Maddy and Max - Psychic Twins Ch. 01

CHAPTER ONE

"Maddie, I don't think this is a good idea." I protest for the millionth time to my identical twin sister, who is older than me by just three minutes, as I watch her primp in front of the mirror.

Her long fiery red curls hang in perfect ringlets to the bottom of her back, stopping just above the jean mini skirt she is wearing. She has a black silk tank top on that shows her toned abs and her belly button ring. Her exotically slanted green eyes have black eyeliner perfectly applied around them making them pop in her heart shaped face. Her full lips have dark brown matte lipstick that she forms into a pout as she gazes at herself excitedly in the mirror.

"Oh, come on Max!" She exclaims in irritation. "It is our eighteenth birthday and I want to do something adventurous for once! Going to The Ancient Tower tonight will be fun, I promise! You have heard all the rumors that it is a paranormal hotspot! It's perfect for two psychics' like us!"

"You know Uncle Lincoln will punish us big time if we get caught!" I try to appeal to her tiny responsible side. "Our fake ID's probably won't work anyways and who says they will even let us in the door Maddie? They have bouncers at the entrance!"

"I want to find other gifted people like us Max!" Maddie turns to me seriously. "We live in New Orleans; the paranormal capital of the world and we have never met another person like us! How lame is that?"

"Alright, fine." I drop my gaze from her earnest expression with a sigh.

I step up to the mirror now that Maddie has moved on to zipping up her knee-high black leather boots. Maddie and I are total opposites in every way. She is a bold extrovert that craves danger and excitement while I am so shy it is nearly painful. I am happy just curled up with a good book.

Unlike my twin, I am wearing a white lacy sleeveless dress that swirls around my knees. My makeup is in naturally flattering tones that give me a much more innocent look that my sister. On my feet are dainty white heeled sandals.

I have always been comfortable living in my sister's shadow. She leads the way and I happily follow along next to her. She has always been fiercely protective of me, which to be honest, probably just enables me to be even more bashful.

Maddie dated a few guys while we were in high school, but I felt too different than all the other kids in school. The fact that my sister is telepathic and can read everyone's minds doesn't faze her at all. She uses it to her advantage when she is dating someone.

Me on the other hand, feel like a circus freak compared to other people my age. I learned from a very young age not to touch anyone or anything because it brings on a vision. How can I date someone when I can't even touch them?

Maddie and I have always been able to communicate with each other telepathically. I just can't imagine how other people get along without that ability. We aren't telepathic with our Uncle Lincoln, but we aren't that close to him. Our dad wasn't gifted like us and we know next to nothing about our mother due to the fact that she died when we were born.

Our mother was attacked while she was pregnant with us and never survived it. She was placed in a medically induced coma until our birth months later and Dad pulled the plug, letting her go.

Maddie says she doesn't think Mom was gifted like us after listening in to Dad's thoughts for so many years so we don't know where our abilities come from. Dad never knew and neither does Uncle Lincoln.

My visions have saved one life and helped many others over the years. My visions have always come to fruition and have never led me astray. When we were in first grade, I had a vision that a girl in our class ran out into the street from the playground where she got hit by a car. I remembered hearing a boy on the playground scream the 'F' word just as the girl headed for the street. That is what saved her life. Maddie and I managed to push her out of the way of the car in time.

I have had visions of the same four men since I was just a small girl. The visions have never given me any information about them. I never hear them speak. I don't know their names. I just know for a certainty that Maddie and I will meet them someday and that two of them want to harm us, I just don't know which two.

Last night I watched one of them attack Maddie in a dream. I am still on edge after that vivid reverie because I have never witnessed them take action against us before. Maddie, being telepathic, can see the same visions that I see by accessing my thoughts, so I couldn't hide them from her if I tried.

I follow Maddie down the steps that lead down to the backyard from our third story bedroom quietly. Uncle Lincoln is in the living room watching television after taking us out to dinner for our eighteenth birthday and doesn't know that we are sneaking out.

Maddie leads us around front and down the sidewalk to the streetcar stop. The nightclub, The Ancient Tower, is over a dozen blocks away in the French Quarter.

I can't shake the feeling of foreboding that has been hanging over me all day as I watch Maddie fidget eagerly in her seat. We hop off of the streetcar just a block away from our destination and hold hands as we hurry up to the nightclub's drab exterior.

