Consequence

by Shelly Crane

  Kyle rolled his eyes, but lifted his hand as Caleb sat down across from him. “All right, all right. I give, Champion.”

  “You know I hate it when you call me that,” Caleb grumbled and told the waiter he’d have water.

  “I know,” Kyle rebutted and looked over at me. “Any idea what’s going on?”

  “No Visionary talk,” Caleb ordered. “Maggie has been through enough this week.” His hand inched over to mine on the table, his thumb rubbing my knuckles. “We’ll figure it out, we always do, but right now we’re going to enjoy this last day in London before we go home.”

  “I think there’s probably more important things.”

  Caleb kept going. “And let Maggie have a few minutes of calm before we go back, because when we do, we’ve got to figure out who on the council is trying to sabotage us. Because someone is working with the Watsons. We’re almost sure of it.”

  Kyle looked at me and scoffed. “You agree with this bologna?”

  I nodded. “Every word.”

  He gulped. “Whatever you say, boss. I’m right behind you, always.”

  I told Caleb to order for me. It was our thing. He always ordered for me when we went somewhere new. He knew me inside out and knew what I liked, but today, my mind could barely focus on the glass of water in front of me, let alone what kind of food I wanted. My mind churned with possibilities of who could be behind things and what purpose it could serve.

  Stop it, he ordered softly. Don’t make me pull rank.

  I outrank you, Jacobson.

  Technically. He grinned, his dimples winking. I’m still your Champion, however, and I order you to stop worrying until we have to. Whatever this is…we’ll deal with it, together.

  Okay. I nodded and sighed, cracking my neck side to side. I’ll try to have fun.

  That’s my girl.

  The waitress interrupted our flirting with our food of real shepherd’s pie, and Kyle and Lynne’s kippers. After we ate ourselves full, we walked down Market Street to the shops and marketplace.

  The tingling started in the back of my mind softly, like a reminder, but Caleb seemed oblivious to it, so I tried not to think about it at all. I was going to give Caleb the perfect day he wanted if I got nothing else done on this trip.

  After a few hours, we finally made our way back toward the lift and I was sporting a new charm for my bracelet—an infinity charm Caleb found. We got Ava and Rodney some things, too, my husband’s arms loaded down, making him very cute.

  We passed the fountain across the street, the one that I had heard the splash from and seen the vision. I walked cautiously over, half expecting it to be filled with something other than water, but it was crystal clear.

  The fountain was beautiful, old in its design and architecture. The woman who sat on top covering herself with a stone blanket smirked at us from her perch. I wondered who she was modeled from, who she was supposed to be. I let the tips of my fingers float across the water, and the vision hit me like no other vision had ever come.

  I was falling. It was me, actually me. I wasn’t watching them fall. The scream screeched from her lungs—my lungs. I watched the ground come closer and closer, knowing the end was coming, my time was almost over. The fountain was below me like a mirror, portraying an eerie copy of myself and my death.

  Right as I braced myself for impact, I was on the roof. I was someone else. I was taller, broader. I couldn’t move, but was moving. People moved and talked around me. I was conscience, aware, but not able to interact. They stood me upright when we got to the lift and I saw one of the Watson clan members. I gasped inside my head, but nothing came out of my mouth.

  We moved too fast, too swift and with purpose for it to be anything but a plan. I felt a grimy substance all over my thoughts, just like the times I had been in Marcus’ and Sikes’ heads. What was going on? I reached my mind out, feeling for anything that would bring me some sense of understanding. My own powers no longer worked. I was useless. No. I shook that thought away and focused. This was happening for a reason. This was meant for me to see.

  When we reached the bottom, we passed the fountain. That fountain… The scream sounded again, but this time, they all heard it. They covered their ears, letting me tumble to the ground. I fell with an awkward thud, like I was stone, molded and unyielding. “It happens sometimes when we come past here,” one of them remarked. “Marla’s last mark on this world replayed over and over in the fountain’s water.”

