18 Tennyson

Ten sat in the conference room waiting for the others to join him. Carson and Cope were finishing up with clients and Cole was showing Madam Aurora a new line of crystal balls that had come in to the shop. The last member of the group hadn't arrived yet. No one else knew about the surprise guest, but his friends were all psychics, they'd know who was joining them soon enough.

"Hey, Ten!"

Cope was all smiles when he came into the room. "Did Ronan send you pictures of Spencer bringing books to the school library?"

"Yeah,"

Ten said. "He sent some pics of Spencer too and he looks nothing like the little snot who sat in this room with us a few days ago. It's like he's matured twenty years overnight. He even had Ronan call and ask me to tell Effy Lou that it was okay if she came to see him again. Who the hell is this kid and where has this side of him been hiding?"

"Seriously,"

Cope agreed. "There were so many times in our conversations with him that I wanted to smack him. I'm glad I didn't have too. I hope he keeps up these changes even after he finishes fulfilling Effy Lou's requirements and he gets his inheritance."

"Me too."

Ten knew that changes were hard to make and harder to stick with.

"Here we are,"

Carson said, sweeping into the conference room. Cole and Madam Aurora were behind him.

"Good to see you Aurora."

Ten stood up to give the fashionably dressed older woman a hug. "Long time, no see."

"I just got back from Aruba. Spent a week lying on the beach and chatting up oldsters in the hotel bar. I had the time of my life."

A vision of Aurora dancing under the moonlight with a geezer flashed through his mind. Squeezing his eyes shut, he willed the vision away before he saw more than he bargained for. "You look great."

"Enough kissing my ass, Tenny. Tell me what this emergency meeting is all about."

Aurora settled herself between Carson and Cope. Ten and Cole sat across from them.

"Did you see anything on the news about Effy Lou Josephine being missing?"

Ten asked.

Aurora nodded. "I heard something about her remains going missing."

"A good Samaritan,"

Ten snorted at the thought of Laura being a good steward, "dropped the ashes off here with me. She figured I'd be able to talk to the spirit and then the remains could be returned to the next of kin."

Aurora frowned. "I'm confused. If the remains have been reunited with their family, why are we here?"

"I'd been speaking with Effy Lou, who informed me that she'd had a lovely chat with Everly. Apparently, she and Bertha Craig hooked up on the other side and Bertha brought Effy Lou to see Everly in the hopes she could help out with a problem."

"What problem?"

Cole asked, looking fascinated.

"When Effy Lou died, there was no white light. She hasn't been able to contact her dearly departed husband or any of her family."

"We've all heard of that happening before. Usually it means the spirit has more work to do on earth before they cross over,"

Carson said.

"Right, but Bertha brought Effy Lou to Everly because of a new gift she's gained. A gift that neither one of them told me about."

Ten tried to stuff down his anger over Bertha's small betrayal.

"What new gift?"

Aurora asked.

"According to Everly, she can summon the white light on command."

Ten couldn't believe he was saying those words out loud.

"That's not possible,"

Madam Aurora said with a definitive shake of her head.

"I'm running on the assumption that it is indeed possible. Everly might not have told me she'd done it before, but I have no reason to doubt her ability."

Ten sighed, he didn't like his daughter keeping secrets from him in regard to her growing gifts. She was still so little and he didn't want her to end up in a situation that she might not be able to get herself out of. "The reason I gathered you all here today was to see if you've heard of anyone else who purported to do this? I know sometimes we try to keep a lid on the more incredible things we can do, but…"

Ten trailed off.

"I've never heard of anyone being able to summon the light,"

Carson said. "I've also never tried it before. Have you seen Everly do it?"

"No, not yet. I had Ronan and the guys pick the kids up from school. He'll bring Everly in here, while Fitz and Jude get snacks for Wolf and Baby Aurora while we talk."

"Baby Aurora,"

Carson laughed. "It's been a long time since anyone's called her that."

"I didn't want to confuse anyone or make Madam Aurora think there were snacks in her future."

Ten snorted.

"There are definitely snacks in my future, Ten."

Aurora laughed along with him. "Are you going to ask Everly to summon the light when she gets here?"

"That's the other reason why I wanted to speak with all of you. What do you think? Should I ask her to try it and risk her being upset if she can't do it? Or, should I leave this alone and hope she comes to me the next time she's able to do it?"

Ten hadn't been this confused about his daughter in some time. He'd gotten used to the fact that Everly's gifts at six years old far surpassed his of today, but he never imagined anything like this was possible.

"Part of me wants to see her do it,"

Carson said. "A big part of me."

"Same,"

Cole agreed, "but I see where Ten's coming from in not wanting Everly to perform in front of us like a trained circus seal."

"Aurora, what do you think?"

Ten asked, knowing he would get the best advice from her. Not because she was a woman, but because Aurora always had a greater world view than Ten.

"Like I said, I've never heard of anyone being able to do this. If Everly can do it, I suspect there are others that can as well. If I had this ability, I would keep it to myself. I can't imagine the number of clients who'd come my way if it got out I had that skill. There are a lot of people who'd want me to use that gift for good, but far too many others who would want to exploit me and get whatever they could out of me. If I were you and Ronan, I wouldn't let word of this go beyond this room. Everly's abilities at this age have always scared me because she doesn't have the life experience or even the knowledge about what people could possibly want from her. I know she's got good instincts, but there are a lot manipulative people out there."

Ten nodded. "I agree one hundred percent."

"On the other hand,"

Aurora continued with a smile, "I would very much like to see Everly try to do it, if she's comfortable showing us."

"I'm with Aurora,"

Cope said. "It's also possible Everly could show us how to do it too."

