by J. Meyers
Luke stared at her a moment, searching her face, then reached around her and locked the door. He started down the steps, but her voice stopped him.
“Luke?”
He turned to look at her. She was going to die. She knew she was going to die. But she couldn’t stop herself from asking even though she already knew the answer.
“Have you ever had a vision that didn’t come true?” she said. “Ever?”
He shook his head, a small unwilling movement, then he turned and walked slowly down the steps and out to their car.
Sera followed. Suddenly, nothing was funny anymore.
TWENTY-NINE
Luke sat at Fey’s computer, his fingers lightly drumming on the keys, his brain a complete blank. He stared at the screen unseeing, and unclenched his teeth for what felt like the ninety-seventh time. He was getting nowhere.
Not exactly the productive day he’d envisioned when he decided to play sick today and stay home to research. He ran his hands through his hair, as he’d done all morning long, and stood up.
Shall she be the first to die, Seer?
Then sat right back down.
He had to figure this out. He had to figure something out. He’d been scouring the internet for hours and had come up with absolutely nothing. He’d searched for things he remembered from his visions: red stone room, hell, scary beautiful woman. He’d searched for things about the abilities of the seventh son of a seventh son. He searched for any information he could find on how to stop visions from coming true or how to change the future. He’d even looked up vampires.
Vampires. He couldn’t believe Fey was a vampire. He and Sera had figured that out on the way to her house last night and had confronted her with it as soon as they’d gotten her alone.
“So,” Luke had said. “When were you going to tell us you’re a vampire?”
The look of shock on Fey’s face told him everything he needed to know. They’d guessed right.
“Never,” Fey said. She looked back and forth between Luke and Sera.
“It’s fine, Fey,” Sera said, reaching a hand out to touch her arm. “It doesn’t change anything. It’s doesn’t matter to us.”
“It doesn’t?”
“Why would it?” Luke said. “But the fact that you can obviously kick my ass and everyone’s at school—at the same time—is sobering, I will be honest with you.”
Fey smiled at that. “You have absolutely nothing to worry about, Luke,” she said.
They hadn’t talked much more about it last night. Fey hadn’t been forthcoming with many details and Sera had been very quiet since she’d learned of his vision. And that had made Luke feel worse. She took it so seriously. She knew, just as well as he did, that it was going to happen. And that they couldn’t stop it.
Which is why he’d stayed at Fey’s rather than wasting time at school. He needed to find something—anything—he could use to even make some small change. Sometimes the smallest changes had the biggest effects.
He had found a lot of crazy stuff in the last few hours, but it all amounted to nothing. He was no closer to saving Sera than he had been when he’d had that first vision.
Yes, I think so. Her healing makes her the more dangerous.
Luke gasped. The first vision. He’d taken notes on it that night, which somehow he’d totally forgotten about. He felt like a complete idiot.
He jumped up, grabbed his keys and headed for the door. Then paused. He wasn’t supposed to go home. But home was where his notebook was. Where perhaps some pertinent information was. Where maybe the missing piece to this whole puzzle lay.
He had to go home. He glanced at the clock. Two o’clock. He had a little over an hour until Sera and Fey would be home from school. Fey had made him promise he wouldn’t go anywhere when she’d reluctantly left him home alone this morning. Luke had been a little puzzled at her hesitation, but figured it must be that she secretly loved him and almost couldn’t bear to leave him. Well, he wished that was the reason. She’d left with Sera this morning after glancing worriedly at his wrist, which he’d thought was strange. But also kind of hot.
And even though he’d promised Fey and he didn’t like to go back on his word, he figured that what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her as he closed the door behind him and took off in a jog toward home. Though, perhaps he would swing by the church that was a couple blocks over from their house first. Holy water might be a good thing to have on hand, he’d learned from his research—hey, it hadn’t been a complete waste of time after all—and he had his dad’s empty flask in his back pocket.
Fey only lived about five minutes away by car, but Sera had taken their car to school this morning and Luke was glad to have the excuse to run the three miles. Perhaps if he got his blood pumping, his body moving, it would clear his mind enough that he could make some headway to solving this very large problem of his.
He had a good rhythm going between breath and step by the time he rounded the corner to the church. He was a little sad to be there already because he really could have kept going, it felt so good. Breathing heavy as he stopped, he was in and out so quick, had slipped the filled flask back into his pocket, and was already running toward home with his heart rate hardly slowing.
When he got to his street, Luke paused by the house next door. From this angle his house appeared to be empty, so Luke walked over to the front door and unlocked it. He felt strange going inside. It was quiet. Too quiet. It almost felt as if he didn’t belong there, as if he were entering a stranger’s house. But then there was all their stuff, all the familiars of his home. His heart pounded now in anticipation of someone jumping out at him, but no one was there.
In his bedroom, he grabbed his notebook, sat right down on his bed, and flipped through the pages until he found what he’d jotted down that night. His eyes skimmed the pages: red stone walls, torches, scariest woman in the world, red-haired, beautiful and hideous, throne, black floor—volcanic rock?, empty cavern, Egyptian gold necklace. Hey, the necklace. He’d forgotten about that. He could look that up and see if he could find the same necklace he’d seen her wear. Maybe that would tell him something.
