An Inner Darkness Book 5 Bay City paranormal

had accepted it without argument. Sam thought he’d seen relief in Adrian’s eyes.
    “It’s kind of complicated,” Bo began. “But we believe it might not be safe for Adrian to go back to your place right now. I’d like for him to stay here for a little while. Sean can stay as well, if he’d like to.”
    “What do you mean, not safe? Janine would never do anything to hurt either of those boys, and neither would I.”
“I know. That’s not exactly what I meant.”
Lee’s eyes went wide. “My God, Bo, are you suggesting Adrian is dangerous ?”
    “No. Well, not exactly.” Sighing, Bo rubbed his eyes with the hand not clutched tight around Sam’s. “Okay, here’s the thing. We believe Adrian may be developing an ability called psychokinesis. That means—”
    “I know what it is,” Lee interrupted, his face white. “How do you know that? Have you tested him?”
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    “We haven’t, no, but earlier today when he was angry one of our light bulbs broke for no reason. He also claims that he didn’t cause the trouble he was accused of causing in class, and after what we saw this afternoon I believe him.” Bo glanced at Sam, as if looking for the right way to explain it. “The signs point to psychokinesis, Lee. What you’ve been experiencing at your house sounds like a classic case of poltergeist activity.
    And the most widely accepted theory—the one which has proven to be the case many times in the past—is that poltergeist activity is actually caused by latent psychokinesis, often in a teen or preteen experiencing uncontrolled, strongly negative emotions.”

    “Yes, I’ve heard of Fodor’s Theory.” Lee twisted his hands together, an odd mix of curiosity and horror on his face. “You think this might be what’s happening at our house?
    And that Adrian is the cause of it?”
Bo nodded. “Exactly.”
    “All right, I can see that.” A frown creased Lee’s brow. “But I don’t understand why that would put anyone in danger. From what I’ve read on the subject, situations like this are usually frightening, but not physically dangerous. The worst thing that’s happened so far at our house was me being scratched, and even that wasn’t terrible.”
    “Normally it wouldn’t be dangerous, no, but…” Bo’s fingers clenched and relaxed around Sam’s. “How much do you know about the interdimensional portals BCPI has been dealing with in the past year?”

    Lee shrugged. “Not as much as I’d like to. It’s a fascinating topic.”
    “So far, every portal we’ve dealt with has been in an area of elevated EMF,” Sam explained, rubbing his thumb along the back of Bo’s hand. “We’ve also discovered that people with psychokinesis can sometimes act as a focus of sorts for the portal to open, as long as conditions are right. It’s happened to me, actually.”
    “Conditions such as a high EMF level.” Lee’s gaze darted back and forth between Sam and Bo. “The electrician’s coming back tomorrow to do some rewiring and such in the living room. He said he can fix the electromagnetism leak there.” Sam nodded, impressed with how quickly Lee had put two and two together. “That’s good. But the baseline EMF in your house is still on the high side. Not dangerous in and www.samhainpublishing.com 65
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of itself, but combined with uncontrolled psychokinesis it could mean the possibility of a portal opening.”
    “Oh. I see.” Lee stumbled over to the counter and leaned against it, his expression stunned. “Do you really think that could happen?” Bo shifted his weight so that his shoulder pressed to Sam’s. “We hope it won’t. Like you said, it hasn’t happened yet, and of course we know so little about the portals overall that’s it’s hard to say what—if any—other conditions need to be in place for them to open. But I’d much rather err on the side of caution when it comes to the boys’ safety.”
    “Yes, I can understand that.”

    Lee sounded thoroughly shaken. Not that Sam blamed him. The light-bulb incident made Sam a bit nervous about having Adrian around, and he knew there would be no portals opening here.
    “Good,” Bo said, sounding relieved. “I know Janine’s going to be angry that the boys are staying here. I’ll call her later, and you and she can come by the office tomorrow. I’ll explain the whole thing to her, and she can yell at me if she wants.” Lee shook his head. “Bo, I’m