"Would you want that gift?"

Ten asked, not having considered the possibility of being able to learn how to summon the light himself.

"Yes, it would be just one more tool to use to help people. What I want to hear is how this even came about,"

Cope said, looking as if he had more to say on the subject, when a knock at the door stopped him.

"Come in, Ronan,"

Ten called out.

"Daddy!"

Everly shrieked and ran across the room to her father. "Am I interrupting a meeting?"

"Actually,"

Ten said. "This meeting is about you."

"Oh,"

Everly looked around the table, obviously reading all of the psychics in the room. "Are you and Daddy mad at me?"

Her bottom lip wobbled.

"Let's have a seat."

Ronan pulled out a chair for Everly and took the seat beside her. "You're not in trouble, we just wanted to talk to you about being able to summon the light, okay?"

"I'm the one who's in trouble,"

Bertha Craig said, materializing in the chair on the other side of Carson.

"You're not in trouble, Bertha,"

Ten began. "I'm just concerned that both of you kept this ability from me."

He turned to his daughter. "I had never heard of anyone being able to do this before, so I wanted to get together with everyone and get their opinions too."

"None of us have heard of this gift,"

Cope said. "We're all kind of hoping you can tell us more about it."

Everly looked up to Ten, who nodded his assent. "Well, it all started when I met the spirit of a little boy on the school bus last year."

"Last year?"

Ronan asked, trying and failing to sound calm.

"Back in April,"

Everly said. "Last school year. His name was Henry. I think he was about my age and had been dead for a long time. I could tell because he had funny clothes and spoke with a weird accent like Peppa the Pig."

Ten hadn't been told anything about this boy or his clothes. As upset as the story was making him, he knew he needed to stay quiet and let Everly speak, or risk her not wanting to open up to him again.

"Henry said that he died in a factory. I could see his arm caught in a machine and there was a lot of blood."

Thankfully, Everly didn't seem distressed by seeing blood, but the same couldn't be said for Tennyson. "He told me that he missed his parents and wanted to know if I could help him see them again. I told him I didn't know if it was possible, but I could try."

"According to Google, The Fair Labor Standards Act was enacted in 1938. It prohibited kids from working jobs that were detrimental to their health. I would imagine Henry died before then."

"Christ that is a long time to be separated from your family,"

Cope said.

"Right,"

Everly agreed. "That's why I knew I had to try to help him."

"What did you do exactly?"

Ten asked, finding now that he'd heard more of the story that he was more curious than angry.

"I held Henry's hand and closed my eyes. I pictured the light in my mind and before I knew what was happening, there was the light. Henry's parents were waiting for him and he ran to them. He thanked me and the light vanished."

"Did you ask him if he'd seen the light before?"

Ten asked.

"Yup, but he said he never saw it. I don't know if that was true or not. Sometimes spirits see the light but don't go into it or are afraid of it."

"From what you described about Henry's death, it sounds like it was very traumatic. He might have been dealing with the pain and fear of dying and might not have even realized the light was there."

Ten had spoken with spirits before who'd said something similar to him. He'd had to walk the spirit through their own life to find out what was keeping them anchored to the physical world. It had been only then that the light appeared. If Everly could really do this, it was a game changer.

"All you did was close your eyes and picture the light?"

Madam Aurora wore a stunned look. "Can we try it?"

Her eyes stayed on Everly.

"Yup."

Everly sat up on her knees and turned to Tennyson. "Is it okay to try, Daddy?"

It was on the tip of Ten's tongue to remind his daughter that she'd done it at least twice before without asking his permission, but he wasn't going down that road with Everly. "It is. What do you need us to do?"

"Can you come stand next to me and hold my hand, Mimi?"

Everly reached for Bertha. "Ready?"

Bertha nodded. She looked excited to be the Guinea pig in this experiment.

Everly closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. A few minutes passed and nothing happened.

Ten was going to give Everly all the time she needed. If they needed to stay here until everyone was hungry for dinner, then so be it. As Ten's mind started to ramble, he noticed a change in the room. It almost felt as if the air around him had begun to vibrate. Seconds later, the white light blazed to life, illuminating the conference room.

Cope, Carson and Cole gasped, while Madam Aurora looked awestruck, as did Ronan, which meant he could see it as well.

"Holy shit,"

Ten said. "I can't believe you did it. I mean I had all the faith in the world in you, but I can't believe it."

"Hi, Mimi Erin!"

Everly waved to Ronan's mother, Erin O'Mara. She scrambled out of her seat and ran toward the light.

Ten gasped and got to his feet. It was absolutely stunning that Everly had been able to conjure the light, but there was no way he wanted to find out if his daughter could walk into or back out of it.

Everly stopped in front of the light and reached a hand out for Erin. Her hand passed into the light and connected with Erin. "It's so good to see you."

"It's good to see you too, little miss."

Erin's gaze landed on Ronan. "It's good to see you too, Ro."

"Hey, Mom."

Tears streaked down his cheeks as he waved to his mother.

Erin leaned forward and appeared to be whispering to her granddaughter.

"Okay. I promise."

Pulling her hand out of the light, Everly took a step backward and watched as the light slowly faded away. She ran to Tennyson and climbed into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. "Mimi Erin said I need to be honest with you about my gifts and the spirits I speak to from now on."

"I think that's a really good idea."

Ten held his daughter close. Looking around the room. He could see the others were still in a state of shock. He imagined all of them were going to try their hand at conjuring the light. If anyone could do it, his money was on Cope.

None of that mattered at the moment. Ten was going to focus on his relationship with Everly and try to be more understanding when more of her gifts manifested themselves.