Mystic Persons: Shady Grove Psychic Mystery, #6

CHAPTER ONE

Waking up in a completely unknown location was bad enough, but that spell set my whole mind spinning. Nothing made sense anymore. I knew I was Aly Reynolds, a psychic biology major with an unfortunate predisposition for stumbling across dead bodies. Other than the basics—I had a brother, pretty cool parents, and the world’s best nephew—I didn’t remember much about my life. The last two years created a gaping hole in my memory. Or at least, the memories I’d cherished so much were no longer accurate. Even though they felt real.

Mary had warned me we’d be rewriting history, and I’d agreed to do the spell anyway. After years of searching for answers about my sister-in-law’s death, we’d had a chance to bring Katrina back. How could I say no?

The consequences hadn’t seemed important… Or maybe the whole thing never seemed real. Part of me hadn’t truly believed we’d be able to bring Katrina back to life, so I agreed to try. Now, I questioned everything.

Ten minutes ago, I sat cross-legged in the front hall of my brother’s house with his dead wife’s sister and cousin. Mary had done the spell while Priscilla and I acted as anchors. We’d pulled Katrina out of the past into the present, rewriting history. My sister-in-law hadn’t been killed after all. Suddenly I found myself where I would have been if Katrina had gone missing in 2020 instead of being murdered. Which meant Katrina was alive (yay!), but I’d been transported to an apartment I didn’t recognize (boo!), and some guy I didn’t know was kissing me (uh-oh).

Mary hadn’t mentioned how disorienting it would be to have the world change around me. I would have done it anyway, but geez, notice, please.

As if sensing my hesitation, the unknown guy stepped back. Whoever he was, he was cute. Taller than me, solid build, red hair, a smattering of freckles. But he wasn’t my boyfriend, Sam, and in the reality I knew, only Sam should be kissing me. This man could be anyone from a total stranger to my husband. My stomach heaved at the thought.

Are you okay? He appeared concerned with my reaction to his kiss. Not his fault: he probably thought I knew who he was. Unfortunately, he would be incorrect. The only thing I could tell you about this person was that I needed to move away from him as soon as humanly possible. As much as I hated to act without data, everything here felt wrong.

I forced myself to smile. Yes! Everything is amazing. I’m sorry. I’m in a bit of a daze.

What’s going on? he asked. Who was on the phone?

There was no way to say I’d completely lost my memory. The fact that I’d been hanging out while this guy showered suggested we knew each other pretty well, but I didn’t want him to feel obligated to help me before I remembered him. Maybe it was paranoia, but in this reality, I didn’t know who I could trust. And before making that decision, I’d need to find out this guy’s name. I’d never been the go home with a total stranger and never exchange personal details type, so I must know it.

Hopefully, I’d saved his contact info in my phone with a recent photo. But if we were as close as we appeared, he would understand this explanation. I took a deep breath. Mary called while you were in the shower. Katrina is back. They found her—alive.

He let out a whoop of joy. Picking me up in those powerful arms, he swung me around before setting me back on my feet. Then his smile faded. I thought you’d be more excited. Is she okay? Can I drive you down to see her?

Ouch. I couldn’t just ditch him now without looking like a total jerk. If we were actually dating, I’d have to wait and break up with him later. I think so. She’s not injured, anyway. It’s just such a shock. I need to splash some water on my face.

No problem. I’ll get dressed. He turned and went into the bedroom on the right. The one that had been an utter disaster when I peeked in there a few minutes ago. I still didn’t know who lived in the room on the left. Hopefully not me.

Inside the bathroom, I turned on the tap and sat on the closed toilet lid. My phone was clutched tightly in my hand. Luckily I had enabled face ID, so I didn’t need to figure out this Aly’s password.

This Aly was me, though. She was supposed to be. I should know my password. I couldn’t be that different, could I?

Before doing anything else, I texted Mary. Am I going to remember the last two years soon?

Afraid to breathe, I watched the three dots that showed her typing. It felt like ten years before the answer arrived. You should. This world should become as real as your existing memories. But you will have to learn to separate. In time, the original memories will feel like a dream.

The last two years were going to feel like a dream? My eyes filled with tears at the thought of no longer having the closeness my brother Kevin and I shared, not to mention my aunt-nephew bond with Kyle. Those could perhaps be reforged in time, but what about Sam? Our relationship was the most real thing in my life. The one thing that always made sense in a world of psychics and magic and toddlers. He was my rock, my true north. How could all of that fade away into a dream?

