Cheating Heart, A Lost Souls Novel: A Lost Souls Novel (18 page)

“Oh, it’s not what it looks like,” Vienna protested.
  “I swear!” 

James laughed and pulled her closer to him.  “It’s exactly what it looks like,” he said and pressed his lips against hers. 

Sunday, February 16th

Chapter 11

Vienna woke up early despite the lack of sleep.  She and James had talked until the wee hours of the morning before finally retiring to her room.  She had been tempted to not sleep at all, but figured it would be wise to get some sort of rest.  Today she and James planned on spending the day together and she wanted to have enough energy to enjoy her time with him.  Then tomorrow morning she and Kim would fly back home. 

Even though they had hit a rough patch this weekend, Vienna was feeling more than happy with the outcome.  It was nice to not have to hide her psychic visi
ons from James.  After their in-depth conversation last night, and his experience of the paranormal with her, the door was open for them to talk freely about it.  She knew James was still confused and bit uncomfortable about Jack being her spirit guide, but she hoped eventually it wouldn’t bother him so much.

Where is Jack?
Vienna wondered while slipping out of bed.  She checked the time on her phone and groaned.  She’d only gotten four hours of sleep and knew it would really hit her later on.  She’d just have to deal with it because right now she had way too much on her mind to be able to sleep.  A wide range of feelings was plaguing her.  Excitement coursed through her veins at the thought of James. Yet sadness and remorse made her heart feel heavy at the thought of poor Roberto being trapped between dimensions.  And lastly, confusion regarding Jack’s where-a-bouts upset her.  Where was he? 

It did help
knowing that Jack led James to her.  It was because of Jack that James found her in the underpass and was able to connect with her subconsciously.  But why wasn’t Jack there?  Why didn’t he help her when she was scared?  Yes, she’d been upset with him for not being around very often, but this was the first time he’d abandoned her when she was scared and needed his help with a ghost.  Normally he was right there in her time of need.

Quickly Vienna changed her clothes, brushed her teeth, applied the bare minimum of makeup to make her look a little less scary and ran a brush through her unruly hair.  Giving up, she just pulled it back and tied it up with a scrunchie.  She grabbed her jacket
, phone, and keycard, ready to slip out the door, when she realized she’d better let Kim know where she was going.  Kim was sound asleep with her blankets pulled up over her head.  She didn’t want to disturb her and really didn’t think Kim would be waking up any time soon, but figured it’d be best to at least leave a note.  Next to the TV was a notepad and pen with the motel logos on them.  Vienna scribbled out a note.

Kim,

Couldn’t sleep. 
Went for a walk at the harbor. 

I have my phone with me.  I didn’t want to wake you.
 

xoxox
,

Vienna

Picking up Kim’s phone, she placed the note beneath it on the nightstand.  Kim had it plugged in and charging there.  Vienna knew Kim well enough to know that would be the first place she’d look when she woke up.  She’d reach for her phone to check the time and whether or not she had missed any messages.

Vienna
stepped out of the room and gently closed the door behind her.  The early morning air was crisp and cool, but thankfully not cold.  The humidity that laced it kept her from feeling chilled.  It was much warmer than last night.  She remembered how abnormally cold she was.  She wondered if Roberto always felt cold.  Did ghosts feel temperature?  She wasn’t sure.  She knew that supposedly they pulled energy from their surroundings when trying to manifest that caused the temperature to drop, but did they actually feel it?  That’s something she’d have to ask Jack when he reappeared.  If he reappeared.

Vienna walked through the driveway toward the opening of the underpass.  She thought about Jack and how confusing he could be.  Not only didn’t he make sense, he also confused her feelings.  She didn’t like being in love with someone that she couldn’t be with.  It was difficult to think about
.  It hurt.  Even though nothing had ever happened between her and Jack, obviously, she had such a deep connection with him.  It was something she couldn’t explain.  Perhaps it’s because he’s her spirit guide.  Maybe it isn’t being in love, it’s just unconditional love.  After all there’d have to be a connection regardless.  He was a part of her life.  He was her guide. Then her mind drifted to James and how she felt about him.  New feelings of excitement and romance filled her heart.  He
was
real.  Not that Jack
wasn’t
real, but James was in a physical body, earth bound, just as she was.  They could physically be together.  The sensual thought sent chills down her spine; happy,
want-to-dance-and-sing
, sort of chills.  Suddenly she was feeling a bit giddy and realized she was practically skipping instead of walking. 

