The Psychic Circle: Chapter 15

Silence defined Jake’s basement now. The room was sound proof, so it was an eerie silence. Not a breath could be heard because everyone was holding theirs. There was a small tap of Casey’s boot as she took a step backwards from Nikki.

After gaping wide-eyed at Nikki, Alexia broke the silence. “No... Nikki, you misunderstood. We don’t... we don’t attack people. We’re good guys.”

Nikki’s expression was set to a cold bluntness Alexia hadn’t seen on her before. Until now, she had seemed hopelessly lost and pitiful, now she was anything but. She knew what she wanted, and the lust for vengeance radiated from her eyes. “If you’re the good guys, then you need to do something about the bad guys.”

“I- we don’t go out fighting crime or anything. We aren’t heroes. We have each other’s backs, that’s it.”

“Then have my back!” Nikki called out, her voice strained with the effort of holding back tears. “This man, my father, he has hurt me in ways no father should. He was meant to protect me, but he was the one I needed protection from. He must be punished.”

Alexia was dismayed. “I’m sorry Nikki... we can help you get back onto your feet and find you a place to stay, but revenge isn’t the answer, ok?” She looked to Naomi. To Alexia’s surprise Naomi had quietly created distance between herself and Nikki, no longer acting as her shield. Her arms formed a cross on her chest. She was shielding herself now. And it was no wonder. The air in the basement was somehow thicker with excess energy, and the source of it was Nikki.

“You don’t understand! I thought you would understand...” Nikki’s voice was wrenched with emotion and she couldn’t control the waving pitch. She was losing control. Jake had stood up and almost tripped backwards over the box he was sitting on. Even Jake was losing his cool.

Hanson, who was closest to the staircase, backed away upstairs and out of sight. He was going to put self preservation first. Everyone else was drawing away from Nikki.

Alexia stepped forward. “Nikki, please calm down. I think you’re losing a hold of your psychic energy! You don’t want to hurt anyone now, do you?”

Tears streamed down Nikki’s face now, and waves of emotion flowed out with every gulp. The solitary light bulb would flicker every time the waves reached it. “You don’t und-understand...”

Alexia shifted her attention to the shelf behind Nikki which vibrated with a low hum, causing the tins and boxes to clack their contents together. “Then...” Alexia’s breathing quickened as she took a mere second to consider what she was about to say next. “Then make me understand.”

Nikki blinked her clouded eyes and focussed on Alexia. “What do you -”

“Use your power on me. Make me feel what you feel.” Alexia said boldly. Nikki looked appalled. She opened her mouth to speak but it was Jake whose voice boomed out.

“No, Alexia!” he shouted. Alexia turned to him and saw fury in his eyes. At the same time, the light above their heads stopped flickering and everything stopped vibrating. Jake was in front of Alexia and she could see his bare anger up close. There was deep fear there too.

“Jake, I want to do this.” Alexia said firmly. She knew she was being stubborn.

“No, no you don’t Alexia.” Jake glanced at Nikki. She was gazing weakly, panting and looking like she was recovering from the power surge. He turned back to Alexia “You don’t know what she can do to you.”

“Jake, I have to. It’s the only way she’ll trust us. And it’s the only way we can help her.” Alexia said through gritted teeth.

Jake looked like he was about to say something and held his tongue but spun around and punched the air in frustration. Then he turned to face her, with his own determined look on his face. “No. You don’t want to do this.” He looked intentionally into her eyes.

What was that? His voice was layered with Charm. At this realisation, Alexia was furious, but another stronger sense of calm washed over her and suffocated the flare of anger before it could light up.

He’s...right. I don’t want to do this. It makes so much sense. I can’t risk my mind for a stranger. Alexia thought. She knew that these ideas were Jake’s originally, but they made sense now. So much sense...

...Naomi felt sick, and she didn’t know why. Right in the pit of her gut she felt it, waves of ugliness that she couldn’t stop. She looked at Jake, and realised she had read his thoughts. Eavesdropping on her friend’s thoughts was normally not her thing, but the thought he sent out was so forceful, and her mental filter against unbidden thoughts was too low to block it.

