Chapter Twenty Seven

Faith honked her horn at me. "Go!"

I got out of her chrome Audi and looked over at the concrete football field I still had to cross with disdain. There were concrete safety bollards that flanked it on both sides to prevent cars from driving through. Getting dropped off didn't put me any closer to the library than if we parked. I took a deep breath and headed for those tall, tinted revolving doors. I wasn't running late. I had plenty of time to get there.

I thought about how I was going to approach Martha, if I was going to approach Martha. I wondered if I'd be able to call-in until she broke up with her boyfriend. It wasn't like the library needed me. There was no such thing as book emergencies.

I imagined the librarians running around frantically. Oh my god, where's Regal? Quick! We need him to watch couples make out on the fifth floor and pretend to put books away. I seriously considered leaving, enough to turn around, but Faith was gone.

I walked into the library. It was the crater of a volcano and I was its virgin sacrifice. I turned toward the main desk where Martha was waiting for me. I wasn't scheduled on book delivery day this week, so she had absolutely nothing better to do than play blind follower while I played kook in front of her new boyfriend.

"Hop on over, Reegs!" she shouted, and beckoned.

I started to curve my lips into a smile, but gave up partway. I felt like I was going to sick. I walked around the counter to the swing door and let myself in. Her boyfriend wasn't there, just her and another girl that she worked with. Perhaps, there was still hope. Martha scooped me up in a hug without warning. I should've hugged first. It hurt so bad. She was making up for every one she missed.

"There!" She released me from her clutches.

She was apparently satisfied with herself. I panted for air, but managed to smile. Her cheery attitude made it impossible to stay pouty for long. That was the problem. Martha was an amazing person, one who I didn't want to lie to or disappoint. If she wasn't, I would've had no problem keeping the lie going. I didn't want to lose this job and my amateur career as voyeur along with it. I was in a tough spot and it was decision day. I had to do one of those two things I didn't want to.

"Cop a squat Reegsy," Martha said. That was new. She guided me over to her rolling office chair and planted me down on it. "We have some catching up to do, but I can tell you have a lot on your mind." She broadened her ever present smile as she lifted my chin. "You first, tell me what's wrong."

She had no idea what she was getting herself into. She had offered to open the floodgates to a river of woe that would've swept her up and kept her white water rafting well past the time of close. No, there wasn't time to tell her everything, but she was great at listening and at giving advice.

I decided I'd choose one problem and then I'd tackle the ever lurking one that my power's inadequacy had wrought. Since Saylor and Faith were at least talking to me again, I could handle them on my own. Theresa or Juice? It was obvious. Martha thought she needed a psychic to choose a boyfriend. I'd never come to her for relationship advice. "I came out to my mom yesterday," I said meekly.

Martha sighed heavily. "Oh, Reegs, I'm so sorry. We'll get through this though." She slowly pulled another chair up to mine and sat down carefully, like she was choosing her final resting place. She placed a hand on my shoulder and caressed it gently until I was ready to look up at her. "Do you want to talk about?"

I nodded slightly. I could see on her face that she was ready to bear the load with me. Saylor could've taken lessons from her. She wouldn't have assumed Juice punched me in the face.

"She didn't say anything, so I left. Then, she took my car," I said, a chuckle slipped out, "That's it. We haven't talked since."

I looked past her for foot traffic beyond the counter. It was non-existent. In the main room on the first level, there were a few students sitting around one of those obscenely large marble tables, tapping away at their screens. Those tables never made sense to me. There was all that unused space in the middle that no one could reach. If they had been made into rings rather than circles, there would've been enough material for twice the tables.

"Yup, so I think I'm staying with Faith now."

Martha took a while to respond, but the silence wasn't awkward. I could tell she was deep in thought by the stress lines on her face. I appreciated that she didn't have an answer right away. It was like she was trying to give my problem the respect it deserved.

"So, what if—is it possible that, maybe Mom chose to be silent rather than saying something she couldn't take back?" Martha asked.

She clenched her fists slightly and winced as if bracing for a punch. "I'm not taking sides, just it—it surprised her, right?" I nodded. She laid her hands to rest, flat on her thighs.

"But, she didn't stop me from leaving," I said, shrugging, "She should've stopped me."

"But she took your car?" she asked.

