Devin Greigh: Testimony
Chapter 15

I woke up to the blinding sun as though I had a massive hangover. I looked around and noticed that I was lying in my own bed; the anime and boy band posters cluttering all four walls of my room were dead giveaways. I touched my lips as though it would be proof that Devin had in fact kissed me, but then, noticing that I was still in the attire I had worn when Devin brought me home last night, only meant one thing; the kiss we shared was a dream.

“Stupid expenditure caps!” I shouted.

I knew that the only logical explanation for that was…I had passed out.

“Evvy, are you awake!?” I heard Beatrice shout from downstairs.

Before I could shout back, I heard the trampling of footsteps resembling a bison stampede as Beatrice stormed up the stairs and bursting through my bedroom.

“I’m fine,” I murmured, holding my head as it continued to throb as though I was struck by an aluminum bat.

“Oh thank God,” Beatrice sighed. “You had passed out last night. That young boy Danny said you got car sick.”

“Devin,” I corrected her, “…I got car sick?”

“Pretty bad too, you would have hit the concrete pretty good if it wasn’t for Denny!”

“Devin,” I corrected her again.

“What’s wrong with that boy anyway?” Beatrice asked. I noticed that he walks with a cane…Did he get hit by a car or something?”

“I don’t know,” I whined, “I need to get ready for school.”

“Are you okay, dear?” Beatrice asked me. “You could stay home if you want. Barry can take your homework to your teachers.”

“No, I’m fine,” I answered sharply, “And don’t put Barry through that. He’s got enough to worry about than acting as my personal assistant.”

I struggled out of bed and walked out of my bedroom, making no eye contact with Beatrice as I passed. My head was pounding so hard I thought I was listening to my heart relentlessly beating. As I made my way into the bathroom, I looked in the mirror. My face looked more pale than usual, but my eyes illuminated with life. That was when I had realized that my face wasn’t pale; it was also glowing with life. I ran cold water from the sink, and splashed a handful of it against my face. The pounding in my head gradually silenced, and I suddenly felt exactly what my face had looked; alive.

Returning to school that day was a blend of various feelings. Although it had felt so long since I had returned despite being away for just the weekend, I was right back into the groove of things. My first series of tests and quizzes were complete without breaking a sweat; I had no troubles holding onto the promise I had made to the one of my dad’s final set of requests about graduating high school. The teachers noticed something new about me; I had done my hair so that it had more life in its sway, and my new set of clothes accentuated my wavy, bright-red hair. But that wasn’t what the teachers had noticed.

“You look like you’ve got more life to you,” my French teacher Mademoiselle Capulet pointed out—“Vous vous avez un ami, pas vous?”

“Oui,” I answered bashfully, just barely understanding her asking, in French, if I had a boyfriend. Then I realized what I had answered, and quickly replied, “Well, sort of.”

Mademoiselle Capulet shook her head smiled, and pinched my cheeks lightly as she said, “ No need to be shy! Jeune dame bien cuite!”

“Merci beaucoup!” I replied graciously.

Then there was Casrial; she had been staring at me with a smile bigger than Mr. Goldstein’s up until lunch time when she had finally broken her silence.

“So Devin’s a good kisser eh?” she sang, nudging me with her elbow.

I glared at her with angry eyes, but the façade was not working at all; I finally broke down and squealed like a baby piglet.

“Although it was only a dream, it was incredible!”

Casrial laughed and shook her head.

“One of these days that boy will wake up and get his head out of his butt!”

“I was hoping that day was last night!” I sighed, “I think I have to throw myself at him with an industrial-sized slingshot!”

“I would just slap him until he gets the message,” Cas sang.

Jayden suddenly surprised me by performing his usual ruffling of my hair until I resembled a red-headed clone of Cousin It from The Addams Family.

“Still no luck with the love interest!?” Jayden asked.

My hair was completely covering my face. I poked out my bottom lip so that it vented my breath upwards as I tried to blow the bangs away from my eyes so I could see…needless to say, it was an epic fail.

“Unfortunately,” I sighed.

