Until the Night Turns: Chapter 6

Trust & Betrayal (Edalyn)

As soon as she was out in the cool night air, Edalyn took a deep breath. It was just the relief her nerves needed after the chaos inside the pub. Erlend was right behind her. His tall frame felt surprisingly reassuring, not  intimidating like the man in the woods. She could feel him watching her closely, waiting for her direction on where to go next. 

They needed to talk openly about the abilities they hid from the world, but Edalyn didn't want to be alone with him. No matter how strongly her instincts wanted to trust him, she didn’t know him at all and after her encounter with the stranger in the woods, her guard was up. The smart move was to stay in public places. 

“We could go to Granville Island,” she suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” he told her.

They headed along 4th Ave West, down toward Granville Island,  where there were plenty of lights and busy storefronts to keep her feeling safe, and if they kept moving, no one was going to hear their words either. As they pushed through a loud crowd of drunken college students heading from one bar to the next, Erlend moved ahead of her, easily parting the crowd. She followed, jogging a bit to keep up. It must be nice to have people move out of your way all the time, Edalyn thought. But then again, she loved blending into a crowd, and she suspected that between his height and his fiery red hair, Erlend had difficulty doing that. When they reached the next block, the sidewalk had cleared enough they could walk side-by-side and Erlend slowed his pace to talk.

“That was, uh, some vision you had back there,” he said in a calm tone, as if he were commenting on a movie they'd just seen. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“Nor have I,” she admitted.

“Really? No one taught you how to do that?” He asked as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind his ears. The rest of his curly hair was pulled up in a perfectly messy bun that would make many women envious. 

Edalyn laughed at his question. Despite her best efforts to find a teacher, she’d never encountered another person with gifts like hers. 

“Nope. Is that how you learned to read minds? You had a teacher?” She asked.

He responded with a frown. “Well, no. I’ve been mindreading since I was a child. As I understand it, mindreading is a basic ability for our kind. But vision casting? Like, I said, I’ve never seen it done.”

Edalyn was so full of questions she didn’t know where to begin. What did he mean by ‘our kind’? How many others like him did he know? And if mindreading was a basic skill, what did it mean that she couldn’t do it?

“I’m overwhelming you, aren’t I,” he said.

Afraid he’d stop talking, Edalyn lied and shook her head. “Nope. I’m fine. Tell me more. How many other mindreaders do you know?”

Erlend smiled. “Oh, probably dozens. I’ve never counted.”

Edalyn couldn’t help the look of surprise that flashed across her face and a feeling of doubt crept over her. What if this man was just leading her on? How could he possibly know dozens of mindreaders if she didn’t know a single one?

“How does your mind reading work? Could you read all my thoughts if you wanted to?” She looked around to see if anyone was listening, but no one was near.

“Yes, if I wanted to, I could, but I’m not going to because I believe in boundaries.” They’d reached the final intersection before they had to walk under the Granville Bridge. Erlend reached out and pressed the walk button while Edalyn’s mind raced. She hated the idea that the man in the park might have heard her thoughts without her permission. That had been a violation of her privacy. But the fact that Erlend openly spoke about boundaries, made her want to test them to see if he was bluffing or not. Plus, she just wanted to know what it felt like. 

“If I give you permission to read my thoughts, would you show me how it’s done?” 

“Right now?” He asked in surprise. 

“Yes, now.” She crossed her arms and glared, daring him to try. 

He sighed, as if reluctant to do it. "Fine, be ready.” 

Edalyn could sense him inside her mind immediately, but she couldn’t tell what he was learning. His eyes were focused on hers and his direct gaze was disarming, but she couldn’t look away. Then the sound of his beating heart thumped loudly in her ears sending vibrations through her body, like a car driving past with the bass turned up too high. The crosswalk light came on and changed back to red again as they stood there. To anyone watching, it might have seemed like they were lovers staring into each other’s eyes, ignoring the world passing by around them. 

Edalyn distracted herself by looking at the grey dust that still clung to Erlend’s hair, making him look older than his face suggested. He was going to have a heck of a time washing it out later, which made her wonder if he had to duck to get under the water in most showers. Someone so tall probably needed custom made things. Edalyn immediately cursed herself for those thoughts when she realized he’d probably see it all. As if he sensed her distress, Erlend looked away, but not before she saw a flicker of a smile on his lips.

