“What happened?”
“I could feel one of those creatures getting its tentacles on me.”
Alex hummed a few notes of a song, an oddly pop-sounding melody. Then he closed his eyes and shook his head. “Gah. Fuck. I keep getting that too.”
“What happened to us?” Jesse leaned in. “Our bodies were here, but were we somewhere else?”
“We got sucked into an astral walk, which isn’t supposed to be fucking possible according to Dr. Pak, but looks like she’s wrong again.” Alex rubbed his temples and hummed more.
The kid was in mild distress, and the look on his face made Jesse realize why Bryce worried about him. Despite the insufferable attitude Alex hid behind, when he let himself go, he looked scared. Terrified of an unseen enemy.
Jesse wondered how well he’d be holding up if he didn’t have Bryce to think about.
“Anything I can do to help?” Jesse asked.
Alex opened an eye. “You actually want to help someone?”
“I usually do. You don’t join the FBI without having some sense of civil service,” Jesse replied.
“Holy shit. You aresuchan idealist.”
Jesse let out an aggravated sigh. Clearly Alex wanted under his skin, but walling off the effect he was having wouldn’t make coping with him any easier. Jesse held his hands out and wiggled his fingers. “Do whatever psychic thing you need to in order to feel better.”
Alex laughed under his breath, but he also opened his other eye. “That is so not how any of this works.”
“Bryce said you’re an empath and touch helps you make connections,” Jesse said.
“I need to feelless, not more. And I need to not feel that creepy thing inside my head, which is probably also inside your head.” Alex folded his arms together and leaned on the table. “Nice try, though.”
“Then, what will help?”
“That has been the great question ever since I left the Ascent facility.”
Ah ha, a name. Something Jesse could look up the next time he had a free afternoon. And a computer. And his own secure internet access.
Damn, he missed his apartment.
Jesse cleared his throat. “And that was years ago?”
“Yup. Teenage years and psychic powers. I would have rather had more acne and prom drama.” Alex tapped his temple. “But hormones shift and neural pathways do their thing, and nothing stays the same. You can only train so much. And then you do train and something like the devourer comes in and tries to eat you anyway.”
“The devourer,” Jesse said.
Alex shrugged. “That’s what I’ve been calling it. Feels like it wants to eat everything it comes into contact with.”
“Lawson used that in his journal, but I didn’t realize he meant the creature.”
Alex paled. “Well, great. He fucking did. And he’s dead. So that’s even better.”
“He’sdead? But he was in your custody!”
“Killed during transfer.”
“Shit,” Jesse murmured, the pieces coming together. “There is a cult, and somehow it’s in the DWO.”
“Yeah. That would be why my mom’s on red alert and needing the private talk with Bryce,” Alex said.
“And why she brought the empath.” Jesse folded his arms and leaned them on the table. “You’ve been reading me this whole time, figuring out whether or not I’m lying. Or surprised.”
