See How She Fights

by Michelle Graves

  “But you will talk to him?” he asked with anger.

  “Don’t you dare treat me like the bad guy here. I’m not the one keeping secrets. I came out here to be alone. I did not ask Conall to sit down and I didn’t ask you to come out here. In fact, I would have rather you stayed up in the room. To be quite honest I don’t know when I will get over this, Kennan. You have to stop treating me like I can’t handle the truth. You can’t protect me from this world any longer. I am a part of it. So, yeah, I get that you are sorry. I get that you want to make up. But, to be frank, I think you are sorrier that you got caught than you are for keeping me in the dark,” I sputtered, never making eye contact.

  Kennan lowered himself in front of me and tilted my chin so that I was looking in his eyes. “You don’t know everything. I am sorry that I didn’t tell you. I promised I would not lie to you again. I did so by omission. You may be mad at me, Izzy. You can give me the silent treatment if it makes you feel better. But know this, I’m not going anywhere. There are still people here that cannot be trusted. You might not believe me, but I love you. I’m sorry I gave you reason to doubt your trust in me.” He pleaded with his eyes.

  “I walked in here blind, Kennan,” I said as I got up and moved away from his warmth. I didn’t want his apologies right now. I needed the company of my righteous anger.

  “Izzy,” he said, pleading with me.

  “Please, Kennan. I just need some time to sort this out. I need time to be mad at you. I love you, but right now I don’t like you all that much. If you want someone to watch me you can get someone. I don’t want it to be you for now.”

  “Who, Conall?” he asked disgusted.

  “Or Ian, or any of the other Guardians roaming about. Cheese on a cracker, Kennan, this is not about me replacing you with someone I just met an hour ago. This is about me trying to keep my shit together. This is about me needing some time away from you so that I don’t overreact. Some time to cope with the fact that I feel like you broke my trust. I can’t do that with you in my face.” Anger vibrated beneath my skin making it difficult to speak calmly. Tears began to fill my eyes anew. I needed space and I needed it soon.

  “Okay, you’re right. I’m being an ass. At least walk with me until we find Conall again.”

  I nodded my acceptance and moved with him to find Conall. The very man appeared around the closest turn in the maze just as we got up. I knew from the look on his face he had heard the whole thing. I was really starting to dislike Conall. First impressions of trust be damned. He was bad news.

  “You beckoned?” he asked.

  “Would you please escort Izzy in my absence?” Kennan barely ground out. I wondered how, not two hours before, they had been thick as thieves. Now Kennan seemed ready to take Conall’s good eye.

  “It would be my honor, Brother,” Conall said with a smile. There was history between these men. I knew that Kennan did not readily let people in, so whatever the story was, it was a good one. I also knew that the only reason Kennan was acting like an animal marking his territory was because he was upset.

  Kennan made his way back to the house clenching his hands into fists. I wondered what he would do to reign his anger back in. He had once told me how much he hated to lose control. He did not readily unleash his rage. I had witnessed it this past year, all of that tightly wound menace waiting to be uncaged.

  I pulled myself back to the present. I tried to convince myself that I didn’t care what he did to reign in his anger. Unfortunately for me, it was a total lie. I did care.

  “Eavesdropping isn’t polite,” I said with a glare in Conall’s direction.

  “Aye, but neither is having a public spat with your lover,” Conall challenged.

  I glared at him for a moment before making my way back toward the house. I wasn’t quite ready to deal with the implications of taking over the psychic throne or Kennan’s betrayal, so it was a good thing I had a distraction. I just wished it weren’t in the form of dead Seers.

  I tried to remember everything that had been said an hour ago. I’d been so busy trying to decipher the subtext of the conversation that I’d missed huge chunks of information. I needed to talk to Isadora, preferably without a huge entourage.

  “Can you take me to your mother please?” I asked, putting a cap on my emotions to deal with the bigger problem. Throwing a tantrum about things to come would not protect people from the things happening now.