“Jake... what are you doing... ” Naomi was in tears. This was wrong. Jake looked away from Alexia towards her, and his face fell. He ran his hand through his hair, looked down at the floor and exhaled, releasing Alexia from his Charm.

Alexia blinked as if awakening from a dream. She could sense the thought that had almost taken hold in her mind, now that it was no longer pushed by Jake, her mind recognised it as undoubtedly alien, and disregarded it with repulsion. The rage now took hold and she embraced it. Her breathing resembled that of a bull about to charge.

“Don’t. You. Ever. Do that to me again. ” Alexia growled at Jake. He refused to meet her eye, choosing instead to fixate on a box of tools on the ground. Alexia shoved him, hard and he stumbled back without resisting. “I thought we don’t use our powers on each other, Jake! I thought we don’t try and manipulate our friends, Jake!”

He frowned and shrugged one shoulder. “Whatever, do what you want,” he mumbled, and shuffled his way to the stairs.

“What? I didn’t catch that-”

“I said do whatever the hell you want! Let the most powerful psychic you’ve ever met make your mind her playground! Call me the bad guy for trying to stop you! Do whatever the hell you want.” With that, he stormed upstairs, bumping his shoulder against Hanson, who hadn’t left after all, and was skulking just out of sight.

“Ow,” Hanson said in a murmur. Jake stopped and looked at him.

“Your thoughts on this?” he asked him.

Hanson glanced from left to right, shrinking under Jake’s gaze. “I...” he started, then sighed and fell silent.

Jake scoffed. “No opinion, as usual,” he said, then left him standing there.

In the basement, Alexia had her hands on her forehead, which didn’t help the fact that it was heating up. She wasn’t just seeing red, she was red. Casey watched cautiously from a distance, Nikki sat crouched in a tight ball on the floor with her head on her knees, and Naomi walked up to Alexia, biting her lip with silent tears running down her face.

Alexia threw her hands down and started to pace. “Naomi, Naomi, please, just do me this favour, one favour will you, remind me to kill him!” She yelled the last two words up the staircase to make sure Jake could hear her wherever he was.

“Alex, please calm down,” moaned Naomi. Her hands hovered as if she was unsure where to place them. “We can’t do this again, we can’t fight... again.”

Alexia stopped pacing and turned to Naomi, shaking her head with her mouth set in a stiff position. “You felt it, didn’t you? That’s why you stopped him. You felt his intrusion.”

Naomi nodded, then circled to Alexia, placing both hands on her shoulders. “What Jake did was wrong. But he - ”

“Don’t say it.”

“He cares about you.” Naomi finished.

Alexia gave a bitterly sarcastic smile. “All the crap that people do to me in the name of caring about me.” She turned around, away from Naomi’s hands. “Jake though...?” Anger turned into tears and Alexia bit her bottom lip hard.

Naomi glanced at Nikki, who was watching them from a subdued position on the floor. “Maybe we just need to take some time to regroup and think this through when we’re not so worked up about it.”

Alexia raised her head and sharpened her gaze. “No... Don’t you see, Naomi? This means I’ve got to do this more than ever,” she looked at Nikki then walked to her, kneeling beside her. “How is she meant to trust us now? Now she’s seen what we can do to each other?” She met Nikki’s eye with a sorrowful apologetic smile. “I wish you’d seen us at our best instead of our absolute worst.”

Nikki raised her head a little, blinking. “I’ve seen worse fights than this.”

Alexia sighed. “In all of this, no one has asked you if you will do it. Are you going to let me feel what you feel? I’m doing it willingly.”

Nikki looked pained. “But, why?”

Alexia shifted to a cross legged position in front of the crouching Nikki. “Because I know what it’s like not to be understood or heard. And, sometimes,” she reached out and held her hand. “words are not enough.”

