Graham waved his arms frantically across Alexia's face. After a second or two, she blinked. "Say, Red, do you copy?" He said in a slightly annoyed voice.
Alexia had an apprehensive expression, her brows forming a mountain range as she looked towards the road where the ambulance had just disappeared. When Graham spoke, the only thing she moved were her eyes, her expression seemingly set in stone. Graham mentally shivered, realising that that look had never been directed at him before.
"What?" she said in a voice coming from another dimension.
"I said, shouldn’t we be getting you home - I mean you wouldn’t want 'parental-guidance' to be in your face would you?" he laughed nervously.
He could have sworn that her expression became hostile at that moment, if it wasn’t already. It seemed to be saying only I can call him that. It was Graham's turn to become worried.
Alexia's face ironed out a little. "You know, you're right! We should be headin' home!" she said in an all too happy cowboyish voice.
"Er, right." Graham wondered if she was in some kind of state of shock. He had certainly never seen her like this during the two years they had been together. As they began to walk, he opened his mouth and closed it again, wondering if it would be wise to let something come out. When they got to the first junction, he was spared of the self conflict.
"You know, I could make it to my place from here." Alexia said.
Graham turned to her and searched her eyes. "Are you sure? I really don't mind - "
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. I don’t think my stepdad would like you very much. And it's only a few blocks. I'm a grown girl." She assured him.
"And when did that happen? An hour ago?" said Graham sceptically.
Alexia laughed. "You're horrible!" she pushed him lightly on the shoulder. Then, she suddenly withdrew her hand and shoved it into her pocket when she realised what she had done. "Well, see ya around." She swivelled around and walked at a fast trot.
Graham was still. He looked at the place on his shoulder where she had touched him. He had gotten something from her. some of her feelings or something. He looked up. Alexia was gone. As he analysed the feelings he seemed to have... borrowed from her, he knew she was worried...about something in the past.
Graham shook his head, his hands holding both sides. This is crazy, he thought. But he had a feeling that this wasn’t the last he would hear about this incident. And if he was honest with himself, he wasn’t even sure that thought was his own.
***
Benjamin Stevenson looked up from his work, startled as the front door burst open. Alexia zoomed in, almost running, giving the impression of an orange dust-devil.
"Hey, wait a moment - Alexia!" He pulled himself up before he realised he was stepping on his bathrobe. He grabbed onto a chair before he stumbled. By the time he got up again, she had slammed the door to her room. Ben panted, exasperated as he knocked on her door. "You know, this is ridiculous! If we can't even talk, how are we supposed to sort this out? Alexia?"
"I'm fine, ok?" Alexia said. There was silence. "And.. I'm sorry. I just need some time alone ok?"
Ben opened his mouth then exhaled before closing it again. He was tired. Exhausted as a matter of fact. His day hadn't exactly been great, and he could tell that hers hadn't been either. He turned around, unable to shake the feeling of defeat, his mind picturing a hot mug of coffee.
Alexia was not even dreaming of relaxing at this point. Her relationship with her stepfather was one of the many other thoughts she had packed away. All thoughts, except one.
She held her ear firmly against the door, listening to the receding footsteps. Then, she briskly twisted the gold-plated key anticlockwise until she heard a satisfying click. She then hurried to her bed and swept aside some half-made dream catchers and weird key rings.
She made sure she was sitting in the middle of the bed, then reached under her mattress. She felt the planks of the frame, and began counting from right to left with her fingers. She stopped between the third and forth plank. There were a few rubber bands, and an earring she had lost ages ago. But she was searching for something of much higher value.
Holding onto the plank, she moved her weight backwards, levering the plank off its nails, then reached even further.
She found it.
She grabbed a leather string, and carefully pulled it up out of the dust and cobwebs. The leather was braided in an intricate design, and hanging in the centre of the braid was a silver medallion. She blew off the dust and strings of old cobwebs and a sparkle of light danced around its edge. In the centre was a raised design, made of three intertwined circles.
She closed her eyes and placed it around her neck, her legs crossed as if in meditation.
Alexia opened her eyes and took a deep breath. She knew that the choice that she was about to make may bring more bad than good - but she had already made up her mind.
She was going to bring the Psychic Circle together again.
End of chapter
Continue to next chapter The Psychic Circle: Chapter 7Points:
Time spent:
IP address:
Canary word: Present
Possible AI signals:
Original Text:
Are you sure you want to delete this comment? This cannot be undone.
