Just a Psychic?: Power of Air Book 1 Read online

  Just a Psychic?

  The power of Air Series book 1

  By D. L. Harrison

  Copyright 2013. This book is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission in writing except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Dedication – To the author’s who inspired me to give it a shot and everyone that helped me along the way.

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 1

  Sunday, July 26th, 2015 10:00 am

  I laughed cheerfully, as my aunt Mary pulled a burnt to a crisp layer cake out of the oven.

  She gave me a mock glare then sighed. “I guess your 21st birthday won’t be coming with a cake,” she lamented. “What brings you by today the party isn’t until tomorrow?”

  I snickered and handed her the cake mix from the bag I was holding.

  She muttered, “Damn psychics,” but was fighting a grin on the corners of her mouth.

  She asked absently, “Get me a bag of sugar from the basement would you?”

  I froze a moment. I hated that basement. I don’t know why, it had never triggered a vision for me before, just made me feel sick. Claustrophobic. Made it hard not to panic and I knew if I didn’t move I would get a lecture about it. I was already starting to sweat at the thought of going down there.

  I heard a sigh then she said, “You are going to be twenty one years old Benjamin Edwards. Go get me that sugar. Honestly.”

  She meant well but she didn’t understand, the problem of course, was neither did I. I was not claustrophobic. I had no problem with small spaces. It was underground spaces I had issues with. It felt like there was something whispering in my ear not to go but I went. I mean really, what could happen?

  I felt like a scared five year old when I launched myself down the stairs holding my breath. I immediately felt the pressure in my stomach, and the fear of something wanting to hurt me. I grabbed a bag of sugar out of the storage pantry and ran back up the stairs. Sweat was running down my back and I felt foolish for my actions now that it was behind me.

  We sat around for a while talking, got caught up on my cousins latest run in with trouble. She certainly had a talent for it at fifteen years old.

  “I have to run, need to be back in the city in a couple of hours,” I told my aunt. I was hoping she didn’t ask why, because I honestly had no idea why I did myself. In my just short of twenty one year’s however I learned to listen to these promptings. It usually caused no end of trouble when I didn’t.

  She bade me, “You need to stay out of trouble young man, and remember to be back here for dinner tomorrow night. Your cousin and uncle will be here.”

  I just nodded slowly. I was looking forward to seeing my cousin Amy who was more like a sister to me. I had missed her after moving out and getting into the city. I had not missed my uncle. He was kind of an asshole. I thought so anyway.

  She gave me a hug, she was a wonderful woman. She has been warm and caring since my mother died when I was just five years old and had taken me in. I told her I wouldn’t forget then headed toward the Metra train station at a good walk.

  I was not a typical psychic, if psychics can even be typical. For one I was never wrong, about anything. Most of us were wrong about half the time at the least. That is not to mean I know everything, just what I see. Sometimes I get a feeling about which way to turn, but no reason why.

  Sometimes an event will come in crystal clarity, even what led to the event, enabling me to stop it all together or change it. Sometimes it is something important to keep myself or others alive, sometimes it is something simple, such as cake mix to replace a burnt cake.

  I slowed down to a walk as I reached the platform, getting there just in time to take the train pulling in to the station. I hopped on and found a seat easily this time of morning.

  My aunt and uncles house was in Morton Grove, so just a half hour out of the city on the Metra. I did have a car, but left it at the house since I didn’t need one in the city with all the transit available.

  I had moved out of my house almost three years ago when I hit eighteen. I got my PI license and opened up shop. I don’t make a lot of money but it’s enough to live off anyway. So far I have not succumbed to the temptation to pick a winning ticket.

  I knew I could and it just felt… Wrong.

  I felt my phone go off and took a look. My friend detective Frank Taylor sent me a picture of an 11 year old girl, the latest missing person case on his desk.

  When we had first met he had been downright suspicious of me and my ability. We hadn’t gotten along at all. I called in a lot of tips as a way to self advertise and he investigated me for collusion because all my tips panned out. With overwhelming evidence though he finally gave up chasing me and started to use me as a resource.

  After that things changed slowly over the last two years. We grew closer to friendship as I helped him with cases, hopefully getting paid by the department at the same time. As a PI I was eligible to draw the typical consulting fee.

  However getting paid for my help was dependent on his Captain’s approval, which was rare. Captain Antonia Martinez didn’t like me at all. Despite the evidence she was convinced I was a con artist trying to ruin her bottom line on the budget.

  I did get regular cases sometimes, but I also got a lot of nutcases come through my door. Which is not surprising considering my sign has the words Private Investigator and Psychic on the door. It’s a job hazard though. Just something I learned to deal with. Just like the clients I get that look ashamed for consulting with a psychic on something. The bad stuff doesn’t bother me too much though. I really enjoy finding lost people.

