For the rest of the day Jess had a knot of anxiety in her stomach. All that information about Luke – it had just hit her, it had come out of nowhere. It was more than a little unsettling. What was going on? First the dream, now the unexplained insights? Jess had to talk to someone and she knew just the person.
Caleb had been kept behind after school for detention so Jess had to walk home alone. But instead of following her usual route she took a detour, eventually finding herself outside her Aunt Diandra's cosmetics store.
Upon entering she was greeted by a smiling Diandra crouched on the floor, stacking a shelf with bottles of sweet smelling bath oils and humming to herself. But the moment her aunts' eyes set upon Jess, the smile disappeared and was replaced by a frown.
'Uh oh,' Diandra said in a worried tone. 'Something's wrong isn't it? What's happened? Is it your Dad? Tally?'
'No, no,' Jess told her. 'They're fine. It's just – I have a question to ask you.'
Diandra got to her feet, the frown still plastered across her classically beautiful face. 'Well this sounds serious,' she said walking over to Jess and wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders. 'Let's go through to the back.'
Jess nodded and managed to muster an uncertain smile as she followed her aunts' lead and entered the storeroom. A few minutes had passed and they were sat opposite one another each holding a mug of Diandra's special tea.
'Guaranteed to ease worries and promote well being,' Diandra said raising her mug. 'Plus it tastes great, even if I do say so myself.'
Jess was silent. She looked down at the table and took a slow sip of tea.
Diandra sighed. 'Are you going to tell me what's wrong or am I going to have to get out my tools of torture and force it out of you? Don't think I won't.'
Jess set the mug down on the table and began to knead her hands together nervously. 'I was wondering,' she began uncertainly. 'Do we have any seers in our family, you know… psychics, clairvoyants?'
Diandra looked off into the distance as if trying to recall something, tapping her chin as she did so. 'Let me think,' she mused. 'I'm pretty sure there is now you mention it. Yeah, Great Aunt Petula – grandma's sister. She had the gift, I'm sure of it. Why do you ask?'
'Well is that kind of thing hereditary?' Jess asked.
'Yeah,' Diandra replied, 'The power to see the future does manifest in some witches, not in all of us though.'
The power to see into the future? Jess thought to herself. I haven't actually seen into the future…Only the past.Jess's sense of unease escalated.
'What about the power to see the past?' Jess continued. 'You know, way, way, way into the past – like hundreds of years. And the power to know something about a person – something you couldn't possibly have known.'
'Jess what's going on?' Diandra asked bluntly.
Jess sighed. It was time to fill Diandra in. She told her all about the recurring dream, Luke's appearance in it, the way he'd used the exact words the man in her dream had used, the information about him that had just hit her like a bolt out of the blue.
'So I'm a psychic right?' Jess asked finally.
Diandra shook her head thoughtfully. 'Hmmmm,' she began. 'I don't think so. There is another explanation.'
Jess swallowed nervously. She wasn't interested in any other explanations – or to be more exact, the one other explanation it was most likely to be.
'You know about old souls don't you Jess?' Diandra asked her seriously.
Jess rested her elbows on the table and put her head in her hands. 'Yeah,' she mumbled. 'But I don't think that's what's going on here.'
Diandra leant across the table, placed her hand under Jess's chin and nudged her head up so that they were face to face. 'Well I do.' She told her solemnly. 'It sounds to me like you've met someone from a past life. And not just any old someone, it sounds like this guy was your husband.'
Jess got to her feet and began to pace the floor. 'No, that can't be true,' she muttered to herself.
'Jess,' Diandra said as she got to her feet and walked over to her niece. 'Do you realise how lucky you are? You've been reunited with someone you lost a long, long time ago. Someone you obviously loved very much.'
'It's all just a coincidence,' Jess protested. 'Just like Dora said it was. A coincidence!'
'Well there's a way you can find out for sure…' Diandra said mysteriously.
'Maybe I don't want to find out!' Jess cried. 'Even if it is true, whoever I was back then, I'm not that person anymore. And whatever happened in that life time, well, it doesn't matter to me!'
Diandra sighed. 'Aren't you even a little bit curious?' she asked.
'No!' Jess yelled.
'Yeah right,' Diandra said sarcastically.
