by Kim Cormack
“It just vanished.” Mel whispered.
Kayn touched Melody’s shoulder and said, “Let’s go swimming and forget about it. It wasn’t real. One of us must have been thinking about snakes and brought it here, just like I started the mosquito population earlier.”
Zach admitted, “That might have been me. It did cross my mind that I was grateful that there were no snakes here.”
“Snakes usually hide in the tall grass by the edge of a path. It may have crossed my mind too. I’m just glad it’s gone.” Melody confessed while visibly relieved.
Kayn smiled again realizing that she had been reading far too much into the snake and apple situation. As she watched Zach splashing around in the pool, she found him strangely hot. Kayn glanced at Melody and noticed that she was also staring at him.
It only took a moment before Zach realized they were both ogling him. “I knew both of you secretly wanted me,” Zach teased.
Kayn winked and sarcastically sighed, “How did you know? I have been trying to hide my overwhelming passion for you since we first met.” Zach playfully attempted to grab for her legs and pull her in. Kayn gently kicked him back into the water. He went under. She grinned and jumped into the pool. He surfaced just as she doused him with fresh spray. Zach splashed her back and she lost her footing. When she came up for air, strange colored lights scattered and weaved between her legs. It was beautiful. Zach splashed her again, almost wrecking the bliss of the moment until the lights whirled past her legs under the water once more. She chuckled as she jumped out of the way. Melody joined them in the pool and they relaxed together, floating in the soothing warmth of the liquid heaven. She was fighting against the urge to touch one of the brightly colored starfish decoratively clinging to the speckled stone ledge but sensed something coming. She swung around to look just as snakes began dropping from the branches of the tree. Kayn whispered, “You two should probably get out of the water.”
“Why? What are you looking at?” Mel asked as she turned around.
It was a disturbing visual for someone with no reptilian phobia. Slightly confused, Kayn said, “There are hundreds of snakes falling from the branches of that apple tree. Are you telling me that neither of you can see this?”
Zach replied, “If there are, I sure as hell can’t see them.”
“Well, knowing you see them is enough to get me out of the water,” Mel declared. She scrambled out on the opposite side.
Zach also quickly climbed out of the pool but curious as to where this vision was going, Kayn stayed put. Why couldn’t they see them? She wasn’t afraid of snakes. She’d caught buckets of them as a child with Kevin. One time, she’d even attempted to smuggle home a cardboard box containing dozens of snakes. When they arrived home the snakes were missing. They’d escaped in her mother’s vehicle. Her father had taken out the bench seats while searching but never found any. He’d told her they probably escaped through a hole in the floor and warned her that he had to tell her mother a little white lie because if he didn’t tell her he’d found the snakes and disposed of them, she’d never get in that car again. That was the day she’d learned the distinction between a noble lie and a bad one. The others were upset by the snakes’ presence. She was the only one that could see them. This wasn’t about fear. There had to be a point to this that involved only her.
“Aren’t you going to get out of the water?” Zach questioned.
Kayn was far too curious to get out so she stayed put in the center of the pool. What was the purpose of this creepy visual? “No… I’m the only one that can see them, I’d like to figure out what it means,” she answered as the first one began to glide across the surface of the water towards her. She extended her palm and it slithered around her fingers. Kayn raised her hand, looked him in the eye and then placed it back into the water. The reptile slid off her fingertips and disappeared under the surface as the rest began to enter the heavenly pool in mass. She allowed herself only one squeamish millisecond as they slithered and slipped past her thighs. Kayn didn’t budge, wanting to know the purpose of this visual madness. The pool rapidly filled with snakes and before Kayn knew it she was standing in a writhing mass of slithering reptiles. Thank goodness this wasn’t happening to Melody; she would have lost her damn mind. Why was this happening to her? She realized then that this hadn’t happened to her; she’d chosen to stay in the water. Everything was a choice. They did not constrict around her. Breathe in, breathe out. They just continued to slither around her with a slick, leathery rhythm. She didn’t react. When she didn’t venture to leave they abruptly vanished and she was left standing in the luxurious warmth of the tidal pool. Her mind wrapped around the moment as she struggled to figure out what it meant. Was this about temptation? Kevin and Frost were her temptation. The apples had reminded her of Winnie… She didn’t need to guess the why’s anymore she just knew. She needed to talk to Winnie. She swam to the ledge and climbed out of the water.
Curious, Zach asked, “Aren’t you going to explain?”
“It’s not necessary, it was a hallucination. I know what it’s about though…There’s someone I need to see,” Kayn replied as she strolled away from the others. As they attempted to come with her, she slowly shook her head and asserted, “I need to go alone.”
Zack hollered after her, “We shouldn’t split up!”
Kayn shouted back, “I won’t be long! I promise!” She glanced back at them after walking for only a second and she was about fifty feet away. Led by nothing but instinct she kept walking. Where are you?
