Nyssa:
“I’m sorry I’m late, Nivedita,” Nyssa said as she hurried through the door. Her friend was talking to a tall, smartly dressed stranger. He didn’t look like their usual customers in his button up shirt, expensive looking jeans and neat haircut. Nyssa hovered just behind the two, listening to their conversation. Perhaps it wasn’t a customer.
Instinctively, Nyssa’s mind reached out towards the two, brushing against Nivedita’s familiar scattered thoughts and anchoring itself to the dark haired stranger. It was something she did so often, she barely even thought about it. Her awareness was almost always floating around her, reaching, caressing, probing. Feeding her information about her surroundings like any of her other senses. Sometimes her gift would reach a bit further and pluck something out of someone’s past, or maybe even their future. What she found when she looked at this man surprised her.
Nothing.
No buzz of thought, no undercurrent of emotions. None of his intentions, or inane musings. Nothing.
No one had been able to keep Nyssa out so effectively before. Sometimes it was possible to hide small things purposely by distracting her with huge amounts of other information. Even more rarely, someone could deliberately keep a specific thought from her by sheer will alone. But no one, no one, was as much of a blank slate as this man was.
It could only mean one thing; this man was like her. Psychic.
The only other People that shared her gift were the Caul; the Real World’s unofficial police force. The Caul being in this little occult shop was bad news. It was unlikely that anything Nivedita did would draw their attention, but an untrained, uncontrolled, psychically gifted teenager living upstairs would definitely interest them.
Nyssa and Nivedita shared a look over the man’s shoulder. Nivedita was pale and her eye’s wide, though she kept up with her usual chatter. The Caul paying a visit to her small establishment probably was not good news and the witch knew nothing about Nyssa’s gifts.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Nyssa skirted around the two, keeping out the man’s line of sight. He didn’t even seem to notice she was here, engaged fully in his conversation with Nivedita. She whipped her apron over her head, keeping her face angled towards the floor.
“This damn Redcap infestation is bad for business,” Nivedita said. Normally Redcaps preferred to live in abandoned castles, killing intruders and soaking their hats in the blood of their victims. Increasingly, they were being found in the city, killing humans by the dozen. The stranger shrugged.
“Those demented dwarfs can kill just as easily in an abandoned house as they can in a castle.” His voice was low and even, a soft baritone that rumbled pleasantly. They talked for a few minutes more, first about Redcaps and other People that frequented the area and then about the sort of business the occult shop typically got.
“Thank you for your help, Nivedita,” the man said. “Do you mind if I had a look around?”
Nivedita gave him a shaky smile. “Sure, help yourself.”
He gave a little bow and wandered off into the stacks. Almost unnoticeably, his looping gate was interrupted by a small limp. Nyssa only observed the break in rhythm because she was watching the stranger so closely. He didn't even glance her way, either not noticing her standing unobtrusively next to the spellbooks or deliberately ignoring her.
As soon as he passed her, she skittered over to her friend, eyeing where he had disappeared nervously.
----------------------------------------
Shout out to Facepalm who gave me a beautiful review, it is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to all those who made it here from the post I made in Chronicles of Genticus. What do you think of my new work? Very different I know but I hope you are enjoying as much as you did my last work. Thanks for your support!