C. Omololu - Intuition

“Connor!” I scream, disbelief rising at the scene that is unfolding before my eyes. “Don’t leave me! Connor!”

With one last burst of energy, he manages to turn back so that I can meet his eyes. “I will always love you, Allison. Never forget. No matter what happens, I will love you. Ad vitam aeternam.”

For eternity. At those last words, the soldiers reach the door and wrestle him out to the waiting horses, which snort and paw at the ground. The dust has barely settled on the drive when I collapse on the cold stones of the doorway, fully and completely alone as silence descends upon the house.

I feel a solid wall at my back as I shake off the memory from so many centuries ago. Drew is holding me up by both arms, watching my face intently. He knows what’s just happened. He may not know the details, but he knows I remember something. His blue eyes search mine as I feel a pounding of denial in my ears. Drew can’t be right. He can’t be Connor.

“Are you still going to deny it?” he whispers.

My hands are shaking and the feelings of abandonment and loss have settled into my chest as if that all just happened seconds ago. Tears jump into my eyes as I picture Connor’s face again as he’s led through our door for what I know is the last time. I look around, taking in the murmur of conversation from the other rooms, the faint smell of candle wax, the clinking of glasses from the bar. I’m here in San Francisco at a party with my boyfriend, not in England in the sixteenth century. “I can’t deny what happened then,” I say in a whisper. I force my eyes to meet his, the essence of Connor still lingering in my memory. I have to stay strong, keep my emotions in this lifetime. “But that has nothing to do with now.”

Drew grips my arms even tighter, his desperation almost visible. “It has everything to do with now, and you know it. After all we’ve been through.” He moves in closer and I can see the light golden stubble on his cheeks. “We’re destined to be together, Allison. We’ve always been destined for each other.” I see his eyes shining as he speaks and know that he’s fighting back tears of his own.

I can’t let myself get pulled into these emotions. There’s too much at stake now. Drew could have been anyone back then. Somehow he knew about the ankh and what happened. I remember loving Connor then, but I don’t know anything about Drew now. “My name isn’t Allison,” I say, with as much conviction as I can manage. “Not this time.”

Drew’s stare is intense. “Allison, Cole; Connor, Drew. The essences are the same, no matter what the labels are.”

I take a deep breath and pull up as much conviction as I can. “I don’t know why you’re doing this, but you’re not Connor. I would know.” I feel someone watching and glance over Drew’s shoulder to see Rayne standing at the end of the hallway staring at us. “I have to go,” I say, quickly twisting out of his grip before he can react. Without looking back, I walk toward Rayne, picking up the empty glasses where I must have dropped them.

I force my voice to remain steady as I reach her. “I was just getting some more drinks.”

Rayne turns and follows me, glancing back to where Drew is still standing at the end of the hallway. “Are you okay? What the hell was that all about?”

Ducking into the living room, I force myself to keep moving. “That? That was nothing.”

Rayne puts out a hand to stop me. “I’ve seen nothing before,” she says. “And that definitely wasn’t it. Seriously, Cole. What’s going on? Who is that guy?”

“He’s crazy,” I say. I glance toward the doorway, but Drew is nowhere in sight. “He thinks we knew each other a long time ago. From before.”

Rayne grabs the glasses out of my hands and sets them down on a bookcase. Opening the front door, she says, “I think we should probably have this conversation outside.”

As soon as the door closes behind us, I take a deep breath. “I’m not cheating on Griffon,” I say quickly. “I’d never cheat on him. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I’d never do anything to screw that up.”

Rayne looks at me, confused. “I never said you were. I know how you feel about him.”

I catch myself. My emotions are stirring up guilt where it doesn’t belong. “Remember the whole Lady Allison thing?” I ask.

“Yeah. The lifetime in England.”

“Right. And Lord Wyatt? Connor Wyatt? The one we looked up on the Internet?” I continue. “Well, Drew says he’s . . .” I let the sentence trail off and stare at her, hoping that my gestures will save me from having to say it out loud.

For the first time, the concern in her eyes wavers. “Are you trying to tell me that the guy back there was really Lord Wyatt from England all that time ago?”

“I don’t know.” I shake my head. “He says he is, but I just don’t know. He recognized this at Kat’s shop a few weeks ago,” I say, tracing the ankh with my finger. The memory of losing Connor is still tugging at the edges of my emotions, and I have to force myself to focus on the present. “I’ve been avoiding him ever since.”

Rayne slumps down and sits on the low wall of the porch. “Wow. So you’re saying he’s one of you? I thought you said there weren’t that many Akhet in the world. Seems like every time I turn around you’re telling me about another one.”

“I know. Griffon and Janine said that the same essences are often drawn to each other, like planets orbiting each other over many lifetimes. The fact that I’m remembering now seems to be bringing around every Akhet in Northern California.” I look at Rayne. Even though she’s my best friend, I wonder how she can possibly help me with this. “Promise me you won’t tell Griffon. Or Peter.”

“You said that Peter doesn’t know about you guys.”

“He doesn’t. But don’t even bring up Drew’s name. I’ll figure this out, but I don’t want Griffon hurt.” I remember the unrelenting pain and emptiness I felt during those days without Griffon, after I’d found out the truth about him. About who he’d been to me. “After all we went through before, I can’t stand even the possibility of losing him again.” I grab her hand. “Promise?”

“Promise,” she agrees. “But I saw the way he was looking at you. I don’t think this Drew guy is just going to go away. What are you going to do?”

“I’m not sure,” I say. “But for right now, avoiding him is a good place to start. I’m not going back in there.”

