The Sibyl (9 page)

Yet, even as I was telling myself to calm
down and stop being stupid, I realized my thoughts were hollow. I
knew what I saw. I knew what I felt when I looked into the mirror
the night before. For the first time in a very long time, I had
been at peace. I was happy. I wasn’t sure if even Elliot could have
kept me from joining the woman who had so sweetly beckoned me.

Elliot. I groaned as I brushed the water from
my eyes. He was a completely different matter all together. My
thoughts of Cyrus and the Sibyl shifted into a replay of what had
happened between us this morning. It was so unexpected. After four
years, why now? Why was Elliot suddenly making his move? I’d have
to talk to him about it sooner or later. Truth be told, I needed to
get my own feelings straight first. Had the Carter woman been
right? Was I in love with him? Could he be in love with me?

I was doubtful. Elliot could have his choice
of women; even more so now that he was going to be on television. I
was nothing more than the old college buddy tagging along in the
hope he would find a spot for me in his life after school.

I shut off the water, welcoming the chilled
air as it broke my thoughts away from my feelings for Elliot. I’d
wanted to spend my time alone relaxing. Instead, I brought up my
own insecurities and fears of losing the one true friend I’d ever
had. One who was going to spend the day with me. I stepped out of
the shower and came face to face with the large, covered mirror
when a new fear pierced through my heart.

How in the world was I going to make myself
presentable without being able to see what I’m doing?

I jumped at the sound of a knock on the door,
snagging a thick white towel and wrapping it around me before I
answered. “I’m nowhere near done, Eli. You might as well get
comfortable.”

“Ms. McRayne, it is Cyrus.”

I felt my heart sink at the sound of his
voice. Of course he’d be here. What he was doing in my room
uninvited was a whole other matter. If he was going to be my
shadow, it appeared we would have to set some boundaries. Ones I
wasn’t sure he’d be too eager to agree to.

I didn’t answer until I’d thrown on a
bathrobe and wrapped my hair in the aforementioned towel. Then I
opened the door to face the stranger who had forced himself into my
life only yesterday. I was pleased to see a faint blush spread
across his flawless face as he noted my attire. I was even more
pleased when he had the graciousness to look away.

“What?” I wanted to sound stern, but my voice
cracked. I swallowed and tried again. “What can I do for you today,
Cyrus?”

“I need to speak with you immediately about
this show you are doing.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out
his ever-present cell phone. “After all that has transpired, I feel
it would be best for you if you dropped out of the production all
together.”

For once, I was at a loss for words. Elliot
had mentioned something last night about how this guy might use me
to get into the entertainment business. Instead, Cyrus was trying
to pull me out of it. He glanced in my direction and opened his
mouth as if he wished to say more, but stayed quiet when I raised
my hand. I responded with the first words which came to mind. I
couldn’t stop myself.

“Are you insane?” I felt the anger return to
me as I pushed my way past him to the closet. “You have some nerve,
buddy.”

“Ms. McRayne, it is far too dangerous. You
must listen to me.”

“No.” I was snatching my clothes off the
hangers so fast, the wooden bars clunked together. “You listen to
me.”

I stormed past him, tossing the jeans and
t-shirt on the bed before I turned to face him. “Who do you think
you are, Cyrus? We met less than twenty-four hours ago, and you are
already trying to tell me what to do with my life?”

“It is for your own protection.”

“I don’t care what your reasoning is.” I
glared at him as I closed the distance between us and jabbed his
chest with my finger. “You have no right to tell me who I am or
what I am going to be. Sibyl or no. Are we clear on that?”

“As crystal.” Cyrus’ dark eyes flashed as he
returned my glare. “Yet, you can not seriously be considering
putting yourself into situations where you will be forced to
confront spirits on a regular basis. I told you last night you were
inexperienced and unknowledgeable.”

“I heard you last night, so you hear me now.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I am doing this show. I have to
do it. I signed a very ironclad contract. I refuse to break
it.”

I decided to return to the bathroom before he
could respond. I grabbed up my clothes and headed in that direction
when his next words stopped me in my tracks.

