Marked in a Vision

by Mary Goldberger

  “I am sorry,” Emily said to him as Victoria walked away and Jay looking into her eyes, he knew immediately what she was apologizing for. The frown crossed his face before he could stop it, and Sasha noticed as she turned around from getting their jackets.

  “Ready to go,” Sasha said coming up to them. She had heard what Victoria said although she pretended she had not, and she looked at Emily as she watched her sister deal with the aftermath of another vision. She frowned as they walked out of the Fair grounds for Emily has been having more visions since they got here. This meant that something was going to happen, something big.

  “Bye, Jay,” Victoria called before getting into Arnold’s Mercedes.

  “Bye, Victoria, Arnold,” he said distractedly as he helped Emily into the backseat of his car.

  When they got back to the house, Emily was feeling better, but she needed to go lay down so Sasha took her up to their room.

  “What in the hell is going on?” Jay muttered running a hand through his hair as Mark stood next to him.

  “You heard her, too, Mark. She said ‘trouble’ a second before that wolf showed up.” Mark nodded his head as the front door opened by their parents and Stacy and Jacob. They were all laughing as the door closed behind them.

  Their mother saw them standing there and asked, “Do you have fun at the Fair?”

  “We were,” Jay said shortly, “until an unknown wolf showed up.”

  “What?” Stacy and Cass said as Stan and Jacob looked at each other.

  “How are Sasha and Emily?” Stacy asked an instant later.

  Jay frowned as Mark answered her, “Sasha took Emily up to their room. We guess the wolf scared her because she started acting weird around the time the wolf appeared.” Stacy looked at Jacob then headed upstairs without a second thought. Jacob ran a hand through his hair as Stan looked at him with narrowed eyes.

  Before he could ask anything though, Sissy’s parents came out from the living room, “What is this talk about an unknown wolf at the Fair grounds?”

  “Let us go into the living room as Jay and Mark tell us what happened,” Stan said, and they followed him into the living room where Krystal’s parents where also. Susan and her parents had left that morning when they realized that their daughter was not going to be chosen as the next Alpha female and they were disappointed but they understood.

  Jay and Mark explained what happened, and about thirty minutes later Sasha and Stacy joined them. Jay looked at Sasha with a question in his eyes and she said honestly, “She is resting, Jay.”

  Upstairs in their room, Emily laid on the bed drifting off to sleep. As she has been doing recently, she focused her entire being on her shadow man with green eyes that seemed to watch her with love and concern. The green eyes were her comfort and she drifted into a deep sleep keeping the visions at bay for the night. Emily knew she had to talk to her parents soon for the visions were coming more often which meant that the trouble was going to be here soon, and they had to be ready.

  Chapter 6

  For the next week, Stacy and Jacob had Emily stay in the house resting. By the second day, Emily was bored out of her mind.

  “Why do I need stay in and rest? I am not ill and I was not hurt,” she argued.

  “Do not argue with us, Emily Ann. You are going to rest and that is final,” her dad said in his steely voice and walked out of the sunroom where they were sitting. Stacy just looked at Emily who fell back against the pillows, and promised, “Just for a little while longer, honey.” Emily scowled but nodded her head and Stacy left the sunroom.

  “Wow,” Sasha said from where she was sitting next to Mark on the lounge couch. “He must be really upset for he never uses our middle names.”

  “Emily Ann,” Jay said softly to himself, and Emily threw him a glare and he just gave her a wink and a charming smile that Emily had to turn away from as a blush crept over her cheeks. Seeing the blush, Jay smiled more for he loved the fact that he could get her to blush.

  “Uncle Jay, Uncle Mark,” Michaela said running into the room and Emily watched from the corner of her eye how his smile dipped into a frown, and she looked over at Mark to see him shaking his head. She paled slightly for if she believed their reactions then it meant that her dream was indeed another vision. She looked more closely at Michaela and she noticed the differences from Stan and Cass. She needed to talk to her mother about this. If her vision was true, then Michaela was in trouble, and the Alpha needed to know.