“Well? What did you see?’ Edalyn asked, hoping he didn’t mention the last bit. Erlend hit the crossing button again, before speaking.

“That mural was your mother’s masterpiece and the last thing she painted before she died. You just lost your strongest connection to your mother, and you don’t even know how you did it. Neither do I, but you shouldn't feel guilty, Edalyn. It was an accident.” 

Edalyn was speechless. He was telling the truth. She hadn’t expected him to read her mind so quickly or accurately. When the light turned green and the walk signal was back, she stepped ahead, hoping he didn’t see the tears collecting in her eyes. It was possible that he'd heard about her mother’s work somewhere else, but there was only one way he could know about the guilt that was growing in her heart. This was her proof that he indeed had special abilities too. The knowledge thrilled her, despite the ache in her heart. Her grief over her mother’s artwork would have to wait. What she needed now was to get as much information out of this man before he had a chance to slip away into the night along with his answers.

Edalyn wiped her eyes as he fell in stride beside her again.

“As I said, I don’t automatically hear everyone’s thoughts,” he reminded her. “I have to seek them out, and I’d rather just talk to you instead of prying into your mind.”

Edalyn was relieved by his words. It seemed that he really was intent on answering her questions, seeing how he could have easily ran away from her by now. 

“I’m curious about the mural,” Erlend said, interrupting her silence. “I’ve never seen such impressive trees before. They looked like a twisted cross between a beech tree and a redwood.”

“Yes, it was beautiful.” Edalyn wanted to say more, but the words were caught in her throat. She willed her tears to disappear.

“Did your mother paint it from a memory of somewhere she’d been?” He suggested.

Edalyn shook her head. Her mother grew up on the prairies before moving to Vancouver. She’d never travelled outside of Canada, let alone somewhere exotic like the mural suggested. What her mother loved most was to paint fantastical imagery, from dragons to water sprites to rich landscapes that viewers only wished they could visit. But Erlend was not the only person who hoped the woods were a real place. Many customers posted photos of the mural to social media, speculating on where the image was and pining to find the real location.

“No. It definitely came from my mother’s imagination,” she told him.

Erlend said nothing more about the mural as Edalyn led him down a side street instead of toward the market. They stopped outside a small gelato place.

“Care for dessert?” She asked.

The shop consisted of a long bar with two dozen decadent flavours. Edalyn chose her favourite, hazelnut, while Erlend chose espresso and insisted on paying. As they left the store, paper cups of gelato in hand, Edalyn decided Erlend had proved himself to be trustworthy enough that she could let her guard down, just a little. The man on the trail had been right about one thing. She was tired of hiding.

They wandered over to the docks where they watched the boats rock in their slips and the lights of downtown slowly light up across the water. It was not even half past seven and the sun was just approaching the horizon, casting a glow on the water’s surface. Dusk was on its way. Edalyn suggested they stop to enjoy the view while they ate. They sat down on a metal bench and Erlend cleared his throat to speak again. 

“Why did you initially think it was me who cast that vision?” Erlend asked. 

“My visions usually come when I’ve touched something, or someone.” She held up her left hand and wiggled her fingers in the black lace gloves. 

“That’s why you wear the gloves?” He asked.

“Yes. But you see, all I did was look at you. Then the vision came on so strongly, and so real too, it was like the wall came alive before it crumbled.” Edalyn wondered if she hadn’t fainted if she’d have been able to enter the vision herself and run through the giant trees.

“It did come alive,” Erlend confirmed. “I felt the branches push past me,” he told her, rubbing his arms as if recalling the place where he’d felt them.

Edalyn froze. She’d meant it as an illusion, not a physical conjuring. 

“Did anyone else see it?” She asked, the old fear of being discovered flooding through her.

“No,” he said in a voice so confident, she believed him. He was a true telepath, so he’d have known what everyone was thinking. Even so, the news didn’t make her feel better. She could imagine people sitting inside the pub, whispering and putting the clues together, as her thoughts spiralled.

“Edalyn, those people back there are not like us. They don’t see something like a wall falling down and think it was magic or supernatural. Trust me, your secrets are safe.” 

