Leah pressed her hands to her forehead. It had been a long week, and it was one she hoped to forget very soon. She’d already been flustered when that mysterious man had saved her back at the bar, and then she had gone and completely embarrassed herself in front of him only a few days later. Leah couldn’t even quite explain to herself why she had felt so humiliated. He was the one who had stepped in front of her as he turned around, and it hadn’t been her fault that she’d bumped into him. She’d been so preoccupied with her grocery shopping, trying to remember everything she needed, that she hadn’t even noticed him until she’d already carried on an entire conversation with his tot. Now there was a reason to be embarrassed. Leah didn’t know anything about kids, and yet she had stopped and talked to that little guy like he was an old friend.

It had been weird and awkward, and she was doing her best to throw herself into her work. Living in an apartment over her office made for an easy commute to work, and she headed down the stairs Wednesday morning to put in her online hours and check her email.

A request popped up almost as soon as she logged on. A woman in Phoenix wanted to know if she should change jobs. Leah flipped on her webcam and smiled, prepared to put her mind in the right place to help her client. Video chats never gave her quite the same connection she got from meeting someone in person, but it was nice to be able to help people from all over the world.

“I think my husband might not be happy in our marriage anymore,” the woman on the other end explained. She had identified herself as Vivian, although Leah knew that probably wasn’t her real name. “He seems to be losing interest.”

Leah shuffled a deck of tarot cards as she reached out mentally to this woman. “Even the best of relationships can be difficult,” she said softly. “But we’ll see what we can find out. Would you like to tell me why you think your husband isn’t happy?”

Most people imagined that simply because she was psychic, she would instantly know everything about their lives. It happened occasionally, when she had the chance to touch someone who carried particularly powerful energies with them. Pete from the bar was a good example. But it wasn’t always that clear, and the more she knew about a person, the easier it was to give them an accurate reading. Leah never pressured anyone to reveal details, but they almost always wanted to.

“Well, let’s see.” Vivian looked down at her hands. Her webcam only gave a fuzzy picture, but Leah could just make out the small apartment behind her. “He works all the time these days. It used to be that he’d come home right after work, but now he always has extra meetings or paperwork he has to do, and he doesn’t get home until after dinner.”

“Have you tried talking to him about it?” Leah began laying out her cards. Sometimes, people just wanted someone to listen to their problems. They didn’t necessarily need a psychic to know they had issues that needed to be resolved, and they were too embarrassed to go to those they knew personally.

Vivian shifted in her chair. “Yes, but he always says I think about things too much and that I shouldn’t worry. He just blows me off.”

“I see.” Leah felt the doors of her mind opening, letting her understand the elements of life and the universe that most people didn’t have access to. She reached out across the miles to Vivian, and it didn’t matter that Leah didn’t know her physical address or her real name. This woman was calling to her for help, and she was able to answer.

But just as she was about to understand the truth of her client’s plight, the doors shut. And they did it with such ferocity, she thought she could hear them slam, and she jumped in her chair at the noise.

“What is it?” Vivian asked nervously. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” Leah assured her. “I’m just having a little bit of an off day.”

“Oh,” the woman breathed. “I thought you might have seen something terrible in the cards.”

Leah smiled. “Forgive me. I might be a psychic, but I’m still human. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” With no direct access to her client’s energy, she focused on the cards. Sometimes they were just a showpiece, but right now, they were going to save her. “The Temperance card is in the most prominent position. This is a symbol of coming together, of two forces working together as one.”

Vivian bit her lip. “Does that mean my husband and I will be okay?”

Leah was nothing if not honest, especially when it came to her clients. “Well, there are different ways to interpret this card. It can mean two people working together, such as yourself and your husband. But we can also look at it as you confronting the inner parts of yourself that you haven’t been willing to bring out into the light.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Have you always had fears that your husband would leave you?”

Her client started to shake her head, but she stopped. “Yes, to be honest. I’ve been cheated on before, and even though I felt like I could trust him, I was always worried that he would turn out to be like the rest of them.”

“Your fears can manifest themselves if you concentrate on them too much, or at the very least, it can seem that they’re manifesting. It might be that everything in your relationship is fine, but your worries make you concentrate on everything that’s gone wrong. You need to sit down and really talk to him. Not right when he’s come in the door or when you only have a little bit of time, but when you can really take the time to understand each other. Let him know how you feel. I have a feeling that he’s not just brushing you off when he says everything is fine.”

“You really think so?” Vivian had tears in her eyes.

“I really do.” It was frustrating to not be able to give the fullest psychic experience possible, but Leah knew it was at least more genuine than what Vivian would have gotten if she had gone to someone else. There were plenty of frauds out there, and no one had a way of distinguishing who was real and who was just a paid actor.

She bid Vivian the best of luck and clicked off the chat window, not even paying attention to how much she had earned from their conversation. Money was great, but she was just glad that she had been able to help someone. The shutting down of her mind, though, that was disturbing.

Leah had the chance to redeem herself when a woman walked into her office. She was young, probably in her early twenties, and she glanced nervously over her shoulder when the door shut behind her.

