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I snap my gaze down from the ceiling and turn my head to look towards the sound of the new voice. Jace has spun around as well.
Jenn gives me a sympathetic smile as she and Aurora walk down the hallway and approach us.
“No, he’s not psychic,” Jenn repeats.
“But he knew about Victor,” I protest as they come to a halt in front of me.
Jace has moved so that he is standing beside me, but he looks much less inclined to throw Jenn and Aurora out than he did Lionel.
“He probably saw on the guest list that you were coming and researched you,” Jenn explains. Her eyes are serious but also lined with sympathy as she gestures between me and the main room down the hall. “He probably thought that making a grand impression on you would be great publicity for his show, so he checked you out.”
Next to her, Aurora nods. “We didn’t know about your brother, but now that we knew what to search for, it only took us a couple of tries to find it.”
Holding up her phone, she shows me an old news article from the local paper where our summer house was located. I glance away from the picture of Victor it shows.
“But that only says that he drowned,” I argue. “How could he possibly have known that it was a river? That he jumped in? That I was there too? That I tried to save him?” Dread and pain sear through me, and I slash my hand through the air. “He couldn’t! Not unless Victor was…” I choke on the words.
Jenn and Aurora share a look. Embarrassment, but also immense empathy, blows across Aurora’s face as she turns back to meet my gaze.
“Look, I…” she begins, pushing her blonde hair back behind her ear. “I was really close with our grandpa. And when he died, I… Well, long story short, I became really into this.” She shoots Jenn a serious look. “And I still believe that true psychics do exist.”
Jenn just nods, as if she won’t argue with that.
Aurora turns back to me. “But most people, and especially the ones who do these kinds of shows, are con men.”
“But how could he know?” Emotions claw at my chest like sharp talons. “There is no way for him to?—”
“He did what’s called a cold reading,” Jenn interrupts. Her voice is firm but not unkind. Holding my gaze, she raises her eyebrows. “Remember what he said? First, he said that it was a lake. But then you scowled at him. Just a little. And he said river next. That’s when you swallowed.”
I blink at her in confusion and surprise.
“I was watching you closely,” she explains, and her eyes dart towards Aurora. “I learned all I could about these kinds of cold readings so that I could explain it to Aurora and break her out of her…” Clearing her throat, she shifts her gaze back to me. “Anyway. He didn’t know about the river and the current and all that. He guessed, and then used the micro expressions on your face to determine if he was right. If you swallowed or if your mouth dropped open a little or your eyes widened a fraction. Or if you frowned or scowled or pulled back.”
Disbelief tumbles through me. And for a few seconds, all I can do is to stare at her. “He… He guessed?”
Both Jenn and Aurora nod. Jenn looks determined while Aurora is looking at me like she understands exactly how I felt back in that room, and exactly how I’m feeling right now.
Rage burns through me. Hot enough to torch this whole building.
“He guessed,” I repeat, fury seeping into my voice. “He pretended that my brother was here, talking to me from the other side? He pretended.”
“Yeah.”
Another wave of rage roars through me. He put me through all of that pain and hurt and emotional upheaval for a show? He exploited my grief for money? For publicity?
“I want to kill him.” The words rip from my soul with enough force to make me taste blood. Fury flickers like lightning strikes through my body as I look from Jenn to Aurora to Jace, who is watching me in silence. “I want him dead. Can we make that happen?”
God, I can’t believe I went through all of that shit, all of those emotions, and it wasn’t even real. It was just a scam. People like that don’t deserve to?—
“Well, yeah,” Jace replies. There’s a casual expression on his face as he motions vaguely at himself while glancing between me and the Carlisle sisters. “I could… I’m a… You know.”
And a broken and yet full laugh rips from me at the sight.
God, where has this absolutely extraordinary man been all my life?
36
JACE