  I study the picture on my phone for a while and get a vision. I do not shake, shimmy or cry out. I do not even blink. It doesn’t hurt and I don’t need to be sleeping. All I need to do is focus, it will either come or it won’t. That is a whole list of things some psychics do that does not apply to me at all. It also doesn’t hurt that I have complete recall of these events. I don’t need to run for pen and paper and jot it all down.

  Clock showing 1:00. Girl getting on bus for Springfield, IL at Greyhound terminal.

  I checked and had just enough time to make the Greyhound bus station before 1:00 pm. Now I knew why I had the urge to leave my aunt’s house. I replied to the text with the information telling him to meet me there before the bus leaves. I also added AFP with a question mark at the end of the text and he replied no a few moments later. AFP is my own acronym for Authorized for Payment.

  He knew I wouldn’t say no though, even if his Captain did most of the time. I may need the cash but the little kid doesn’t know that or care. Of course this is looking like a runaway, not a kidnap. But who knows what could happen to an eleven year old traveling alone, better to be safe and take care of it.

  Greyhound was just less than a mile from Union station where the train pulled in at 12:45. I knew I could make the jog easily in the 15 minutes I had. I could in fact make it in less than 5. I was a good runner and my jogging speed was a fairly good clip, as I ate up the city pavement wanting to arrive a little early.

  It didn’t take me long to find the bus once I got
there, Frank and his partner were not here yet. Great. I saw her walking up and flashed a vision as I thought to just stop her. The vision was of me holding a crying and screaming young girl and not letting go. Guess who the uniformed cop assisted down on the ground with his gun pulled out, yep, that would be me.

  That doesn’t happen often but sometimes my psychic ability stops me from doing something stupid.

  I let her board the bus instead of subjecting myself to that scenario. I was hoping Frank would get there before the bus left. I wasn’t given any helpful insight, my gift silent and unyielding. I was getting nervous as 1:00 rolled closer on the clock.

  I called the beat cop over and showed him my PI identification, then my text message from Frank and that the girl was on the bus. I asked him not to let it leave or to pull her off as Detective Frank Taylor in missing persons was on his way to pick her up, but I wasn’t sure what was keeping him.

  That’s when I saw Frank, and his new partner. He had told me he had a new partner but hadn’t told me anything about him yet, just that I’d be happy when we met. As it turned out his partner was a young woman of mixed Japanese appearance and not a man as he had implied at all. She was short with long black hair and brown eyes. She was relatively young for a new detective but still older than me as I estimated her at about 24 years old.

  My brain stalled as I tried to subtly take in the sexy curves of her petite body, her flawless face and beautiful black hair. Frank had a wide grin on his face as he knew I would react awkwardly. As any true friend he delighted in teasing my shortcomings.

  High school was done for me at 16 as I skipped two middle school grades, and I had gotten my four year degree by the time I turned eighteen. All courtesy of that perfect memory and some hard work. As a result I missed out on a lot of the normal socializing done at that age. I was a bit… Awkward around women I found attractive, and his new partner fit in that category.

  Also since most women were at least 3 years older when I was in college I have only been dating at all the last two years. Plus of course, I was a psychic, a real one. So in addition to my social ineptitude with women, they had gone running when they figured out not only was I psychic but I could also smell lies from a mile away.

  So it was a duality of awkwardness. I kind of freaked woman out a bit, and they made me nervous and feel socially inept.

  I managed to keep my mouth closed though and focused on Frank for a second, my hang ups weren’t important right now. The girl on the bus was.

  I said, “She’s on the bus Frank,” and blushed when my voice cracked.

  He said in an amused tone, “Ben, this is Detective Aiya Takahashi. Aiya this is my good friend and a department resource Ben Edwards, go easy on him while I go get our little runaway.”

  She put her hand up to shake my hand and I took it. She surprised me with a very strong grip for a woman that looked petite and fragile. Of course I realized that meant she must be tough as nails to get through police training so I adjusted my thinking, it wouldn’t do to underestimate or insult her.

  She said with a light smirk, “Psychic huh?”

  I smiled and nodded slowly, her reaction not surprising to me in the least, “We’re here aren’t we?”

  I started laughing a bit when I heard the eleven year old girl start yelling at Frank about stranger danger. I noticed Aiya grinning as well. Serves him right for setting me up after all.

  Little Katie came quietly though when he flashed his badge and cuffs. Frank was a huge guy, but kids weren’t intimidated at all by him, he was a natural at dealing with them for some reason I couldn’t identify.

  Luckily he came down the stairs then, as the silence between Aiya and I started getting awkward. Between my social skills and her not knowing what to do with a psychic we were almost to the floundering for a topic stage.

  Frank joked, “So you want to come down to the station? Antonia misses you.”

  I snorted and said with false sadness, “Give her my regrets, we still on for tonight?”

  Frank nodded. “Definitely, so don’t be late, Jenna baked you a cake.”