Mark this comment as a review? Points will be awarded to the poster.
Your comment was posted, but it wasn’t long enough to count as a review. Reviews need about four complete sentences (at least 250 characters). Try writing another review that explains your thoughts in more detail — the author will appreciate it, and you’ll earn points for it.
139,345 Literary Works • 672,539 Reviews
Hello, Ember!
Ok, well, apparently I'm the only one who *liked* the POV in Graham's voice. I mean, they've been 'together for 2 years' and she suddenly does something like this, something she's never done before. I could picture him in my head, absently rubbing the shoulder she touched, gazing after her, lost in thought. The imagery was very vivid. I wish it had been detailed more; I mean 'WHAT emotions did she transfer to him? And so on. But all in all, I really preferred that it be in his POV.
Especially since you seem to be 'keeping' information from us, whenever we're in Alexia's head, so this made sense.
It was mentioned that her entering the house seemed rush. She's not in her right mind at the moment, so I think she might act out of character? And Ben's also not having a good day, exhausted beyond belief and such (also, WHY is he so exhausted? because he is worried for her? Missing his wife? Problems with work?), so maybe he barks her name, or calls to her sharply. And for once, she stops, turns, a blank look on her face. And .. she apologies. And he forgets what he was going to do by getting up and he drops back into his chair, a look of astonishment on his unshaven face.
See?
Anywho, liked this chapter, liked the vulnerability in both Graham and Ben. Great writing in this chapter!!
Tanya
Yay, you're on my side!
You read Graham's POV exactly how I wanted it to be read. I wanted to hold back on the details of Alexia's secret and chose to switch POVs to achieve this, and intentionally frustrate the reader just like all my favourite authors frustrated me 
I like your re-envisioning of Alexia and Ben's interaction, I think that would be more interesting. And I will look into answering all the character motivation questions from paragraph to paragraph, especially since I'm using third person omniscient. Thanks for this!
Hi! Cricket here for a review! AGAIN.
My only complaint, is really that I think you could have done the transitioning smoother between her walking into her house, and then going up to her bedroom. It seemed rather rushed, and not very well developed. I thought maybe you could put something else in really quick, to just smoothen it out. 
Hope you aren't getting tired of me yet, cause I'm reviewing till the end.
Anyways, forward!
My first reaction to learning that it was being told from Graham's POV was coooool! But later on as I read the part about her power coming out a bit, I found that I wanted it in her POV. Sorry, but I think we'd be able to feel her power much more effectively if you changed it around. I mean, I'm totes all for a chapter being in his POV and I hope as I read further that there is one, but I don't think you should have had it for this particular chapter. A little later would be nice, for a electrically charged moment, or something around there.
Can't wait to find out what's going on with the Psychic Circle! I liked how you put it near the end and all, to leave us hanging off by a thread just wondering what's going on. It was pretty cool, cause I'm just sitting here thinking, I have to wait to read the next chapter, until I'm done with this review!!
Hmm, "across" makes me think of him swatting her on the face. I'd suggest putting "in front of" instead.
My complaint here, would be that mountain range just doesn't make much sense to me. Yeah, I get that it means her eyebrows went up SUPER high. lol But I had to stop and think about it for a moment, and it didn't seem to flow very smoothly. Get what I mean? It didn't flow right to me.
OK, I was halfway through reading this, and I realized that you never said anything about the police questioning them! I don't know if that is going to be happening in the later chapters or something, but I'd assume that they would, right? I mean, the guy is acting nuts, and Graham PUNCHED him, in the face. That would raise a question or two with the cops. One way or another, I think you could put something in there about that, and maybe add some more drama to it, while you're at it. But it's your choice! Just thought it would seem a bit more realistic sounding, and also would add a bit more meat to the story.
OK, and sorry that this is short, but I think I'm done! It was totes well written
and I'm totes not geeking over Grahamand I love the characters especially!Keep writing!
~Cricket
Yay! Thank you so much, would love to get your rounded perspective on the overall plot! Keep them reviews coming and I'll keep loving them! And I'll keep writing too of course. Do let me know if I do a better job at showing rather than telling in upcoming chapters.
I aim to please, so I'll look into giving Graham more word count 
Hehe, it's funny how reviewers tend to have a favourite side character
You have a very good point about considering the consequences of the assault essentially, in this scene. It seems so obvious now, but I think at the time I wrote it, I was less worldly wise, and figured that he has good intentions, so he wouldn't get punished! Ah, sweet, younger me...
