A Pocket Full of Posies (Book 1)

Chapter Nine

The first thing I see when I open my eyes is a perfectly white ceiling, and the only explanation for that is that I'm lying down. As I sit myself up, the image of the ceiling is replaced by one of a sagged face. Jamie's grandmother. What the--When did she rock up? She says something, but my disorientation is rendering me dumb and deaf.

I'm still in Ava's living room, except it's only me in here now, and I'm half-lying on one of the comfy sofas. The fire is still roaring. Where is everyone? What even just happened? I scan the room but still can't see anyone, and as my eyes turn back to what's in front of me, I'm reminded of the fact there's a dead old woman standing at my feet. I'd kill to have her plush dressing gown wrapped around me right now.

"Sorry," I interrupt her mid-sentence. "Not really a good time, I'm a bit out of it at the--Uh, what's wrong?"

"I just want to thank you for helping me with Jamie," she says in a voice far softer than I remember. Granted, last time I did see her she seemed to be having a mental breakdown. "I couldn't leave without thanking you."

I shrug in response. "Oh, it's cool, didn't really do much."

"Listen," she begins as her eyes dart back and forth. She leans in slightly, and lowers her voice as she continues speaking. "There is something going on, and it's getting bigger. I'm scared they're listening, I--I don't know what they're capable of, I'm scared of what they'll do if--" She freezes, glances around again, then lowers her voice even more. "They're watching you--they're watching all of us. You need to lose them."

"What?" I ask, unsure of whether what she's saying makes no sense, or if I'm still a bit delusional.

She says nothing, just stares, and small bursts of light begin to flicker around her. I don't have much time.

"Wait," I try. "What was wrong last time I saw you, when you said I wasn't safe? Is that what you're talking about?"

Jamie's grandmother still says nothing. The bursts of light surrounding her become more bright and frequent, and soon a ring of white light has formed itself around her entire body. I ask her to elaborate again, but I'm not even sure she can hear me anymore. As the frame of light around her becomes so bright that it almost blinds me, her lips part ever so slightly.

"Felix." She doesn't say it quietly, yet my name sounds like a whisper. "You have to remember."

The burst of light sheds itself over her whole body until nothing remains but empty space. This old hag loves a bit of melodrama, doesn't she? As if seeing what I assume was the corpse of my older sister sprawled across a car in some hallucinogenic state wasn't enough, now I have to deal with a load of mumbo-jumbo a dead old woman unleashed onto me. In fact, to top that off even further, where the hell is every--

"Felix?"

I lift my head and turn to the doorway, and see Carmen standing on her tip-toes looking over the sofa at me. Oh good, there haven't been any apocalypses while I was busy hallucinating then. Mind you, god knows where Annabel has gotten to.

"Hey, you all right?" Carmen asks as she treads over to the sofa, and I sit myself upright. "You scared the shit out of Mosi and Kato, pal, they thought you were possessed or something. Ava said you acted freaky when she did it too, what's that all about?"

I wave my hand in the air in an attempt to shrug the whole thing off, but when I try to stand, I trip over nothing and fall back onto the sofa. Why is my head spinning?

"Oi, take it easy," Carmen snaps.

"Sorry, I--I dunno. I get migraines a lot. I shouldn't have done that really; I felt one coming on, that's why I didn't really wanna do it at first."