An Inner Fire by Jacki Delecki

Author:Jacki Delecki [Delecki, Jacki]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Romance, Paranormal, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Suspense, Mystery & Suspense, Suspense, Psychics
ISBN: 0989939103
Google: LB5ungEACAAJ
Amazon: B00GGPX3CA
Publisher: Jacki Delecki
Published: 2013-10-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Two

Grayce climbed the wooden stairs to her office. With each step the aging wood creaked, fracturing the nighttime silence. The smell of the pine wax that Mr. Lopez used on the fir floors and banisters assaulted her nose.

Every cell in her body went on high alert, synapsing at high frequency, heightening her awareness of every sound, smell, and sight. Her acupuncture treatment hadn’t calmed her nervous system as she first thought, but intensified her sensory input. Her neurons fired, as if she were on speed, on Dexedrine.

Reaching the top of the stairs, she was breathless, not from exertion of climbing but from her agitated state. She groped for the light switch. The school house fixtures barely lit the cavernous hallway. She walked down the passage to her office. Shadows danced on the walls.

The click of the rusty lock she’d inserted into the office door echoed in the quiet. She glanced over her shoulder down the hallway. Nothing.

In her office, Hollie’s familiar chipped tea mug positioned on the right side of her desk and the smell of lavender, used to calm her patients, soothed her jagged nerves. She inhaled the comforting scent, imagining she walked in bright sunlight through the purple French fields. She moved to the filing cabinet and the accumulated stacks of invoices and bills.

Staring at the bulging file, she wished she had hired an accountant. The problem was her system of bartering, discounting special rates for seniors or anyone who fostered abandoned pets didn’t fit on a spreadsheet.

With the heavy file in hand, she opened the door to her office. She heard a noise in the hall. Walking back to the heavy door, she peered down the hallway. “Mr. Lopez?”

No answer. Her nervous system was wacky from her treatment.

She needed to discuss her reaction to today’s treatment with Dr. Z. Her overstimulated response was similar to Mitzi’s. Instead of the deep sense of calm after acupuncture, like Mitzi, she was tense, edgy, hyper-vigilant.

She shut and locked her outer office door. The metal resisted. The old locks had to be replaced.

* * *

Weary after only an hour at her desk, Grayce stood, stretched and began to pack up the files. It was time to head home. The chamomile tea had relaxed her but also had made her sleepy, like the bear on the package.

She checked her cell phone one last time. Davis hadn’t texted to cancel their third official date. After their disagreement, she wished he had cancelled. Getting involved with him wasn’t a good idea. Who was she kidding? She was involved.

Fumbling with her keys in the hallway, she bent to lock the door. She could barely see the keyhole. The hall lights were out. A wave of fear surged through her body, settling in her feet, rooting her to the floor.

Just like on the wharf, danger seared down her spine. A draft of arctic cold rushed down the hallway. She straightened, pushing against the resistance of her tight lungs, frozen muscles and inert feet.

The fir floor creaked.

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