  “How come the humans can’t hear it?”

  “We didn’t save her. It’s meant to torture us. Only her family can hear it.”

  That one statement was a dagger to my very soul. Only her family can hear it…

  I could hear it.

  My mother’s betrayal was coming back to haunt me yet again.

  We were moving. They shoved me in the back of a truck, and in the blink of an eye we were in a house. It was a beautiful place. Clean, bright. They stood me upright in a corner with a room full of people looking at me as if I were the key to all their problems.

  “Well, how do we get him out of there?” a woman said.

  A man stepped forward. I recognized him from the reunification. His name was Chase.

  Chase Watson.

  “We don’t. He’s the only one who could do this; he’s the only one who can get himself out. He’s stuck like this. He’ll make a nice conversation piece right here in the corner for all of eternity.” He turned to look at his family. “While we figure out how to avenge him and all our other family in these pathetic human bodies, given to us by the one who was supposed to bring our people more power, not take it away.”

  Oh, my… I was in Donald’s body.

  As soon as the thought entered my mind, I was yanked from him and was running in someone else. My feet moved without thought and my eyes wandered around the woods as if looking for someone. I was so tired, I didn’t know if I could keep going. I reached the edge of the trees and saw a building. I sprinted for it. My body ached. When I looked down, I saw my belly was bulging and pregnant. I was very close to giving birth. I gasped and cried out, my mind aching, unable to release my own voice and thoughts.

  I heard voices behind me and took off again…but didn’t get far. They gave chase and soon caught up to me. My mouth spouted words that weren’t my own. I listened to them as the men surrounded me and was horrified—beyond horrified—at what I heard.

  “Please don’t take me back there. Please. I’ll do anything you want. Anything. You can have your way with me.” My knees hit the dirt as I begged. “I’ll do anything! Please, just let the baby and me go! Please!”

  “You know that’s not going to happen.” The one speaking looked down at me without pity or emotion, like I was a job. Like I was something he was supposed to do and nothing else. “You know you’re going to have to come back. Just come back the easy way, Gabrielle. You know we don’t want to hurt you.”

  “But you do,” I whispered. “You do. And you let him hurt me.”

  “We want to help you. He wants to make you powerful and help you so that husband of yours can never hurt you again.”

  I felt my mouth sneer. “He just beat me. Even he never poisoned and tortured me the way you and your family do. You’re doing the things you do for you, not me. Don’t make it sound like you’re helping anyone but yourselves.”

  He didn’t smile. I recognized several of them from the reunification from the Watson family, and I could tell from the clothes they were wearing that this was recent. He pointed his hand toward the truck we all could hear coming in the distance. “Get in the truck, Gabrielle. No one wants to deliver a baby in the woods. He’s coming, isn’t he?”

  A sob escaped my chest and I rose to go with them. I fought inside myself. Me— myself—I wanted to fight. I didn’t want them to have this baby. This woman, Gabrielle, she was weak from what they’d put her through. She was just…done. But me, I was ready for a fight. I knew what going with them meant. I knew what Sikes and his f
amily had done to people in the past and apparently his family was carrying the torch in his stead.

  Well, I wasn’t about to let that happen. I had to do something. There had to be a reason I was seeing this. I focused, I made myself look around and see everything, but Gabrielle climbed into the front seat of the truck, followed by the guy who kept giving orders, and slouched, leaning her head back, giving up. They drove her all the way back to the Watson compound and he took her arm, albeit gently, as he pulled her from the truck and took her back toward the house. “You’re going to change things for us, Gabrielle—you and this baby. Doesn’t that make you happy? You’re finally a part of a family.”

  “I know you’re going to just get rid of me after he’s born,” Gabrielle whispered.

  He didn’t say anything back to her, which was answer enough.

  Right as I would have breached the threshold of the door, I was slammed back into my own body so forcefully that it felt as if I fell from the sky and had to be caught.