“Do you want me to talk to him, man-to-man?”

“I’m flattered by the offer,” I started to laugh, “but I think this would need a little bit more finessing than sneaking up on him and ruffling his hair!”

Both Casrial and I laughed as I continued to brush back the bangs in front of my face.

Our lunch was cut to its usually short-length when I felt his presence; Devin’s presence. I made some random excuse to leave the table, and headed further towards the tree I had usually met Devin at. His aura was radiating, but I did not see him until I felt my hair being gently toyed with.

“Your hair looks like the top of a carrot!” Devin teased, attempting to fix my hair.

“You’re such the sweet-talker as always,” I snapped sarcastically.

“If you thought that was smooth, wait until you hear what I think about your freckles!” Devin replied.

“Oh no!” I said, laughing as well, “Please, anything but the freckles!”

“What?” Devin shrugged, “I think it’s cute that you have your own constellation on your face! It makes it easier for me to draw stuff while you sleep!”

Devin was still his usual rude and obnoxiously-joking self, but I did not care; I loved him, but his obnoxiousness would make him even more appealing once he was mine.

That thought brought me back to last night. WAS it a dream? Or did it actually happen? Everything about that night was so vivid, that I still felt his lips against mine when I woke up with my head pounding. I didn’t know any subtle way to ask him, so I just turned to Devin and said, “So I had a dream about you last night.”

“That wasn’t a dream,” Devin said suddenly.

“What!?” I squeaked, “So you mean, the kiss—,”

“That was a nightmare,” Devin cut me off, “Seriously, even when you’re passed out, you’re still capable of using astral communication.”

“Wait,” I started as my look of confusion grew eminent, “What are you talking about? Are you saying that this was all in my head?”

“Usually when you sleep, your spirit sleeps too,” Devin began. “You passed out as you were saying goodbye. If I didn’t sense your aura dimming and your eyes rolling in the back of your head before you started to stagger back, your head would have made pillows out of the concrete before I could catch you.”

“I knew it,” I cursed, “I hate that whole expenditure cap thing!”

“That’s not the point,” Devin replied, “Your spirit was still active once you passed out. I took you inside, and your spirit was sending me pretty much everything that was going on in that red-haired skull of yours. I’ve never sounded so mushy in my entire life. Do I really sound that mushy to you!?”

My face was now completely red; there was no way to stop the flow of blood reaching my cheeks.

“Why are YOU the one who’s blushing?” Devin continued, “I should be embarrassed. Apparently I sound like a character from a Shakespeare play.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I replied in defense, “And no, you don’t sound so mushy. It’s how I would want you to…respond…to me, if…well, you know—,”

“If I were to ask you out,” Devin finished my sentence.

“Exactly,” I sighed, feeling more comfortable with talking to him about the situation. “All obvious clairvoyant information aside, Devin, you’re nothing like I’ve seen before. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ve never looked, talked to, or felt anything for a boy until you arrived. The way you look at me and whether or not you feel the same for me—,”

“Don’t jump to any conclusions,” Devin interrupted me.

“I know I know,” I said with a hint of frustration in my tone, “And I respect that, but I will wait for as long as it takes, until this is all over. And until then, I will promise to protect you, as I said in my dream.”

“That could be a pretty long time,” Devin teased.

“That’s fine,” I said with quite possibly the biggest smile on my face, “I know you’re not going anywhere.”

Every Saturday night, Devin picked me up from my home to train with him and the rest of my paranormal investigating family. Beatrice and Ben eventually gave me a cell phone so that I could call them to keep them updated.

“I was a wreck the last time you were gone for the entire week without keeping in touch!” Beatrice informed me, “I want you to let me know when you guys reach the camping site, and for heaven’s sake just to let us know that you’re alive!”

Mr. Goldstein had told them that they go camping every Saturday night until Sunday, so she wouldn’t ask too many questions about what I do for a day and a half. It wasn’t really a horrible lie since we were spending the majority of the day in the woods.

