Lesser Gods Ch. 10-13

She interrupted him, "I've heard it all. You're sorry. Please stay. I'm in danger. You and Enrique are broken records. Just take me home."

"If that is what you want." He walked over, reaching for her hand.

She pulled it away.

"I have to be touching you to transport you," he explained.

She put her hand out. An instant later they were in the foyer. Grey picked up her larger bag, and nodded to the other one. She bent to lift it and before she could straighten up, they were in her dingy apartment on Broad Street.

"It sure is faster than the airlines," she said quietly.

"Here are your wages, as laid out in the contract you signed," Grey said formally, handing her an envelope.

"You shouldn't pay me! I didn't do anything. It was all a fake. Take your money!" she pushed the envelope back in his chest.

"You deserve the pay you expected for taking the contract. I will be sending Travis to protect you. He will arrive in approximately thirty minutes." And with that Grey disappeared.

The envelope fell to the floor where he had been standing. Zoe picked it up and wondered if she would see him again, then shook her head and told herself, "You wanted to get away from him. Don't regret that decision already."

She turned around, looking at the apartment she had left only two weeks ago. It looked even shabbier than she remembered. She picked up her bags and carried them into the tiny bedroom. Tossing the suitcases on the bed, she started pulling open drawers and throwing her clothes in. Then she shoved the smaller case inside the larger one and pushed them both under the bed. Finally she opened the envelope and looked at the cash inside. It was all hundreds! There must be $10,000 here!

She sat on the bed, still looking at the money in the envelope. Finally she pulled out four of the bills and put the money in her underwear drawer. The rest she put back into the suitcase under her bed, intending to give it back to Grey when she saw him next...if she saw him again.

Checking her wallet, she saw she had enough to go to the store for some basic items, but thought she better take one of the hundreds so she could get enough to keep her and - what was his name...Trevor...no Travis - fed for a week or so. She headed out the door.

She had only gotten to the corner when a woman walking the other way while searching her purse bumped into her. In her mind's eye Zoe saw a little boy crossing in front of a school bus, and a car speeding around a corner hitting him. She gasped, causing the woman to turn and start to apologize for bumping into her.

Zoe interrupted to ask, "Do you have a little boy who rides the bus?"

The woman looked at her suspiciously and nodded.

"Watch him today, after school. Watch him cross the street. A car..."

The woman looked worried and hurried away. Zoe didn't feel like shopping anymore and turned to go home. As she went up the steps outside her building, her landlord stopped her. "Hey girl, I didn't think you'd be back for months yet."

"The job didn't work out," Zoe said, trying to get past him.

"You're still gonna have the rent, though? I'm not running no shelter." He said, not releasing her arm.

"Yeah, Isaiah, you'll have your rent on the first. Promise." She said, yanking her arm away.

He was just reaching to grab her again when a towering black man clamped a hand on his shoulder and spun him around like a toy. The stranger had his fist raised when Zoe yelled, "Stop, Travis! This is my landlord."

Travis dropped his hands immediately, and in a voice so deep it was just a rumble, said, "Sorry, man. Just watching out for the lady."

Isaiah backed away, hand behind him looking for the door knob, "Yeah, sure man. No problem." He ducked into the building and turned to rush down the hall into his own apartment.

"I took a wild guess that you were the Travis I was expecting," Zoe explained, putting out her hand in greeting, "Nice to meet you, but could you avoid beating up humans just because they touch me?"

He rumbled a reply, "Nice to meet you, Zoe. I thought he looked like he was trying to grab you, and that's what I'm here to prevent. I'll take your lead from here on."

"Come on in. You look pretty conspicuous standing out here," Zoe continued, turning to the door.

Travis laughed, a sound like distant thunder, "One of my gifts is to be unnoticed. I can stand in the middle of a Bris and no one would pay me a bit of attention."

Zoe stared at him, "Have you looked at you? You're about ten feet tall and just as wide! How could anyone not notice you?"

"Did you see me when you walked up here?" he asked, lifting one eyebrow.

