Reckoning

by Molly M. Hall

  My mind races. I feel like I’m having my first clear thoughts in days. I walk up the sidewalk and stop, gazing at Lovell’s house. Images of the accident flash through my mind. Along with everything else that has happened since he moved in. And I’m filled with a myriad of emotions. Anger. Frustration. Confusion. Desperation. Fear.

  Clenching my jaw in determination, I walk across the grass and slip through the gate. Without knocking, I open the back door. I step through the kitchen and into the dining room. “We need to talk.”

  He sits at the dining table, looking at me impassively. Almost as if he’s been expecting me. He sets his coffee mug down and pushes the chair opposite him forward with his foot. He is wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. His bicep contracts as he lifts the mug to his mouth. I quickly bring my eyes back to his face.

  “Have a seat,” he says. “You want some coffee? Tea?”

  I shake my head. I’m not here for a casual morning visit, chatting over hot beverages.

  “So what’s up?”

  “Who are you?” I ask the question bluntly, my gaze never leaving his face.

  His eyebrows lift in surprise. “What? What do you mean?”

  “Who. Are. You.” I say each word slowly, as if he might be having trouble understanding the language.

  He laughs, a short, abrupt sound. “You know who I am. Lovell Ambrose. Well, technically, Lovell Arthur Ambrose. But that’s probably beside the point.” Seeing my expression, the smile leaves his face. “What are you getting at, anyway?”

  “You know that’s not what I mean.”

  “Oookaay.” He looks at me as if he is beginning to question my sanity. “What’s up with you this morning, Kat? You feelin’ OK?”

  “I feel just fine. And nothing’s up with me. I want answers.”

  “Answers to what?”

  “To everything. Everything that’s been happening.” I step to the table. “Everything that’s been happening since you’ve been here.”

  He raises his dark eyebrows, the expression on his face now leaving no doubt that I am a certifiable lunatic. Picking up his cup, he stands and walks to the kitchen sink. I get the impression he is more intent on putting distance between us than rinsing away coffee stains.

  “I don’t know what’s up with you, Kat, but I don’t know what to tell you. Are you sure you didn’t sustain any head injuries or anything? Maybe you should go back to the doctor.”

  “Stop.” I nearly shout the word, filled with exasperation. “Just stop. The lying. The pretense. All of it. I want to know who you are, why you’re here, and why you know so much about me. Why does it seem like you’re always in my head? Why do you ask me questions I feel I should know the answer to, but don’t? How can you anticipate what I’m going to say? Why do I get this weird feeling when I’m around you?”

  He takes a step toward me, his eyes burning with blue intensity.

  The butterflies begin swarming in my stomach. I move around the table until I am directly in front of him. I tilt my head back, my eyes locking onto his. I place my hand on his chest. My palm tingles. “And why were you in the middle of a deserted mountain road four days ago? I slammed right into you. You shouldn’t be alive. And neither should I.”

  He gazes back at me wordlessly. I press my hand harder against his chest. “And Rachel’s car shouldn’t even be in one piece. Yet there isn’t even a scratch on it.”

  He stares at me in silence, something deep and unfathomable in his eyes. He places his hand over mine, and warmth spreads up my arm. I can feel the hard muscles in his chest, his slow and even breaths. Images I can’t identify flash through my mind. Then he steps away. And an unexplainable feeling of loneliness creeps over me. Which just intensifies my anger and frustration.

  “Who are you?” I yell.

  He sighs, and turns to look out the window, his head slightly cocked as if he is listening. But I hear nothing beyond the sound of my own breath, sailing angrily in and out of my nose, and the faint tick of the wall clock in the kitchen.

  He turns back to me. “Katriona.” My name. One word. Nothing extraordinary. I’ve heard it a thousand times before. But never the way he says it. It holds a hundred different meanings and emotions. And the faint trace of an accent I’ve never heard before. “You’re not at all what I expected.”

  “What does that mean?” My voice is so soft I can barely hear it.

  “There are things you need to know, Kat.”

