Chapter Eight

QUINN

My heart pounded, my stomach churned, and I couldn't seem to get enough air. I was panicking. The scar on my neck always bothered me in stressful situations. It was aching right now. I rubbed it, trying to ease the pain. I couldn't meet Airik's eyes. He spoke in a commanding voice.

"Quinn. There's something you're not telling me. I want to know what it is."

I had to get out of here. I know I wasn't thinking clearly, but I wanted to get away from him. I couldn't tell him my secret. Bad things always happened when people found out I'm psychic. Someone was about to make fun of me, bully me, bother me, or beat me up.

He was waiting.

The last things I saw before I bolted and ran for the door were his beautiful brown eyes.

"Quinn!" he shouted.

I had left already. I've always been a good runner. I was on the track team every year in high school. And I won. When I was scared, I ran even faster.

I raced down the hall and jumped onto the stairs, skittering and sliding down the steps. I only saved myself from tumbling head over heels because I was holding on to the railing.

I heard Airik enter the stairwell. He was shouting my name and saying things in a language I didn't understand, but I guess cursing sounds the same on all planets.

When I reached the ground floor, I ran straight into the lobby and out the door, forgetting about the weather conditions. Fortunately, there was a car waiting outside the door for a passenger. I jumped in and requested a random destination. I could change it later. I didn't think about where I was going or what I was doing.

I needed to get away.

The car pulled away from the curb and took off down the street. I turned around to look back when it was making a turn and saw Airik standing outside the hotel, looking back and forth down the street.

Maybe I was wrong. I had been so panicked that I ran without thinking about what I was doing. But now that I was away from the situation and calming down, I realized that I had severely overreacted. Maybe he meant something else. Even if he didn't, he was my husband, and Airik had a right to know what sort of woman he had married.

I let the vehicle wander the streets for over two hours before I told it to return to the hotel. I felt like an idiot. I didn't want to go back and apologize, but what was I going to do? We were married, like it or not, for the next year. I had no money to return to Earth. It would be foolish and dangerous, even if I could.

I swiped my ID over the payment machine and hopped out, sprinting back inside. I shivered; I should have grabbed a jacket, at least.

It occurred to me that he must need to be married for his reasons, too. He probably wouldn't want to escape our marriage.

Maybe he would when he found out about me.

For once, as I climbed the stairs back up to our floor, I wanted to tell someone about my visions. I wanted to get everything off my chest. I was tired of hiding part of myself. I could only hope he understood and didn't send me packing the moment I told him. If everything went well, he wouldn't hate me too much.

I walked up to our door and hesitated. My hand was poised to knock. I tried to work up my courage when the door flew open, and I saw Airik. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the room.

"Quinn! Thank goodness you're all right," he said, enfolding me in his arms. I blinked, completely taken by surprise. He had been anxious about me. "I was worried you got lost, or that your terrible friend would be bothering you. You didn't even take your cold weather clothes, so I thought you might freeze to death. You know that you can die from the cold, right?"

"Airik," I said, trying to slow him down. "I'm okay. I rode around in a car the whole time. It might be pretty expensive."

He shrugged.

"I don't care. But why did you run out? What were you so scared of?"

"What?" I said, wondering what he thought it was.

"Was it me?" He looked agonized at the thought that I might fear him.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "No. It's not that at all."

"But you don't want to tell me about it?" He seemed to be hurt. I regretted not telling him before now.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you," I said, gazing up at him. He was very handsome, but I needed to focus. "I'm worried about how you'll take what I have to say."

"It can't be that bad, can it?" Now he looked apprehensive.

"I don't know," I said, dropping my eyes. "When people find out, they usually do bad things to me."

"Like teasing you and beating you up?" he said, his eyes full of compassion.

"Yes," I said. "How did you know?"

"Just tell me, Quinn," he whispered. He put his hands on my cheeks and kissed me on the forehead in the same spot as before. Visions flashed through my head.

I could understand the visions now, not like the first two times he kissed my forehead. They had gone by too quickly for me to see them before.