Vampires, Dragons, Zombies and Oracles
The scenery flashed around her and she was back at the clean slate of the desert. Knowing they wouldn’t wait long before they attempted to follow her, she sprinted away barefoot through the silken sand, imagining herself as a wild stallion galloping through the desert wild and free. Her feet made no sound as they hit the silken earth. Her hair, free from the restraints of her usual ponytail, had become a glimmering mane of gold flowing behind her. Left foot, right foot, faster and faster. She saw the cliff’s edge up ahead. Kayn smiled as she raced for it, needing to feel indestructible, even if it was a fallacy and only for a moment. They were physically indestructible, yet emotionally each of them was a train wreck. Emotionally, they could all be slaughtered. She needed to disregard her vulnerability. Her internal weaknesses kept taunting her with, he doesn’t remember you. He will never remember you. She blinked the thoughts away as she felt the sand disappear from underfoot. There was the cool sensation of nothing but air as the world sped by around her as she plunged into nothingness. Her mind cruelly reminded her of the moment where she’d clutched Kevin’s hand as they’d fallen together. It was in this very place, but that had happened in another life. He was gone. She passed through the clouds and felt baptized by the drops of humidity that moistened her skin. The darkened clouds were working on a storm. Her heart tightened. That’s what it felt like fate had in store for her...A storm. Her life path was working up a storm. As she continued her semi-controlled spiral towards the rapidly approaching terrain below, she spread her hands to either side of her, using the emotion that ached in her chest to stop herself seconds before making a crater in the forest floor. She landed on her hands and knees in the sand. She remained there frozen in place. Her mind had been asked to swallow an incredible amount of bullshit. She wasn’t sure she could swallow the presence of this version of Kevin. How was this beneficial to her training? She’d wanted nothing but a moment alone with him until she’d received one. She whispered, “Winnie, I need you.” Her surroundings flashed with an explosion of blinding white light. Everything paused around her, including her body’s ability to breathe as the hollow agony of his loss came flooding back. She didn’t know it would hurt this much to know that he was gone. She’d thought it would help her move on but she couldn’t keep her mind focused on anything but him. Every fiber of her being needed a good loud scream.
“Why don’t you then?” She heard a familiar voice say
from behind her.
Kayn’s heart leapt in her chest as she peered up. There stood the elderly version of Grandma Winnie. Kayn dove into the elderly woman’s arms. As Kayn clung to her, Winnie’s appearance altered to the version of her youth.
Winnie stroked Kayn’s hair, “Just cry child, scream, hit something. Do whatever you need to do. I am here.”
Kayn sobbed into her shoulder, “You must think I’m horrible, crying over Kevin. I know you saw my connection with Frost.”
Winnie smiled. She warmly cupped Kayn’s face in her hands and said, “There is not a horrible bone in your body my child. It’s completely normal to want to move on. It’s also normal for you to feel confused when you can’t.” The elderly woman had always loved like her own granddaughter. Winnie gazed into Kayn’s eyes as she added, “There’s something you need to do for me before we can keep talking.”
“Anything,” Kayn whispered while keeping her eyes locked on Granny Winnie’s.
“I want you to scream as loud as you can,” Winnie ordered.
Kayn stifled a nervous laugh as she questioned, “Seriously?”
“I promise, it will make you feel a million times better,” she lovingly assured as she released her hold.
“Okay,” Kayn agreed as she stepped away and let out a small wimpy scream.
Winnie knit her brow and laughed, “What was that? Trust me on this, you need a good emotional release.”
Yes, that was pathetic. Kayn took a deep breath and screamed again, but it was still only about half of what she was capable of.
With empathy in her eyes, Winnie said, “Let me set this up for you. Kevin doesn’t remember you. You just had to relive the worst night of your life. You didn’t ask for any of this. Life isn’t fair. Death isn’t fair. You don’t have any abilities yet. The Testing is coming and you don’t know what that means. Now scream. Scream at everyone and everything that has hurt you. Scream at anyone that will ever hurt you. Scream at fate for taking everyone you love from you. Scream with all that you are for everything you’ve lost along the way.”
Her eyes began to fill with unshed tears against her will. Kayn blinked them away as she took another deep breath and screamed with everything she had. She kept screaming, over and over, until she began to feel light headed. Utterly exhausted, she sunk to her knees before Winnie.
The youthful version of Granny Winnie knelt beside her and enquired, “Now…Doesn’t that feel better?”
Kayn couldn’t help it, half out of the comedy of the moment, and half from embarrassment, she began to giggle.
Their eyes met as Winnie winked at her and asked, “What do you need my help with?”
Everything. “Don’t you already know?” Kayn teased, knowing she was psychic and that made her privy to everything.
“You want to know if Kevin will remember you or if your feelings for him are hopeless. Those pesky forks in the road of life make it difficult to choose a direction…Don’t they? Well, I can’t tell you anything for sure. I’ve seen several versions of your road. Everything changes day by day based on your decisions. I know where you need to be in the end. I wish I could tell you all about it but I’m not allowed to. You choose your own adventure. You can do things the easy way or the hard way. I’m supposed to help protect the clan from imminent danger. I’m not supposed to give forced love life recommendations.”
“You gave Frost a forced love life recommendation.” Kayn teased, while referring to the ban she’d put on a physical relationship between them.