“You want me to go get Griffon? Tell him you have a headache and need to go home all of a sudden?”

I sit down beside her. “Would you? He’s up on the roof with Kat and Owen. The stairs are at the end of the hallway.”

Rayne leans over to give me a hug. “Look at you and all this drama. What happened to the boring, cello-playing geek from a few months ago?”

The craziness of the night boils up inside and I feel a tear escape down my cheek before I can brush it away. “I wish I knew.”

“Come in,” Janine calls from behind her door.

I poke my head into her office, surprised to see that she’s not alone. An older woman is sitting in the upholstered chair next to her desk, and she gives me a welcoming smile as I glance at the two of them.

“Sorry! I’m early. I’ll come back in a half hour.” I’ve been so anxious to talk to someone about the Drew situation that I couldn’t wait until our normal time to see her. I have no idea how I’m even going to bring it up, but I figure if anyone will understand, it’s Janine.

“No, it’s okay. Come, sit.” Janine motions to one of the empty chairs at the small round table that takes up most of the room in her small office. “We were just wrapping up. This is Sue Takami. She’s going to be a guest lecturer here in the fall, so I was just giving her some tips on the ins and outs of the university.” Janine nods to me. “This is Cole. We’ve been working together for the past few months.”

Sue smiles in my direction, her black eyes looking at me with a friendly curiosity, although she doesn’t seem to want any more explanation about what kind of work a sixteen-year-old girl would be doing with a renowned university professor. “Nice to meet you.” The name is familiar, but it isn’t until she speaks that I recognize her—Natsuko Takami. The latest book she wrote won all kinds of prizes and is being made into a major movie; she’s been on all the talk shows Mom likes to TiVo.

“You too,” I say, trying not to get flustered and say something stupid. I reach out to shake her hand, and just before our fingers touch, I feel Akhet vibrations filling the space between us. I glance at Janine in surprise.

Janine’s eyes open wide, but I can’t tell if she’s teasing me or not.

I look at Sue. “So you’re . . .”

Sue looks quickly at Janine, and I feel a conspiracy in the room. “I’m a writer, if that’s what you mean. I’m also a teacher. And a wife and mother.” Her eyes almost disappear as she laughs and shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Janine. I can’t stand to see the confused look on her face a minute longer.” Her laughter turns into a grin. “I’m also Ahket. Like you. You’re not wrong.”

I exhale and try not to be annoyed. Janine likes to pull these little tests on me, and I always hope she’s laughing with me and not at me. I smile at her. “I’m never sure if I’m imagining things, because it seems like Akhet are everywhere lately.”

Janine’s dark eyes blaze with interest. “Really? Who else have you met?”

Instantly I regret my words. “Nobody. Just, like, Veronique. And you guys.”

“I think it’s like learning a new language,” Sue says kindly. “Suddenly, it seems like you hear it on every street corner.”

I smile gratefully. “Yeah,” I agree. “It is like that. Are you really coming to teach here?”

She nods. “I really am. Spirit Stories in Modern Literature.”

“Sue is an old friend,” Janine says. “I’ve been telling her all about you.”

Sue tilts her head to look at me. “Janine says that you have budding abilities as an empath. That’s fascinating, and a skill the Sekhem will be champing at the bit to use.”

I shrug, slightly embarrassed. “I’m not very useful right now,” I say.

“No room for false modesty here. Soon Cole’s going to outgrow me as a teacher,” Janine says. “She’s picking things up so quickly that I’ve almost reached the limit of what I can show her. Pretty soon I’m going to have to pass her along up the ladder.”

“Really?” Working with Janine has been so comfortable that the thought of trying to stretch my abilities with another teacher is a little scary. “I thought we’d just keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

Janine laughs. “I’m like kindergarten as far as empathic abilities go. Within a few months, you’ll be coming back to teach me what you’ve learned.”

“Are you enrolled at the university?” Sue asks. “My seminar is usually for upperclassmen, but I can try to pull some strings if you’re interested.”

“That would be great,” I answer. “But I’m still in high school. I’m going to be a senior.”

“How exciting! Do you know what you’re going to do after? Will you apply here?”

I glance at Janine. My future has changed so much in the past few months that I have no idea what I’m going to do. “I’d always planned on going to Juilliard. But . . . things have changed.” Not only is Juilliard completely off my radar, but no music school is likely to accept an extraordinarily talented cellist who can barely play a note. “I had an accident and can’t play anymore.”

“A lot of Akhet don’t even go to college these days,” Janine says. “It’s not like the Sekhem are going to turn you away if you don’t have a degree. If you decide to go that route.”

I stare at her. “Nice. A university professor telling an almostsenior that she doesn’t have to go to college. My parents would love that.”

“I’m just saying you have a lot of options now.”

I consider that. I’ve never really thought about anything other than college. “Anyway, I have a few months before I have to really start worrying about it.”

“Well, I’ll be glad to help in any way I can,” Sue says. “It’s been so long since I’ve met an Akhet who wasn’t Iawi—rather exciting to have someone new in the ranks.”

I can tell from the way she’s talking that Sue must have transitioned more than a couple of centuries ago. “Thanks,” I say. In a rush, I remember what I wanted to talk to Janine about. “Listen, if you guys are in the middle of something, I don’t want to interrupt.”

Janine looks at me full on for the first time, and I force myself to look at the floor. Even though she says she doesn’t have many empath abilities, I can never lie to her. “Is that all you came for? Our usual session? Because I’m getting the feeling that there’s more.”