  “It would be my honor, lass,” he smirked before stepping in front of me to lead the way.

  “Don’t call me that,” I huffed.

  “Oh, but Kennan said you liked it so much.”

  “I am starting to really dislike you. I hope you’re aware of that,” I mumbled. Not that he cared.

  “Aye, but it is not my desire to make you like me. It is my desire to keep that pretty head on your shoulders in one piece. With your eyes still encased.” He smiled and moved to hold the door open for me.

  As we entered the house there was more bowing and simpering. It was driving me mad. Bah, focus Izzy. Dying people. Crazy rituals. There were more important things than my relationship woes and future title at stake. We walked back to Isadora’s office to find her in the exact spot she had been in when we first arrived. It felt like déjà vu.

  “Well that took less time than I expected. Come in dear. I am sure you have some questions,” she said, patting the seat beside her.

  “I would like to look through the file again if that would be all right. I do have some questions but they are about what is going on now. I really don’t want to talk about the other stuff yet. I, well, I’m not ready yet,” I said, hoping that my cowardice was not as apparent to everyone else as it was to me.

  **********

  CHAPTER SIX

  I sat there, embroiled in the mystery of the killings. Isadora had told me they had found three bodies so far. In each case the evidence had been the same. The Seers had the same runes carved in their flesh, the same sort of white dress, and they were all missing their eyes. I couldn’t understand what would drive a person to do such a thing. I had thought Xavier to be the epitome of evil. This took it to a whole new level. I wanted to know if it was Xavier behind the killings. Perhaps he’d gone mad from losing everything. For all I knew, he was dead and this was an entirely new sort of evil lurking in our midst. I needed answers and I knew one place I could go to find them.

  “Isadora, do you mind having Breanan or Conall put me to sleep?” I knew that trying to seek out a man that may or may not be dead was far reaching. It was all I had at the moment.

  “Wouldn’t you like for Kennan to be here?” she asked, confused.

  “Ma, I think that she would prefer not to see him at present. They have had a lovers quarrel,” Conall stage whispered. Yep, totally did not like him.

  “Oh, but they will make up tomorrow,” she said with wild eyes. I sometimes forgot how disjointed Isadora could be. She saw so much. I wondered how she’d kept it together this long. “With the help of Breanan my dear. The same way Kennan will help you.”

  Well, that was just peachy, she could read my friggin mind. Why had no one told me about that little trick?

  “Because you didn’t need to know, my dear.”

  “Could you stop doing that?” I blurted. I knew that I should show more reverence toward her. She somehow always threw me off kilter and I could never control my reaction.

  “Oh, right, sorry. I forget sometimes. Don’t worry dear. We will set you to rights. Would you like to lie down here on the couch or go to one of the rooms to conduct this experiment?”

  “Here would be fine,” I muttered, trying to calm myself and center my mind. I was far too antsy at the moment to accomplish anything of real consequence. Focus, Izzy, people were dead.

  “If you lie down I will lift Kennan’s block,” Breanan said, startling me. I had forgotten he was in the room. He barely talked or moved. It was super creepy.

  “Alright.” I lay down and did my best to focus on m
y objective. I needed to keep my internal chatter to a minimum. Luckily, I’d been practicing meditation and focus techniques for the past few months.

  Breanan’s warm hands clasped on either side of my forehead. He began whispering words that I had come all too acquainted with over the past year. I felt my grasp on the dreaming snap back into place. He moved one hand to the center of my forehead and the other to the back of my head before whispering a phrase I’d not yet heard. Suddenly the world started to slip away. I was swallowed by the oblivion of the dreaming and dumped into the foggy miasma where nightmares became realities.

  **********

  “Hello?” I yelled. Even in the dreaming I knew this was a half-baked idea. I heard moaning in the distance. I moved forward through the foggy oblivion, the sound my only guide. The eerie noise echoed and bounced until I could not find my way. I was lost.