"No," she answered, "you just came out of nowhere...Oh, I get it. You were here, but I didn't notice you until you grabbed Isaiah. That's pretty cool! If I had that power, I wouldn't need someone like you around, I could just go unnoticed."

"The folks who are after you wouldn't be fooled by something that simple. They can smell your power," Travis explained, "They would spot you in a coliseum of people. They might not see me though, if they aren't expecting me."

Zoe nervously looked around, then pulled open the door, "I think I'd feel better inside. Come on in."

Travis followed her to the first door past the mailboxes, where she inserted her key and opened the door. Once he entered the room, it felt even smaller, and she looked at her sagging sofa, wondering if it would collapse under his weight. He judiciously chose to sit in the wing chair instead.

"I went out for groceries, but I bumped into someone, and...well, I didn't get to the store. I don't have anything here," Zoe explained.

Pulling a huge backpack off, Travis answered, "don't worry about it. Mrs. Haskins sent lunch, which means she sent enough for three meals. We'll be fine for the rest of today." He proceeded to pull out two thermoses, a loaf of bread, a half gallon of milk, and a variety of sandwiches, fried chicken, and roast beef, as well as some butter, jelly, and sweet rolls.

"I'll just put that in the fridge," Zoe said, starting to pick up the items he'd set on the coffee table.

"Leave the chicken," Travis cautioned, "It's definitely best right away." He opened the container and breathed in the aroma. "Mmmm, have you tasted that woman's fried chicken? It's heavenly."

"It smells great, but I'm not hungry. I need to get on the internet and find a job. Can't live in this kind of luxury without an income, ya know," she said, sweeping an arm dramatically to indicate their surroundings.

Travis just nodded and pulled out a drumstick, which he devoured in three bites, moaning softly as he ate.

Zoe went to her room and grabbed her phone. Her only extravagance in a long time was buying this phone, and it didn't even work at Grey's mansion. She pulled up the websites for jobs and got a few possibilities, but nothing exciting. She called the temp agencies she had worked for to see if they had anything, and to let them know she was back in the market for work, but no one had anything right now.

She thought about all that money under her bed. She wouldn't have to find work for 6 months, longer if she was careful, if she used that, and Grey wanted her to have it. But she shook her head and told herself "no," it wasn't right, she hadn't earned it, and it was bad enough she was going to use a few hundred of it just to tide her over until she got work.

She propped herself up in the bed and dragged her journal out of her bedside table. She didn't write in it much, but she needed to put down some things about her life these days, just to help her think.

After documenting what she had learned about herself, her father, and her powers so far, she wrote down the "rules" as she understood them: Don't hurt people, and don't let them know you aren't human like them. Then she wrote the ways she could use her power to earn money. Obviously she could put out a sign as a reader and tell fortunes. She could help people that way, but would that be too much like letting them know her power? She wasn't sure that was the best idea.

Then she thought about predicting the lottery, or which horse would win at the races. Problem there was she wasn't much good at focusing in on particular information yet, and she couldn't see her own future, so she'd have to find the right people to read, and get a lot better at finding the data she wanted.

She thought about some of the crap jobs she'd had in the past, and tried to figure out how she could use her gift to make them better. One not-too-bad job she'd had was as a personal assistant to a mid-level manager. She was just filling in while his regular assistant had surgery, but she had hoped he might recommend her to some other execs, which he either didn't do, or they didn't need anyone right then either.

Her gift could make her a killer personal assistant. She could warn her boss away from dangers, anticipate his every need, prepare for every likely contingency. If she could get back into a position like that, she would be set up for life. Unfortunately, with the economy what it was, fewer personal assistants were needed, so the ones looking for jobs had better credentials than she did.

She hated working fast food. It was always her fall-back job, because those jobs were always available, because everyone hated them. She could go up to the corner and see four different chains she could work for. If she didn't have something by Thanksgiving, she'd do that, but for now, she was going to keep looking.

She was just putting the journal away when she heard the sirens. It sounded like a lot of sirens. She peeked out her window and could see the flashing red and blue lights reflecting off buildings down the street. Grabbing a jacket, she headed out to the living room.

