AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey all! Charlie's back! YAY! Thanks to Edge_of_Clairvoyance, tamilyn313, and Tumbler-Tidbits for chatting with me over the past few months and trying to keep the flame of inspiration lit! When I read Redheadlass's latest chapter, Jessie's shenanigans and sass just spoke to The Muse and inspired me to get back to Charlie! If you're not reading RHL's Jessie fics, you should- they're wonderful! Thanks to everyone who left me comments of encouragement months ago, and since! Beta'd by Edge_of_Clairvoyance. Hope you enjoy!

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

Grandpa John stood on the porch steps and watched me walk across the lawn to Macy's yard.

He waved to Miss Stella, who was sitting in a lounge chair on the lawn with a book in her lap. Her aura was a greenish yellow in the sunlight.

Macy and Cara were sitting on the sidewalk, their chalk spread out around them. Their auras were both pink tinged with yellow. "Hi! Hi, Gwampa!" Cara called, waving to him with a big smile.

Grandpa John waved to her and then went inside.

"Taw-ee, come daw!" Cara beckoned me excitedly.

I sat down with them.

"How is your head, Charlie?" Miss Stella asked. "Are you feeling better these days?"

"I still get headaches, but if I stay in my room where it's quiet, it helps. Grandpa John put a blanket over my window so it's real dark." I told her.

She nodded. "I can see how that would help. I have an eye mask I wear when I get migraines."

"Where you Unca Sam?" Cara asked me.

"Mommy said he leaves a lot." Macy reported.

Stella's face colored and she looked down at her book.

"He stays with his girlfriend." I told her. "Imani gets sick a lot 'cause she's gonna have a baby, so Uncle Sam goes to take care of her."

Miss Stella got a funny look on her face and her aura got a red outline for a second. "Oh! That's uh, that's-that's- nice." She said slowly. "Tell him I said, uh, congratulations." She looked down at her book again, the corners of her mouth tightening.

"Okay."

Cara tapped my arm. "I wanna make a zoo, can you hewp me? I wanna daw a horsey."

"Horses aren't in zoos, silly!" Macy said. "They're on farms!"

"Well it my zoo and I c'n have horseys in it if I want." Cara said hotly. She held out a piece of brown chalk to me. "C'n you make me a horsey?"

"Yeah." I took the chalk and started to draw a horse.

Cara told me which animals to draw and I drew them. Her zoo had a horse, an elephant, a cat, a walrus, and a blue bird in it. After I drew the animal she would come over and draw heavy black lines over it. Macy protested, saying that she was ruining my drawings, but Cara explained that she was drawing cages for the animals.

"Let Charlie draw what she wants now!" Macy said. "What do you wanna draw?" She asked me.

"Um...I'll try to draw Hello Kitty." I said. "Can you hand me that white chalk?"

"I wove Kitty!" Cara chirped, and Macy handed me a stick of white chalk.

I started to draw Hello Kitty's head.

A van drove slowly down the street, its windows open and music playing loudly. It said "Healthmark Medical Supply Delivery Service" on the side- it looked familiar, but I couldn't think of why. The man driving it looked over at us and waved. Cara waved back, and he smiled and licked his lips. Something about the look on his face gave me a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. I noticed that his aura was a dark brown color, and I suddenly remembered that I had seen an aura like that before- the person who had delivered the balloons to me when I was in the hospital had an aura like that! What did that mean? Usually, auras were the colors of the rainbow.

I glanced over at the girls to see if they noticed anything, but Macy was leaning over, drawing, and Cara was rolling a piece of chalk on the ground between her knees.

I drew an outline of a dress and colored it pink, adding a pink bow, and then I drew Hello Kitty's face. I added her holding a star- shaped balloon.

"Wow, that's really good!" Macy said admiringly.

"You a good daw-er!" Cara clapped her hands.

"Uh, I think I'm gonna go now." I set the chalk down and brushed my hands off. I still had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Aww, can you stay a little bit longer?" Macy asked.

"Is your head bothering you?" Miss Stella asked with concern.

I stood up. "Uh, yeah." I lied.

She nodded. "Charlie can't be outside for long periods of time yet because of her head, remember, I told you?" She said to Macy.

"Oh-kaaay." Macy's shoulders slumped with disappointment.

"Thanks for letting me draw with you." I said.

"Thanks for coming over." Miss Stella smiled at me.

"Bye!" The girls said as I walked back to my house.