He looked back at his scribblings again. Hell? hot and cold, huge, underground? children of the prophecy. He stopped at that. Children of the prophecy. He tried to decipher his notes. He’d written “the children of the prophecy must die” then Sera killed. A chill etched its way over his skin.
He got up suddenly and turned on his computer. He needed to look this up now. This could not wait until he got back to Fey’s.
He skimmed the notes again as he waited for the computer to boot up, but nothing else stuck out to him. The children of the prophecy. The children of the prophecy. There was something in that, he could feel it.
Shall she be the first to die?
As soon as the computer was up, he googled “children of the prophecy.” Luke clicked on every one of the entries on the first page of results and found nothing. Finally on the ninth page, he came across the title “Children of the Prophecy—When Will They Come?”
He started reading and felt goose bumps spread down his arms. This was it. This was exactly what he’d been searching for. He could hardly breathe. The secret had to be here. Whatever he needed to know had to be on these pages. He quickly bookmarked the site to ensure he’d find it again if he needed to and started printing out the pages for Sera to read, then went back to reading.
Because he couldn’t stop.
It was all there. Who they were, what they were. Written in this detached scholarly language as if it weren’t actually about real people.
Children will be born amongst the human race with special abilities like nothing ever seen before. Their appearance will bring about a change in the world, for better or for worse—the Prophecy does not specify which.
Of special importance will be a seventh son of a seventh son born with a twin. The two will share the powers of the 7/7—one a healer, one a seer.
This was the
m. This wasn’t just some ancient myth. It was about him.
The healer will heal any creature of ailment, be it emotional, physical, or psychological in nature. However, this healing power may also transform those of the Realm into other forms, sometimes even human. If this power is used indiscriminately, it is possible whole populations of vampires, elves, faeries, goblins, witches, etc. could be wiped out. Some theorize such action would cause the collapse and disappearance of the Realm, with effects on the Real world unknown.
“No wonder she wants us dead.” Luke sat wide-eyed as he continued to read.
The seer will See events destined to happen, though he will have the ability to change the outcome—essentially changing the future—if he desires.
“HOW?” Luke shouted at the computer screen. His eyes ransacked the page, searching for the answer he hoped was somewhere on the site. “How? Tell me how I can change the future!”
But he was too frantic to focus on any one part. He glanced at the printer spitting out page after page of text. Please, he thought, please let the answer be there. He sat immobile for a few moments. Shall she be the first to die, Seer? Yes, the more dangerous. Then he shut down his computer, grabbed the stack of paper from the printer, flipped off the power.
And ran.
Sera stood wrapped in Marc’s arms. It was crisp and cold outside, but she much preferred to be snuggled up closely than sitting apart inside the car, not able to feel as much of him. She smiled as she listened to his slow and steady heart beat, felt the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. She inhaled deeply. The air smelled like the promise of snow.
A promise she might not live to see fulfilled.
She looked across the parking lot to the school building where there was a steady stream of students heading for their cars or buses. No Fey, Sera saw with relief. She wanted to relish her time with Marc, stretch it out a little bit, and she knew Fey would want to get back to the house right away to check in with Luke, see if Jonas had come by with news.
Vampires. She hugged Marc tighter. Sera hadn’t said anything about them to Marc. She wasn’t sure he’d believe her. And if he did, it might scare him away from her forever. She didn’t want that to happen. For the moment she was keeping him blissfully unaware.
“Sera?” Marc said.
“Mmm-hmm?”
“Everything okay?” He leaned back a little so he could see her face, concern etched into his features. Luke and Fey were so wrong to be worried about him. And, for that matter, so was Jonas. Marc was wonderful.
For a brief moment she wondered if she’d live long enough for them to realize that. She closed her eyes and snuggled closer. She didn’t want to think about that right now. She wanted a moment—just one moment today—of not thinking about it.
“I’m just really happy to see you today,” she said.
His heart beat sped up, she noticed, and he reached down to release one of her arms. He pushed the sleeve of her coat up to reveal the Mark on her wrist. It still stood stark against her skin. He gazed at it almost lovingly, Sera thought, then he lifted her wrist up and gently pressed his lips to it.
A warm, tingling sensation started where his lips brushed her skin and ran all the way up her arm, and spread to her very core. “Oh,” she said quietly. Boy, she loved the feelings he stirred up in her.
They were all so wrong about him.
He looked into her eyes, a rare thing, and smiled. “Will you do something for me?” he said.
“Absolutely.” She reached up with her other arm, cupped the back of his head with her hand, and brought those amazing lips of his down to meet hers. The kiss shivered through her whole body. Oh, what this boy could do with a simple kiss. There was nothing simple about it.
He laughed a little, lifting his head. “That wasn’t what I meant, but thank you for that.” She couldn’t take her eyes off his lips. “Would you heal me?”