  “What things? What are you talking about?”

  “Haven’t you ever wondered why you’re the way you are? Why you see and hear the things you do? The spirits. That girl in the pink dress. The weird sensations you get.”

  I gasp, staring at him in shock. How can he know about that? No one knows.

  “There’s a reason for it. I was hoping you’d figure it out. I’ve been trying to help you figure it out, to ease you into it. That’s why I’m here.”

  “Figure what out?”

  He sighs. “You’ve suppressed it too long, Kat. Denying you’re power and abilities. Refusing to embrace who you are.”

  I’m beginning to lose patience. He is talking nonsense. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.” I try to move past him into the kitchen, but he stops me, pulling me closer to him.

  “Look at me.”

  His voice is quiet and commanding, and I find it enormously irritating, but impossible to resist. Reluctantly, I lift my eyes to his. I feel a dull throbbing in my head and my eyelids grow heavy. I close my eyes.

  Then the pictures start. Fragmented images and visions, careening through my head, the same ones that had been flashing furiously before, now slowing and coalescing into distinct shapes and forms. Pictures of places that seem familiar, yet foreign. Events, both pleasant and terrifying, playing out in flickering, jerky movement, like an old newsreel. I see a woman, with hair the color of mine, running, her dark cloak billowing behind her. I see her laughing, holding up a small child. I see a strange, foreign street, crowded with people, their voices raised in anger. I see a woman weeping, shivering under a threadbare blanket. I see a dark form rising out of the shadows, a woman kneeling between a circle of stones. A white mist swirls around her. I see myself as a young girl, playing in the sandbox at the park. I see the ghostly image of a woman in white by the trees. I see a man in the trees, his hair glinting in the sun. I see intense blue eyes staring back at me…

  My eyes fly open. Wrenching myself away from him, I step back, looking at him in shock. “Oh, my God,” I whisper. “What did you just do? What was that?” I feel sick and confused, my head pounding like it had after the accident. “I don’t understand.”

  “I know. But you will.”

  “Who are you?” My voice cracks, and tears begin sliding down my cheeks. “Don’t lie to me anymore. I can’t take it. Please. I just want the truth.”

  He looks at me calmly for a moment. “I’m a Watcher.”

  “A watcher? What the hell does that mean?”

  “Watchers are Rulers of the Elemental Kingdoms. But essentially, it means I was sent here to protect you and to teach you. You have a destiny, Kat.”

  I look at him uncomprehendingly.

  “There’s a lot you need to know. So I guess I’ll just go back to the beginning. It started in Scotland, in1760, with your six-times great-grandmother, Ailis. She was a very powerful woman. I suppose you could say she was a witch, although not in the modern sense of the word. She could heal animals and people simply by placing her hands on them. Plants would thrive under her care. She had the ability to see coming events and, like you, could communicate with spirits. She was beautiful and intelligent, had the love and respect of the other villagers, and a good marriage to a man she loved. But the one thing she wanted, more than anything, was a child. But she was unable to conceive. So she called upon a very powerful force to help her. An Elemental Ruler by the name of Aratus. With his help, she succeeded. The child wasn’t his,” he adds, seeing my expression. “It was conce
ived with her husband, via the usual method.

  “She gave birth to a daughter, Ellin. She couldn’t have been happier. She felt her life was now complete, and at last, her knowledge and abilities could be passed on. But in obtaining her most ardent wish, Ailis made a grave mistake. What she didn’t understand was that for a life, a life must be given. When she realized the extent of the pact she had made, she was terrified her daughter would be taken from her and worked frantically to protect her. But that’s not what Aratus wanted. He wanted the life of the very powerful one who would be born generations later, to one of her descendants. The seventh daughter. The one who would have greater powers than any who had come before. Once she understood the full truth, the only thing she could do was try to find a way to stop it. So she spent the rest of her life teaching her daughter, passing on her knowledge and legacy, and searching for a way to stop what was to come.

