Aurator, The (14 page)

Aaron chuckled, “I never asked my question, Megan.”

“Funny Aaron, I clearly heard you speaking. Don’t try to make me sound crazy. Max, back me up here, he’s messing with me.”

I saw Max’s eyebrows furrow in the rearview mirror, perplexed by something I said.

“What Max?”

“Megan… you really thought you heard Aaron speaking?”

“Of course I did, and you did too. This is ridiculous.”

Max glanced at Aaron. “Did Megan answer the question you were about to ask?”

I looked at Aaron, and answered him again, “What do you mean,
Yes, but she beat me to it.
This is nuts. You both are nuts.”

Aaron’s head whipped around, “Would you please let me talk?”

I sat back and gasped, “You really didn’t just say something?”

Looking forward, he folded his arms over his chest with a huff. Max chortled, “Well, this does put an interesting spin on things. Can you hear what I’m thinking?”

I listened but didn’t hear anything. I shook my head. Then suddenly I heard, “
Now I’m thinking about you
.”
I gasped.

“Ahhh,” said Max.

Aaron threw his arms up. “Why am I the last one to know what’s going on?”

Reaching over to Aaron, Max placed a hand on his arm. “Megan can hear things that pertain to her. Only to her.”

I suddenly realized what he was saying and flashed back to an earlier conversation at Max’s home. “Max?”

“Yes?”

“When you received the phone call about your office, did you say that you were glad you gave me the journal… out loud?”

“You heard that?”

“That would be a ‘no’ to the
out loud
part, Megan,” Aaron interjected.

“Yes, I did hear that. I thought it was odd that you were announcing it.”

“Well… ?”

“I get it. You didn’t.”

The car got very quiet and it was clear that everyone was trying to wrap their minds around what had just transpired. “
Why does she get all the cool tricks?
”
I heard from Aaron.

“Grow up, jerk,” I mumbled

“Crap,” he retorted back.

Max snickered.

17. Questions
 

Walking down the hallway we could see the light emanating from Max’s office. Scraps of paper were strewn throughout the hallway just outside his door.

“Oh Max,” I whispered.

Max reached over and squeezed my hand.

We walked in and surveyed the damage. The furniture had been sliced and the inner stuffing pulled out as if someone had been looking for something inside. Boxes were opened and dumped out. Books were pulled out of shelves and thrown into piles across the room from their original homes. His desk was upside down and all the drawers smashed into pieces. The floorboards were pulled up haphazardly throughout the room leaving large holes in the floor.

I heard the sound of men’s shoes coming down the hall.

“They’re heeere,” Aaron sung out.

Max leaned toward me. “
Best if we don’t tell anyone about your talent
.”
I was looking right at him but didn’t see his lips move. I rolled my eyes but nodded in agreement. I was able to hear a slight echo this time to his voice.

I heard someone gasp behind me. I think it was Aleck.

We were all in the office. Tomas walked toward the window and looked out. I wished I could hear what
he
was thinking. Then he turned to Max.

“Max, I’m so sorry. This is terrible.”

“Thanks Tomas,” he said quietly as he picked a couple of his books up off the floor, looking at them for a moment before dropping them back down. “So much of this is not salvageable.”

Once we had gotten the okay from the campus and city police, each of us set out across the room to help Max clean up the mess. We were quiet for the most part since the police were still finishing up their work.

Max climbed up his ladder to the top shelf as if looking for something. “Awww. My yearbook from college is destroyed.”

This struck me as funny. Here was a man who had accomplished so much in his life. Probably earned more degrees and awards than anyone else I would meet in my lifetime, and he was worried about a college yearbook. He turned on the ladder and sucked in a breath. I jumped because I thought he was falling. He motioned for me to not worry, pulled out his cell phone, and snapped a picture.

“Hello?” I heard behind me. I turned to see Detective Charlene McGuire. I recognized her immediately. My stomach felt as if it dropped six inches.

“Um, hey there. How are you?”

She surveyed the room before looking back at me. “You’re from the emergency room, right? Mandy?”

“Megan,” I corrected her.

“Megan, right.” She continued to look at me. “You know, about that patient that night?” She raised her eyes in a knowing fashion hoping to prompt what may have been a buried memory of mine.

