See How She Awakens

by Michelle Graves

  “NOOOO! NOOO! NO! Come back. It isn’t over. No! What did you mean?” Violent shaking pulled me from the dream. As reality seeped back in, I found Aberto standing over me.

  “Don’t touch me. Please.” I skirted away from him, towards the head of the bed, pulling my knees to my chest.

  “Izzy, no harm will come to me from your touch. Rest easy.” Aberto’s eyes pleaded with me as he reached a hand toward my face.

  “I SAID NO!” Shouting, I sifted myself across the room, away from his reach.

  “Why will you not let me touch you?” Aberto’s sorrow cut through me.

  He wants to take advantage of you while you are vulnerable. Remember, he just wanted you to himself. He is happy that Kennan is gone. The darkness murmured.

  “It isn’t his fault. He would never do that. No, you are wrong!” I murmured, turning to face the wall. The voice was growing stronger with every passing moment.

  Something from my dream came rushing forward. The darkness would consume me, time was my enemy.

  They never should’ve taken me from the void.

  They won’t rest until they’ve taken all you have to give.

  “No, you’re wrong. They care about me. You’re wrong.” My voice rose in panic.

  Ian doesn’t care about you. He blames you. If Molly dies, he will never forgive you. It will be your fault.

  “STOP IT!” Throwing my hands up to clasp my head, I struggled to push the voice away. My fingers tangled in my hair as I gripped tightly, reality beginning to blur. The truth becoming harder and harder to decipher.

  “What is this?” Aberto looked at me as though I were a feral animal, ready to attack. His wary glance did nothing to dissuade the panic rising up within me.

  Why couldn’t he believe me? Why wouldn’t anyone believe me? I wasn’t crazy. The darkness was there, waiting, preparing to consume me completely.

  “I fear I did not reach you in time, Izzy. Perhaps the void has gotten to your mind. I believe the best course of action is to pull you back to the reality of the mortal plane. In time, your friends will be able to bring you back to yourself.” Aberto’s quick dismissal of my very real problem did nothing to comfort me.

  “I’ll never be myself again.” My voice was nothing more than a broken sob. I would never be myself again, not when Kennan was gone. He’d taken with him a piece of me, leaving a hole that could never be patched.

  “You will be marked by your loss, but that loss does not have to define you. You can recover, if you choose to do so.” Aberto longed for me to move forward. To him? Or to the task at hand? I wasn’t quite sure which.

  “If you say so.” There was no point in trying to argue with him. He didn’t believe a word I said. And like all things with Aberto, if he didn’t believe it, it was ignored.

  “Perhaps we should confer with the others now that you’ve rested.” Aberto rose from the bed and opened the door, holding it in such a manner I had no choice but do as he asked.

  I slipped past Aberto and made my way into the main house. The promise I’d made to Aberto lingered in my mind. If I came back and found Molly changed, I would stay and help. My own demons aside, I couldn’t let Molly die. Not like that. Not when she’d been getting worse by trying to save me.

  I’d thought I’d lost everything. That there was nothing left for me on this plane, but I’d been wrong. I’d known that the moment my eyes befell Molly in her current state. I love her almost as fiercely as I loved Kennan. She was my family, the only person that had taken me for what I was without question. Molly held no expectations of me, didn’t look to me as the one that would save the universe. Instead, she offered me friendship, and a reprieve from the world of Seers and Guardians.

  I would do everything in my power to save her.

  “Holy hell! Don’t they have mirrors in the void?” Sena’s shocked voice called from across the room. I turned to look at her, and her face shifted between surprise and disbelief. Her eyes filled with fear as the steps she’d been taking toward me suddenly became backwards strides. “Never mind. I think I have somewhere I need to be,” she muttered before disappearing into the house.

  “What is her problem?” I hadn’t even given a thought to my appearance since I’d been back. I wasn’t even sure I’d mustered clothing for myself when I shifted into a corporeal form. Looking down at my body, I saw a white box of fabric encasing my body. At least I wasn’t naked; it could’ve been worse.

