Enchant Me (14 page)

“When I came out of the vision, I could
already see Chris’s bike starting to get out of control. I only had
a second to force a low crash of my own bike to avoid hitting them.
I couldn’t save them! What good is this gift if I can save no one
but myself?”

She looked at me almost harshly. “You can’t
look at it like that. If you had been meant to save them you would
have seen it a lot sooner with enough time to do something-”

‘That’s my point,” I interrupted her. “None
of my visions have done anyone else some good.”

She gave me a firm glance to not go into a
complete meltdown, and then let her eyes cut away to my chair
hinting for me to sit down. I sat but not happily.

“How are the other riders?” she asked.

“I don’t know…I am going to call around
tonight and find out. I’m sure Chris is pretty injured though.” I
didn’t know him well but he seemed nice enough and up to that
moment had been an amazing competitor. 

“Well try not to borrow trouble.”

I’m sure my face looked confused at that
weird phrase.

“Meaning, don’t worry until you know for sure
that there is something to worry about. I take it you are starting
to have visions more often?”

“Yes, well I guess I would be if I didn’t
fight it sometimes.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sometimes I tense up and--I don’t know how
to describe it other than I fight it. Up till recently I thought I
was just trying to resist a normal headache coming on.”

“How does it feel when you fight it?’

I knew where she was going with this but I
wasn’t going to lie about it. “It usually makes the headache worse
and I start to feel sick.”

“So are you going to fight it anymore?”

“No,” I said taking the hint, “probably not.
Do you know of anyone else with this power in the grove here or in
Ireland?”

“Not your particular gift-- no but there are
others that have gifts as powerful as yours will be. It has been
sometime since a new Druid has awoken with such a power.”

I felt uncomfortable with that title-- Druid.
I hadn’t been involved with the grove for awhile since I was still
trying to figure out where it fit for me. Then my mind picked up on
what she had said. How powerful my powers will be? 

“You mean it’s going to get worse?” She
looked so concerned I started to freak out inside my mind. What
else was going to happen?

“It won’t be complete until you get past the
crisis point, where everything comes to a head. For everyone it is
different. For those of us that have very limited abilities the
crisis point is small. My small gift of growing, creating herbal
medicines, and healing is subtle to non existent, as are the powers
of the rest of the people in our grove here. I only had symptoms of
hay fever that at the crisis point felt like the flu and then it
was done. But for some of our grove in Ireland that have real,
true, strong gifts…the crisis point can be extremely
difficult.”

 “So the crisis point for me is quite
literal?” I demanded.

“I’m hoping not.”

Feeling a little shaky, I watched her
watching me. I did not want this gift. Wasn’t I different enough
without this on top of everything? As much as I felt her concern I
also felt her determination to make me accept my new fate. Not just
accept but embrace. 

“Wait a minute,” I said excitedly. “Did you
say you could heal?” I asked thinking of Chris.

She shook her head sadly already knowing what
I was thinking. “Scrapes, bruises, nothing more. That’s why I
wasn’t able to save your…grandfather.”

I patted her hand not knowing what to say.
Grandpa Rory had died of a heart attack when I was just a baby. I
didn’t remember him but I knew Grandma Ann had mourned him a long
time. She never liked to talk about it though.

Pulling her hand from beneath mine she rubbed
her fingers together than placed her hand over a bruise on my wrist
from the accident. I felt warmth and a tingle in the area and then
she lifted her hand. The bruise was gone. I stared at it in stunned
silence for awhile. Taking a couple deep breaths, I looked her
straight in the eye. How could I not believe now? “How bad is
it going to be for me, is there anything I can do to prepare?”

“For the most part no. If only…”

“What?” I demanded.

“I have heard stories about Celtic shaman,
“she sighed and shrugged her shoulders, then continued. “Supposedly
there were some that had the ability to ease new Druids into their
powers. They would also train them in their first couple weeks so
they would not be dangerous to themselves or others. But no one
knows if any of them still exist and even if they did…they were
considered other.” She waved her hand in the air at this like they
were something ephemeral that could not be described. “Not good or
evil, their alliances were always changing, untrustworthy. Even so,
I am not sure we could find one in time but I will put in a call to
our family in Ireland.” She reached out and put her cool hand
back over mine, “Lex, when the symptoms come on stronger, harder
than before, I want you to come straight here.”