  “Eventually, her daughter thought that she could break the pact by simply never conceiving, thereby breaking the curse. If the legacy ended with her, there would never be a seventh daughter. But it wasn’t that simple. The pact that Ailis had unknowingly made ensured that each generation would bear a daughter until the seventh had been born. If they didn’t choose a mate, one would be…forced…on them.

  “Tragically, Ellin found this out one night when she was walking home alone after tending to a sick neighbor. A few yards from her house, she was attacked. A highwayman, or outlaw of some sort, most likely. No one ever knew. And I don’t think you need me to provide the details to know what happened.”

  Lovell shifts position, crossing his arms on his chest. “After that, Ailis and Ellin realized nothing as simple as spinsterhood would prevent the prophecy from unfolding. So, with the birth of each daughter, the knowledge and legacy was passed on, each generation desperately searching for a way to break the curse. Ironically, your great-great grandmother, Katriona, believed she had finally found it. But her daughter was taken away from her before she had the chance to reveal what she had discovered. Knowing what was to come, she did the only thing she could. She called on the Watchers to ensure one of us would be here when the seventh daughter was born. To teach them what she knew and how to defeat the power that will come to claim their life.”

  Lovell steps towards, looking at me gravely. “That’s why I’m here. Because you are the seventh daughter.”

  I look at him speechlessly for a moment, my brain trying to wrap itself around what he’s just said. Then I start laughing. Uncontrollable, hysterical laughter. I’m laughing so hard tears are falling from my eyes. Lovell looks at me calmly, waiting for me to stop.

  “That is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard,” I finally gasp, collapsing into the chair Lovell had pushed out earlier. “You actually expect me to believe that?”

  “Yes. It’s the truth.” His eyes never leave my face.

  “OK. Yeah. Whatever. You believe what you want.”

  “Kat, this is not a matter of belief. This is a matter of your life or death. You can beat this, but you have to learn how. There’s a lot more to this than just seeing ghosts and spirits. It’s going to get a lot worse.”

  I stand up, suddenly angry. “So I see dead people!” I shout, admitting it for the first time in years. “What about it? I’m not the only one. But that doesn’t mean I’m destined to break some ridiculous, ancient curse that makes no sense. And it doesn’t explain who the hell you are!”

  “I told you. I’m a Watcher. I can help you and teach you.”

  “How?” I say caustically. “By teaching me to break plates? I think I’m quite capable of that on my own.”

  “There’s a lot more to it than that,” he says quietly.

  I shake my head. “I don’t know what or who you are, but I don’t believe any of it.”

  He looks at me in frustration. Then, without saying a word, he turns and looks at the clock on the kitchen wall. Raising his arm, he faces his palm towards it. Abruptly, the hands on the dial start spinning crazily in opposite directions. I can only stare at him speechlessly. He drops his arm and a dinner plate sails off the counter, spinning towards his head. Lifting his other arm, he smashes it into pieces. A framed picture flies off the wall and he spins, planting a solid roundhouse kick right in the middle, shattering the glass and sending it hurtling back into the living room. He turns his gaze outside and the two plastic chairs on the patio shoot across the lawn, smacking into the side of the garage. Then he turns back to me. “There’s a lot more I can do, including preventing a tragic car accident on a deserted mountain road in the midst of a storm caused by a very powerful dark force. And making it look like you just skidded off the road.”

  My mouth opens, but nothing comes out.

  “Kat, listen to me. This was supposed to be much easier. Your training should have started when you were a child. But I’ve never known anyone who has ignored and suppressed their abilities as strongly as you have. Ironically, it’s that very strength that’s deterred the power waiting to claim you until now. But you have to stop. Aratus is incredibly strong and powerful. And he’s moving in very quickly. Much quicker than I thought he would. He nearly had you on that road four days ago. If I hadn’t been there to stop him…Aratus will stop at nothing to get you. He will use whatever means necessary. Even harming someone close to you. Believe me, he will continue to attack you in whatever way he can until he succeeds. I can protect you as much as possible, but in the end, you’re the only one who can defeat him.”

