Wherever She Goes (Psychic Seasons, ReGina Welling [novels to improve english TXT] 📗

All she could think of was pushing the snuffling snout away from her face but when she tried, neither arm would move. Something bad must have happened because it felt like a huge weight rested on her chest. An accident maybe?

Everything fell away again for a while, she didn’t know how long, and then Lola was back. This time Kat groaned, “Lola, go on.” Her voice felt raspy like she’d been screaming for hours.

This time when she opened her eyes, she could see why her arms wouldn’t move. Zack’s chest lay half across her own, the steady rise and fall of his breathing a comfort but his weight had her pinned to the floor. No, not the floor, someone’s legs. They were all sprawled across the floor like bowling pins.

It took a minute before she remembered exactly what had happened. A stirring off to one side had her slanting her eyes over just in time to see Finn sit up with a mutter. Apparently, Lola was making the rounds.

“Finn, help me.” Kat tried to shove Zack’s dead weight off her chest. “Is everyone okay?”

“I think so.” He checked on Gustavia first then reassured by her even breathing, reached over to help Kat extricate herself from the pile. “That was intense.” He pressed a hand to his temple where a headache beat against his palm.

_,.-'~'-.,_

Julie, Reid, and Gustavia came to at about the same time with Tyler not far behind. A minute later, Amethyst stirred but when Zack woke up, it was not the soft, subtle process it had been with everyone else. He went from unconscious to hyper alert, leaping to his feet, eyes wide with concern.

Seeing Gustavia and Kat sitting together went a long way toward calming him down again. By then, Finn had located the downstairs bathroom and a blessedly large container of painkillers. He detoured to the kitchen for as many bottles of water as he could carry and returned to pass them around the room.

Despite the pounding in his head, Zack insisted on checking his prisoner. Finding Logan sprawled out in the still locked cruiser, sound asleep relieved more of the headache than the painkillers could.

He pulled out his phone to call it in and discovered whatever energy the angel had raised, his phone was either dead or destroyed. He went back inside to use Julie’s landline.

Within minutes, a deputy arrived to take charge of the prisoner. Zack would have to go in later and write up a detailed report, but that would have to wait until he decided what that report should say.

Meanwhile, Ellis would be booked and treated to a bed and a hot meal.

Duty over for the next little while, Zack went back inside.

_,.-'~'-.,_

Kat stepped back from the window, went to the door, and met Zack halfway down the drive. At first, her steps were uncertain. What if everything she remembered from her time on the other side had been a dream? Even now, it was fading the same way dreams do when touched by the light of morning.

When he looked up and saw her, she knew he’d been thinking the same thing.

“Was it a dream?” She had to know.

“It feels like it but no, I’m sure it was real.”

“So everything you said…”

“True, every last word of it.”

Forgetting that he might be shaky on his feet still, she launched herself into his arms and clung there while he kissed her as if he would never stop. When he finally pulled back, Kat smiled into his eyes and asked, “What exactly is second base on a guy, and how long until Prom? I think I heard something about a five date rule, how many dates have we been on?”

Chapter 25

Just before 10:20 am on the day of the spring equinox, the group assembled for the fourth and final time to watch Zack, the newest among them slide the portrait of Julius into place. When it locked in with a soft click, Julie closed her eyes and swallowed hard. In a few short minutes, she would have to say goodbye to Grams for a second time and everything would change again.

Being the tallest, Gustavia still had to stretch to position five of the original ten glass lenses into the slots Kat had found. When it was done, she stepped back, reached blindly for Julie’s hand. So much had happened over the past few months that this final search seemed sadly anti-climactic.

She glanced over to see Samantha bouncing in place, one of the prisms from the third search clutched tightly in her hand. This girl, her father; she marveled at how quickly they had become her life.

The length of time the sun would strike the window was limited so when Kat and Amethyst stepped forward with Sam to position the prisms, every key was in its place, ready for its light to play across the window and reveal the final clues.

It was a bittersweet moment.

Julie needed nothing more in the way of valuables. Never having been greedy to begin with, her financial needs had already been so well met there was nothing left to do but pay it forward. To that end, Tyler and Reid were working to establish a foundation for young inventors and she was confident they would make the venture a success. No matter what they found today, it would pale in comparison to the treasure of having friends who became family and the love of a man like her new husband, Tyler.

It was almost time for the first reveal. Eleven eager pairs of eyes watched as a beam of sparkling sunlight speared through the stained glass to make its way across the painting and illuminate a small, square section of library wall just above Julius’ shoulder.

_,.-'~'-.,_

Standing next to Zack, Kat found herself, like everyone else, wishing this day would never end.

She watched Julius for a moment, his body language more stiff and anxious than