She looked up at him in surprise. How did he know the exact words to comfort her? “Are you invading my thoughts? I thought you had boundaries.” She demanded.

“I do,” he insisted. “It’s just that… well, you’re practically screaming some of your emotions at me. It’s hard to ignore.”

Edalyn looked away feeling mortified by this knowledge. 

“The good news is I can teach you to shield your thoughts, if you want to learn. I suspect you’ll figure it out fast. I was a slow learner much to my mother’s annoyance,” Erlend said with a smirk as if he were amused by his own memories.

Edalyn didn’t understand what was so funny, she was too busy wondering what it was like to have a mother who knew your abilities well enough to offer instruction.

“Could your mother read minds too?” She asked.

“Yes. Our gifts usually pass from at least one parent,” Erlend told her. “Which one was yours?”

“Neither,” Edalyn sighed. No one in her immediate family had them. Her grandparents had tried hard to trace her powers in the family tree but they never found anything. 

Erlend was frowning again.

“What did your parents say when you started having visions?”

Edalyn grimaced. She dreaded explaining her family story. “Nothing,” she told him.  “They died when I was three.”

“I’m so sorry, Edalyn,” Erlend whispered. His expression immediately softened and Edalyn felt her nerves melt away.

“It was an accident. They were in the car together.” Edalyn had been so young, she hardly had any memories of them, only a short home video on DVD her grandfather made during a summer visit when she was two and a photo album. “It’s hard to feel sorry about what I don’t remember having,” she said with a sigh.

All their discussion about family made her suddenly desperate to talk about anything else. “So, what is it that you do with your mindreading talents? Do you work for the government?” 

Erlend didn’t argue with the change in topic.

“They wish. No, my job is rather ordinary. I work for an investment company called Eilif Inc.”

Edalyn giggled. 

“Why is that funny?” He asked in surprise.

“I didn’t expect you to have a desk job. I thought you’d say secret spy or therapist at least,” she said with a shrug. 

“I think that might be an abuse of power,” Erlend countered.

“Okay, fine, what do you do then?” 

“I give money to help sustainable startups across Canada get their ideas off the ground. At least that's what Eilif Inc. does. I’m one of the account managers,” he explained.

“And is that as exciting as it sounds?” Edalyn teased.

“Well, it has its days,” he admitted with a grin. “But that’s just our work on paper. The company I work for has many layers, you could say.” There was a glint in his eye that suggested he was holding something back. 

“What are the other layers?” Edalyn asked eagerly.

He hesitated by scraping the remains of his gelato out of the paper cup. “If I tell you, I’m not sure you’ll believe me,” he said.

Edalyn rolled her eyes.

“I have visions and you read minds,” she reminded him, “you couldn’t possibly shock me.” 

He seemed to weigh her words as he watched her.

“Alright, I’ll tell you.” He said, tossing the now empty cup into the trash can that was a few feet away. It was an impressive shot, but Edalyn had no time to react as he launched into his explanation. “The other part of our mandate is to recruit people like you and me,” he said slowly. “Our boss values talents like ours and offers meaningful work where we don’t have to hide who we are all the time.”

If he didn’t look and sound so serious, Edalyn would have thought he was messing with her. A secret company run by witches and mindreaders. Edalyn thought it sounded too good to be true. But there was something he said that reminded her of her encounter on the trail.

“Is your boss tall and blonde?”

“No,” Erlend said with an amused smile. “Why do you ask?”

Edalyn wondered how much she should share. Was it coincidental that on the day she finally met another being like herself she met two of them? Or were they somehow connected? She wouldn’t know unless she told Erlend everything. He listened intently as she described her midday run and the encounter with the man in the woods. At the end, he was visibly angry.

“There’s only one of us that could be, and he cannot be trusted.” Erlend scowled.

“Who?”

“His name is Nevin. He works for The Pretorium Group. That’s the spy network you were hoping for. They have no boundaries and will spy, blackmail, and infiltrate organizations to suit their needs.”

Edalyn thought he sounded like a movie villain more than anything. 

“And your office full of psychics and witches are the good guys?” Edalyn couldn’t help but imagine a group of women in flowy dresses, wild hair, and crystals around their necks sitting at a board room table.

But Erlend scoffed. “Who said anything about witches?”

