Free As Good as Dead by Beverly Barton

put them in the sink at the same time Genny picked up their cups. "Do we need to go into Granny Butler's room the way we did the last time?"
    "I'd prefer to do it mere. I always feel closer to Granny and her powers in her old ro-om."
    Out of the corner of her eye, Genny caught a glimpse of Reve's furrowed brow, her wrinkled nose, her pursed lips. The expression of skepticism and disapproval. "Give me a couple of minutes to prepare, then you two come on up." She looked right at Reve. "I know you don't believe, but come upstairs anyway. Consider it an adventure. Or perhaps a learning experience."
    "She'll become a believer," Jazzy said. "Just give her time."
    Genny offered them both an understanding smile, then left them to go upstairs. The moment she entered the semidark bedroom, the scent of roses assailed her. Granny had always worn rose-scented powder, and although she'd been gone for a good many years, her scent lingered. Of course there were times, when the scent was very strong the way it was today, that Genny felt her grandmother's presence.
    You 're here, aren't you? She didn't expect a reply.
    Hurriedly she lit the array of white candles situated throughout the room, then pulled the curtains to darken the room completely, except for the positive light given off by the candles. After arranging two chairs at a small, antique table, she sat in one of the chairs, folded her hands in her lap and waited, her mind settling into a meditative state. Readings were not like visions. During a vision, the images were clearer, sometimes so clear it was as if she were watching them through the lens of a movie camera. But when she did a reading, she seldom received clear pictures. She usually simply felt things, sensed things and sometimes heard a voice inside her head.
    While she waited for Jazzy and Reve-she knew that despite her misgivings, Reve would come-Genny concentrated, all her thoughts on the look-alike redheads. Almost immediately she sensed a deep yearning to protect the twins. Protect the babies.
    Babies?
    Pure white light surrounded Genny. The innocence of newborn babies. Completely vo-id of any evil. Love. Maternal love. A desire to nurture and protect.
    Whoever had given birth to the twins had wanted them, loved them and believed she had to protect them. But from what? From whom?
    Genny focused on Jazzy and Reve again instead of the mother, willing herself to move forward into the present and out of the past. She couldn't even be certain that it was the real past she sensed, anymore than she knew for certain it was a past that Jazzy and Reve had shared. But her instincts, which were seldom wrong, told her that the two women we-re twins and the powerful maternal love she sensed did indeed come from their birth mother.
    "Are you ready for us… for me?" Jazzy asked.
    Genny opened her eyes. Jazzy stood in the doorway, Reve directly behind her.
    "Yes, please come in." She motioned to the chair on the opposite side of the antique table. "Sit here, Jazzy." She nodded to a rocker in the corner. "You may sit there, Reve."
    Both women did as Genny had instructed. The vibrations from the sisters-the twin sisters-bombarded Genny. Jazzy was eager, hopeful, almost giddy with excitement. On the other hand, Reve was anxious, uncertain, fearful.
    Genny laid her hands, palm up, on the table, closed her eyes and repeated the name "Jasmine" several times. By using that one name, she hoped her gift of sight would connect only with that one person.
    "Happiness. Love. A rejoicing over good news," Genny said.
    "That means the DNA tests will prove we're sisters." Jazzy sneaked a peek at Reve.
    "Two who are one. Forever linked. A bond that cannot be severed." Suddenly the bright, clear light in her mind grew dim, darkened. Gray shadows filled Genny's consciousness. She tried to will the negative thoughts away, but they persisted. Grew stronger.
    "Fear. Fear of discovery. Anger."
    "Who's afraid of being discovered?" Jazzy asked. "Is it Aunt