  A few days later, Emily went to find her mother. She was on the patio, and since she was by herself, Emily said, “Mom can I talk with you for a moment?”

  “Yes, sweetheart,” her mom said putting down the book she was reading. Emily took a deep breathe but before she could began, her mom said, “Does this have something to do with your visions?”

  Emily looked stun for a moment then she chuckled, “You know me too well.” Then she proceeded to tell her mom about the visions she had been having.

  “Your vision has the man saying that Michaela is his granddaughter,” Stacy asked with a frown.

  Emily nodded her head, “Did Stan and Cass have another child?”

  Stacy frowned as she thought, “Emily, I am not sure. Although your Dad and Stan were friends when they were kids, they really have not been in contact until about eight years ago, and they are very private people so I really do not know although I thought I heard something about a daughter at one time. Are you sure about what you are thinking, Emily?”

  Emily frowned, and looked at her mom, “I could be wrong mom, and for once, I truly hope I am.”

  Stacy looked at her daughter speechless for it was the first time that she had wished to be wrong in her gift. When she was younger, she had wished that she never had it, but she had never wished for her gift to be inaccurate until now. Stacy grabbed her daughter’s hand, and said, “Let me talk to your father, and then we shall proceed from there.”

  Emily nodded her head, smiled and then hugged her. She started to walk back the way she came when she slowed down, and turned to Stacy, “I don’t know if I ever told you, but thank you for adopting and raising me as your own daughter; for loving me even though I am not a werewolf and I come with my own burden. Thank you so much, and I love you.” With those words said, Emily smiled again and finished walking out of the room. Stacy sat on the chair with tears in her eyes as she stared at the space where Emily stood. Jacob, her husband, find her there ten minutes later, and noticing her tears, “What is wrong, sweetie?”

  Stacy shook her head, and then told him what Emily told her. Afterwards, she told him what Emily had said before leaving. Jacob looked stunned for a moment, and then he put his head down as he thought about what would have happened if they had never adopted Emily, and where would they be now.

  He had tears in eyes when he lifted his head, and Stacy grabbed both of his hands as he said with a shaky voice, “What do you think we should do?”

  Stacy knew he was trying to keep himself from crying, and she said instantly, “We need to talk to Cass and Stan.” They got up but before going into the house, they embraced tightly then headed in search of Cass and Stan who it turned out had gone off for the afternoon.

  “We will talk to them later,” Jacob promised as Stacy nodded her head slowly, but she had a bad feeling about what was going to be revealed.

  Later that evening, Stan, Cass, Stacy, and Jacob where sitting on the patio relaxing. Stan was upset for Sissy’s family and Krystal’s family were leaving the next day; neither of them were Jay’s mate. Nevertheless, the real reason Stan was upset because he had a good idea who Jay’s mate really was and it scared him.

  “Honey,” Cass began, “Don’t worry. It will work itself out, watch and see.”

  Stacy added, “I have to agree, Stan, for you never know what might happen.”

  “I know,” Stan, said heavily, “I am glad th
at you and your family are staying though” looking at Stacy and Jacob. They looked at each but before they could say anything, he laughed wearily.

  “I know it is because your daughter Sasha is Mark’s mate,” he said, “Although they are still denying it, or testing the waters about it so to speak.”

  They nodded their head to his observation. He muttered, “At least one them has found their mate.”

  Cass laughed, “Do not worry about Jay; he will find his mate, and she will come when he least expects it. He is very much like his father.” At her words, Stan looked into the eyes of his mate, and although he would never give her up for anything in the world, he had hoped that neither one of his sons would have to go through it too.

  Stacy cleared her throat, “We need to ask you two a personal question.”

  Stan looked at them, and with a nod of his head, invited them to continue.

  Jacob looked warily at them, and then said bluntly, “Is Michaela your granddaughter, and not your daughter?”