The visions were of Airik. Airik as a baby, riding on his father's shoulders. Airik being rocked in his mother's arms. Airik sliding. Airik swimming with his brothers and sisters. Then teenage Airik sitting still in a room all by himself with his eyes closed. Airik receiving a diploma. Airik reading a letter that said he had his dream job. Airik saving a young man's life.

As he pulled away from me, he said it again.

"Tell me what you saw, Quinn."

"How do you know I saw anything?"

He waited patiently.

I swallowed and sat down on the couch. He came and sat beside me, taking my hand.

Every instinct in my body told me to hide it from him just like I had hidden it from everyone else, all my life. I didn't listen.

"I have visions," I said.

And he smiled. He looked relieved. Vindicated, even. He nodded. "Go on."

His reaction was peculiar, but I didn't let it stop me from telling my story. "They started when I was fourteen. I've had them off and on ever since. My father and I tried everything we could to get rid of them, but nothing worked. I try to ignore them now. They won't stop coming."

I glanced over at him. He wasn't getting out any matches yet.

"After we made love, when I told you I was having a seizure?" He nodded. "I had a vision."

"And then you couldn't sleep," he said. It seemed like everything was making sense to him.

"It's hard to relax when I see someone die, and I know I can't do anything about it." I said. My voice grew softer and softer. "Especially when it's a child."

I felt grief overwhelm me again. Tears begin spilling out of my eyes. It wasn't just because I felt the emotion of losing the child. I also felt the relief of finally telling someone what was happening to me without judgment. When I dared to look at him again, he was staring at me with such compassion and kindness that I actually started to cry.

He didn't tell me not to cry. He just held me. It was the most comforting thing anyone had ever done for me. When I finally stopped crying, after I had blown my nose and wiped my eyes, I looked up at him.

"Do you want to send me back now?" I said in a small voice.

He laughed then. I didn't know how he could be so jolly when I had just told him a deep, dark secret.

"I don't think sending you back is an option. I wouldn't want to, even if I could."

"Why not? Don't you hate me or think I'm a witch? Maybe you're thinking about burning me at the stake."

The smile left his face. "You're serious."

I nodded, avoiding his eyes. That's why he wasn't upset. He thought I was joking.

"People treated you that way, Quinn? Because of your gift?"

I made a face. "Sometimes it feels more like a curse."

"It's a gift." He put his hand under my chin, forcing me to look at him.

"Not where I come from," I said, tears in my eyes again.

"Well," he said, smiling broadly. "I guess you're lucky you're here."

"What are you talking about, Airik?" I stared at him in bewilderment.

"It's too bad you didn't read the folder on Koccoran, Quinn. You could have saved yourself a lot of worry."

"Why?" I frowned.

"Because," he said, smiling broadly at me. "You happen to have landed yourself on a planet full of psychics."

I felt my mouth drop open. I knew I was staring, but I couldn't help it.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"It's no lie, Quinn. You'll fit right in around here."

I wrapped my arms around him, and he hugged me tightly. I couldn't keep tears from leaking out. I pulled away from him quickly, hungry for more information.

"Tell me everything."

He grinned and pulled out a computer. He quickly retrieved official-looking documents with the Koccoran government logo.

"This describes the Precog Division of the government," he said, glancing sideways at me. "It's my division. I'm the Director."

"Of the whole division?"

"Yep. I'm the youngest ever to hold the post. It was a great honor to get it. I've been working my whole life towards this position. That's why I needed to marry you, in fact. To keep my job."

"I wondered what it was."

"My career is everything to me, Quinn. I would do anything to keep it, even marry a stranger."

"Why would you have to get married to keep your job?"

"We have a requirement called The Akuna. You have to be married by a certain age, or else there are consequences. If you ask me, it's an old law and should be abolished."

"Wow," I said, stunned by his revelation. Something else dawned on me.

"Precog? As in precognition? Like Precogs who have visions?"

He nodded.

"So I'm a Precog?" I asked, trying to wrap my head around the sudden shift in perspective. On Earth, I had to conceal my abilities. On this planet, they were desired.

"I believe you are."

"If that's your division, does that make you a Precog too? You're like me?"

"I have visions too. I'm in charge of all the Precogs. What is it, Quinn?" He was staring into my eyes with such compassion that I almost broke down.