“Come on in,” Leah called from her desk. She stood up and came around, walking into the foyer. She had done her best to make the office feel warm and welcoming, like a trip to the spa instead of some voodoo tent full of smoke. There were a few patrons who had gone away disappointed when Leah hadn’t appeared with a crystal ball and wearing a scarf around her head, but most people seemed to appreciate it. “What can I do for you?”

“I just, um, I want to know a few things.” She looked at the door again.

“It’s okay.” The aura of fear was highly charged around this woman. She was genuinely scared, but not of Leah. “Why don’t you come back here where things are more private?” Leah led her behind a partition wall and gestured for her to have a seat on a plush couch. “Start by telling me your name.”

“Josey.” She pulled her pale brown hair over her shoulder and wrung it between her hands. “I had a friend who told me I should come to you. Can you tell me what you charge?”

“It all depends on how much time we spend together and how in-depth we need to go, but here’s a price list that should give you a general idea. You don’t have to pay anything until we’re done.” She handed over the list, knowing that Josey wouldn’t walk out without paying. No one had yet.

The new client glanced over it and nodded. “Okay. Well, I’ll try to make it quick. Can you tell me if I’m in danger?”

Leah hadn’t been surprised by this question, and she didn’t need to be a psychic to know it was coming. She sat down across from her and reached out her hand. “Give me your hand, and I’ll see what I can find out.”

The young woman looked at her doubtfully. “No crystal ball?”

“Only when I need it, but I get the best results when I can actually touch someone or an object that belongs to them. Scientists call is psychometry, others refer to it as The Touch. You can call it whatever you’d like, but it seems to help.” She smiled, hoping she could make this poor girl relax a little.

“Left or right?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Josey set her hand inside Leah’s and waited. Leah could feel her heartbeat fluttering in her wrist, and she closed her eyes. She could only hope that she didn’t have the same experience she’d had with Vivian. It had been easy enough to save the day with the tarot cards for an online reading, but that would be more difficult in person. Besides, if she couldn’t get a good reading from touching the client’s own hand, then she really wasn’t as good as she thought she was.

She took a deep breath and let her body relax. Josey’s energy just needed to link into her own, and then she would know everything. She rested the fingertips of her left hand gently on the young woman’s palm and supported her hand with her right. There were walls Leah put up throughout her normal day to block out the psychic energy that would barrage her otherwise. She slowly brought them down, one by one, to allow Josey in.

The first thing she understood was that she was being honest about her name. People tended to do that more often when they came in. The next thing she knew was that Josey’s fears were real. She saw an image of a man, tall and broad, but not in a pleasant way like the guy from the bar and the grocery store. He was a hulk, and he carried a menacing air about him that would make anyone worry. He was fearsome enough that Leah nearly let go of Josey’s hand, but she couldn’t just leave her new client to deal with this on her own. There was a distinct sense of being followed, and it made the fine hairs on the back of Leah’s neck stand up.

“There’s a man,” she murmured. “He’s big, with dark hair and a scar on his cheek. He knows you well, but he’s not friendly.”

“I knew it. It’s my ex. He’s been stalking me.” By the sound of Josey’s voice, she was crying.

Leah nodded. “That sounds about right. He’s angry with you, and you feel that he might have a right to be.” The visions changed, and Leah could see Josey with a different man. “You cheated on him?”

Josey yanked her hand back, and Leah opened her eyes. The young woman’s face was red and blotchy, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. I just…I hadn’t been happy, and I knew he wasn’t either, and then Dylan took me out for dinner…”

Leah still felt the terrifying vibrations she had picked up from Josey. She didn’t like them, and she wanted to flick her fingers across her skin as though she could get rid of the sensation that way. But she reached out for her hand once again. “I’m not sure that’s the important part. There’s more. Let’s try this one more time.”

But Josey kept her hands clasped to her stomach, and she had sunk so far into the couch that she looked like a small, frightened child. “I don’t think I want to. I came here on a whim, but I thought you would just be some scam artist who would tell me everything would be okay. Now I’m not so sure I want to know any more.”

Pressing her lips together, Leah tried to think of the best thing to say next. She would have to tread carefully, and she had a strong and scary feeling that it was vital she finish this reading. There was something going on between Josey and this man in the vision. “I understand. The truth can be hard to take. I’m not here to judge you; I only want to help. You’re scared, and maybe between the two of us we can figure out how to keep you safe.”

Her client jutted out her chin and shoved herself up from the couch. “Forget it. I’ve got a license for a gun. I’ll be fine.” She stormed out onto the street without another word.

Leah put her head in her hands, wondering what had gone wrong. She only had a few seconds to think about it before the bell over the door chimed, indicating that someone had just come in. Autumn poked her head around the partition wall a moment later. “I take it that reading didn’t go well?”

“How did you know? Was it the tears on her face, or the way she ran out of here like I was the one after her?”

“She’d stopped in at our shop first and said she was looking for a talisman of protection. I gave her one, but I also sent her over here. I thought it might help if you could see if she was in any real danger.” The Enchanted Elm was just across the street from Leah’s shop, which made it easy for the women to check in on each other throughout the day or head out for lunch dates.

