First Sight: The Rune Sight Chronicles

by Boyd Craven III

  Cindy gave me a quick hug, gentler this time, and then walked down the tunnel, her knees bent as the ceiling dropped down to about five feet high, though four feet wide. I went in the middle, with Luke and JJ nearby. Cindy stopped at the end and I struggled to see where the doorway was. Then she pointed up. I pulled a pen light from my coat pocket and snapped it on.

  “I see it,” Dana said and walked under it.

  She knelt some, with her hands on the ceiling, and then stood straight up, legs and arms pushing. A large rock lifted and she pushed it to the side and then pulled herself up and out of sight. Cindy was grasping at the edge when hands encircled her wrists and pulled her up. It surprised her and she let out a yelp, then I heard her and Dana murmuring. JJ hopped up and out in one leap. My turn. I got under the hole and stood up, seeing the red and brown hues of the natural stone in the suddenly bright light. I felt arms catch me under the armpits and haul me up. JJ and Dana had each side and, when I was clear of the hole, Luke hopped out.

  “I never knew this was here,” Dana said and then rolled an oblong boulder back over the hole. “We’ve been here half our lives and I never knew it was there.”

  I felt the gate charm in my pocket, to make sure it was still there. I was going to keep this one handy, even though Vassago had had it before. It might be useful to have a back door to my new territory. It had been discharged, but I could fix that, and I didn’t want to do it now. I made sure I wasn’t going to lose it and pulled the reusable healing charm out of my breast pocket and put it between my thumb and fingers, slowly charging it. As I started walking down the slope, I could see a group of people standing near the dead bodies and, in the distance near the highway, the lights flashed from what looked like the highway patrol, blocking the highway.

  “It’s the FBI people. They’re not here for us,” Luke said when he saw my hesitation. “They were called in by the bald guy.”

  “Rasmussen,” Rose said.

  “Yeah, that guy,” Dana said and then started crying softly again, as she caught sight of her sister’s body.

  I started walking again and saw a group of people in suits and robes turn to stare in our direction. Cindy slipped behind and to the side of me and hooked her arm in mine, taking my hand. I didn’t know why she did that, but it was what I needed right then to finish the trip under my own power. I was almost out of breath and sweating from the lingering pain, but I was slowly pushing my will into the healing charm, checking the futures to see when I had enough in it and could still use the gate charm to get back to my bunker.

  “You live,” Rasmussen said, as we came to a halt about fifteen feet away.

  There was a flash of green and I turned to look and saw a mage whose hands had a green glow on Vivian’s cheeks. The look of pain slowly eased out of her face and she pulled the handkerchief off, exposing smooth skin beneath, but still smeared with her own blood. Vivian held her broken arm out and the bone seemed to snap back straight. Vivian grimaced and then turned her wrist and wiggled her fingers.

  “I do,” I told him, “and so does Vivian, though your other two mages…”

  “We are going to have a problem with that,” Rasmussen said.

  I shook Cindy’s hand free and walked over to the mind mage and put both hands on his shoulders, my fingers digging deep.

  “Jedi mind trick,” I snarled, and saw many people starting to react, “now.”

  “Hold!” Sigmund shouted, raising a hand to everyone, then he placed it against the side of my face.

  His eyes wobbled and then he closed them, turning his head up, so his face was to the sun. He stayed like that for several seconds while I concentrated on giving him full access to my memories. It felt funny, the one or two seconds he was digging in my mind, like reading a book out loud to a friend who’s sitting right next to you. But as fast as it started, it stopped, and I let go of Rasmussen’s shoulders and he let go of my head.

  “There is no wonder you do not trust us,” he said simply.

  “No, and knowing you have a traitor or ten within the council only gives me further nightmares.”

  “Wait, you think Martin and Michael were traitors?” Vivian asked suddenly.

  “Somebody is, and for all I know, it might be you.”

  “I wouldn’t do anything like that,” Vivian said but Rasmussen’s brow furrowed; he’d seen in my memories what she’d done up to this point.

