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Chapter 3
A knock on the door interrupted him from studying his map and he looked up toward the door. "Yes?" he called out.
A faint, muffled voice answered. "I have news, sir."
Slowly, the man straightened himself up and stretched before going to the door and opening it slowly to reveal a female standing at attention. "Is it good or bad news?"
"It's definitely good news." The man looked skeptical but he stepped aside so that she could step in. After she'd entered, the man closed the door behind her and took a seat, leaving the woman to stand before him. "Go on."
"There has been an encounter with Energy just a few hours ago."
"So? I thought you said this was good news."
"It is, sir. Let me finish." He waited. "It comes from a town in Mississippi."
The man leaned forward in his seat, attention now fully on the individual in front of him. "What town, Cynthia?"
"Clinton."
A smirk played the man's face as he leaned back in his chair. "So… He finally decided to make himself known in public. It's about time."
"Yes, sir."
"Give me all the details."
"I'm sorry sir, but since it was so unexpected, we couldn't trace it until it was practically over. We just know that it was in the vicinity of the city Lance is staying in right now."
The man looked thoughtful as he took in this information. "It's highly unlikely that anyone else would be there with him. And the chances for an Unknown… No, that's too unrealistic. It has to be him, but I need to be sure… What else could be found?"
"Nothing sir, I'm sorry. It was so quick and it took us awhile to even figure out that anything had happened at all."
He didn't even seem to be at all upset that she hadn't given him anything else. He was too far gone with the information to even care. "Thank you then, Cynthia."
"What do you want to have done next, sir?"
She was surprised when her employee didn't rebuff her for having spoken out of turn, but she couldn't help her curiosity. "Give me a couple of days to plan and see what else happens first. Meanwhile, you know the basics. Trace where the Energy was used, and who it was used on. We need that witness."
"Yes, sir." And with that, she bowed to him and left, shutting the door carefully behind her.
The man then, turned his chair around and looked out a window. In front of him, a magnificent view of the city lights sparkled in front of him. So… He's decided to show himself. I wonder what his motive is… He glanced back at the door and found it locked. Even then however, he got up and turned the doorknob anyway, wanting to be sure that he had no chance of being interrupted.
Satisfied, he turned back to the map that lay in front of him. Immediately, his eyes sought out the small town of Clinton, Mississippi. He uttered a few words under his breath and easily conjured a scene in front of him. As he stared at the point on the map, the town came into view and soon he was zooming in on it, lines and vague shapes formed neighborhoods and streets before zeroing in on one house in particular. As he stared at the house, rooms fell away until he focused on one bedroom on the second floor. There, in the bed, a figure lay. Lance was sound asleep by the time the man found him in those few seconds of searching. The blonde was sleeping on his stomach, the sheets pushed down half way. A quick scan of the rest of the room showed nothing else out of place.
He hadn't expected anything to give Lance away so when he saw that there was nothing else to check up on, he turned his attention to his female neighbor across the way. He'd been interested at the relationship those two had. Although it looked like they were close, those two were always fighting. It had intrigued him, but made no mention of it since Lance never spoke of her.
But now, there was something different. While Lance was passing the time sleeping, here she was wide-awake. She lay in bed, hands under her head, staring up at the ceiling. Once again, he found himself somehow caught by her and again, he wondered why. It wasn't like she was gorgeous or anything like that. In fact, she was quite ordinary. Her chestnut-brown hair just fell past her shoulders and framed her small, simple face. She was of average height and that was it. Nothing at all spectacular about her but he still felt drawn to her somehow.
He shrugged off his feelings for her and glanced about the room quickly, as he always did. Nothing was out of place and he was about to draw himself away when a piercing cold filled him. He once again looked around and found nothing, so he turned to the girl and found himself staring into those blue-green eyes of hers. Fear paralyzed the man before reason kicked in. She can't see me! I'm not there! I'm just looking into a map! And yet why does she look at me that way? It's as if she's looking straight into me…
Fear took over again and he hastily drew himself away from the scene, pulling away from the house until all he saw was a speck on a map laid out in front of him. To his surprise, he found himself weak in the knees when he tried pushing himself away. Weakly, he made his way to the desk and sat down. He leaned forward, placing his head in his hands and once again, was surprised. A light sweat had developed on his face and he quickly dried himself with an available handkerchief. It took him several more moments to calm his nerves and regulate his breathing.
He sat there, numb. Reasoning flashed through his mind and he acknowledged each thought. First, he had to deal with his fear. Never have I felt like that before! It's been such a long time since I've been intimidated by someone or let something get to me like that. And the thing is, she never even saw me! She could have possibly just been staring up at the point of the ceiling where I was watching… But that doesn't explain the reason why her eyes had changed when we "locked" gazes. Her eyes had turned to an icy blue, all traces of green gone except for the slightest ring around the eye. He'd watched long enough to know that when she was extremely upset or angry, her eyes changed to that very color. But she couldn't have seen me! I wasn't there! And no one can feel the presence of another being outside the physical except those with the gift. She's shown nothing to indicate this trait. Then why…
He shook his head in anger, attempting to banish these thoughts from his mind. Here he was thinking of another girl when he should be focusing on Lance. Now there was the problem… He leaned back, a thoughtful look coming onto his face. Energy had been used and it's most likely to be traced to him. Why not give him the chance to finally prove himself? And the way?… There's his family. There's his career. His friends… Unbidden, the image of the girl crept back into his mind. Of course. Use this chance to finish off all questions about what kind of relationship those two have. A small smile crept onto his face as the scene played itself in his mind and he finally relaxed. I'll tell Cynthia about it in the morning. Until then… He got up from the desk and moved to the bed to catch what little sleep he could. It was going to be a very busy day.