Sibling Psychic Detectives

PUBLIC BETA

Note: You can change font size, font face, and turn on dark mode by clicking the "A" icon tab in the Story Info Box.

You can temporarily switch back to a Classic Literotica® experience during our ongoing public Beta testing. Please consider leaving feedback on issues you experience or suggest improvements.

Click here
Xarth
Xarth
14,603 Followers

Faith extended an arm and raised her middle finger. Silas snickered.

"Fine," Faith said. "So we sit here and wait."

"Right." Silas scanned their surroundings, yet again finding nothing of interest. "You may be very disappointed to discover that the majority of my job is waiting."

"Well... as long as it makes you happy."

"I'm content with it."

Faith peered suspiciously at her brother. "Are you though? I honestly can't tell whether you enjoy this kind of work, or you're hiding some dark secret."

"Dark secret? Like what?"

"I don't know. That's the only reason I haven't decided. Because honestly, you don't seem to have a massive passion for..." Faith waved her hands and searched for the right words. "This. Waiting. 'Investigating.'"

"It's alright."

"That's what I'm saying. Sure it's alright, but why would you take all the hassle of running your own business if it's not one you particularly care about?"

Silas took a moment, then shook his head. He pushed himself to his feet. "You know what? Let's go check some things out."

"You mean as an obvious ploy to get me to stop pestering you?" Faith asked with a pointedly raised eyebrow.

"Yep. You coming or what?"

"Of course I am."

****

Gaining entry to the building was a piece of cake. Since Faith had the door code, they could basically just walk right in. Silas then located the back stairs and took those up to the third floor on the assumption that they'd run into fewer students via that route.

It still didn't really make sense to Silas that his sister had simply observed and memorized the code as casually as if she'd been doing that sort of thing for years. He was willing to allow for a moment of serendipity, however. Perhaps Faith's timing had just been really, really good.

"I coulda got the code too," Aggie said sulkily as she floated along beside the siblings. "I'm sneakier than she is."

Silas almost answered out of pure habit. It was hard getting used to having another living person around while working.

It wasn't like Aggie really needed answering anyway. She was still just a little pissy about Faith working with them. That was all.

"So we're gonna break into Melody's room or something, is that it?" Faith asked. "Snoop around, find evidence. That sort of thing?"

"No. We're going to see if she's home," Silas said. "And talk to her if she is."

"What the hell, man? This is some lame-ass detecting."

"So you're ok with just invading people's homes and ransacking their shit?"

"Well..." Faith fidgeted uncomfortably. "No. I guess not. But that's what they always do on tv. And they always find something helpful, and-"

"And often get caught and shot at and stuff too. I don't do things like that." Silas paused. "Mostly."

"See, she doesn't get it," Aggie said. "She's just being a pain. Can we ditch her already?"

Silas shot Aggie a silent glare.

"Fine, fine. Just asking. I'm gonna go on ahead and see if Melody's in her room. 318, right?"

Aggie was gone before Silas could respond. He didn't really want Aggie scouting ahead. It was hard enough ignoring her without also ignoring any useful information that he couldn't explain obtaining.

Silas and Faith were in hall on the way to Melody's room when Aggie reappeared from through the wall.

"No one home," Aggie confirmed. "Although in the room next door, there's this girl watching some veeerrry interesting, and dare I say sexually explicit, material. And you should see-"

"This is it," Silas said a little louder than necessary.

He stepped up to Melody's door and prepared to knock, for form's sake.

"There's no one there," Faith said.

Silas stood frozen for a second. Even Aggie didn't have anything bitchy to say.

"What?" Silas asked.

"Nothing. Just... the room's empty," Faith said in a retreating voice.

Silas lowered his hand. He turned to face his sister. She had taken a step back and wrapped her arms around herself. She looked either embarrassed or annoyed. Possibly both.

"How could you possibly know that?" Silas asked.

"Just... it's obvious. Isn't it?"

Silas glanced at Aggie. She shrugged.

As far as Silas knew, Faith couldn't see or hear Aggie. And she shouldn't be able to see through walls either.

"The light would be on under the doorway, right?" Faith said. "If she was there?"

Silas glanced down at the bottom of the door. It was hard to say whether a light would be visible or not, given the relative brightness of the hall and the tininess of the crack beneath.

"Maybe," Silas said. He knocked on the door a couple times. No answer, as he'd known there wouldn't be. "We're gonna have to talk about this later."