At the entrance to the underpass, Vienna stopped.  She
was having mixed feelings about entering after last night since something awful had happened.  She’d experienced a man killing his brother, even though she knew it didn’t literally happen here.  The ghost had been following her for awhile.  He’d attached himself to her energy.  Or anyway, that’s how Jack would’ve explained it to her, if he’d actually been around.  But on the opposite end of the spectrum, as she stood at the opening of the underpass she’d experienced a sense of excitement because last night, something wonderful had also happened.  She fell in love with James.  And that happened right here, on the spot.  She looked around, seeing the underpass in a new light.  Maybe it wasn’t such a bad place after all.  It was more of a magical place, a place where flames were ignited. 

“Oh my God,” she said aloud when the realization of her thoughts hit her. 
“I’m falling in love!” she gasped, clamping a hand over her mouth.  She didn’t realize it until just then.  She was feeling all the signs.  She was giddy, couldn’t sleep, she kept thinking about his amazing eyes, the way his lips felt against hers, the heat of his body pressed close to hers.  The adorable dimple when he smiled, that showed off his boyish charm.  This was something she never thought she’d feel again after all of the hurt and heartbreak that Brandon had caused her.  She was actually falling in love!  She had the sudden urge to jump up in the air and click her heels together.  Not that she’d ever do that even if she could.  But mentally she was doing some serious heel clicking. 

Now
thinking good positive thoughts about the underpass, she rubbed her hands together briskly, closed her eyes and stepped in.  After a second or two, she opened them.  Nothing happened.  She looked around feeling kind of let down.  No Roberto, no Jack, no nothing.  Not that she really expected Jack to appear.  However, she still kind of hoped he would.  She’d be lying to herself if she didn’t want him there.               

“Jack?”
Vienna called, walking further into the underpass.  “Jack?  You here?”

Still nothing out of the ordinary happened. 
She continued to walk until she came out on the other side.  Feeling a bit deflated, she made her way over to the harbor and walked past the shops.  She could smell the scent of coffee and breakfast from the nearby restaurant wafting on the morning air.  Instead of stopping, even though she was tempted to get a caffeine fix, she walked to the same bench she’d sat upon last night.  Looking around, she studied her surroundings.  No one was about.  She sat down gazing at the moored boats.  The ones further out were harder to see due to the early morning haze.  It reminded her of the fog from her encounter with Roberto.  Everything in his world was so cold and foggy.  Was that how he felt?  Caught in a world full of fog?  It was so cold and dismal.  Such a depressing thought.  She couldn’t imagine living with that dreariness day in and day out.

Vienna slid her hand in
to her pocket to retrieve her phone.  Pulling it out, it slid through her fingers.  “Urrr,” she growled, as it landed on the ground.  She swore beneath her breath when she noticed the protective case had popped off.  The last thing she needed was to break her phone and have to shell out money for a new one.  Smart phones weren’t cheap and she didn’t want to be tempted to use her Dad’s credit card to pay for a new one.  She already felt bad enough charging her last minute beach getaway on his card.  She really wished her father cared more about her spending and had stipulations.  It would make it much easier for her to be independent if he did.  She worried that he’d never see her as an independent adult if she kept relying on him for monetary help.  She truly thought graduating from college would make all the difference in the world, but it didn’t.  She still felt like a child even with a BA degree.  The only difference was that she held two menial jobs, had a roommate to help her scrape by, and her dreams of making it big after graduation had been doused.  Life wasn’t nearly what she’d expected it to be.  And the entire psychic thing just made it even more complicated.  Not only was she dealing with the truth of adult life not being as glamorous as she’d hoped, she was bumbling around in a strange paranormal world that she never even believed existed.  Life was so baffling.  