I could see that answering too quickly might give me away. I tried to listen closely, maybe I could hear her thoughts. Nothing. “Um… sure… that’s right, that girl. Yeah, I remember, why?” Of course I asked the question, but I’m not sure I wanted to hear the answer.

“We found the guy connected to her attack, and well… quite a few others.”

“Oh really?” She was still looking at my face… examining.

I could also see heads turn cautiously around to look. I’m guessing because they heard the hesitation in my voice. “
Megan
 . . .
is she talking about your purpose?
” It was Max. I could see him looking at me. I nodded ever so slightly but not subtle enough for Detective McGuire.

“What?” she said.

“What?” I asked. I learned early on in my life to always answer a question with a question.

She looked a little confused, “Well, we don’t have to worry about him anymore… we found him dead.”

I tried to look surprised but was not sure how well I pulled it off. “That’s terrible. Well, good for the other possible victims but terrible that someone had to die.” Seemed a reasonable response.

Her eyes narrowed a little as she examined my face. “Yes, I suppose. He was taken out… very… medical like… injected with something. Well, I probably shouldn’t talk too much about it but the investigation is already done. We are looking for the killer’s killer now. Ironic, huh?”

“Ironic.” Sort of, but not as ironic as the fact that she was talking to the killer’s killer.

“Okay,” she suddenly blurted out as if announcing to the whole room. A few of the men jumped. “Time to go. Done here. Good to see you… Megan.” She extended her hand in a gesture to shake. I hated this act of etiquette. I reached out and took her hand. She held it firmly while making eye contact. I was surprised by how calm I was and how steady my hand was. I really didn’t have anything to be afraid of, I thought.

She smiled at me, released my hand, and motioned good-bye to everyone in the room. After clearly hearing her footsteps all the way down the hall everyone turned toward me.

“How did you complete your purpose?” Tomas asked.

I looked at Max who nodded to go ahead. “Well, since I wasn’t sure what to do I came up with a plan to inject a paralytic, then inject potassium to stop the heart. Crude, but effective.”

Jaws dropped open. Funny, I hadn’t expected that reaction. I looked at Max, hoping I’d see some clarity in his face but I didn’t.

Max, picking up on my clues, cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Gentlemen, we are in uncharted territory here. Can any of you tell me what skills or abilities she is
supposed
to have?”

Everyone looked a little confused yet, glancing at each other while shaking their heads, no.

“Exactly,” began Max again. “Megan, did you have any kind of
instinct
or
urge
to do something else while you were completing your purpose?”

I had to think back. I shook my head no but then remembered something, “Wait, I do remember when I was with him I had an urge to reach out to him. Is that what you mean?”

“Anything else?” Tomas asked.

“No.”

Everyone looked back at Nicholai. Since he was the oldest of the Aurators, he was the one everyone turned to for answers.

Scratching his head and looking toward the floor, he was silent for what seemed like several minutes. “I don’t know what to think, honestly. Megan, we just know to go
inside
and trust our instincts. I would probably suggest, however, that the next time your instinct takes over you should go with it. The
medication
route is probably not your best offense. You just haven’t found your way yet. Aaron, was there anything written about this by Nostradamus? Or from Hippocrates, Max?”

“I’d have to go back and check, Nicholai. I’m not sure,” Aaron hesitantly responded. I could tell Aaron was disappointed he did not have the answer.

Max was still thinking. “A woman, descended from Asclepius shall be born. She will possess more unique powers of purpose than all men before her. She will be skilled in many ways unknown to us and with much wisdom and medicinal practice. I believe that’s what he wrote. What it means… well some is obvious and some is still a mystery. I’ll have to check. Can I get back to you?”

Everyone agreed that we would check the written documents we had and would speak again.

After a couple hours of cleaning up the office, Aleck stood and motioned to the others. “Well gentlemen, I suppose we should be getting back to our hotel.”

Max walked over to Aleck, “You’re leaving so soon?”

Smiling a very warm smile that instantly made me feel peaceful, Aleck reached out and the two men hugged. “Yes my old friend. We came specifically to meet Megan,” as he turned to look toward me with a wink. “But sadly, we are leaving early in the morning.” They broke and Aleck walked toward me.

