A Second Sight

by Eden Winter

  “Is that true?” I asked. I was no longer pretending to be oblivious about the situation.

  “You didn’t think I would come back looking like myself, did you bunny?” Malcolm almost laughed then. His muscles relaxed, and the weapon he was carrying hung limp at his side.

  “I didn’t think you would come back at all.” I was confused now. I was feeling too many things at once. There was a chance that I would have seen Alex through all of this, but it never truly hit until Isabelle revealed it to me. Alex was somewhere inside of Malcolm.

  “I had to. I loved you, and you almost got me killed. And I didn’t get what it was that I was looking for,” he said.

  “No, you almost got us killed. I did nothing but care about you, and you made me feel small, weak, and unworthy. And that’s been something I have been trying to get over for a long enough time now. You put your hands on me when I thought you loved me, but that wasn’t love, even if you didn’t want something from me,” I said.

  “Maybe not to you,” Malcolm said. He scoffed like what I said meant nothing. I was getting angry again. There was no way he was ever going to make me feel small. I had never deserved that.

  “You’re a delusional son of a bitch, Alex King. And all of this you have been working your whole life for will be for naught. I will make sure that you never get what it is you want most in this lifetime,” I said. My blood was boiling inside me.

  “Don’t be like that, bun. We had some good times.” Malcolm smiled and took a step toward me. I took several steps back. I didn’t want to be anywhere near him.

  “All lies,” I said. “And now you have this poor guy doing your dirty work for you. You’ve always been a coward Alex. Is this guy even really Malcolm?”

  “He sure is, and he’s every bit as sappy and gross and head over heels for that one as I’ve been pretending to be,” he said. He pointed an arrow at Isabelle and winked when he said, ‘that one’.

  “How? When he didn’t even know her,” I remembered that I had to stall. He was still holding a bow and arrow after all.

  Malcolm laughed then. It was a lunatic’s laugh. There was something in him that had broken long ago. It was a laugh that told me his life was meaningless unless he caught Cesar. He had, in fact, spent his entire life in search of something he wasn’t sure would give him eternal life, power, or all the fame and fortune in the world. His life was more about the quest than the reward.

  “There’s so much noise in here.” Malcolm said tapping to his head. “This Malcolm guy won’t shut up. All of these, months and he still thinks that one day he can overpower me…”

  “And he can. Malcolm, fight! Keep fighting him,” Isabelle shouted. She had never known the real Malcolm. She had only known the Malcolm that Alex had presented to her, but maybe there was a chance that they might have fallen in love if it was just Malcolm inside his mind.

  “You should probably stop doing that, Iz. He’s just shouting and crying now. It’s very difficult trying to be stronger than someone who is a fairy and a warlock.”

  “And human. You can and you will break,” I said.

  “And you’re too late. I’ve seen Cesar. You can’t have him.”

  “You lie,” Malcolm gasped. He had a menacing look in his eyes. He raised his bow at me.

  “No. I’ve seen him. He knows who you are and what you want. He may have been asleep for centuries, but that doesn’t mean he no longer has his powers. He’s going to kill you before you even have the chance to ask for your wishes.”

  “Wishes?” There was more maniacal laughter from Malcolm. “You believe in the old pixietales. You think that there are riddles involved and that Cesar is like a magical genie. No, you silly, silly halfling. Cesar belongs to me. He is already owned by my family. I say a few magic words and he has to do my bidding.”

  This new information terrified me. I wasn’t expecting that. Was there a way for me to find out what those magic words could be? Why wasn’t he saying them now to invoke the power of Cesar? The fish was here, and I was confused as to why Malcolm still needed me. It had to have been that there was something I possessed that made it so that Malcolm would not be able to regain his full powers without me.

  “If he belongs to you, why do you need me at all?”

  “I need your blood. I need to shed all your blood to be able to see it. Not many people have the second sight, and the prophecy chose you,” Malcolm said. His voice was calm, like killing me would have been a boring task to him. That sent a shiver up my spine. I was meant to die from this no matter what, but I couldn’t let that happen.