  I turned to run but was greeted with a new nightmare. I looked down at almost a dozen bodies. Each one more gruesome than the last. They reached out for me with blood crusted arms. Their wails shredded my soul. I couldn’t breathe. Everywhere I looked, there were eyeless figures, begging me for help. I wanted to save them. I wanted to make them whole again. I tried to remember that it was just the dreaming. It was not real. This was not reality. I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing.

  “It isn’t real,” I shouted into the fog. I opened my eyes to find them moving towards me. The sightless mob closed in around me and as I began to scream, I heard him. I heard Xavier whisper.

  “Oh, but it is real. This is what shall become of you all.”

  I screamed out as their cold fingers brushed against my skin.

  **********

  “IZZY!” I heard Kennan shout.

  I opened my eyes to find Isadora staring down at me with a worried expression. Kennan looked furious. Conall and Breanan both seemed utterly perplexed.

  “Is it always like that, Brother?” Conall asked with the first hint of seriousness I’d heard from him.

  “Like this or worse. The visions are hard to pull her back from,” Kennan answered, never taking his eyes off of me. “I know you don’t want me here now, but they couldn’t get you awake. Isadora saw what you were seeing and she tried to pull you out. They came and got me.” He started to pull away and leave.

  I reached up and pulled him back as the tears gathered in the corners of my eyes.

  “Don’t leave,” I whispered. Part of me was not ready to trust him just yet, but the bigger more urgent part of me needed the comfort of his presence.

  He picked me up and slid me onto his lap in one smooth motion, effectively cradling me like a small child. I often forgot how big he was. I allowed myself to melt into his arms. I sank into the comfort of his warmth and got myself back under control.

  “We have a problem,” Isadora said, stating the obvious. Well, obvious to me.

  “Why were they there? Were they real?” I asked as the vision of those sightless faces danced in my mind.

  “They are trapped,” she said, placing a hand against my cheek.

  “Would someone explain what she saw?” Conall asked with a trace of annoyance.

  “Give her time, son.” Breanan calmingly placed a hand on his son’s shoulder.

  “There were at least a dozen of them. If they were real, then how have you only found so few?” I asked, suddenly feeling nauseous.

  “My dear that is what is to come if we do not stop what has been set into motion. You just had a vision inside the dreaming,” Isadora said as she sat back in her chair.

  “How is that even possible? I didn’t think you could have visions inside the dreaming. I thought they were two separate things.”

  “For most Seers they are. There have only ever been three Seers in our histories that have been able to meld their abilities. As you grow, so do your powers Izzy,” Kennan said. “Isadora is one of the three.”

  “So, now I have super, super powers? Seriously, no more surprises people. If there is anything else I need to know, please tell me now,” I said, trying to move to sit beside Kennan. I realized being held like a child sort of ruined my credibility. It certainly took the edge off of my threats. Kennan was having none of it though. His arms allowed no room for movement.

  “I will walk you through it tomorrow, Izzy. For now we need to focus on what you saw,” Isadora said calmly before looking at Breanan. Something unspoken passed between them. Moments later he and Conall had left the room so that only Kennan and I remained with her.

  “There are rituals from our past, rituals that have not been spoken of or done in over a thousand years. They are dark magic so we have done our best to destroy all knowledge of them. About five years ago a manuscript was stolen from our private collection here at the Council. We have no way of knowing who did this. There was no footage on the security films, no alert. In fact, it may have been missing for far longer than five years. It is not a manuscript we reference often. Within this manuscript were rituals involving sacrificial magic. Rituals in which you bleed the soul out of the body. Those souls can’t move on, they are forced to walk between worlds for as long as the spell is being cast,” Isadora said as she stared into the distance. I wondered what phantoms lingered in her mind.

  “So they are trapped in some sort of purgatory? What sort of ritual would do this? What is the objective?” I knew that we would never be able to figure out who was doing it unless we knew why.