Mountain range eyebrows hehe... I meant she was frowning, if you can believe that lol. I will find a better way to say it - or just stick with simplicity.
Hi there! Me again :3
Well, Alexia's powers are definitely interesting. I hadn't expected something like that to happen. Personally, I would've liked to see that exchange of power from Alexia's POV personally. Only because she knows about the power, I'm assuming, and Graham is just a sort of bystander in all of this. He just writes off the feelings as his imagination or a super crazy idea. Alexia however, would've been able to tell us exactly what had happened. And honestly, that would've been more interesting to read.
Another quick thing before I move on. I thought that you were writing this in third person limited. At least, that's what I've noticed so far. But here you switch to just third person and explain some of Graham's feelings and thoughts. You might want to go back and look at that.
Aw man, you missed a great opportunity to expand on this idea! What exactly is this memory that she hasn't packed away yet? I think it's definitely something that you should explain now instead of waiting until later on. You really leave us hanging here, and it's more of a frustrating feeling than a curious one.
Yay! We shall soon find out how the title fits into the story!
I have to say, you're doing a great job with this novel. This is only, what, the sixth chapter and we're getting a lot of information here. And when I say information, I mean storytelling. Over the past six chapters we've gotten to know the characters rather well and have gotten a sort of introductory look, if you will, at the story. I don't know why, but I feel like this is the place where the real story begins. Not that the chapters up to now wasn't part of the story though. Do you get what I'm saying? I'm afraid that I'm starting to ramble again. That tends to happen quite often...
Well, I'm glad I came back to read more of this! I'm very excited to see where this story goes
Keep writing!
**Noelle**
They say when editing a novel, the first thing to do is cut out the first chapter or two, because usually it's superfluous stuff where we writers are warming up to the start of the story. Now your comment here reaffirms that.
I like how you bring a fresh perspective about the reveal of her thoughts and not to leave it hanging at that point. It's brought the chapter-by-chapter flow and structure of the story into my focus. Hmmm... *thinking cap on*
Hey! IamTraunt here! Oh, yeeeeaaah! Can't wait for next chapter! I'm lovin' it
Okay, down to business.
Corrections!
Not as many nickpicks as you have improved on that SO much. You're my little star! I think your super power would be being so darn amazing!
Annnnyyywwwaaaay! I got distracted.
Practically, I think you should change 'ya' to 'you'. To be able to be appetizing to those publishers out there we need to look professional.
Oopsie! No capital here. Just needs to be changed.
I was slightly confused here. Does this mean she is orange because she wears a lot of make-up? Or is it because of her hair colour? I thought you said she had dyed red or 'shock' red hair. Maybe you should alter that slightly.
You just need that to 'her's'. Aw! Poor Ben. Poor Alexia. They both need a big hug. *Hugs*.
Characters!
Well, at this point in time I am really accustomed to Ben and Alexia's relationship - you have made that a firm founded theme in your story, which is good as we wouldn't understand it if you changed that. You really draw to attention Ben's want, his desire so-to-speak, to get close to Alexia. And as a teen, things are more difficult than just beginning to love your Stepfather. Even though Ben wants it to be, for Alexia it isn't that simple. You make that realistic.
Poor, poor Graham. I felt really sorry for him, which is again a good thing. You developed your character and the reader (me) begins to grow attached to this character and develop feelings, such as sympathy, towards him. The whole point of a character is to have an affect on a reader, which you did really well!
Storyline!
Woah. Action, action and more action! Groovy. Loving this - you have really began to dig deeper into the genre of Action and you have built up the tension here, especially when Alexia begins rooting around for the key. More questions! G'argh! Need to know! So, one of my questions is: Where did Alexia get the key? What is the Physic Circle? Now, that is spurring me on! I want more! Which is good, as it gives the reader something to dwell on and to want to find out (which I mentioned previously). And it is good that you keep doing that through out as the reader will never lose attention or quit reading.
Well done! Keep on writing!
P.S - I look forward to the next chapter.
I LOVE THE LAST SENTENCE!!!!! Excuse me for being loud... I also love how it says "She found it." If this was a movie i would here dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnn! This is all very nice! In the beginning though, I would explain where they are. I haven't read the beginning, so I don't know if you left off half of it, adn then started up again here but.... I still LOVE this!!! Amazing work on this!