Excerpt: Echoes

Suddenly, Oliver was blocking his path to the door. Kit looked over his shoulder as if to confirm that he had indeed moved from the chair. It was empty. He looked back at Oliver, tilting his head up slightly to look at him in the face. 'How did you do that? I never even saw you move...or heard you.'
'Do you still have that card I gave you?'
Baffled at the direction the conversation was headed, Kit nodded his head. 'Yeah. Why?'
'Do you have it on you now?'
Again, Kit nodded. Then remembering Oliver couldn't see him he went to reply verbally but Oliver spoke before he could.
'Hmm. Interesting. Very interesting.'
'You keep saying that. Repeating it doesn't make it sound less creepy. Can I go now?'
'I don't think that would be a good idea. If you could just bear with me for a few more moments. I believe there's something you should know about yourself. I am sure I'm right about you, I'm rarely wrong, but I'd like more proof before I come to an absolute conclusion.' He stepped away from the door to open it briefly, calling for Delia to come into the room.
She entered, shutting the door behind herself. She looked at them both before settling her gaze on Oliver. 'You need me?'
'Our friend Christopher here seems to be having some problems with dreams. I need to see what he's been dreaming.'
'Are you sure you want me to...?'
'Go on. You're perfectly capable.'
She turned back to Kit with a determined look on her face and pushed the glasses back up her nose by the bridge.
Kit stepped back from the both, flinging his hand out in front of him as he protested. 'Wait, what exactly are you planning to do to me?'
Delia answered, 'Just a simple spell, nothing to worry about. At least I don't think so...'
'Oh, that makes me feel so much better! Spell? What the hell are you people anyway?'
'I'm sort of a witch....kind of,' she said, looking embarrassed by her admission.
'Nothing to be ashamed of, my dear,' Oliver told her. 'I've told you before, you should be proud of your abilities.'
Delia blushed and looked down. Kit wondered what the deal was with those two. Oliver seemed much older, but it was fairly obvious Delia had thing for him.
Oliver turned to him. 'There's nothing to be afraid of, Christopher. Delia's done this spell many times before. There's only a very slim chance that she would accidently turn you into an octopus.'
Kit looked back to Delia. The girl wasn't even cracking a smile. The octopus thing had to have been a joke. Right? Suddenly, Kit wasn't so sure. 'Uh-uh. No way. Absolutely not.'
Oliver took a step closer to him. 'Christopher, you came to me for help. You did the right thing, believe me. If you leave here now there's a good possibility that those gentlemen from before will turn up again, probably sooner rather than later. I think you better know what you're up against before you go back out there. But if you want my help, you're going to have to trust me. Can you do that?'
Kit battled with indecision. Something was going on with him and he wasn't sure what it was. He knew one thing for certain; he couldn't take many more nights like he'd been having. The dreams were sapping every bit of strength from him. He felt like he hadn't slept in days. If he didn't do something soon so that he could get a decent night's rest then he'd collapse from exhaustion. Oliver sounded like he knew what he was talking about. On the other hand, he didn't know Oliver any more than those guys that had zapped him with whatever the hell that had been. And, quite frankly, he didn't seem any less weird either. Not to mention, the slim chance of being turned into an octopus was not a comforting thought. Then again, if he were an octopus perhaps he'd finally get some sleep. And maybe being an octopus wasn't all that bad. He wasn't sure; he didn't know any octopuses to ask. Or was it octopi?
It was a measure of his exhaustion that he was even having this stupid of a conversation with himself. Finally, he said, 'Ok. Work your mojo or whatever. I just don't care anymore,' and he flopped back into the chair he'd been sitting in before and closed his eyes. He heard someone step in front of him and opened one eye to see Delia standing there, looking down at him.
'You can keep your eyes closed,' she said. 'In fact, it's usually better if you do. Less confusing that way.'
'How exactly does this work?' he asked her, still with one eye trained on her.
She shrugged her delicate shoulders. 'I don't know how it works,' she said. 'It's magic. I only know how I do it. It might be different for others. Are you ready to begin?'
He closed his open eye and tried to relax. 'As ready as I'll ever be, I guess.'