“Lazarus?” Rey frowned.
I nodded. “The man brought back from the dead by Jesus after he died of a disease.”
“What does that—” Rey began, but then stopped speaking as he turned to , looking straight in the eye. “Was it a real story? Is the Bible real?”
I smiled at his questions. “The version you know? More or less. The core is there, let’s say.”
Rey looked like he was about to ask more questions, but the interview picked back up.
“Lazarus,” Filip said slowly. “So, you’re a religious man?”
“Yes.” The man nodded with a smile. “But I don’t think you understand in what way.”
“I don’t imagine you are all about the Sunday Mass?”
The suspect smiled wider in response. “The miracle of Lazarus is but a guiding light, a story of deeper aning.”
I looked on with a growing frown. The magic had died down. Apparently, the suspect had given up on using it, and by the looks of it, he was about to call his lawyer. But one thing bothered . Rebirth in the mortal world might have been a magical and mysterious concept, but in the magical world, it was a technical issue, practically impossible to solve. Once your spark was gone, nothing was going to bring you back. You might gain a new one, and so spirits beca entirely new beings, but that wasn’t rebirth—that was creation.
So which one was he talking about?
I looked down and found the small microphone Josh used to talk to Filip.
Picking it up, I spoke into the contraption. “Ask him if he’s going to solve the spark problem.”
I could see Filip frown slightly at hearing my voice.
“So will that faith help you with solving the spark problem?” he asked nonetheless.
Lesley imdiately looked confused.
“What spark?” he asked.
I once again took the microphone.
“Ask him if the person who put that thing inside him told him anything.”
“Did the man or woman who put that thing inside you not inform you? Were you not devoted enough, maybe?”
This ti around, Lesley looked surprised, seemingly truly caught off guard for the first ti.
“Ah, shit,” I groaned. “Well, I doubt he’s the main issue,” I said to Rey.
“You think it’s a bigger case?”
“I think soone did sothing to him. Not sure if he was always crazy or if it pushed him. Hell, I’m not even sure if it’s him inside there.”
Rey looked at with a growing frown. “So it’s a weird one, huh?”
“Yep, very much so.” I nodded. “What are you going to do with him?” I asked.
“Gather the evidence. He practically confessed already, but the murder weapon would be useful. Then prosecute. So maybe put him in jail in a year or two?”
I turned to him, blinking rapidly. “A year or two? Are you serious?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Nothing,” I relented, shaking my head before changing the subject. “I imagine Josh can help with the murder weapon.”
“Mhm. He doesn’t look too good, though,” Rey said, looking at the conversation in the room.
“Well, I’ll go talk to him,” I said, curious about the sudden change in the kid. “You tell Filip to press on the devotion and sickness angle. And if he starts talking about his wife again, slap him across the face.”
Rey looked at with raised eyebrows.
“Or not. My god, I’d be afraid humor is illegal here, but there isn’t much to be afraid of if you’ll get in a year or two,” I said, leaving the room.
I walked out and then through the FBI corridors until I saw Josh sitting outside. After clearing security, I went out to check on the empath.
“Why the long face?” I asked, approaching him.
“Huh?” Josh looked at , clearly surprised. “It’s nothing.”
“Well, it sure looked like sothing to .”
“Why are you so curious?” he asked, a frown of discontent making its way to his face.
“Well, I’m more concerned than curious. Empaths are a rare thing among us mages.”
“Then don’t be. I’m fine,” he said, looking away.
“Look, I don’t care for your personal problems.” I could see him twitch lightly at my words, turning back to look at . “I really don’t, and I’m not here to pry into your business. For all I care, you could have invaded his head, danced on his childhood mories, and left him paralyzed. But what I’m concerned about is that you have a weak will,” I said bluntly.
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He sat there for a few seconds, clearly not sure how to react to my words.
Finally, he chose anger. “What do you know about my will? We only just t,” he spat.
“Yeah, and back there you retreated before going anywhere deeper into that guy’s psyche, and I would like to know why.”
“What do you know about going into soone’s head?”
“Oh, quite a bit,” I said with a smile. “You might be the only empath I know, but you’re not the only one capable of invading soone’s mind.”
“Then why didn’t you do it?”
“I can’t do what you can. I can’t look over soone’s mories, at least not like you. I can’t read a place’s past either. But I know minds, and I know that if you have a weak will, you will die sooner or later, especially as an empath.”
He looked at for so ti as the expression of anger slowly morphed into that of confusion.
“Why would I die?”
“Well, not on your own. But you will be very susceptible to attacks and possessions. Did you feel a strange energy from that man in there?”
He looked at , surprised, and nodded.
“That was a form of ntal magic. Had you been in that room in place of Filip, we would have been carrying you out. Possibly injured, maybe even permanently, depending on how strong your consciousness is.”
“Why? You think I’m not as resilient as Filip?”
“You’re not,” I answered without hesitation. “But that’s not it.” I paused, catching myself on what I did with Peter, asuring soone against my own standards. “Right. Did you ever experint, try going into your own mind, try to ditate, or find so occult literature about your condition?” I asked, rattling off everything I would do the mont an interesting phenonon appeared.