  “That is the problem. Without the manuscript, we do not know. There are over one hundred sacrificial rituals involving soul bleeding. Without the manuscript, we have no way to solve this mystery. I have brought my son here because he has some knowledge, as do Ian and Kennan. There was a group of Seers and Guardians about a hundred years past that split from the main Council. They wanted to use their powers for gain much like Xavier had done with his Corporation. He had involved himself with the group until he realized their objectives did not suit his own.”

  “What does this have to do with the book, or manuscript, or whatever it is?” I asked, trying to get Isadora back on track.

  “Patience, my dear,” she chided. “There was a great deal of fighting in those times. There were lives lost on both sides. Ultimately, the sect’s black magic was its own undoing. They performed a sacrifice so dark, it brought forth something that never should have been brought to this plane. It consumed them, and with them a great many of our own. We were able to put things back the way they were meant to be.” She finished as if she hadn’t just told me something from some other plane had been on freaking walkabout on ours. I needed that durn handbook. Seriously, there had to be one somewhere.

  “I’m sorry, are you talking about a demon or something?” I asked, not believing my ears.

  “It falls more in the ‘or something’ category, dear. Now quit interrupting.” She looked at me sternly and continued with her story. “The problem we face now is that without the manuscript we are unsure of what ceremony is being performed. Moreover, we don’t know if the person responsible is trying to conjure the same beasties as before. They could be up to all manner of no good, in fact. So, I implore you my dear, anything you see, please tell me. No matter how incidental you may feel it to be, I must know.” She leveled me with her serious gaze.

  “I understand. But how are we to find the manuscript? If it has been missing for over five years, how will we even know where to look?” I begged.

  “We know where there are several other copies. Over the next few days, I would like you to assist the scholars in searching. Perhaps sift through the memories of the books. They may tell you if they were ever held with such a manuscript and who owns it.”

  “I’m sorry. Did you just ask me to talk to the books?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Books. Don’t. Talk,” I said as clearly as I could.

  “Well, not with that attitude they won’t.” She looked at me before moving toward her door and opening it. “With that, I will bid you a good evening. I have grown
tired and need to rest.” She waved her hand impatiently for us to leave.

  I rose from my seat numbed by the events of the day. I came here to discuss nightmares. At least that’s what I thought I’d come for. Instead, I was now faced with a multitude of Seer murders that would continue if I did not figure out where the manuscript was and find the person responsible for the deaths. Oh, and then there was the pesky thing about me taking over the council and ruling in Isadora’s place. Then there were the monsters. Since she said they weren’t demons precisely, I figured it was as good a term as any. I felt as though I had been living in the Twilight Zone for the past year. The moment I got adjusted to my surroundings, “Thwack!” I was smacked in the face with a whole different set of new and interesting problems. I needed a drink. In fact, I needed several.

  I made my way out of the room and mumbled a goodnight. I looked over at Kennan and was struck by how much I needed him. I was still upset with him, and if I was honest with myself, I knew that I didn’t fully trust him to not keep withholding information. Yet, I also knew he was my best bet to come through this latest disaster unscathed.

  I swallowed my pride and made my way up the stairs ignoring the bows and whispers. I was too caught up inside my head to be bothered. I entered our room and headed straight for the bed throwing myself down on it in the process. I rolled over to find Kennan patiently waiting for me to say something.

  “Well, this is a whole lot of suck,” I said, burying my face in the pillow once more.

  “Would you like me to leave? I can stand guard outside the door so that I know you aren’t bothered.” The tone of his voice left me raw and hollow.

  “Um, could you stay?” I mumbled into the bed as tears threatened to once more flow.

  “Izzy, I’m not going to rush you. I really don’t want to stay in here if you’re still upset. More importantly, I don’t want you to forgive me just for the sake of having someone close right now. If we ignore this, we won’t get better.” Kennan’s voice was strained with things unsaid.