After three weeks training in the woods, I had managed to use my psychokinesis a lot more efficient than ever; I was able to hold up a tree without having to make an obnoxious gesture as if I was physically holding up a massive tree trunk in my arms. I had used a method which allowed my hand to be more of a wand than a virtual hand, and it expended less spiritual energy than doing it the former way. On top of that, my connection with Scarlett grew stronger; I could actually feel the difference whenever I would use her for assistance as though we had both evolved. My accuracy with Scarlett increased dramatically, and lessening the gheists in the woods became a cakewalk. I even increased my classification skills as well. I was truly proud of myself, as well as the others.

Tess definitely improved her classification skills, as well as her intervention skills; she was able to phase with another person holding onto her. It still wasn’t as advanced as Devin’s, but it was a huge improvement from her previous level.

Nichelle and Shaun had both sparred with each other since I had gone back home the first time we were all in the woods together. Nichelle’s skills allowed her to become faster and stronger, and it finally showed throughout the three weeks in the woods; her strength allowed her to smash through trees, and her speed allowed her to chase down a retreating cheetah. Nichelle worked perfectly with Shaun since Shaun was more agile and nimble; Shaun was able to leap up to twenty feet in the air vertically, and up to forty meters horizontally with a sprinting start; it almost looked as though he was flying at times.

“I’ve got mad hops!” Shaun joked one morning.

Othello’s blinding skill now allowed him to reach out further, almost allowing him to blind those even out of his normal range. Othello also acquired the ability to shield others from paranormal attacks; he practically used his blinding method, but then expanded it between him and a gheist, and realized that it would try to run around it. It was still at its beginner’s stage, but it made me wonder if I was able to learn a new skill as well.

“Everyone is capable of learning a new skill,” Mr. Goldstein answered me once I had asked him. “It’s a matter of expanding your mind, and trying out new and exciting possibilities.”

That day when Devin took me home, he had the unexpected pleasure of meeting Beatrice for the second time.

“I don’t see how you two aren’t going out;” Beatrice said one night, “you two are practically all over each other!”

Beatrice would make it a point to repeat that phrase over and over each time she had met Devin. One night, Devin stayed over for dinner. Barry hardly noticed him since he was heading out the door on a date with our school’s smartest students. Devin had my foster parents roaring with laughter the entire night, however, and that was definitely a huge plus.

“Your foster mom is hot,” Devin teased by the end of that night.

It was hard for me to sit next to Devin, act the way we did, and continue to have that one realization; we were not a couple.

I woke up the next day with the feeling that I was being watched. I sat up in my bed, completely dripping with sweat as though I had been awaken by a horrible nightmare. I looked outside my window…Nothing but golden yellow sun soaking my face as I scanned the street. I clutched a huge tuft of my hair.

“I could have sworn I felt an aura,” I said to myself.

Then suddenly I felt it; a familiar aura followed by the harmonic resonance of a harp-like strumming.

“You awake?”

“Cas!?” I asked, frantically looking around my room. “Where the heck are you!?”

“I’m at home!” she chimed back.

“Home!? But how…?”

“Quit talking, chime in like normal clairvoyant folks!”

I noticed that I was actually talking out loud, and then open-palmed my own forehead. I sat on my bed, and then waited for Cas to respond again—she laughed.

“It’s okay, you didn’t wake anyone up,” Cas ensured me.

“How are you able to talk to me from your house!?” I chimed.

“I have the impeccable gift of using astral communication with anyone I’ve come in contact with, even if I’m a thousand miles away from them!”

“As if you’re right next to them?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Casrial chimed, “but in order for that to work, I would need to have connected with them at least once within normal connecting range. It took some practice, but now I’m like a walking social network! I call it Casspace!”

“That’s pretty original!” I teased, “When can you teach me how to do that?”

“Unfortunately, Casspace is a blood-specific trait; it’s not a skill just anyone could learn.”

“But I’m not just anyone! I’m your sister!” I whined teasingly. “I demand you to teach me!”

“Sorry, young grasshopper,” Cas laughed, “besides, you have one of the best skills that you have yet to fully master. I would die to learn psychokinesis! That linked with Casspace, shoot, I would be throwing people around from Pakistan!”