Even though I didn’t have a problem with that
I still wanted to know why. “How come? What difference does it make
where I am? Is there something the grove can do to help me?”

For the first time, she avoided looking at
me. Staring at her now cold coffee, she seemed entranced with its
murky depths. This just kept getting better and better.

 “Yes and no. We can’t help you through
the crisis but we can protect you during the process.”

I launched up out of my chair and started
pacing. “Should I even ask what you are protecting me from?” I
demanded. 

“In some ways during the transition into your
power you are more powerful at that moment than at any other time
because it is all coming at once. That kind of power can attract
all sorts of things. That is why we will place you in a ring of
protection until it is done.”

I tried to get a grip on my non-existent
temper as I whirled to a stop in front of her, pinning her with my
eyes. “Grandmother, stop giving me half the story, what things am I
supposed to be worried about?”

“You don’t need to worry--”

“Grandmother!” I yelled, exasperated. “Just
tell me everything so I can at least be prepared.”

She shook her head and gave me a hard
green-eyed glare for yelling at her. “I do not know for sure. I am
assuming some kind of evil spirits—it’s been so long since someone
has come into such strong powers. We just don’t know. But we are
going to take every precaution. I don’t want you worrying for no
reason. We are going to take care of you.”

Taking a deep breath and counting to ten, I
finally sat back down. “I take it we are not telling my mom or
dad?”

She didn’t answer right away and seemed to be
thinking it over. Eventually she got up and reheated her coffee,
and then sat down heavily, “No, it will only bring them unnecessary
worry. Your dad walked away a long time ago from the religion. They
are both safer being ignorant of what is happening.”

Nodding my head in silent agreement, I had
kind of figured that. “Does the grove know?”

“Yes, they’ve all known for some time now.
Those of us with some ability can usually sense it in others. So we
have merely been waiting for yours to awaken,” She
murmured. 

She seemed more relaxed now that everything
was out. I wished I could feel even remotely the same. I only felt
worse. I still had so many questions; I didn’t know where to
begin.

“Why doesn’t dad have any gifts?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Sometimes it seems
to skip a generation but I have always figured it goes to those
that are best able to handle them.”

“And you said there are others with powerful
gifts in Ireland. Like what?”

She smiled at this. “There are some that have
amazing gifts, like a set of twins that are both empathic, a shape
shifter; one of your own relatives is telekinetic.”

I was sure my jaw had dropped to her hard
wooden table I was so stunned. “You’re kidding, right?’

“No, and I would like you to consider going
to Athboy, Ireland this summer. I think it would be good for you to
learn our history and be around others with gifts as strong as
yours.”

My chin was surely bruised by now. “What?
How? I don’t have any money to go over there and what about my
mom?”

Knowing she had piqued my interest she was
smiling from ear to ear now. “The grove will handle the
arrangements and I will deal with your mom.” 

I heard the note of satisfaction in her
voice. She and my mom had never gotten along very well. Feeling so
emotionally exhausted at this point, I could barely nod my
head.

“Alright Grandma, let me think about it for a
bit. I gotta go but I will call you later this week.” 

Giving her a hug goodbye, I left more solemn
and quiet than when I arrived. It would have been nice if the
weather had calmed down with me, but instead it pelted me with hard
cold rain as soon as I stepped off the stairs and made my way to my
bike. 

Once at home, my mom thankfully gone again, I
collapsed on the couch like I weighed a thousand pounds. It was a
thousand pounds of worry, no doubt; at least Cody was pleased that
I was home. He curled up next to me and went to sleep. Sighing, I
pulled out my phone to call around and see how Chris and the other
riders were doing. It took forever to find someone who actually
knew what was going on and then reluctantly I had to endure their
congratulations on my good luck of having crashed just before the
pileup.

