Luke slid his arm around the back of my chair and nodded toward Kai. "You two know each other?"
"Kind of." There was no need to turn and see the contempt on Kai's face.
Luke's eyes narrowed. "He's into you."
"No." I shook my head even as shivers ran...
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"Never mind," I said when Jasmine pulled into the driveway of her cozy cabin house. I suddenly didn't want Mrs. Creek to think I was losing my mind. Maybe all the nonsense would just go away. The less people who knew, the better for my future career. "I'm just going to go home."
"Nothing you say is going to surprise her." Jasmine frowned as she put the truck in park. "However, me backing you up might."
"I'll see you later." I got out of the car and took a few steps toward home.
"Oh no, you don't." Jasmine grabbed my arm and pulled me up onto the covered front porch, and ushered me in the front door.
Mrs. Creek was at the sink, her long black hair stuck in a quick ponytail. "Hi, girls," she said as she glanced over her shoulder. "Did you get the groceries?"
"No," Jasmine said. "Something's wrong with Bailey."
I sighed. "Smooth."
"Is it your head?" Mrs. Creek wiped her hands on the towel and then steered me into a barstool at the counter surrounding their buttercup yellow kitchen. "Did you pass out?"
"No." I took a deep breath, pulling in the lemon and sage scents. Then I told her about seeing myself almost drown before I did, about the guy from my dreams pulling me out of the river, and about Emma. I didn't tell her about the dead body. Couldn't say it out loud, because hers and Jasmine's hair looked just like the dead person's.
"Well, Bailey." Mrs. Creek rested her elbows on the bar. "You must have built-in peyote."
"Uh, what?"
"The Native people believe peyote opens the mind to the Creator's messages through visions." She toyed with the turquoise necklace I'd made her for her birthday. "But you don't seem to need peyote to get them."
My mouth went dry as I stared at her, and then down at a groove in the bar. The police academy didn't take weirdoes, and we were talking about some pretty serious voodoo.
"So, uh, I'm in touch with the Creator?"
"Yes."
I glanced toward the ceiling. How did that happen? I wasn't holy or anything. Certainly not a person who should be in touch with the Creator. But at the same time, something was going on.
"This isn't going to happen all the time, right?" What if it happened every day? Several times a day? School was just around the corner. Exactly the place I wanted to have black out visions.
"I'm not sure," Mrs. Creek said. "This is new for me."
"What about the police academy?" I closed my eyes and rested my forehead on the counter.
Mrs. Creek smoothed her hand down the back of my hair. "This is a wonderful, spiritual gift. You should be thankful for it."