“They wouldn’t know what hit them!” I added.

“They literally wouldn’t know what hit them!” Cas agreed. “I gotta go now if I want to be functional enough for school…expenditure cap.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, “I hate that!”

“Still hanging on the embarrassing dream scene you unconsciously showed Devin a few weeks ago?” Cas asked jokingly.

“Ugh!” I scoffed. “Well on the plus side, it helped me actually talk to him about everything.”

“Exactly,” Cas agreed, “Plus, he has to admit that he definitely enjoyed that!”

“Even though he won’t admit it to my face!” I added. “Oh, and get a cell phone!”

“We would have the phones permanently attached to our ears at the rate we constantly talk!”

“Yeah, that’s the point!” I joked. “That way, I won’t have to hold the phone to my head…It leaves my hand all crampy!”

“Good point!” Cas agreed. “Okay, I’m seriously signing off! Oh, and by the way, your alarm’s about to go off. See you in school!”

“Wait, what?” I asked, but as soon as the connection was cut, I leaped about three feet in the air from the sound of my alarm clock buzzing.

“I forgot I had set that!” I said to myself.

It was warmer than usual for the beginning of October, despite the leaves beginning to fall more frequently from the trees, and the winds blowing harsher. I wore my black hooded sweater that I normally wore every Sunday for training in the woods; it became my favorite sweater. The design is what I enjoyed the most; shiny silver-painted tendrils with flowers sprouting from them, wrapped around from the front of the hood to the back, forming a heart. The sleeves also had the same silver-painted tendrils on them. The tendrils stopped just at the top of the hood itself, and I felt the slick texture of the design in contrast with the soft-cotton of the black hood.

I met Casrial in the parking lot as usual once I had hopped off of the bus. My Giant Bookbag o’ Ohmygodyoumustbekidding was actually feeling lighter than usual; Casrial reminded me that the more I had trained, the more physically fit my body would become to compliment my spiritual strength.

During one of the only few times in gym class that I could remember, I managed to actually look at myself in front of the mirror while I was changing, and I had indeed toned a lot more than I had noticed even at home. It nearly freaked me out; I felt like I was on some form of steroids at the rate I had developed muscle tone. My arms were about the same thickness, but my shoulders were rounded, and even my neck area had muscles I had never known I had. When I flexed my arms in the mirror, I saw my bicep bulge back towards my shoulder, and an indentation on the inside of my bicep trailed up to my armpit; I’ve never had that before. I raised my t shirt slightly, and noticed that my stomach had defined well beyond my usual flat belly. I kept tightening my abdominal muscles, watching them distort into something I normally would see on infomercials about woman Pilates. I even turned to the side to check the lower regions of my body, and noticed that even my backside looked well-rounded through my gym shorts. Even Devin noticed after my lunch period…in his usual fashion.

“You butt looks like if I were to kick it, I’d break my good leg in three places,” he teased.

“Wow, that’s the first time you’ve ever complimented something other than my face!” I gasped. “I must really be looking hotter lately!”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Devin continued to tease. “But in all seriousness, you’ll get used to it though. Don’t worry; you won’t inflate like a balloon on steroids.”

It actually explained why Devin’s body felt like steel whenever I would hold onto him when he teleported me to his house, and why Othello had eight-pack abs, and not the usual six. I felt like we were an elite group of superheroes, with perfectly-ripped bodies and superhuman powers…Then I realized…that’s exactly what we were.

“Don’t you replace it a bit weird?” I asked him.

“Find what weird?” he asked.

“The change,” I started, “the physical change…It’s like, cheating, isn’t it?”

“Would you rather go to the gym and work out?”

“Well, no…but still…It’s just weird how our souls amplify everything…But I guess it makes sense. Our spirits need bodies fit enough to protect them, right?”

Devin didn’t respond; he stopped short as if something was standing in front of him, becoming an obstacle in his way.

“What’s the matter?” I asked as I tugged on the sleeve of his hooded sweater.