  “I will kill you before you even get the chance to come near me,” I said. I clenched my hands into fists. I wish that a vision would come right about then. I would know if there was something to worry about or if we were all going to come out of this okay.

  Malcolm shrieked with laughter. He almost fell from doubling over.

  “I remember how weak you were Sam. And I don’t even mean your physical capabilities. You have always been weak-minded and weak-willed.”

  A year ago, that would have had me curling up into a ball. I would have cried and felt like I wasn’t worthy enough to be with someone like him. But I’m not the same person I was a year ago. I wasn’t going to take his bullshit anymore. No man was going to make me feel ‘less than’ ever again.

  “No matter what you say to me, I am certain that I am going to kill you tonight,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “But you’re half human. What can a human do to a king?”

  Without warning, a shadowy figure appeared out of nowhere and lunged for Malcolm. One swift hit and Malcolm collapsed onto the ground.

  “A hell of a lot,” the shadowy figure said when he stood up.

  “Peter!” I shouted. I ran over to him and flung my arms around him. He gave me the tightest embrace I had ever gotten. He’d found us. He’d found us, and he’d saved me.

  “Quick. Get the silver off my sister. I’ll take care of this,” I said. He nodded and ran toward Isabelle.

  I moved over to Malcolm who was still out cold. I took the bow and threw it as far away as I could. I didn’t throw the bag because I didn’t know what was inside it. I took it from him and moved it as far away as I could. I raced back to Malcolm and grabbed him by the feet. It took all my strength to even drag him toward the lake.

  I groaned and pulled as hard as I could. At this rate, it was going to take me forever.

  “Cesar!” I called out. I didn’t know what else I could do. “Cesar, I need your help!”

  I continued to pull. If no help was coming, I still needed to get Malcolm by the lake. The surface of the lake started to stir. It churned gently and then I saw a giant blue tentacle reach up toward the sky. The tentacle was about three times the size of me. That part of the legend had been true, the fish was able to change into whatever water-dwelling creature it wanted to.

  “Oh, my God. What is that thing?” Peter came up behind me and stared up into the sky.

  “Wait, you can see it too?” I almost dropped Malcolm’s legs. I looked behind me to see if my sister was okay. She was standing and rubbing her wrists and occasionally her face. But she was all right.

  ‘What shall I do, Samantha?’ Cesar asked me. It wasn’t a voice that could be heard like someone was standing in front of you and speaking. This was like the voice was already inside you, and you were able to hear it that way.

  “Whoa… it talks?” Peter asked completely bewildered.

  I looked over at Peter. How could he see and hear the fish the way I was able to?

  ‘Shall I take the king?’ Cesar asked.

  “Hold him. I still have so many questions,” I said.

  Another tentacle came out of the water and they reached for Malcolm’s legs. They picked him up like he was a ragdoll and held him up.

  “What would you have given him if he had taken all of my blood?”

  ‘I would have restored the world to the ways of the old kingdom. The cont
inents will have been joined, and there would be one rightful king for all the land. I would have made him the king,’ the fish of Cesar whispered.

  “How… how can I hear you?” Peter asked.

  ‘You are joined. You are bound for eternity with Samantha. You both were chosen before you were born to meet. The premonitions you have are incomplete without Peter. He is the power source for the visions.’

  I had never heard of anything like it. My powers were like a light, but Peter was the switch. Was this the fish of Cesar’s way of telling us that we were soulmates?

  I felt a gentle touch on my hand, and it made me jump. It was Peter. He was trying to take me by the hand. I reached over and interlocked his fingers with mine. We smiled at each other, not regretting the fact that it was possible we would be together for the rest of our lives.

  “Why now? Why me?” I asked.

  ‘It is prophecy. There is a light and a courage you possess that is so powerful that it broke the spell that kept me in the caverns at the bottom of the lake. You are stronger than you believe yourself to be,’ Cesar said.