  Cass and Stan gasped, and Stan’s eyes narrowed on them both. He was an Alpha and a friend, and they respected him greatly but they needed to know the truth.

  Cass said honestly, “It is true; she is our granddaughter.”

  Stan said sternly, “Cass!”

  Cass looked at him, and then continued, “They should hear the truth from us instead of rumors. Michaela is the daughter of our only daughter and Jason from the Shadow Pack.” At the name of the pack, Jacob growled for he heard some rumors about the Alpha of the Shadow Pack, and none of it was good.

  “You have heard of them, Jacob,” Cass asked, and at his nod, she continued, “You should imagine our surprise when Cat came home with the son of the Alpha of the pack. At first, we did not want to accept their mating for we heard the stories too, but after some time, he showed us that he was nothing like his father. Also at that time, we learned some awful truths about his father.” Cass stopped there as she drew in a deep breath.

  Stan took up where she left off, “We wanted to understand the Alpha so we did some research, and Jason helped us out a lot for he knew things that I don’t think his father knew he knew. We learned that Jason’s mother had the ability to see into the future; she had the vision they said. He mated with her hoping that she would help achieve his goal of becoming head Alpha for many packs. Unfortunately, she had thought he was her true mate, and when she discovered he was not it broke her. She lost her ability although no one understands why.”

  “I have my suspicions on that one,” Cass interjected.

  Stan continued, “The Alpha learned about her losing her ability but when he learned she was with child, he thought maybe the ability would pass down to him.”

  Stacy said quickly, “It only passes to the women of the line.”

  Stan nodded his head, “Yes, but the Alpha did not know this at the time. After her death, he treated his own son horribly until he came of age and left eventually settling here. When they discovered they were with child, they were so happy although Jason was very scared at the same time. Michaela was only a few months old when her parents died an attack by rogues although I believe to this day that Jason’s father was behind it somehow. Fortunately, Michaela had been with her uncles at the time so she was saved, and that was ten years ago.”

  Jacob frowned, “He has not tried to take the child?”

  Cass shook her head, “At the time, we believe that he thought she was a boy because of her name. Now, we think that it is possible he knows the truth.”

  Stan said stonily, “We have had people spying on us as we come and go. Before I can send someone to check them out, they have gone by the time my pack gets there.”

  Cass said hesitatingly, “We also heard rumors that he looks for others with his mates’ abilities—that can see the future.” Cass was surprised when, at her words, both Jacob and Stacy paled.

  “Are you sure?” Jacob asked with a hint of fear in his voice that Stan looked at him.

  “We heard that about twenty-five years ago, he find a young woman who was married and having her first child, and she had a similar gift as his wife. He took them into his pack although they were human, but, and we do not know if this is the truth, we heard that when she got to her ninth month he had her husband killed. She had been scared for her life, and had run away before giving birth in the wild. It is believed that she and the baby both died in the wilderness to the north of his land as the harsh winter settled in.”

  Stacy cleared her throat, “Are you sure it was twenty-five years ago?”

  Cass frowned and looked towards Stan who answered thoughtfully, “Now that I think about it, it was more like nineteen years ago.”

  “Oh God,” Stacy murmured as she fell back against the seat. Jacob grabbed her hand, and said urgently, “Sweetie, it may not be her. I mean, she was found so far away from here.”

  Stacy just shook her head as she said, “We do not know where she was found before she was delivered to the orphanage.”

  At the confusion on the Stan and Cass’s face, Jacob explained as Stacy wrung her hands, “Emily turns 19 in a week on the 20th. We found her in orphanage about 1000 miles from here.”