  Jenna was Frank’s wife, I had met her about a year and a half ago the first time Frank’s actions suggested a friendship by inviting me over. Frank and I were a lot alike in that we were fiercely determined to save as many kids as we could. Despite his wife only being six years older she welcomed me to the family and somehow I had gained both another friend and someone who wasn’t freaked out by me even a little bit.

  Being a psychic having a friend that not only overlooked your peculiarities but was even comfortable enough to poke fun at them was a priceless gift.

  I shook my head and said, “I won’t be late. See you later Frank, nice to meet you Aiya,” I finished awkwardly.

  They both just nodded goodbye so I left the girl in their capable hands and decided to stop by my office. I pretty much ran my business from my cell phone but some things had to be done in the office and on a computer. Plus I needed to clean up a bit as I hadn’t been in a while.

  I tended to only go there when I felt the need to. Getting walk in clients was extremely rare in the age of electronic communications and my gifts would let me know for the most part if I needed to be there.

  I took public transportation over to the south side. It was all I could afford for both my apartment and an office to rent. I wasn’t in this job for the big bucks after all. I had always felt a responsibility to use my gift to help others, and what better way to help than saving lives and finding the lost?

  I managed to get my second quarter taxes finished as well as clean up around the office but it took me almost 3 hours. I took off and went home to my small apartment for a quick shower and a change of clothes, between the running I did today and the cleaning I could definitely use it.

  The apartment had one bedroom, a small living room for my television, and the kitchen was more of an aisle with Appliances and little counter space. It suited me though. I really didn’t need anything bigger, at least not yet.

  I had been thinking of my awkward encounter with Aiya all afternoon, hopefully I won’t be so bad next time. Frank had done that on purpose, knowing I would be at the absolute worst when I wasn’t expecting it to happen. Of course my traitorous gift agreed with him as I never saw it coming.

  I headed out to Frank’s house for my first birthday dinner. Jenna had insisted I show up today as my family hosted birthday dinner wasn’t until tomorrow. My actual birthday was tomorrow as well, exactly one minute after midnight. I would be twenty one. Maybe I could score a normal date sometime over the next year.

  I knew I wasn’t bad looking and that I was in good shape. Women were attracted to me, at least until they learned who and what I was anyway. It wasn’t like women scared me either. Not really anyway. I just had absolutely no idea what to say to them and the silence made me nervous.

  I made it to Frank’s just before 6:00 so I was definitely on time. I rang the doorbell and waited. Jenna opened the door and caught me up into a hug.

  “You don’t have to ring the doorbell, just come in. How many times have I told you that?” she asked in exasperation. Then with a small grin in her voice she continued, “Happy Birthday Ben! Get in here.”

  She released me and I followed her inside their small one story house. It was a three bedroom single story ranch style. It felt good to get out of the July heat.

  “Dinner is in a few minutes, just one more guest coming,” she said, her eyes twinkling at me.

  She likes to set me up with dates. So far it’s been disaster after disaster but who knows, it might work sometime. Funny thing about my ability to hear lies, I can even feel my own. Doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t really work out one time, just that I don’t believe it for a second.

  Frank came out of the kitchen and threw me a beer, and then said, “That girl was heading to her old neighborhood in Springfield, turns out the family just moved here and she missed her friend.”

  I nodded and whispered,
“Who this time?” changing the conversation as I popped the beer open.

  Frank snickered at me, “Some psychic you are…” and headed back into the kitchen.

  I muttered loud enough for him to catch it, “Some cop you are, giving me a beer and I’m under 21 for almost 6 more hours.”

  Frank might be a friend but he pokes at things a lot. Likes to get a rise out of people. That’s when I heard the doorbell and turned around as Jenna answered it. I almost laughed at myself when I saw Aiya standing out there. I had thought her stunning in her detective clothes, the green dress she was wearing was causing misfires in my brain.

  She might be petite, but all the curves were present and accounted for, I checked after all. Setting me up at all with her was a bad idea on many levels, not just the usual ones. I had to work with her and Frank on cases, we didn’t need even more awkwardness between us. At least my social crap would go away once we reached a certain familiarity on the job.

  If I dated her and we broke up that wouldn’t do any good. All the same I needed to make an effort for that familiarity and at the same time keep it at a friendship level. No time like the present so I took another swig of my illegally acquired alcoholic beverage and went over with the mindset of not looking foolish.

  Sadly I was not confident that it would go down that way.

  I forced my voice not to be tentative and said, “Hi Aiya, they rope you into coming for dinner?”

  She smiled at my attempted humor and said, “Absolutely, I caved when they brought out the thumb screws.”

  Jenna giggled and said mock innocently, “Frank? Use coercion on a partner, that’s crazy talk.”

  Jenna said, “Speaking of Frank he is almost done with the steaks, I’ll go check on him.”

  My traitorous friend left me alone with a beautiful woman. Wanting to prevent an awkward moment I complimented her when Jenna left.

  “That’s a beautiful dress, you look great.” Then I asked her if she wanted a drink.

  She blushed a little and said, “Sure, a beer, or wine if there is any?”