Psyche

Chapter Six

When my father told me about destiny, I had no clue what it was. Telling a six year old he had this HIGHER POWER directing him is like telling a fly to stay still. It does not compute. He found it so amusing when I asked him what a HIGHER POWER was.

"Well," He'd said, "Phoenyx, I guess destiny is like . . . a pool of water. The Higher Power is the person that lets water fall in. You are the drop. Your destiny-your path in life-is the ripples. Now, those ripples might end after just a few waves. But I don't think you're going to be like that. I think you're going to be the drop that splashes the pool, and ripples are felt throughout the pool. Maybe. Maybe you'll be like that."

"What do you mean, maybe?" I demanded, "I will do that. I will be the ripples that are felt everywhere."

"When you were born, your sister told me a prophecy she had gotten about you." He turned thoughtful at this point, "And she said, 'that hero son of yours will be the greatest the Canem have ever known. He will have the heart of a hero, and the strength of a hero, and the mind of a hero, and the cunning of a hero, and, most of all, he will have the duty of a hero, but . . ."

"But what?" I whispered.

"She told me, 'But he will not be the hero.'"

***

"Des . . . tiny?" August Park murmured, rubbing her forehead, "Look-dude, what are you talking about?"

"We're all supposed to have destinies when we're born." I told her, "Do you know what yours is?"

"No." She snorted, "Only crackpot hippy guys believe in destiny."

"You know-never mind." Goddesses forbid I get saddled with the most ignorant, the most insolent, the most instigating-.

"Did you KIDNAP me?" She demanded, "I'm calling the police."

"With what?" I spread my hands, "This isn't even my damn car."

"Where am I?" She snapped, yanking on the door, her fingers fumbling with the handle, "Who are you? What are you going to do to me? What-who-why-?"

Before I knew it, I had a sobbing, crying, broken girl on my hands. She just leaned against the window and let the tears fall, choking and making me all depressed.

"August . . ." I swallowed.

"What's happening to me?" She asked, blinking through her tears to look at me, "What's happening to me?"

"August-it's going to be okay." I told her, "I know what you're going through."

"I see things." She covered her eyes with her hands, "I know what people are going through. I can feel their pain and their happiness and their anger and everything. I see it in their dreams!

I hate it."

I stared at her, "August-."

Suddenly, she straightened up, and tried to get the door open again, "You know what? It might just be best if we forgot this ever happened. I'm crazy, right? This could never happen. You probably think I'm insane . . ."

"I don't think you're crazy, August." I reached out and touched her shoulder, "I believe you."

She looked back at me, blinking, "You do? How? Why?"

Because my sister had nightmares. Because I had nightmares. They were nothing like yours, but I know what it's like to have nightmares.

"I've heard of people like you." I explained, "They're called Empaths. It starts out small, just dreams, and things like that, and slowly progresses to total magical integration. You become more than human."

"How do you even know about this stuff?" She sniffled, "Do you know other Empaths?"

"Um-no." I'm a prince of a land you can't go to, with people you haven't heard of.

Because they're dead.

They're all dead.

"I can't keep doing this." She shook her head, looking at me desperately, "I can't keep going on like this."

I can't tell you how I know these things. I can't tell you who I am. What I am.

You can't know my destiny.

But I can still help you.

"August-is there a place you want to go?" I asked, turning back to the steering wheel, "I'm sorry I kind of yanked you away, but you'll be happy to know you make it in first place. I just thought you'd need some time away from the hu-the others. You might want to get away from the crowds . . . and stuff."

She wiped her nose on the back of her hand, "Just . . . take me to my house."

***

I pulled up in her driveway, after having made sure she gave me directions, so it wouldn't look odd that I knew where she lived. I got out, pulling the hood up on my sweatshirt and staring up at her house. It looked more depressing in daylight.

I walked her to her door, and turned, "See you-." Thunder sounded, and rain started slapping down on the pavement.

She stepped aside, "You should come in. It's pouring out, and the roads are going to be crappy."

I rolled my shoulders, frowning, and finally stepped inside. She'd invited me in. Guess Father couldn't be angry at me.

"I'll get some towels . . ." She murmured, and ducked her head into a linen closet. It smelled good. I could sleep in a linen closet, if I'd fit. August tossed me a fluffy white towel, and I started wiping away the water dripping from my clothes.

"Um . . . do you . . . want something to drink?" She left the towel hanging on her head, and stuck it in the fridge, "We have . . . water . . ."

"I'm fine." I muttered, "Thank you for your hospitality."

"Sure-whatever." She pushed it closed with her hip, and crossed her arms, facing me, "So-what's with this destiny crap? Why do you believe in-other things? Like Empaths? How do you know about this shit?"

I pressed my lips together. I sure as hell couldn't tell her the truth . . . "My sister got killed. And I didn't want to believe that it had been a suicide. So I investigated. And I found out the truth." I eyed her, "There's a whole other world out there that humans don't know about."

"You solved your sister's murder?" She exclaimed, "That's amazing."

"No, it isn't." I told her, "I wish to god I didn't know about this shit."

She stared at me, blinking, and finally wondered, "What's your destiny?"

"I don't know." I said in a high-pitched voice, "It's a crackpot hippy guy thing."

"I do not sound like that." She snapped, "And you don't have to be such an ass."

"Not an ass." I agreed, smirking. My Father always called me an ass in a wolf's body . . .

"You're so weird." She grumbled, and hopped up on the kitchen counter, "Do you-like-read fortunes, or something?"

"No, like, I don't." I rolled my eyes.

"You just like to mock people, don't you?" She realized, and stared into my eyes.

I looked away, gritting my teeth, "Don't."

"What?"

"Just don't. You don't want to get in too deep." Before she could protest, I said briskly, "Listen: I'll help you handle this Empath thing, but after that, I'm out of here." Wouldn't Patchy just love that?

"What-why?" She asked, "What about school-your family will just get up and leave?"

"I don't have a family."