If only Eve could control how long they stayed. But she couldn’t, not really. When the scene she’d imagined played out, so did his time there. He had to choose now. A chance at getting everything he’d ever wanted or the loss of everything he’d ever wanted.
Whatever he decided, he had to act—
“Do you have a daughter?” The question slipped from him before he could stop it. For a moment, he experienced panic. Absolute, blind panic. He’d done it. He’d decided: he’d asked.
All four souls gasped. In astonishment, horror or excitement, he didn’t know.
What he did know? There was no going back now.
The good doctor’s head tilted to the side, his lips curling in another of those frowns. “I do, yes. How did you know?” No flip out yet.
His heart drummed in his ears, his breathing fast and shallow, as he searched for an answer that wouldn’t get him tossed out of the office this very moment. Then he spotted it. A framed picture of a little girl with black-as-night hair, hazel eyes and bronzed skin.
“The, uh, photo on your desk. She’s pretty.”
“Oh. Thank you. That’s my Mary Ann. She’s your age. Looks just like her mom.” Dr. Gray shook his head, as though he couldn’t believe what he’d just admitted. Normal people didn’t like to talk about their loved ones with dangerous crazies, Aden knew, no matter how young those dangerous crazies were. Or appeared to be. “Let’s get back on track. I need you to talk to me, Aden. That’s the only way I can help you.”
For the doctor’s sake, he said, “You asked me if I was still hearing voices. The answer is yes.” Embarrassment he didn’t have to force dripped from the undercurrents of his tone. His fingers twisted the fabric of his shirt, wrinkles branching in every direction. He’d bring them back to Mary Ann in a bit. Hopefully Dr. Gray would be more willing to chat once “business” was out of the way. “All the time.”
Come on. We’re not that bad. Julian.
Stab me in the back, why don’t you. Caleb.
“Sorry guys,” he wanted to say, but he kept quiet.
“No progress, then.” Dr. Gray planted his left ankle atop his right knee. “We can talk to your psychiatrist about changing your medication again.”
“All right,” he said, even though he suddenly recalled how the new drugs had affected him. Stomach cramps, vomiting. Dehydration and a week hooked to an IV.
Dr. Gray anchored his glasses on his nose. “Let’s switch gears for a while. Since you’re still hearing voices, I’d like to know what they want from you.”
“All kinds of stuff.”
“Like?”
What had he told him, all those years ago? “Like…control of the body.” Yes, he’d mentioned that. He hadn’t usually been so open with his doctors, but something about Dr. Gray had put him at ease.
If only you’d consider it, Eve said.
Really, giving up the captain’s hat once in a while isn’t unreasonable, Caleb said. You used to let us take over for a bit and we always gave back control. I never understood why you stopped.
You’d want control, too, if you were powerless, Elijah said.
Great. They were ganging up on him. “You aren’t powerless,” he gritted out. He was here, in the past, wasn’t he?
“Excuse me?” Dr. Gray said.
“Oh, uh, nothing. Just giving myself a pep talk.”
You’re well on your way to that flip-out, Elijah said with a sigh.
Frowning, the doctor made a notation in his notebook. “Now, you called it the body. Let’s explore that a moment. If the voices have to ask for control of your—the body, that means they can’t take it on their own. You get to decide. That’s a good thing, yes? Your being in control?”
His companions might not be able to take over his body without his permission, but they could cause untold damage without it. “Yeah. Sure.”
The pen flew over the notebook as the doctor made another notation. “Since you have control, do you ever force the voices to leave you?”
“Me force them? No. But sometimes they do leave.” Because of his daughter.
“And what happens to you when they’re gone?”
Aden smiled, though it was laced with guilt. “Peace.”
“Oh, Aden.” Dr. Gray placed a hand over his heart, expression softening. “That’s wonderful.”
Bet he feels like a proud papa. Eve actually sounded softer, as though she was warming to the doctor.
That hadn’t happened last time. Which meant peace wasn’t something he’d admitted to last time. Of course not. Peace wasn’t something he’d known about back then. His smile faded. “I’m just kidding. They aren’t allowed to leave. They stay with me always.”
Dr. Gray rested his hand on the side of his face, the pen poking out between his fingers. “How can I help you if I have to wade through half-truths and lies?”
