Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 21
© Denise Bossarte
Grace looked around Eli’s office while she waited for him to join her. This time it had
been relatively easy for her to get an appointment with him. She hadn’t had to
go through the same rigmarole with Samuel and the metal detector. Fortunately
this time Danny had not complained when she told him she was going without him
to see Eli.
As she walked slowly around the room, captivated by the
collection of objects filling the bookshelves and the tabletops, she wondered
how much was here for show. How much was for the image Eli wanted to project
and how much was a true reflection of his personality and character? There were
objects from a vast variety of cultures around the globe, and she felt she was
in a museum rather than an office.
And the books were on topics as varied as the objects. Each was
bound in what she could best figure was real leather, not the fake modern imitation
leather but actual leather. So many books in the age of ebooks! There was
nonfiction, including botany, geography, animal husbandry with several books on
equines of all breeds, chemistry, biology…and that was only one side of the
room. The other side contained books of fiction from all the masters and hit
every author on her college English literature reading lists. Each of the books
looked well read, the leather showing signs of years of handling by a
respectful reader.
Quite an interesting man by all appearance, she mused, as she
took a seat before the large mahogany desk. She didn’t feel guilty “snooping”
about in Eli’s office. Obviously he expected her to do just that if he kept her
waiting without him.
A few seconds after she took a seat, Eli walked in through the
office door, striding across the room confidently to take a seat opposite the
desk from her. Grace resisted the urge to stand when he entered the room. Some
part of her responded as if he were royalty or a high ranking official whom she
was supposed to show such respect. He might be the power behind the Paranorms,
but right now, to her, he was just a man with knowledge she needed.
“Good morning, Mon Chéri, sorry to keep you waiting. The needs
of the business demand my time. How may I be of service to you today?”
Grace smiled to herself. So it appeared Eli would always be the
charming and cordial gentleman when they met. At least at the beginning of
their encounters, but not necessarily by the end based on their last meeting.
“Good morning, Eli. Thank you for meeting with me again. I take
it Anthony has gotten you up to speed in the last few days on our progress? And
our theory a Glamour is the one kidnapping the girls?”
“Ah, Mon Chéri, straight to the point. How refreshing!” Eli
responded with what appeared to be a genuine smile. He definitely looked more
relaxed and expressive than the last time they met.
“Yes, Anthony updated me on the progress in your case. I believe
your assessment is sound, given the evidence.”
Ok. So far so good if Eli thought they were on track. But she
wanted to move forward in their plan for catching the Glamour with a little
more information at her disposal. Anthony shared with him all he knew about
Glamours. But Grace was hoping to find out more from Eli, something to help
them be better prepared and give them a better chance of stopping the man.
“I was hoping you would more information on this type of
Paranorm, this Glamour,” Grace continued, working to keep the need out of her
voice. “The better prepared we are, the more chance of success we’ll have.”
Eli nodded in understanding and his demeanor become more solemn.
“I can certainly offer more insight into this particular type of
Paranorm. But we should revisit the terms of our arrangement before I do.”
Revisit the terms? Grace wasn’t aware there were terms discussed
let alone ones that had been agreed upon.
“Terms?” she asked quizzically.
“Yes, Mon Chéri, in any good business relationship the terms
must be clear and agreed to by both parties.”
Business arrangement? It must mean passing the tests Eli put her
through earlier were not enough to make her one of the Paranorm “family.” He
acknowledged her abilities, but it did not make him consider her one of them.
“I think I need a review of the ‘terms’ then,” she conceded.
“Certainly, Mon Chéri. You have particular questions only I or
the Paranorms can give answers to. You proved you have Paranorm abilities and
Sophie spoke on your behalf for your trustworthiness and discretion. Therefore,
you may petition for information from me. Of course there must be payment, in
kind, for the information I provide.”
Grace did not like the sounds of the terms of their
‘arrangement’ in the least. When did payment become part of the deal? And what
kind payment was he expecting?
“What kind payment are we talking about?” she asked
suspiciously.
“Information in exchange for information, Mon Chéri. You have
questions on the Paranorms and their abilities, their world. I require you to
use your skills to provide me the information I seek. That was our exchange the
first meeting, no?”
A sense of dread settled over her. So the tests she did
previously weren’t just testing her abilities to confirm she was a Paranorm.
They were also payment for Anthony’s help on the case. Eli was saying when she
wanted to learn more about the Paranorms, or anything else from him, she needed
to do more readings or talk to more ghosts.
Grace survived the last round of clairvoyant and psychometric
“experiences.” Now she knew how cautious to be in handling anything Eli gave
her to read. She needed the information she could get only from Eli. If it
meant “whoring” out her abilities a bit, then it was something she would have
to do. Distasteful as it was to use her abilities at someone else’s bidding;
she knew she had no choice.
“So in exchange for answering my questions, I need to do more
readings for you?” she clarified.
“No, Mon Chéri. In exchange for doing more readings, I will
answer your questions,” he corrected, pointedly.