No. I refused to believe we were done. If Sam and I were supposed to be together, we would find a way. As soon as I figured out how close we were and how to break up with the guy who appeared to be my current boyfriend, I’d find Sam, tell him how I felt. We could reforge our bond from scratch if that’s what it took. Anything to make our relationship work again.

Blinking away my sadness, I sent Mary a thank you and clicked over to see who my favorite contacts were. Mom. Kevin. Olive, my boss at Missing Pieces—apparently both in this reality and the one I remembered. Since Olive was the one who helped me discover and learn to use my psychic powers, I was very happy to see her name. And a guy named Cal. I tapped to pull up the contact photo, and finally my mystery man had a name.

Cal Brunner. Nice to meet you, Cal.

I think.

I scrolled through our text messages to see when we started dating. There were thousands of them, going back more than eighteen months. Apparently, he had been in my junior-year biology class. In the life I remembered, I’d taken a year off from school to help Kevin and Kyle between transferring from the community college in Sacramento to Maloney College on the outskirts of Shady Grove. Here, no such gap existed. I’d transferred straight from one school to the other, switching at the start of the fall semester.

When Katrina disappeared, her sister moved in to help Kevin instead of me. I’d still enrolled in college, but Kevin’s old house wasn’t close enough to commute. He’d stayed in Star’s Ridge so Katrina could find him when she returned home. That much I knew from Mary.

This was all so confusing. Every fiber of my being urged me to call Sam. As close as Kevin and I had grown, my boyfriend was the person I turned to for help first. And even though he wasn’t my boyfriend in this world, I needed to know how close we were.

To my immense relief, a quick search of my phone revealed Sam saved in the Contacts app.

I let out a huge breath when his name popped up. We still knew each other. As weird as it would be to explain that I was his girlfriend and he loved me, it would be harder if we were total strangers.

My heart twisted. Yesterday, we were so in love. Today? No idea.

With shaking fingers, I clicked over to my messages app. All our texts were related to the fact that he kept the accounting books for Missing Pieces, which belonged to his mother. Nothing personal, no matter how hard I tried to read into them. Just the occasional Have a nice weekend or Good luck on your exams.

That hurt. This time, I couldn’t contain the tears that had been threatening to spill over. It would’ve been so easy to tell myself our relationship was a secret (why??), or we communicated some other way. Texts didn’t lie, though.

Everything would be okay. I could do this. I needed to do this. We saved Katrina. I did the right thing. All the details would work out. I had to believe that.

Wiping my eyes, I took a deep breath and went to look for one more person in my phone. No Rusty. The guy who had been my best friend since I’d discovered my psychic powers. Who had helped me solve three murders. He knew my every thought practically before I did. Not anymore, apparently. Oh, I didn’t like that at all. After Sam, Rusty was the one person I trusted most.

Olive should be able to fill me in on how both of them were doing. But I couldn’t call her from the bathroom where I was hiding from my current boyfriend. Better to visit her in person and explain what happened. She would help. Olive always helped.

It occurred to me that I wasn’t even sure if this was my apartment or Cal’s. Or both of ours. When I’d discovered myself standing in a strange kitchen, there had been no helpful pile of mail to tell me who was on the lease. Nor did I know whether I owned a car, for that matter. But if I worked in Shady Grove and visited Kevin near New York City on the weekends, I must. The train would get expensive, and this area never had great public transportation. Even getting from campus to my job on Main Street would be a pain without a car, especially in winter.

Finally, I stood up, took a deep breath, and recited the elements of the periodic table in order. In this reality and the old one, that calmed me. Then I really splashed some water on my face, patted it dry, and went out to face my stranger boyfriend.

Cal stood in the kitchen, drinking a glass of water. When I walked in, he picked up a second glass off the counter and handed it to me. Gratefully, I gulped it down.

Before he could say anything, I announced, I need to go.

He nodded. To Kevin’s? Of course. I’ll drive.

I hesitated, trying to think of the best way to explain I literally had no idea who he was. It should come back to me, and I expected to eventually find some genuine feelings to unpack. But I didn’t want to explain why I was stopping in Shady Grove to talk to my boss when I should be rushing to greet my sister-in-law.

For now, I went with the most reasonable explanation I could think of. Katrina has been gone two years. Everything has changed so much, it’s going to be overwhelming. She barely knew me before she disappeared. She won’t know you at all. I very much appreciate the offer, but I think I should go alone.

He thought for a beat before nodding. I get it. Do you still want me to come down for Christmas?

Did I want what? Where were we going for Christmas?

I spoke slowly, trying not to sound as confused as I felt. To Kevin and Katrina’s house?