There are not one, but two, bouncers at the door when we step up to the door. One of them raises his eyebrow at us cynically when Maddie hands him her fake ID. The other one, after a strange expression crosses his face, snatches Maddie's ID from his buddy and scans it briefly before handing it back to her with a nod. He opens the door for us with a beaming smile as he leans over and whispers something I cannot catch to the other bouncer as Maddie practically drags me inside impatiently.

The inside of the nightclub is completely different than the outside. From the outside it looks like an abandoned warehouse, it doesn't even have a sign telling you it is there. The inside, however, has a very medieval feel as I gaze around at the stone walls that make me think of a castle. The colors are gray and black with dark wood accents. There appears to be a second floor but the stairway is guarded by more bouncers. It is so shadowy that I cannot really see anything above us.

The walls are full of antique paintings in dark wood frames. Along one wall is a elegantly carved bar in the same dark wood and there are many people gathered in groups in front of it. There is a dance floor on the far side with people moving together slowly as they appear to grind against each other to the music.

My feeling of foreboding increases substantially as I gaze around curiously at my first nightclub. As I look around at the people gathered around it appears that Maddie and I are out of place because I see the same strange expression cross their faces as did the bouncer who let us in.

"What are people thinking?" I ask Maddie along our mental link. "They are looking at us funny."

"I can't read many people here." She replies and I feel her first surge of unease at this discovery.

Before I can grab her hand and drag her from the club two huge goons who appear to work here step up to us threateningly.

"Come with us." One of them gestures towards the staircase leading to the second floor.

"I don't think so Godzilla!" Maddie smiles at them brazenly as she shoves me behind her protectively. Wrapping my arm around her waist I begin to back us up towards the door slowly.

The goons reach for us, each grabbing an arm firmly in their beefy hand. Normally, Maddie and I are unusually stronger than even grown men, but I can't seem to pry his fingers off of my bicep.

"Maddie?" I reach out mentally to my twin in a panic.

"It's ok Max." Maddie soothes me telepathically. "They can't do anything to us. Just go with them and see what happens."

We are tugged upstairs to the second floor where we come face to face with two of the men, I have had visions about nearly my entire life. To my left stands the one, who in my vision from last night, attacked Maddie.

The goons release us and return to the first floor, leaving us alone with the men whose faces I have had memorized for so long. Instinctively, I move to hide behind my sister but am grabbed by the larger of the two men as his expression reveals the same inquisitiveness as some of the others.

"Let her go!" Maddie moves to attack the man who has his arms wrapped around me but is stopped when the other one steps between them.

"Get out of my way!" She attempts to shove him out of her way and the smaller man doesn't budge at all. It's like she hit a wall.

"Maddie, it's them." I bring to her attention telepathically and watch her face register stunned fear for the first time in my life. She is looking up at the man who, just last night, attacked her viciously in my vision.

He stands about ten inches taller than our dainty five feet with short dark brown hair. His dark eyes are hooded, nose is patrician over thin lips that is surrounded by a well-trimmed beard. He is much slimmer than the one who is holding me firmly in the circle of his arms.

"Well well." His strangely accented voice whispers softly. "What have we here, Fynn?"

Fynn, who must be the one holding onto me, actually nuzzles my neck and inhales my scent deeply.

"It appears that we have two little humans who seem to be very much like us, Gaius." Fynn replies, wonder lacing his similarly accented voice.

Without having to look up at Fynn, I know exactly what he looks like from dreaming about him for so long. He is well over a foot taller than me and has the widest shoulders I have ever seen. He has a physique that most bodybuilders would envy with dark auburn hair that he keeps quite short with a full beard along his strong jaw. His eyes are brown, lips are full, and his skin is so freckled he looks tan.

I wonder what Fynn meant that we are like them. Are they psychic like us?

"I think these two underage girls have learned their lesson." Gaius states in a strange voice. "We can let them go knowing they will not do something so foolish again, right girls?"

Maddie nods her head mutely as she shows true fear for the first time in her life. Fynn lets me go and steps back as Maddie snatches my hand, yanks me down the stairs and out of the club quickly. We run back to the streetcar stop just as it is pulling away from the curb and manage to hop on before it picks up speed.

I am clinging to my twin for dear life as I begin to tremble violently from our narrow escape. She wraps a comforting arm around me and pulls me close as she kisses my cheek affectionately.

"We are okay, Max." She murmurs to me.