“What happens if you become someone else,
Eva?” Cyrus’ voice was soft. “Sibyls have been known to become
possessed by the spirits they are surrounded by. Not all ghosts are
simple grandmothers wishing to contact their loved ones. Most are
filled with hate. More than most are jealous of the living. You
could very easily attack the ones you care for the most. Are you
willing to take that chance?”

I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks as
I faced him again. “I’m not a violent person. No matter how crazy I
seem right now, talking to you about ghosts and all. I won’t go
around attacking people; much less my loved ones.”

“But the spirits might. Some of them can be
very violent.” Cyrus gave me a sad smile as he clasped his hands
behind his back. “You must take the time to train with me. Learn to
control yourself if you insist on this nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense.” I could hear my own
disbelief as I spoke the words. “It’s important.”

“To Mr. Lancaster, certainly. Not to
you.”

“Fine.” I huffed. “Then I suggest you do your
job and teach me what I need to know. When do you want to start
this training of yours?”

“This afternoon. I’d prefer immediately, but
it appears you’ve made other plans.”

“I have.” I glanced at the clock on the
bedside table. It was already after ten. “Let’s meet tonight. I’m
sure you’ll be around.”

“Indeed.” He bowed his head towards me. “I’ll
be close by if you need anything. Please remember. No mirrors. No
psychics. Nothing that could attract the spirits to you.
Understood?”

“Not really.” I shrugged, looping my arms
together beneath the pile of clothes I was still holding. “It
doesn’t matter. I’ll behave. I don’t want a repeat of what happened
yesterday when I’m out on the streets of New York. I don’t need the
general public to know I’ve gone crazy just yet. I’ll let the show
do it for me.”

I earned a small smile from Cyrus with my
words. One final bow and he was gone. I glanced at the clock again,
wondering just where the hell Elliot had gotten off to before I
started getting ready. Just when I finished brushing out my hair, I
heard another knock on the door.

“Cyrus, I’ve already told you. I’m going to,”
I jerked open the door and felt the fire sizzle out of my voice
when I saw Elliot’s raised eyebrow. I finished anyway.
“Behave.”

“When have you ever behaved, my dear?” My
friend gave me a thin smile as he reached for my hand. “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” I let Elliot take my hand
and felt the comfort of his palm against mine. “Let’s get out of
here.”

“Any ideas of what you want to do?” Elliot
led me down the hallway towards the elevator. “General sightseeing
or shopping?”

“I want to do exactly the opposite of
everything we’ve been doing the past two weeks.” I tightened my
grip on his hand. “I want to forget everything that has happened,
and not think about the things that could happen in the future.
Think we can handle it?”

Elliot chuckled as he pressed the button on
the elevator. “We’ll certainly try, Eva. We can try.”

My day with Elliot was a fantastic blur of
all the cheesy things tourists do in a big city. We went to every
skyscraper, rode on the ferry, and despite my adamant refusals to
do anything I had been forced to do in L.A., Elliot talked me into
a little shopping. We stayed on our feet until the sun began to set
over the Hudson River and Elliot began to whine about dying of
starvation before we got back to the hotel. So I tagged along as he
found a small restaurant with dark tables and soft lighting.

I fell into the booth with a happy sigh as I
tossed my bags aside. When Eli settled in across the table, I
couldn’t wipe the grin off my face as I leaned forward. “This has
been amazing, Eli. Are you sure we can’t just do a travel show
instead?”

Eli chuckled as the waitress approached our
table. Two drink orders later, he responded. “We are doing a travel
show, Eva. We just won’t focus on local landmarks.”

“Yeah, but I like going into places with
modern conveniences.” I snagged a breadstick from the basket the
waitress had left behind. “Lights and running water are huge
bonuses for me.”

“I’ll bet they are.” Elliot shook his head as
he browsed the menu. “I thought we were on strict orders not to
discuss the show though. Are you changing things up on me,
McRayne?”

“I’m not talking about the show per say.” I
chewed on the edge of the breadstick for a second before sitting it
on the table. “We’ve done very well at avoiding it all day. But
there is something I need to tell you about.”