Chris had been hurt the worst, sustaining
injuries to his spleen, a broken rib, fingers and a severe
concussion, but he would survive and would completely recover in
time. Most everyone else who had been sent to the hospital had
already been sent home to recover, which was a huge relief. I
wanted to avoid the fact that Christian hadn’t called me but it was
hard. Did he sense that something was not right about me and change
his mind? Was he afraid of me? It could be possible he just didn’t
feel the same way about me anymore; I don’t know… Maybe it would be
a good idea to go to Ireland this summer, get out of Steilacoom for
awhile.

Eventually I forced myself to my feet and
into my room to get some homework done. I refused to let my whole
future go down the drain over all of this. It took forever to
finish everything since I was so distracted. My mind seemed fixated
on everything my grandmother had told me. Then there was the whole
worry about Christian and what he was thinking. There was no way he
would just shut me out like this and then act like everything was
normal tomorrow. It was tempting to just skip school tomorrow. Even
though I knew I wouldn’t. I knew my grandmother, and Tina, in
some respects, knew everything that was going on and were there for
me, but I still felt so alone and strangely empty. Getting up and
sitting down next to my window, I wrapped my arms around my legs,
staring out into the night.

The world felt odd to me now, less bright,
less hopeful and more frightening. I didn’t know if it was from a
new knowledge of what existed out there, or the apparent loss of
Christian. Maybe it was both. Hearing the sound of my mom’s
car parking in the driveway, I turned off my light and closed my
door. I hoped she would think I was asleep and go straight to bed.
Once inside, I could hear her rummaging around in the kitchen, then
her footsteps neared my door. They seemed to halt for a moment,
then eventually she moved on to her room. I felt kind of bad for
deceiving her but what could I talk about with her? There was so
much of my life I couldn’t tell her or anyone for that matter
anymore.

 Turning at the sound of Cody’s light
padding steps I watched with a half-hearted smile as he leapt up
onto the windowsill. Almost mimicking me he sat down and wrapped
his tail around him as he stared outside. For a time I just admired
this classic of all cat poses, body straight and regal, ears
upright, completely calm. So it was a surprise that for no
apparent reason he started flicking his tail back and forth. A
feeling that I was being watched flooded over my body even though I
knew with my lights off that I couldn’t really be seen unless
someone was right at the window.

I didn’t see anyone at first then I caught
the barest silhouette under the trees at the back of our property.
I started to tremble as I considered that it could be
Nicolas. Leaning even further away from the window, I studied
the form but I still couldn’t tell who it was. I pulled my phone
out preparing to call the cops if necessary. Just then a little
gust of wind blew, parting the leaves of the trees he was under,
and the light from the street lamp hit his face. It was
Christian. I started to smile and breathe a sigh of relief even as
the light left his face and was in darkness again. Then my smile
faded and my heart lurched against my ribs as I realized he wasn’t
here to talk to me.

The darkness surrounding him seemed
appropriate and part of me wondered if I had really known him at
all but even thinking that, I still felt myself drawn to him. If I
thought he would welcome me I would go out there now. My heart beat
painfully as I watched him draw further into the dark and quietly
walk away. Suddenly my head started to throb again and out of
frustration, I fought it, refusing to give in, breaking my word
that I would stop fighting it. It was because of my gift that this
was happening, and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. So
I went to bed with one of the most blinding headaches I could
remember and was paid back with nightmare after nightmare of
Christian walking away from me. 

The next day dawned disgustingly sunny and
warm. The complete opposite of what I wanted. As I looked at my
reflection in the vanity I knew it was going to take all my skills
to hide the dark circles under my eyes and look halfway presentable
today. I had a feeling I was going to need it. I decided to wear
all black to fit my mood and grabbing my sunglasses headed out the
door. At school the urge to turn around and go home was
strong; especially when I saw Christian’s car in the parking lot. I
had kind of been hoping to forestall seeing him for a bit, but as I
was about to head into class I saw him waiting for me, his
expression grim.