“The sacrifices have all been completed, Izzy. That is why we must move if we hope to put a stop to this.” He stopped for a moment and conjured something from the dreaming. A stylus appeared in his hand. It looked similar to the tools he had used to mark my back. The end glowed a steady blue. I looked down at my arms and noticed the marks he had placed there were the same color.
“Why do the marks you have given me shine a different color than the runes that have shown up on my body?”
“Intent, Izzy. You will find that all things of mal intent glow a sickly reddish yellow. Marks that are meant to heal and protect will always glow blue. Now, I must show you how to make the marking. You will practice it on me.” Aberto pulled his shirt from his body. I stood gaping.
Mingled in with the sharp planes of his body were thousands and thousands of tattoos. They covered every inch of his torso and arms. They came up to form a ring just below his collar bones and stopped mid-way down his forearms. I did not recognize any of the symbols on his body, but I could feel their power. Once I had taken in the marks I noticed he had almost as many scars marring the surface of his skin. They were thick, puckered lines that gouged his sides and his chest.
“What happened to you?” I breathed barely above a whisper. I had thought Conall’s scars had been bad but they were nothing compared to Aberto’s. What had this man gone through?
“That is a story…”
“That must wait,” I interrupted, rolling my eyes.
“Yes. There will be a day when I will no longer keep things from you, Izzy. I swear it. When that day arrives you will wish you had never asked such questions. For now, you must practice making the mark so that you won’t hesitate in marking the Seers. I will show you how to make the symbol on my left arm and you will practice it afterward.” He lifted the stylus to his arm and began to carve a symbol into his forearm. He winced as the stylus dug into his arm. How was I supposed to do that to him?
“Now you.” He reached out the stylus to me.
“Do you want me to trace over it? Is there some sort of intent I should be putting into this? Or do I just draw it?” I held the tool in my hand unsteadily. It felt heavy with the power radiating from it.
“You must seek to separate the Seers from Xavier. If you think of nothing but that while making the mark, it should be successful. Your mind must be focused on nothing but this. Are you ready?” His eyes held a kindness I had never seen there before. His gaze held mine captive as I tried to prepare myself for what I was about to do.
“Now or never, right?” I said with a little too much enthusiasm.
“You will be fine. Now make the first line.”
I did as he instructed dragging the stylus in a small straight line that looped slightly at the ends. The next mark looked like a coiled snake wrapped around the first. I looked at the mark he had made on his other arm and began to draw it.
“Stop,” Aberto said forcefully.
“What, what did I do?”
“You are focusing on what the mark looks like and not the intent. It does not matter if the mark is a perfect replica. If you do not ensure the mark has meaning it will be a pointless doodle. Again,” he said, turning his arm slightly so that I had a blank space to work with.
I looked at him for a moment before concentrating on his arm once more. I could do this. I thought about the Seers and their tie to Xavier. I wanted nothing more than to free them. If I could do that, then perhaps all would not be lost. I began drawing the mark again, not allowing my focus to waiver. I stared down at the finished mark and then looked up to Aberto’s face to find him eyeing me.
“Again,” his voice echoed in the fog, causing the vibrations to ripple in my own soul.
“Did I not do the last one right?” I couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong that time. I had been focused.
“The last one was perfect, but you must be able to do multiple marks quickly. For that you need practice. Now do it again, but faster.” He turned his arm once more.
I began to make the mark again with the same focus as the last time. I worked through each of the lines as swiftly as I could while maintaining the mark and intent.
“Again,” Aberto was really starting to make me hate that word.
“I don’t like hurting you,” I said with all sincerity. I could tell that each time I marked him took a toll on his well-being. “Besides, isn’t this taking a toll on my soul?”
“I am using my life-force to provide the binding of the marks. I will recover. Now do it again, Izzy.”
“Let me use my life force this time. If I don’t, then I won’t know what it is supposed to feel like. If I’m going to do this, I need to know how to do all of it.” I looked steadily at his arm. I was determined not to fail. I felt my hair being brushed from my face and looked up to find him staring at me with sadness.
“You really are her,” he said with a sigh. “One more mark and you can do it as you choose, then we will move on to find the Seers.”
“I am really who?” I asked exasperated. “Okay, I get that you are about to tell me in your almighty superior voice ‘Now is not the time,’ but when this is finished you owe me a long conversation. Give me your word that you will tell me the prophecy when this is resolved. Swear it.” I eyed him steadily.
He grasped my hand in his and bowed deeply, brushing his forehead to my hand. “I swear it. I shall tell you everything I know about the prophecy.”
“Okay then, let’s get this over with,” I said, reaching out to draw the mark once more. I could feel the difference as I made it. There was a painful tug originating where my heart would be in my body. I felt the pull with each mark I made. When I was finished I felt as if I had just gone on a run in the Alabama heat. I tried to steady myself and a pair of bare strong arms shot out to hold me up.
“Are you well?” Aberto asked, entirely too close.
“I’ll be fine. Let’s go find the others,” I said, pulling away.