“What?” Elliot became very interested in the
menu before him. “Does this have anything to do with Cyrus being in
your room earlier?”

“Yeah.” I nodded to the waitress, waiting for
her to leave the drinks behind. When she bounced away, I responded.
“He was there when I got out of the shower. I’m surprised you let
him in.”

“I didn’t.” Elliot’s features grew dark as he
put the menu down. He clasped his hands over it. I couldn’t help
but notice how white his knuckles had become. “Are you
alright?”

“I’m fine, Eli, really.” I took a sip of my
coke to clear my throat. “I told you Cyrus isn’t out to hurt me. He
just wanted to talk.”

“I don’t trust him, Eva. You shouldn’t
either.” Eli went back to his menu. After an awkward moment, he
sighed. “What did he want?”

I shrugged. “Cyrus doesn’t think it’s a good
idea if I do the show. He said I’d be putting myself in unnecessary
danger by being exposed to the spirits in the places we’d be
going.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him to go to hell. I signed a
contract. I’m not going to go back on my word because of some
freaky woman and her suicide.”

“You told him that? In those exact words?”
Elliot smirked as the waitress returned. She took our orders and
left us alone. “No wonder he told you to behave.”

“Well, not those exact words.” I admitted.
“Pretty close, though. Eli, I know perfectly well what I’m getting
into by doing the show. Granted, I don’t know how the whole Sibyl
thing will affect it. Cyrus did say I can be trained to protect
myself at our locations. In fact, I’m supposed to meet with him
when we get back to start my first lesson.”

“Tonight?” Elliot shook his head. “Not by
yourself you’re not. I’ll come with you.”

“You can if you want.” I waved the waitress
over since she’d been eyeing our table for the past few minutes.
“I’m probably going to skip it though. We haven’t even started
talking about how we are going to do the show. We need to figure
out layout. Are we going to write dialogue at all? Hell, Eli. This
project doesn’t even have a title yet.”

“I am pretty eager to get started.” Eli
admitted. “Eva, there’s something else we need to talk about first.
Something more important than the show.”

I felt my heart drop as images from our
encounter this morning played behind my eyes. I knew this was
coming, but I didn’t want to talk about it yet. The waitress picked
that precise moment to trounce on over, and I was grateful for the
interruption. The delay wasn’t long enough. As soon as our orders
were put down on the table, we were alone again and Eli
continued.

“What do you really think about this Sibyl
story? Do you believe what Cyrus has been telling you?”

I shrugged and remained silent. Elliot didn’t
rush me. He could be very patient when it meant the outcome would
be just what he wanted it to be. In this case, he wanted me to
talk. I’ll admit it. I stalled by playing with the napkins and
silverware. When the silence between us became too much to bare, I
picked up my fork and started tapping it against the table.

“I don’t think I have a choice in the matter.
I have to believe him. I saw something yesterday. To be honest, I
have experienced several things I cannot explain.”

My words got stuck in my throat. I swallowed
them down before starting over by telling him about the woman I’d
seen the night before and how I wanted so desperately to join her.
I told him not just about seeing Kathy Carter. I told him what she
said to me as well. To his credit, Elliot just listened. He didn’t
interrupt me or ask me any stupid questions. Elliot’s only response
was to push the plates aside and lean forward.

“When we get home, you should see a doctor to
make sure you really didn’t hurt yourself when you fell.” Elliot
raised his hand to shush me. “Listen, I get it. You’re stubborn and
hardheaded. I don’t care. You need to be checked out.”

“It’ll only be a waste of time.” I batted his
hand down before taking a bite of my spaghetti. “There’s no point
in zigzagging back and forth across the country when we can just
leave from here.”

I didn’t bother to tell Elliot I had no
intentions of seeing a doctor. I could do just fine without them
hearing my story then sneaking off to sign my commitment papers.
Elliot looked as if he wanted to argue, but the fight was draining
out of him. He nodded instead.

“Then I guess we need to decide on where
we’re going.” Elliot pulled his own plate to its spot in front of
him. “So what’ll it be? Battleground? Mental hospital? Creepy
abandoned house with a gory background?”