Unforeseen Dives – 17a – Revelation

<< 16b – Hostage

Back at the hotel, Rebecca and I prepped for bed. Casey had spent the evening with us after informing the mayor we would miss his dinner due to the afternoon’s events. Since he had left, silence overtook the room as we changed, brushed our teeth and slipped under the covers. I was about to close my night stand’s lamp when Rebecca spoke.
“I’m sorry for what happened today. I should have been quicker.”
I prompted myself on an elbow and looked over to her bed. Rebecca faced the ceiling.
“Please stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Feeling so damn guilty every time you aren’t perfect!”
She mirrored my position to meet my eyes.
“I’ve been your bodyguard for what? Two days? And you’ve already been taken hostage.”
“Look, if I’m going to face my non-negligible stage fright on a regular basis, it’s just fair that you work on something too. Stop beating yourself up. I’m fine!”
She grunted and resumed ceiling watching. Peeved, I closed my lamp and imitated her.
“Cass? Did you dive back there?”
The subject had slept through the afternoon and the whole evening. It was bound to rise up eventually. I took a deep breath. At least, she wasn’t so bent on knowing to question me while there were people around.
“I think I did.” And now for the million dollars question…
“How?”
“I don’t know. I just really needed to know what was going on and then I dived.”
“You did the same in the plane, didn’t you?”
“I think so. I can’t remember what I saw, though.”
“Maybe it’s better that way. The emotional wave coming out of you was dreadful.”
Silence stretched between us. A non-reader could almost hear the deep texture of our thoughts.
“We have to tell Daniel. And Casey. You might be more Oracle classification than Seer.”
“I doubt it. I can’t see that far. No, definitely not fit for Oracle.”
“Then we’ll have to find where you actually fit.” Worry modulated her statement.

The phone rang in the wee hours of the morning.
“I’m not picking that up,” Rebecca moaned with an annoyance-heavy, sleepy voice. “She’s your mom.”
Damn. Telepaths were more precise than caller ID. They could somehow track the action of calling all the way back to its instigator. My mom was on the phone – no doubt about that – and I had to pick up or I would hear about it for the next three months.
“Hi mom,” I mumbled in the receiver.
“Sorry to wake you up, sweetie. I wanted to call you before I dive into the numbers. Are you okay?”
I smiled at the expression. “Dive into the numbers” was my mom’s way of saying she worked. She was a financial consultant, one of the fields with the higher ratio of psychic employees and one of the reasons we never suffered from segregation. Investors saw instant benefit in our skills. And when people with money say you’re good, it makes you so. Plus, psychics working for big guns benefited everybody. The economy flourished as financial choices were made wisely and accounting for more variables than ever before. My mom was proud as a peacock about the whole thing and was one of the best because she actually knew her numbers on top of being a psychic. You could count on her to slip it into conversation as often as she could.
“I’m fine Mom.”
“You were great during the conference. But then I heard about the hostage thingy.”
“I swear I’m fine. Not a scratch.”
I heard her releasing the impressive amount of air she had been holding in. Seeing the future didn’t make moms worry any less.
“When do you get home?”
“Today. Apparently, when the criminal attempted to escape by way of strangling a federal agent, the need for a thorough interrogation vanished.”
“And the hostage thingy?”
“Handled by the FBI and their spokesperson.”
“What a relief! So you’ll be home for dinner then?”
Since my dad died, Saturday nights were the usual dinner nights at my mom’s. At first, she really needed the company and now, it was our routine.
“Yes mom!” Picking my trail of thoughts, Rebecca nodded in the dark. “And Rebecca and Sean will be there as planned.”
“Peachy! See you tonight! Ta ta!”
“Bye Mom” I hung up and fell back against my pillow. “Gosh! She’s perky in the morning.”
“ ‘fraid so,” Rebecca mumbled sitting up. I groped for my glasses and slid them on my nose. I’d rather turn around and continue sleeping but Becky and I were too awake to do so. Yesterday night’s discussion bothered us both.
“What do you say we hit the gym before Casey gets here?” Rebecca already sled out of bed and was putting on some training pants.
“Yeah. That sounds like a good idea. No boxing though,” I said, stretching as much as was humanly possible. Rebecca chuckled in response. My hands still throbbed from yesterday’s fight. Violence really wasn’t for me.
I shimmied in my training outfit, chasing the remaining haze of slumber. I followed Becky out of the bedroom and down the 15 flights of stairs. We were already warmed up when we got to the empty gym. For the next hour, we alternated between treadmills and various strength exercises. I wasn’t a wimp but nonetheless, Rebecca lifted about twice the weight I used.
I pushed myself to the limit and felt energized once I was done. We used the stairs again to get back to our room. Casey was waiting by the door.
“There you are!” He grinned when he saw the state we were in. “Why don’t I give you ladies the necessary time to shower? Cassidy, you’re welcome to use my bathroom if you want.” He winked.
We walked into our room and slammed the door in his face, for good measure.
“Better tell him about you before he fishes it out of one of our brains.” Rebecca stated as she gathered her fresh clothes. I nodded. “Don’t worry Cass, I’ll back you up. Just let me know how you want to do it.” She stepped out of the bedroom. “Hey Casey, I’ll take you up on that shower offer.” The door closed behind her. I grinned as I entered our shower but nervousness was creeping inside me.

17b – Revelation >>