“As you wish. Come with me,” he said, reaching his hand out for me to grasp. I entwined my fingers with his and was once more pulled along with him. Only this time we traversed the dreaming. I wondered if I would learn to do this on my own. It would make finding things much easier.
We pulled to a sudden stop and Aberto swore under his breath. Lying before us was a pile of Seers. They were strewn about as they had been in my vision days before. It seemed an eternity had passed since that vision, yet I stood in the midst of the very thing I had set out to prevent.
“What happened to them?” I asked, moving to look at each one of the Seers. They all looked as though they had been torn to shreds. I looked for Ren in the carnage. I needed to find her. When I could finally pick her out of the group of girls, I noticed she was lying on top of someone. I moved towards them, ignoring Aberto’s pleas for me to stop. I needed to see if Ren was still there. If she wasn’t, then this was all for nothing. I couldn’t stop the tears that slid down my cheeks.
I reached out for her body and bent to turn her so that her face was staring up at me. Her moan was a barely discernable whisper.
“Ren, what happened?” I carefully moved her and noticed that the other Seers were still moving. Not well, and not more than a twitch here and there. Whatever had happened, their souls were still clinging to this plane. I had to set them free.
“I am going to fix this,” I said through my tears. I pulled the stylus out to begin the marks when I felt Aberto’s hand on my shoulder stopping me.
“We must know what happened before you free them. She was protecting Isadora. We must find out why.”
I looked to the body that had been hidden under Ren’s. Isadora’s eyeless face stared into the distance. Her mouth was set in a silent scream. I moved towards her, trying to see if she moved at all. As soon as my hand touched her I recoiled. She felt like stone.
“What happened, Ren? Tell me quickly so that I can free you,” I said, moving back to her side.
“It came again. It came and I
protected her. I put a petrification mark on her so she would be preserved. It didn’t get her. I stopped it,” Ren gurgled, taking an eternity to get her words out.
“What came?” Aberto asked, suddenly at my side.
“You know what,” Ren said before wincing in pain.
“We can’t leave them like this Aberto. If you have everything you need I’m going to let them go. Enough is enough.” My tears were starting to blur my vision but I could not sit idly by while they suffered.
“I have all I need,” Aberto said angrily. The heat in his words caught me off guard but I knew they weren’t meant for me.
“Then I will begin. Can you undo what has been done to Isadora?” I asked him as I started to draw the mark on Ren.
“I can,” he said, moving toward her body.
I went to work drawing the symbol on the Seers that were strewn about the gruesome pile. With each mark I drew, a relieved expression washed over the Seer’s face. I could see a glimmer of the women they used to be before this all began. With each mark I grew more and more fatigued, but I pushed on. I would not let these women down. They had already suffered far more than they deserved and it had been my fault. If I had finished Xavier the first time, none of this would have happened.
“She is ready,” Aberto said, moving towards me with Isadora on his arm.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t stop it in time.” I wrapped my blood soaked arms around her and cried into her shoulder.
“My child, this is all as it was meant to be. None of us could have stopped it. Before you mark me I must ask you a favor. Tell Conall I love him and I am so very sorry for leaving him. Take care of him for me, Izzy. Make sure he finds happiness,” she breathed into my hair for a moment and pulled back. “It is time to finish this. Old One, before she does this you must know that the darkness is coming.”
I looked down at her arm and back to Aberto. I was running out of steam, but I knew that this had to end. I didn’t have time to focus on her last statement. I needed to get this over with. I hoped that when I made the last mark on Isadora, the others would be free. As I began her mark, the pull on my soul felt unbearable. It felt as though my heart was being ripped from inside my chest. I gritted my teeth and focused on the mark. I had to get this right. I thought of severing the ties that bound Xavier to Isadora and pushed through the pain. As the last of the mark etched itself into Isadora’s arm, the stylus fell from my hand, and with it I began to sink to the ground. I felt empty. Everything that had once made me was no more. Where I had once been, there was now a gaping void.
Before my soul could fall to the ground, I was lifted in an arm cradle. I turned my head to find Aberto staring at me. He muttered words I could not understand and lowered his head so that his lips brushed along mine. Warmth began spreading through my body as he breathed the words against my lips. The void was filled with peace and a love unlike any I had ever felt. The fear and pain dissipated as he uttered the last words.
I pushed against him so that I could get down. I didn’t understand what had just happened. What had he done to me? I knew that I had taxed a great deal of my soul while trying to mark the Seers, but whatever he had just done felt like it mended the holes I had made.
“What have you done, Old One?” Isadora’s voice was filled with hesitancy. I knew whatever had just happened was not something that should have.
“I did what I promised. I kept her safe,” he said, never taking his eyes from me. “Now we must finish. It is time to return to your Guardian and find Xavier.” He reached his hand out to me and, stunned, I took it.
“What about the Seers? I thought they would be free by now,” I said, looking over to the women who were now stirring.
“They will be free once we mark Xavier, but not until then. We must hurry. He will know that something has changed.”
With that I was ripped back into reality to find Molly, Ian, Conall, Eleanor, and Kennan all hovering around my body. Their eyes were filled with tears and concern. Kennan looked furious. I pulled my soul back into my body and began to slowly mend myself together.