“Well, what else would you call us?” Edalyn asked in surprise. It seemed obvious to her. But his frown and scrutinizing gaze made her feel silly for suggesting it.

“If you really want a label, we call ourselves the Hidden Ones. Not because of what we are but how we operate in this world: covertly,” Erlend explained.

Edalyn knew she should feel excited by what Erlend was telling her but she was disappointed by his dismissal of her witch theory. The Hidden Ones was hardly an original label. It sounded too administrative. 

“How can I trust what you say?” She asked.

Erlend surprised her by offering his hand to her. 

“Take off your gloves and see for yourself,” he told her.

Edalyn froze. Holding someone’s bare hand revealed everything. No secret was safe from her gaze. Yet here he was, offering his hand freely. He clearly didn’t know how powerful she was. Or maybe he was testing her. Her curiosity burned, but she resisted. If he had boundaries, she could have them too. Besides, she wasn’t ready to demonstrate all her gifts just yet.

“No, I can’t,” she told him. “Not here.” She scraped her cup clean before getting up to toss it in the trash.

The sun was kissing the horizon and the darkness of night would soon surround them. Edalyn wanted to be home with a hot tea. She even considered inviting Erlend up to her apartment to continue talking. 

Xo“Shall we walk some more?” Edalyn suggested with the intention of leading him to her building and deciding what to do next when they reached her door. 

“Fine with me,” he said, standing up again.

Edalyn was once again surprised by just how tall he was. He probably had people tell him that every day, just like people commented on her gloves everywhere she went.

“Tell me about your mother,” Edalyn pleaded. She was curious about what it was like to have a relative who understood their abilities.

“My mother’s a fine woman. I haven’t seen her in many years though,” Erlend said with a sigh. “She’s always been supportive of me, no matter my endeavours.”

Edalyn smiled at the idea of a loving and supportive mother. “And she taught you how to use your powers?”

“To some extent, yes,” Erlend admitted. “But she keeps her secrets too.”

“What kind of secrets?" Edalyn asked, wondering what more there could be to learn about Erlend and his family. 

He glanced down at her with a doubtful expression. 

“Do you really want to know?” He asked.

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.” They were making good time walking back to her apartment, so she slowed her pace deliberately. She wanted to gather as much information from him in case he declined her invitation inside and she never saw him again. But her gut told her that wouldn’t be so. This was the start of a friendship that felt bigger than she could yet imagine. 

“You might think I’m crazy,” he said, tucking that loose strand of hair behind his ear again.

“Try me,” Edalyn grinned. 

“She refuses to tell me where she comes from,” Erlend said.

Edalyn felt her eyebrows rise in surprise. “That’s it?”

“I don’t mean, like, her hometown or country of birth. I mean…her home world,” Erlend said, staring straight ahead and refusing to meet her gaze.

Alarm bells rang in Edalyn’s head at the words home world and she wondered if her intuition misled her all night.

“What do you mean?” She asked, hoping what he said next restored her confidence in him.

“Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I’m convinced the Hidden Ones are not of this world. I’ve heard snippets of conversations around the office that allude to another place. My mother claims to be Icelandic, but Icelanders keep meticulous genealogy records and I’ve done my research. There is no record of her before she married my father. And…” He paused, glancing nervously at Edalyn, as if wondering if he’d said too much. Edalyn did her best to keep her face neutral. “I’ve had these recurring dreams since I was a child of a forest, unlike anything I've found on earth. The trees are impossibly tall with massive trunks and thick, gnarly roots. I’ve explored forests the world over and found nothing even remotely close to the woods I explore each night in my sleep. None, that is, until tonight."

Edalyn’s heart was racing. He was right, it did sound crazy. She wanted to dismiss his story as pure fantasy, but deep in her bones she knew there was something there, not about his mother or other worlds, but the link between the mural and his dreams. But how could he have a connection to her late mother that way? 

“I want to believe you,” she said in a low, shaky voice, “but what you’re saying is impossible.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said so much,” he said, shaking his head. 

Edalyn wanted to reach out and touch his arm to let him know she wasn’t scared, but something he’d said stuck in her mind.

“You said your mother is Icelandic? Like, right from Iceland?” With a name like Erlend, she should have clicked that he was an Icelandic-Canadian like her. 