  Caleb’s arms squeezed me to his chest and his breaths beat against my ear…like he had been breathing hard for a long time. We were both shaking, but Caleb’s rage and worry was almost out of control. He was borrowing my ability and he was about to lose control and let loose the energy ribbons.

  I leaned back, the significant in me forgetting the vision for a second and worry for my Caleb taking over. I was on his lap as he sat on the fountain edge. We were both soaking wet. Nothing made sense, but neither of us said a word as he took my face in his hands and brought my mouth down to his. For once in a really long time, I didn’t have to push anything out of my mind. I knew Kyle and Lynne were behind us and probably freaking, but my body was completely, solely, focused on my significant.

  It had been a long time since I had been able to do that. I was always so consumed with my Visionary duties since it’s this huge part of me. But this was freeing. Even though the vision I just had was so potent, all it did was remind me why this part of my life was that much more important than anything else.

  His calm crashed into my veins the same time as his upset did, begging for me to take it away and tell him that I was okay. I pulled his shirt up and pressed my palms flat to his stomach to give him as much of me as I could. His breath faltered against my lips a little and I knew I had made a dent in his thinly controlled concern. His thumbs swept over my cheeks, over and over, reassuring himself that I was still there every time he made a pass.

  He didn’t wait for me to explain. He sensed it had been traumatic for me anyway, so he just went straight into my mind to find out what happened for himself. He pulled away from my lips and laid his forehead to mine, watching the scenes play out. I hated to watch them all over again, but it was better than trying to explain it. I kept myself in check so there were no energy ribbons. When he finished, he leaned back and finally opened his eyes. He was wrecked. His shaggy, wet hair was flat, wrapping around his ears even when wet.

  “You were gone for almost half an hour,” he rasped. “I couldn’t reach you no matter what I did. Your eyes were closed. It was like you were asleep. I couldn’t see what you were seeing, your vision. You never said a word, never moved, barely breathed.”

  “Why am I wet?”

  “You touched the water—the fountain took you under.” I squinted in confusion. “It sucked you in. I jumped in after you.”

  I sighed. “The Watsons…they’re not finished with us.”

  “What the hell does all this mean?” he growled and smoothed my hair when I closed my eyes. “Why are you being shown visions about the Watsons? Why them, when they’re human and can’t hurt us, for one, and for two, why can’t I see them?”

  “You saw why. I’m their family.”

  “I’m your significant and we share an ability. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to see the visions with you.”

  “Let’s just go back to the palace and get on our way back to the states. It’s obvious that we’re supposed to go to the Watson’s compound and do something about this.”

  “If it even belongs to them anymore.” He shrugged. “It was in foreclosure and the last I heard, some wine maker had his eye on it.”

  “We have to try. I get visions for a reason.”

  He nodded, leaning forward and kissing my forehead, lingering there to fill me with his touch. “I know, baby.”

  We made a swift walk to the palace, a silent Lynne and Kyle following behind. When we got there, I informed the council of the strange visions and said I needed to handle them. I kept my mind wide open, listening and digging for anything and everything in their minds. I could hear them. Which meant none of the council members had taken the poultice that Marla and the rest of the Watsons had taken with my blood in it to keep me from hearing their thoughts. So, we didn’t know if someone on the council was just really good at hiding it or if we were back to square one with them. Maybe they weren’t involved at all and were just really bad at being rulers of our people.

  Either way, we were going to the Visionary’s library to do some research, and then my family was leaving.

  To say they were happy about any of it was a flat-out lie. They said wasting any time on the Watsons was just that, a waste, and my time was better spent elsewhere. When I informed them of the experiments they were performing on humans to give them powers, in turn to try to give themselves powers again, they said humans weren’t our concern.

  For someone who used to be a human and was tortured by that same family, I was insulted greatly by their lack of compassion. I mean, they had not even an ounce of it. But to not give any concern to the fact that the Watson family was playing a game of trying to get their powers back and the council didn’t care? Something had to give.