So readings first, questions second. Then another question
popped into her mind.
“Does the quality of my reading, the amount of information I
give, affect the amount of information you will share?” She worried her new
ability would not be consistent enough to meet Eli’s expectations.
Eli smiled at her in appreciation. She was catching on to how
the game would be played.
“Yes, Mon Chéri. The number of readings is not as important as
the quality and quantity of information you gain from your readings. These will
most assuredly dictate the same in the information I share with you.”
Grace’s frustration rose. Was nothing up front or straight up
with these people? With this man? Once again, she experienced the
groundlessness of dealing with this new world she found herself forced to join.
She still felt like the outsider she was.
She may have their abilities, but she was not one of them and
did not understand the way they thought or how things worked in their world.
She had received a few serious lessons in the past week or so, but she still
was in the dark for how to deal with these types of situations.
What had Gabriella told her? “Be bold” and “be herself?” The
bold part she could do, even if she must fake it. But the part on being herself
was getting more elusive all the time, as her self-identity was a moving target
at this point. Best to focus on being bold and hope the being herself part
showed up when she needed it.
“I understand the terms of the arrangement, Eli. Shall we
begin?”
Eli responded by opening a drawer at the side of his desk and pulling
out two cloth wrapped objects, gently placing them in front of Grace. One lay
flat on the table and the other was about the size of a football.
“How does the number of objects I read relate to the amount of
information I can ask for in return?” she asked, wanting it worked out before
she started on the readings.
“Very good, Mon Chéri. Always best to know the full terms before
beginning. It is the quality and quantity of the overall readings will
determine the value of the exchange, not the number of objects you read. I am
providing two objects for you. As your abilities are still new to you I want to
ensure you had a fair chance to do a reading for me today.”
Grace’s confidence started to slip at his words. So he was being
“generous” to let her read two objects because her abilities were not 100%
under her control? Grabbing ahold of a spark of defiance she used it to stoke
her anger. She would need that energy to focus herself on using her ability to
its fullest. She should thank him for pissing her off enough to move her past
her initial nervousness. It got her in the frame of mind to do it to prove to
him she could.
“So it doesn’t matter which one I read first?” she asked.
Eli shook his head and gestured for her to continue.
Grace took a deep breath to settle herself, and then reached out
to unwrap the cloth from around the football shaped object. What was revealed
beneath the material was a shoe.
Grace studied the shoe for a moment, careful not to touch it.
She reminded herself the dagger from her last reading was anything but what it
appeared at first. So she should avoid any preconceived story lines for this
object before she began a reading.
It was a dark blue tennis shoe. The left shoe, she noted, laces
untied and flopping loose. A high end brand leather running shoe with a
well-worn sole. There were no distinguishing marks on the shoe she could see,
simply a plain running shoe.
She replayed in her mind how she blocked the pain of the dagger
reading the second time around. Then connected with that feeling as she reached
out her right hand to touch a finger to the shoe. She visualized a dark
material sliding away from her finger and palm and up her arm, leaving her
finger in direct contact with soft leather.
There was the sensation of running, of extreme fear, of a
desperate need to escape. From what, it was not clear. But the need drove her
to run past the exhaustion, past the pain in her legs and sides, to simply keep
moving.
Running through a dark wood at night. Repeatedly stumbling over
the roots and rocks underfoot. Falling down several times to scrape hands and
knees before struggling up again to go on running. She just needed to make it
the last couple of miles north to the glen and she would be safe. All at once,
the shoe was pulled forcefully off her foot after getting caught in an unseen
hole. Grace’s awareness stayed with the shoe as its owner ran on, unwilling to
stop to find the shoe and put it back on.
Grace looked up from the shoe, removing her finger and resting
her hands in her lap. “The owner was running from something and they were
terrified of being caught. They were in a wood, at night. They were trying to
go ‘north to a glen’ somewhere, but that’s all I saw before they lost the shoe.
That’s all I was able to read.”
Grace paused for Eli to respond to what she shared. But he
simply sat and watched her from behind his desk, waiting for her to do the next
reading.
Turning to the next object, she tried not to be disappointed at
how little she was able to get out of the shoe. At least she had seen
something, so her ability was showing up this morning!
Unfolding the cloth around the second object revealed a woman’s
scarf; a lovely red silk material with patterns of pink cherry blossoms. Grace
hoped the object would be as benign as it appeared when she read it. She
repeated the same process mentally before reaching out to touch the scarf.
Grace heard music and laughter and experienced a sense of joy.
She was in a sunny room with bright yellow walls. She was spinning and dancing
around the room, dancing with someone. When she looked down, she saw Danny’s
face around the age of five beaming up at her.
Grace recoiled from the
scarf, propelling herself backwards so forcefully she tipped over the chair on
which she had been sitting. She stood, shaking and gasping for air as she
stared wide eyed at Eli. With a barely controlled rage, she shouted at him “You bastard! Where did you get my mother’s scarf?”
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