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“Are you telling me you don’t sleep at all? That’s impossible.” Pallas tapped the pen on the table. “I think.”
“I’ve gotten very good at limiting myself to catnaps,” he said. “As far as I can tell, the sleepwalking only happens if I fall into a deep, sound sleep and slide into a nightmare. I think the riskiest time is around two o’clock in the morning, so I make sure I’m awake then.”
“No wonder you look like you just washed up on a beach.”
“Thanks. You know how to make a guy feel like a winner.”
She ignored that. “Let’s go back to San Diego. You mentioned the nightmares. Tell me how your aura-reading talent changed.”
This was getting tricky. He wondered how much to tell her. He had already given her a lot of information. She seemed inclined tobelieve him but maybe he wasn’t interpreting her energy field correctly. The aura reading talent was far from foolproof, especially these days, when it was complicated by sleep deprivation and stress.
A server carrying a tray stacked high with dirty dishes and glasses that he had just picked up at a neighboring table made to walk past the booth. At that moment a young man who had been arguing with a woman at a nearby table leaped to his feet, enraged.
“Get over it, you stupid bitch,” he said through his teeth. “It was just a hookup. We don’t have a fucking relationship.”
He swung around, intending to head for the front door, but his trajectory carried him straight into the path of the server. Ambrose knew the impending collision would send the tray full of dishes showering down onto the table where he was sitting with Pallas. He did not need that kind of distraction. Priorities.
He got to his feet, reached out, and took the tray in both hands just as the furious young man slammed into the server. There was a thud and a couple of grunts as the two collided. The server reeled to one side but managed to catch himself by grabbing a divider that separated two booths. Angry Guy pitched up against someone who looked like he probably played football.
There were a lot of muttered comments along the lines of “What the fuck?,” “Get off me,” and “Hey, it was an accident, okay?” before, with a final “Fuck this,” Angry Guy headed for the door.
The server finally realized his hands were empty. He looked around and saw Ambrose holding the tray. The dishes and glassware were still neatly stacked. He grinned in relief.
“Nice work, man,” he said. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” Ambrose said.
With a nod of thanks the server took the heavy tray and wenttoward the kitchen. Ambrose closed the window in his head. Time went back to normal. He sat down.
But Pallas got to her feet and went to the table Angry Guy had just vacated. The young woman was still there, trying not to cry as she gathered up her things. She looked startled when Pallas lightly touched her arm and spoke quietly. It was impossible to hear what she said, but the woman’s mood shifted from hurt and humiliated to resolute and scornful.
She grabbed a napkin and used it to wipe away the last of her tears. She got to her feet, collected her jacket and her backpack, and gave Pallas a steely smile.
“You’re right,” the woman said. “He’s a dickhead. Used me to do all the work on those papers he had to turn in for his history and English classes. I’ll make sure every woman on campus gets the news.”
She turned and strode toward the door, chin high, shoulders back. Ambrose opened the window and took a quick look at the departing woman. Her aura had undergone a transformation. A moment ago it had been pale with humiliation and hurt. Now it was stronger, determined.
Pallas sat down. He closed the window. He didn’t need it to see that her amazing eyes were a little brighter than they had been a moment ago and her aura was quite... fierce. He could not think of another word to describe it. The energy in the atmosphere around her was already lessening rapidly, sinking back to what he thought of as normal for her.
“Do you mind if I ask what just happened?” he said.
She gave him a cool smile. “I did a little quick redecorating. You’d be amazed what you can do with a fresh coat of paint.”
“Excuse me?”
“Never mind. Your reflexes are rather extraordinary, aren’t they? It was as if you knew that tray was going to fall before dickhead crashed into the server.”
Translated, he wasn’t going to get an answer to his own question. Fair enough. He was the one asking for help. That made him the one who was supposed to produce explanations.
“You wanted to know how my aura reading changed,” he said.“The answer is that my ability got stronger. Sharper. In the past I viewed energy fields through a fogged-up window. Since San Diego I’ve been able to open the window.”
“What, exactly, do you see when you read auras?”
“The future.”
CHAPTER SIX
Her first reactionwas acute disappointment. It was a ridiculous response, given her recent experience. She and Talia and Amelia had spent the past few months interviewing people who claimed to have paranormal talents. As far as they could tell they had encountered only frauds, fakes, and the sadly deluded. But she had allowed herself to believe this time was different.