  Caleb followed with silent, stoic steps as we ascended the Visionary’s steps to her library. Ashlyn was kept the princess in the tower and the captive, all in one, in this library. I wrapped my arms around myself as I let my eyes search her scrawling on the walls. When I looked back at Caleb, he was watching me carefully. “You okay, baby?”

  I nodded. “This could have been me…so easily.”

  He gulped painfully. “I would have never let them do this to you.”

  “I know that. But there was no one there to save her. And now, there’s no one there to save those people from the Watsons. No one but us. That has to be a reason I got the vision. Maybe…maybe they’re going to expose us to a ton of humans or something.” I ran my finger along the words on the bricks. “I don’t know the whys; I just know that we have to do this.”

  He engulfed me from behind, his arms around me, his face next to mine on my shoulder. “I’m always with you, whatever you choose to do.” He leaned in. “You’re the boss, remember?” he said into my ear.

  I started to relax, lean into him, when he stiffened.

  “What in holy hell is that?” he whispered and let me go gently to move forward, his eyes glued to something on the wall. I saw in his mind the word “Ava” was what he was fixated on. But how was that possible?

  “Caleb?” I asked, my voice quivered in the air between us.

  He looked back at me and held out his hand. “Come here.” I took it and he pulled me in front of him. “Baby…look.”

  There, in the midst of all that gibberish was an infinity symbol made of names. Maggie, Caleb, Kyle, Lynne, Bish, Jen, Haddock, Heather. And then in the middle of all those names was Ava's, her name practically touching another name I’d never heard and didn’t know anyone by that name—Seth.

  Who’s Seth?

  I looked up at Caleb over my shoulder. I don’t know. But why are our names on this wall, Caleb? Ashlyn didn’t know us. Why is our daughter’s name in the middle of these names like that?

  He pulled my wrist up, running his thumb over my infinity mark on my tattoo. “I knew it had to mean something.”

  “Maggie,” we heard behind us and we both turned to find Ashlyn. I gasped, unable to stop it. “Maggie,” she said again and shook her head in
a way that showed her distress. “Oh, Maggie. I’m trying to warn you, but you’re not listening.”

  “I’m listening,” I promised her. Now that I knew Ava had something to do with this, there wasn’t a Virtuoso member or rule or law that was going to stand in my way of getting to that Watson compound if that was what I was supposed to do. “Please, Ashlyn.”

  I went and stood right in front of her ethereal form. She still scratched and rubbed at her arms, just like she had in the visions I used to have of her, back when I first came to stay here as the Visionary before Caleb and I were even married. She looked up at me and then at the wall. She walked to it and pressed her ridged fingers to the middle where Ava's name was and said, "Danger. Danger, Visionary."

  Caleb was freaking out, but afraid to speak—afraid to scare her away, so he let me do all the talking.

  "What danger? With my daughter? With Ava?"

  "You can't see it," she murmured and shook her head harder. She took her nails and slammed them to the wall, digging them deep, and scraped them across the names, Ava's name was almost completely gone. Caleb pulled me back as I gasped. Ashlyn swung around to look at us once more. "Visionary, you know what you saw, you know what has to be done. There's danger. Go, now!"

  She disappeared into a wisp of smoke, but the scratch over our daughter's name remained.

  "Oh, God. Ava, no," Caleb growled behind me as he took my hand and tugged me to follow him.

  We ran. We didn't stop again until we were standing in the doorway of Gran's room, looking at our son and daughter as they played Scrabble with her on the floor. Caleb scooped Ava up and kissed her forehead, murmuring that it was all right. But Ava hadn't known anything was wrong in the first place.

  "Daddy, you're squeezing me," she complained.

  "I'm sorry, baby girl." He sighed and looked at me over her shoulder, taking my hand and pulling me to him. "Come on, guys. Get your things together. Gran, you, too. Let's get everyone packed up. We're going home."