It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the inside light. I heard footsteps and Grandpa John came into the living room. "That was quick, I figured you'd be over there for quite a while." His face changed when he looked at me. "Are you not feeling well?"

"Yeah." I said, figuring he wouldn't ask me anything else.

"Is it a headache? Do you want some ibuprofen?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No, just gonna go lie down."

He went back down the hall to his room and I hurried over to my desk, grabbing my tablet.

I carried the tablet up to my room and sat on my bed, turning it on. I typed "Aura colors" into the search bar.

I clicked on an article that said "Aura Colors and Their Meanings". It said "Every living being exudes energy that can be seen by some people as colors, called auras. A few of them are related to the chakras which reside in the body-"

I scrolled down to the different meanings.

"A red aura can be related to passion and sexual desire-"

Yuck, I didn't want to read about that! I scrolled down the list. At the bottom it said, "Brown should be taken as a warning, as it can indicate someone with negative energy who is greedy and self absorbed. Black pertains to capturing and transforming energy, domination, and a toxic willpower."

I knew it! Did that mean that the guy in the car wasn't a good person? Should I tell someone what I saw? Pamela had told me to let someone know if I noticed any changes. Maybe I should tell Daddy, just in case.

Then I realized something! I had seen the medical supply van parked outside of Franny's house before- Daddy and I had walked over there a couple of nights ago, to drop off a gift card for pizza and some coloring books for her. I had been shocked at how bad Franny had looked- she was thin and wan, and her aura was a dull gray color. We hadn't been able to go into the living room where she was laying in a hospital bed, but I had waved to her from the doorway. She looked exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes. It had scared me.

What if the man driving the delivery van was somehow doing something to make Franny more sick? Just like the man in the notes that I had secretly read a couple of days ago. I knew that Daddy and Grandpa John were still working on that case, and I had heard them talking about the hospital. I sat bolt upright-what if it was the same man? What if he was traveling around, somehow making people more sick? And he had a muddy colored aura?

I had to figure out a way to bring it up to Daddy! How could I bring it up without making it seem like I had read the hunter's notes that Daddy had given me accidentally?

I thought about it, and decided to ask if I could call Pamela. I could just tell her about seeing the delivery man's aura and realizing I saw the same thing when I was in the hospital, and hopefully she would figure it out.

There was a knock on the door and it opened slightly. "Oh," said Daddy, opening the door further and leaning in. "I thought you'd be resting, your gramps said you didn't feel good."

I turned off the touchpad and set it on the bedside table. "I was just, uh, looking up photos of zoo animals, Cara kept wanting me to draw different animals." I lied smoothly. "I feel better now that I'm not in the sun."

"That's good." He said. "I got some French bread at the store, I figured we could make some French bread pizzas tonight, and you can put your own toppings on? I got pepperoni and a bag of bacon bits!"

"Okay." I scooted over to the edge of the bed. "Can I, um, can I call Pamela?"

He frowned slightly. "Sure, kiddo...what's up?" He asked curiously.

"I just...I have a question about auras. And she said to call her if I had any questions."

He nodded. "Gotcha. Yeah, I probably can't help you there, best to just go to the source." He pulled out his cell phone. "You want to call her right now?"

"Yes please."

He came over and sat down on the end of the bed, turning his phone on and dialing a number. "Hey, Pamela, it's-" he chuckled. "You know who it is." He laughed, harder this time. "Yeah, the magic of technology, not your powers, I got it. Listen, Charlie wanted me to call you, she said she has a question for you." He listened for a moment. "She's right here. Okay."

He held the phone out to me. I took it. "H-hi, Pamela."

"Hey, Lil' Shine!" She said cheerfully. "What'd you need?" I could hear music playing in the background.

"Well, I had a question about, um, about auras." I suddenly felt shy with Daddy sitting there listening to me.

"What's your question?"

I looked over at Daddy- he was looking out the door. "Um-"

"Give me back to your dad for a sec." Pamela said.

"Okay." I held the phone out to him.

He took it, surprised. "Yeah?" He listened, glancing at me. "Uh-priv-oh. Yeah, I guess...It just feels a little weird...okay. Okay, yeah." He gave me back the phone and stood up. "Pamela says you'd feel better talking to her in private. So I'll go downstairs, just bring me your phone when you're done." He left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Thanks, Pamela." I said gratefully.

"No problem, kiddo, I didn't need to be psychic to tell that you felt uncomfortable. What's up?"