  This is ridiculous. Complete and utter insanity. “And just how do I do that?” I ask, pretending to play along, wondering what he will come up with next.

  “By learning. By training. By going to places you never thought possible and discovering what Katriona knew.”

  “And I suppose you already know what that is?”

  “I know some of it. Not all. But I know ways to find out the rest.” He looks at me imploringly. “Kat, I know this is a lot to take in all at once, and it’s not the way I planned it. I wanted to make this much more gradual. But after what happened…we don’t have time. Believe me, this is real. I’m not crazy.”

  I know the expression on my face says otherwise.

  “I know how hard it’s been,” he continues, speaking quickly. “I know about the call your mother made when you were five and the weeks you spent going through intensive therapy because she was worried about your mental state when you persisted in saying the spirits you saw were real. They were real. But what you went through shouldn’t have happened. Your mother didn’t know any better. She, and your grandmother, and your great grandmother should all have inherited the knowledge and gifts of your ancestors, but they lost that chance when Katriona’s daughter was taken from her. So now it’s up to you.”

  I stare at him in silence.

  “I know about the girl in pink you keep seeing and how much she terrifies you.”

  And with that, I react, my expression changing from silent indifference to shock.

  “She’s a sylph, working for Aratus. She’s meant to distract you and open a gateway for Aratus. I know about the bird, the one that tried to attack you in the park. It was another of Aratus’ servants. It often acts as his eyes. But you were able to handle that. When the streetlamp exploded, that came from you. It was a result of your energy. And that’s only a part of what you can do once you learn to channel it.”

  “How do you know about any of these things?” I whisper.

  He takes a seat opposite me, looking at me intently. “Because I’m a Watcher. It’s what I do. You need to understand, you and I are connected in a way far more powerful than you can imagine.” He reaches for my hand and the familiar warmth and tremors pulse through me.

  I gaze back at him, suddenly appalled. “Are you saying you watch me…can see me… all the time?” I think about showering, changing clothes, sleeping. Being alone with Rick. My face turns red.

  “No, not all the time. Only when necessary, which I usually have a good instinct for. Bel
ieve me, I allow you your privacy. Especially lately.” There is something in his voice, a note of anger or disapproval, but he doesn’t elaborate.

  I’ve had enough. I stand and run my hands through my hair in exasperation. “This is crazy. It really is. And I think you’re nuts. I don’t know what happened on that road four days ago. Or how. Or why. But you stay away from me. Just leave me alone, OK?”

  I back away, moving towards the door. Reaching for the handle, I throw it open and run down the steps.

  “Kat. Please…” I hear him say, but I keep going, slamming my front door and rushing to my bedroom, collapsing on the bed.

  Nothing makes sense and all I want is to put as much distance as possible between him and me.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Rachel and I walk back from the park in silence, relishing the cool of the evening after the scorching afternoon heat. The temperature had climbed well into the nineties and I can still feel the heat radiating off the pavement. The sun is setting, the sky over the mountains glowing yellow, orange and red as the last rays of light shine through the thin line of cirrus clouds to the west.

  I feel strangely calm. Since the incomprehensible conversation with Lovell a week ago, I’ve kept to my room, trying to sort out the confusion in my head. Mr. Camenson has allowed me to take as much time as I need after the accident. Which is good, as I don’t think I can stay focused long enough to accomplish anything useful. My mind is a jumbled mess of thoughts and emotions that constantly switch direction. It still hurts to think about Rick. As for Lovell, I have no clue how he knows the things he does, but it’s impossible for me to believe the story about the Watchers, and Aratus, and some ancient pact that I have to pay the price for. Yes, weird things happen to me. But a dark force from some other dimension that wants to take my life? It’s delusional. And I don’t know how he did the other things – the clock, the plate, the picture, the lawn chairs, the incident right before the accident – but there has to be a rational explanation. Or at least a reasonable one. Maybe in time it will make sense, but for now, I just want to stop thinking about any of it.