Touching Darkness Read Online Free PDF

he’d found something that was missing or if, like Nicholas, he still felt a little empty “Did he go into a trance when he was trying to find something?”
    â€œYeah. It was weird. I thought he was having a seizure, and his eyes went black. But it was a real gift, he had.”
    Weird. He remembered the first time he discovered his “gift.” He was fourteen, down at a lake where the kids were splashing and swimming. They’d moved to town by then, but he was having a hard time relating. He’d wanted to relate to Suzie, though, in the worst way. She’d started hollering that she’d lost her ring. It had been given to her by her grandmother, who was now dead. She was devastated, inconsolable.
    The next day Nicholas returned to the lake, determined to be her hero and find the ring. He felt it in his gut, that need, as though she were incomplete without it, and he could complete her by finding it. That need seemed to wake up his ability. He saw the flashes, the ring in the mud, the murky water, then his eyes snapped open and he looked right at a spot that seemed no different from any other spot. He dove in, scrabbling around in the mud before his fingers touched the smooth gold.
    When he presented it to her, she hugged him, kissed him, his first kiss. He wanted to do that again for her. He wanted another kiss. Did she have anything else she wanted him to find? She mentioned a pink sweater, her favorite. He made the mistake of going into his trance in front of her. He had no idea that his eyes went black, that his body twitched as the images flashed into his head. She was horrified, accusing him of being possessed by the devil like someone in a movie she’d seen. He didn’t think she’d told anyone about it, but she’d clearly indicated to her friends that he was strange, someone to keep as only a distant friend.
    After that, he’d never done it in front of someone else.
    â€œDid Dad have any other extraordinary skills?”
    â€œNot that I know of. Other than being smart and kind and honest, and, oh, so much more.”
    â€œWhat was he doing when he died?”
    â€œWorking in a classified government project. He couldn’t tell me what it was about, and being in the Army, I understood that.”
    â€œWas a man named Darkwell in charge?”
    â€œGosh, I don’t remember. Name sounds familiar.”
    In the distance, a gardener was desecrating a bush by cutting it into the shape of a bear.
    â€œBefore he died, did anything change in his behavior?”
    â€œHe had trouble sleeping, forgetting things, blanking out. He said he was just stressed. He was excited about the project, though, and the money was phenomenal. I told him it wasn’t worth it if it was stressing him that much. And there was something else, but I can’t talk to you about that.”
    â€œTell me. I’m a big boy.”
    She giggled. “He got real…amorous.”
    He took a breath. “Did he mention any medicines or vitamins he was taking?”
    â€œNo, he—wait, he did say they were getting some nutritional drink. He thought that’s why he had so much, er, energy.”
    Just like the Rogues had said. He wanted to tell her that was why his dad had started acting strange but didn’t want to scare her. The thought of something in his body that had changed him would freak her out. It was certainly freaking him out.
    â€œYou know, Nicky, I think Darkwell was the name of Bobby’s boss. He worked for the CIA. I thought it was pretty special that the CIA wanted him. They made arrangements to transfer him over and all. He was only twenty, in the Army for two years, when he was tapped for the program.”
    He was in the program for three years. Nicholas was contracted for two months, but he could see how the money and the opportunity to help his country in an exciting way could lure a man to stay longer.
    Darkwell had told him he’d met