"I want to see what all the commotion is about down the block. You comin'?" She asked Travis as she headed for the door.

"I'm stuck to you like glue," he said, coming to his feet and following her out.

The police and ambulances were stopped just around the corner from her place. A school bus was stopped there, too. Zoe tried to see what was going on, but there were already too many people gathered around. Travis winked at her and made his way past the crowd as if a force field moved ahead of him, parting the crowd. He returned with a solemn expression.

"A mom and her kid got hit by a drunk. Doesn't look good for either of them," he said with his back to the crowd.

Zoe remembered the mother she had bumped into that morning. Could this be the same woman? She started pushing her way through the crowd, ignoring the irritation of the people she shoved past, and refusing to see any of the images she could feel pressing against her consciousness. When she got to the front of the crowd she saw a woman being loaded on a stretcher. It was the same woman she had spoken to! The paramedic pulled the sheet over the woman's head.

Zoe started to cry, which quickly gave way to a wail as she realized this was her fault. She told the woman to watch out for her son getting off the bus, but she hadn't told her not to cross the street with him, and now the mother was dead, and the boy might be, too!

Strong arms guided her out of the crowd and back down the street to her apartment. Once inside, she felt a cup pushed into her hands and she drank automatically. She had settled back down to a quiet cry when Travis asked, "A friend of yours?"

Zoe hiccupped, then answered, "No. I saw her for the first time this morning, but I warned her to watch out when her son got off the bus today. I caused her to be in the street when the drunk driver hit her son, and now she's dead. I did this."

Travis squeezed her shoulder. "You didn't do this, the drunk did. You tried to save a little kid. You can't be responsible for what people do with the information you give them."

"Grey warned me not to tell everything I see, and Enrique warned me how interfering in the affairs of men could have negative consequences. I didn't listen, and I got her killed," Zoe said in a dead-pan voice.

"You didn't get her killed. These things happen, Zoe. I'm gonna call Grey, he can explain a lot better than I can..."

"No! I haven't even been gone a full day. You aren't calling Grey. I left because Grey...because I just can't think straight there. I don't want you to call him for every little mishap I have. In fact, I don't want you to call him for anything," Zoe said, starting to cry again.

"Okay, girl. Okay. I get it. Grey has that effect on women. He doesn't mean to. You're not the first," Travis said soothingly, patting her on the back gently.

"Great! That makes me feel so much better! Not only did he tell you about it, he does this with all the girls! That dirty swine! I never should have trusted him. What a fool I am. Those stupid visions..." she trailed off, feeling a little hysterical.

"I don't know what visions you're talking about," Travis continued soothingly, "but he really does care about you, even if he doesn't show it. He's just so busy with running all of North America that he doesn't have time to notice a pretty lady. Don't feel offended."

"What?" Zoe asked, looking at him confused.

"He cares. He isn't very good at showing it, till you get to know him and see how he cares about everyone. He never shows special interest in the women, or the men for that matter. He loves everyone like family," Travis explained.

"He didn't tell you about the visions?" Zoe asked in a little voice.

"He told me you're a seer. That he was having you practice on different people, but that you felt overwhelmed and needed some time to come to terms with your abilities," Travis answered, looking at her with concern.

"Oh," was all she said.

"You gonna tell me what you're talking about?" he asked her.

"No," she said, turning and going to her room. "I'm going to rest for a while."

Her mind was in a whirl. Grey never gave special attention to the women, but apparently the women regularly gave him special attention. With eyes like those, not to mention that body, of course he attracted attention. And he didn't say anything to Travis, or to Enrique for that matter.

But he would be disappointed in her for getting that woman killed. How could she know it would turn out like that? She should have stayed quiet, but she didn't want the little boy to get hurt. How was she going to deal with this power? It wasn't a gift, it was a curse!

Zoe sat on her bed and wallowed in her sorrow until she heard voices from the living room. They were low, male voices, too low for her to make out through the door. She opened it to find Travis sitting in the wing chair, leaning forward, but no one else in the room.

She cocked her head and asked, "Who were you talking to?"

