"Agreed. The closer I got to it, the more she screamed. When I moved farther away, she quieted down," Darian said, holding her hand.
"Why has only Amelia had a reaction?" Colton asked.
"Is she the only empath to be near the necklace?" Meryn asked.
Aiden shook his head. "Tobias Laurel from Delta is also an empath. He had no reaction."
Rheia shined a penlight into Amelia's eyes, and she blinked. Rheia frowned. "You ever have this type of reaction before?"
"In my previous job, I got overwhelmed, but it was mostly depression. I didn't have a physical reaction." She sipped her tea.
"Previous job doing makeup?" Beth asked.
Amelia shook her head. "No. Before I became a cosmetologist, I was a psychologist. I used my gift of empathy to lessen the trauma of rape victims. I specialized in children's cases. The side effect of using my gift like that is that I take on their trauma for a short time. It got to be too much. I had to quit to stay sane."
"Oh, my God." Rheia looked ill. "The things you must have lived through."
Amelia shrugged. "They were not my memories. The children had the real scars. They showed me every day what true strength is by choosing to live."
Darian squeezed her hand. "That's what you meant, isn't it? When you said you had your own darkness."
Amelia nodded. "I wasn't strong enough to keep going. After my brothers came and got me, I surrounded myself with bright, colorful things, it helped me recover."
"So, whatever the necklace is, it's worse than the memories you got from those poor children?" Beth asked.
Amelia swallowed hard. She hadn't even thought of it like that. "Yes. Whatever that necklace is, it's a thousand times worse than anything I have ever felt before."
"Well, fuck a duck," Meryn remarked flatly.
Keelan excused himself. "Be right back,"
"So what do we do?" Beth asked. No one responded.
Seconds later, Keelan appeared in the doorway. "It's cracked! When Colton dropped it, the necklace must have cracked, which would explain why Tobias didn't have a reaction."
"Good work, Keelan!" Aiden said. He turned to her. "I hate to ask this, but can you try to go back in there?"
"No way, Aiden. You're asking too much!" Darian protested.
Amelia steeled herself. "I have to try. I'm prepared now. It won't hit me unexpectedly. I'll go in a little at a time."
Darian's eyes were hard. She knew he was angrier at the situation than he was at his Unit Commander. "Are you sure?" He cupped her cheek with one hand.
She rubbed her cheek against his hand. "I'm sure."
Aiden and the men stood. "Ladies, wait here."
"Yeah, right."
"No way!"
"Keep dreaming." Meryn, Beth, and Rheia replied.
Aiden pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine. Let's all go."
Amelia waited until everyone had left for the office. She turned to Darian. "Hold my hand?"
"You don't even have to ask." He took her hand and kissed it gently.
"We're ready!" Aiden yelled.
"Let's do this." Amelia stood and Darian walked with her.
When they got close to the office, she felt the first wave of nausea. She breathed through her nose and kept walking. By the time she was at the doorway, she could hear the screams but the weren't overpowering.
Using her gift, she reached out to them. She pushed past the terror and tried to listen to the words being yelled.
Brian! Penny! My poor baby!
Amelia jerked back, she kept walking backwards until her back hit the wall of the hallway.
"Well?" Aiden yelled.
"It's a woman's voice I hear, one of them anyway. She's crying out for Brian and Penny," she answered.
She heard a low cry before Rheia appeared at the door wild eyed. "What did you say?"
"This woman is terrified. She keeps calling for Brian and Penny and saying, 'My poor baby'." Amelia watched Rheia's reaction carefully. Rheia began to shake, Colton appeared behind her.
"She means your Penny doesn't she?" Amelia asked gently.
Rheia nodded. "I think that's Penny's mother, her mate was named Brian. They were murdered almost two years ago." She turned to Colton. "That could explain why she could see her father when he was invisible, maybe she could feel her mother?"
Colton nodded. "It makes sense."
Amelia's heart stuttered. It was impossible, but there was no other explanation. Pushing past Rheia, she ran into the room, heedless of the searing pain ripping her mind apart. She staggered forward and grabbed the necklace. She swung it up and shattered it against the coffee table. The silence that followed was deafening. Green light flared, and the screams were gone.
Her knees buckled at the full weight of the truth behind the necklace. One moment she was standing over the coffee table, the next she was flat on her back with Rheia bent over her on one side and Darian on the other.
"You need to lower your heart rate Amelia." Rheia said holding her wrist.
"Where's Aiden?" she yelled.
"I'm here."
She looked past Darian to see Aiden standing close by. She began to sob, she couldn't get the words out; it was too terrible to say.
"It's okay, my love, just rest." Darian rubbed her back soothingly.