“I … don’t know how to even…”
He shook his head. “You’re dangerously close to blowing some important fuses, Dana. Here’s what you need to do. Go home. Let your parents yell at you. Nod and look contrite and promise to be a good girl. Tell them whatever they need to hear so that they stop lashing out at you. Play the game their way and let them win this round. Then, when things cool down, they’ll reward you for being a nice, obedient daughter who has clearly learned her lessons, and they’ll lift their restrictions on you. So will the school. And then you’ll come back here and we’ll get to work. I’ll teach you everything I can to make you as powerful as you can possibly be, and I believe that you possess incredible potential. Together we’ll apply our qualities to what is going on in this town. If Angelo really is the angel, then we will get the proof that will make it impossible, even for him, to manipulate his way to freedom. We’ll figure out who is selling Eclipse in Craiger and we will shut them down. As we become the most powerful versions of ourselves, we’ll show everyone what people like us are capable of. Not just reading palms and telling fortunes, but being actual forces for good in a troubled world. That’s what I offer, Dana.” He held out his hand. “How does that sound?”
“It sounds … amazing.”
She took his hand and shook it, and for the first time the clouds that had gathered in her life seemed to split open and let clean, clear sunlight spill down.
“Be strong and be patient,” he advised. Sunlight gave her hand a final pump, and then he slid out of the booth and walked out of the store.
Dana watched him go, feeling her heart swell with admiration for him. He was like her mentor, sure, but more than that. Much more. Why hadn’t her own father offered her that kind of love, trust, and support?
Her thoughts were interrupted by Corinda’s voice speaking to a customer on the other side of the partition.
“Yes, I’m happy to help the sheriff’s department in any way I can.”
Dana half turned in her seat to listen. The customer was gushing about how wonderful it was that Corinda was using her gifts to help the town. Corinda was eating it up.
Then something occurred to Dana, and it made her blood run cold. She could hear everything that was said at the café register. The partition was, after all, nothing more than a piece of colored canvas over a wooden frame. And if she could hear Corinda have a conversation, what could Corinda hear from the booth behind her?
Dana thought back to the times she and Melissa had been here, and everything they’d talked about. Dana’s visions, the angel, seeing Maisie in dreams and at school, the reaction of the teachers and other students …
Pretty much everything.
Every.
Single.
Thing.
Before she knew it, Dana was out of her booth. She all but pushed the customer away from the register and pointed an accusing finger at Corinda.
“You lied!” she yelled.
“What? Lower your voice,” demanded Corinda.
“You’re a fraud,” cried Dana, her voice rising. “You’re not a psychic, and you didn’t see anything. You’re a fake and a liar.”
“Dana, I asked you to lower your voice.”
People in the store were looking, eyes wide, gaping at the outburst, appalled at the scene Dana was making. But Dana did not care. She wanted to crawl over the counter and punch Corinda.
“You heard me and Melissa talking. That’s how you know so much. You’re about as psychic as a dead rat. God! How could I ever believe in someone like you? You snoop and eavesdrop, and then you pretend it’s all stuff that came to you in your visions. What a joke! You’re a slimy, backstabbing, egotistical—”
“Shut up!” roared Corinda with such force that it shocked Dana to silence. “Shut your mouth right now and get out of my store. Get out. No, don’t say another word. Out. Out!”
She came around the counter and pushed Dana toward the side door. Corinda was tall and strong and filled with furious anger.
“You’re a stupid girl who doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Go on. Get out of here and never come back.”
And then Dana was on the sidewalk, watching Corinda pull the door shut. She watched through the big picture window as the customers inside the store came hurrying over to offer comfort to Corinda and throw hateful glares out at Dana.
CHAPTER 78
Craiger, Maryland
11:21 A.M.
And so Dana headed home.
Home.