Leah nodded soberly, her eyes feeling heavy and tired as she stared at the hardwood floor. “I think she probably is, but she didn’t give me a chance to find out for sure. Hell, I might not have been able to figure it out, anyway. It’s like I’ve got this fog over my brain that won’t go away. I had an online client who was almost completely closed off to me, and that woman that was just here is the first person not to pay me. I tried to work on my book this morning, and I just stared at the screen.” She wanted to go back upstairs, crawl into bed, and pretend that the day had never happened.

Autumn frowned. “That doesn’t sound like you.” She was dressed more like a stereotypical witch today, with a long dark skirt and her hair down, but she still carried the air of a woman who was always cool and confident.

It made Leah a little jealous for once, since she wasn’t anywhere close to feeling that way. “I know. I think it’s the divorce. It didn’t affect me at all while we were still going through the court proceedings, but now that it’s official, it’s like I can’t function. I need something that will boost me back into my old talents again.”

“What about the guy from the bar? I know you said you aren’t ready for a new relationship, but a little fling might do you some good.” She gave Leah a cat-like smile and ran her fingertips across the turquoise cabochon of her necklace.

Leah shook her head and launched herself to her feet, pacing nervously. “No! I actually ran into him in the grocery store the other day. It’s weird, because I feel such a pull toward him. Every cell in my body wants me to just throw myself at him, but I can’t. He even asked me out to dinner, and I literally ran out of the store.”

“You should be listening to those inner voices,” Autumn reminded her. “I hope you aren’t staying away from this guy for Victor’s sake. That asshole doesn’t deserve you.”

“No, but he has been blowing up my phone all week.” Leah picked up her cell from the corner of her desk and poked at the screen. “Just look at all these text messages.”

Autumn raised an eyebrow. “I’m glad to see that at least you aren’t replying. But really, what’s so wrong with this handsome stranger from the bar? You should have had dinner with him. It would be free food, if nothing else.”

“I’ve been trying to figure that out.” Leah imagined herself at a table for two in a dimly-lit restaurant with that handsome man looking at her in the candlelight. It would be wonderful and romantic. He might reach across the table and take her hand…But then she would have to tell him all about how she was a psychic—which most guys didn’t seem to appreciate—and that she had just gotten divorced. “I think it’s just that I have too much baggage. I’m dragging all this extra weight around, and I don’t want him or anyone else to see it.”

“Leah, look.” Autumn put her hands on Leah’s shoulders and looked her square in the eye. “Everyone has baggage. It doesn’t matter if they have supernatural powers or if they’re just regular people working office jobs. Everyone has something from their past that they’re bringing along with them. And I’m not saying you have to go marry the guy. Just have dinner. Have fun. Do it for yourself, so you know you’re still alive somewhere in there. You don’t even know how much baggage he might be carrying himself.”

Tears rimmed Leah’s eyes. There was nothing better than knowing someone always had her back. Even when she wasn’t doing a good job of looking out for herself, someone else was. She sniffled and dabbed at the corners of her eyes. “Well, he does have a kid, so maybe you’re right.”

“There ya go!” Autumn smiled, showing her straight, white teeth. “Just hang in there. You’ll find yourself again. It’s perfectly normal to feel a little off when you’ve gone through something like this. I think people like us feel it even more than others. Besides, you’d better get your head back in the game, since we have a séance planned for the weekend.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Leah instantly felt guilty for nearly forgetting. She had met Autumn and Summer in college, and they had instantly bonded over their powers that normal humans didn’t seem to understand. But there had also been Naomi, a beautiful girl who didn’t fit in very well with society herself. She had the power to shift forms, but a terrible accident meant that she was no longer among the living. “I’ll be there.”

The phone rang, and she excused herself. “This is Leah, how can I help you?”

“I’d like to schedule a reading, please.” It was a man’s voice, and a deep one. It seemed familiar, but Leah shook off the notion. She was just getting paranoid after that weird reading with Josey.

“Okay. What day of the week works best for you? I have a few openings tomorrow morning.” She glanced over her appointment calendar. It wasn’t nearly as full as she would like.

“Actually, I was hoping for something in the evening. I’d like you to come to my house, maybe Friday at six.”

It was such an odd request that it took Leah a moment to respond. “I don’t normally do that sort of thing. I would have to charge my normal hourly rate along with another fee for traveling.”

“Money’s not an object.”

“Go ahead and give me your address, and we’ll go from there.” It was quite possible that this client was too far away, and she would just need to offer an online consultation. Leah scribbled down the address as the man on the phone gave it to her, and she turned to make a face at Autumn. It was right there in town, and it was in the nicest neighborhood. Only rich bankers, doctors, and entrepreneurs lived over there. “I think I can make that work. I’ll be there at six on Friday.”

She hung up and stared wide-eyed at Autumn. “Can you believe that? Some rich guy wants to talk to me so badly he’s asked me to come to his house! I’ve never really done house calls before, but if this works out, I might just make it a regular thing.” She could just imagine all the personal items she might get a chance to touch while there. If this didn’t make for a good reading, then she would just have to close up shop and go work in retail.