He glanced down at his feet, hoping he appeared properly shamed. “I won’t do it again.”
“See that you don’t. But why did you do it this time?”
He shrugged, no answer jumping out at him.
“All right. Well, why don’t you tell me why you let the voices return to you once they’re out? Because I know you were telling the truth about the voices leaving, not about it being a joke. You’re in control, remember?”
No way out of this one. He had to cop to the truth. At least some of it. “They’re bound to me like…” His head tilted to the side as he considered his next words. “Like pets on a leash. I can’t keep them out.”
That earned him an Ouch from Julian and an I’ll make you pay for calling us pets. I hope you know that from Caleb.
Oh, he knew he’d pay, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that. “See, they’re people, like you and me, only they weren’t given bodies of their own. They were somehow sucked into mine, forcing me to share my head with them.”
Dr. Gray took the admission in stride, surprisingly unfazed. “A few days ago, you mentioned that there are four different voices. Or rather, people. Still only four?”
“Yes.”
“And they are…” The doctor flipped a page in the notebook. “Your age? All of them?”
“No. I don’t know how old they are.”
“I see,” he muttered and Aden didn’t think he knew he’d spoken aloud. “Tell me about them. What they’re like.”
And while you’re at it, Eve said, ask about his daughter.
Soon. He didn’t want the doctor to have a reason to change the subject back to therapy again. “They’re nice. For the most part,” he added for their benefit.
That earned him several snorts and another threat from Caleb.
“And do they have names?” Dr. Gray asked.
Aden rattled them off.
His eyes lit with interest at the mention of Eve. “Eve is a female, I’m guessing.”
“Yeah. A girl.” There was enough disgust in his voice to make the doctor fight a grin.
Oh, hush, Eve said. You’re the luckiest boy on the planet, to have my guidance.
“I’m most curious about her,” the doctor said.
Of course he is, Caleb said, clearly offended. What am I, dog food? Why doesn’t he want to know about me?
“Aden. I lost you again.”
Aden jerked to attention, his head clearing, Caleb and Eve’s voices fading as he refocused. “I’m sorry. What?”
“I had asked you a question.” Frowning, the doctor eased back in his chair. “What was going on inside your head just then?”
“Nothing,” he hedged.
An eyebrow arched. “I thought you weren’t going to lie to me anymore.”
Aden rubbed his temples and considered his options. He could admit the truth, but at this rate, Dr. Gray would never stop questioning him and he’d never be able to steer the conversation back to Mary Ann. And what if he was whisked away before he even got the chance?
The thought of being whisked away was what finally propelled him into action.
Now or never. “You’re most curious about Eve,” he said. “Well, she can time travel into younger versions of me. If you’d check my file, you’d see that I’ve disappeared a few times. From locked rooms. You’ll see I’ve reappeared in places I shouldn’t have been able to get inside of. The doctors treating me at the time claimed I was just a great lock picker, that I liked confusing people. The truth is, I traveled into a younger version of myself, like I said, and accidentally changed the future.”
Dr. Gray blinked at him. “I know I told you I wanted you to open up, but I meant I wanted honesty. I believe I mentioned that, as well.”
“And that’s what I’m giving you. The ability I mentioned is how a sixteen-year-old boy is sitting in front of you now, rather than an eleven-year-old. It’s how a sixteen-year-old who knows your—”
“Aden. That’s enough.”
He gulped, but once again, he didn’t allow the doctor to deter him. “You didn’t let me finish. I’m really a sixteen-year-old boy who knows your daughter, Mary Ann. We—”
“Aden!” Dr. Gray pinched the bridge of his nose. “You have to stop this. It’s not helping your case.”
“Just listen to me.” What could he say to make this man believe him? “More than time travel, I can raise the dead. Take me to a cemetery and I’ll prove it. Just don’t bring Mary Ann. She negates my abilities. Corpses will rise. You’ll see.”
“For the last time, enough!” Dr. Gray was pale, blue veins throbbing under the surface of his skin. He cleared his throat in an effort to collect himself. “I shouldn’t have indulged your question about my daughter earlier. I won’t tolerate a patient, even a child, dragging my family into a session. Do you understand me?”
