“Holy shit…that was intense,” I say, hand held to my heart. “So real.”
The lamp next to me flicks on, and the dark room is bathed inlight. Nina’s standing over me, dressed in navy-and-white plaid pajamas. The shorts are barely visible under the button-down.
I peek up at her, grimacing. “I’m sorry for waking you.”
“You were screaming. Scared the hell out of me,” she says, running her hand back through her hair. “I thought someone was murdering you.”
“Were you still up?” I ask, recognizing she hadn’t been in bed.
“No. I fell asleep on the couch watching20/20. Which didn’t help.”
Despite the heaviness still lingering from that awful dream, I laugh.
“Care to tell me what that was about?” Nina asks, taking a seat on the bed.
I relay everything I can remember and allow her to sit with it for a few minutes. Recalling the specifics only drives home the point that it was the strangest dream I’ve ever had. It was so real. Like I was watching through a camera lens, waiting for something to go down.
“You weren’t in the dream? Nobody you know was in the dream?” she asks, and I purse my lips thinking about it, which doesn’t take long.
“No. There were three people that I remember, and I know none of them.”
She bites on her cheek, eyes narrowed. “That’s strange…right?”
I huff, sitting back against the headboard. “What isn’t strange anymore, Nins? Ever since my birthday, things have taken a turn for crazy town, and we seem to be driving the train.”
She nods, blowing out a harsh breath. “Have you considered that maybe it wasn’t a dream?”
I turn toward her, gaze narrowed in on my friend.
“Humor me for a moment,” she says, and I arch a brow. “What if it was a prophecy? Or a vision?”
I’m thoroughly speechless. This is Nina speaking—an educated therapist, who would typically have an entirely separate explanation for my dream.
Oh, how times have changed.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she snaps.
“Like what?” I lean to the side, reaching for my glass of water sitting on the nightstand.
“Like I’m talking foolish. You and I both know that these things are real.”
I gulp down the rest of the glass and turn toward her.
“I’m just surprised to hear you say it. That’s all,” I explain, smiling to calm her temper. “I see ghosts, Nina. I don’t see visions.”
She huffs. “I touch people and see visions. Why is it hard to believe that you can see visions as well as ghosts? It’s entirely possible to have more than one ability, Ally.”
I consider what she’s suggesting, finding that I have no rebuttal.
“I’ve been doing some research,” she says, pulling the blanket over her legs. “Trying to understand my ability. And through that research, I read a lot about people with abilities like ours. It’s not uncommon to have more than one. In fact, it’s less common not to.”
While I’ve been preoccupied with shoving my abilities aside, Nina has been dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of our capabilities—a pursuit I should have been actively engaged in as well.
How many latent powers could be lying within me?
“Let’s assume that you’re correct,” I say, arching an eyebrow. “What can I do with the dream?”
Her tongue protrudes from the side of her mouth while she appears to concentrate.
