by Diana Nixon
I took a few sips, recalling the weirdest of the visions I had ever had in my head.
“The fire in Dever… Was it real?” I didn’t ask about the wedding day, or anything that proceeded it. There was only one thing I wanted to be sure about – that my friends and family would be okay.
“It can be real,” Songaa responded. “If you let it happen.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about what you have seen, Eileen. Think carefully.”
My thoughts travelled back to my memories. The last one was the only one that I didn’t remember. Was it from my future? Were the things that I saw really going to happen?
I turned to Songaa again. “Those visions of mine - they were not magical, were they?”
“Did you feel any magical influence in them?” Elu asked.
Weird, but I did not…
“Oh, God… So, this is what you do… You don’t make anyone abandon their gifts, you don’t use magic to make people stop using their gifts. You show them what is going to happen if they keep using them. Right?”
Elu smiled. “I told you, Eileen, there’s something so much stronger than magic. It’s what you have in here.” She put her hand on my jacket, where my heart was beating beneath my clothes. “It’s who you are. Either you choose to make something good of who you are, or go down the road that leads to darkness. But the choice always belongs to you. No one can make you abandon your gifts. Remember that.”
Tai’s voice caught my attention. He was saying something to Amitola, who was obviously upset to hear his words.
“What did he see in his visions?” I asked, already knowing why Tai hated the songs of the tribe.
“He saw his future,” Songaa said.
“But he didn’t like it, did he?”
Songaa’s expression saddened. “He wants to know everything about what he can do. It’s not always good.”
“He saw himself doing something terrible. Right?”
Elu spoke again. “He saw people dying…from his magic. But his fear is blocking his visions, shielding them from us; we can see only a part of what he is seeing when the tribe is singing.”
“Oh, no…” I looked at Tai again. Poor kid, he didn’t know even a half of what his life would become after he feels the full power of his gifts. “Is there a way to change it?”
“There is a way to change it,” Songaa said. “We can send him to Dever, where he will learn how to control his powers.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
“There’s something that not even our songs can help us see… The unknown that may destroy not only Tai, but the entire tribe.”
“How do you know there’s something that you should be worried about?”
“Tai’s visions change almost every night, every time he sees something new happening in his future. Some things are good, others are not so good. But just like Elu said, there are also things that he wouldn’t tell us about or wouldn’t let us see. And every time he sees them, he gets angry.”
“What if I try to talk to him?”
“Go ahead. But I don’t think he will tell you more than he tells us.”
“I will try anyway.”
“There will be more singing tonight.” Elu said. “Would you like to stay and listen?”
I knew exactly what was hidden behind those words of hers. It was not just about songs, it was about the visions those songs might cause in my head.
“Yes,” I said firmly. “I wanna stay.”
“The visions change as soon as you decide to do something new. Your future depends on your present.”
“You never answered my question about the so-called fire in Dever. What might be the cause of it? And why did it look like I was not being myself when seeing it?”
“Because your future showed you two different scenarios. Which of them felt more real?”
No matter how much I hated saying it, the fire and fear that I felt when watching it felt so much more real than my conversation with Amanda and the so-called upcoming wedding.
“The worst one,” I said.
“Which means it is more likely to happen than any of the other things you saw in your visions.”
“But I saw Dever in the Cumbrian Mountains. Not here. Does that mean that if we go back to Britain, the university will be destroyed?”
“If what we have heard from the outside world is true, and the Clarions are getting ready for the war, chances are high that going back to Britain will only make things easier for them, not for you.”
“Then what shall we do?”
“I guess your father knows what to do.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that… He was hoping you would help us prevent the war.”
“And I will.”
“After I send Evan away, right?”
“Eileen, Eileen! Look at this!” Tai ran up to me, handing me a thin leather bracelet with a wooden star hanging on it. “My friend, Zaltana, made it for me.”
“It’s beautiful. Let me help you tie it around your wrist.”
“She can make another one for you, if you want.”
“Oh, really? I would love that.”
“Zaltana is very gifted. And she wants to go to Dever with me. She’s my best friend, I can’t leave her here.”
Elu and I shared a glance.
“We haven’t decided about your classes in Dever yet,” she said to her grandson.
“You shouldn’t be worried about me, Granma. Eileen said she would protect me if anything bad happens.”
I smiled. “Of course, I will.”
“See? I told you she’s cool.”
Elu patted Tai’s shoulder, saying, “Go back to your parents, we are about to start singing another song.”
The boy’s face darkened. “I hate your stupid songs,” he muttered. Then he turned to where his parents were sitting and went to take his seat between them.
“Does he know what all those visions of his mean?”
“No. We didn’t tell him those are the pictures from his future. We don’t want to scare him even more than he already is.”
“Then how do you explain the things he’s seeing when the rest of you are singing?”
“Tai doesn’t like talking about his visions. And we don’t push it.”
“In other words, you let his anger and fear take over.”
“We do what we think is best for him,” Songaa said. “And right now, it is best for him to think that the visions he sees are just a trick of his young imagination.”