"Talk about what? I just noticed the lack of light was all. And there's no noises from inside or anything."

"Fai... I can read you better than that. I..." Silas made himself stop before he got on a rant. "As I said, later. In private." He glared meaningfully at Aggie when he said 'private.' The ghost-girl made an innocent face, like she'd never dream of intruding on a family discussion.

"Yeah, sure. Later," Faith echoed miserably.

Silas's expression softened. "Let's head back out. Melody could be back any time. I'd like to catch her outside if possible. It's less threatening than accosting her in her room."

****

Faith was still silently berating herself back at the picnic table. She'd been encouraged for so long to make use of her prosthetics, to figure out how to use them to their full potential. She'd felt so proud of herself when she concentrated on seeing in the thermal range so she could verify the room was empty. Now she just felt like a dumbass.

Silas wasn't stupid. He had to know something was up by now, though there was no way he could know exactly what. Faith knew she could still deflect, at least for a while.

It sucked not being able to tell anyone about her eye. It involved a lot of new tech, though. Stuff that wasn't on the market yet. She understood the NDA she'd signed and why it was important, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

Faith watched miserably as Silas talked to Melody out of earshot. He'd insisted on talking to her alone, even emphasized 'alone' more than she felt was necessary. It was like he didn't even trust her now.

Probably she was reading too much into things. Silas just had his own way of operating, and Faith couldn't expect to jump right into the middle of it. Still, it stung knowing that her secret was making any small rifts between them just a little bit wider.

Much to Faith's surprise, Silas and Melody shook hands before parting. Melody continued on to her dorm, and Silas returned to the picnic table.

"So how'd you manage that?" Faith asked. "You show up to poke around in a girl's personal affairs, and she shakes your hand for it?"

Silas smirked. "I've had some experience with this sort of thing, you know. Basically all I had to do was tell her what her parents hired me for, and that if she wanted we could mess with them a little." Silas shrugged. "I bill extra hours, she gets some petty revenge. Win win."

"Isn't that terribly unethical?"

"Most of my jobs are like that." Silas gave a wistful sigh. "Sometimes I get to do good. A lot of the time I have to make my own good."

"Yeah. Sure." Faith stood up. "So, we done here?"

Silas hesitated, then nodded. "We're done here."

****

Silas kept glancing at Faith as he drove them back to the office. He knew it was annoying her, but he couldn't help it. Something weird was going on with her, and he really wanted to figure out what it was.

"So what's this master plan of yours anyway?" Faith asked.

"My what?"

"You know, with Melody."

"Oh. That."

"Yeah, that. What are you gonna do?"

"Are you only asking me as a distraction?"

"Kinda, yeah."

Silas nodded. "Fair enough. We have details to work out, but the basic idea is we set up some pics of her wearing strategic padding, make it look like she's got a tummy-parasite growing in-"

"You mean a baby?"

"Sure. Whatever. Then she's gonna tell them she gave it away for adoption. Or aborted it. Or whatever she feels like, I guess." Silas shrugged. "It's gonna be mostly up to her at that point."

"And what if the parents figure out it's all a sick joke?"

"That's between them and their daughter. I'm just providing documentation for a respectable fee."

Faith frowned at her brother. "That's kinda fucked, dude."

"So is hiring someone to spy on your daughter."

"That... yeah, that's actually a fair point."

They lapsed into silence for a while. Silas intermittently checked his rearview mirror, flicking his gaze to the ghost girl bobbing along in the back seat like she was a normal passenger. She met his gaze one of those times.

"Are you going to ask her or what?" Aggie asked. "There's something weird about your sister, Sil. And this is me talking. I'm about as weird as it gets."

Silas shook his head fractionally.

"Oh come on," Aggie said. "I know you don't want me around for that, but there's no need to be that way. I can keep a secret." She grinned. "Better than anyone else you know, I assure you."

Silas rolled his eyes. Keeping secrets didn't count toward your character when you literally couldn't share them with anyone living.

Aggie floated forward between the two front seats. "Maybe I could try possessing her," she said thoughtfully. "I've never done it before, but if I could get in her head I'd be able to-"

"Let's see what's on the radio," Silas said a little louder than necessary. He fiddled with his stereo and ignored Aggie's parting shots.

Faith raised an eyebrow, but her interest lasted only seconds before she was gazing blankly out her window again.