“It’s Cas,” Devin answered, “She says Alexander needs me back at the house…You won’t get lost replaceing your way to your class, right?”

“As if,” I scoffed, “I’ll be fine, but thanks for caring.”

I smiled as I looked into his eyes. He stared back momentarily, and then turned towards the opposite direction we were once heading.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Devin started to say.

“No,” I protested, “I’m coming over today.”

“So now you just invite yourself whenever you please?” Devin teased.

“I want to see what the situation is,” I replied, “and I don’t want to miss out on anything. Something could come up, and I don’t want to risk not seeing you for days because of a lead.”

“It’s not that serious,” Devin ensured me.

“I don’t care,” I continued to protest, “Come back later, okay?”

Devin scoffed, but he surrendered his protest and answered, “Yes, mom.”

“Good boy,” I teased him, and headed towards the double doors leading to my next class.

The final classes dragged on slowly. The anticipation of discovering what Mr. Goldstein had discovered had left me anxious, and Cas could sense it from the opposite side of the school grounds.

“Don’t stress over it,” she chimed in, “I’ll tell you the gist about it after school.”

The final school bell sounded off, and I immediately hurled myself from my seat and out of the classroom. I met Casrial by my locker, and I dropped my ‘Giant Bag o’ Everythingonthisplanetisinsideofit’ lazily inside the dark cold dungeon within.

“What’s the verdict?” I asked Cas as she bounced towards my locker. “Is everything okay? Did Mr. Goldstein replace a lead?”

“We found a lead,” Casrial confirmed, “Quite possibly one of the reasons that demons are on the rise.”

“Is it another spirit?” I asked.

“It’s a person,” she said, “Alexander is going to meet with the people who are currently keeping her safe.”

“A she??”

“A little girl, about ten-years-old or so. Alexander will give us the 4-1-1 when we get to Devin’s house.”

“Okay,” I murmured.

Cas and I stood silent for only a brief amount of time until I grew suddenly impatient.

“What on earth is taking him so long?” I grunted.

“Evvy, stop worrying!”

“I can’t help it! He’s late! I’ve never worried like this before!”

“It’s called a ‘woman’s intuition,’ lil sis…you gotta get used to it!”

“I’m trying, stop yelling at me!”

“Ew, did you just whine?”

“Umm…no…?”

“You did! You whined!”

“No I didn’t, leave me alone!”

Cas and I continued this hilarious skit until Devin returned. All I saw were wisps of pale-blue as it plummeted to the asphalt as we had exited the school. The smoke then swiftly formed itself to the figure that I was most familiar with. I hurried over to Devin as I saw his body completely reverted back to normal, and I embraced him firmly.

“Are you trying to give me cooties?” he joked.

“Took you long enough,” Cas teased, “she was starting to miss you!”

I pulled away from Devin, looking up at him and gave him a smile.

“I ran into traffic,” Devin replied, “the gheists are out, so it’s not going to be safe for you two to be at home now.”

“Good!” I cheered. “Now let’s hurry home so we can discuss game plans!”

“I’ll let my father know,” Cas said. “He should be fine by himself; the house is cleared, so the gheists won’t be looking around there.”

“They won’t be looking for you even if your house wasn’t cleared,” Devin started. “They’re after Evenfleu and the little girl…both of them are carrying what the Perfect Cirqule are looking for.”

“Special spirits?” I asked him.

“Or what we like to label as ‘anomalies,’” Devin answered.

“Why anomalies?”

“Because they’re not just any typical spirit,” Cas answered, “they’re exceptions to the rules of the Order of Life and the Afterlife. The powers they possess are powers they are not supposed to rightfully have…”

“Powers that rival a clairvoyant’s,” I spoke softly.

“Precisely,” Cas replied.

“We should go now,” I suggested, “I didn’t bring a change of clothes, but I guess I can borrow some of Tess’ while I’m at your house.”

“Freeloading bum,” Devin teased, “well in any case, I suggest you two hold on tight, because I need to get back home quicker than usual.”