*Sephie*
Once Henry left us, I explained that I felt I needed to get closer to Henry’s switch-hitter. We caught Battista and Vitaliy up on the plot twist involving Henry that Misha and I had seen earlier. Battista looked at me, completely amused. “I can introduce you, if you like.”
Adrik bristled immediately. “I don’t like that idea.”
Vitaliy agreed with Adrik. “I don’t either. Sladkaya, you don’t need to actually talk to her, do you? You just need to be close to her?”
“Right. I don’t need to talk to her. But if Andrei and I can get close to her, we can take a peek and see what we can find out,” I said. Battista thought for a moment. I’d never seen him smile as much as he had tonight. He was absolutely gleeful at the events that had transpired so far.
“You know a doctor from the hospital, no?” he asked me.
I nodded. “Dr. Williams.”
“I need his help. We’re going to discuss a new wing for the hospital, but we’ll need her input,” Battista said. “It’ll be obvious if all of you follow me, but Sephie has already been seen with just two of you. Sephie introduces me to the doctor, he and I go to the representative while Sephie stays in the background, but close enough she can get what she needs from the representative.”
“We should warn poor Dr. Williams that he’s part of our plot,” I said.
“Why would we do that? He’s getting a new wing out of this plot,” Battista said, very matter-of-factly. I just stood and stared at him for a moment. He laughed. “Money is a means to an end, Sephie. I will gladly spend it on something that will help the people of the city if it means I can be devious.” He grinned at me.
There really is something to this generational wealth thing.
“Ivan and Andrei, go with her,” Adrik said. He pulled me closer, kissing my temple. “We’ll be close by. You’ll be able to see us the whole time,” he said quietly.
Battista offered me his arm as we set off to find Dr. Williams. As luck would have it, he wasn’t far from the representative. This should be easy.
Ivan showed me and Andrei what he could see as we got closer to the representative. Just like Henry, her demon had gained access and was the shadow behind her face. Unlike Henry, her demon was even more defined and more prominent, which I was beginning to learn meant that it had been running the show for quite some time.
Dr. Williams’ face brightened when he saw me approach him. “Hello again, Sephie,” he said, smiling warmly at me.
“Dr. Williams, I would like you to meet my dear friend Battista. You’re going to be very happy to meet him, in fact,” I said.
Battista extended his hand to Dr. Williams, introducing himself. He got right to the point, telling Dr. Williams that he had heard about what great work he did for both me and Ivan, which I didn’t even know he knew about, and he had decided that the hospital needed a new wing added on.
“Because I’m not a citizen, however, I believe we need to get some kind of approval to move this process forward?” Battista asked, innocently.
Dr. Williams looked shocked. He just stood in front of us for a moment, unable to speak. Ivan laughed. “Remember to breathe, Doc.”
Dr. Williams looked at Ivan, now snapped back to reality. His mind started racing, as his excitement level increased. He quickly looked around the ballroom, his eyes landing on the representative who wasn’t very far away. He pointed to her, saying, “she’s the person we need to speak to.”
“I’ll let you two do just that,” I said, winking at Dr. Williams. He objected, wanting me to come with them. I smiled warmly at him, saying, “I enjoy this anonymous thing, too. Ivan and I already have a legend told about us among the hospital staff. That’s enough for me.” He laughed loudly, but motioned for Battista to follow him to speak to Henry’s switch hitter.
As they walked to her and began talking, Andrei and I got to work. Before we started, I told Ivan he needed to lower his bubble. *“You’re very quick now, Squish. I have full confidence you’ll catch anything before it gets to me, but I need full access to her to go fishing.”*
I could feel his discomfort at the thought of lowering his bubble, but he did so. Begrudgingly.
Andrei and I quickly snooped through her head as she was talking to Battista and Dr. Williams. She was quite excited for the possibility of getting a new wing on the hospital, but not for the reasons one would think. She was already planning on ways to launder money through the project, taking a significant portion for herself, of course. She was also planning on making the publicity around the project all about her, making it seem like she was the one that made this happen.