"I've never met anyone who was like me," I said. I felt joyful as he looked solemn.

"I'm sorry for the way you've been treated in the past, Quinn. I hope you will come to see your power as a gift here on Koccoran." He smiled, looking deeply into my eyes that were bright with tears.

"Maybe," I said, shrugging.

"How about we order some food and talk about it more over dinner? We'll make it a date."

I smiled. "A date? With my husband? Who's a Precog?" I pulled him in for a kiss. "That sounds perfect."

AIRIK

I sat across the table from Quinn. It was hard for me to stop gazing into her fascinating blue eyes. I thought for a moment about what she had been through because of her gift, and it made me sad. It was such a waste of talent.

Quinn started eating her food. "Okay, spill," she said. "What does a division full of people who see visions of the future do? It's not like we can change things. Do you record everything for posterity? That way, the newspapers can have their stories and obituaries ready a few days ahead of time?"

She was joking. I smiled uncomfortably. She had many misconceptions that needed clarification. I didn't know where to start. Maybe I should knock out the biggest one first.

"Quinn, listen to me. I don't know what happened to you in the past. You need to clear your mind of everything you thought you knew about your gift."

She stared at me as she chewed.

"The future can be changed, Quinn. That's what my division does. We have visions. Many of them are about death. We are trained to open more to those insights to find out when a person is going to die. Then we can go in and save them."

"All of them?"

"Almost all of them, unless something goes wrong with the intervention. We have an underpopulation problem on Koccoran. We want as many people as possible to die a natural death. Most people do."

"Why is the birth rate so low?" she said curiously.

"I'm not sure. It's something about the environment, and it's been a problem for as long as I can remember. There have always been people who could have visions and who had other mental abilities. My ancestors soon figured out how to use their images to save people's lives. Since then, the problem with the low birth rate has been balanced out with the number of people we save from early death."

"You sound like a bunch of superheroes," she said admiringly. She took a bite, chewed, and swallowed.

"I don't know what that means, but I'll take it as a compliment."

"I meant it as one," she said. "How does your division operate?"

"Here's how it works." I started recited a workflow that was familiar to me, but foreign to her. It was fascinating to see things through her eyes.

"A Precog has a vision and alerts their Recorder. We have partners who help us write down visions as they're happening."

"You can do other things while you're having a vision?"

"We've had thousands of years to improve our mental abilities, Quinn. We have it down to a science. In fact, it is science. Did you wonder why you had flashes of images when I kissed you? I touched a particular part of your brain that controls intuition and precognition."

"I didn't know there was such a thing."

"I used to be a Recruiter before I became Director. Recruiters are always on the hunt for more Precogs. The easiest way to tell if someone's a Precog is to touch the spot on their intuition and precognition cortex."

"You kissed all your recruits?" she said. She had a funny look on her face.

"No," I said, laughing and taking a sip of my drink. "I would put my hand on their third eye. It has to be skin to skin contact. I touched your third eye by accident."

"What happens after the recording?"

"The visions are analyzed and cross-referenced. Often several Precogs will have visions of the same event. Once we get a few different versions of the same story, we have a good idea of what's going to happen."

"Okay."

"Then we pass the information to the ground team. If there's a preventable death, they're responsible for going out and saving lives."

"That sounds incredible. I tried to prevent one death that I foresaw. It turned out badly for me."

"Well, we can't save everyone but we do manage to prevent many deaths."

"I can't believe it."

"It's my life."

She stared at me. "You're a lucky guy. I've never even had a job. I spent years hiding my gift."

"I think that should change, starting immediately."

"How?"

"We can always use more talented Precogs. I think you should apply for training."

"Are you saying I could work as a Precog in your division?" The idea hadn't occurred to her.

"What do you think?" I asked, smoothing her hair away from her forehead.

"It sounds like heaven."

"A job at the Division is work. But this?" I leaned down and kissed her deeply. When we came up for air a few minutes later, I grinned at her. "This is heaven."

Quinn was, quite frankly, an amazing woman. She was intelligent, beautiful, sexy, and a talented Precog from what I could see, especially since no one had ever trained her. I wasn't in love with her, but I was pretty impressed with my wife.