  “You have been through a great deal,” Aberto replied, leading me toward Molly’s room.

  “That wasn’t an answer,” I groused as I followed.

  He doesn’t love you anymore. He thinks you are unworthy, the darkness murmured.

  “Fine by me,” I replied, causing Aberto to stare at me strangely. “What?” I snapped.

  “You keep uttering strange things. Why?” Aberto paused, concern in his eyes.

  “I’m not talking to myself.” Moving past him, I opened the door to Molly’s room.

  The room went quiet as I stepped through the doorway. Ian looked down upon a seemingly sleeping Molly while Conall lingered in the corner. Off to the side, Eleanor and Mona had their heads close together, pouring over manuscripts. None of them mattered at this moment. Only Molly mattered.

  She wasn’t asleep as I’d first thought, she was floating. She hovered just above the bed, encased in blankets tightly wrapped around her. The image reminded me of the mummy exhibitions I’d seen at The Field Museum. The blank expression on her face betrayed no emotions. There was nothing to convey life still lingered—no twitch of skin, no flick of a dreaming eyelash, not a single movement manifested upon her still form.

  “What did you do to her?” I longed to reach out and touch her; to brush the stray strand of hair from her face. She’d done this trying to find me. I was the reason she lay broken and unmoving.

  “She is in stasis.” Ian’s strained response drew my attention to him more closely. He sat wringing his hands, as if he longed to do the very same thing I’d wanted to do. Just to touch her, to know that she still existed.

  “I didn’t know, Ian. If I’d known…” I couldn’t finish the thought; I wasn’t sure I would’ve come back, even if I had known. I didn’t want to lie. I knew the risk leaving the void, and it was proving to be true.

  “What would you have done, Izzy? Would you have stopped mourning Kennan in solitude? Rejoined the rest of us that grieve for him? Would you, Izzy?” Pain laced every word that poured from his mouth.

  He blames you. He will never forgive you, never trust you again. The voice gave me no reprieve.

  “He will. I will make this right,” I muttered.

  Ian looked at me as though I’d grown a second head before going back to staring at Molly.

  “What caused this? How did she end up like this?” I asked.

  “The Revenants came for her. She is an empath, and as such, things affect her more forcefully.” Eleanor stated, looking up briefly from the tome in front of her.

  “What is a Revenant?” I looked around the room, hoping someone would explain.

  “What were those words you said yesterday before you left?” Mona calmly asked.

  “The world will burn. The darkness is coming. Act now, or all is lost.” I chanted the words that had haunted me in the dreaming.

  “The Revenants came to you as well. They are echoes from a possible future that may befall us if we do nothing to stop it. They are what we will become. Molly met face to face with her future self and is now becoming the same. If the darkness is not fully stopped, she will die. Along with the rest of us.” Mona turned back to the book quickly.

  “The demon is gone, though; I fell. Wasn’t that what the prophecy said?” The same look crossed everyone’s face simultaneously. Guilt with a hint of regret.

  They will never trust you with the full truth, Izzy. You are a threat to them all and they know it.

  “STOP IT!” my voice reverberated throughout the room, causing everyone but Aberto to ju
mp.

  “Izzy, we didn’t say anything.” Mona’s brows furrowed as she looked first at me, and then to Aberto.

  “What did you keep from me this time? What more am I missing?” I looked around the room and realized every person in the room had lied to me. The darkness bubbled with joy inside of me at the admission. It pressed outward, expanding by immeasurably small amounts. One day it would consume me completely if I let it.

  “There were two prophecies.” Ian rose from his chair slowly. As he moved toward me, my stomach clenched. Something slid just behind his eyes. Not really anger or hatred, but something malevolent all the same. My body acted of its own accord skirting backwards toward the door. I didn’t want to be trapped. Whatever was coming, I wanted to be prepared.

  “What?” I looked around the room trying to get anyone to connect with me, to make eye contact so I could glean whether it were true or not.

  “There are two prophecies,” Ian said, his voice far closer than it had been moments before.

  He wants to be rid of you. You see it, he can’t be trusted. Dark whispers clouded my mind, masking reality.