I didn't think she intended it, but I felt ridiculous. Mom knew where I was and she took my car. She didn't change the locks or tell me not to come back.

"So, say Mom was ready to talk, can she do that if you stay with Faith?" she asked.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was settled, I'd talk to Mom tonight. Worst case, I'd go to Faith's after. I had nothing to lose. "So, how about that boyfriend?"

It was another one of those times where I was hoping for a tragedy, even an unrelated spasm would do. I could have her play birdwatcher with me and we'd save someone else together. No, too many things could go wrong and knowing my superpower, they would. The effect wouldn't be instant, the person I tried to save would fight me, the event would be insignificant enough to pass off as coincidence, the list went on.

"He'll be here any minute," Martha said, barely able to contain her excitement.

A deep, chill coursed through me. "W-What? How did h—."

"When you were sitting there, spacing out, I told him to head on down," Martha said, giving me a playful slap on the wrist. "He was reading on the floor above us."

I grabbed her wrist with both hands and held on tight, "N-n-no, I mean, no you can't. There's s-something I have to tell you."

I shook my head rigorously, staring at her the same as certain death. Martha put her free hand down on top of mine and caressed it as I clung to her wrist.

"It'll be fine. Relax. I didn't tell him everything." She circled her index finger beside her head. "I would've sounded like a wacko. Just see if you get a read, please." I let go of her wrist, but I still wasn't comfortable with this. I wanted to come clean. I had to. "Yeah, that's it. No pressure. Here he comes now."

Her smile grew impossibly wide as she pointed to the nearest stairwell. It wasn't more than twenty feet away from the desk. I bit down hard on my lip. I didn't have much time. The truth was going to come bursting out of me. It was now or never. I looked over at the staircase and saw snakeskin shoes trotting down them.

My nerves melted away completely.

The transformation was stunning: straight jacket loony one second, hell raiser the next. I swiveled my chair around, so he wouldn't see me. This was the one reading I could give and be absolutely certain. I could've faked an eye spasm without an iota of guilt or I could've stood up, waved and made him turn the other way, but I didn't. I did neither of those things and my reasoning couldn't have been more selfish, but it was simple.

It was my turn to do impressions and theatrics while he held onto a glass bullet.

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After having my fun with Dr. Nalor, there was only one thing left to do. Lie or disappoint, those were my options. It wasn't a choice. The thing I didn't understand before talking to Bobby was that choosing to lie meant I had to lie to Martha every time for however long I worked there. As bad as the alternative seemed, I only had to disappoint her once.

"There's something I have to tell you about my superpower," I said.

Martha, being the Sherlock Holmes to context clues, already had that crestfallen look on her face, the one every one of us had when we found out Hogwarts was a dollhouse filmed at clever angles.

I clapped my hands on my cheeks and pressed onward. I couldn't back down. I never wanted her to make that face at me again. "So, I don't have any mojo readings or clear visions of the future. I sometimes see things in my vision and bad things happen unless I steer people away from them. That's it. It could be coincidence or I could be a crazy teenager who needs to be locked away. I'm sorry I lied."

I shot up from the chair and made my way to the exit. There was no point sticking around. Still, I was surprised Martha didn't stop me. She let me walk out and around the counter without so much as glancing at me. I walked slowly to the revolving door and put my hand on the glass.

She whistled. "No uh, that's the wrong way to the fifth floor Regal. Your shift isn't over yet."

I didn't know how to take being called Regal or if I had a future with the library, but I wasn't going to turn down one final hoorah on my favorite floor. I ran back the way I came, fearful she'd change her mind, though I stopped at her counter to shed parting words. "Bobby really is a dirt bag though. You'd be doing me a huge favor if you crashed in on him at work."

She threw her head back and laughed as she swiveled her chair around. "Yeah, I got that. I can't imagine there's a lot of eye doctors out in Solon."

Martha with the context clues. Maybe she didn't need a psychic to vet boyfriends, just a friend, so she could step back and let her superpower work.

"Nope, he's the only one," I said. Laughter flowed freely between us. I narrowed my eyes. "Wait, why'd you let it go on for so long?"

"You were having so much fun!" Martha cheered. Her infectious brand of happiness, fully restored. "I figured you could use the win after the night you had." She smacked the counter lightheartedly. "Now, go. Get busy, those books aren't going to shelve themselves."

Well, they're gonna have to figure out something.