The Psychic Circle: Chapter 18

After the Psychic Circle had come to a decision, Jake dropped Alexia off at her house. It was just them in the car, and both thought it best if they remained quiet. Alexia was still angry at him for using his Charm on her, and Jake was still adamant that he did the right thing. So they rode in silence, until Jake braked outside her house. She swiftly got out with a brief thank you, and went to her front door without turning back. She heard Jake drive off.

Using her spare key, Alexia entered through the front door, and saw the light in Ben’s study was on. The rest of the house was in darkness. Alexia wearily strode down the corridor, exhausted, sombre after making and losing a friend in one day. Her mind went over and over what she had experienced in Nikki’s emotions. Her father... was a monster. Alexia now understood why Nikki wanted to punish him so badly...

Ben heard her enter and he rolled his chair out into the corridor. He was in his old robe, and he gazed bleary-eyed and emotionless at her. “Oh good, I’m not being robbed today.” He murmured. “And you’re alive. Got to be grateful for the simple things I suppose. Can’t raise my standards too high, so I won’t bother saying anything about curfews or-” he stopped, from the pure shock of Alexia’s abrupt and wholehearted embrace. His work chair rolled back a little, and he let it, blinking a few times as Alexia squeezed him as hard as she could with both arms.

“Alex...” he didn’t know what to say, especially now that she was quietly sobbing into his shoulder. He hesitated for a moment, and then decided that these occasions usually called for reciprocation. He brought his arms around her, patting her back gently.

Alexia broke off her sob, and pulled back from the embrace so that she could face him. “Thank you, Ben. Thank you so, so much, and I’m so sorry ok? I’ve been a numbskull, and I know you’re trying hard, and I know you miss mum too. I- I just don’t know how to deal with it,” she sniffed hard “I don’t know how to deal with my stuff, and I take it out on you. All the time! And I’m sorry.” She lowered her head and looked up at him, letting the tears flow freely.

Ben tilted his head, deeply sympathetic of her miserable frame. “Oh, Alexia...” he pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her, and let her wipe her cheeks with it. “Are you ok? Well, you’re clearly not but,” he took a deep breath, “What’s the matter? Did something happen today?”

Alexia gazed at Ben through blurry eyes and opened her mouth, but no words found their way out. What happened was that she had woken up to the fact that fathers can be a lot worse than the clueless, endlessly demanding Ben. A lot worse...

“Please, I just need to sleep now. I’m ok – I’ll be ok.” Alexia felt her body already giving in to the fatigue. Ben nodded and led her to her room, letting her get straight into bed without changing, and tucking the covers around her shoulders. She whispered another thank you, and when he left, she let more tears of gratitude roll onto the pillow and fell asleep before they were soaked into it.

***

The next morning, Alexia woke up early but didn’t get out of bed. It was a Saturday, and she could use the spare time to think, regroup and plan. Firstly, she thought of what Naomi had told them about what she had learnt from reading Viper’s thoughts. Naomi had given them a strong disclaimer once again that she could only pick up surface thoughts, before telling them that Viper had been thinking about what his mother’s intention was for Nikki.

While Viper himself hadn’t been aware of the specifics, Naomi could piece together what he knew about a crystal, or rather a Crystal which Nikki was somehow connected to. His mother, Senra, needed Nikki for some reason, to draw mystic and ancient psychic power from this Crystal. Viper didn’t know exactly how Senra would achieve this, which suggested that she didn’t tell him everything... or Senra herself hadn’t figured it out.

Alexia finally got out of bed, and headed to the kitchen, taking out the frying pan. She broke two eggs into the pan at the same time, scrambling them quickly and adding the milk and salt. Ben came into the kitchen, raised his eyebrows and sat down at the kitchen table. Alexia glanced at him and ignored his surprised expression as she dished out his food and set it down in front of him.

She sat down with her own plate and gave him a small smile. He seemed to study her for a moment and smiled back cautiously. As he started to eat, she could feel him struggling to find words to say.

“So... thank you for breakfast,” he said.

“Don’t mention it,” she said. “ever.”