  I don’t know why, but that made my eyes fill up with tears. Malcolm, or Alex, or whoever he was had been trying to tell me I was unworthy, only for the most powerful being on this earth to then tell me that I was more than worthy. I was not just enough. I was bigger and more powerful than I had ever imagined I could be. If I ever felt low about myself, I would bring my thoughts back to this memory. I am powerful. I am worthy. What Alex or anyone else said could not matter. What mattered was how I saw myself.

  “Do…” I sputtered as I wiped the tears from my face, “Will I still have my visions and my dreams after this?”

  ‘Dreams? Your visions do not come in the form of dreams, Samantha. It was this one who has been poisoning your mind in order to lead you to me. Your visions are not a burden or a plague.’

  “So, I won’t have any more dreams that can see the future? I can live a normal life? Well, as normal a life as someone who can see the future will have,” I said.

  ‘That is correct. What shall I do with him?’ the fish of Cesar asked. I looked at Peter and then turned to look at my sister. She couldn’t see what we saw. She was staring at us and then looked up to see Malcolm dangling in midair. To her, there were no tentacles. She may not have even known why it was she was there. I didn’t think that Malcolm told her about the fish of Cesar or the legend behind what was now happening. When we got out of this, I was going to tell her, and I promised myself then and there that I wasn’t going to keep anything from her. I realized now that opening up to her would have prepared her for something like this. My secrets almost got her killed. I had to trust my instincts, and I knew I needed to put more of my trust in my sister.

  “You have to kill him,” I whispered. Peter looked at me.

  “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” Peter asked. He was trying to be the voice of reason, but he didn’t know that Malcolm was really Alex. I had only told him some parts of the story of Alex. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to talk to him in detail about what had happened between Alex and me.

  “I’m sure. He took something from me that has been so hard to get back on my own, and if I don’t stop him, he’s going to find me and kill me, no matter where I am. I know I can’t explain everything to you right now, but I will. Then maybe you will understand why I have to do this,” I told him.

  That was when Malcolm started to come to. He groaned at first, but when he realized he was upside down, he began to squirm and thrash around. He couldn’t see what it was that was holding him.

  “You bitch!” he screamed at me. I didn’t feel anything. I watched him flail like the helpless rat he was.

  A bright golden light appeared below the water right where Cesar was. It was the same color as the gold of the scales he had. It was now so bright that when I looked at Malcolm, I could see Alex clear as day. The magic from the gold could show me who he truly was.

  “That’s Alex,” I said to Peter. “He was the one who hurt me last year.”

  Peter stood and watched me and then the thrashing Alex above. His face looked like he was having a war with his thoughts. Would it be better to let him live or to kill him?

  “I can’t choose for you. Do what you feel is best,” Peter said.

  “You can kill him, Cesar,” I said. I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t take my eyes away. The tentacles sank into the sparkling gold in the middle of the lake. It was a slow descent into the lake, and that made it all the more uncomfortable to watch. I hugged Peter. Neither of us was able to look away from what we were seeing.

  The water was starting to swirl. It was like the day I was standing on the bridge. It was a strange bubbling and churning that led me to believe there was something more sinister happening below the surface. Alex was thrashing as wildly as the water he was being placed into.

  He was submerged up to his ankles that were still being held by the tentacles. Cesar was going to drown him. I didn’t know if I was expecting something else, but I was still shocked to see that this was happening. What would become of Malcolm? Was he going to drown since it was his body that was being used as a host?

  And then he was gone. Cesar had let go of Malcolm’s feet, and he was engulfed by the violent thrashing of the lake water. The golden light was dimming, and I knew that it would soon go out. I hated to watch, but I had to see. I needed to know that Alex was really gone.

  The water bubbled and churned so quickly that I could see some of it was beginning to boil. Malcolm or Alex, or whoever it was that had ended up in the depths, had now broken the surface of the water and was screaming and begging for his life. We all watched in horror.