"Just reporting in," he answered, sitting back in the chair and flipping his phone closed.

"I heard another voice. Who was here?" she persisted.

"No one. Just me," Travis replied, trying a little too hard to look innocent.

"You don't lie well, Travis. Who were you talking to?" she said, looking at him with her best impression of the TV mothers she'd seen catching their kids in lies.

He started to answer when a voice behind her said, "Me. He was reporting in to me."

She swung around to find Grey leaning on the counter of the kitchenette. He looked even more out of place in her crummy apartment than Travis did. He looked like he always did in his own home, but contrasted with the surroundings here, he looked especially handsome. It had only been about ten hours since he had left her here, but it felt like much longer.

"I got the impression you didn't want to see me, so I was honoring your wishes," Grey explained, "but I expect regular reports...to be sure you're safe and don't need anything."

"What I need is to be left alone! It's bad enough I have to have a babysitter," she waved her hand toward Travis, "but I have to have my whole life reviewed by you as well?" She wasn't sure why she was so upset, but knowing Grey was going to hear everything about her, while she wouldn't know what was going on with him, was totally unfair.

"We aren't reviewing your life," Grey said, "we are discussing your security. I understand you were upset by today's events. It isn't your fault when someone reacts to your warning, placing themselves or others in danger."

"And there's the proof! You were discussing my mistake. What does that have to do with security?" Zoe exclaimed.

"The use of your powers has everything to do with security. Every time you get a vision, the enemy can sense your power. You could possibly remain in the human world unnoticed if you could turn off the visions, but that would take quite a bit of practice," Grey explained.

"Hmph," Zoe replied, "I don't like being discussed. I want to be part of the report meeting, so I know what is being said about me."

"As you wish," Grey answered, a hint of a smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

"But I want them to be by phone," she continued, and his smile faded.

"It isn't any trouble for me to come here," he said, but at her stormy look he relented, "As you wish- by phone then." He stood straighter, saying, "I guess that's all for today. Have a peaceful night," then seemed to remember, "Oh, Zoe, Enrique sends his love. He went back to his regular post this afternoon. He said he would call you soon."

Zoe felt weird getting messages of love from Enrique via Grey. "Thanks," was all she could think to say.

Grey looked at her as if there was something he wanted to say as well, but instead he disappeared so suddenly she jumped.

Travis muttered, "Sorry, just following orders."

"Yeah, that's what they always say," she came back with, heading to her bedroom again. "I'm going to read then go to bed. I don't have a place for you to sleep comfortably, but I have some extra blankets if you want them."

"I'm fine," Travis answered. "I don't sleep much, and I never get cold. I'll keep the TV low. Goodnight."

Thirteen

Journal of a lesser god

She left. She doesn't want to see me, and only grudgingly is she even willing to speak to me. I don't know what I will do if she is captured by the enemy, which will be their intention the moment they sense her power. I have placed one of my best body guards with her, but he will only be able to do so much against the entire army of darkness. I will have others keep a watch from nearby, but if she catches them, she will accuse me of spying, and she may never trust me.

She had a bad experience today. It was bound to happen. She tried to prevent an accident, but only caused a different person to die. We will take special care of the little boy she saved, now that he is motherless, but she will not soon forgive herself. If she would just come back, I could teach her to use her gift properly, and to take these things to God instead of trying to handle them alone. My worry for her is unending.

*****

And so, the next week or so passed without issue. Zoe searched for work for a couple of hours every morning, then hung out with Travis in the afternoons and evenings. She had her best friend, Jenna, over one afternoon, and even though Travis sat right there in the living room with them the whole time, Jenna never mentioned him, or gave any indication she saw him. That seemed like a great power! Why hadn't Zoe gotten something like that instead of these stupid visions.

She was getting better at not seeing visions when she first looked at people, and could even stop them quickly after physical contact most of the time. Unfortunately, when she hugged Jenna, she saw her meeting a man, eventually marrying him, having a little girl, and then confronting him about an affair. Zoe didn't want to know these kinds of things about others and hoped she would soon be able to turn them off completely.