***
She didn’t know how long she had been gone. Faye was shaking her gently by the shoulder.
“Cassie, Cassie, wake up! You’re here with me. You’re all right.”
The girl tried to speak, but no sound emerged. For some reason she was lying on her back on what she assumed was Faye’s couch. Her eyelids fluttered open. Faye’s face was bent over hers. The old woman’s features gradually came into focus.
Cassie’s hand flew to her neck. There was no blood. She tried to speak again. “Wha… what…” She swallowed hard. Her mouth felt dry. Sitting up, she propped her head in her hands until the room stopped spinning.
Faye sat beside her, rubbing her shoulders. “Just sit still until you feel stronger.” The old woman sighed heavily. “My dear, I am so sorry. There was no good way to prepare you for this. You’ve had your first experience with a tainted artifact.”
“A… a… a what?” Cassie finally managed to ask.
“Some of our finds have unfortunate past associations. I’m guessing that you experienced something…unpleasant?”
“Unpleasant?” Cassie croaked out the word. “Try murder!” She was feeling stronger and also angrier. The anger steadied her. She glared at Faye. “Somebody got his throat cut, or maybe it was mine. I felt like I was being killed! You never told me that might happen.”
Faye looked contrite but determined. “I’m sorry to put you through this, but I had to know how you would react to a contaminated relic. If you were to encounter an object like this on a field expedition and you weren’t prepared…” She trailed off. “Well, it would be too late, wouldn’t it? This bird goddess figurine was the last recovery Sybil brought to us before she died. It came from a Vinca settlement that had been destroyed sometime around 4200 BCE.”
The old woman handed her a glass of water. “Here, drink this.”
Cassie reached eagerly for the glass. Her mouth felt as if she had swallowed gravel. She gulped down the contents without pausing for breath. When she finished, she exhaled deeply and sat up straighter. “That’s a little better,” she reassured her hostess.
Faye returned to her chair and regarded Cassie with a troubled expression. “Are you sure?”
“I’m fine, really.” Cassie rubbed her temples. “Guess this must be the nature of the job.”
The old woman tilted her head and studied Cassie’s face intently. “It isn’t the nature of the job so much as the nature of the individual pythia.”
“What?”
“I believe you’re acutely sensitive even for someone with psychic abilities. You’re a natural-born empath whether you know it or not.”
“An empath?” Cassie echoed, uncomprehending.
“Yes, that’s someone who has the ability to sense what other people are feeling. In fact, you are able to feel what the people around you feel as if it were happening to you.”
Cassie shrugged offhandedly. “Sort of. I thought everyone did that.”
Faye gave a humorless laugh. “I assure you, they do not. Maybe if they did, the world would be a better place. The principle of ‘do unto others’ would be implicitly understood. If an empath were to hurt someone deliberately, she would be able to feel the pain she was causing. Empathy can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s a tremendous gift. On the other, a tremendous burden to be saddled with so much of other people’s emotional baggage. I suspect that you absorb it like a sponge.”
“I don’t know how to turn it off,” Cassie admitted. “Maybe that’s why being alone can be a relief sometimes. Not so much toxic clutter in my head when I’m by myself.”
“Perhaps I can help you with that. Wait here.” Faye rose and slowly ascended the staircase to the second floor. Cassie could hear the floorboards creaking above and drawers being opened and shut as Faye searched for some unknown object.
When the old woman returned, she was smiling. “I found it at last.” She held out a necklace toward Cassie. A black stone disc suspended from a silver chain.
After her most recent episode, the girl was wary of touching any strange object.
Faye laughed. “It’s all right. This isn’t an artifact. It’s an obsidian pendant. Very good for protection and blocking negative energy. Take it.”
“You think some New Age trinket is going to protect me?” she asked incredulously.
Faye returned to her chair. “Those people who believe in the vibrational properties of crystals would say that obsidian is a grounding stone. It will anchor the energy of the wearer. Keep your feet on the ground so to speak.”
“I feel safer already,” Cassie murmured ruefully as she fastened the clasp of the necklace.
“On the other hand,” Faye continued, “from a purely practical standpoint, it also functions very well as a mnemonic device. If you focus a part of your mind on the pendant while reading an artifact, you should be able to keep your identity separate from the more unpleasant aspects of the telemetric experience.”
“You’re saying if I pay attention to the black disk, I can avoid feeling like my throat is