Her eyes locked on his and she frowned slightly. “What do you mean?” She glanced around to be sure no one was nearby to overhear them.
“Heal my mind reading.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t want to be able to hear people’s thoughts anymore. I want you to make it stop, and the migraines that go with it.”
“Marc, I don’t think I can. I don’t think my ability works that way.” She spoke in a quick whisper, and her hand reached up to cover her necklace.
He dropped his arms. “So you won’t even try?”
Sera held her hands out in front of her. “Of course I’ll try. I just don’t think—”
“It has to work,” he said. “I know it’ll work. The medicine works to control it, so it’s something that’s wrong with me.” He closed his eyes and waited.
Sera just looked at him. “Now?” she said.
“Sure.” Marc didn’t even open his eyes. “No time the like present.”
Sera sighed, then hesitantly put her hands on either side of his head, covering his ears. Please let this work, she thought, and closed her eyes to focus on drawing down the warm healing light.
She felt warmth spread through her arms and into Marc’s head, but it wasn’t much energy. It might be enough to relieve some stress, but not to change his inborn abilities. Those couldn’t be healed. At least, she didn’t think they could.
She opened her eyes to look at Marc. His eyes were still closed. “Is it working?” he said, fidgeting a little under her hands. “I feel warmth. Is that it?”
She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t tell him it wasn’t working.
He opened his eyes and saw the expression on her face.
“There’s nothing wrong with you.” Sera said it like an apology.
“Are you really trying?” Marc said.
Sera gasped as if he’d slapped her face, and pulled her hands away from him. She didn’t know why it hadn’t worked, other than that he was fine. That his mind reading wasn’t a sickness or something to cure.
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” she said again, unsure of what else to say.
“Yes, there is.” He took a step back, away from her. “I get headaches that make me want to shove a metal pike through my eye. And they leave me sick and wasted. Everything is wrong with me. I hear people’s thoughts. I’m a freak. And don’t look at me like that, you know what I’m talking about, Sera. You know.” He pointed an angry finger at her. “I have nobody because of this. Nobody. My parents don’t want anything to do with me, I lost my friends.”
“You have us. Me, Luke, Fey.”
“That’s not enough.” Marc spat the words out, and Sera flinched at the sting. “Maybe you don’t really know what I’m talking about because no one knows about you. You’re too scared to tell them. I know why you’re scared. I’ve been there. So don’t tell me there’s nothing wrong with me, because you don’t know what it’s like.”
“I do know. I told my grandmother a long time ago.”
“So?”
“She looked at me like I was evil, and she never wanted anything to do with us ever again. I get what you’re saying, Marc, I really do. But there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re perfect just as you are.”
“Sera?”
Sera whipped her head around to find Fey standing right next to her, eyeing Marc.
“Is everything okay?” Fey said.
Sera looked at Marc. “Peachy,” Marc said, and walked away without looking back. Sera just gaped at him.
“Sera?” Fey followed Marc’s retreat with her eyes. Then she turned to Sera. “Did something happen?”
Sera shook her head. “It’s fine,” she said. Fey didn’t budge. “Let’s go home to Luke.”
“Well, well, well,” Naomi said, veering off from her friends to walk by Sera. She stopped and looked from Sera to Marc and back again. “Has he finally come to his senses and dumped you?”
Sera breathed deep, closed her eyes, tried to keep herself calm. It was not worth it. Naomi wasn’t worth it. Sticks and stones, she thou
ght. Sticks and stones. Her eyes snapped open. Problem was, she was just so tired of it all. And if she was going to die, why not take Naomi down a notch or two.
“Sera,” Fey said, her voice low. “Don’t.”
“Well, skank?” Naomi said, her face an ugly sneer. She stepped closer to Sera. “No one will ever love you. I’m surprised you even have friends.” She looked Fey up and down. “Well, friend.”
“Hey, Naomi?” Fey said. “Why don’t you—”
Sera grabbed Naomi by the shoulders. Hard.
“Hey!” Naomi said.
“Sera, don’t!”
But it was too late. She could feel all her anger gathering in her core. She spoke in a quiet rush. “What is the matter with you? What have I ever done to you that would make you hate me so much? Do you have any idea how that feels?” She started to push Leave me alone into Naomi, but changed her mind. Instead she planted these thoughts: You think you are the ugliest person in school, you are paranoid that you smell and have bad breath, and you want to be my best friend more than anything.
Naomi gasped and her face registered shock, then she took a step back and covered her mouth with one hand. She looked around at everyone in the parking lot, her shoulders slumping forward, longing on her face. She turned to Sera, smiled hesitantly, and lowered her hand a little bit. It was the first time Sera had ever seen her looking completely unsure of herself.
Fey grasped Sera’s arm and pulled her away from the other girl. Sera glared at Fey, anger still pulsing through her. She could feel it welling up inside, threatening to explode.
Anger and fear churned. Marc. Luke’s vision. The vampires. Her father. How Luke would cope after she died. How her mom would get through it.
God, she was going to die.
And just like that she was deflated. No anger. No nothing.