Nikki’s eyes begun to shine, and she shook her head, touched and in disbelief. “I...” she couldn’t get the words out and began to sob, squeezing Alexia’s hands with gratitude she couldn’t verbally express. Alexia squeezed back and let her cry.

When the tears stopped she looked up at Alexia and nodded repeatedly. “Ok. Ok, I’ll do it.” Alexia gave her a warm smile and drew her into a gentle hug.

“Um...” everyone turned to look as Casey spoke. “Alexia,” she shifted her weight from foot to foot, agitated, “Are you for real?”

“I’m not going to discuss this anymore Casey. Unless you want to be next in line to use your powers against me.” Her glare was a bold challenge.

Casey raised her hands. “Hey, I’m not gonna take sides, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be down to me to point out how insane this is. And point out how Jake was right to do what he did to save your crazy butt, and how he shouldn’t have chickened out at the last minute.”

“Casey!” Naomi gasped.

“No, Nao, despite what you believe, not everyone is right about everything all the time. And right now, Alexia is being a masochist with a messiah complex. I just think -“ she flung her arms up in defeat. “I’m done Alex. I’ve seen you on the crazy path before, and as entertaining as it was last time, it’s getting old.”

Casey marched to the staircase and Naomi moved out of her way before she bumped her shoulder. Stomping upstairs, she came up to Hanson, who was leaning with his back against the wall, one hand around the corner. “Inners are weird. Let’s go.” Hanson of course followed. Alexia wondered about the way he was so content existing in Casey’s shadow.

Naomi rubbed the back of her neck with a frown on her face. “You know, I was really excited at the thought of the Psychic Circle back together again...” she said in a mellow tone.

Alexia bristled. “It’s ok, we don’t need them for this.” She helped Nikki to her feet, but turned to Naomi. “Nao, you know you have a choice, right? I hope you don’t feel like I’m forcing you to stay.” She was sincerely concerned, but the look in her eyes was desperate too. Please stay.

“I...” Naomi began, gripping her upper arm, twisting the skin around it. She was torn.

Nikki spoke. “You have to stay, Naomi.” She gently released herself from Alexia and stepped backwards away from them, so she was standing under the lightbulb. “You have to end it... if it gets out of hand.”

Alexia watched Nikki as she stood there, arms at her sides, calm under the orange glow of the filament bulb. She wanted to be seen now. Wherever she came from, whatever the difficulty of the paths she had to walk down, they led her here, so desperate for acceptance that she let down her guard completely and embraced her vulnerability. Alexia walked into the light with her.

Naomi looked from one to the other, took half a step forward, hesitated, then sighed and walked up to them so that she was standing beside them, equally distant from both. “What do I have to do?”

Nikki turned her head slowly to Naomi, her voice calm as she spoke. “If you see that Alexia is in excessive pain, break us apart. Don’t touch either of us with your hands.” Naomi looked around and eyed a broom which she went to collect before taking up her position again.

“Will this do?” she asked.

Nikki nodded, then took a deep breath and made eye contact with Alexia. Her deep brown eyes locked into Alexia’s dark blue eyes. Nikki held out her hands at waist height with her palms up. Alexia glanced down and placed her hands into Nikki’s.

“I know what you want to achieve, but I’m going to hold back, Alexia. Because I really like you. Ok?” Her voice was tinged with emotion in the last part, and Alexia wanted to do this even more. No one should suffer alone.

“It’s ok. Go ahead.” Alexia said.

Nikki saw that Alexia had surrendered to the process, and took a deep breath, focusing on controlling her mind. She felt the well of pain rising in her, past the suppression she constantly put on it, rushing through her and making her feel like she was trying to hold back a broken dam with outspread hands. It was futile.

Naomi shook her head, filled with dread. “Alex...”

Nikki felt the force of the pain flow to her hands, fingertips, and held it back as hard as she could, but it overflowed -

“Stop!” Naomi shouted.

- into Alexia. Both Nikki and Alexia became deaf and blind to Naomi, the basement, and anything that resembled the present.

Oh.

Dear.

God.