'It's true,' Jess insisted.
'Well all the same,' Diandra said with a knowing smile. 'I have some herbs and a little incantation that will make things much clearer.'
'I'm not interested,' Jess said firmly. Diandra paid no attention to her. Instead she walked over to a cupboard, rummaged around in it for a few seconds then pulled out a small pouch of herbs and a tiny little scroll.
'Here,' she said passing them to Jess. 'Make an infusion out of these herbs, then just before you go to sleep, drink it and say the incantation.'
'You're not listening to me,' Jess groaned.
'Oh I'm listening to you alright,' Diandra replied. 'And what I'm hearing are the protests of a girl who is afraid to know the truth. There's only one way to overcome your fears Jess, and that's to face them.'
Reluctantly Jess took the pouch and the scroll off Diandra. 'I'd better get going,' she said quietly. Diandra gave her a quick hug and a peck on the cheek.
'You take care of yourself Jess,' she called after her niece as she left. 'And remember, this is a huge blessing! You should consider yourself very lucky!'
Jess stepped out on the street and sighed. Part of her wanted to dump the herbs and scroll and forget all about this nonsense. But another part of her couldn't help but wonder…..
OOO
When Jess got home she was greeted by the smell of roast lamb drifting out of the kitchen. That could mean only one thing, her father was home. He worked as a journalist for the local paper and he rarely made it home before eight pm. Jess walked into the kitchen. Tally was sat at the table reading a magazine and her father was stood by the stove. Jess gave him a hug.
'You're home,' she said smiling, glad to see him.
'Yeah,' he replied. 'Why are you so late?'
'I went to see Aunt Diandra,' she told him.
Tally slapped her magazine down on the table and gave Jess a cold stare. 'Why did you do that?' she asked, her tone as sharp as a razor.
'None of your business,' Jess replied.
Tally got to her feet and marched over to Jess, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her out of the room.
'Ow!' Jess yelled.
'No fighting!' their father called after them. Once they were out of his earshot Tally let go of Jess's arm.
'I take it you know about the terrible misfortune that his befallen poor little Laila,' Tally said with a wicked grin.
Jess took a few steps towards Tally, backing her up against the wall. 'Yeah, I saw what you did to her,' she replied. 'And it made me sick! How could you?!'
Tally chuckled, 'It was easy actually, and what's more, thanks to a magical loop hole a witch from The Onyx told Petra about, its consequence free.'
'What you did,' Jess whispered, 'it wasn't just cruel – it was evil.'
'And heaps of fun too,' Tally laughed.
'Oh Jess!' their father called from the kitchen. 'I forgot to tell you, a boy from school stopped by – Luke I think he said his name was – he said he was really sorry but something had come up and he couldn't work on the essay tonight.'
'Thanks Dad,' Jess called back. The ever present knot of anxiety in her stomach eased slightly. She was glad that she wasn't going to have to face him tonight, not after her meeting with Diandra. She needed sometime to centre herself, sometime to construct a cool, calm exterior she would be able to hide behind.
After dinner the doorbell rang. 'I'll get it,' Jess said bounding out of the kitchen and over to the front door. She knew instantly from the silhouette cast against the frosted glass that it was Caleb. Jess flung open the door. There on the doorstep stood Caleb, looking remorseful and more than a little worse for wear, with one black eye and a busted lip.
'Hey,' he said timidly.
'Caleb!' Jess gasped rushing forward to hug him. She hadn't seen him since the incident in science. 'Come in!'
Caleb stepped into the house shutting the door behind him. 'I feel terrible,' he said holding her close to him.
'Why?' Jess asked, her voice muffled against his chest. 'Because Tyler kicked your ass?'
'He did not kick my ass!' Caleb replied indignantly. 'You think I look bad? Wait until you see him!'
Jess couldn't help but laugh. 'So why do you feel bad?'
'Isn't it obvious?' Caleb asked. 'You were hurt and I didn't even check to see if you were okay, I just pounced on Tyler without a second thought.'
'Yeah that was pretty stupid,' Jess agreed.
'Do you think you could find it within yourself to allow me to beg for your forgiveness?' he asked.
'You're already forgiven,' she said with a smile balancing on her toes to give him a kiss.
