Chapter 9

The ride to the mall had been quiet. Once we parked and got out of her car, I stood there staring at the structure. Rachel noticed and said, “C’mon.”

I shook my head and stepped around to the back of her car. The combination of my worries over the apartment behind me and the possibilities of what lay ahead in the mall made me nervous. “How am I going to solve anything?”

She shrugged. “You did pretty well with Dan.”

I looked at her. “I didn’t do anything. If there hadn’t been a crowd of witnesses, things could have gotten a lot worse.”

She joined me and stood very close. I could feel the warmth of her body along mine, even with the heat of the day still lingering all around us. “You have to trust your instincts. I’m not saying that everything will just work out, but I don’t think Mr. Shepherd would have said you needed to be here if this was going to be dangerous.”

My eyebrows rose high on my head and my eyes widened. “So, someone willing to kill two people isn’t dangerous?” I looked up at the sky. “Thank God, I was so worried!”

She rolled her eyes and punched my arm. “Stop that.” She looked around. “You’re already worried about who might see anything you do in there. You don’t need security following you around beforehand.”

I couldn’t argue with that and nodded. I was surprised when she hooked my arm with hers and pulled me from the car. It filled me with a certainty that I couldn’t explain. If she was confident that I could do what Mr. Shepherd said, and he was as well, then all I could do was my best. What else could I do? Going back to my empty apartment didn’t sound so appealing.

We got to the entrance and just walking through the doors increased my apprehension. The ticking in my head resumed after giving me a short break. The cooler air felt good, yes, but what lay in wait made me want to go back out into the heat. I must have slowed my stride because Rachel tugged at my hand and I allowed her to lead the way.

The Parks at Arlington Mall was a sprawling collection of stores just like any other in the country. Two levels of stores would happily take your money and empty your bank account in a hurry. JC Penney, Foley’s, Dillard’s, Mervyn’s, and Sears were all situated along the border of the complex as anchors for both levels. An AMC theater was situated on the far end of the mall and in between all of those hulks stood an array of shops for anything from clothing to toys to home accessories. The only difference between this one and the one I had visited back home was the overall arrangement. A mall is a mall.

Rachel led me into JC Penney on the lower level. We found the beds fairly quickly, but when I saw the prices, I looked at her with a face. “You’re not going to spend that much on a new bed for me,” I insisted.

She was still looking at the bed and shrugged. “I might get this for me and give you my old one.” Then she cracked a grin and looked at me from the corner of her eyes.

I arched an eyebrow at her. She was joking. Her aura said as much. I didn’t say anything else though. After a few more minutes of looking over the beds, she led us out of the store.

After that, we simply strolled through the mall for a while. Nothing caught my attention. The ticking in my head kept me from focusing on any one thing. I knew something dreadful would befall me. I just had no idea what. Of course, Rachel’s closeness was distracting in and of itself.

We passed one store after another. Patrons moved around us and through the stores as if it were any other day. I guess it would have felt that way for me too if Mr. Shepherd hadn’t said that I needed to be there. Even his suggestion for Rachel to get me an apartment didn’t require my presence in the mall. If Rachel hadn’t thought of where to get me a new bed, I’d only be worried about how to repay her and keep up with rent.

Never having lived on my own, I hadn’t considered what I might need if I had gotten an apartment. Reflecting on my parent’s suggestion to just live in the dorm was a blessing to that degree. Speaking of parents, I would have to call them and let them know what was going on, but how would I explain why I was in an apartment? They’d never believe the real reason. My dad ... maybe. He liked sci-fi movies and thrillers. This wasn’t exactly a movie though. Of course, Mom would simply be ecstatic that I had met someone. It didn’t matter that Rachel didn’t seem interested in me. The fact that I had made a new friend would be enough. Of course, I could almost hear my Mom’s enthusiasm about that over the phone, and without her saying as much would be the undercurrent of her belief that I was finally dating someone.

None of my family knew about my abilities. Like with the twins, I wasn’t sure how to explain it. For that matter, I still didn’t fully understand it. Even after that long talk with Mr. Shepherd and learning about the additional things I could learn about people through their auras, I was still stumped at how it worked. How do you explain something you don’t understand?

We passed Electronics Boutique. All kinds of wild gizmos winked and whirled in the display window. I considered the lamps there but thought better of it. A lava lamp for a college student seemed kind of cliché to me. Oddly enough though, the lava in the lamp looked like an aura I had seen once. Slow-moving, liquid-like, and ever-shifting.

Two boys ran past us, heading into the store. Their auras were flushed with excitement. Looking around, I briefly wondered where their parents were until I spotted a woman not too far off watching with her neck stretched out. She wasn’t running to catch up but walking along. Her expression and the state of her aura told me that she had noted where they were and made a beeline for them.

It was such a simple thing, seeing auras. Nothing more than watching the people themselves, but unless one was suitably experienced with subtle shifts in body language, no one could pick up the millions of minute differences that their auras gave off in such greater degrees. It may have been a simple thing, but I was beginning to believe there was more to it, just as Mr. Shepherd had pointed out.

With my nerves feeling less racked, I looked at Rachel. Her aura had been fairly neutral, as far as her mood, until she caught my eyes. She smiled and her aura softened. The smile alone said a lot, but the addition of the change in her aura added to that simple gesture. I smiled too, and for that moment, it felt like any other day in the mall.

For our next stop, Rachel suggested Bath & Body Works. I didn’t have a better suggestion, so I followed her in. I wasn’t sure what I had expected, but the place was a bit crazy. There weren’t any aisles like in Wal-Mart. Instead, they had a couple of dozen round display tables that customers picked up products from as well as shelves along the walls. After looking around for a bit, Rachel pointed out a few things that I would probably need or want: A new shower curtain, toilet paper, and a shower rack. The curtain was to replace the one already in the bathroom. The present one was likely to have mold on it, at least a little. The shower rack hung in the shower from the neck of the shower head. I could put my shampoo, conditioner, and other items on it while I showered so they would be right there where I could reach them without accidentally spraying water all over the bathroom. Toilet paper was simply a universal necessity.

Most of the other stores were geared toward clothes and shoes. I had plenty of both. The few other things that were catered to were just accessories that I didn’t need. Since I didn’t own a television or media player, all the movie stores were out, and other than the jacked-up prices in JC Penney, I was sure only Sears would have beds. Again, I was sure they were full sets rather than just mattresses. It was also on the other side of the mall from us. Our leisurely pace hadn’t taken us that far yet.