's arm.

Ten watched as the man took a handful of pills with a swig from a whiskey bottle. "He hurt himself."

"Right,"

Everly agreed. "He was so lost and confused and just wanted his mother. I wanted him to find peace. I reached out to the light and it appeared. His mother was waiting for him. I remember he gave me the biggest smile and ran into her arms."

Ten was absolutely stunned. "I can't believe it. I mean, I've never tried it before, never knew it was possible."

He looked at Everly who wore a shy smile. "Why didn't you tell me about the man or what you'd been able to do?"

"I didn't want you to worry about what I'd seen. You get upset when I see things that are too old for me."

"Right, because I want to make sure you understand what's happened and so I can be there to help you with your own emotions. My job is to protect you from things that could hurt you."

Ten was beside himself. Leaving her newfound ability alone for a minute, he couldn't believe Everly had witnessed a man ending his own life and had kept quiet about it. He could cry for all the pieces of her innocence that had been lost along the way thanks to her gift.

"I know you want to protect me. I should have told you about the army man. I promise I'll be better about telling you things I see."

Everly climbed into Ten's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Hey, guys, oh, I want a hug too."

Ronan walked into Everly's room. He wrapped his arms around his husband and daughter, both of whom cried on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Everly nodded, swiping at her tears. "I was telling Daddy about something new I can do and we're a little emotional."

"Something new you can do?"

Ronan frowned. "Please tell me you didn't learn how to set fires with your mind or how to call angry elephants to our house."

Everly gasped. "Set fires with my mind? I'm gonna have to try that!"

"No!"

Ronan half-shouted.

Everly giggled. "I know its from a book, Daddy. I haven't tried to do it, but I promise if I do, I'll make sure you're standing by. Deal?"

Ronan frowned. "Maybe."

"What?"

Ten yelped. "You want our daughter to try and hone pyrokinesis? What if she burns our house down?"

"Everly would never do that. What if we're trying to start a campfire and we don't have any matches? Could come in pretty handy, am I right?"

Ronan offered his husband a cheeky grin.

"No, you've lost your grip on reality."

Ten rolled his eyes. He'd never tell Ronan, or Everly, but the idea was interesting and a little terrifying. "Okay, bedtime, little miss."

Ten hugged Everly and pressed a kiss to her temple. "I love you."

"I love you too, Dad. We'll take more about my new ability tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, sweet dreams."

Ten walked out of the room, leaving Ronan to say goodnight to their daughter. He hoped Ronan had several videos to share with her tonight, as he wanted some time alone to think about what Everly had told him about Blue and her ability to summon the white light.

Using his phone, Ten looked up Bennedict "Blue"

Josephine. He quickly found an obituary from fifteen years ago. By the sound of things, Blue was a living saint. He'd volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, rang the kettle bell for the Salvation Army dressed as Santa, gave generously to Toys for Tots and had been a member of his local chapter of the Lions Club.

"Hey,"

Ronan said, coming into the bedroom and shutting the door. "What's going on with you and Everly? She wasn't herself and didn't want to watch videos before bedtime. That's not like her at all. Does it have to do with this new ability she talked about?"

Ten set down his phone. He loved how concerned Ronan was for Everly. "To make a very long story short, Everly overhead us talking about the box a few days ago. She tried to reach out to find out who it belonged too since we were both so worried about it. Effy Lou showed up, with Bertha, to see Everly, who then tried to conjure the white light so that Effy Lou could reunite with her dead husband, Blue."

Ronan sat down hard in the armchair near the bed. "Conjure the white light? Is that really possible?"

"Everly said she's done it before with an army veteran she met at the grocery store."

Ten felt even more stunned telling Ronan what their daughter had been able to do. It just didn't seem possible. "I've had my gifts for over half my life and it never once crossed my mind to try anything like that. I've also read a ton of books written by people with gifts similar to mine and have never found a mention of this ability."

"If you could do it, would you tell anyone?"

Ronan asked. "I mean, look at how many spirits come to see you and Everly now. Imagine if word of this gift got around. How many more spirits would show up here? Hell, how many living people would show up at West Side Magick to see the light and their loved ones it?"

"I was thinking something along those lines myself. If Everly can do this, and I have absolutely no doubt that she's telling the truth, it would be extraordinary. I wouldn't want word of this getting out to the psychic community because of her age, but also because of people who'd want to take advantage of her gift."

Ten sighed. He'd known his daughter would have a greater gift than his own, the one thing he hadn't counted on was that Everly would keep things from him. "She never told me she could do this, Ronan. When she told me about the army guy at the supermarket, she'd obviously known she could do it, otherwise why would she have tried it with him? This happened months ago. How long has she been able to do this thing and why hasn't she told us?"

"I don't know. She's never mentioned anything about this to me and she didn't tell me about Effy Lou coming to visit either. I know we both have the tendency to flip out when she tells us things like this, but is that the reason she's keeping quiet? Is it because she doesn't want to worry us or thinks she can handle it herself?"

Ronan shook his head. "I thought we had a close relationship with our daughter. That Everly knew she could come to us with anything."

"I thought so too. As for why she hasn't told us…"

Ten trailed off. Everly's silence didn't make sense to him. "We're going to need to have a talk with her."

"Agreed,"

Ronan said. "Maybe we send Ezzie for a sleepover with Jude and Cope and we take her out for dinner at her favorite place and then come home and talk about all of this."

"Sounds good to me,"

Ronan agreed. He got up from the chair and headed toward the bathroom, pausing after he turned on the light. "She's not in any danger, is she? I mean if she can conjure the light are there darker things she could also conjure up?"

It was on the tip of Ten's tongue to tell Ronan that where there's light, there's darkness, but he looked scared enough for the moment. "I don't think so. I'm going to have a chat with the others in the morning though, just to see what they think. I'll call Madam Aurora too."

Tennyson was going to need all the help he could get.