****

Faith spent some time that afternoon organizing her new office. Silas had recently upgraded computers, and he graciously allowed her the use of his old laptop for the time being. That plus the desk and chair already present took care of the biggest items.

There was some dusting to do, since the room hadn't seen regular use of late. The desk needed cleaning of old junk as well. Faith had nearly filled a garbage bag with debris and remnants when she noticed that she was being observed.

"What's up?" she asked more cheerfully than she felt.

"You know I have to ask," Silas said from the doorway.

"About what?"

"You know what."

Faith bit her lip and kept moving like she wasn't the least bit bothered. She did, indeed, know what.

"Tell me," she said.

"Fine. You're acting weird. You've said a couple things today that just... don't make sense to me."

"The room thing again?"

"That, yes. And the guard's code. And when we first spotted Melody you correctly guessed that she wasn't actually pregnant."

Faith shrugged. "It was easy to see."

Easier, in fact, when one's eye could note measurements and details all on its own, from much farther away than a regular human eye could have detected. Still, Faith maintained that it wouldn't have been an issue if not for her previous slip up.

"It's me, Fai. Can you really not tell me?"

Faith bit her lip and studied Silas. He was trying to lean casually against the door frame, but there was a tension in his body that marred the effect. More than that, the worry in his facial expression made Faith want to spill everything just so he'd stop fretting. She wanted to ease his mind, but she wasn't ready to reveal her secret. Especially since she wasn't convinced it would even reassure him.

"It's gonna sound stupid," Faith heard herself say.

"Try me."

She took a deep breath. Her mind had raced ahead of her, and now she was stuck on a track she wasn't totally comfortable with. "I'm a bit psychic."

There was a pause.

"Psychic?" Silas queried.

"Yeah. A bit."

"Just recently?"

"I guess. I mean, yeah. As far as I know." Faith winced. "It sounds dumb, huh?"

"Not as much as you might think," Silas said with a distant tone. He thought for a moment. "Do you, like, see ghosts and shit?"

Faith snorted. "No, no. Nothing like that. Nothing all sci-fi-y. I just... get feelings sometimes. Impressions. Things I can't explain. For all I know it's just something going on in my head that I can't process properly."

"I see."

"Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you think I'm full of shit."

Silas gave a crooked smirk. "You are full of shit, sister dearest. Have been since forever." He shook his head. "However, I'm inclined to believe you this time, to an extent."

"Really?"

"Why not? It's as good an explanation as any." Silas held up his hands as though envisioning the future. "Plus imagine the potential when we rebrand as psychic detectives."

"Oh goddammit, Sil."

"All those crazies who believe they're being haunted, or the government's sending brain waves at them, or-"

"Yeah, yeah. Mock me all you want."

"Thanks, but who says I'm mocking."

"Just... just get out of here, would ya? Go get some snacks or something. We had to skip lunch for that stupid investigation where we didn't really do much of anything."

"'Fraid not, Fai. You're the junior partner. You fetch snacks."

Faith glared. "Seriously?"

"Yup."

"Dick."

"Careful now, you're still on probation."

Faith rolled her eyes and punched Silas as she strode past him. She was careful to use her human arm for the purposes of sibling love-violence. "You at least have petty cash or something, right? Or you bill food costs out to clients or something?"

"You know it." Silas produced a credit card. "But this is only for food purchases."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be good." Faith nabbed the card and kissed Silas lightly on the cheek. "Be back with dinner in a little while. Try and stay out of trouble, would you?"

"Do my best."

****

"So that's really all she said?" Aggie demanded. "She's 'a bit psychic?'"

"So she claims," Silas agreed wearily.

"Well that's bullshit."

"Is it? One might argue that I'm 'a bit psychic,' what with seeing ghosts and all."

"One ghost."

"Yes, but one is still more than none, which is the traditional amount."

Aggie folded her transparent arms. "I still don't like it."

"Yeah, me either. But what do you want me to do about it?"

"I don't know. Interrogate her. Or kick her the hell out."

"Fuck's sake, Aggie. She's my sister. I will damn sure take her and whatever secrets she has over you any day." Silas pointed to the door, despite that being an unnecessary aperture for ghosts. "Feel free to fuck off if you don't like having her around."

For perhaps the first time since he'd acquired his pest of a poltergeist, Aggie appeared genuinely hurt. "You'd just throw me away like that?"

"I'm telling you-"

"Yeah, no, forget it. Whatever. I don't need this."

"Aggie..."