I shook my head, disapprovingly. “The visions are messing with his head. It won’t do him any good. Especially if he never tells you the truth about what he sees there.”
“The song begins,” Elu said.
Again, the moment the sounds of a new song reached my ears, my vision blurred, turning everything I could see around me into a completely different picture. Or to be exact – into the day of my wedding…
I was standing in front of a floor-length mirror, looking at a beautiful snow-white dress I was wearing. It was very simple, strapless and with lacy patterns decorating the fabric, falling down in soft lines. I could also feel the tattoo on my shoulder tingling, as if ready to go live any second.
“Now, look at this,” Amanda said, showing me a crown made of white, lavender and pale-pink orchids, roses and irises. She put it on my head, and pinned it to my waved hair, which was falling freely down my spine and shoulders. “Stunning, isn’t it?”
“Stunning indeed,” Evan said, entering the room.
“Hey, who the hell let you in?” Amanda flared.
“I’m not the groom. I can see the bride before the ceremony.”
Evan was dressed in a dark-blue tux, with an orchid flower pinned to the lapel.
“Nervous?” He asked, standing behind me.
“A little,” I said, realizing that this vision of mine would probably never come true. The picture of Dever on fire was still too vivid in my head. I just couldn’t mak
e myself stop thinking about it. No matter how much I wanted to see if Christian and I could actually make it to our happily-ever-after.
“Amanda, can you give us a moment? Please.” Evan looked at his girlfriend, and smiled softly at her. “Lovely dress by the way.” Amanda’s dress was floor-length and of a pale-pink color, matching the flowers in my crown. A pattern of intervened lacy pieces went around her upper chest, and one shoulder, making the dress look as if it had been taken from a fairy tale.
“Just make it quick,” Amanda said. “We don’t want Eileen to miss Christian saying the vow. Do we?”
“He won’t say it without her anyway.”
Amanda grimaced at Evan’s words and left the room.
Evan came closer to where I was standing and said, “It is such a beautiful vision, isn’t it?”
I stared at him in the mirror, unable to believe that he could actually be there with me. With the real me, I mean. Not the girl who was watching a dream where she was going to marry the love of her life.
“How did you get here? Into my head, I mean,” I said, turning around.
He smirked, running one hand through his messy hair. “I couldn’t miss my chance to see you wearing this dress.”
“Why are you here?”
“Well, first of all, because I could feel that something was wrong with you. And I wondered if I could get into your head and join you in your dream-not-so-dream. And second, because Amanda failed to follow you into your visions caused by the tribe’s songs, so I thought it was my turn to use the bond we share to see what you were doing when she couldn’t reach you. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I am okay.”
“Yes, you are. Except for the fact that you are clearly scared. The question is why? What have I missed, Eileen? What else have they made you see?”
I hesitated with the response. Then I turned back to the mirror, and said, “I saw Dever on fire. What you and I can see now only shows what I would like to see in my future.”
“So it’s not real?”
“It can be real. If I find a way to prevent Dever from being destroyed.”
“And you have a plan, don’t you?”
Evan was right. I did have a plan, only I wasn’t sure it would be successful.
“First of all, you need to leave Dever,” I said. “Forever.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because this is what Songaa asked for in return for helping us.”
“Why would he want me to leave?”
“I don’t know. But we can figure that out later.”
Evan frowned, but didn’t argue with that. “Okay, and what will happen after I leave?”
“We will ask Clarions to come to Dever.”
“You do realize that this is insane, don’t you?”
“I do. But we will also ask Songaa to join us in Dever. He will sing and he will show the Clarions the outcome of the war that I’m sure will kill many of them. Clarions will see their future and they will leave, hopefully for good. Because I’m sure death is the last thing they want to get when everything is over.”
“But what if they refuse to leave? What if they…”
“They will leave. I know they will.”
“How can you be so sure about that?”
There was one thing that I didn’t want to share with Evan, not now anyway. First, because I knew he would be pissed to know about it, and second, well… Because I was a little scared to be a messenger in this particular case. We all know how those who bring bad news usually end.
“Can you trust me, at least this one time?”
“I think I always trusted you, Eileen. Didn’t I?”
“Then let’s go and enjoy the rest of this imaginary wedding day. I can’t wait to see Christian at the altar.”
“Eileen… What if this vision never comes true?” I knew that look in Evan’s eyes. Unlike me, he always thought about the worst outcome of any situation. I always hoped for the best. Until this time…
I thought for a moment before I said, “Then I can’t let myself miss even a single second of it.”
Chapter 13
My hands were shaking, my legs felt as if made of wax, and I couldn’t make myself take even a tiny step forward.
I was standing at the entrance to Dever’s Great Hall, where the wedding ceremony was supposed to take place. I didn’t see anyone, I could only hear their talking and laughter coming from behind the half-open doors. My eyes lowered to the bouquet in my hands, and for a moment, I thought I would run away. No matter how strong was the desire to enter the Hall and walk down the aisle to where Christian had been waiting for me. For one split second, I doubted I would be able to make it to the end of this imaginary wedding. I was just as much of a coward as I never thought I would be, standing at the threshold of something as important as my life as Mrs. Fairey.
