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dresses like a skeleton? I hear he’s roaming around the city right now. Originally I was going to cancel our lunch, but I figured, since you’re … you know…” She lowered her voice significantly, “ neutral , that we wouldn’t be targets. So we’re safe.”
    “Yeah, totally safe,” I said, more to myself than her. I knew he was coming for me. Whether or not he would kill me, I had no idea. So, to my dismay, the hospital would have to do without me for a while.
    I had been running all my life. I’d run from my family, from my hometown, from my past. I was so used to being betrayed that nothing shocked me. If Lucia had suddenly pulled out a knife and stabbed me in the chest, I wouldn’t have even flinched. My own happiness and good feelings were unimportant, after all. People in need – in need of cheering up, of a boost, of a spirit lift – took precedence, always. Why use it for myself when I could save lives with it?
    “I still can’t believe you bailed on Finn Cole ,” Lucia gushed, breaking my reverie. From the corner of my eye, I saw a head snap up. I brushed it off as paranoia. “You have to be the first girl in history to do that. What is it about him that freaks you out so much, anyway? Is it the smoke thing? Because I can see how that would come off as creepy.”
    “He’s just … I don’t know … boring. Too nice.” It was a lame excuse, but it was the only one I could come up with. I didn’t do ‘nice’ guys. Nice guys usually fixated on mending people, and I was in no way looked to be mended. The skeletons in my closet were very happy were they were, thanks very much. “Was he mad when he couldn’t find me later on?”
    She shrugged. “If he was, he didn’t show it. I left just before eleven, anyway, and he was chatting up some other girl then. So, if I had to guess, I’d say no.”
    “Good.” I meant it. Someone like Finn Cole didn’t take a genuine interest in someone like Felicity Eastwood. Most likely, he’d seen me as an easy lay, and gone for it. Either that, or he had been drunker than I remembered.
    Lucia’s ongoing stream of chatter was easy enough to get through with minimal ‘oh, yeah?’s and ‘mm-hmm’s. When she visibly saddened at the mention of her dog Bruno, who’d had to be put to sleep a few months back, I briefly considered sending a shot of sunshine her way. One brush of the hand would do it. Hell, she probably wouldn’t even notice.
    But I’d sworn to myself, all those years ago, that I would never use my power on someone too close to me. It was the reason I distanced myself from the patients at the hospital, and the reason I didn’t let many people know of my power. Just the essentials: my doctor, Lucia, and my next-door neighbor, who’d once overheard me discussing the power with Lucia, and who had only agreed to keep quiet about it after I wrote him a check for five hundred dollars.
    I’d learned the hard way that people could easily become addicted to my power. It was a drug in its own right – the power to unleash your happiest thoughts, increase luck and confidence, and boost your morale for a long period of time. Which is why I kept a tight lid on it for everybody, including myself. Anything more than a burst of the stuff could send a person off the edge – again, I’d learned that the hard way.
    So, really, it was inevitable that Achilles was coming for me. He’d had a taste of pure happiness, and now he’d be coming to get another. The best plan was to sit tight and wait for enough time to pass so the effects of my power would have worn off. It had been foolish of me, to do what I did in the hospital, but I didn’t regret it. My conscience was stronger than that.
    “Felicity? Are you feeling okay?” Once more, Lucia broke my concentration. Thank goodness, too, because I was dipping into memories I didn’t care to revisit. Her coffee-colored eyes searched mine with concern.
    “Oh, yeah. A bit tired, is all. I haven’t been out