  “At the age of three, she would wake up in the night screaming and crying. She would tell me of the dreams she would have, and I would assure her that they were exactly that dreams,” Stacy spoke softly, “until one night, she dreamed of a young girl dying, being drowned by her mom’s boyfriend. I thought she had watched a scary movie before she went to bed so I tucked her in and laid with her until she fell back to asleep. Three days later, reading the newspaper, I came across an article about a young girl who had drowned in a bathtub, and the police discovered her mom’s boyfriend’s handprints all over her body and the bathtub. That was when I realized that she was not having dreams, but visions.” Stan and Cass were stunned into silence.

  Jacob said then, “We think her visions are evolving. Before we came here, she saw the present and the future, but now we believe she is getting visions of the past.”

  Cass spoke, “The night you first arrived and what happened at the Fair…”

  Stacy nodded her head.

  Stan closed his eyes as he thought back to that night, the look of terror on the young woman’s face, and he stated, “She was the one who told you about Michaela.”

  “If he finds out about her,” Cass whispered, “he would not hesitate to take her along with Michaela because Michaela is just a child still developing her gift; Emily is a young woman whose gift has matured and could be more useful to him.”

  Stacy and Jacob looked at each other then them, “That is what we are afraid of.”

  The four adults sat in silence after that for they did not know what to do about this situation.

  They would have to think fast because that night Emily’s vision developed farther, and she woke up screaming so loud that everybody went running to their room.

  Chapter 7

  “Emily!” Sasha was yelling when the door flung open. In their doorway stood, Cass and Stan, Stacy and Jacob, Mark, Michaela, and Jay who was pale as he watched Emily scream.

  Sasha turned to them, and she cried, “I don’t know what to do.”

  Stacy hurried forward, and Sasha moved away right into Mark’s arms.

  “Sweetheart,” Stacy murmured stroking her hair, but Emily’s eyes were blank, and she was still screaming shaking her head back and forward. Finally, Jay could not take it any longer, and he went across the room to the bed.

  “Sorry,” he muttered to Stacy before he swept her aside, and pulled Emily into his arms. Her eyes were still blank, but her screaming subsided. Then her eyes came into focus as she looked at everyone, then she burst into tears clinging to Jay as if he was her lifeline.

  She cried and cried until she had no more tears in her, and she just lay limp in his arms as he stroked her back with his
big hands.

  “What was your vision of this time?” Sasha asked from the circle of Mark’s arms. Jay’s hands froze for a moment then continued as he waited for her answer.

  Emily sniffled for a moment then she leaned back from Jay’s arms as she looked around the room, then her eyes came back to his green ones so much like the shadow man in her vision.

  She shivered, and Jay did not even hesitate to slide into bed next to her. He placed his arm around her shoulders, and laid his hand over hers that rested on the blanket. Looking down on that hand, she drew courage from it.

  “It was a forest, very dark forest. I can hear heavy breathing, and whispering as if the person is praying although I cannot understand what they are saying. It sounds like someone is chasing them, and I hear howling as it gets closer then it gets darker than it was before. Then I hear voices, one in fear, a female, the other in anger, a man, and sounds as if he is demanding something before the scream. I know although I do not see it that the man killed the woman; it was just the way the person screamed with so much pain and agony. I think he did more than just killed her because I can hear a tearing sound, then it all goes quiet before I hear the whimpering of a child.”

  “Oh my God,” Stacy whimpered, and Emily took her eyes off Jay’s big hand to her mother.

  Emily went white as a ghost as she whispered, “I am not seeing the future, am I, mom, but the past; my past.” She closed her eyes, and leaned heavily into Jay who took her weight even as he lifted his eyes in confusion.

  “The death I hear is my biological mother’s death, isn’t it? What I am seeing is actually her last few minutes before she hid me away so I would be safe,” Emily whispered, and she gasped, “Her killer was looking for me? I was what he wanted.”

  Stacy opened her mouth to tell her the truth when Stan intervened, “We will tell you everything we know, but not tonight. You need to get some rest for you are weary, and you will need an open mind before we explain to you what we know.” He watched as Emily nodded her head leaning against Jay, and Jay continued to look down at her stroking her arm.