She knew everything about Ricardo. She was in touch with Ricardo, just as Henry likely was by now. She was following his orders when it came to anything to do with the city. She was going to be slightly more problematic to get rid of than I originally thought. But not impossible. She was just more connected than I thought she would be. I should’ve known.
Instead of waiting for Battista, we quietly left and went to join Adrik and the others once again. Ilya caught us walking back toward the group. “Sephie, something’s happening and I can’t explain it,” he said, urgently.
“To you?” I asked.
He shook his head no. “No, not to me. It’s the wait staff that’s here. I was by the door to the kitchen a moment ago. One of them is having some kind of attack. They’re trying to keep it quiet, but nobody knows what to do. The person is screaming that she can see ghosts.”
Ivan quickly told the group to go to the kitchen, as we followed Ilya. We tried to be as discreet as possible, but it was difficult given the size of the men I chose to keep company with. Most people noticed us leaving toward the kitchen, but their curiosity was short-lived as there was an auction starting right at the same moment.
When we got to the kitchen, there was one poor girl being held down by three others. She was still struggling, urgently telling people that she could see things no one else could see. They thought she was being violent and a danger to everyone around her. In truth, she was scared out of her mind.
After a quick glance to Ivan, he removed the three guys holding her down so she could sit up on her own. She was just a little thing. She was definitely younger than me, with blonde hair and pretty grey eyes. I’m sure when she wasn’t scared for her life, she was quite adorable. I knelt down in front of her, as calmly as I could, asking her what she was seeing. “There’s an older man out there. He has a ghost standing next to him.”
“The older man, can you describe him for me?”
She described Vitaliy perfectly. It was Lena she was seeing.
“Is that all you’re seeing?” I asked.
“No. She glanced around the room, her eyes landing on Viktor before looking away. There’s another one,” she said in almost a whisper.
*“She’s seeing Lena and Kostya. Get everyone else out of here."*
The room was cleared in a matter of seconds.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Jessica.”
“Hi Jessica. I’m Sephie. Can you stand up on your own, Jessica?”
She nodded, standing up. I stood up with her, but I was careful not to touch her. If she could see Lena and Kostya, I wasn’t sure what else she would be able to see. I didn’t want to scare her anymore than she already was.
“The other one you see, it’s a little boy, isn’t it?” I asked her.
Her eyes got wide. “You…You can see them too?”
“I can’t right now, but I have in the past. What I’m going to tell you might be difficult for you to believe right now, but you’re not seeing ghosts, Jessica. They’re angels.” I paused, mostly to gauge her reaction. Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought about what I just said. “The two men associated with those angels are very special men. Those angels watch over them. There’s nothing to be scared of. You have a special gift. You can see things most people can’t.”
“Angels are…real?” she asked.
“Very real. I have more than one that keep watch over me. One is just very busy and pops in and out as his schedule allows,” I said, smiling at her. “The other one is with me all the time.” She scanned the room, her eyes landing on Ivan.
“He looks different from the others,” she said. She was trying to be quiet enough that Ivan wouldn’t be able to hear.
“He is different. He needs to be to stay with me all the time,” I said. I could feel her starting to relax. Her curiosity was overtaking her fear now. “There’s no reason to fear what you’re seeing, Jessica.”
“Nobody else would believe me. They called me crazy. They said I was on drugs or having a mental breakdown,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes. The urge to hug her was getting very strong.
“Most people don’t believe what they can’t see, but you have a very special gift. Unfortunately, you’re also going to need to be very discerning with who you share your gift with. People don’t always understand. They see different as a threat, not something to be cherished. You’re going to have to protect yourself,” I said.
“How do you know? Why do you believe me?”
I reached out and touched her, letting her see everything she could see. “Because I’m different, too.”