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“I mean, unless it’s the ghost of the journalist, he just emailed you. He said he monitors the articles you’ve been looking up to see if anyone is looking into Ricardo and Lorenzo. He said he’s still been watching them and he has more information on them. He also said he’s in hiding and you’ll never find him if you try looking any harder,” she said.
“Well, that’s an unexpected development,” Ivan said.
“I want to know what else he knows about them,” she said. “Should I respond?”
“Tell him that we know what he knows already,” Ivan said. Sephie looked at him, somewhat confused. “But we don’t,” she said.
“He doesn’t know that and most of the time if you tell a journalist that you know more than they do about something, it pisses them off and makes them prove they know more than you,” Ivan said.
Sephie started to type a response with just her right hand. She glanced up to see us all watching her type with only one hand, clearly more amused than we should’ve been about it. “Don’t mind me. I’ll have this done by the end of the week,” she said as she continued pecking at the keys as quickly as she could. Just as she got the email finished, Ivan’s phone beeped to let him know the acupuncturist was in the lobby.
“I’ll be right back, princess,” he said, walking out of the penthouse.
Sephie continued to read through what Viktor had found while she’d been sleeping as she waited for Ivan to return. She glanced up at Viktor, “Didn’t you say that Armando and Ricardo were related, albeit distantly?”
“That’s what the records I found showed, but I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate now,” he said.
“There has to be a reason that Armando chose to use the family name he did,” she said. Ivan walked back into the penthouse with the acupuncturist. Viktor pulled his computer back toward him, saying, “I’ll see what I can find while you’re getting tuned up.”
The acupuncturist looked at Sephie, then looked at Ivan, her eyes wide for just a moment. “I know. So many people wish they could look this good and they simply can’t,” Sephie said, sarcastically.
“See, I told you,” Ivan said to the acupuncturist, who was laughing at Sephie. She walked to the spare room that she usually worked on Sephie in, waiting for Sephie to slowly follow her. Ivan and I followed as well, to help her lie down more easily.
Once the door was closed, she looked to Ivan. “You need it too.”
Sephie pointed at him, “Told you.”
The acupuncturist said, “Last time, Ivan took the worst of it to save Sephie. This time, Sephie took the worst of it to save Ivan.” Ivan immediately took offense and started to argue, but she put her hand up, cutting him off. She walked to Sephie, taking her hand like she always did. She closed her eyes while pressing on the spot just between her thumb and forefinger. She shook her head no, then walked to Ivan doing the same thing. “They were going to kill you, Ivan. Sephie made sure that didn’t happen.”
Sephie was somewhat surprised. “I didn’t do anything. Other than run my mouth.”
“You kept the focus on you, Sephie. If Ivan had done that, they would’ve killed him. They needed you. They didn’t need him. You might not have been completely aware of that, but your soul knew. You listened,” she said, smiling sweetly at Sephie, who now had stray tears falling down her cheeks.
Ivan wrapped his giant arm gently around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head. They just stood there for a moment, until the acupuncturist asked another question. “You can feel him now, the same way you can feel your boyfriend, can’t you?”
Sephie nodded, wiping her eyes. “It’s not as strong and it’s different, but I can feel him sometimes now.”
“You’ll be able to feel all of them soon. Especially the one that can see the unseen,” she said. Misha.
“But how though?” Sephie asked.
The acupuncturist smiled at her. “You still don’t realize your potential, Sephie. You’re not like other women. They’re not like other men, for that matter.” She left it at that and motioned for Sephie to lie down. Ivan and I both helped her. She looked at me, then to Ivan. “I need to see under her clothes.”
“Ivan’s already seen it. I don’t care as long as he doesn’t care,” Sephie said, looking at me. I nodded once. The acupuncturist helped Sephie lift the hoodie over her head and pull her leggings off. Her body was still badly bruised, but the bruises were just starting to change colors. Fading from a bright blue and purple to a greenish brown in spots, which meant they were already in the beginning stages of healing. She put her hands on Sephie, much like the doctor did, to check for internal damage. I glanced at Ivan, who was looking at Sephie’s bruises in an entirely new light. He looked both shocked and apologetic. He looked to me with a very obvious “I didn’t mean for this to happen” look on his face.
“You can stop worrying, Super Squish. I’m going to live,” Sephie said, without looking at him. She’d closed her eyes as soon as the acupuncturist put her hands on her. I couldn’t help but smile at Ivan, who was also smiling at Sephie and shaking his head.
“I’m not sure how I feel about this,” Ivan said, laughing quietly.
I could feel the relief that Sephie got when the acupuncture needles were in for just a short time. Her shoulder and her ribs were still causing her extreme pain. Sephie, however, wasn’t saying anything about it. “Her shoulder and her left ribs are still in extreme pain,” I told the acupuncturist. She nodded her head. “I’m saving that for last. It’s going to hurt for a minute before it feels better, so I need the rest of her body to feel better first. That way, it’s not as bad.”
She motioned for Ivan to sit in a chair close to the bed where Sephie was. “Take your shirt off,” she said. “Your upper body is what always takes everything. This time was no different.” She got busy sticking needles in him while Sephie’s body worked on self-correcting as much as possible. I could feel her relax more with each minute as the pain in her body subsided slowly. I could still feel her shoulder and her ribs, but it felt like the pain was staying localized in that area, instead of her entire body with an extra emphasis on her shoulder and ribs.
I hadn’t noticed the acupuncturist watching me watch Sephie, until she said quietly, “You can feel her pain now, no? It’s stronger than other emotions you’ve been able to feel?” I nodded my head. Of course, she would know that. “Because that’s where she needs the most help. Your anger is strongest because that’s where you need the most help. Her pain is strongest because she needs the most help there, but she won’t ask for it.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Ivan just told me that a few hours ago.” I looked to Ivan, who had his eyes closed like he was asleep. Just like Sephie. Neither one of them seemed to be aware of our conversation.
“They can’t hear us right now,” she said, a small smile on her face. “She’s afraid to be completely vulnerable. She’s almost there, but in her past, showing weakness or asking for help while she was hurt got her hurt more. I don’t know details, of course, and I don’t need to know details. Her soul is asking yours to help her heal by letting you feel her pain when she tries to hide it. She needs to understand that she’s going to be taken care of when she’s hurt. She’s close to knowing that, but there’s still a part of her that remembers when she had no one to count on.”