Letting out a long sigh, “Megan, I cannot tell you how much meeting you has meant to me. I do not know what our paths are to be. However, I do hope that they come together again. We will keep a watch at the Asklepion Temple and let you know if anything happens.” He hugged me and then turned to say good-bye to Aaron.

Tomas walked toward me, and I could feel my posture stiffen. The tension in the room escalated as everyone’s eyes turned toward us. I tried to extend my hand to meet Tomas’s outstretched arm but found my arm struggling with the move. Forcing every fiber of my muscles forward, I met his hand. As our hands wrapped around each other I could feel a sense of unease stirring deep inside of me, as if something had awakened and now was trying to climb out in attack. His hand was colder than mine and just a tad clammy. Nervous? Interesting. My confidence grew and with it I felt the size of my aura expanding. This did not elude Tomas, who looked around me, almost in admiration, at my aura while still holding my hand. My eyes stared at his, trying to get some shred of truth from somewhere. Could he really be bad? How could he be an Aurator and still be this nefarious?

“Tomas,” I said with as little emotion as possible.

A smirk grew on his lips, “Megan?”

“Will we be seeing you again?” It was a question that I had not realized I wanted to ask before the words left my lips. I felt an intellectual pause as I searched my memory for the thought that preceded that question.

“Most definitely. After all… you
are
who we have all been waiting for… right?” Without breaking eye contact, his head cocked back in an arrogant fashion.

“Maybe not everyone. Agreed?”

His self-confidence seemed to disappear in an instant. “Well, I suppose the… other side… is not as pleased as… we are.”

I nodded in agreement and dropped my hand. Tomas stepped back several steps before finally breaking eye contact.

Everyone exchanged pleasantries and good-byes. Nicholai gave me a very tight hug that almost took my breath away. Then I heard his thoughts, “
Please take care of her
.”

I knew enough now to listen for the echo. I knew it was a thought and just hugged him back.

As they headed toward the door, Aleck turned around, “Oh yes, and Megan, if
you
see anything… you’ll let us know?”

“At once.” Of course I would make sure
not
to let Tomas know.

I looked at Nicholai who had a confused look on his face and heard, “
Interesting
.”
Then they turned and walked out the door.

Max, Aaron, and I looked at each other for a while before Aaron finally started. “So, Megan has the journal, has special powers that no one else knows about, and there’s going to be a fight soon? Is that the summation of what just happened?”

Max was smiling at me. “Pretty close,” he said. “Okay… you left out the location of the fight here… why?”

I had almost forgotten about that. I had seen the beautiful building surrounded by flowers and knew immediately where it was, but I saw something else that I knew shouldn’t be shared.

“Yes, I did leave it out. Not to keep the location a secret, but rather because of who I saw there.”

“And?” Nothing ever eluded Max.

“And… . Tomas is there… at least someone who I think is him. But how can he be here and there?”

“Good question.” Max stepped over several piles of books and began to sift through papers. “Megan, have you had a chance to look through the journal for any clues about you?”

“No, not yet. Why?”

Still looking through papers, he motioned as if to swat a fly. “Just, well, just look.”

“I will.” Then remembering something from earlier, I said, “Wait a minute. What did you take a picture of?”

“Picture?” he questioned, but then a sudden change on his face displayed that he remembered from earlier, “Oh, right, right, I forgot.”

Aaron walked over, “You saw something?”

Max pulled the phone out, “Here, look.”

As the picture loaded onto the screen we could tell immediately what it was. The contents of Max’s office that had appeared to be strewn around were actually meticulously arranged in the corner of the office into the shape of a caduceus. Aaron shook his head.

I frowned saying, “Is this surprising? I mean, who else could it be?”

Max nodded, “Agreed, it’s just that leaving such a blatant sign leads me to believe that they are ready to make a move. Why else leave such an obvious calling card for us? They want us to know that the inevitable is upon us.”

“The inevitable?”

“The switch… days end,” Aaron stepped in.

“I’m sorry, are you guys talking about the end of the earth?”

“No, not exactly Megan” Aaron began. “In the predictions, our kind and the Caduceus will come together in a great battle that has been building for centuries. And this will coincide with a switch within the earth’s magnetic core.”

It took me a moment to catch up with this last thought. I found myself back in college physics discussing the theory of the earth’s polarity and how it has switched randomly throughout history. “I’m sorry, somehow we are connected to the earth’s polarity?”