It broke my heart that she had been treated horribly for having a gift like precognition. That's how it was on some of the backwater planets. I was lucky to be born here on Koccoran. I wondered again what her planet of origin was. Kartar hadn't given me any details. But I reminded myself that I didn't really want to know.

To me, she was just Quinn. I would find out about her as we went along. Right now, she was folding her clothes and packing them in an overnight bag to move into my apartment.

"I was thinking," I said. "Maybe I shouldn't go to work today. We could go apartment hunting instead."

"I thought you had a place."

"I do," I said. Explaining myself was embarrassing. "Now that we're married, I feel like we should start fresh and have something new together." In a place where every room doesn't remind me of Sornalee.

I wondered if she would think my idea was stupid. I ignored a tiny tab of guilt that I was betraying my true love by striving for happiness with Quinn. But I reminded myself that I had committed to this year. I was going to do it properly. What happened after our divorce would be a different story.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" She stopped folding, forgetting the shirt in her lap.

"I do, Quinn. I want this to work. I like you, and we have chemistry. I want us to be happy together."

"Well then," she said, her eyes shining. "When do we start?"

"What do you think of this one?" I asked. I turned in the space of the living room and caught a faint scent of fish.

Quinn wrinkled her delicate nose and shrugged.

"No? I have one more on my list. The realtor is supposed to meet us here in twenty minutes."

"Okay," she said, but she didn't look hopeful the way she had at the beginning of the day.

When we got there, her eyes lit up immediately, and we smiled at each other. It was perfect. I had known it before we walked in. As we followed the realtor on the tour, I held Quinn's hand. I kept getting flashes of us in this place in the future.

Quinn making supper at the counter in the kitchen. Me working in the office. Us curled up on the couch watching a movie. Quinn having a vision on the floor in the bathroom. Me carrying her over my shoulder to the bedroom. Us making love on the table in the dining room.

I glanced at Quinn. Her face was a delicate pink color again. I wondered if she was getting the visions at the same time I was.

I thanked the realtor and asked if we could have a few moments in private to discuss the place. When he shut the door, I turned to Quinn.

"Well?"

"I love it. And you do too, don't you? I can tell now."

"I do. I think it's perfect."

"Well, and there's the possibilities." She trailed off, biting her lip and dropping her gaze.

"The visions?" I waggled my eyebrows, and she grinned.

"That last one was intense."

"Yes, it was," I said.

"Does that mean we're going to live here? Are all those things going to happen?"

"That's usually what it means. But what specifically did you see?"

She listed off all the things I had seen in my mind, blushing bright red again when she told me about making love on the dining room table.

"Rooms must be christened, after all," I said.

She laughed, putting her hand to her crimson face.

I stopped short all of a sudden as I came to a realization.

"What is it, Airik?" she said, studying me.

"Did you have those visions as we were walking through the rooms?"

She nodded.

"It almost seems as if we had them simultaneously. That's unusual to say the least. I've never heard of people having simultaneous visions before."

"What does it mean?"

"I don't know, Quinn. I don't know." I gazed at her a moment longer before pushing the thoughts aside and changing the subject back to the apartment.

"Are we taking this place?"

She nodded happily.

"Sweet. I'll have someone clean it, and we can stay here tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Why not? It will be like camping. I'll take care of all the paperwork. Watch for a message from me to sign it. I'm putting it in both of our names." I started walking out the door. I was going to let the realtor know of our decision but stopped when I saw the look on her face. She looked surprised and gratified that both our names would be on the lease.

"We're married, Quinn."

"I know. But I don't know what that means."

I walked over and put my hands on her shoulders. "I don't know exactly either. To me, it means that we're partners. Equal partners. Lovers. Friends. Who knows what the future will bring?"

She nodded.

"Okay. Partners, lovers, friends, and...who knows."

"That's right. Watch for my message."

"I'll catch a car back to the hotel and get the rest of my stuff packed up."

After I had talked to the realtor, we went outside together. When I glanced at her, she was frowning.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's just…" She glanced at me and changed what she was going to say, smiling falsely. I could tell something was wrong. "It's nothing."

"Tell me," I said insistently.

"It's just that I thought I saw that guy from the hotel again. I don't know if you read your research report, but he's a member of the Sons of the Heavenly Father."