  “She’s lying,” Cindy said suddenly.

  “JJ, Dana, Luke, which of you saw the most?” I asked.

  “Uh, that’d be—”

  “I saw everything, Sigmund,” Rose said becoming visible half an inch from his face, “and you need to either train your agents better, or clean house! It’s pretty bad when I can’t tell if they are terminally stupid, or working for the other side.”

  “Hermosa,” he said softly, “May I?”

  His deep voice was almost silken and she landed in his outstretched hand, “Yes,” she said, her ire gone.

  He did his mind trick again and then she flew back and hovered near me.

  “Come,” he said suddenly to his group and pointed at Vivian. “You’re with me. The rest of you, cleanup duty. Help the Weres bury their dead, with dignity.”

  “That’s it?” I asked him, “We’re all done here?”

  “No, we’re not,” Mage Kerstin said, “half of us are going back to HQ. Sigmund Rasmussen and Vlock are going to continue, we’ve found the first two jump spots from his gate charms. We can follow for a time, but we need to get back to it right away.”

  “We don’t need your help burying our dead,” Luke told the agents who were walking towards the bodies.

  “Wright,” Rasmussen said, turning to me, “we really need to talk when this current crisis is over. We’re not done here.”

  “No, no, we’re not,” I agreed quietly.

  They nodded and then half of them struggled with the mages who’d died and then opened a gate. Rasmussen waited and watched them leave and then made a motion for Vivian to follow, which she did reluctantly. I waited for them to gate out, and when they had I turned to my pack.

  “I have to take Cindy home,” I said.

  Luke had retrieved my dropped weapons at some point, because he was now handing them to me.

  “We’ll take care of disabling the traps and we’ll store the supplies in the cave,” Dana said.

  “You’re not coming back with JJ?” I asked her, surprised.

  “If you want me to I will, but I need to bury my…”

  “No, no, it’s ok. Sorry, I’m such a—”

  “Dumbass,” Rose hissed.

  “Yes, I am,” I said, feeling horrible for forgetting one of the bodies was Dianne.

  “Boss, if it won’t bug you, I’d like to stay and help out,” JJ said.

  “Ok. You want to call me when you’re ready for a ride back?” I asked him.

  He nodded and Luke gave me a friendly smile and nodded as well. That was when I realized all three of them had retained the rags of their clothing, not something most Weres could do. I gave them a wave and put the healing charm away. Then I felt on my necklace and found the gate charm for the bunker in Coalville. I activated it, glad I’d recharged it already, took Cindy’s hand and pulled her through. She gasped, but we were home.

  Chapter Twenty

  Cindy got over the shock of gating fast, and we went outside to head back to her house, to check on her mom. I figured I had enough juice left in me to gate in, jump in the Jeep, drive over…

  “Where’s your Jeep?” she asked.

  I cursed and invented words on the spot including some very interesting uses of the F-bomb, until Rose and Cindy were laughing out loud.

  “It’s at the Arches, with the keys in the ignition,” I told them finally.

  “JJ will take care of it when he realizes it’s there.”

  “My phone is there too,” I said.

  “So… he can come home when he’s ready, and there won’t be any interruptions?”
Cindy asked, with an amused tone. “We could finally have that talk.”

  “I guess you could say that,” I said, and we started walking.

  The charges had really done a number on the hillside, and the artesian well I’d blasted open was still running, the water making a small cut through the driveway. I’d have to divert it, pipe it to JJ’s cabin or put in a culvert. A worry for another day. Cindy was silent, but she didn’t object when I took her hand. We walked till I could see the smoke coming from Cindy’s mother’s house. We both started to run and then slowed as we crested the hill. Three figures stood up and two started up the hill of the long driveway.

  Cindy gave me a look, but I squinted and recognized the two figures. We came to a stop half a minute later.

  “Cindy, this is Carl and his wife Yolanda,” I said by way of introduction.

  “I remember you,” Cindy said grinning, and held her hand out to Yolanda. “From the bar?”