Winnie chuckled as she quipped, “I knew you would call me on that.” She placed her hand on Kayn’s shoulder and attempted to explain, “You needed Frost to allow you the room to tie up loose ends. He wasn’t helping you. The good version of your future had altered and I was forced to step in. In the altered versions, you three didn’t make it out of the Testing. That version of your future had never been seen before and it caused us a little bit of a panic. You have no idea how important you are. You need to learn to be autonomous. Happiness is only ever wrong if it comes at someone else’s expense. My grandson doesn’t remember you. The harsh reality is that you are not in the same clan and attempting to be with him now can only bring you both pain. Spend the next week tying up the loose ends within yourself. Get some closure so you can move on. This is important to your personal growth. Kevin has much more important things on his plate right now, as do you. If you are meant to be together, one day you will be.”
She understood what Kevin’s grandmother was saying but she didn’t want to. Kayn pleaded, “Just tell him everything about his mother and his brother. You could show him where Tiberius is holding his family.”
“He has to be ready to hear it and strong enough to do something about it or future events won’t play out in his favor. Right now, he has little to no control over his abilities and there’s an important chain of events that lead up to him making a stand. So, if you want to spend the next week telling him about all that you were to him, go for it. Just heed this warning, speak of nothing else. If you want to talk about me, that’s fine. He’s used to hearing my voice directing him in his head. You say nothing about the rest of his family. Shut him down if he tries to pump you for information. Say what you need to say to find closure. You both need to be able to move on.”
Jenna had already given her this speech. “He’s my best friend. How do I just let him go?” Kayn whispered.
“You don’t have to let go of the friend in him but you have to force yourself to let go of the need for more than friendship from him.” Winnie replied softly.
Kayn knew what she was saying was the truth.
Winnie continued to speak, “By all means though, spend the next week or so proving it to yourself until you come to terms with it. I know the teenager in you wants to rotate your life around some boy and make him the center of your existence but you need to mature faster than that as a matter of survival. This is my best advice to you for the years ahead. Make yourself the center of your own existence. There are so many amazing things to experience. Be that stallion from your fantasies and run free.”
Kayn smiled at her reference to how she’d been imagining herself earlier. Psychics could be creepy sometimes. She’d grown up with Granny Winnie. She had one more question to ask her, “Kevin was a Psychic. He found the talents from his grandfather’s side and they seemed to change him. He doesn’t appear to have that ability now... Why?”
“Well my dear one… Immortal brains are like processors. They can get overloaded. He must have subconsciously chosen one ability over the other. Remember… He doesn’t know he’s a Psychic. He doesn’t remember he has that ability. It doesn’t mean it’s not there, it just means it’s dormant. It still could be delivering him dreams and visions of the past. The gifts he inherited from his grandfather are the ones that need to be mastered. His Psychic ability, if it endures on some level, is built on pure instinct.”
Kayn stared at Winnie and asked, “How bad is the Testing going to be? Can you tell me anything?”
Winnie’s expression changed before she had the opportunity to hide it. The elderly woman had an expression on her face quite similar to the one she’d had on the night of Kayn’s Correction as she gave her the only advice she could, “I want you to remember the word...Stand. You need to stand up. You must keep going. No matter what happens, remember to stand. People are always so much stronger than they believe themselves to be.”
Kayn gave Winnie a weak smile as she replied, “That doesn’t sound ominous at all.” She could hear her name being called as an echo in the horizon.
Winnie hugged her tightly while whispering, “They’re looking for you. I love you child. You remember to stand back up.”
She didn’t have time to think as the scenery around her exploded with glorious blinding light. Kayn opened her eyes and she was standing in the grass beside the tidal pool of water. Zach and Melody had been here with her not too long ago. How long had she been gone? They weren’t here anymore. K
ayn was startled as a large amount of monarch butterflies took off around her. She’d thought they were orange flowers. The bushes began to separate. Something was coming… Something large. She smiled as a honey colored stallion with a muscular torso moved through the bushes towards her. Its mane was the color of her hair. A defining moment, for it symbolized her inner desire for freedom. She wanted to be free from guilt, free to experience life with wild and reckless abandon. She walked towards the majestic being with an outstretched hand, in absolute awe of a moment that she understood was a gift from Winnie, for her alone to experience. As she attempted to touch the magnificent creature, her hand passed right through. She knew what this majestic being’s significance was. This was what she was meant to be; wild, untamable and free. The voices of her friends cut through the silence and the honey stallion vanished as they walked right through him. Kayn was standing there with her hand outstretched and a goofy grin on her face as they approached. She understood what Winnie had been trying to tell her. She wasn’t meant to be pining over anyone. She was stronger than that. She was a stallion ready to run through a sand storm. Kayn Brighton would face whatever came across her path in life, living by the words of her favorite poem; with her head held high with the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child. With every goodbye, she would learn.
“What in the hell are you doing?” Zach chuckled as he took her raised hand in his own and lovingly pressed it to his lips.
She knew he sensed that this moment was about something much deeper. With a sense of wisdom, she hadn’t felt before, Kayn answered, “Nothing... I was just trying to find you two.” Kayn could tell by Zach’s grin that he had not missed her obvious attempt to dodge the question.