The Psychic Legacy

Chapter 6: Waiting

Ethan said nothing as he bolted up from his chair. He left his phone on the table as he moved from the kitchen into the small sitting room and sat down on the loveseat.

"Ethan?" I asked.

He just shook his head. I assumed he wanted to be left alone for a bit. I let him be.

I glanced at Polly. She arched her eyebrows back at me. I knew we were both thinking the same thing: would Tory follow in his master's footsteps and disappear? Or would he actually show up for his partner when he needed him?

All we could now do was wait.

The phone on the table began to buzz, pinging loudly as message after message flooded in. I could see from the lock screen that they were all from Tory. But Ethan didn't budge, so Polly switched the phone to silent so the vibration was only a dull hum.

"I need more wine," Polly said as she got up from the table and went to the fridge. She shook the bottle at me as a wordless offer, but I shook my head. No more booze for me. I had learned my lesson.

As Polly struggled with Ethan's cheap corkscrew, I turned back to Ethan. I felt like I needed to watch over him.

He didn't move at all, except for the shiver that shook through his shoulders now and then. He looked even paler than usual, which was saying something. Honestly, though, I was proud of him. Jealous, too. He had just done what I never had the guts to do with Luc.

Stand up for myself.

The phone on the table went quiet. The messages had stopped.

Had Tory given up, then?

Ethan slumped back into the loveseat. He pulled one of the afghans off the back of the couch and around his shoulders, cocooning himself. "Could you pour me a glass of that, Polly?" Ethan said, his usuall low voice pitched oddly high.

Polly paused, newly freed cork in hand. "Sure."

"Ethan..." I tried again.

"What did I expect?" Ethan mumbled, his voice so quiet that I was unsure he was talking to me or to himself. "What did I expect him to do? This is what he's always done."

"Don't beat yourself up," I said as I got out of my chair and went to sit on the arm of the loveseat. "You hoped he'd do what you've wanted him to do all along... Make you a priority. And you shouldn't feel bad about that."

Ethan finally turned to look at me. His bangs were in his face again, but I could see his glittering silver eyes behind them. "I guess you'd know," he said, ending with a weak laugh.

I returned it with a humorless laugh of my own. "Yeah, I guess I would."

A door slammed on the other side of the house.

Ethan leapt off the loveseat, dropping the afghan on the ground. I nearly fell off the arm, but managed to scramble to my feet just in time.

What the—

"Oma?" he called.

There was no reply but the thunderous approach of footsteps. Then Tory burst around the corner, his eyes wild, his hair mussed. He did a quick glance around the room before honing in on Ethan. He rushed over and pulled him into his arms.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Tory rambled. "I would've come back as soon as I could, I would've, but Luc entrusted me to look after Rachel only when I got there she was gone, gone, fucking gone and Luc is going to kill me and I'm freaking o—"

He sputtered then went quiet. Slowly, his eyes slid up to meet mine. His face fell as he realized that I was there, standing right in behind Ethan.