  “Yes, good memory,” she said. “Carl, this is Cindy, the local Sheriff around here.”

  “I trust you are well?” Carl asked in a roughened voice.

  “Yes, thank you, but my mother… Tom said he was going to have somebody watching over… is she…?”

  “Been awake for hours now. Keeps asking for you two. I would hurry though,” Yolanda said.

  Cindy took off running and I was about to, when Carl caught my arm and I came to a sudden stop.

  “Sorry, thank you,” I told them both.

  “Give her a moment,” Carl said, “then go.”

  “Is there something wrong, did I do something to anger—?”

  “No, simply give her a moment with her mom. You will see.” She was smiling as she said it, which did a lot to put me at ease, though my legs were still wobbly from the partial healing.

  “I really appreciate this,” I told them both.

  “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about Morrissey looking for a new area in Wyoming, would you?” Carl asked suddenly, a wolfish grin on his face.

  “He attacked me. While he was disabled, I challenged him for leadership.”

  Yolanda threw her head back and laughed aloud. I grinned, remembering how horribly I’d hurt and how badly I still did hurt. I pulled the healing charm out and put it to my temple and activated it. The relief was immediate as the rest of the broken inner parts of my body healed quickly. I pocketed it and smiled at the shocked looks on their faces.

  “You’re still dirty and bloody, but you’re not injured anymore,” Carl said. “I’d smell it if you were, you’re just… stinky.”

  “Magic,” I told him, “Thank you both— ”

  “Tom!” Cindy called from within the house, I turned and was given a gentle shove by Yolanda, which felt like a bulldozer had given me a push, and I almost fell over.

  “Go,” Carl said, “And thank you, friend. We’ll be in touch.”

  I started running and slowed as Cindy and her mother walked out of the house, both carrying trays. I slowed to a stop at the base of the steps. I could see her mother was fine, but there was something different. Her steps were confident and the lines around her eyes had eased, as if a great burden had left her. It was obvious to me the resemblance between mother and daughter, and I suddenly saw what Carl and Yolanda were talking about. Cheryl wasn’t walking around gingerly, she was almost bouncing on her feet with an energy I’d never seen before.

  “Well, don’t just stand there, I made three different pies. Couldn’t figure out which one you’d both like.”

  “Um… Apple?” I asked.

  Cindy laughed and pointed to her tray. We all sat down at the table on the oversized covered porch. Cindy found my hand under the table and gave it a squeeze while smiling at her mom.

  “It was lovely of you to have your friends come and watch over the critters while I was sleeping. I don’t know what got into me, but it looks like I slept for nearly two or three days. I woke up feeling great.”

  “You look great,” I told her, noticing a healthy glow to her skin.

  “You flatterer. Save your smooth moves for my daughter. Now, I’ve got a little bit of cleanup to do and then I’ll bring out some bowls of ice cream and join you both.”

  I watched as she left and then turned to Cindy. “She’s really ok?”

  “Did you see the way she’s moving? She said her arthritis is gone and a thousand little ailments she’d just got used to are just… gone.”

  “Her dementia?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, we’ve both seen her on her good and bad days. This could still be one of her good ones.”

  “What are you thinking?” I asked her.

  “That Vassago Hakuna’d her Matattas,” Rose said out of thin air.

  I snorted and soon both Cindy and I were laughing.

  “Do you think he healed her?” I asked after a second.

  “Isn’t that what guys like him are supposed to do?” she asked.

  I thought about that. “He’s killed more people than he’s helped, I think.” I thought about the three deaths he’d caused today, two of mine, one of the strike force. Then again, I’d done my share of killing lately. “Maybe it’s a side effect of his magic; I can’t imagine him doing it on purpose.”

  “So now what?” Cindy asked, putting a wedge of pie on each of three plates before coming and sitting on the narrow seat next to me.

  “Now? I think I am going to eat some of your mom’s famous pie, get some ice cream and fall asleep right here.”

  “Ewww, you snore; did you know he snores?” Rose commented.

