Insight (Web of Hearts and Souls #1)(8)

I let Libby’s face flash through my memory—the warmth and energy that came off her. I then placed my other hand on the girl to the far right. Noticing that the two girls on the outside were clearly stronger, I took my right hand and placed it on the girl in the middle. I watched as determination crossed her face. I could see a house with all the lights on inside. The girls could see it, too. I let go and a force pulled me back into reality.

I stood still, trying to hold on to the tingling sensation I felt, wondering once again what force that sensation belonged to, how I managed to use it in the first place.

“Ahem…”

Hearing someone clear their throat, I turned slowly and right behind me was my father.

“Hey, Dad,” I said anxiously feeling my skin blush and my heart pound.

“Willow, do you want to tell me something?” he asked in a placid tone that I had never heard him use before.

My stomach turned. Did he see me disappear—or did he see me reappear?

“About…?” I answered shyly.

My father closed his eyes and raised his head to the night sky. He was really upset, more so now than he had been at dinner.

“Do you realize how far you went that time?” he asked, lowering his head and looking carefully at me.

“What?” The wind was knocked from me.

“Do you even know what you are doing?”

“Do you?” I retorted.

My father cleared his throat again and hesitated as an older couple walked by. “Willow, we need to talk. I need to explain something to you.”

I swallowed hard, not sure that I wanted to know what he thought he knew.





Chapter Two




My father put his arm around my shoulder and we walked in the direction of our house. His mood was shifting. He wasn’t quite as uptight as he was before.

“Willow…you are a gifted child, and I’m not talking about painting,” he began.

We both stared forward as we walked. My body was tense. I’d rehearsed over and over again exactly how I would tell my parents about my gift. The shock of their knowing was crushing to me.

“The gifts you have come, in part, from me,” he said in his familiar peaceful tone.

I looked slowly up at him and noticed that he was smiling down at me.

“Which ones?” I muttered knowing that as far as I knew his dreams were normal.

“Well, I cannot feel others’ emotions, if that is what you are asking,” he said quietly as he gave me a pained smile.

His blunt answer made my stomach drop. I had no idea that he or they knew what I could do.

We made it back to our home. My father then led me around the side of the house through the back gate, where he knocked on the kitchen window to get my mother’s attention. I could sense her excitement and her anticipation. My heart was hammering. What where they going to tell me?

Mom made her way out to the patio with three glasses of tea and set them around the table. She then ran back inside and returned with her phone, a notepad, and a pen. I kept my eyes down, waiting for her to settle. When she did, Dad continued.

“Would you like to know what I can do?” my father asked. As he settled in next to my mother, I nodded nervously. He continued. “Well, I can see what is wrong inside the body.”

“Anything?” I asked wondering if that meant emotions, too.

One nod.

“Well, that explains a lot. You are a really good doctor,” I bit out, not meaning to sound mocking. I was just nervous.

My mother smiled proudly at my father.

“Do you have a weird gift, Mom?”

“Oh, sweetie, I’m from this dimension,” she said innocently.

My father closed his eyes.

“Do what?” I said louder than I intended. I felt sick to my stomach and thought they had officially lost their minds. Or maybe I had.

“Um, dear…we really have not gotten that far yet,” my father said under his breath.

My mother’s eyes widened. She looked down, avoiding my stare, as her anxiety built. I sat forward in my seat, my mouth and eyes wide open.

“What are you trying to say that I’m part—alien? Seriously, you guys better not be messing with me,” I finally managed to say.

Dad leaned forward and put his hand on my knee.

“No, no, Willow. Listen, you are not an alien. You are definitely from earth.” His eyes shifted to the side. “Just a different part of it.”

I furrowed my eyebrows together, questioning his every word. Another part of it? What? This was not happening. I was dreaming. Had to be.

“Listen, when you do what you did tonight, you are using a string, and those strings connect other dimensions. I’m from a different one,” my father said as he shifted uncomfortably next to my mother.

“String—what are you talking about, another dimension?”

They were acting like this was the most normal conversation ever. Was I the only sane one left here?

My father cleared his throat before he spoke. “The string is like a hallway that leads to other doors, and behind those doors are dimensions much different from this one. Honestly, I do not completely understand the way you have taught yourself, but you do pass through the string.” His eyes raced across my confused expression trying to gauge how I was grasping this revelation.