  “Don’t come any closer, Ian.” Backing away, I found myself trapped. Behind me stood a tall form, Guardian or Aberto, I wasn’t sure. I looked up over my shoulder to find a blank faced Aberto staring back. No emotion showed on his face. Nothing to tell me if what they said was true. Slowly, I sifted to the other side of the room, resurfacing to find everyone staring at the spot I’d stood in moments before. Seconds ticked by before anyone moved, but an eternity lapsed in those seconds.

  Thoughts skittered through my mind that weren’t of my making. Screams of terror, thoughts of deception and blame, it all felt too familiar. My mind sprung back to the vision I’d had. The streets of Chicago burned and a charred man chased down another, brutality pulsing from his every pore. The thoughts were the same. Fear, blame, anger, rage, it was all coming. It had already begun. I could hear it in the people surrounding me.

  “What does the prophecy say? No more secrets.” I spoke, breaking the stillness. Confused faces searched the room for the origin of my voice. “Someone needs to tell me.”

  “Mona, give her what she seeks.” Aberto’s gaze was assessing, not Mona, but me. He searched my face as if an answer might lay written there. For all I knew he could still read my every thought.

  “There were two prophecies,” Mona stated simply, as if that would be enough.

  “What were they?” I ground out as the darkness whispered, They will never tell you the truth.

  Ian stared at Mona, waiting to see if she would say anything. Her hesitation was enough of an answer. “Mona, if you won’t tell her, I will. Enough with the secrets. They have done nothing but bring us to destruction. Tell her everything.”

  “I don’t know if I am permitted to disclose all. I fear by telling her, the unfolding future will not be of her choice, but because she feels an obligation to us.” Mona looked away, a war visibly raging in her eyes.

  “My choice? Nothing in the past few years would’ve been of my choosing. I didn’t choose to become a Seer, or to be set on this path of destruction. Every step I take hurts someone else I love. I’d never choose that. I will do what is asked of me, even if it leads to my undoing. But know this, none of this was ever my choice. If I had a choice, Kennan would be alive.” I paused, trying to gain my composure, but afraid if I didn’t finally speak the truth it would never be spoken. “You speak of the prophecy as though it were some big secret, but the truth is whether I’d stopped the demon or not, I would’ve fallen. My life—that’s a joke, it’s not even my life—has been destined from my first breath. I am a tool, a blunt instrument sent from the heavens to do what they will not do themselves. If I’m to be used, so be it. Tell me the prophecy.”

  They don’t trust you, Izzy. They think you are selfish and unwilling to do what must be done. Don’t fight for them, they don’t deserve it. Darkness churned within me, causing my stomach to roil.

  “No,” I whispered, bending over to clutch my stomach. If I held tight enough maybe the darkness would subside.

  “Izzy, it has always been your choice.” Mona’s eyes glistened with unshed tears.

  “No, it hasn’t.” I gritted out. I’d thought of my life, of what I could’ve had if I’d chosen Kennan like Isadora said I could. If I’d done that, I would never have been happy. I’d always blame myself for the deaths of thousands of innocent people. Either choice I’d made, I would’ve lost myself.

  “Enough!” Aberto shouted. “Tell her and be done with this.” His voice vibrated through my chest. I’d only ever heard him speak like that once before, when he’d destroyed Xavier.

  “The prophecy,” Mona swallowed hard before continuing, “there were two. You know the first. If you did not stop the demon, darkness would fall upon the world, causing brother to fight against brother. If you had not succeeded, that would be the destiny of the world.”

  “What is the other one?” Still clutching my stomach, I struggled to stand fully upright. The darkness rested, appeased with my acceptance of its voice for a time.

  “It says that though the demon be defeated, the darkness shall still fall, and the world will burn if not for the intervention of the Seer.” Mona clipped out before turning her face away.

  “You knew this all along? You knew if I succeeded more would come, yet you didn’t warn me? Warn any of us?” Fire prickled along my arms as the anger coursed through my veins. My arms began sparking a brilliant blue before pulsing into tight flames.