  “Oh, you hush, little one,” Cheryl called from the open window. “Yes, you, I can see you there. How about you give the kids a little privacy? I have a thimbleful of honey for you inside, if you want it.”

  Rose became visible to us. I shrugged at the two ladies and Rose flew off.

  “She can see Rose when she’s… invisible?” Cindy asked.

  “I was going to ask you… can you see her when she’s…”

  “No,” she said and then leaned into my now uninjured side.

  We ate the pie slowly, and after a few minutes her mother joined us with the ice cream. We dug in and had seconds. After a while, Cindy went inside to brew a pot of coffee, leaving me with a sleepy fairy in my pocket. Rose was singing perverted versions of nursery rhymes and it was all I could do not to laugh, but I was too tired. The sun had set during our dessert, and the chill of the Utah night was setting in, despite the warmer summer air earlier.

  “So…” I said after a few moments.

  “I remember things,” Cheryl said after a second, “things I had long forgotten. I once knew somebody very much like Rose there, when I was a child.”

  “You… How much do you know of my world?” I asked her.

  “Only that my husband was a part of it for a time. I don’t know much about it, but I remember when we first met, he plucked that memory out of my head and told me I wasn’t crazy, that fairies were real.”

  “That’s kinda cool. What was he like?” I asked.

  “He was kind, gentle and always knew what I was thinking. I think I was one of those girls growing up that was in the right place, right time. Somehow, I forgot that it was real and it wasn’t just another dream of my youth.”

  “… and a donkey named Richard,” Rose hiccuped from my pocket.

  “I really need to curb her drinking habits,” I said, “but not any time soon.”

  “So, about my daughter…?”

  “It’s complicated,” I told her.

  “It doesn’t have to be,” Cheryl said and gave me a wink.

  I grinned and then stood as Cindy came out with a carafe of coffee. She poured us all cups and we sat there, watching the deer walk down the side of the mountain until it was too dark to see any more. We were silent, deep in thought. My mind focused on this talk we would have, Cindy and me. There was a lot to talk about, and so much had changed. Still, we sat there in silence, enjoying each other’s company. Occasionally R
ose would wake up to curse something or to ask about the Irish fairies, but other than that, it was peaceful.

  Vassago was still out there, but the best mages for the job were tracking him. When it was time, I was sure Rasmussen would get in touch with me. For a minute, I’d thought he was running a con, had set me up to be in the right place in the right time, but I’d seen the look he’d given me after he’d read my thoughts the last time. Hurt, pain, pity. If he was in on that, he wouldn’t have shown any emotion at all, or would have given himself away. I’d been close to death nearly a thousand times, but when I’d grabbed him, I had no doubt that if he hadn’t yelled ‘stop’ that I would have been killed a dozen times over by the mages. If he was the traitor, he would have let me die, because I was pretty sure the traitor was on the senior council.

  They were dangerous, yet they were supposed to be the good guys. Good guys I couldn’t trust. Did that make me one of the bad guys? Were the good guys even good? Then an idea hit me, how Vassago had got Cheryl to sleep. As much as I hated the way the train of thought was going, part of me appreciated what he’d done, even if he was a murderous, murdering, murderer who’d killed my parents.

  “You want me to walk you home?” Cindy asked after a while.

  “Let’s get your mom inside first,” I said.

  She looked over and she had fallen asleep, with an afghan over her legs. Her breathing was steady and the rise and fall of her chest was proof she still lived.

  “I can’t believe she’s tired,” Cindy said, “if she was asleep this whole time.”

  “I think that’s how Vassago spelled her to sleep,” I told her suddenly.

  “What?”

  “The only way to uphold his promise was to work a healing on her. Her own body supplied the energy, which left her tired enough to sleep for a couple of days. He used the healing for the side effects.”

  “Well, keep that in mind when you’ve got him dead to rights.”

  “He killed my parents, both,” I told her.

  She hung her head for a minute. “Help me with mom and we’ll head back to your place.”