It’s always the neurodivergents who will getcha.Pot meet kettle.
Wait, did I ever empty the dishwasher at home?
Well, so we hadn’t managed to randomly stumble across the master assassin who had pulled off the seemingly impossible. That was a bummer. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t get any useful information from her at all. I wished I could tell Paul I was wrong. She definitely wasn’t the person we were looking for.
“All right, you want the truth,” I said, doing a bunch of rapid calculations in my head to figure out how close I could dance to reality without giving away too much and putting us in more danger than we were already in. “I’m a consultant of sorts, and this rich boy here is looking to get rid of some people without it being traced back to him. When we heard about the hit recently put on a high-profile target, we figured whoever bagged that killwould be perfect for what we needed. We were hoping to recruit that person, but we’re having a hard time even getting a lead on who to look out for.”
I braced myself, hoping against hope that my story would fly. Not for the first time, I was grateful for the improvisation exercises I’d done in drama club all throughout middle school and high school. Coming up with a believable reason for why we’d been lying all night long that wouldn’t get us killed on the spot certainly wouldn’t have been easy without that training.
“And so, you just ended up at my door, coincidentally looking for this information? Or was the part about the trusted source true?”
Triple shit on a stick! I didn’t have enough information to know which was the better answer. My mind zoomed off, trying to calculate that with what information I had. And I couldn’t delay too long, because that would be way too suspicious. So, I did the same thing I always did whenever I was in a pinch, I went with my gut.
“A bit of both, actually. I’ve heard your name throughout various exploits, but always assumed we’d never cross paths. I can say I was intimidated by your reputation.”That’s right, play to her ego. Keep her amused and flattered.“But you see, I can’t lose this client here, so when all my leads were coming up dry, I figured why not go with the Hail Mary and try to get an audience with the best.”
“And I’m what you consider the best?”
I was pretty sure she was teasing. Not in a fun way, mind you, but more like a cat playing with a mouse and deciding whether to devour it.
At least that I could answer without a doubt. “Absolutely.”
She looked like she was going to say something else, but one of the men stood and handed over his tablet. Silence fell over the room while the Whisper scrolled on the screen.
I froze as her emotions began to glow brighter and brighter, and a whole bunch of them were not so nice. She wanted to hurt something.
And that something was probably me.
“Interesting,” she said before turning the device toward me. My mother’s face stared back at me.
Well… that sucked.
“Are you familiar with this woman?”
Yeah, my adrenaline was pumping, and it was pumpinghard.Enough that the urge to vomit was back with a vengeance. But I fought it all down and shrugged.
“She’s my mother. Why?”
“Your mother is Ophelia Donmoue? One of the few proven psychics since our kind came forward?”
“Was,” I corrected, mind scrambling as it played out twenty different scenarios.
Stay cool, stay cool. This doesn’t mean the end yet.
“She died?”
“Yeah.”
“Unfortunate. I always hoped to meet her. I suppose there’s a lesson about procrastination there.”
The woman dropped the tablet, and her minion only barely caught it. “So, do you want to change your story at all?”
I gave her a curious look, likeIwas the one who was mystified. “What’s to change? That’s my mom, yeah. She died, money dried up, so I do consulting now with what abilities I have. I’m sure you know how easy it is to run up a bill with some… people.”
That’s right. Play pathetic. Make her feel above me. Feed that ego. The more she underestimates you, the longer you’ll survive.
“Ah, shame that.” Her mood suddenly perked up, and those poisonous tendrils of violence retreated a little. “It’s not like Ihave to worry about your abilities, considering they won’t work on me.”
Oh boy.