" Why didn't you tell me before? They're the ones who tried to kidnap you, right?"

She nodded.

"And he's on my planet following you around?"

"It seems that way," she said. Her face looked calm, but I could sense fear coming off her in waves.

"You need to be careful. I'm going to alert the police about him. You shouldn't go out without me, okay?"

"Okay," she said in a small voice.

"Don't worry. The police will apprehend him. If he even so much as looked the wrong way when he crossed the street, and it's on his record, they'll have him deported." I kissed her and held her face in my hands. "As your husband, it's my job to keep you safe, Quinn. And I'm going to do it."

She didn't look reassured.

We took a car together back to the hotel. I made sure she was safe in the room before heading back out to find someone to clean our new apartment...and install a security system.

That night, Quinn and I sat on the floor against the wall, the remains of our meal beside us.

"Do you really think I should apply to the Training Institute?" Quinn said, glancing up at me.

I picked up my glass of wine and took a drink. "If I were still a Recruiter, I would be advising you to apply as soon as possible."

"I've never done anything like this before. Having my ability out in the open like that for everyone to see makes me uncomfortable, Airik."

"I know. But that's thinking from your past life. You have to let it go. It's different here."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You're right. I'm going to have a new life here. It's what I wanted. It's more than what I wanted. I think I should apply too."

"That's awesome," I said, passing her a computer that sat beside me. She took it, puzzled.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

"Turn it on to start."

It opened to the application I was using to learn English.

"We'll close this," I said, swiping it away.

She looked at me strangely. I didn't want her to ask me about my English lessons. My accent was too terrible right now to show anyone. Maybe in a few months, when I knew more and my accent improved.

I brought up the application for the Training Institute.

"I didn't mean immediately. Do you want me to apply right now?"

"There's no time like the present," I said. "It won't take long. I can help you with any parts you don't understand."

She looked worried. "Airik, if I do this, I need to do it on my own. Not because you're a bigwig in the Precog Division."

"I know. I'm not going to interfere. I can just make the process easier for you."

She looked down at the computer, then back up to me. "Okay, then."

We filled out the application, and she submitted it. Then she turned off the computer and handed it back to me.

"Phew," she said. "I can't believe it was that easy."

"You did it." I smiled.

"Yup. No turning back now."

"Would you want to?"

"Not yet. I'll let you know after I get rejected."

"Now you're being silly," I said, leaning in to kiss her. "Koccoran needs your visions."

She giggled into my lips, which made me want her more. Soon we got carried away again. When we finished and lay on the floor side by side, I gave a sigh of contentment.

"This room's christened, I suppose. Only six more to go."

She laughed out loud and slapped my shoulder.

I remembered my time with Sornalee and couldn't believe I had spent a year and a half with her. That had been forgettable.

This was how a relationship was supposed to be.

QUINN

My life had changed a lot in only a few days. Not long ago, I hid in my father's apartment. I only ventured out on errands in the evenings when I would not be conspicuous. I felt like I was a prisoner in jail and forced to hide who I was.

I still missed my dad terribly, but it wasn't as bad as it was at the beginning. My life here on Koccoran was good, mostly because of Airik.

He was a Precog just like me. The thought still blew me away. Some considered my abilities a gift here. I could change the future. If I did well in my training, I might be one of the ones that saved people from an early, unnecessary death.

Me. A savior.

After all the years of dying inside every time I knew I couldn't save anyone, I would have the opportunity to help the people in my visions. It filled me with hope and happiness. I couldn't wait to get started once I got accepted into the training program.

Airik said that they took everyone in initially. There were evaluations during the first week to decide who would continue. I was nervous having Airik so involved in the application process, but he couldn't help it. A lot of husband and wife teams worked together. I hoped it would be okay.

I felt anxious, and I went to get the mail, just to have something to do. I went down a hall and took an elevator to the lobby. I went into a small room that had the mailboxes, unlocking ours, removing the envelopes and relocking the box. When I turned around to go out, the man from the Sons of the Heavenly Father blocked the doorway.

My heart started to pound. I looked around frantically for a way out, but there was no escape. "Leave me alone," I said.