Yeah. Well, it was Kevin and Kyle’s house when you invited me. Remember? You wanted me to meet your mom and dad? When I didn’t reply, he narrowed his eyes. Is everything okay?

I forced a smile. Yes! Of course, everything is great. I’m sorry. Katrina’s been gone so long, I’m a little shellshocked to learn that she’s back. I would love for you to meet my parents.

I mean, probably. If we really were dating and I’d already extended the invite, it seemed likely that I wasn’t opposed to the idea. Now I just needed to get out of it.

CHAPTER TWO

Okay, now how to ask Cal if I owned a car and also where I lived. Nope. No idea how to raise those subjects. I stood in the kitchen, looking around, completely at a loss.

What do you need right now? he asked.

Good question. I’m sorry I’m so disoriented. I guess I should get my clothes? How long am I going to be there?

If I know you, you’re mostly packed already, Cal said.

That did sound like how I prepared for a trip. Maybe I didn’t know him, but he knew me. Breaking up with him wasn’t going to be as easy as I originally thought. Just because I had no feelings toward him didn’t mean he was equally unattached. Our relationship meant something to this guy, and I was going to break his heart. Before I could continue berating myself, he continued, Come on. I’ll drop you at your place on my way to campus.

Yes! I loved that idea. This time, my smile wasn’t forced. Thanks. Do you know where I left my keys?

I would assume they’re in your backpack, he said. Did you take them out?

No, no, that makes sense. I turned toward the dining area where I’d initially appeared in this apartment. Two backpacks sat on the floor. They were not remotely similar. Making an educated guess, I reached for the purple one. In my old life, my keys would have been in the front inside pocket. Holding my breath, I unzipped it. Yes! Keys! Score one for consistency. Underneath them sat my wallet. Okay, I’m ready when you are.

Cal grabbed his jacket off the back of a chair, then held out another one that looked like something I would wear. I slid it over my shoulders, intrigued that my tastes were the same, but my clothes had changed.

Different shopping trips, maybe. The butterfly effect. Even the slightest ripple caused seemingly unrelated changes. Going to a store on a different day could mean price changes, stock differences, or maybe a chance encounter. Fascinating stuff, once I had time to think about it in detail.

Not now, because my ride was leaving.

Cal led the way down a long, carpeted hallway toward the outside. Pulling out my phone, I pretended to be absorbed in texting so I could follow him to a car without him realizing I had no idea which one belonged to him.

Ten painfully awkward minutes later, Cal stopped in front of a walkway between two student dorms at Maloney. Good thing I hadn’t suggested it might be out of his way to bring me home when he was already coming to campus.

He pulled me close, and I breathed in his pine-fresh scent. Even though he was a total stranger, I found it comforting. Maybe some part of me did remember him. They said scent was the strongest way to evoke buried memories. Inhaling the essence of Cal made me feel strangely close to him. My mind might be confused, but my body knew this man.

I said, Thanks so much. Sorry for the weirdness.

Cal moved back a couple of inches and met my eyes. No need to apologize. This is a strange situation. Anyone would be shaken up. But I’m glad Katrina is okay. I’m excited to meet her.

Me, too, I lied. Really, I needed to get to know him first.

Text me when you get there?

After promising I would, I got out of the car and breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the door shut behind me. Slowly, I swung my backpack onto my shoulders to hide that I didn’t have a clue whether my building was on the right or the left. My license should have the address, but I couldn’t look at it without seeming suspicious. Instead, I turned around and waved to Cal, not moving until he drove away.

The second he turned out of the parking lot, I whipped my wallet out and checked my license. A-ha! Dorm on the left for the win. Quickly, I found my room and went in, praying the whole way that I wouldn’t have to relive my entire conversation with Cal, this time with a roommate I’d never seen before.

Luck was on my side. Although the dorm room contained two beds, no one waited inside. The right side of the room was very neat: the bedsheets pulled perfectly straight, nothing cluttering up the nightstand, desk completely bare of papers. Nothing to tell me about the person who might live there.

The shelves above her desk were a different story. Finally, some insight. Dog-eared Jane Austen books filled the bottom shelf, along with a couple of Bronte and some authors I didn’t recognize. The complete works of William Shakespeare. A set of black and white ceramic drama masks used as bookends. The top shelf contained a series of pictures, all showing the same dark-haired, brown-eyed woman about my age. She had a smattering of freckles, bronze skin, and a friendly smile. In some of the images, she stood on a stage wearing costumes. One looked like an older family photo, with everyone extremely dressed up. And in the last one, this total stranger stood with her arms draped around a familiar girl with wavy chestnut hair, brown eyes,