Leaning forward, Vienna reached beneath the bench to scoop
up the pieces.  She was relieved to see the phone was still intact.  It seemed to be functioning correctly as she tapped on the screen.  The top of the protective case hadn’t been so lucky though.  The little plastic tab that held it in place had snapped off. 
Oh well,
she thought. 
At least it’d done its job.
  The phone still worked.  And she could afford to buy a new case without using her Dad’s money.

T
hen something that she hadn’t expected to see caught her eye.  Vienna gasped at the sight of it.  Beneath the bench, right next to her heel, was a large smooth stone.  Not that seeing a rock would be out of the ordinary, but what bothered her was that she could’ve sworn it was the same stone as the one in her vision last night except, of course, this one wasn’t covered in blood.  Thank goodness!  She’d have passed out on the spot if it was. 

Vienna
doubted it was the exact same stone.  The reason was pretty obvious.  The ghost appeared as if he’d been hanging around awhile.  His clothing and hairstyle in her vision dated him.  And she doubted the stone would look the same after all of these years or be right here. She wondered when and where he’d lived when he was alive.  She really hadn’t a clue.  That was another thing that bothered her.  If she was psychic, which apparently she was, shouldn’t she just know these things?  Being psychic wasn’t at all like she’d expected.  Before experiencing the phenomenon first hand, she would’ve expected psychics to know everything.  Now she knew that wasn’t so.  Things just came to her whenever and however.  Sometimes she knew things, and other times she didn’t.  It was kind of like a crapshoot.  You never knew what you were going to get.

Vienna looked down and spied the stone again.  She nudged it with her heel.  Ev
en though she knew it wasn’t the one from the vision, she had the sudden urge to touch it.  The resemblance was uncanny.  Leaning forward, she reached beneath the bench and brushed the cold surface with the tips of her fingers.  After a couple of tries, she was able to slide it out.  It was heavier than in appeared.  She lifted it with both hands and gasped.  A sudden chill ran down her spine letting her know she was no longer alone.  She could sense him even before the haze appeared.  Roberto was there with her. 

“Roberto?” she whispered.
  “Is that you?” A dark mist materialized before her eyes and began to swirl.  It stretched and thickened before transforming into the shape of man, yet stayed transparent.  His dark eyes held the same deep sorrow as last night.  It was most definitely Roberto.  She quickly looked around and wondered if anyone else could see him.  Not that there was anyone else around, so it didn’t really matter.  It was still too early and cold.  Most sane people were smart enough to still be in bed.  But she wondered if he’d be visible to other people or if it was her abilities at work.

Vienna
knew it was taking a lot of energy for Roberto to show himself to her.  Or anyway that’s what the popular theory was.  Kim had had her watching paranormal reality shows about ghost hunting to brush up on her knowledge of how things worked in the ghost world.  Plus, Jack, in his own roundabout way, on several occasions, tried to explain what he could to her about manipulating energy.  She figured that Roberto was probably using the damp morning air and the movement of the water as a conductor.  She thought about how proud Kim would be if she knew she remembered that.  She learned about conductors on last week’s reality show that Kim made her watch.  A team of ghost hunters were investigating a lighthouse and explained why they thought the activity was so great.

***

Jack silently stood behind the bench watching Vienna.  He’d followed her through the underpass and had been secretly observing her.  He wanted to let her know that he was there, protecting her, but resigned.  He wasn’t sure he should take the chance.  It may be looked upon as inappropriate.  He’d recently had an emergency meeting with the council, set up by Clarisse, and was now treading, as they say, on thin ice.  However, because he’d repaired Vienna’s life chart and the others that it would’ve affected by pushing her and James together before any real damage could’ve been done, his job hadn’t been taken away.  But he’d been given a stern warning. For now on, he needed to be both discreet and careful, and to learn how to control his emotions no matter how hard it was for him.