  “Calm yourself, Seer.” Aberto’s tone still held the steely tone from moments before. “These emotions will bring you no satisfaction.”

  “Calm myself? Did you know there was more to the prophecy? That once I fell, more would be asked?” The darkness churned inside of me. “Did you know?” My voice was a razor as I moved toward Aberto. The flames were turning red as the rage overtook me.

  “ENOUGH!” Aberto shouted, causing everything to go black.

  “What was that?” Conall’s voice asked from somewhere in the foggy distance.

  “It is not clear,” Aberto responded from somewhere close.

  “What do you mean it isn’t clear? She just went all psycho flame girl, and then the fire went red and her voice…what the hell was that?” Ian sounded scared, his voice moving frantically around me in the distance.

  “She’s been through a great deal, perhaps the void did more damage than we’d thought.” Eleanor’s calm voice felt like a warm blanket.

  “No,” Aberto stated, as though that one word held all of the answers. I wanted to open my eyes to look at everyone, but something in me said be still.

  “What do you mean, no? Now isn’t a great time to be cryptic.” Ian’s frustration rubbed against my nerves.

  “It is something more. She tried to tell me, but I believed as you did just now. The void can do damage, but this is something more.” Aberto’s breath fanned across my face as a warm hand clasped my cheek. I could feel his eyes upon me.

  “How is she to be of assistance if she cannot control whatever this is? She seems to be on the brink of losing herself completely.” Conall’s calm assessment brought back memories of the times he’d patched up the marks that had overtaken my body months ago.

  “The darkness has taken hold,” Mona’s voice spoke, but I knew it wasn’t her. I’d heard that voice enough to know Uriel had appeared. Opening my eyes, I turned my head to look upon him as he resided in my aunt.

  A look of disgust crossed his face as he took in my prone form. Tilting my head, I wondered if he could see the darkness writhing within me.

  “Do you see it?” I asked, a smile twisting my lips as his sneer morphed into a look of abject horror. “What are we to do now, Uriel?” I taunted him as I sat up. Moving towards my aunt’s body slowly, I tracked him like he were my prey. “What? Your Seer isn’t the shiny champion of good anymore? Are you scared of a little darkness?” The darkness laughed within me as it stretch
ed ever outward.

  “Izzy?” Ian’s voice shook with fear.

  “And you. You blame me for her. All of you blame me when something doesn’t go right. How about you do something for yourselves? What are you waiting for? Do you need him to sign a permission slip or something? Maintain the balance, what a joke. There never was a balance, and there never will be. At least the darkness doesn’t lie. It doesn’t keep secrets.” Ian’s fallen face broke whatever spell I’d been under. Gasping, I stepped backward. The words that had come from me, they were of my own making, but not mine.

  Tears welled in my eyes as I backed away from everyone. Their stares of confusion and hurt causing panic to replace the rage that had taken hold. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.” Sobs wracked my body. I wanted it to end, to be free of this torment. Falling down to my knees, my body buckled in on itself.

  The darkness ever pressing, But didn’t it feel good to let the truth be heard? You owe them nothing. You’ve given enough, and now they know how you truly feel.

  “No, I don’t feel that way. I DON’T!” My hands shot up toward my head, gripping my hair. I wanted to block the darkness out. I didn’t want to hear it anymore. It had to end. Someone had to make it end. I could end it.

  End yourself, and they will be free of you. Do it, Izzy. Or don’t you want to be with Kennan?

  “Kennan. Yes, end it. No one but me will hurt.” The logic was flawless, if I wasn’t alive, I couldn’t hurt anyone else.

  “NO!” Aberto’s voice shook me from my thoughts, pulling my attention into focus. He kneeled in front of me, his hands wrapped over mine. “No.” His voice softer, a plea.

  “You can do nothing to save me.” Scorn dripped from my every word.

  “She speaks the truth. She can’t be saved. The darkness will reign. The world will burn.” Uriel’s matter of fact response sent waves of anger cascading through me. “She is the catalyst of the war.”