Shadow Souls

Chapter Thirteen

"Who are you?" I try to sound threatening, but there is no volume behind my shaky words.

"I'm just like you," she tells me.

This causes Tyler to step in front of me like he is trying to shield me from danger even though we both know he wouldn't be able to. "I don't like this Alice, we should go.

Feeling the same way, I start to take a few steps backward when Paige nearly shouts. "Wait! Please don't go until I can prove it to you."

I look to Ty for some sign of what to do, but his eyes are glued on her every single movement. Clearly waiting for her to strike.

"Trust me," she pleads.

Before I can respond, she quickly steps forward and reaches out to grab my hand. Going right through Tyler's stomach to do so. She pulls me closer to her, and she is so quick that it takes Ty and me both a second to realize that she has a hold of me. He turns around to watch helplessly, knowing there is nothing he can do to free me from her grasp. My eyes go wide in fear, waiting for whatever is to come, thinking of what I can try and do to stop it. Then without warning, the atmosphere around me completely changes. The energy in the air becomes entirely calm, and quiet. I watch stunned, as Paige closes her eyes, and I become surrounded in a blanket of warmth. It's a feeling I recognize, and it feels like safety and comfort, and.... home.

I gasp out loud, shocked by the sudden and drastic change, and she opens her eyes. Giving me a tentative smile, she waits patiently for me to process what just happened.

"I trust you," I tell her. Her smile grows bigger, and I can't help but match it. "I don't know how... but I know that I can," I confess.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tyler demands, looking furious at the turn of events, and I know he can't believe what he's hearing.

Paige leads me the rest of the way down to the river bank, still holding onto my hand, and I let her do it. Even with Tyler protesting behind me the whole time.

"What is happening?" I ask her.

"Just watch," she whispers softly and her eyes close again.

She raises her free hand up into the air, and it takes a few moments before I notice what is beginning to happen. The flow of the river beside us starts to pick up speed until it becomes a full rush. I watch in awe as, slowly, the water level begins to rise. Then right as it gets to the edge of the bank and I think it's going to spill over and soak us, it doesn't. It just keeps going up higher and higher. Like, there is an invisible barrier around it, holding it back.

"This can't be happening," I hear Tyler whisper, mesmerized by the sight before us.

The water reaches all the way up to the bridge, and when it is only a couple of centimeters from spilling over onto the road, it suddenly stops. Instead, Paige starts to lower her arm back down, and the river slowly starts to drop again. I stare completely fixated as the water level returns back to normal, and the rapids slow back to a trickle. That's when she finally lets go of her grip on my hand and opens her eyes to look at me.

"How did you do that?" I ask, stunned.

"I don't know. The same way you control the air, I guess," she half shrugs.

This is incredible. I can't believe this is really happening right now. All this time I thought I was the only one that could do these kind of things. "Can you do anything else?" I wonder.

"Actually yeah, and It's kind of how I knew who you were," she smiles sheepishly.

"Explain, please."

"Well, I am what you might call... an Oracle"

"A whata-cle? What does that even mean?"

"She means she can see the future," Tyler says, right as Paige announces, "I can see the future."

"How is that possible though?" I wonder.

"I don't know. How can you raise the dead?" she counters.

"Good point - But wait! How did you know I could raise the dead?"

She just rolls her eyes at my ability to be so slow right now. But in my defense, I did just experience a completely life altering kind of shock.

"Duh, Alice! I just told you I can see the future," she reminds me, "I saw you do it."

"Oh yeah. Of course." Geez, I really am slow today. "But wait!" I continue again, "When did you see me do this?"

I deeply hate raising anything, and I doubt it was intentional. Just the thought of it makes me physically shudder. And she clearly said she sees the future, not the past. So, this is obviously something I will do again. "If I know when it happens, then maybe I can avoid it," I explain.

"I can't tell you," she says apologetically.

"What do you mean you can't tell me?" I nearly shriek.

Could it be because she is lying about it? I look to Tyler for his explanation or advice, but he isn't there. I quickly glance all around, trying to spot him, but I can't find him anywhere. I start to become panicked when Paige snaps her fingers in front of my face.

"Alice, are you okay?" she asks, looking concerned. "You're not going to pass out or puke or anything are you?" She looks like she is debating if she should try to catch me or dive out of the way.

"Sorry. Just processing, I guess."

I give her a reassuring smile. As cool as it is to find someone else like me, I'm still not ready to tell her I am currently worried about my invisible, dead, best friend. I don't like the idea of sharing Tyler with anyone else. Even with someone who wouldn't call me crazy if I told them.

"So, as I was saying," she continues, "The reason I can't tell you when it happens, is because I don't actually know when it happens."

My thoughts are still on where Tyler could be, so it takes me a second to remember what we were talking about.

"I don't recognize where you are, and I don't recognize the guy either," she finishes explaining.

And with that, she officially has my full attention. "Wait! What guy?"

"The guy I see you bringing back to life," she says slowly.

If she wasn't questioning my intelligence before, she really must be now. I don't have time to care about it though, because this new information definitely takes me off guard.

"I was raising a person!?" I shriek in terror. There is no way that's accurate. I'm sure there must be some kind of mistake.

"Yeah, Alice. A person," she says positively. "But that's all I know."

I start to look around for Tyler again. If this is true.... No, this can't be true. I start to protest and tell her I know she can't be telling the truth, but she carries on with her explanation.

"As the time gets closer I will probably see it again, and then I will be able to tell you more details," she informs me. "But right now, I just can't see anything else."

I can tell she is disappointed in not being able to provide any more answers for me, and I know it's not her fault either. However, the news is still shocking to hear, nonetheless. I start to pace and chew my bottom lip while I try to process this new information about me raising an actual person from the dead. It simply can't be true. In fact, I'm positive that it's not and Paige's vision has to be wrong. There's no way she saw me bringing a person back to life, because I'm not even capable of it. I know, because I've tried once before.