When I was a prisoner of the army, I developed claustrophobia. After my accident last fall causing me to get trapped, it had gotten worse. I started seeing a psychiatrist. After the panic attack I had the other day, I wanted to make sure I didn't miss my appointment with Dr. Becket. We had a few days before we would see any more thiefts. It had been an interesting session, not only including that but me going back to Hartdale and seeing everyone who had thought I was dead. While I had been in my appointment, I'd received a phone call and had ignored it. When I checked who called after, I wished I hadn't. Quickly, I called Hartdale Hospital back. "This is Sean Reilly returning your call." "We wanted to let you know Michael Eden woke up and wanted to speak to you," the woman on the other end said. I relaxed a little. "How's he doing?" "Quite well, but he only wants to speak with you. No police." "I'll be there as soon as I can." I called the station and let them know. Thompson wasn't happy that I'd be talking to him alone. He wanted an official statement, and I assumed Smith would too. I promised I'd try to convince Mike to talk with the police. It was still difficult to be at the hospital. I avoided the elevator and took the stairs again. Mike was still hooked to all sorts of monitors and looked terrible. But he smiled when he saw me. "Jesse, it's good to see you. " I forced a smile in return. "It's good to see you too. How are you doing?" I sat down in one of those horrid chairs that hospitals provide for visitors. "I feel like crap. But I'm not the one who died." Why had they told everyone that? "Sorry. I wasn't given a choice. The army took me into custody. I didn't think it would be a good idea to contact anyone in case they were watching." "I know. I didn't believe you were dead. Then I saw you online and knew you were okay." "How did you know it was me? Even Tif thought she was imagining it." "She thought you were human. I knew better." "How? And why didn't you say anything?" I was always so careful. How did I mess up? "You saved my life, man." "I did?" "When you let me stay with you. I was so messed up back then. Everybody thought I turned my life around when my dad died, but it started when I stayed with you. It was because of you. “I never talk about my mom. I don't really remember her. She ODed when I was little. I used to think my problems were because of her. They are, but not because she did drugs while she was pregnant. She was a mage. So am I. I'm an empath, and I can see through glamours. I never understood what was wrong with me, why I was different. I thought it was all from the drugs or the medication the doctors put me on to help me. I didn't know magic was real. “When we met, I could see through your glamour. I didn't understand what I was seeing, only that you weren't human, and no one else saw that. But I knew I could trust you. When I stayed with you, I saw you cast a few times when you thought I was asleep." "You saw me cast, and it didn't freak you out?” "At first it did but when I thought more about it, it explained so much. If someone else could use magic, why couldn't I? And I saw you without your glamour. I could see through it, but I could also see it. I thought I was seeing things. But then you didn't have it one night. It wasn't for long, and you went into the other room. You said something in a strange language, and you came out a little later looking like you normally do. I decided it couldn't all be in my head. "I talked to my dad after that. He hadn't known what to think about my mom so he didn't know how to help her or me. She did the drugs to try to suppress the magic. My dad worried I would too so he took me to all those doctors and was willing to put me on anything they recommended.” “Some of the medications they use for whatever they think the magic really is magic as can aggravate any problems the magic can cause,” I said. I’d seen it before with one of the people I tried to help but he wouldn’t listen. “I could tell that and would refuse to take those. Dad wouldn’t listen. He thought I didn’t give them enough time to work. That’s why I left home.” “I wish I’d known. Maybe I could have helped and saved you some of the trouble.” “You did help. I told you that. Once I saw you and heard you casting, I went to the library to try to figure out what I saw. Nothing was fully accurate from what I’d seen of you. But I was able to get a good idea. It helped me understand myself a little more. I was able to connect with other mages online. I can cast now a little. Not much. It wears me out to do it. “And I was able to reconnect with my dad before he died. I didn’t tell him about you, only I understood my problems better and I was able to show him the magic was real.” That was good enough news, I almost relaxed. My smile was genuine now. “I’m glad to hear it. When you left even though you didn’t have a place to stay, I worried about you.” “Most of my time was at the library, from opening to closing. At first, they didn’t know what to make of me since they knew I was homeless. But I was so busy studying and never caused trouble, they decided I was trying to help better myself and they shouldn’t stop me, as long as I continued not causing problems. At night, I found places. It wasn’t bad. “So, what happened to you? I tried to follow you online, but most information was rumors.” I told him about getting captured and studied by the army and then being sent to Sandlake where I became a police consultant. “So that’s why you look like you might bolt at any moment,” Mike guessed. I nodded. “Hospitals remind me of all the equipment I was hooked up to.” “So you want to go?” I shook my head. “I want to visit with you. I’m glad you’re okay. We’ve been helping the police here investigate a string of thefts. When I heard Ted’s was hit, I feared the worst about you.” “I’ll be fine. It’ll just take a while.” “The nurse that called me said you didn’t want to talk to the police. If you know something, it might help us catch them. If you want, I can be here with you.” “Thanks. We’ll see. It’s not so much that I won’t talk to them. I wanted to talk to you first. It isn’t anything I saw, but what I felt. But how can I tell them I sensed magic and people coming into my shop and not get locked up for being crazy?” “They’ll believe you. I cast for them. They’ve seen magic. They know it’s real. The question is, do you want them to know you know magic?” “As long as they can be discrete.” “I’ll talk to them. But I can’t make any promises. This isn’t the department I work for. Should I call them?” Mike nodded. I made the call. They would come shortly. “There’s one thing I should tell you before they get here,” Mike said as we waited. “About the theft?” “No. Last fall, I saw another elf. From what I’ve read online, you’re the only elf left. But last fall, there was one on the news. She’d been kidnapped. They claimed she’d been forced to dress up but I could tell it wasn’t a costume. I was debating telling you because she’s a dark elf and you’re a light one. My research says you don’t get along but since it’s only the two of you I thought you should know.” “She’s Unseelie. I’m Seelie. We don’t usually use dark and light. And we’ve met. I was at the station the night she was found. And we’d been talking online before that without realizing who the other was. We get along decently.” “Good. Being alone isn’t easy.” Mike gave his statement to Adler and Stoll. He had sensed the magic being cast but hadn’t realized what was going on until he felt the thieves in the shop. He only saw one briefly before being knocked out by drugs. He couldn’t give any better description than we already had.