To each of my questions, he shook his head.
“Right,” I sighed. “Nothing, really?”
“Well, I did try to find sothing on the internet, but there was so much bullshit I stopped and just focused on using it to… Never mind. So what is my condition?”
“Okay,” I said and took a deep breath. “Everyone has a mind, as you know. Not the head, not the brain, but THE MIND. It’s like a construct, a separate part of your spirit, sothing like a bridge between the flesh and the soul, as a horrible oversimplification. That construct has a shape. Usually, for normal people, it’s sothing like a palace or a castle, a physical place that represents said construct. Are you with ?”
He nodded, listening intently, although clearly slightly skeptical.
“For a normal person, that place is just that—a building with walls and rooms. And each of those rooms and spaces within it represents sothing. So things taphysical, like traumas and mories. Other things physical, like what you see with your eyes or what you sll. The deeper you go into the palace, the more complicated it will get, and the closer you will get to the soul. That is for normal people. But much like so are born with mutations—missing arms or an extra eye—there are also people born with mutations of that place. For so, it’s simple, like extra rooms, allowing for tasting music or so other savant bullshit. But there are a few extre cases. For example, people born with an open field instead of a building. Like a massive open circus tent, a mind lacking walls.”
“Am I such a case?”
“Yes,” I nodded, reciting what I had learned from the recently gained literature on empaths. “And as I said, normally physical senses have their own place, their own rooms. But if your mind is an open field, then it’s problematic. The senses don’t have clear boundaries, and so they mix and grow. The brain also doesn’t know what is what, so it mistakes spiritual parts for senses, bombarding them with everything it experiences. And over ti, those spiritual constructs learn to experience the outside, to read it, and beco new senses. And that is how empaths are born. No two are the sa, but what they have in common is that their minds are open to everything, allowing them to read thoughts, moods, and sotis more extre things, like the past of a given place.”
“Oh,” he said about halfway through my explanation, the skeptical frown disappearing and being replaced by concentration. “So that’s how…”
“Hmh. Were you a difficult child? Did you cry a lot? Parents thought you might be sick?”
He silently nodded, a smile making its way to his face.
“Yep. Mother thought I was a special kid. My dad… well, he assud the other kind of special,” he chuckled.
“Did you always have the gift?” I asked, now curious.
“Yes. Although not to this extent. It… strengthened,” he said, his eyes still unfocused before a frown made its way back onto his face. “Okay. But why would I die?”
“Well, as I said, your mind doesn’t have walls. Normally, when soone attacks your consciousness, there are natural defenses. You, however, are exposed to everything, so the only way is will. You have to learn to fight off an intruder, and for that, you need a powerful mind. The good news is that you should be a natural at using it. But… you retreated, you hesitated. That is not the action of a disciplined mind. So I want to know why.”
He chose his words for so ti before finally speaking. “Let’s just say I have bad experiences with reading minds. Or rather, with hearing loud thoughts.”
I was about to try and press on, but he stopped . “Can you tell how to train it? I an, my mind?”
I smiled at that. “Sharing magic is not a small ask between mages. And it takes a legal process, but… I can teach you a few tricks,” I said. “But how will you pay ?”
That seed to take him aback as he stiffened, confused.
“Well. I have so money—”
“I don’t want money,” I cut in. “The help of a trained empath in the future would be appreciated.”
“I already work for the FBI.”
“And you have free ti. I’m not going to work you to the bone. It’s just that if I ever need sothing, you don’t get to say ‘no’ easily. And if you want to switch employers, then, well, we can consider this your trial.”
“I’m not switching employers.”
I put up my hands defensively. “I’m not telling you to. So what will it be?”
He hesitated for so ti before finally nodding. “Fine, but no big favors, and no asking to invade soone against their will.”
“I wouldn’t do that.” I shook my head just as Filip, Rey, and Marvin, together with the FBI woman, exited the building.
They all looked to be in a hurry.
“What’s going on?” I asked, curious, as they seed rather distressed.
“Move to the van now,” Sarah commanded.
I looked at Josh, and he shrugged.
“So what’s up? Are we going on a sudden field trip?” I asked, catching up to Filip.
“Well, I did follow the devotion line, and he finally broke,” he said, not an ounce of happiness in his voice. “And he said they were side projects. And that if we want to see the true fruit of Lazarus, we should go to his ho.”
“Oh, interesting.”
“Yeah,” Sarah said as we loaded into a van. “We were working on a warrant, but now he’s given us permission.”
“So why the hurry?”
“He said that if we hurry, soone might even greet us.”
“You think it’s a live victim?” I asked, getting nods in return.
It was an interesting theory, but if the guy was crazy about disease and resurrection, then, well… we would most likely be greeted, but I didn’t think there was a need to hurry. I strengthened my ntal shields and stirred up magic just in case, eting the tense eyes of Rey beside .
“Why so nervous? We’ve been through worse,” I said to him.
“And I don’t rember it fondly.”
“Oh. Well… I’m sure we will have so fun this ti around,” I said, making his frown deepen.
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