But she was already gone. Silas rubbed his forehead and swore under his breath. Aggie was annoying, and there were plenty of times he wished he could banish her for good, but that was to be expected from anyone you were forced to spend excessive amounts of time with. He'd felt the same sorts of things growing up with Faith.

In some ways, Aggie was a brand new annoying little sister. Worse, in the sense that she was non-corporeal and he couldn't even use violence as a threat when she was being particularly obnoxious.

Still, he had a soft spot for her in spite of everything. He was going to feel bad until she returned. If she did. But really, where else was she going to go?

Faith returned a while later with food. Silas was glad of the distraction. The delicious aromas of unhealthy take-out were also very much welcome.

The siblings lounged in Silas's office, gorging on a long-overdue meal. For a brief time, all his problems faded.

"Yeah, I'm feeling better now," Faith declared. She stretched out across the entire length of Silas's couch. "Sometimes I just need filled up."

Silas choked slightly. "There had to be a better way to phrase that."

"What? I- oh. Oh. Jesus, Sil. Get your mind out of the gutter."

"Well, come on, though. Really. Think before speaking."

Faith sighed. "I've been feeling like I need a tattoo of that on my wrist or something. Maybe just one that says 'shut up, stupid.' Something like that."

"Having a rough go of it, are you?"

Faith glanced sidelong at her brother. "Don't act like you don't know. You're the one who's been catching all the shit I blurt out."

"Sure. But if it's only me you're blurting things to, then you're not doing so bad."

"How do you figure?"

Silas spread his arms. "It's me. Worst I can do is pick on you mercilessly."

"I'm not a huge fan of being mercilessly picked on, actually."

"You came to the wrong place then."

Faith snorted. "Maybe I did." She sighed. "But you're right, this is one of the safest places I could be. There's a certain comfort in already knowing the buttons you like to press."

"And in knowing that I'm your brother and I love you," Silas prompted.

"Well... let's not get crazy here."

"Fai..."

"Fine, fine. Yes it's nice having a brother who loves me."

"And who is graciously providing you with a good job."

Faith sat up. "Are you though? Because we haven't actually discussed how long I'll be hanging around here. Or, indeed, whether I'm getting anything for my efforts."

"I suppose you're going to tell me you want to be paid. That the spending quality time isn't its own reward."

"It is for a bit. But seriously, I am gonna need a real job sooner or later. Probably sooner once Mom and Dad start asking prying questions like 'how long am I in town for' or 'what are my plans.'"

Silas grinned. "Yeah, I didn't figure you'd want to crash with them for too long. You crazy broke right now?"

"Surprisingly, no. Buuut I also don't have any kind of income, so I'm leery about committing to an apartment or anything just yet."

"Fair enough." Silas waved his hand in a vague, encompassing circle. "You're always welcome to crash at the office if you need a temporary reprieve." He paused for a moment and considered. "And if you're actually interested, there's a job here for you. A real one. With money and something similar to benefits."

"Really?"

"Really. It's meant to be a two person thing. That was the intent anyway. Just can't really seem to keep anyone very long."

Faith furrowed her brow. "Well that's not a good sign. I may have to rethink this. I mean I knew you could be a pain in the ass, but if-"

"Fai..."

"Kidding, kidding. I'd love a job. At least for a little while. Who knows, working together might drive us as crazy as living together used to."

"It just might. I've developed something of a high tolerance for annoyances though."

"Because of clients?"

Silas nodded. "Sure. The clients." And certainly nothing to do with ghost girls.

****

That evening, Faith cautiously told their parents that she might stick around and work with Silas for a while. They had somewhat mixed reactions.

They were happy enough to have their baby girl around, of course. But they still didn't totally like the 'childhood fantasy' that Silas's business was. Faith didn't bother trying to explain that it wasn't the grand, silly adventure they assumed. Silas certainly would have already made the attempt, and clearly had gotten nowhere with it.

Faith went to bed a little early that night. She took a long shower beforehand, once again appreciating her new arm's meticulous waterproofing features. It used to be such a pain in the ass doing anything that might get her ever slightly damp.

She padded back to her room wrapped only in a towel. She let the towel drop as soon as the door was closed behind her.

The reflection that stared back at Faith in her mirror was one she was reasonably happy with. Her arm didn't quite blend, especially if you examined where it connected to her shoulder, but from the right angles it almost appeared natural.

Xarth
Xarth
14,603 Followers