  “No!” It was hard to hear the voice over the whirlpool swirling in the dark lake, but I could distinctly hear my sister’s voice.

  I looked behind me to see her running as fast as she could toward the water. Peter and I grabbed each of her arms and stopped her from going into the lake.

  “No! You can’t kill him!” Isabelle shrieked. She was in hysterics. This was the first time I had ever seen my sister so distraught. Her eyes were wide, and her face was wet with the tears that she had been shedding. She struggled and fought to get away from our grip.

  “That’s Alex in there!” I shouted back at her.

  “No, it’s not. It’s Malcolm,” Isabelle wailed. She was crying so much that it was difficult for me to hear what she was saying. She was struggling less and less.

  “Please, don’t kill him,” she said. She had become all but limp. It was Peter and I who were holding her up. “Please, Sam… Malcolm is still in there.”

  The water wasn’t bubbling as much as it had been just moments before. Isabelle was speaking softly. She felt defeated.

  “Alex is in there, but there’s Malcolm too. I know there is.”

  I looked at Peter. He returned the look, but like before, his expression was telling me — any decision would be up to me.

  “How can we separate the two?” I asked Isabelle.

  “I don’t know. But we have to save Malcolm,” she replied.

  “Wait,” I shouted at the water. I could no longer see Malcolm in the lake. The water was black, and it wasn’t churning anymore. It was growing more and more still, and Malcolm was below the surface.

  I knew I said I wanted him to die, but it wouldn’t be worth it if it meant hurting my sister.

  “Bring him back,” I shouted.

  ‘What is it that you wish me to do?’ Cesar asked.

  “You have to tear them from each other. You can’t kill him. You can’t kill both of them. We have to save one,” I called out to the lake.

  ‘Which one shall I save, Samantha?’ I could hear the gentle voice of Cesar speaking to me. It was like a whisper right in my ear even though I could no longer see the golden lights or even his tentacles. I didn’t know where he had gone or if he was even an octopus anymore. He could have been any creature at this point, but the longer we wai
ted, the less time Malcolm had to be saved.

  “Malcolm. Save Malcolm,” Isabelle said.

  “Are you sure about this?” I looked at her.

  “More sure than anything. I love him. The real him. I know he’s still in there. Now please, do something. He’s running out of time.”

  The whirlpool returned, but it wasn’t as menacing as it had been before. As the gentle waves swirled around, I could see the bright golden glow of Cesar turning and spinning under the water. Then the water rose higher and higher, forming a waterspout that was at least ten feet tall. I could see a figure in the middle of the water spout. It was Malcolm. He looked unconscious… or worse.

  The water spout was lowering itself back into the lake, and as waves formed from the bottom of the spout, Malcolm could be seen. The waves carried him to the shore.

  “Malcolm!” my sister shouted. She pried free from Peter’s and my grasp even though we were no longer holding her against her will. Isabelle ran clumsily to the edge of the lake and fell beside Malcolm. She held his head and brought her face close to his. She placed her ear near his mouth to hear if he was breathing.

  Her breathing turned into hyperventilation, and she frantically began trying to revive him. She blew into his mouth and pumped his chest. He wasn’t moving. From where I was standing, he didn’t look like he was breathing. I started to cry then. I couldn’t hold it in. If she was right, and if Malcolm really was a separate person from Alex, then I had once again taken someone from my sister. But there would be no way for this one to return to her.

  “Malcolm, can you hear me?” Isabelle asked. She held onto his chest and buried her face into him.

  “Why isn’t this working? I can save him. I have powers, and I should be able to save him,” she cried. She wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular, but speaking must have brought her comfort. She looked up at me, and I was frozen. I didn’t know what I could do. How could I help?

  I took a brave step toward her. If I couldn’t help, the least I could do was to be there for her. I knelt down beside her and Malcolm. Even in the dark night, his skin looked pale and lifeless. His blonde hair was wet and falling away from his face. I wrapped my arms around my sister while her arms were wrapped around Malcolm.