“Well, my father was born there. My mother married him there and then they moved to Canada together, to a tiny prairie town you’ve probably never heard of called Alfborg.”

A shiver ran up Edalyn’s spine at the mention of Alfborg. How could Erlend be from her hometown? Surely she’d remember him, even if he was a few years older. She guessed he was around thirty years old at the most. Her mind raced as it wondered what it could all mean. The mural, his dreams, the man in the woods, Alfborg, it had to be interconnected, but how? And why? 

They were only a block away from her apartment now, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to invite him inside anymore.

“I understand if you don’t believe me. I don’t even know what I believe anymore,” he said with a heavy sounding sigh.

When they reached the corner across from her place, she stopped walking and he paused beside her.

“This is all too much to take in, Erlend. I hardly know you. How can I trust you haven’t made all this up based on what you saw in my thoughts?” 

“You could always see for yourself,” he said, extending his hand.

Here he was, once again offering her his hand willingly.

“Are you sure?” She asked, giving him the chance to change his mind.

“Quit stalling,” he said with a grin.

His eyes watched her closely, as if anticipating her touch, but there was no sign of nervousness in them. 

Edalyn slipped her gloves into her pocket and wrapped her bare hands hands around his. She marvelled at his long, slender fingers just as the images came washing over her like the incoming tide crashing over rocks. 

What Edalyn saw was unlike anything she’d experienced before. She felt like she was in a storm. Many images flew at her at once, and none of them made any sense. She saw Erlend tending to sheep and threshing wheat like he was in an old-time movie, then she saw him in a vintage military uniform, caked in mud, sitting in a wet trench while explosions rattled the vision on all sides. Next, she saw him standing on massive stages performing in various venues, his fashion changing with the decades, like it was a montage in a rock band documentary. Interspersed with the memories were flashes of the forest he mentioned. She saw Erlend running through the trees as a young boy, a teenager, and finally an adult. Each time the first scene she saw matched her mother’s mural exactly. 

The last images she saw were the most surprising. It was Erlend standing next to her godfather, looking at a tablet with her face on it. Then Erlend sitting in an apartment with a blonde woman and short haired man she recognized from the grocery store the day before. The apartment was the one across from her building, the very one they were standing in front of.

When Edalyn finally pulled away, she was so confused by what she’d seen that she wondered if he was indeed playing tricks with her. How could he have memories from times before he was born? How did he know her godfather? And why was her face on a tablet? Edalyn looked at him closely. He had one of those faces that appeared stern on the surface, but completely transformed to warmth when he smiled. He had faint lines at the corners of his eyes, but that was the only hint of age. If the images she saw had been true memories, he’d be fully grey and using a walker by now. 

Those visions were confusing enough, but it was the final flashes that stoked her anger. Erlend had lied. He knew exactly who she was, yet he acted as though their paths had crossed by chance.

“You’ve been watching me,” she said quietly.

“More like researching you, but yes.” He didn’t even try to deny it.

“You lied to me,” she said, feeling her anger rising.

“I’m trying to protect you.” 

Edalyn gave him her coldest stare. 

“How dare you. I don’t need protection. Tonight was just a setup. A clever setup that I cannot believe I fell for.” 

“Edalyn, it’s not what you think—” he tried to say, but she cut him off before he could say anything more. She had no interest in his excuses. She had lowered her guard and he’d betrayed her trust.

“I’m going home now because that's my building across the street, but you already knew that,’ she said through gritted teeth.

“Don’t even think about following me.”

“As you wish,” Erlend said, holding his hands up in surrender.

Edalyn walked away quickly without looking back once. She wanted to be as far away from Erlend as possible. Once she was inside her building and had ensured the front door was latched, she ran up the stairs to her apartment and bolted the door. She went to the living room and sank into her couch, fighting back the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Two different powerful beings were following her. Each was interested in her abilities, both tracing her real identity, even though she was diligent in covering her tracks. She’d never felt so exposed in all her life.

Her gut wanted to believe Erlend, but how could she if he was lying to her while spying on her? And what was his connection to her godfather? If Erlend was working for him, he didn’t seem to be aware of her relationship to his boss. Edalyn’s head was spinning from all the unanswered questions and there was only one solution. Call her godfather. She didn’t care that it was after midnight in his time zone. She needed answers and she couldn’t sleep until she had them.