‘We need to wake up to what is going on around us, to jolt ourselves out of sleepy complacency. We need to take control, to push back anyone who seeks to make us powerless. Stick with me and we will do this together.’
The lights went up. Beth blinked in the sudden glare, peering around her, meeting wary eyes as people checked out their neighbours, peering furtively before looking back to Amelia.
‘That’s right,’ she shouted, flinging her arms up above her head. ‘Look around you. See who is next to you, in front and behind. Do you trust them?’ Her voice rose in question.
Silence hung in the air. The tension fizzed even stronger now. Beth took deep breaths. She focused on the feel of the seat beneath her legs, on the connection between the soles of her feet and the wooden floor beneath her. She did her best to ignore the warmth that seeped towards her from Jonan and focused her awareness on the left side of her body. She felt him shift in his seat. She knew he was watching her, willing her to turn to him. She stared resolutely forwards.
‘Do they look different, strange?’ Amelia’s voice was hushed to a whisper now, intimate, despite being blasted through the PA system.
There were mutterings as people shifted closer to their loved ones and put more space between them and the strangers next to them.
‘We must protect against being infiltrated, against allowing our minds to be infected. We must protect against intrusion. We must stand strong and stand together.’
Fear swept through Beth’s body. Her legs were weak and her stomach rolled. She lurched upwards to her feet.
Amelia looked at her, held her gaze. As her lips spread into a wide smile, Beth shuddered. She stumbled past Jonan into the aisle. She could feel Amelia’s gaze boring into her back, but she did not turn.
She threw open the door to the foyer, letting it swing shut behind her as she leaned against the wall, fighting for air.
The usher frowned at her. ‘If you leave now, you won’t be allowed back in.’
‘Fine by me,’ she snapped, bending to lean on her thighs as she pulled air into her lungs and imagined white light surrounding her in a protective bubble.
‘Someone else might have wanted that seat. Amelia is a big draw, you know. You’ve wasted an opportunity someone else may have valued.’
Beth straightened, feeling strength flowing back into her body. ‘Whoever that person is, they’ve had a lucky escape from Amelia’s poison.’
The man gasped.
The door creaked. Jonan slipped through and closed it quietly behind him.
‘Another one?’ The man glared at Jonan.
Jonan pulled himself up to his full height and rolled his shoulders. The air around him seemed to shift. Beth felt a rush of warmth and the fear lifted. The usher’s face went blank for a moment, and then this forehead creased and his eyes narrowed. He looked Jonan up and down and took a step back. ‘I’ll… just,’ he said, tailing off. Then he turned and walked away.
‘Is everything okay?’ Jonan took Beth’s hands.
For a moment she sank into the warmth of his touch, and then the scene from the night before flickered through her mind. She pulled her hands away and squared her shoulders. ‘I’m fine.’ She stepped past him before he could say anything else, and strode out through the door to the weirdly empty street.
Outside, she drew the cold, crisp air into her lungs in relief. She strengthened her psychic protection, feeling Amelia’s cold influence wane. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a bar of chocolate, broke off a square and popped it in her mouth. The sugar brought her back down to Earth. As the world stopped shifting, she started breathing normally again. ‘I can’t sit through any more of that,’ she murmured to herself.
‘I’ll wait with you.’
Beth jumped, and then turned to scowl at Jonan. ‘For goodness sakes, you startled me. I thought you wanted to keep your distance. I can handle this conversation on my own.’
‘I don’t want to keep my distance.’
‘You could have fooled me. Look, I’m not the clingy type. You’ve made yourself clear. I’ll give you space, but you need to do the same for me.’
Jonan stepped back as though she’d slapped him. ‘You can have all the space you want, but I need to talk to Amelia too.’ His hands were clenched into fists at his side, his knuckles turning white.
‘This is a work meeting, Jonan. You asked me to find out what she’s going to say and I’m trying to do that, but I also have a job to do. If you want more, do it yourself. You’re friends with the woman, for goodness sake. Speak to her on your own time, find out what her agenda is, but don’t crash my meeting. Honestly, I need to focus on my client. I need Amelia to be open with me, not to see me linked to her… what are you to her anyway? A rival? An enemy? An ex?’
Jonan’s jaw clenched. ‘Why are you so angry?’
‘I’ve been on my own for a long time. I’m not afraid to walk away. I thought we were becoming… something, but you made it clear I was wrong. Nobody gets a second chance.’
‘And you think you’re the only one?’ Jonan snapped. ‘That you’ve been hurt over and over without inflicting a wound on anyone else? Hurt people are more likely to hurt others. Did you know we repeat cycles throughout our present lives and on into the next and the next and the next? I remember, Beth. I remember how things went down in our last life, and the one before. I remember the whole line, back to our original agreement. I know how long it’s taken us to get to this moment and I remember what it feels like when it goes wrong.’
Beth stared at Jonan. His words tumbled around her head, trying to settle into some kind of meaning that made sense. ‘Past lives?’
‘Past lives,’ he said, sitting down on a low wall at the side of the theatre. ‘Running away isn’t going to help. If we keep pushing each other away, we’ll just have to come back and deal with the hurt all over again.’
There was a murmur of voices as the theatre doors opened. People started flooding out.
‘You’re the ones that walked out.’ A large man squared up to Jonan. His chin jutted forwards, his shoulders rounding as he clenched his fists and flexed his muscles. He was twice Jonan’s bulk and the leer on his red face told Beth he was loving the fact. ‘Amelia was putting herself on the line to save us from evil, and you got up and walked out. Has nobody taught you respect?’
‘I’m sorry. I was feeling ill,’ Beth said, stepping forward to deflect his focus from Jonan. ‘I didn’t want to disturb the show.’ She closed her eyes, trying to block out the man’s energy. She felt it flowing past her protections and through her system like a torrent. The fear Amelia had prodded to life mingled with this man’s anger to create a frightening beast. It pushed at her as he postured in front of them.
Jonan slipped his hand into hers and squeezed it. Then he positioned himself between Beth and the man. ‘You heard the lady. We’re done here.’
The man stuck his chin in the air, his beer belly jutting forwards as he moved to crowd Jonan.
Jonan didn’t move, but the air around him seemed to shimmer and shift.
The man paled, and then stepped back. ‘What…?’
Blurring her eyes, Beth saw a golden energy emanating from Jonan, clearing away the dark, sludgy mess that surrounded the man.