Revelations: Book One of the Lalassu by Jennifer Carole Lewis Read Free Book Online Page A

Martha silently offered him a coffee. He gratefully accepted.
    “Thank you so much. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here.” She rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand.
    “It was a rough one. Get some sleep yourself while she’s quiet.”
    “There’s so much to do. I have to order a new mattress and clean up the mess…”
    “It’ll wait,” he said firmly. “You should rest. I’ll let Celina know to cancel Bernie’s session with Anne this afternoon so you both have time to recover.”
    “I hate to lose a day…” Martha began.
    “This is a marathon, not a sprint.” He’d told her the same thing many times over the years. “Pushing both of you when you’re exhausted won’t help anyone.”
    Martha’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. She seemed empty, beaten, and battered down. Michael’s heart ached with wishing he knew some way to help her that they hadn’t already tried. “What else is on today?”
    “I have another meeting with Expanding Horizons this afternoon.”
    “Expanding Horizons?” He frowned. “Who are they?”
    “They’ve been calling me for weeks. They have clinics in California for children with severe psychological issues. They’ve opened one here and they approached me about Bernie.”
    “Sounds expensive.” Michael kept his face neutral, but internal alarm bells were starting to ring.
    Martha pulled a brochure out of her purse, still glossy despite crumpling. Michael eyed it as if it were a snake about strike, recognizing it as the one Bernie had been searching for.
    “It’s a live-in facility, state of the art with a multidisciplinary medical team.” Martha smoothed the brochure. “They’ve offered us free treatment. They said Bernie is a fascinating case since there are so few children with schizophrenia. I hate the idea of her living with strangers, and I’ve told them so. I suggested an outpatient program, but they said they couldn’t accommodate it. I keep wondering if maybe they can help her and I’m being selfish to hold her back.” He could feel her indecision teetering back and forth. She wanted to hope but had been burned before by fancy establishments that promised all the answers.
    “Ah.” He couldn’t quite figure out what to say. Bernie was terrified of the brochure and what it represented, but he had no way of convincing Martha without more information. Staring at the glossy pictures, he decided to do something he almost never did. He opened his gift wide enough to let him pick up emotional impressions from objects as well as people.
    Martha frowned. “I’m surprised you don’t know. They said Celina recommended us to them.” Her anxiety scraped against him like a rasp against wood.
    “Maybe she forgot to tell me. Mind if I take a look?” He picked up the pamphlet and nearly dropped it as it bit him.
    It wasn’t a literal bite, but his fingers ached as if it were, while needles of agony and despair stung his brain. The bright, shiny photos of attractive young women helping developmentally disabled children took on a sinister cast. Snippets of children crying and dry voices reciting medical terms assaulted him. He slammed the walls of his gift shut. Chuck was right. This is a bad place .
    But how could he convince Martha? Even people who claimed to believe in psychics quickly became unnerved at what he saw. If he told her about his visions, at best she’d cut him off. At worst, he might find himself under investigation. It was difficult enough being a man working with children in these paranoid times. Any suspicion would end his career in a heartbeat.
    He loved working with the kids no one else could connect with. His psychometric gift allowed him to see into their minds through physical contact. Using that knowledge, he could help them in ways no other therapist could.
    “You should trust your instincts,” Michael said slowly. “Bernie’s been making progress with us. There’s no rush to change