*Sephie*
“You’re not looking for anybody. I’m trying to show you something. I want to see if this will work. Don’t think about anything, if you can. Maybe try and think of a blank movie screen,” I said. I grabbed Misha’s hand and tried to project what Andrei could see into Misha’s mind. It took me a second, but finally he saw it.
“Whoa! That’s what people look like to you?” Misha asked Andrei.
“Not all the time, but yeah,” Andrei said.
“Holy shit, that’s awesome. Is everybody the same color?” Misha asked, completely enchanted by what he was seeing.
“No, different people have different colors. I’m not sure what the colors mean, to be honest,” Andrei said.
I let go of Andrei, then extended my hand to Ivan. “Squish, you’re next in my little experiment. Come here.”
“I think I know where you’re going with this, princess,” he said as he took my hand.
Misha looked at me, confused. “Now what am I supposed to do?”
“I need you to replay what you just saw for Ivan,” I said.
“I can do that?” Misha asked, completely surprised.
“We’re gonna find out,” I said, grinning at him. He started to replay what Andrei saw in his head. I could see it clearly right away, so I tried to push it to Ivan. I felt Ivan squeeze my hand, so I knew he was seeing what I was seeing. Once I felt like he had the video clip in his mind, I let go of Misha to see if I could see what Ivan sees.
I saw the same short clip of the mayor, walking outside his house. His aura was visible, just like Andrei had seen, only now, I could see the outline of something else hovering just behind him. Wherever the mayor moved, it moved with him.
I grinned at Ivan. “It worked,” I said. I looked back at Misha, asking, “want to see what Ivan sees?”
“Don’t ask stupid questions, gazelle,” he said as he took my hand. He was quiet for a minute, while he watched. I could feel Misha’s nausea as he saw what Ivan saw. “Is that what it always looks like?” he asked, still watching what I was projecting into his head.
“No, this one is actually faint. Some of them are really well-defined. This one doesn’t look firmly attached, either. Like it’s moving with the mayor, but it’s also hovering away from him. Some people have them literally sitting on them, or holding on to them,” Ivan said.
*”Blink, Ivan,”* Adrik thought. Ivan quickly shut his eyes. When he opened them again, he was normal.
“I can feel your nausea though, Misha,” I said.
Stephen stood up, walking to me. “Okay, I want to see. It might not work on me, but my curiosity is overriding my aversion to having you in my head,” he said.
“I want to see what Ivan sees, too,” Andrei said.
I grabbed both of their outstretched hands, trying to project the final picture into both of their heads.
“I’m reevaluating my entire existence now,” Stephen said. His eyes were wide as he was watching what no one else in the room could see.
Andrei was quiet for a moment as he looked. I had stopped projecting, thinking he was done, but he said, “wait, no. Show me again.” Stephen dropped my hand, so Andrei grabbed that one too. When he did, I could see what he was focusing on. It was difficult to see, unless you were looking for it, but you could clearly see the demon focusing on the dark spots in the mayor’s aura. Because the mayor was moving, it looked like the demon was just moving with him. But Andrei managed to slow it down so I could actually see the demon was not only staying with the mayor, but was constantly trying to force its way inside his auric field.
“How did you see that? I totally missed that, Bubba,” I said.
“I just remembered where the dark spots were. That’s gotta be how they get in, then,” Andrei said, taking a step away to lean on the counter.
I caught Adrik’s eye. Since my little idea had worked, I was feeling cocky. Instead of needing to touch him, I just pushed the images I’d just shown everyone else by touching them to him from across the kitchen. He looked surprised initially, but just as intrigued as everyone else.
*”Blink, Boss,”* Ivan thought quickly.
*“Well, now we know that seeing other demons is going to bring both of yours to the front. Did mine do that too? Is this something you guys can eventually get a handle on?”* I asked both of them, silently.
*“I didn’t notice yours, princess, but I wasn’t paying attention. We’re going to have to keep an eye on it,”* Ivan replied.
*“I couldn’t see your eyes when you saw it, so I don’t know either. For now, though, we at least know that seeing other demons makes ours get a little too excited,”* Adrik thought.
*“So. Many. Dirty. Jokes.”* I replied, trying not to laugh.
Viktor’s curiosity finally got the best of him. “Okay, somebody explain what you all just saw.”
“See if you can show him too, gazelle. I bet it’ll work. I’ll help if you need a boost,” Misha said.
I looked hesitantly at Misha, then looked at Viktor. “It’s up to you, Papa Bear. I know you don’t like me in your head.”
“Only because I know you’re going to force me to deal with things I’ve been putting off dealing with. This is not that, so let’s try,” he said, walking to me. He very timidly took my hand. “What am I supposed to do?” he asked.
“You don’t have to do anything. Just try to clear your mind. She’ll show you,” Misha said. He took a step closer to me, in case I needed a power boost to let Viktor see.
I concentrated on pushing the short clip of the mayor to Viktor. Nothing happened for a few moments, so I grabbed Misha’s hand. Once I did, suddenly Viktor’s eyes went wide. He was seeing what everyone else had just seen.
Except that wasn’t the only thing that happened. Misha took over the movie. He fast forwarded until we were no longer watching the mayor. Now, we were watching Viktor with someone I didn’t recognize. I didn’t want to interrupt, so I didn’t ask for specifics. The guy was younger than Viktor and actually looked vaguely similar to him. They were talking quietly, but it was difficult to hear the conversation. The other man looked upset; he looked older than what he should have. He looked worn down, tired, like he had been put through the ringer.
Viktor, in his calm, paternal way, put his hand on this man’s shoulder. It seemed like an innocent thing to do, but when he did, we could clearly see the aura around the man become visible. The dark spots were everywhere. It was dim. This man was struggling. Viktor took his hand off his shoulder, but remained close to him. We watched as a white light came down from somewhere above them and hovered above them both. Neither of them saw it in the movie, but it was visible to us watching it.
It stayed still, hovering above them both for a moment, then we watched Viktor open his palm upward, toward the light. It landed in his palm. When it did, Viktor touched the man’s shoulder once more. This time, his aura lit up. We watched as all the countless holes filled in. As his aura got brighter, he looked stronger, younger, more vibrant.
Viktor took his hand off the man’s shoulder, once again turning his palm upward. He released the light upward, all of us watching as it disappeared above them. The man in front of Viktor looked stunned for a moment, but then he broke out in a huge smile. He grabbed Viktor, hugging him tightly as the movie ended for us.
Misha looked down at me, somewhat confused. I looked at Viktor, who looked so stunned I wasn’t sure he was going to be able to speak.
“Did you know that man?” I asked.
“That’s…that’s…my brother,” he said.