He grinned. I noticed that he had a tooth missing in the front.

"I don't think so, witch," he said. He wasn't moving towards me, but he wasn't leaving either.

"I'm not a witch. I'm just an ordinary person. Haven't you noticed many people here can do the same things I do?"

"I've noticed, all right. A planet full of freaks," he said, then spat on the floor. I looked at the gob of spittle in disgust.

"What do you want?" I asked, needing to get something out of this guy. Maybe if I kept him talking, he would start to see me as a person.

"I want to see you burn," he said. "Once you're dead, I can get off this alien planet and go back home."

Maybe not. I needed to start bluffing. Maybe I could extract some useful information from him. I wondered if he was working alone and if he would be stupid enough to tell me. It was worth a shot to see what I could find out.

"Where's your partner? You don't think you can take me down by yourself, do you? Didn't you hear about the last guys that attacked me?"

He shuffled nervously. His eyes shifted back and forth.

"We work alone." He seemed to be telling the truth. I was hardly trained in lie detection, so I didn't know if I should believe him.

"The ones who attacked me before weren't working alone," I pointed out.

"They weren't assassins," he said. I noticed he was trying to move his hands together. When he did, he crossed his fingers. I remembered the people who had egged me earlier had done the same thing. Maybe they thought making a cross with their fingers would protect them from me.

"Do you think that you can do something to me?" I said incredulously, trying to look more confident than I felt.

He took a step back. These guys were frightened of me! That's when I realized that I held all the power. I lifted my hands.

"Don't," he said. He looked terrified.

I took a step toward him, and he turned and ran. I followed him and watched as he jumped into a car and escaped.

That's when I knew that I had changed since I got here. The old me would have allowed herself to be bullied. I walked back upstairs feeling better than I had in a long time.

Airik came home from work at five o'clock. We were in our new apartment. It was still empty. Airik's apartment was small. We needed to get furniture and other random things. But I loved it. His apartment would never have been ours the way this place was. I appreciated that he had thought of me.

As he walked through the door, I ran and hugged him. When he wasn't home, the days seemed long.

"Hi," he said, smiling and kissing me.

"Hi."

"Did you get the mail? Or maybe there wasn't any?" He pulled off his coat and hung it up. There was one envelope from the mail room - they still used paper for some things here. I hadn't thought to look at it. All my thoughts centered on the assassin. I pulled out the single envelope and read the name on it.

"It's for me?" I frowned.

"Just open it, Quinn."

I tore open the letter and read it. I stared at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing's wrong. I got in."

"Quinn, that's awesome. Aren't you happy?"

"A little bit." I smiled. "I'm also shocked and scared."

"You're a natural. You're going to do fine."

I certainly hoped so, but I had more important things to think about right now, as my life was in danger. I put the letter down. I had to tell him right away.

"Airik."

He looked up and frowned, sensing something unusual was going on. "What happened?"

"The man from the Sons of the Heavenly Father. He trapped me in the mail room."

"Quinn! I told you not to go out alone." He looked distressed and came to me, looking me over. "Are you all right?"

"I'm all right, Airik. Calm down. He didn't do anything. I chased him away."

"I think you'd better tell me the whole story." He sat down suddenly on the couch.

I explained what had happened before, and how I got so hot I burned my attackers. I told him how I had used the threat to scare away the assassin.

"You turned your thoughts into heat?"

"That's weird, right? Have you heard of anyone being able to do that before?"

"In fairy tales? All the time." Great. Now I was a character from a children's story.

"You say he was afraid?"

"Definitely."

"That's good. It will certainly work in our favor."

When he talked like that, I felt like I wasn't alone.

"I'm going to check with a contact I have with the police and see if they can deport him." He talked for a few minutes with his friend. "They opened the investigation, but there was no real cause for deportation. He's never been charged with a crime."

"Damn," I said. I knew he'd be back, no matter how scared he was.

"He'll be charged with something now."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Harassment, Quinn. We have strict laws here. You're not allowed to go around threatening people. We'll be pressing charges immediately. Are you ready to go?"

"I'm ready," I said, a little in awe of my husband. He was someone to fear. It was a dangerous side of him I hadn't seen before.