He chuckled and continued. “Perhaps we can catch up on your life today. It is just you and I after all. We might as well get along, right?” his tone had a slightly desperate edge.

Alexia looked at him, as if for the first time since her mother had left. His bristle was growing out almost long enough to call it a beard. The lines on his face were deeper than she remembered, and his brow always had slight worry lines. “Yeah, that sounds cool.” She said, smiling politely to mask the observations she had been making. She couldn’t hide the frown that settled in shortly afterwards.

Ben watched her for a moment and let out a deep sigh. “Well, we can start by addressing the elephant in the room.” As Alexia looked up wide-eyed, he continued. “I miss your mother. I know you do too.”

“Ben, I-” she said shaking her head, but he interrupted.

“She can’t call, that isn’t her fault. She told me to tell you that she is ok though, and she’ll return as soon as-”

“Wait,” Alexia sucked in air through her nose, filling her lungs, “What? Ben, when did you talk to my mother?” she was panicked, and felt anger bubbling up at the same time.

“She called when you were out last night.” He seemed taken aback by Alexia’s reaction. He was saying all this as if it wasn’t a big deal that she had missed possibly the only chance to talk to her mother since she left three months ago. He carried on, oblivious to her turmoil. “To be honest, I don’t think she was thrilled you were out that late, but she gets it.”

“I-“ Alexia found that she couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down. “I wanted to talk to her all this time, and you didn’t even... didn’t even...” What? She thought to herself. What was Ben meant to do? It was her own fault for not being home when the call came.

“Alexia dear,” Ben said looking as sympathetic as he could muster. “She’ll call again, I’m sure of it.”

“I don’t want her to call, I want her to come home.” She pushed her half eaten eggs around on her plate, and knew she wasn’t going to finish them. She heard Ben make a sound like he wanted to say something but no words came out.

He sighed deeply, and instead said in a defeated tone, “So how is school?”

Alexia gave him one word answers for the rest of breakfast time, until he gave up on making conversation at all. So much for getting along. Ben insisted on cleaning up the dishes, and Alexia left him to it, returning to her room to hold her pillow and cry without holding back.

When she could cry no more, she forced herself to think of the Crystal. If the Psychic Circle had any chance of getting Nikki back from the Angel Club, they had to understand where it was from, and what it could do.

She sat up abruptly, struck by an idea. She went to her desk, switching on her desktop computer. If there was information about any psychic elements, the Institute for Mind Research would be the first place to go. Alexia did a quick online search to find out if they were still operational. Sure enough, they were, but had relocated from Orino Varsity, the local university, to Violet Labs, which was located on the outskirts of the city. As soon as she got this information, she hurried to get showered and ready to go.

She wore a floral top, fitted jeans and a pair of cute suede boots. As she was putting on the second boot, Ben knocked lightly on her door.

“Uh huh,” she said to allow him in as she finished lacing up the boots and putting a few things in her sling bag.

“Alexia, I feel the need to apologise-“

She picked up a cap and put it on. “No need. It was my fault Ben.”

Ben put two and two together as he watched her. “You’re leaving...”

“Yeah, I gotta do a couple things out.”

“Out? Where?”

Alexia paused a moment. “Just... out. I will stay safe and be home on time today, but I really need to go.”

“So are we just not going to talk about anything?” Ben asked in a matter-of-fact tone. He didn’t raise his voice at all, which made his point especially hard to oppose, and hit her guilt buttons the hardest.

She bit her lip and forced herself to face him. “We’ll talk when I get back, I promise.” He was hard to read. He simply looked at her, shrugged, and left the room.

Alexia exhaled, only then aware that she had been holding her breath. She felt bad about leaving their issues unresolved, and reaffirmed to herself that she would definitely follow through on her promise to get back to it when she returned. That resolve gave her enough motivation to head boldly out the door on her mission.

She was striding out so purposefully, that she nearly walked right past Graham as he was approaching the house.

“Wow, Red. You’re a million miles away. I think you’ve forgotten me.” His arms were crossed, and he sounded pissed. Great.