"Well, I saw this guy- he had a aura that was a muddy brown color, he was driving a delivery van from Franny's house, and he-I saw the same kind of aura when I was at the hospital, the guy who brought my balloons had a muddy brown aura too, and I think-"

"Ok, whoa, hold up. A guy driving a delivery van? Who is Franny?"

"Franny lives in the neighborhood, she's real sick and goes to the hospital sometimes but she's been staying home 'cause her mom said she does better there, an' they have stuff like oxygen and other stuff for her. And I saw a guy driving a delivery van today, it was a medical van, y'know, and he had a muddy aura. And I remembered that I saw a guy with the same aura after I woke up at the hospital."

"Are you saying you think this might be the same guy?"

"I-uh, I dunno."

"What's your question?"

"Well, it- when I saw him, it made me feel funny. And I thought-Franny's sicker, she looks real bad, and what if he- aren't muddy auras like that bad, like I read that it means negative energy! And-"

"You read it? Where? What does this guy have to do with your friend?"

"I-I looked it up online. What if he's doing something to her to make her sicker?"

There was a pause. "That's a big leap to make, kiddo, from someone's aura being a dull color to them possibly hurting someone else."

"Um-well-"

"Charlie…" She paused again. "There's something you're not telling me."

My face got hot as I realized-I wasn't going to be able to lie to Pamela! Or more like, keep things from her. "Uh-how'd you know?" I asked guiltily.

She chuckled. "You're really asking me that?"

"You-you can tell, I mean, read my mind-over the phone?"

She chuckled again. "Well, yeah, it's just one of many powers I possess. Now, what else you got?"

"Um-well-" I felt my face get hotter. I was going to have to come clean with her, and risk getting in trouble. "I, uh, I kinda...Daddy printed out my math work and there was this paper mixed in on accident and I...I sorta read it."

"You kinda sorta read it?" Her voice was amused. "Let me guess, it was something you weren't supposed to see, and now you could get into trouble over it."

I exhaled. "Yeah."

"Oh, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie…" I could imagine her shaking her head. "We've got to get you out of all this sneaking around, kiddo."

My shoulders slumped. "I know it's bad. But I-I couldn't help it!"

She chuckled again. "I know, curiosity killed the cat and all. Okay, what'd it say?"

"It was a report from one of these hunters that we met at Uncle Bobby's, about the hunt that they're doing right now. It said all this stuff about people who died at a retirement home. And it said that a couple of them talked about seeing colors around a guy who worked there."

"Yeah, I know the report, John told me about it. You read the whole thing?"

"Um, yeah." I squirmed, feeling embarrassed. "But it was in my math papers!"

"Kiddo…" She sighed. "You know excuses don't fly with most people, right? Does your dad allow excuses about behavior?"

I squirmed again. "No. I know. But Pamela-this guy I saw, with the muddy aura, he made my tummy feel all funny, and when I saw Franny, she looked so bad, and I thought-" I felt tears come to my eyes. Franny had looked like my Mommy had looked when she was going through the worst of her treatments, and there had been times I had been scared of losing her. I didn't want Franny to die!

"All right, shh." She said soothingly. "So you're thinking that this guy you saw, with this muddy looking aura, might be doing something bad somehow? Do you get any sense of what, or how?"

"Uh-uh. I just- I felt yucky when I saw him."

"Okay. Well, yes, aura that are darker, dull colors like that usually can indicate negative energy or sometimes, a sickness in the body. And the reaction you're having to this guy tells me that there's something more to it, so...I can tell your Dad about this guy you saw, and see what he says."

"Are you-are you gonna tell him that I read that report?"

"Well, no...I think we don't have to bring it up at this time. And I'm not gonna tattle on you, however, I think you need to tell him at some point, and be willing to face whatever consequences he gives you."

Probably gonna end up with a sore butt, I thought to myself.

"Yeah, that doesn't sound fun." She said with chagrin.

"Uh...Pamela….I didn't...I didn't say anything."

"Oh! Oh geez, I'm sorry, kiddo, I'll get out of your head." Her voice was sheepish now. "Okay, let me talk to your dad."

"I gotta go downstairs and get him." I got up and started to walk downstairs. "Thanks for talking to me, Pamela, and helping me."

"Sure thing, kid. Listen, sometime, me and you gotta go out for coffee or somethin', okay?"

