SCINTILLATE - Book #1 of The Light Key Trilogy

Chapter 10

What on earth was a caper? It didn't even sound like food. I wheeled my cart through the grocery store, searching. How can one mystery ingredient be so vital? The answer: it's a vital ingredient when Janelle is cooking Dad's favorite empanadas and a Chilean summer stew to make up after their fight about me when I returned from the state park. She insisted if he continued to smother me, I was likely to rebel. He insisted he'd been taking care of me fine all these years without anyone's help and would protect me as he saw fit.

It was uncomfortably quiet in the house after that, so I offered to get the groceries. Tired of wandering the aisles, I decided to cut to the chase and ask old Mrs. Oberman where I might find the mysterious ingredient. If they sold it, she'd direct me to it.

Mrs. Oberman shuffled toward me as I neared. Her movements were sluggish, but her smile wasn't. "Cora, honey! How are you?" Her body looked so feeble, I worried I'd see something off about her colors, then found myself wondering if old people's auras differed from ours, like a light on a dimmer switch, or do they stay bold and bright until the day we die?

Her aura blared at full blast, her light brilliant as a baby's, tinged with the soft blue, green, and pink glow of an early morning in the forest. I sighed, relieved. We exchanged pleasantries, and she directed me to the elusive caper; a jar of small, boogie-looking things. When I passed her again a few minutes later, I started to call out to thank her, but my words caught in my throat. The man who made me feel cold, like my blood pooled at my feet when he was near, was casually talking to her. I hid behind the end cap of the aisle. One part of my brain, the one that obviously controlled adrenaline, screamed at me to run. Another part encouraged me to control my fear, to hide and watch to see if I could learn anything about him, and to see how other, non-silver people's auras responded to him.

I peeked around the corner.

Mrs. Oberman peered up at him like a frightened child. There was something chilling about the way her hand grasped his arm, as if for stability. His satisfied smile sent shivers down my neck.

Her colors, which had been so bright moments before, were now diffused. No longer a blue sky, but one with the dreary gray cast of a squall. In contrast, the man's energy was brilliant and pure white. No other colors at all. His aura was a massive white cloud, swallowing her storm.

Nothing in my investigations explained this. White was only ever described as the color of great spiritual masters. A cleansing light. Angelic light. I struggled for a rational explanation. Perhaps Mrs. Oberman knew him. Maybe he was giving her bad news and that was why she looked so stricken.

His gaze flickered my way, and I quickly pulled my head back, praying he hadn't seen me. I glanced up at the tilted mirrors on the edge of the ceiling and cursed myself. All he'd have to do is look up, and he'd see me in the mirror as well. But my heart dropped when I saw in the reflection that Mrs. Oberman now stood alone. He wasn't there.

Instead, he towered in front of me.

I gripped the handle of my shopping basket, adrenaline surging. "Leave me alone," I said through a clenched jaw. My silver aura flared out from my body.

The man inhaled pleasurably like he could smell it, leaned in close to my ear, and said, "If I could have you, she wouldn't have to die."