The Medium Kid

Chapter 30

"Do you think it was some coincidence that I made you draw those flowers yesterday?" Miss Pecan asked, raising one of her drawn on eyebrows, already arched to perfection.

Alfie shrugged, feeling like she was trying to get to the point of something. Her words were more than suspicious; they were concerning.

"Well, it wasn't." Miss Pecan took her glasses off, and they rested on her chest from a pearl band around her neck. She reached for a jug of water and poured some into a paper cup, pushing it on Koda's direction. Koda's skin was so pale, Alfie might have mistaken him for a ghost if he didn't know him. "I wanted to see for myself."

"See what?" Alfie started to fidget.

"I wanted to see Koda suck the life out of the lilies."

Alfie's legs turned to jelly, and Koda gripped the side of the chair until his fingers became numb. How did she know? Alfie was so shocked, it took him a while to find his words, and Alfie was never left speechless. "Who are you?" he asked in a tone that should not be directed at teachers. "Did you send the lilies to Koda's house?" Alfie stared at the papers on her desk. To his horror, he recognised her handwriting.

"I did."

"Why?" Koda asked. His overwhelmed status was gradually turning to irritation.

"Because I wanted to see from a distance what you could do to them. I know that putting the flowers in the classroom and the public eye was wrong, but they died so fast, I was so impressed!"

The boys glanced at each other. Alfie was glad that Koda looked as baffled as he felt.

"I'm sorry, but what is happening here?" Alfie asked and stood up for dramatic effect. "Tell me who you are and how you know about what Koda can do. Tell me, or I'll ruin your career!"

"Alfie." Koda made him sit before he got himself kicked out of college. Miss Pecan had started to narrow her eyes as she allowed a few shallow ticks of her wall clock to pass through the silence.

"I'm surprised you can't sense it, but I guess you're still only young." Miss Pecan wheeled herself to a cupboard on her chair. The two doors were shut, held together by an old-fashioned key. She started to turn it, smiling to herself. "When your mother told me that you were a medium Alfie, my suspicions about Koda grew because well, every sidekick needs a medium."

The boys watched in disbelief as Miss Pecan pulled open one of the cupboard doors. It squeaked fiercely like it was rarely opened.

Alfie's jaw dropped. She had a crystal collection. He could see them twinkling, trying to emit their beautiful glow. "You're a medium?"

"I have a spiritual mind, but it doesn't come to me as easily as it comes to you. I don't see ghosts, but I feel them. I also feel energies, and I feel your energy Alfie. It's very strong." Miss Pecan's eyes then landed on Koda, and she planted them into his, scoping out his feelings. "When you returned to college after your summer break Koda, you felt different." Her eyes turned hard. "I felt this... this darkness around you and my immediate thoughts were that you had been possessed. So I went to a local medium, and he told me the story of the Grim Reaper and how the taker of souls often requires sidekicks, especially if they're related. I was very intrigued because I had never heard anything like it."

"Who did you go to?"

"His name is Connor Spruce. He was accommodating, and very interested in Koda when I told him about you. He was the one who suggested I send the flowers to Koda's home so we could see if he matched the story."

Alfie quickly felt a hand gripping his hoodie. "Connor?" Koda hissed into his ear. "Your mentor Connor?"

Alfie wanted to throw himself out of her office window. "Miss Pecan, we're going to skip college again today." He stood up, grabbed his bag and left without checking if Koda was behind him. Alfie was shaking with anger, and he was ready to have a screaming match with the one person who he thought he could always trust.

Alfie noticed that Koda was following him when an arm pressed against his chest to stop him from walking onto a busy road. A car beeped, and Alfie yelled after it. He barely remembered walking out of college.

"Hey relax-"

"No Koda, if Connor was the one who encouraged Miss Pecan to send the flowers to your house, that means he has been lying to us this entire time! I have to confront him about this!" Alfie stormed through the streets, too frustrated to wait for a bus.

Koda had no choice but to follow him. The stresses of skipping college were lost in the air. All he could think about was the lies and how it all connected to his mother's death, and how Alfie was willing to believe Miss Pecan so quickly. "Alfie, slow down!" he yelled, jogging to catch up with him.

"No, we're going to Connor's shop, and I'm going to kill him." Alfie gripped his bag straps and stomped faster.

"He'll probably already know we're coming," Koda sighed.

"Then he better prepare himself for death."

Koda quickly decided that silence was safer because he would hate to get on Alfie's bad side. Alfie was naturally intense. His anger was clearly capable of terrifying things.

After ten minute of Alfie's determined steps and Koda running behind him, they reached Connor's shop, placed in the middle of a busy street. Alfie stopped so abruptly, Koda walked into him.

"Are you going in?" Koda asked, looking down to see the medium's frown.

"Yes. I'm just preparing myself." Alfie rolled his sleeves up, and Koda wondered if he was really thinking about murdering Connor, but he had no time to dwell on it because Alfie stormed into the shop, letting the door slam against the shelves.

Customers jumped and gasped at the sudden noise, but Alfie continued like the shop was empty. "Connor!" he yelled, and the middle-aged man turned, his expression as blank as ever.

"Alfie," Connor said with a small hint of an amused smirk, "what can I do for you?"

"You can start by closing the shop so I can smash your head off every shelf until you pass out."

The customers looked horrified, and Koda stared at the floor, so he wouldn't catch any of their gazes by accident.

"Sorry everyone. This is my friend, and he's deeply disturbed." Connor now didn't sound as calm as he looked. "If you could please leave, I'll be shutting the shop for a few hours."

Alfie ignored the glares from customers as they moved past him, leaving behind their excitement for Connor's cute and quirky shop.

Koda shut the door behind them when the last customer left. He felt nervous about Alfie's actions because they had only known each other for three weeks and he wasn't sure how far Alfie's anger would stretch.

"Alfie, what is the meaning of this?" Connor asked, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms.

"Like you don't know," Alfie scoffed, running a hand through his hair and stopping himself from getting closer. "We spoke to Nikki Pecan this morning. Does that name ring any bells for you?"

For a moment, Connor's body stopped moving like he was turning to stone from the inside. Then he sighed, pointing his clouded blue eyes to the rag rug on the floor. "I should have known she would blab with that mouth of hers."

Shivers stroked up Alfie's calves until his entire body felt uncomfortable. Some part of him had hoped that Connor would deny knowing his art teacher. "I trusted you."

Koda stepped closer to Alfie, hearing the hurt in his voice.

"And you can still trust me, but I have been lying to you for some time now."

"Why?"

"Because you're not supposed to know."

"Know what?"

"Who the Grim Reaper is."

"And why does that cancel out sending flowers to Koda's house then pretending that you didn't and plotting behind our backs? Did you kill Koda's mum?"

"Alfie!" Koda was so shocked by his words; he shuffled back like Alfie had tried to slap him. Connor only stared. His face didn't move an inch. His eyes slowly traced up until they pointed in Koda's direction. The shop was alarmingly quiet.

"No," Connor said in a flat tone, "but I did take her soul."