Someone touched my shoulder. I turned around and saw my father smiling gently at me.
“Ready to go?” He asked, taking his place on my right.
Not even close, I thought to myself.
But when I spoke, my words were the following, “I have been dreaming about this day for years, so yes, I’m more than ready to go.” Surprisingly enough, the words sounded very confident. I was not lying to anyone – I did want to marry Christian, whether in a dream, or in my real life.
“Let’s do this,” I said to my father, taking him by the hand.
He put his palm over my hand and said, “I always wanted to see you marrying a good guy, loving and caring; who would love you more than life itself. But today, I’m more than happy to see that your feelings for Christian are mutual. You make a wonderful couple. You have always been there for each other, and I hope it will be like this for as long as you share your eternity with each other.”
“So do I,” I said in a whisper, feeling tears tickling my eyes.
So do I, I repeated to myself, praying for the tribe to keep singing, at least until I could I actually become Mrs. Fairey. They wouldn’t break the vision until that happens, would they?
My father opened the doors, and I heard a beautiful song coming from inside the Hall. It was not a traditional wedding song, Christian knew I hated it. The one that was playing now, reminded me of all those moments he and I spent in Dever. They were not always peaceful, but in the end, only what we had now really mattered.
I looked at the guests, greeting me with their smiles. There was everyone I wanted to see on such an important day of my life as my wedding day. Even Lukas and his parents who last I checked were living in France had arrived for the ceremony. To my surprise, Lucas was not alone, but in the company of a lovely girl, standing next to him. And judging by how glowing their auras were, their relationship had finally cured him from losing Amanda to Evan. My mom and grandmother were there too. And of course, both could hardly hold back their tears.
My father and I stopped at the arch made of flowers, and only now did I realize that all the time that we had been walking down the aisle I never once dared to look at Christian. Probably I was still too scared to see the dream breaking right before the most important part of the ceremony began. Or maybe I simply couldn’t find enough courage to look Christian in the eye, knowing that the whole thing happening around us was nothing but an illusion.
But then, my eyes found Evan’s and I saw him nodding approvingly, as if he knew exactly why I was suddenly so afraid to take a breath. My father hugged me tight, saying something into my ear, but I didn’t hear a word of it. Because the next person I saw was Marion Blanche, standing next to Christian’s parents. And just like Evan, she nodded and smiled at me, as if she as well, knew that we were in a dream created by the Waroi’s song.
“Be happy, Eileen,” Dad said, kissing my forehead.
“I will,” I said in response. Then I turned around and finally let myself look at the only person I actually wanted to see now.
Christian looked as happy as ever. He was wearing the same tux as Evan was, dark-
blue, with a few orchid flowers pinned to the lapel, and a snow-white shirt combined with a bow-tie. Wordlessly, he took my hand in his and kissed it, just once, as if he knew something was bothering me and he wanted to show me just how important this moment was for him as well.
“Shall we begin the ceremony?” The priest asked.
“Yes, please,” Christian said, still watching me. His eyes were full of love and warmth that went along with everything he had ever said to me. But somehow, today everything felt a little different. Even the emotions I could so clearly feel from Christian. There was so much excitement, anticipation, I would say. And I guess that made two of us.
“Dear guests, we have been chosen to witness this very special moment of creation of a new family - that is one of the most important things in the world. With love and commitment, Eileen and Christian have decided to live their lives together as husband and wife.
True marriage is more than just a joining of two people; it is the union of two hearts and two souls. It lives on the love you give each other and never grows old, but becomes more and more mature with each new day. Marriage is love. Marriage is confidence. Marriage is trust. May you always be sure about each other’s feelings; laugh with each other, and enjoy your life together; share the moments of quiet and peace and support each other, no matter what. May you be blessed with a lifetime of happiness, joy and true love that is not afraid of anything.
Today you choose each other to begin a new life together, to be a family for all the tomorrows that follow. Are you ready to say the vows?”
Christian and I nodded. My heart races beneath the silk of my dress. That was it – the most important part of the wedding, and I didn’t know what to say…
“You first,” I whispered to Christian, making Evan, who was standing right behind him laugh under his breath.
“Coward,” my friend mouthed, shaking his head.
I couldn’t argue with that. At that very moment, I felt like the biggest coward in the world.
Christian smiled, took a ring from a golden plate given by the priest, took my hand in his and said, “Eileen Lillian Clark, I take you as my wife, to share my life with you, to love you for as long as I can see the sun rising in the mornings. I promise to honor you, to respect you, and to care for you, always. You make me better than I was before you. You make my life complete… I want to hear your voice in the mornings when I open my eyes; I want to fall asleep with you by my side and see the most beautiful dreams ever; I want to drown in my love for you, for as long as I have the ability to feel things, for as long as I can see your beautiful eyes watching me; for as long as I can call you mine… I give you all of me and I promise to do my best to make you the happiest woman in the whole world.”