**********
TWENTY THREE
“Why is everyone in here?” I asked as I opened my eyes. I winced at the pain that settled in my chest. It was in the same place the pull had been while in the dreaming. I lifted my hand to rub it when Aberto appeared in the room.
Kennan got up and shot towards him. “You promised. You swore to protect her. She died, Old One. She died and I was helpless to do anything about it.” Kennan was as close to Aberto as space allowed. His angry face looking up into Aberto’s calm one.
“I swore, and as you see, she still lives. Do not accuse me of not keeping my word, Guardian. You know not what I have done to protect her.” Aberto moved away from Kennan and made his way toward me. The hesitation in his eyes reflecting my own. I didn’t know what had happened back there. But apparently, I had died. So that was a new one for me.
“I’m fine, Kennan. Really, we need to hurry,” I said, starting to sit up on the couch as Molly flung her arms around my neck. “A little too tight, Molly. I can’t breathe,” I squeaked.
“Don’t ever scare me like that again, Izzy. Just, don’t die on me. Okay?” she said with tears streaming down her face.
“I didn’t do it on purpose. But I promise to be more careful from now on.” I looked at her steadily. I knew that if I wanted these people to move then I needed to keep my crap together. If I fell apart about a little thing like dying, everything else would go to pot. There was no time to dwell. “We need to go. It’s time.” I squeezed Molly’s hands as I stood from the couch.
“Where do you think you are going?” Kennan asked, moving to help me up from the couch.
“I have to go with you. I still have to mark Xavier,” I said, placing my hand on his chest. I knew he didn’t want me to go. I could see the battle in his eyes. I waited for him to try and stop me, as he had been trying to do since this all began.
“We need to hurry,” he said, eyeing me steadily. With every single one of his instincts screaming at him to keep me safe, he had pushed it all aside to support me. I knew what it had cost him.
“Thank you,” I whispered as tears filled my eyes.
“No more dying, Izzy,” Kennan said before moving out toward the hall. Everyone started to follow out. I lingered for a moment and snagged Aberto’s hand as he started to leave.
“What did you do to me?” I asked him. I felt different, like a part of me had been fundamentally changed.
“I saved you,” he said evenly. I knew I would get no more from him. I was going to start charging him a dollar for every cryptically vague answer he gave me. I would be rich in a week.
“This isn’t over,” I said calmly.
“I know.”
We eyed each other steadily for a moment before I turned to leave the room. Hopefully this would end tonight and I would be back to myself by tomorrow. Sans runes. I was ready to end this.
“Shall we?” Ian asked, moving toward the door. I noticed he was in the same black get-up as the other Guardians. I sort of missed the ninja suit.
“Better get it over with,” I said, moving out the door. Molly stood still in the doorframe looking out at us, the people assembled to end her mother’s life. “I’m sorry Molly.” I meant it. I hated to put her through this.
“End it,” she said, turning away to disappear into the depths of the house.
“She will be fine, Pip Squeak. Don’t worry,” Ian said, squeezing my shoulder.
“Load up, gentlemen. We have work to do,” Kennan instructed the group of Guardians that had gathered outside. Every last one of them looked like they had seen better days. I recognized a few of the men from sifting through Kennan’s and Conall’s memories. They all bowed to me as they passed to get in the cars. I stood still, waiting for everyone to move before following Kennan into the SUV. Aberto slid in beside me so that I was sandwiched between the men. “Let’s go,” Kennan commanded. I had never realize
d Kennan was in charge of these men, but it fit. There seemed to be a lot I didn’t know about my Guardian.
“How will I separate myself once we get there? I’m assuming I can’t mark Xavier on this plane in order to make it work. So, what is the plan?” I asked Aberto.
“We must remain with the vehicles when we get there,” he replied calmly. I wished I could bottle his resolve. It would be so nice to be able to take a dose at times like this.
“Are they still at the factory?” Kennan asked. I had totally forgotten to ask Ren and the others. I started to say as much when Aberto spoke up.
“They have not moved. Xavier is not yet completely healed. The ceremony takes time and his connection having been partially severed from the Seers will put a strain on the healing. She will not be able to move him yet,” Aberto replied as he turned to stare out the window at the passing fields.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Kennan asked in my ear.
“No, not really. But thank you for backing me.” I laid my head on his chest and let the beat of his heart comfort me.
“I will always back you. No matter what. I just want to protect you. I get carried away with it sometimes.” He bent down to kiss the top of my head.
“I know. I love you, Kennan. Be careful in there tonight,” I whispered.
“Always.” He pulled me closer to his body and I let myself disappear into the comfort for a moment.
We rode the rest of the way to the factory like that. I breathed in the scent of him and melted into his embrace. All the while I could feel Aberto’s presence in a way I had not before. I felt him as though he was a part of me. Whatever he had done had changed me. I just wasn’t sure what those changes might mean. I glanced over to find him staring at me, his eyes confirming my suspicions. I started to speak only to have him shake his head imperceptibly. I closed my lips and sighed. He lifted the side of his mouth in a crooked smile and turned to continue looking out the window.
See How She Fights Page 19