"Yeah!" I said excitedly-that sounded so grown-up! I went into the kitchen-Daddy was sitting at the table looking at some papers that were spread out. He gathered them up and stuffed them into a folder, closing it as I came over to him.

"Here he is. Bye, Pamela." I held the phone out to him.

"Did you tell her thank you?" He asked me.

"Yeah." I said.

He took the phone and stood up, picking up the folder. "Hey, Pamela, what's up?" He turned to walk out of the room. I followed him, wanting to hear what he said about our conversation, but he turned to look at me, and mouthed, "Stay here." Then he went down the hall to Grandpa John's room and closed the door.

I went back into the kitchen, my stomach getting nervous butterflies in it. What if she told Daddy that I read the paper? He was going to be mad at me, what I did was like eavesdropping, and I knew I'd be in trouble.

I opened the fridge to see what Daddy had bought at the store. There was a bag of green grapes on the bottom shelf, so I pulled a handful off of the stem and sat down at the table to eat them.

I was almost finished when Daddy came back into the room. "There you are." He sat down. "So, can you tell me about what you saw?"

"Um, well, when I was outside coloring with Macy and Cara, this guy drove by in a medical delivery van and he was driving slow and he winked at us. His aura was a muddy brown, and it just-it gave me a weird feeling. And I remembered that the guy who brought my balloons in the hospital had the same aura."

"What was the name on the van?"

"Healthmark Medical Supply." I said.

"Did you happen to look at the license plate? What color was it?"

I shook my head. "No, I didn't see the front or back, just the side. It was a dark blue van and the sign on the side was white with black letters."

He nodded. "All right, I'm going to talk to Dad and Bobby about it." He looked uncomfortable. "You may be on to something."

"Really?" I was surprised.

"Yeah." He sighed. "I'm going to see what they think, and look into the delivery guy. You let me know if you see any more funky colored auras, all right?"

"Okay."

He smiled at me. "I'm glad you were able to get some answers from Pamela."

"Me too. She said we should go out for coffee sometime!"

"Would you like that?"

"Yeah, it would be fun, and she can teach me stuff."

"We do need to get you back into learning about your abilities." He put his hand on mine and squeezed it. "Well, since you seem to be doing okay, how about doing some school work?"

I frowned. "Do I have to?"

"Yes, Charlie, you do." He said sternly. "I'd like you to try to do at least one assignment a day. You can do some language arts today, since I know that's your favorite."

I sighed. "Oh-kay." I got up and went upstairs to get my tablet. Drawing the picture of Hello Kitty made me think about my dollhouse, and I started to rearrange the figurines in it.

There was a knock on the door jamb. I turned my head to look- Daddy stood in the doorway. He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "What are you doing? I thought I told you to get some schoolwork done."

"Oh. Yeah." I said sheepishly. I picked up my tablet and followed him downstairs.

"Sit down at your desk so you don't get distracted again." Daddy said.

"Okaaay," I huffed.

He raised his eyebrows. "Watch it." He stared at me, and I dropped my eyes and then turned to face my desk.

I was able to complete two reading assignments, they were really easy. By the time I was finished with the second one, Daddy and Grandpa John were in the kitchen making dinner.

Daddy poked his head into the dining room. "You ready to take a break? We're fixing up the pizzas now."

I sat up, stretching my back. "Yeah, I'm done."

"You get your assignment finished?"

"I did two." I came into the kitchen.

"Good girl." Daddy ruffled my hair.

I put pepperoni and bacon bits on my French bread pizza, and then sprinkled some basil and oregano on top.

Grandpa John set a stack of plates on the table. "You can put those out, darlin'." He told me.

"Okaaay," I muttered.

"Hey, what is with you today?" Daddy asked. "That's been your response to a lot of things. Do we need to have a discussion about attitude?" He folded his arms over his chest again, tilting his head.

"Uh-n-no." My face got hot. I was pretty sure I knew what kind of discussion he was talking about, and I didn't want to end up over his knee. "Sorry." I muttered, setting the plates out.

After we ate dinner, Daddy let me watch a cooking show. When it was over I realized that I felt really tired.

"You did a lot today." Daddy said. "You went outside with your friends, you did some schoolwork, and you talked to Pamela, no wonder you're tired. Your brain needs a rest." He walked me up to my bedroom and helped me change into my pajamas. Grandpa John came in while Daddy was tucking me in, and they both hugged and kissed me good night. I fell asleep right away and slept a dreamless sleep.